Julia Quinn on JQ Editions: Curating Historical Romance

Short Description

Get the scoop on Julia Quinn's new venture straight from the source: JQ Editions is a subscription book box dedicated to curating historical romance to help new readers discover a love for the subgenre. Julia shares insights about the inspiration behind this project, her curation process, and the challenges facing historical romance in the market today.

Tags

jq editions, historical romance

Show Notes

Get the scoop on Julia Quinn's new venture straight from the source: JQ Editions is a subscription book box dedicated to curating historical romance to help new readers discover a love for the subgenre. Julia shares insights about the inspiration behind this project, her curation process, and the challenges facing historical romance in the market today. 

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Guest: Julia Quinn

JQ Editions Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1361360798/jq-editions-julia-quinns-curated-romance-book-box?

JQ Editions website: https://jqeditions.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jqeditions/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JQEditions

Transcript

Andrea Martucci: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Shelf Love, a podcast about romance novels and how they reflect, explore, challenge, and shape desire. I'm your host, Andrea Martucci, and on this episode I'm joined by Julia Quinn, bestselling author with a career spanning 30 years and over three dozen novels and novellas.

Julia, thank you so much for being here.

Julia Quinn: Thank you for having me.

Andrea Martucci: So we actually saw each other in real life recently. Was it the end of October where we did the Boston Book Festival and you were a headliner keynote speaker, and so I had the privilege of meeting you and doing the q and a with you on stage.

Julia Quinn: Yes, that's what it was.

Andrea Martucci: How was your time in Boston? Did you do anything Boston ish?

Julia Quinn: You know I don't know if it was necessarily Boston ish. I saw friends, so I guess.

That's Boston ish because my friends are there and it's always fun to go back because, you know, I went to college in the area and it's just fun to be there.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah, it's a good place. I like it. So we talked about your career when we were on stage [00:01:00] at Boston Book Festival, we talked about lots of other things, and then backstage you mentioned that you had a very exciting venture coming up. So that is what we are here primarily to talk about today, although I'm sure we'll touch on many other things.

So without further ado, why don't you give an overview of what's coming from Julia Quinn?

Julia Quinn: Okay.

My new venture is JQ Editions, and this is something set up by my very best friend and me. We wanted to do something together. We wanted to do something to celebrate historical romance because I love historical romance, so many people do, and yet it is really struggling in the marketplace and I'm not sure why that is.

I had really hoped there would be more of a Bridgerton effect for other writers, and there doesn't seem to be. And so I've been doing everything I can behind the scenes to help lift the genre. I've been working to support historical romances. I have been trying to, recommend them in the media, recommend them on [00:02:00] socials, but we decided we could do a subscription book box. And the book box features historical romances, all personally chosen by me. So these are not just books I like. These are books I love. And it's a mix of brand new books, recent gems, and classics of the modern genre. And each book will come out in hardcover with a beautifully designed cover. I work very closely with illustrators to make sure that the art really celebrates the book and the author. And like you'll notice if you get the collection, the only thing that ties the art together is the logo on the spine.

Otherwise, I really want it to be all about that book and not me, and not our company.

They've got full color end papers, they've got beautiful sprayed edges. At least the first ones are gonna have that really nice soft touch cover that's really luxurious.

Andrea Martucci: Mm.

Julia Quinn: That will probably depend on the book. And so the three [00:03:00] launch books are The Last Lady B by Eloisa James, which is actually, that's a brand new book.

I think our special edition will come out pretty shortly after the edition comes out in stores. And I got to read this one ahead of time and I actually think it's might be my favorite Eloisa James book. And that's saying a lot because I think she's marvelous. But it's a bit of a change for her. It's in the first person, which she's never done before, or at least not as a novel.

And it's got this wonderful kind of gothic aspect to it, but also like a little tongue in cheek Gothic-y. It's still very funny. So that's our first one. And then our second book is An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole, which I think is one of the most important romance novels of the last decade at least, if not ever.

That came out, I think in 2017 to universal acclaim. I believe it was one of the New York Times' hundred most notable books of the year, and at a time when they were not including romance novels on that list.

So it's about this woman who [00:04:00] has a photographic memory, who is a free Black woman from Boston, I believe, who actually willingly goes to the South as a spy during the Civil War and becomes, enslaved because of it.

