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One of the perks of having worked for big corporations for over 15 years, is that I learned the principles of consumer goods marketing.  And one of the key facts about selling a product is that the BIGGER the pie, the BIGGER the opportunity for all who play in a particular arena. 

If your pool of customers is 100 people and you own a 1% market share, you have 1 customer. But if the pool is 500, you have 5 customers.  The same principles apply to ROMANCE NOVELS. The larger the pool of readers, the larger the opportunity for more authors to live their dream, earn a decent living, etc.

So why do I support other romance authors, instead of trying to slam them or compete? Well, besides enjoying helping folks, it’s good business. I want to have as many readers as POSSIBLE walking down OUR Romance aisle, shopping for OUR Romance books.  I want to see the Romance-novel-pie grow!  I think Romance should own 90% of the fiction market! 

I’m not talking about stealing readers from other genres, I’m talking about new, fresh blood.  Yeah, those people are out there. And they’ve never read a Romance novel in their lives, but if we get them to “our store,” they won’t just buy one book. They’ll buy 2 or 3 a week for the rest of their lives!

And what will bring new readers to Romance? Variety! Innovation! So, having a wide selection of great books that speak to different readers is a GOOD thing.  Eventually, those readers will go looking for more stuff to read and maybe, just maybe, they’ll buy my book, too!

In short, I am always THRILLED to see other romance authors kicking ass, getting on those bestseller lists with their innovative books, and pulling new readers to our shelves. GO!  GO!  And please don’t STOP!

Happy WRITING.

Mimi