Knowing your sub-genre is like knowing the cool clique

In romance, it’s all about fitting in. Why? Because readers are usually looking for specific reading experiences in a romance novel. If your book can meet those expectations—and it’s well written and structured—you can tap into an audience that is eager for what you write and will buy from you again and again.

So how do you know how to find those readers, the ones you know are out there looking for your story? The same way you might have identified the group you wanted to belong to in high school:

• What they look like/external style
• What things are important to them—in terms of subjects, relationships, etc.
• Do you like them?

The best way to identify those factors specifically is to do some research. You may think you have a story that’s a general fit with historical romance, or rom-com say. But within those categories are myriad others that each have their own cadre of devoted readers.

So your first task is to identify your sub-genre. That might surprise you a little.

For instance, historical romance has many sub-genres grouped by different features, including:

🏰 By Time Period

Regency Romance

• Set in Britain between 1811–1820 (or slightly wider)
• Features balls, titled nobility, marriage markets, and witty banter
• Examples: Julia Quinn, Mary Balogh

Victorian Romance

• Set between 1837–1901 in Britain
• Often includes industrial progress, class mobility, and moral constraints
• Examples: Courtney Milan, Meredith Duran

Medieval Romance

• Set between 500–1500 AD
• Think knights, castles, chivalry, arranged marriages, and swordplay
• Examples: Elizabeth Lowell, Johanna Lindsey

Renaissance & Tudor Romance

• Often includes royal courts, intrigue, and artistic/intellectual awakening
• Can feature real historical figures or fictional nobles
• Examples: Philippa Gregory (borderline romance), Karen Harper

Georgian Romance

• Set between 1714–1830 (pre-Regency)
• Rich in decadence, wigs, and scandalous behavior
• Examples: Lucinda Brant, Jo Beverley

Edwardian Romance

• Early 20th century (pre-WWI)
• Features aristocracy in transition, upstairs/downstairs dynamics
• Examples: Daisy Goodwin, Beatriz Williams (some)

WWI & WWII Romance

• Focuses on love during wartime, separation, loss, and resilience
• Often includes letters, espionage, or home-front struggles
• Examples: Kristin Hannah, Susan Meissner

Ancient World Romance

• Includes Roman, Greek, Egyptian, or Biblical settings
• Often dramatic, exotic, and epic in scope
• Examples: Kate Quinn’s early work, Francine Rivers (Christian subcategory)

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🌎 By Location or Culture

American Historical Romance

• Western/Cowboy Romance: Frontier life, ranchers, mail-order brides
• Civil War/Reconstruction Era: Union vs. Confederate loyalties
• Colonial or Revolutionary America: Early settlements, rebellion, survival

Scottish & Highland Romance

• Clans, tartans, rugged heroes, feuding families
• Popular for alpha male tropes and “enemy to lovers”
• Examples: Monica McCarty, Julie Garwood

Irish Romance

• Often includes rebellion, emigration, or post-Famine struggles

Multicultural or Non-Western Romance

• Set in historical China, India, the Ottoman Empire, Africa, the Caribbean, etc.
• Explores colonialism, cultural identity, forbidden love
• Examples: Jeannie Lin (Tang Dynasty China), Beverly Jenkins (African American history)

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💋 By Tone or Content

Inspirational Historical Romance

• Clean romance with strong faith elements
• Often published by Christian imprints (e.g., Bethany House)

Spicy or Erotic Historical Romance

• Sex-forward stories, often with kink or high heat
• Examples: Lisa Kleypas (some), Elizabeth Hoyt

Romantic Adventure / Swashbuckling Romance

• Combines romance with pirates, spies, or globetrotting quests

Historical Romantic Suspense

• Includes a mystery or danger element set in a historical period

Historical Paranormal Romance

Examples: Susanna Kearsley (time-slip), Diana Gabaldon (Outlander)

• Vampires, time travel, magic, or ghosts in a historical setting

And your best research tools for exploring those sub-genres are Amazon and Goodreads.

Does your book fit with 5 bestsellers In your sub-genre?

The goal in Romance of any sub-genre is to meet reader expectations in a way that surprises and delights them. But you have to start by making sure readers can find your book and when they do, that they’ll know they’ve landed on something they want to read.

The first stop for you is to identify and study the 5 bestsellers in your sub-genre. Your book may fit in different sub-genres depending on several factors, including:

1. Trope

If yours is a rom-com, there are certain types of tropes that are more common than others. Scottish historical romance has its own tropes. See the lists of different tropes for a few of the common sub-genres in the Tropes lesson.

