She wanted to write a bestseller. She wasn't ready for the plot twist.

Being an indie romance author was supposed to be a dream come true. But after publishing umpteen books, I still haven’t “made it” and now I’m just waiting for the dark cloak of insignificance to completely snuff out my career.

I decide to roll the dice on a marketing guru who swears he can yank me out of obscurity. But after a frantic search for “book boyfriend material” and an unexpected bar encounter, I accidentally blow my entire budget on an escort.

Forrest is a charming single dad by day and hotter-than-sin escort by night. But before I can fire him and ask for a refund, he reminds me how I got here in the first place… I’m in desperate need of inspiration.

He might be a walking red flag, but Forrest is ready to be my muse, which means spending the next three months helping me “research” my next bestseller. (Hey, I’m manifesting here.) Our game plan? Act out all the romance novel tropes that make a bingeable love story: brooding billionaires, masked men, cowboys in small towns, and even swoon-worthy green flags.

Forrest plays all the book boyfriend parts perfectly. So perfectly I’m starting to wonder if his feelings for me might be real, or if he’s just earning his paycheck. I’m not sure if I’m trying to write a love story, or live one out.

When readers purchase your book, they’re hoping for a good story. They expect you’ll take them on a journey they can lose themselves in, with well-drawn, dynamic characters they’ll fall in love with. Whether your romance is steamy or sweet, fantastical or comedic, your readers want an adventure. They want to feel. They might even hope to learn something. Your job is to not disappoint—or better, to blow them away. It is that brand of satisfaction that earns the five-star reviews, the five-figure (and greater) incomes, and loyal fans eagerly waiting for what comes next.

The quality of your latest book is the best marketing for your next book. So how do you know if you’ve written a quality book? A professional book editor is plugged in to the industry daily. She knows what readers are buying now—and errors don’t sell. Her eagle eye catches mistakes, large and small, that could ruin the moment and pull the reader out of the story. Typos are jarring and unprofessional. Story-level inconsistencies sound alarms in readers’ minds. An amateur love story won’t elicit the yearning in readers that compels them to turn pages. Paired with forgettable writing, it won’t sell.

I like to approach a writer’s endeavor for what it is: your business, as well as your art. An investment in quality romance novel editing is for you, the writer who’s gotten this far and isn’t about to stop already. It’s for your characters, the ones who keep you up at night, urging you to pen their stories. Most importantly, it’s for your readers—those persnickety creatures who buy your books, sustaining you, trusting you’ll deliver a powerful story.