14666253_644795665701947_5398991346943733568_nSomething cool happened today to Penny Reid, which is me… but not really me. Penny Reid is you.
Allow me to explain (but feel free to skip if this doesn’t interest you).
Penny Reid was told by over 100 agents and publishers that romance readers don’t read Penny’s kind of books. The words are too big. The concepts are too complicated. There are too many characters to keep track of, all with complex personalities and too many flaws.
So Penny self-published.
And the publishers kept telling her they loved her voice, but wanted her to “tone it down.” Simplify it. Lessen the reading level. Remove all the challenging bits.
Fast forward to now.
‘Beard Science’ is arguably my strangest book, with the “biggest words”, and the most complex/flawed protagonists, with a giant cast of characters.
It just hit the USA Today at #43. That means, out of all the millions of books sold in the USA, it was #43.
Currently, it has a 4.65 rating on Goodreads and a 4.9 rating on Amazon.
Guess what, publishers? Guess. What.
Forget it, I’ll tell you.
READERS OF ROMANCE ARE FUCKING BRILLIANT!
They are smart and clever and want to be challenged. They want empowered female characters. They want flaws. They want complex. They want unique and novel and different. I have proof!
So, something cool happened today to Penny Reid. And by Penny Reid, I mean all of you. Something cool happened to all of you. Because you– my smart, clever, strong, brilliant readers– just proved everyone wrong. <3