Here is a document that gives you common tropes associated with different sub-genres:

What’s your main trope, and how does it compare?

2. Style/tone

Did you remember the “com” part of “rom-com,” for instance? In historical, have you taken care to be true to the historical period, not just change the clothing of the characters?

3. Length

Some sub-genres tend to run shorter or longer than others. Rom-coms can be 60k to 70k words. Historical romance easily gets up to 100k depending on the period and the degree to which history is included. And Romantasy can be even longer. Anything that requires substantial world-building can rack up the word count because readers expect it. So make sure you’ve got enough but not too much for your sub genre.

Price

There are several pricing strategies, but for now, observe how your lookalike books are priced for both e-book and print. You’ll notice that traditionally published e-books are almost always higher priced than self-published. That’s because traditional publishers try to push buyers to print, so they create a slight price disadvantage for e-books.

Identify your lookalike books

It’s quite common for something you start out writing to morph as you go. If you’re still working on your manuscript, it’s good to revisit all this when you’ve got the final version. Perhaps your trope has evolved, or you’d decided on a different protagonist—or even switched sub genres.

If some of your characteristics have changed since the beginning of your writing journey, do your lookalike book research again and find another five titles for comparison. You’re going to need them for the next lesson!

Cover & TITLE

Different sub-genres have different cover and title conventions for a reason. These are the first things a reader sees and they need to convey in a nanosecond what kind of book you’ve written.

Do not underestimate the importance of your title and cover.

To use myself as an example, my first historical romance was originally titled At the Needle’s Point. What kind of a book do you think that might be? Honestly, it could be anything. A romance-appropriate cover would help, but why make it do all the work?

Then I changed it after brainstorming with someone else to The Dressmaker’s Touch. The idea was to try to get the sense of physical connection into it. Meh.

Next I thought of The Dressmaker’s Secret, but it could still have been any genre of novel, and brought to mind mystery more than anything else. Plus, there are quite a number of books with that same title. Titles cannot be trademarked, but it doesn’t matter if yours is the same as or similar to existing books unless they’re in the same genre/sub-genre.

After making a thorough study of the books I thought mine belonged among—sweet Regency romance—I realized I had to add one word to the title in order to make it signal to readers that it was what they were looking for. And so:

It turns out that adding a noble title to your book title is almost a necessity in this sub genre. If you can manage to get “Duke” into it, apparently that makes it sell even better. (Which is what I did for the second in this series.)

Are there title buzzwords in your genre? A specific style (short, long)?

How big is the title compared to the author name?

Don’t forget to clearly indicate the series title (see below).

Obviously, the cover should go with your title and strengthen the association for potential readers.

There’s something else you have to set up with your title and cover, though. Something very important.

Your Subtitle

A subtitle is an opportunity to add keywords and clues to your readers exactly what kind of book you’ve written. I added a subtitle to my book to give more information about what kind of story it is:

Everything after the colon is the subhead. Notice that search terms like “sweet” and “Regency romance” are there. However, if you look at the cover, the subhead does not appear on it. This actually contravenes Amazon’s official policy. Adding the subtitle only to the book’s metadata is a bit of a cheat. Yet many authors do this.

I’ll explain.

Amazon’s Official Policy

Amazon KDP guidelines state that the title and subtitle you enter in the metadata (during publishing) must match what appears on your book’s cover and title page. This is especially enforced for clarity, trust, and to prevent keyword stuffing.

From KDP’s Help Pages:
“Your book’s title and subtitle must match the book cover and the title page inside your book exactly.”

So yes—technically, if your subtitle is only in your metadata and not on your cover or title page, Amazon can flag it during review or take down your listing if reported.

🧐 But in Practice?

Many books on Amazon do list subtitles that don’t appear on the cover. Why?

• Authors use subtitles in metadata to improve search visibility (“A Sweet Regency Romance” or “Book One in the Double-Dilemma Romance Series”).
• KDP often lets it slide, especially if the subtitle is reasonable, not spammy, and accurately reflects the content.
• Enforcement is inconsistent—some books are approved with no issue, while others might get flagged during review, especially if reported or caught in an audit.

