2004 Romance Author Roundtable

9. AOTW: What do you love about your fans? Tell us about a memorable encounter with one of your readers while on tour, or via your website or email.

Lisa Kleypas: My readers are the ones who want it all --- an emotional story about intelligent characters who respect each other and also have a very sexy love life *g*. I have had so many terrific interactions with readers, whether it is by email, letters or in person --- and I cherish their insights, especially when they tell me about the stories they wish they could see. On a tour a few years ago, I listened to a group of readers in Iowa, who all said they wanted to read about an extra-curvy heroine who was a size twelve and ended up with the hunky hero --- and as a result, I came up with Suddenly You.

Beverly Jenkins: I LOVE my fans. I love them so much I have a PJ party for them every two years just so I can tell them in person. They are so supportive, and the website set up for me by fan Erica Johnson is a wonderful and wild place. The ladies gave me a lot of strength when my husband Mark passed away in November. Without them there would be no Beverly Jenkins --- Author Lady, as my daughter calls me. My fans are family.

Nicole Jordan: Frankly, the appreciation my fans have for my books is what keeps me going most days, and what makes the long solitary hours at the computer worthwhile.

Unquestionably, my most poignant encounter was when a fan read one of my historical romances aloud to her husband as he was dying of cancer. The realization that I could provide a few moments of joy and passion and love and escape in such tragic circumstances was truly humbling and inspiring.

Kimberly Raye: Romance fans are the most loyal of fans. If you can touch them with one book, they will follow you to the next and the next and the next. They're enthusiastic and passionate and they love happy endings. I realized this when I received a letter from a woman about one of my earlier books called Only in My Dreams. The black moment of the novel came at the end with a raging fire that nearly destroyed the hero. The woman wrote to me and said that she had been in a fire when she was a child and suffered third degree burns. She also lost her father in that fire. She said that reading about such an awful event that had a happy ending (the heroine saves the hero) helped her remember her own tragedy without the usual pain.

The letter floored me because I never realized how deeply I could touch people with my writing, or what a huge responsibility I had as an author to do just that. Her letter and others like it are what keep me writing and striving to create the best, most compelling, most touching story that I can. Because that's what writing is all about --- touching people and making them feel.

Susan Crandall: What I love most about my fans is the fact that they take time from their busy schedules to not only read my book, but to write to let me know they enjoyed it. I know it may seem silly, but every time I get a note from a fan, it fuels the fires for me to get back to work, to delve deeper, to strive to make the next book better. (As you can see, I hate to disappoint people.)

The fan letter that hit my heart was from an elderly woman who said that time and infirmity had taken away most of her pleasures in life. Reading was one of the few things she could still truly enjoy. Then she thanked me for writing a story that gave her such pleasure. From her handwriting, I could see that it was a struggle to pen the note, but she did it anyway. I was very touched. I think she's my hero.

Karen Rose: I'm still fairly new at having fans , so just having people write is still such a thrill. I guess what I love most is their exuberance over the characters --- they grow to love them as much as I do. I don't have to hesitate about my most memorable encounter with a reader. It was an email I received shortly after the release of Don't Tell, my first book. Don't Tell is the story of Caroline, an incredibly strong woman who escapes her cruelly abusive spouse through her courage, cunning and ongoing caution. After getting away with her young son, she goes on to better their lives, getting a college degree and pursuing a career in family law so she can offer help to other abused women. As the book progresses, she begins to open her heart to the hero.

This particular email came from a woman who, like Caroline, escaped an abusive spouse to protect her child. At the time she wrote the email, she was married for the second time to a good man, who touched her only with gentleness and was so patient each time she unconsciously flinched, thinking of old memories. She was a year away from her own college degree and a few months from becoming a grandmother for the first time. And she called me an inspiration. I have to admit my eyes still sting when I think of that letter. She and others I met like her inspired Don't Tell. I was just honored to be able to tell a story that did justice to their courage.

Laura Lee Guhrke: My very first book involved spousal abuse, and I received a letter from a woman who had been abused. It was the most heartbreaking letter I have ever received. As to what I love about romance readers, it is their loyalty. They love romances, and they love romance authors.

