This post has been on my mind for a while. I never really had the time to write it. As Message from a Mistress continues to do well and all of the Hoodwives series are still flying off the shelves, I felt I had to make note of my observation (and probably the same observation of other authors).
It is indeed all in the title.
Honestly, my writing style and delivery has been the same in Live and Learn, Show and Tell, and Message from a Mistress.
I mean, perhaps I was bit more polished by MFAM but I really feel the drama, the characters, the delivery…comparitive. The main difference? The title.
Live and Learn? Eh. A little too ABC and 123?
Show and Tell? Hmmm. getting a little warmer with it…but not yet.
Message from a Mistress? BAM. Got it. Scandal, drama, juice. A mistress sent a message? To the wife? What did it say? What did the wife do? All of it is evoked from that title. Nail on the head. My breakout mainstream novel.
Mistress No More? Yup. It’s gonna draw the readers. I just know it.
Soooo maybe we should repackage Live and Learn and Show and Tell and give them new, more salacious titles:
Live and Learn to be a Mistress
Show and Tell a B*itch
Okay, maybe not. lol.
There a lot of well written, drama-driven books out there…and you can’t always judge a book by its cover (or its title). Ha!