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✅ Best Practices (to Stay Safe & Strategic):

1. If you want a subtitle for SEO/visibility (e.g., “A Sweet Regency Romance”), consider:
   • Adding it subtly to the title page of the interior.
   • Including it on the back cover or spine for paperbacks (if not on the front).
   • Making it small or stylistic on the front cover if needed (e.g., beneath the title in a smaller font).
2. If you’re using a subtitle only in the metadata, make sure it’s:
   • Not misleading or stuffed with keywords.
   • Consistent with your genre and tone.
   • Brief and descriptive (like “Book One in the Double-Dilemma Romance Series” or “A Regency Romance of Secrets and Second Chances”).
3. If you’re not sure how visible you want it on your cover, you can stylize it more like a tagline, which often flies under the radar.

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✍️ TL;DR:

• Yes, Amazon’s rules say the subtitle must appear on the cover and title page.
• No, it’s not always enforced—many authors do it anyway.
• Safe workaround: Add it subtly to the interior title page or design it small on the cover.

Obviously, safest is to think it up and add it before your cover is designed. But if you don’t, it’s not difficult to add it to the title page of your e-book or paperback book.

Your Series!!!

If you really want a career writing romance, you need to think in series. Readers love—no CRAVE—series. In fact, I would say a series is a necessity (so now that you’ve cracked the code on writing one romance, it’s time to start another)! Once readers find an author they like, the tendency is to read everything by that author, especially if it’s in a series. Especially if that series has an interconnected cast of characters through each book, or something that ties them all together.

Romance is not alone in this. Think about it: Mystery series with a single sleuth readers come to adore are incredibly popular. Same with thrillers.

The implication of thinking in a series is that your titles and covers should clearly go together. Readers should be able to tell at a glance that you have a series. Here’s Beverly Watts’s bestselling series:

Notice that the titles are all not only the first names of the female protagonist, but also have the dual meaning of each being one of the virtues. Signals firing all over the place! And although the covers aren’t quite as exact, they certainly share characteristics: A single elegant female against a realistic backdrop.

The need for a title that can easily be adapted to a series goes for other sub genres too. Here, for instance, is a Mafia Romance series:

Notice the dark, brooding color scheme and the capital letters of the typeface and author name.

And here is romantasy (supposedly, although there are those who wouldn’t really call Sarah J. Maas’s books romance):

Sarah J. Maas is traditionally published. But there are others in her category who are not and who have also been very successful.

She has other series with different looks, but these are so perfectly coordinated that you could see them across a room and know they belonged together.

Note: A series is different from a trilogy. It’s unwise to make readers have to start from the beginning of a series in order to be able to follow along. A trilogy is essentially one long story divided into big sections. Those can be great too, but not so much in romance.

Check the covers above. They distinctly signal their sub genres and also work together as a series.

Make no mistake. Readers do judge books by their covers. If you try to save money and wing it by designing your own cover, you. will. regret. it. Especially because it’s possible to get a cover design for a very reasonable amount.

I use 100Covers.com for my romance covers (and no, there are no affiliate links in this program). Their usual price for an e-book and print cover package is $200 USD. That gives you everything to the right specifications for wherever you’re uploading your book, and they discount covers in a series. It’s a low cost of entry, and once you’re making money with your books, you can look for more glamorous options.

You will likely have to settle for stock imagery on your covers at first as well. But again, as long as your cover is genre-appropriate and well designed, that shouldn’t be a problem. And you can graduate to photoshoots etc. once you’re established.

Description/blurb

If your reader is attracted by your cover and title, the next thing they’ll look at is your blurb, or description.

Take a really good look at the descriptions of your comparable books on Amazon. Look for the buzzwords. The style. And yes, they will probably begin to blend together in your mind, but remember: different is not necessarily superior when we’re talking about romance.

Here are the basic ingredients of a good book description:

A log line/headline/catchy phrase. This is what you’ll see in boldface at the beginning of the description. Its job is to make a reader want to continue reading the description. How? By raising a question, saying something surprising or unexpected or shocking. It also needs to raise the reader’s expectations that the story is going to fit with what they expect from that sub genre. Here are a few examples:

So, this is mine. I’m not holding it up as a perfect example, only to say that the word “scoundrel” is a clue to the type of story this is.

This is a good example of a line that raises a question right off the bat. How did that come about?

The cheeky tone of this one is perfect for sports romance, and it signals enemies to lovers instantly.

blurbs are hard

I will be honest with you: I often use AI to help me come up with a blurb. I’ll make a draft of one and then ask ChatGPT to make it better, or snappier, or some other description. And you can ask it to do as many variations as you want.