She poses as a slave and she falls in love with another spy who is posing as a Confederate soldier. It's really a brilliant novel.

And then the third one is our classic of the modern genre. And it could be nothing but Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase. And I don't know what else there's to say about this book except that on just about every list it is mentioned as the best historical romance of all time. And as a historical romance author, I take no offense to that at all 'cause it's really an iconic book. So that is our third one.

Andrea Martucci: Somehow I never read Lord of Scoundrels until two years ago.

Julia Quinn: Oh, wow.

Andrea Martucci: And I had read other Loretta Chase books like Mr. Impossible, is that the one in Egypt?

Julia Quinn: I love Mr. Impossible.

Andrea Martucci: Oh, it's so good. So good. And I'm like, how did I miss this? And I always heard people talking about Lord of [00:05:00] Scoundrels.

And eventually I was like, okay, I'll read it. And so like the, so I had no rose colored

glasses.

Like it, I was reading it from a modern sensibility. And yeah, it's just - Jessica is just iconic. Dane it, it's classic uh, I don't know if I'd call it grumpy and sunshine.

He's grumpy.

Julia Quinn: He is the broody, tall, dark, and broody.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah. And she's not sunshine, but she holds her own with him, which is so delightful.

Julia Quinn: And then we do have some books picked out for 2027. I can't really share the whole list with you now, except for the first one, I will tell you is

Andrea Martucci: Whoops! This tidbit is still under embargo.

Julia Quinn: Which is the first book in the [ redacted] series, which is one of my absolute favorite series.

She's one of my absolute favorite authors. I think she's such a brilliant writer and I'm so delighted to give this book and hopefully the rest of the series, the royal treatment in terms of packaging

Andrea Martucci: But you gotta start at the beginning if you're gonna introduce people to it.

Julia Quinn: Yes. I mean, You don't have [00:06:00] to, but it's best. And that one we're designing really with a nod towards eventually doing the whole series, which lord only knows how long that will take. 'cause there's so many of them.

But we're doing things like making sure the font on the cover works for the other titles. And we've come up with an overall package that will tie together.

Andrea Martucci: And what I'm picking up, it sounds like your project, if you will, is to uplift historical romance. So obviously it's all focused on historical romances and as you said, so brand new, recent gems, classics, et cetera.

When Bridgerton the adaptation came out, there was the hope that historical romance specifically would rise in like awareness, particularly with younger or newer readers. And as you mentioned, the Bridgerton books even though they were like 20 plus years old, like those sold a lot, but then there wasn't really this overlap and I remember there were so many articles, right? You love Bridgerton, here's what you should pick up next. But contemporary was still really big when Bridgerton first came out. And then Romantasy has been really big since then. [00:07:00] And I'm wondering if you have any thoughts.

I definitely have some thoughts on what readers are saying, but do you have any ideas about why historical romance in general is struggling right now with younger readers maybe?

Julia Quinn: I don't know. It could be something on BookTok. I'm not on BookTok, so I can't speak to that very well. I just decided that BookTok did not need me inserting myself into their habitat.

Yeah. I just felt like I, I felt like if I was going to try to do stuff on TikTok, it would be very cringe and it wouldn't be something I could do well. So I decided not to go there. I don't know.

And I don't know if it's just a, his younger thing. You know what's interesting is when we were doing some research on my readership, you know, for this, my readership is not lacking in younger readers.

So it's not like, Bridgerton just picked up all the people my age. I've got a lot of younger readers out there. I mean, if you look at the spread, like who follows me on social media and stuff, there are a lot. If you go to my book signings especially, those [00:08:00] definitely skew toward the younger readers.

So they're there and they are picking up my books and I don't necessarily know why that's not spilling over to other people.

I really hope, it's not that they're picking up my books and not wanting to read any more historical romance, but I don't think they dislike them because, I'm only basing this some people who pick up my books and then choose to follow me and come to my book signing. So these are obviously people who like the historical romance I'm writing and I don't know why that's not leading them to more.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah. These are just anecdotal things I've heard. I think that increasingly, because there is so much greater awareness about like how the sausage was made in terms of like how wealth was created in the past, that I think some people are increasingly kinda seeing like even if it's not in the book, they're uncomfortable with other things that are going on at the time.

