Part #4 of our chat with editor @HeatherOsborn LUV: Are you part of the romance community? If yes, how did you find it and what makes it valuable to you? Heather: I am! I feel as though I am more of a lurker now than I was 10 or 15 years ago, but I still do like to read what others are liking, promoting, reading and watching. I got started in the romance community in the (gulp!) mid-90s on the AOL message boards. I belonged to several ones, including one devoted to all things JD Robb. I met a real life best friend on a board where we discovered we lived in the same town and both loved reading romance. In the early 2000s I discovered romance blogs and started reading and enjoying sites like Smart Bitches, Dear Author, and others. Back then I commented more and participated in community discussions, but as the internet has grown, I almost feel like I’ve been spread too thin to really participate in all the sites. So now I lurk, and repost funny things I see and very occasionally will post my own thoughts on recent reads, etc. I will however note that you can find me on all the major sites (except TikTok, I have yet to succumb, LOL) as @HeatherOsborn. As far as what makes it valuable to me, I love to keep up with what other people are loving. A major part of publishing is staying on top of current trends and predicting future trends, and being involved in the romance community, allows me to see what people are reading and loving, what’s currently flooding the market, what people are wanting more of, and what authors are generating buzz. I have some theories about what’s next in romance, particularly in paranormal and fantasy romance, based entirely on my own reading and observations within the romance community, for example.

Posted by LUV Team at 2023-10-19 19:00:41 UTC