They’re not stupid. Most romance readers have some college education and many are educated professionals. Most work outside the home part or full-time.

They read for escapism – and for the emotional intensity they find in Romances. Don’t talk down to them.

This is important because you can’t set out to write without having some idea who you are writing for. Every genre has its reader expectations. Your readers will expect that certain things will happen. For example, the hero will be desirable, the heroine feisty. They may have any number of problems along the way but they will end up with the prospect of happiness before them.

Different publishers insist on different conventions. Some want their heroine to indulge in no more than a deep and loving kiss, while others are happy with, in fact insist on,  a spicy love scene or two. But these are details. The major expectations remain the same.

And that’s fine. That’s what draws people to read romance. They want to identify with the characters and live their intensity and passion along with them. They want to imagine themselves living happily ever after with the man (or woman) whose crinkly smile reduces them to mush.

In our Guide to Writing Romance, we tell you everything you need to know about your readers, so that you can understand exactly who you’ll be writing for. We also set out the expectations of your readers. Around these, you can weave your creative spell and create a story that is uniquely your own.