And I think there's a lot of ambivalence about like, do [00:09:00] you talk about it? Do you not talk about it?

Julia Quinn: That's true.

Andrea Martucci: so I don't know. It's interesting because like historical romance I think has traditionally been a place where you can fantasize about a world that is not your own,

Julia Quinn: Yes.

Andrea Martucci: so it's interesting 'cause it does feel like readers today, I won't just keep saying younger readers, but readers today, it's like they want the fantasy, but they're like, but I don't like really wanna go back into our own history to explore that fantasy.

Julia Quinn: That could be why they're going to Romantasy.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah.

Julia Quinn: I heard, gosh I think it was Sarah McLean. I could be wrong, but she said something like Romantasy is basically historical romance with dragons.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah, you know who's an interesting author to think about with historical romance is, have you ever heard of or read Alice Coldbreath?

Julia Quinn: No, I don't think so.

Andrea Martucci: Okay, so she self-published and she writes these books that some of them are actually historical, they take place in the Victorian era, but some of them take place in this sort of like fictional medieval ish era. And so [00:10:00] they're like faux historical. And what I think is brilliant about that is it gives you like the feeling of historical, but it's a made up world with completely different political system.

Julia Quinn: Gotcha.

Andrea Martucci: and it's not like there's like equality for everyone, but it sidesteps a lot of the issues you have with historicals that take place in the actual history of the world. But so anyways, I just thought that was like an interesting workaround for the problem of historical romance.

But this is all to say I love historical romance. I'm a big reader of historical romance, always have been. So anyways I think it is interesting, like why it has been hard to catch on.

So is your theory that with JQ Editions, if you can highlight these great novels, newer ones, recent gems, and classics, like how do you believe you can influence a readership that is maybe a little bit hesitant to continue into diving into historical romance?

Julia Quinn: I think I'm hoping that by [00:11:00] delivering a fabulous book into someone's hands, approximately every other month right now, maybe they'll read that and be like, I wanna read more by this author. At its simplest level. I can't fix the entire system, but I can do like one thing that will elevate one author at a time.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah.

Julia Quinn: And so that's what I'm gonna try to do. These are mostly authors who have a big backlist. We do have one author for our second year who doesn't. But we have a pretty big backlist and if we can get you hooked on another author then maybe be like, oh, let me find another one and another one.

Or maybe you can see ahead being, oh, these are the books that are coming in JQ Editions. Oh, she likes this author. Maybe I'll wait to read that book, but I'll try something else. Or maybe, we'll be able to build some kind of community where people can talk about these things.

I don't know. But it can't hurt,

I

Andrea Martucci: It can't hurt for sure

Julia Quinn: It can't hurt.

Andrea Martucci: And so when you think about that curation element, you were talking about BookTok, which by the way I don't go on TikTok because I know that I would get [00:12:00] addicted and that would be very bad for me. So I just never went on

Julia Quinn: Oh, no, I'm with you. I already have problems with animal videos on Instagram. I'll just be there like, whoosh. I'm like, oh my God. The dog is saying I love you.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah. And I just got a new puppy, so I get like constant puppy training videos. I'm like, oh, I should do that. Oh, I should do

Julia Quinn: Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. The Instagram algorithm totally knows me because I get animal videos, I get progressive politics, and books, and Lego.

Andrea Martucci: And Lego I love these little niche communities which romance is one. So on TikTok, you have BookTok or I don't, is there like a RomanceTok? I don't know, and so what is the key appeal there? It's this idea of curation, but I think what happens with the algorithm is what is popular just gets repeated over and over again.

So I think it is interesting that we're increasingly seeing these endeavors to curate beyond that, to provide the curation [00:13:00] benefit without just repeating the echo chamber of like the one thing that's popular.

Do you plan on doing any sort of like intro letters or something to contextualize why you chose the books?

Julia Quinn: Yes. We haven't really figured out precisely how that's gonna work yet. It's not going to be printed in the book, though, again, because I want the books to be all about the author and not about me.

Probably each book will come with a letter from me. Yeah I think that's what it's going to be. I'm not 100% sure, but I think that's how it'll work.