Judi McCoy: I answer every email or letter, no matter what the fan has to say. I even go on Amazon and send notes to the readers who write reviews of my work. Hands down, my best encounter was with the very first person who reviewed my first book on Amazon. I thanked her for the five-star review, and then later met her in person. We began corresponding and she now keeps my database and writes my monthly email newsletter, which she sends all over the country.

Jill Marie Landis: I love getting emails on my website guestbook. (www.jillmarielandis.com) Comments such as, "I was having a really bad day until I started reading your book," make working all day long trying to make a plot work worth the effort.

One comment that particularly touched me was from a woman who started reading my books after her mother passed away and found one of my novels on her mom's bedside table. The daughter went on to read all of them. She said she felt as if they were a gift from her mom.

One fan actually made me a king-sized quilt out of Hawaiian fabric patches!

It's the notes and cards about how much a reader actually enjoys the books and how the stories sweep them away from their everyday lives for a while that really keep me inspired. If I can take someone away for a while, then I've done my job.

Linda Lael Miller: I love the letters that say, "You made me like reading." I'm very aware that a lot of women, especially young ones, take their cue about how to live, in and out of a relationship, from what they read. My heroines, as a result, are strong and goal-oriented --- good role models for anybody. Incidentally, reader mail influenced me to establish my Linda Lael Miller Scholarships for Women. Reading the hundreds of applications I receive each year from women in dire straits who want to improve their lot in life confirms my belief that women need these strong role models. (Your readers can read about the winners of my 2003 scholarships in mid-February on www.lindalaelmiller.com. They can also find the applications and rules for the 2004 scholarships there.)

Stephanie Bond: Romance readers are so loyal, and they truly care about the characters they read about. I received a wonderful letter from a 92-year-old woman who said that the greatest regret of her life was that she hadn't discovered romance novels until her eighties!

Susan Elizabeth Phillips: I could fill pages. Just this morning I opened an email from a reader whose father has had serious eye surgery and needs to lie on his stomach for 3 weeks. She's been magnifying pages from my books to keep him entertained. I'm getting a lot of mail from military wives with husbands who've been deployed. Our books are the stories people turn to for entertainment, comfort and reassurance that good still exists in the world. It's always been that way and, God willing, it always will be.

Mary Balogh: It would be strange indeed, I suppose, if I did not love them because they love my books! But in particular I love the way many readers become so immersed in the books that they treat the characters as if they are real people --- and they discuss them as such in groups, sometimes quite heatedly. They hate to let the characters go at the end of a book --- and even more so at the end of a series. If a book is part of a series, they speculate on what will happen in the future books. Many of them will beg for stories for some minor character they enjoyed. Many go out looking for my backlist, which is horribly out of print.

Perhaps my most memorable encounter with a reader happened at a large convention. When she saw the name on my nametag, she threw both hands in the air, went down on both knees, and declared herself to be my number one fan. What was memorable about it was that she is a New York Times Bestselling author --- and at the time I was still writing the small Signet Regencies!

Cherry Adair: My fans are great. Not only do they send me wonderful 'cherry' memorabilia, but also beautiful, handmade book bags and pillows with my cover art on them. They're all so supportive. The thing I hear most often is to WRITE FASTER!

Lisa Jackson: I love the way my fans know my books and characters better than I do. Once I finish with a book or series, I wipe the slate clean, but fans will come up and talk about characters at a book signing, and sometimes I can't, for the life of me, remember them. It's a bit embarrassing but fun.

Jane Feather: You mean apart from all those hours spent languishing in isolation in a book store at a table piled with one's latest offering and the only person who comes over says, "Who are you? I've never heard of you." Seriously, though, I love anyone who will take the time to communicate with me. I particularly remember one letter, a handwritten three-page tirade from an outraged reader (fan would definitely be a misnomer), who'd been deeply offended by an incident in one of my books. She finally explained her outrage: I hadn't described the incident in detail, but left it up to her imagination, which in her view was much worse. Classic case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. But I was actually complimented by the fact that she had felt it worthwhile to write to me to communicate her outrage. Of course, she did end the letter by saying she'd never read another one of my books again. I have no idea whether she ever changed her mind.

Linda Francis Lee: Fans are amazing, with their letters and emails telling how you have touched their lives. I remember a few years ago being in the Atlanta airport and a woman coming up to me asking if I was Linda Francis Lee. I was truly astounded and touched.