Gestation and Birth of the Monthly Unusual Historicals Post

My Unusual Historicals "idea" wasn't even my idea. It started as the brain child of Carrie Lofty, who back in the day had a group blog called Unusual Historicals.  Carrie and I had a conversation at some point and I decided to start highlighting new titles on my blog that fit the mold.  That began in 2011, the posts eventually went over to Heroes & Heartbreakers, and when Macmillan pulled the plug the feature came back to my blog with a cross-posted collaboration with Love in Panels.

Over the years my philosophy on putting together these posts has changed.  Back in 2011 my main concerns were focusing on a mix of digital-first and print. Self-published titles started appearing once authors got the ability to list pre-orders with the major retailers and, to be frank, the depth, breadth and quality of self-publishing expanded.

But I suspect there are questions about how I generate these posts because, to be frank, some months offer more variety, more diversity, and just plain "more" than others.  

First, it's important to note that I will firmly believe, with my last dying breath that People Are Neither Genre Nor Trope.  I preach this all the dang time at The Day Job.  I came to romance during the BS era of the "multi-cultural" sub genre.  Which is to say that a historical romance written by a Black author, featuring Black characters was categorized as "multi-cultural" and not, oh here's a radical thought!, as a historical romance.  Romances written by authors of color featuring characters of color were "other-ed" but to be blunt it was a practice that disproportionately affected Black authors. It's a practice I've always abhorred, for the obvious reasons, but also for the hypocrisy of it.  Romance as a genre is often "other-ed" in public libraries (I want to burn all spinner racks to the ground...), oftentimes not cataloged (!!!) and yet the genre itself was doing this within it's own ranks.

In short? A historical romance is a historical romance.  Beverly Jenkins' historical romances are "unusual" not because she's a Black author writing about Black characters falling in love.  They're "unusual" because they're westerns, colonials, set in New Orleans etc.  There is nothing unusual about Black authors writing about Black love and the sooner the genre accepts that the better.  If Beverly Jenkins writes a book about an American heiress going to England to marry a cash poor Earl?  Yeah, not unusual.  Unless the the American heiress turns out to be a doctor and the Earl is opening a brewery or something.  What makes "unusual" unusual is that it needs to be outside of Duke McDukeville.  And if it is a English-set historical it has to have something to set it apart - like it's set during the Tudor era, the hero isn't titled, the heroine has a job - something!

People Are Neither Genre Nor Trope.

You can think I'm wrong - but here's a secret, I'm never wrong on my blog.

Now that we've covered that, how do I find titles?  Well, it's changed a lot over the years so I'll share my current practice, which isn't ideal but the best I have at the moment.

1) I try to keep an eye out on social media for mentions of upcoming releases that apply.  Usually I'm stumbling across titles by happy accident given that I'm finding social media largely intolerable these days.  The main sources of data mining have been Twitter, authors I follow on Facebook and author newsletters.

2) I do an advanced eBook and print book search on Amazon which is just as tedious as it sounds.  Mostly because I have to wade through a bunch of stuff that isn't even historical romance or it's Daddy Kink (seriously y'all so much Daddy Kink....)

3) I'll check specific publisher web sites - Kensington and Harlequin are popular sites to hit since they're consistent with the "unusual."  I also check digital-first outfits like Carina and Entangled.

4) Absolutely nothing wrong with inspirational romance, but I tend to keep my lists secular unless I'm familiar enough with the author to gauge their track record on "how much God stuff" to expect.  Also, bluntly put - unusual is easier to find in inspirational than it is in secular hence another reason to focus on secular.

It's not perfect. I'm automatically missing any self-published releases that aren't up for preorder.  This would be why my post tends to go up at the end of the month: the simple fact I'm going to catch more titles that way.  I'm at the mercy of Amazon's algorithms which are a hot mess - but given how large of a market-share Amazon is for self-published authors (see: Kindle Unlimited) if I want self-published authors represented (and I do because see that paragraph on diversity again...) I can't really get away from them. 

Is my Unusual Historicals column perfect?  Well, no. Nothing is. It's my blog, my post, and is going to reflect the work I put into it.  I'm a librarian so believe me when I say I'm putting in the very best work I'm personally capable of.  You may like that, you may not. It's not a feature that has ever purported to be all things to all readers - much like this blog.

File this under general housekeeping.  It's a post I've been meaning to do for a while and now feel better for having done so.

Seven Years Of Bat Cave Awesomeness

And you all thought today was just like any other Sunday.

Today marks the 7th anniversary of The Misadventures Of Super Librarian. Yes, I have been blogging for seven years. Some of you might be wondering what it takes to blog for seven straight years, with no major interruptions (I don't blog every day, but I've also never taken an extended leave of absence). Well, I'm here to let you in on the secret.

It helps to have an inflated sense of self-importance.