Andrea Martucci: Cool. I think you mentioned that none of the texts are gonna be edited. They're gonna be the original texts?

Julia Quinn: Yes. Or if the author has ever updated the text, it will be the latest one, but I'm not doing any editing.

Yeah it's what comes from the publisher and eventually we may do some type of independent thing working with an author who may be is doing indie publishing and, she would do the ebook or something and then we would do that. That's definitely something [00:14:00] that's in our thoughts and hazy plans. We don't have anything set for now though.

Andrea Martucci: The first three you mentioned, are those all Avon?

Julia Quinn: No, actually they are three different publishers.

Andrea Martucci: Oh, okay. 'Cause you're primarily an Avon author yourself, right?

Julia Quinn: I am 100% an Avon author. I'm a unicorn in that every book I've written has been with the same publishing house and the same editor, although in the future won't because my editor did move. But yeah I'm an oddity in publishing in that I have been at one place my entire career,

Andrea Martucci: Actually I'm remembering An Extraordinary Union. That's Kensington.

Julia Quinn: And Eloisa James has moved over to Simon and Schuster. I,

Andrea Martucci: Ah, okay. And so you're working with the publishers, not the au I'm sure you're also working with the authors, but like you're going to the publishers to get the rights and stuff and all that. Okay.

Julia Quinn: Exactly. And it certainly helps that, generally romance publishers know who I am, so I do have some street cred when I go to them saying I'm doing this thing. They can be like, oh, this probably will actually get off the ground.

Andrea Martucci: Right, right. It's not like, who are you? They're like, oh, you! Okay!

Julia Quinn: And the publishers are all [00:15:00] very excited because they're saying, this is something we don't have in historical romance.

And I can tell you based on my experiences, my special editions for Bridgerton have done incredibly well worldwide, actually.

I have gorgeous special editions in France, in Spain, in Germany, in Poland. They're just, they're actually going gangbusters. And I also would like to say that internationally, I don't think historical romance is struggling as much as it is in the United States.

Andrea Martucci: Really? So translations of things originally published in English.

Julia Quinn: usually. Usually. So there are a few, generally a few native language ones. But I was just at a book fair in Sweden, which was super fun. Sarah McLean was also there, so that was really fun that we got to hang out together and that, they were saying, no, our historical romance is doing great.

So I don't know, but I will also say I was in a Barnes and Noble the other day, and I haven't had a chance to actually go into a proper bookstore for a while. Or I guess a Barnes and Noble maybe. And I was in the romance [00:16:00] section and I said, I'll put together a Julia Quinn recommends table for you.

And it wasn't a big table, so there wasn't a lot of room. And generally when you put together one of these recommends table, you wanna have books that you can have a stack of at least three. And there wasn't a single historical romance that had more than one copy of it, except for mine.

And I wasn't gonna put my own books on the table. It was unbelievable.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah.

Julia Quinn: It was so hard to find. And also the way that they have it set up, they have all the trade paperbacks was the most thing. And then they did have a section of mass market, which I thought was great, so you could get some of the older historical romances, but it was just one copy of each.

They had 12 different Lisa Kleypas books, so probably more, but none in numbers where I could make a stack, none where they would be face out. None of the mass markets were face out because none of them had more than one copy. And part of me is thinking wow, it's a vicious circle, that historical romances isn't selling. So we're not gonna put it out this way, but there are fairly recent historical romances that Barnes and Noble could have purchased [00:17:00] four copies to go in there. And maybe they sold out, maybe they sold out. And maybe it's all good news, yeah.

Andrea Martucci: I, I've heard that Barnes and Noble in particular whoever decides what they purchase and put on the shelves that they made a really big push towards trade paperback and like obviously some historical romances particularly authors who started publishing more recently, have books coming out in trade paperback.

But, like Lisa Kleypas, I don't think I've seen any of her historicals in trade paperback. Like they're all in mass market, even the newer ones.

Julia Quinn: Yeah.

Although, I need to preface this by saying I have no knowledge of what's happening with Lisa's publishing. This is my speculation. Make that clear. I would not be surprised if we start seeing them reissuing in trade because they've gotta get them in there and mass market's disappearing as of, I can't remember the exact month.

