The Reader, the Author, and a Book: a Love Story in Three Acts

Welcome to Classic and Cozy!

And welcome home. Settle down with your cup of tea and I’ll tell you a story. (This is the part where you imagine yourself with a warm cup of your favorite tea or coffee, perhaps a crackling fire on the hearth, and the smell of brownies in the oven. Mmmm.)

ACT 1

There was once a group of writers, all published under a particular book imprint that concerned itself with the sharing of stories that fell under three categories: sweet romances, cozy mysteries and classic westerns. (At this point, envision a group of writers. We all look very cool and/or elegant. Honest.)

Through this publisher, readers enjoyed the diverse voices of writers who were writing the sorts of books they wanted to read. A book that was comfortable. A book that you could share with your child, a co-worker, your grandparent. Sold largely to libraries and schools, the writers enjoyed sharing their stories and built a bond of trust with their readers.

And then it all changed. (Insert ominious music, a storm brewing outside, a shadowy figure flits past the window. Oooooh, Scary.)

ACT 2

The publishing industry changed – practically over night (crash of cymbals). The publishing company sold its back list and our books were no longer going out to libraries, high-schools, no longer reaching our readers.

(Insert sad music. I’m choking up, at this part.) Separated from our readers, we reached out to our other family – our fellow writers of sweet romance, cozy mystery, and classic westerns.

In a massive brainstorming session, we puzzled over how best to reach out to the other members of our family – our readers. (Here, you can envision a think tank, sans the water, where all of us cool and/or elegant writers are sitting around an oblong table, throwing out ideas, and using the very latest in technology to share brainstorming ideas. It’s all very techy and edgy.)

Then an idea was born. (Light bulb.)

As edgy as we all had become, going off on our writerly tangents, writing willy nilly, literary, lusty, dice'em-slice'ems, we knew our readers were the same traditionalists. Our readers still needed access to our sweet romances, cozy mysteries, and classic westerns. Yee ha! We would create a blog. A massive cooperative blog – where we could re-connect with our readers. We would reassure our readers that we did not abandon them! (“Shane! Come back, Shane!” - Shane, 1953.)

ACT 3

And so, here we are! (This is the resolution of the conflict scene. The setting, a beach. The sun rises over the ocean, U.S. east coast. The reader and the author approaching one another from opposite directions on the beach. They see one another. They increase their pace in moving toward one another.)
Reader: "I missed you!"
Author: "I thought I had lost you forever."
We are so sorry if you couldn’t find us for a while. We missed you too!

Epilogue:

Classic and Cozy writers would like to invite YOU, dear  reader, to follow this blog by clicking that little clicky thing - there - to the right - or maybe it's down below. Okay, actually, it's one of those things where you insert your e-mail address. Click it to follow Classic and Cozy for updates on more of the books you love and trust!

Sofie Couch writes sweet romantic comedies with just enough piss and vinegar to make you spew your coffee and test your bladder control. From her home in Central Virginia, she writes in and around raising a “pa’r-a-normal young adults”, wrangling chickens amidst nightly coyote raids, and living a romantic comedy with her sweetie-pie of twenty years. She studied Rhetoric at the University of Virginia to obtain a B.A. in b.s. and fiction is what she continues to crank out with the help of her writing muses – a dog that thinks she’s a cat, a cat that thinks she’s the alpha dog, and 1,000 (fictitious) Typing Monkeys, (which also just happens to be the name of her blog). You can follow the high-jinks of Sofie and her menagerie at http://www.sofiecouch.blogspot.com, (Originally published through Avalon Books under the name Annette L. Couch-Jareb, she has been going off on those aforementioned writerly tangents, but has found her Classic and Cozy home again with KEEPING UP WITH MR. JONES and her free Christmas read, The Snow Globe. Enjoy!