Guest Post with Nancy Madore & Giveaway!

I'm incredibly excited to have Nancy Madore on the blog today. She's super sweet and incredibly open when talking about her new release Enchanted Dreams. Her and I have talked at length about the novel and I think you all will be just as intrigued by her thoughts on erotic writing and women's fantasies as I was.

Nancy's latest release in her Enchanted Series, 'Enchanted Dreams', is a collection of erotic shorts that feature paranormal elements. In my own reading experience, I found 'Enchanted Dreams' to be refreshingly original. Each individual tale is captivating while emotionally rich and touched by the supernatural. To read more about my thoughts, check out my REVIEW!

Nancy has also been super generous in offering to giveaway an autographed copy of 'Enchanted Dreams' to one lucky commenter. Enjoy and Good Luck!

Hey there VampFanGirl, thanks for inviting me to come and blog! It’s a pleasure to be here and I have to admit that I’m pining to get my books “hussy approved.”

I’m the girl with the stunning covers! I really lucked out with the Harlequin design team, didn’t I? Those talented artists really got into the Enchanted series and it shows. I actually had to sit down after seeing the latest cover for Enchanted Dreams.

There’s an old proverb that says, “You can’t judge a book by its cover,” but apparently women who read romance and erotica aren’t into ancient proverbs. It seems, however, that many publishers are. I’m an avid reader of romance and erotica, and I have to admit I’ve almost passed over some really good books just because they had such cheesy covers. A reader’s first impression of a book is often the cover. If the publisher doesn’t take the time and effort to package it properly, it could make a potential reader wonder if it’s worth reading. Of course that’s not fair to the author, because they rarely have much input in their covers. They’ve signed their story over to the publisher and they can do little more than hope the publisher will do it justice. But as is typical of big business today, many publishers are cutting corners in stupid ways, like on book covers. I know an author who wrote for a publisher who had all their covers pre-designed in bulk. When a book was finished it got whichever cover was on top of the pile. It didn’t matter if the heroine in her story was a raging redhead and the cover featured a demure brunette. They had no time for such mundane details. But I ask you, how many times, as you’re reading a steamy erotic romance, will you stop to take yet another look at the cover? I do it all the time. Another company I heard of recently cut their review copies. Review copies! Where on earth would authors be without reviewers? These publishers could save even more money if they simply closed up the printing presses – and that is what they might as well do when they start making cuts like these. Having worked in marketing, I know first hand how damaging these decisions are to authors.

This is not to say that what’s inside a book is unimportant. A great cover deserves a great story. It raises the standard and demands more. And in my opinion, we should all be striving to give more. Women readers have the power to dominate the market since they buy the most books (68%). A huge chunk of that is romance and erotica. Everyone in the industry – writers, editors, cover designers and publishers—should be tripping over themselves to please these mighty consumers. The problem is that women are just too darned nice. They should be stomping their feet and making demands, but they’re too busy taking what they can get.

My background is in marketing and sales, as I mentioned earlier, so when I started writing (about six years ago) I began by researching the market. I was particularly impressed by some of the newer authors who were writing romance novels that featured more realistic leading female characters than the stereotypical “perfect” woman. How I hated her: she was virginal – yet super responsive in an instant, skinny yet well endowed, young but wise beyond her years, stunningly beautiful but completely unaware of it, and so forth. The characters that resembled you and I were the villains. We had to be overcome and wiped out. This might well have something to do with what I learned later when I researched women’s fantasies. I discovered that a very popular sexual fantasy for women was to imagine themselves as someone else. It turns out that in order to get the most out of a sexual experience a woman needs to feel sexy. The trouble is that in our culture—the media being what it is—most women don’t feel sexy. Some can’t even visualize themselves as a sexual being anymore. But women, being the adaptable creatures that they are, started fantasizing that they were “sexy,” so that they would be able to enjoy sex. The fantasies run along the lines of the typical stereotype…she imagines she’s younger, a virgin again, skinny, more endowed, less endowed, and so forth. And for those who don’t have this fantasy? I personally believe that the reported 70% or so women who claim to have the sexual dysfunction of having no interest in sex whatsoever is made up, in part, of a large number of women who quite simply don’t feel good about themselves.

Needless to say, I definitely wanted to be part of this growing trend to write without the stereotypes. But unlike romance, erotica has always been shaped and defined by stereotypes. Much of the erotica out there was virtually a concept of what a “sexual” female is. Artists and writers alike have tried to pin down and capture the perfect female image to enhance their perception of erotica. Often, in finding that perfect image, they had to create something that was considerably out of our league. Unfortunately, while being extremely interesting and entertaining for men, these erotic images can be quite alienating for women. My first goal in writing erotica was to eliminate the female image altogether. Throw out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak, if, in fact, a hyped up female image is truly at the center of what was erotic. I decided to focus on sexual ideas, behaviors and fantasies—and real fantasies, not what I thought fantasies should be but what they are. I didn’t know if it would work or not. But the feedback from readers is encouraging. Even men are enjoying the stories without the visual effects. And women seem to really enjoy being able to read an erotic fantasy without being constantly reminded of what they’ll never be. In my stories they can even slip themselves into the starring role if they want (novel idea!). The position is, at any rate, open!

Even in the short time since I’ve started writing, erotica and romance have been coming together more and more. I’m even seeing erotic elements to stories in other genres, such as drama and crime novels. And I’m delighted to say that many of the main characters are looking more and more like you and I. A few authors are still clinging to that outdated mode of creating a super sexual being to make us regular women look like chumps, but I think overall authors are wising up. The paranormal craze is helping. Now, instead of perfect little virgins lining up to tell their stories we have shape-shifters and vampires – and in spite of all their superhuman strength and/or powers, I personally think they make much more realistic characters than those heroines of old! Give me a ghoul over a skinny, goody-two-shoes any day of the week. Women have spoken! And as we’re slowly realizing what we want, the smart authors are jumping in and making a genuine effort to deliver it.

Now if only we could get the women’s magazines to get on board! But one thing at a time…

So these are my thoughts about book covers and erotica and romance, and I sincerely hope that the next book you read will entertain you without interfering with your fantasies.

Thanks for having me and happy reading,

Nancy Madore

*Contest Open to All*
**Contest Closes and Winner will be Chosen Randomly and Announced Friday, September 11th**

A big thank you to Nancy Madore for guest posting and providing a signed copy of 'Enchanted Dreams'. Please be sure to take a moment to visit Nancy's website for the latest information on her current and upcoming releases.