It may have already happened. They're no longer gonna be publishing anything in mass market. Right now I'm in discussion saying like, how do we get my backlist in trade because not all of my backlist is in trade either.

And I'd like it [00:18:00] to be so I, for the authors who have a certain level of success, I would imagine like Lisa, like probably Eloisa, like Sarah McLean hopefully we'll start seeing some of the older ones getting reissued in ways.

And the big thing is, okay, let's make sure the packaging is good. I'm also not sure that historical romance has figured out the packaging that's gonna appeal to newer readers or current readers, I should say. And it's tough because when they do something that is a bit more in line with what's happening for contemporaries, a lot of historical romance readers are like, I don't like that. I don't want a cartoon cover. I don't want, so I don't know. I, but 'cause there was one, I'm trying to think of some, like Alexandra Vasti has illustrated covers.

Andrea Martucci: And she, yeah, she's in trade paperback and she has, a style of cover that I think is very in line with Yeah. And it's in line with what contemporary romance is doing, but it's still clearly historical, you know?

Julia Quinn: Appealing. Yeah, I think Berkley's been doing very nice covers for the historical trade papers that they've been doing. 'cause they have been doing them in trade for a little bit [00:19:00] now.

But again, when I was at Barnes and Noble, I was not seeing multiple copies of these books. Some of them, there was one I, I was happy I saw all of Evie Dunmoore's series, but just one each.

So I was glad that they carried the whole series, but it was just one each.

I guess makes sense 'cause they're not new. But there were also newer ones. I was like, now of course, I can't think of one offhand, but I was like, why are there not a bunch of these?

Andrea Martucci: Right, like why is there not more okay. So I was speaking at a class about publishing at Northeastern and so these are like 22 year olds. 'cause I think they were like seniors and we were talking about romance novel covers. And I collect vintage romance covers. Art, the art, I also collect the books, but I think people who follow me know this, but for example here's some of the art I have.

So I

Julia Quinn: I have cover flats if you want them.

Andrea Martucci: yes

Julia Quinn: Okay.

You'll have to wait till my house renovations are done because they're, I dunno where they're right now, but I have old cover flats.

Andrea Martucci: Absolutely, because some of your covers are Max Ginsburg [00:20:00] too, right? The step backs?

No,

Julia Quinn: I think, I think he predates me. I can't remember who did my covers, but I and there's nothing with Fabio. This is, sorry. We're gonna veer off topic for a second and tell you that before Bridgerton came out my number one question I would get from people was, where do you get your ideas?

And my number two question I would get from people is, is Fabio on any of your covers? And I'd be like, are you serious? And then oh my gosh, I was doing an interview for an Australian morning show by Zoom and Fabio was on with me. Oh my gosh. We weren't on at the same time, but we were in like, he was on like the screen. Anyway, it was very funny. I was, yeah,

Andrea Martucci: Oh my gosh. Yeah, no. Even today mass media cannot talk about romance without mentioning Fabio. Even if they're just saying, Fabio may not be on the covers anymore, but it's like you can't shake it. Okay. And I will admit that one of the covers over here does have Fabio as the model

Julia Quinn: Well, If you are a [00:21:00] connoisseur of vintage romance covers, you have to.

Andrea Martucci: The cover art is beautiful, like all the ones Elaine Duillo did, and this one's by John Ennis. But anyways, anyways, so I love these covers. I love the step backs. I love the Zebra romance covers. I just, I love these. And so I'm talking to this class of 22 year olds, and we are also talking about 831, that publisher and they have these cover, I won't slam them too hard. But anyways, they have these covers that it's like all they change is the colors on the exact same. Okay.

So I showed that to the class and the class was like, oh yeah, I like the aesthetic of that. And I was like, okay I will tell you as an elder millennial, I hate that aesthetic, but I understand if you as Gen Z or whatever, I understand if you like that aesthetic, but what they continued on where they were like, I like that aesthetic, but this doesn't tell me anything about the book. And I don't know if it works as a book cover.

And so then I was like, okay, cool. So then I pull up like an old [00:22:00] school, bodice ripper cover for romance. And I'm like, so what do you think about this? And they were all like, Ugh. It's so cringe. And it's so tacky and it's so whatever.