Now, I know AI is a hot-button issue. I would NEVER, ever advocate writing any part of your actual manuscript with AI. I have author friends who won’t use it at all for anything for ethical considerations. Yes, the LLMs were trained using all of our books (including mine), and in some cases they’ve been taken from book-pirating sites (thanks Meta). That’s one reason. The other is that the vast server farms needed to process all that data use enormous quantities of water and energy in general—although this has been debunked of late.

My bottom line is that refusing to use AI in ways (ethically) that can help you get your books into readers’ hands is like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. It’s a fact of our world now.

But this is all 100% your decision.

If you have a few good variations you can test them out on your book’s sales page, see if you notice a sell-through difference when people have clicked (if you’re doing any advertising) or just an uptick in sales.

How I had ChatGPT help with my blurb and marketing copy

Again, I’ll use myself as an example. For The Dressmaker’s Secret Earl, I came up with this as my initial blurb/back cover copy:

Marriage to a scoundrel is the last thing baronet’s daughter Augusta wants.

In fact, she’d rather turn her back on the whole of high society and earn her own way as a modiste in London.

But the moment she arrives in the capital, she stumbles into the path of an earl with a clubfoot, whose captivating sister Mariana is not only her employer’s best client, but also has her own secret ambition to marry the unsuitable man she loves.

Augusta soon finds herself swept up in Mariana’s scandalous schemes involving cross-dressing, masquerades, and Whig politics—and falling in love against her better judgment with a man who represents everything she fled from.

But the earl has a secret too. Could he be the unscrupulous rake people think he is?

And will Augusta’s past catch up with her and dash all her hopes?

Not terrible. But I felt it wasn’t compelling enough. So I asked ChatGPT to improve on it:

A marriage of convenience to a scoundrel? Not if Augusta can help it.

The impoverished daughter of a baronet, Augusta has no intention of being bartered away like a prize horse. Instead, she flees to London, determined to forge her own path as a modiste.

But fate has other plans. On her very first day in the city, she crosses paths with a brooding earl—one burdened with a clubfoot and a reputation nearly as scandalous as the proposal she ran from. His captivating sister, Mariana, is not only Augusta’s employer’s best client but harbors a secret ambition of her own: to marry the one man society deems wholly unsuitable.

Drawn into Mariana’s reckless schemes of masquerades, cross-dressing, and Whig intrigue, Augusta soon finds herself entangled in more than just scandal—she’s losing her heart to a man who embodies everything she swore to escape.

But the earl has secrets of his own. Is he truly the rogue society believes him to be?

And when Augusta’s past comes calling, will her newfound independence—and her heart—survive?

ChatGPT is much better at finding those keywords and buzzwords, and I think the final version is definitely an improvement.

It also came up with some even shorter versions to use in different marketing situations:

Two women. Two forbidden loves. One unforgettable London season.
Augusta fled a forced marriage to chase independence as a modiste. Mariana is a duke’s daughter with her heart set on a man society shuns.
As their worlds collide amid scandal, secrets, and stolen moments, both women must risk everything for a chance at love.
A sweeping Regency romance with two deliciously defiant heroines and the men they were never supposed to love.

And here’s another:

One runaway baronet’s daughter. One rebellious duke’s sister.
Two very unladylike romances in the making.
Augusta wants freedom, not a husband. Mariana wants a man no one approves of.
But between secret rendezvous, scandalous disguises, and an earl with a very kissable scowl…
London’s about to get very interesting.
Perfect for fans of strong heroines, slow-burn romance, and a dash of delightful chaos.

But it’s always a question of what you’re comfortable with. Rarely do I get something I can just copy and paste without tweaking, but sometimes it “sees” things slightly differently and helps me think of something else.

Exercise:

Brainstorm titles. Think of three, and then try them out on a couple of friends. Ask them:

1. What kind of book do you think this is?
2. Would you open a book with that title (only relevant if they read your genre)?
3. How easy is the title to say?

Then, after reviewing the blurbs of the bestsellers in your sub-genre, have a go at a blurb for your book. It should be no more than 250 words, and ideally less.

Think of a subtitle for the book.

Think of a possible title for your series.

Finally, brainstorm a few ideas for subsequent books in your series.

I would be happy to review your final title, subtitle, series title, and blurb. Save them to a folder in Google Drive and make the folder accessible by clicking on the title of the folder, going down to “share” and selecting it, and then making the link clickable by all with the ability to comment.

Here are a few screenshots to help: