N.L. romance writers come out from under the covers at meet and greet

Bestselling romance writers from Newfoundland and Labrador came out from under the covers at a meet-and-greet in St. John's on Saturday.

The event, called Romancing the Rock Exposed, featured more than a dozen local romance authors, some of whom are usually disguised under a pen name.

The writers talked to fans and aspiring writersabout steamy story building, independentpublishing, how to submit to publishers, and book marketing in the romance genre.

Bestselling author Denise Fowler writes under the pen name Katherine King.

"There's a tonof fabulous local authors here," Fowler said.

"In the romance genre, since February, we've gathered together over 25 authors and what a lot of people don't realize is that these authors are publishing globally. And a lot of them have attained bestselling author status."

Fowler, who published her second romance novel in June, was picked up by an Australian publisher and is now second in the world for romance sales in iTunes iBooks.

Alot of them have attainedbestsellingauthor status.- Denise Fowler

Romancing the Rock is a group of local romance writers who have come together to support each other and promote the romantic genre in Newfoundland and Labrador. Collectively, the group has sold more than a million books.

USA Today bestsellingauthor Kate Sparkes says events like Romancing the Rock Exposed are good opportunities to get local romance out in the open.

"To get an understanding of the arts culture that we have going on. There are a lot of wonderful authors in the area. I had no idea there were so many authors around until I joined this group," Sparkes said.

"Live events like this are a good chance for people to come out, meet the authors, and see what's going on."