And I was like, okay. But I think what you have to understand is that I don't look at this and say, I can appreciate the artistry and everything, but I'm like, I also think it's tacky. Do you know what I mean? Where I'm like, it's beautiful, but it's like excessive.

Julia Quinn: Extra.

Andrea Martucci: it's extra.

It's extra. Yeah. Like I'm not looking at this and saying this is the graphic design I would use. I don't know. And so I feel like there's just like a different expectation about what a cover should do. And there's different expectations with the aesthetics.

In my opinion, coming up through romance for the last 20 years, I just understood the language that was being spoken with covers. And I feel like it's being lost in translation with newer readers. And I'm not saying covers have to stay the same as they were, but it's like there is a resistance to I think [00:23:00] the the clinch cover even on recent mass market paperbacks. I don't know. It just feels like there's this big shift in aesthetic expectations.

Julia Quinn: I've never been a big fan of the clinch cover, at least not on the cover. I don't mind a step back. And in fact, the JQ Editions books have versions of step backs in different types of illustration. And I'm squarely Gen X, I am smack in the middle of Gen X so I hear them like I didn't, I don't necessarily wanna carry those books, but yeah, so it's like there is a language. You speak the language of what these books and what these covers were signifying, and so do I.

But I guess what I'm saying is I never loved that language I didn't necessarily think like we had to eliminate that language, but I wanted more words, other ways to do it. I'm not sure, oh God, is it 8, 8 31?

Andrea Martucci: 831.

Julia Quinn: Sorry, I couldn't remember the numbers. I'm not sure that's the way to go.

I like that aesthetic too, although, again, it doesn't tell me anything. Like for that aesthetic to work, you have to [00:24:00] feel like you're in the club

Andrea Martucci: Yeah.

Julia Quinn: to know what it is. And that's really gonna depend on the quality of the books. I haven't read any yet. Because what it's really doing is it's really a latter day Harlequin

Andrea Martucci: Yeah. Oh yeah. It's, there's nothing new about it in, in terms of the strategy,

Julia Quinn: They're really doing what Harlequin and Silhouette did, which was have a very specific brand like you get a Harlequin Presents with that white cover and the circle in the middle and you, you know, what you're getting and that's what they're trying to do. And I have no idea if it'll work or not, but.

Andrea Martucci: I think, like notably though, with those, at least there was a picture that was different on each one. Like, even though the spines were the same, the design was the same, there was something unique about each one. So even if they all look cohesive, you could tell one from the other, at least.

So yeah, I think what I really, and you gave me a preview of some of the covers for JQ Editions, and I think, and first of all, they're beautiful.

Julia Quinn: Thank you. I was about to say hope you loved [00:25:00] them.

Andrea Martucci: Yes. I, and I think that they're unique. They're unique to the title, as you said, they're not all the same. They're not like necessarily going for a cohesive aesthetic between each title.

Julia Quinn: Although they are gonna be the same size.

Andrea Martucci: Yes.

Julia Quinn: They're all the same size, and so the one thing they'll all have is they will have our little JQ logo. No, it won't even say Editions. Just the JQ logo at the bottom and not very big, as big as it would be for any other publisher.

Andrea Martucci: And so are you working with a bunch of different illustrators? Because it's all sorts of different styles.

Julia Quinn: Yeah, so our first four books, which are the only ones we've started art on, have four different illustrators and I really loved working with all of them, so we probably will work with them again. But I'm constantly looking for new illustrators and, and most of them I'm finding, not all of them, but most of 'em I'm finding are people who at some point did fan art of Bridgerton.

Andrea Martucci: Oh, cool.

Julia Quinn: yeah. Or the one though. So the one for Lord of [00:26:00] Scoundrels, actually no, she didn't do fan art. Her name is Ann Shen. She actually does a lot of art for Disney and -I know. Not so much I think for their actual movies and stuff, but she does like Disney products.

I discovered her actually because I appear on the Today Show every now and then recommending books. And I recommended one of her books. She has these coffee table books and one of them is like 50, Extraordinary Women who Changed the World type of thing. One was 50 Amazing Women of Color Changed the World thing. And

So I recommended one of those books for, it was Women's History Month, I think. And since then we got to know each other a little bit online and I just really like her work. And then another one is Shay O'Connor. Her stuff is Designed by Shay and she did do a Bridgerton fan art, which I just loved so much. And so I've been following her for a while.

