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Welcome to the Romance Genre Specialist
I'm Emily Keyes, romance editor, ghostwriter, book marketer, and avid reader.
I started the Romance Genre Specialist because I have one goal: to help authors like you get great romance novels out into the world. I do it with affordable services and helpful blog posts that empower authors to achieve their goals, no matter their budget.
I work with all levels of steam, from closed-door to pure smut, all romance genres except dark, horror, and mafia, and all triggers except dubious consent and rape.
I also edit cozy mysteries with romantic sub-plots.
Though I'm originally from the US, I now live in the UK, and work with authors in both countries, editing both US and UK English dialects.
My Background
I've worked in the romance industry for 7 years as a romance editor and ghostwriter.
I've edited romance novels for Cobalt Fairy and Relay Publishing and indie authors Haley Weir, Goldie Walker, Layla Valentine, Rosie Darden, Clara Dunn, K.C. Bishop, Jenna Bigelow, Selena Ruth, Anne Knight, and K.D. Richards, among others. I've written blurbs for Evelyn Boyett, Kendall Sharpe, and Clara Dunn, and I've ghostwritten over 60 plot outlines and 80 manuscripts for USA Today and Amazon Top 100 bestselling authors, as well as authors who are just starting out. I also do fiction historical, women's fiction, and romance manuscript evaluations for Greenleaf Book Group.
My experience with romance publishing isn't just on the business side. I publish romance myself, managing two pen names and doing the covers, blurbs, newsletters, and, of course, all the writing, for each.
All this means that when I say I know the romance genre, I mean I know the romance genre. I know its plot structure and the new variations of that structure (hooray for low angst!), its sub-genres, its tropes, its steam levels, and the reader expectations for each. And if I don't know it, I educate myself about it; there's nothing better than realizing there's an aspect of the genre I'm not familiar with and doing a research deep dive!
I keep a close eye on the market, track reader expectations and trends like most people track their daily step count, and read as many new romance novel releases as I can cram into my Kindle, all so I'm up to date on what is, unequivocally, the best fiction genre out there, and how you, dear romance author, can carve out your own little corner of it.
Ready to work together?