Tee Hee.

Over the years my blog has most certainly been a work in progress. I've never had a clear plan. I've never been the best at self-promotion. No, really. I haven't. I tend to keep myself holed up behind the computer screen and...well...just blog.

Certainly over the years this blog has allowed me to do some pretty awesome stuff. I've met wonderful, fantastic people (online and in real life - you know who you are). I've gotten to work, however marginally, with one of the largest publishers in the world. I've given presentations. I've answered e-mails. I've read a lot of really great books.

I'm not sure what the secret to me doing all this great stuff as been - but I'd hazard a guess that it's just the sheer steadiness and longevity of the blog. Also, voice. I cannot stress enough how important "voice" is. I know other bloggers wrestle with this idea, and the only advice I have to offer is be yourself. Don't hide behind the idea of what you think you should be. Be who you are. Some readers will love you for it. Others won't. And that's OK. Not everybody likes me, so they don't visit the Bat Cave. That's fine. There are blogs out there that I'm not wild about - so I don't visit them. Not everybody can be a rock star, and frankly I'm not convinced anyone truly is. Like books, no blogger is universally loved.

Well, maybe KristieJ. She's the closest we got at any rate.

All you can do is keep on keepin' on. Put one foot in one of the other. Find your rhythm. Find what works for you. And be yourself. Don't fake it in the vain hope you're going to "make it." Because genuine is a lot more interesting to read than phony.

I've had to remind myself of this recently because after seven years of blogging, and ten plus years hanging around the online romance community (yes, I know I have no life - thanks for asking though), I had been getting more than a little fed up lately. Tired, if you will. But I did what I always do. I chalked it up to a raging case of PMS, not enough chocolate, too little caffeine and I kept on keepin' on.

There is no supah-secret handshake to blogging other than consistency. Keep on keepin' on. The community is certainly a big and interesting enough place for all sorts of readers and writers. And the more of us their are, the more interesting as a whole we are. Even those personalities that can get on my last good nerve (here Wendy, have some more chocolate!). Because that's what makes us interesting. That's life. Nobody is going to love everybody. Not everybody is going to love what you do. Not everybody loves what I do. And it's OK. Trust me. I've got seven years in to prove it.

Obligatory Disclosure Post

Since the FTC has now revised their guide on endorsements (and if you don't know what I'm talking about, check out Dear Author's posts on the topic), I figured what the hell? Everybody else is doing one, so why not do my very own disclaimer post! I suspect 99.99% of you could give a rat's ass, but if I do this post, I can then bury the link on my sidebar and never have to deal with this boring crap ever again. See, it's win-win! Plus, I don't think I've ever talked about this stuff before, so it's probably good for me to let it all hang out (as it were).

1) I am a member of Amazon Associates. This means when I link to Amazon, and you click on that link, and you then purchase the product, I get a small "fee" for referring you. I mostly did this on a lark, since I use Blogger, which is a free service, and unlike the bigger blogs out there, I don't have any web hosting costs and am not too concerned with postage costs for contests (since I rarely run contests). So far, since signing up for the program in the spring of 2007, I've made less than $90. Yeah. Small potatoes thy name is Wendy.

Guess it's a good thing I didn't impulsively quit my day job. Ha!

I also use my Amazon Associates ID when linking over at my Upcoming Historical Romances wiki. I justify doing this because - hot damn! Do you know how much time I spend working on that thing? I know it doesn't look like much; basically it's just a list with some pretty cover art. But chasing down that information and getting it posted does take some effort on my part. If I can earn a few pennies for the time I spend on it, I'm going to take them.

Linking to Amazon does in no way constitute an endorsement of any kind on my part. I link just as readily to books that made my eyes bleed as I do to books I want to have babies with. If you don't want to put any money in my pocket? That's cool. No skin off my nose. Don't click on any of my Amazon links and then don't put the book(s) in question in your shopping cart. Easy peasy. And we can even still be friends.

2) I do, on occasion, accept advanced copies of books from authors and publishers. In no way does receiving these ARCs "earn" an author or publisher higher marks when it comes to my reviewing. If I hate the book, I'm going to say I hated it. Regardless of whether or not I got it for free. If I loved it, I'm going to tell readers of this blog why I loved it. Simple as that.

I've been reviewing online since 1999, and in that time never once has my objectivity been called into question (well, at least to my face). I sort of resent that it is now - even though I've hardly been singled out. But whatever....

To make it easy, when I'm reviewing an ARC on this blog, I will now add "ARC Review" in the tag field at the bottom of the post. I will start doing this as of today, October 8, 2009. Since I have yet to go back and do general tagging on the bulk of my archives? Yeah, don't expect me to retroactively tag my older ARC review posts. Even if I could remember what reviews were for ARCs, frankly? I don't wanna.

And so ends this disclaimer. Yada, yada, yada.