Month: May 2025

Etching of woman in multicolour party hat with party blower and unicorn-topped birthday cake with three book covers on plaid background.
I forgot to categorize this one!, Paul Coccia, Author

Paul Coccia: 3 Queer YA Emma Retellings to Celebrate Clueless’ 30th and Jane Austen’s 250th

Catherine

Although publishers may have seen three queer Emma retellings as a bad sales omen, rather than creating a Cher and Amber or Emma and Jane Fairfax rivalry, we embraced the rainbow and created distinct variations, demonstrating how Jane Austen is ripe to be played with and evolved in a post-modern way. Consider this my open letter arguing for the formal creation of an Austenverse.

Alison McKenzie, Author

Alison McKenzie: Who gets an HEA? Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love self-publishing

Catherine

But “your characters’ identities are such that romance readers won’t want to read about them, and romance publishers won’t want to buy a book about them?” That’s not fixable. I didn’t want to fix it. It’s one thing to hear “your book’s not that good.” It’s quite another to hear “your book’s great! But peasants don’t sell.” That, to me, is not acceptable.