And when we were starting the venture, I was like she would be perfect for Eloisa James, she just has this style, which is so Eloisa. I was like, it has to be that.

And then for An Extraordinary Union, I wanted to make sure we were working with a Black artist for [00:27:00] this book. And so I did a bunch of research and I found Elizabeth Chaco. Actually, because there's a group like book illustrators of color.

And so I just found them and I just started looking and trying to find artists who I thought would really work well for this particular project. And she has done some illustrations for books. And one of her specialties is illustrating textured hair. And I just was so impressed with her work. And so I just asked her. And so that's how we've been reaching out.

So that's how I'm finding some of them. I know there's, hopefully there'll be this big race on Bridgerton fan art now,

Andrea Martucci: yeah. Yeah. Okay. And so you mentioned you're doing this with your best friend, so who's your best friend?

Julia Quinn: Her name's Stefanie Hargreaves. And I have been friends with her 26 years. And she comes up through the book world too. She was, I believe, the 16th employee at Amazon

Andrea Martucci: Okay.

Julia Quinn: And she was their romance editor. So the back, early on when Amazon felt like an independent [00:28:00] bookstore they had actual people editing departments.

So like, you'd go, there would be like a front page for romance and it felt like a magazine.

And so she was the one who did that. And it was great. It was so great for romance. And eventually it got taken over by corporate stuff and she eventually left, but I met through that. It was some event, and we met and then we were emailing and it turned out we were both pregnant with our first child together and we became on email, online, pregnancy buddies.

And then when we moved to Seattle, she and her husband were just so welcoming. They showed us around, we stayed with them, and she's been my best friend ever since. And that was a good 26 years ago. And she has worked in and outta the book industry in various roles for some time, although she hasn't been in it for a while, but she, loves books and we just decided to do this.

Actually one of my favorite things about this project is that I am seeing her so much more, either in person or [00:29:00] just in Zoom meetings and stuff. Because she does live across town, so we'd go through these stages where we wouldn't see each other as much.

So that's been really fun to be doing this with my best friend.

Andrea Martucci: Do you guys have ground rules to make sure that this endeavor does not impact your friendship?

Julia Quinn: No. Maybe we should. I don't know. Um, But, we did try to divvy up like what we're doing, and I think that helps. So like I'm choosing the books, I'm working directly with the publishers. I'm working with the illustrator. So I'm pretty much person in charge of each product and she's the overarching thing.

So she's the person working with the company that's doing the website. She has to do the contracts. So she's like the CEO and maybe I'm the creative director. I don't know.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah you're, guiding the editorial vision, you're the, the face of it. And then and she's doing all the logistics and the printers and all the fun stuff.

Julia Quinn: Yeah. A lot of that. Yeah. Although right now in this stage, 'cause we're still very much still in startup [00:30:00] stage we're both doing a little of both too. And we're in this stage where, I'm like, this is taking up like all my time and I have to remind myself, okay, once you're up and running this part you won't be doing anymore.

So it won't be,

Andrea Martucci: Yeah.

Julia Quinn: won't be, 100% of your time, but it's a lot of fun. It's a challenge. I like doing something different. I've been writing historical romance novels you know, my first one was accepted for publication in 94, so a really long time.

Andrea Martucci: you were like just out of college, right? Or like you were in a grad program at the time, right?

Julia Quinn: I was writing that first novel while I was applying to medical school.

Andrea Martucci: Okay.

Julia Quinn: I sold my first novel the same month I got accepted to medical school. It was a very exciting month. And then I deferred medical school for a couple years. 'cause I knew once I started I would not have time for writing.

And then I basically panicked 'cause all my friends were going to grad school and I thought, oh my gosh, if this writing thing doesn't work out, I am not qualified for anything. So I panicked and went to med school [00:31:00] for about two and a half months and then I said, this is not the right thing for me. And I withdrew.

Andrea Martucci: This has been your career, right? Like, writing.

Julia Quinn: Yeah. So you know, a lot of people say why haven't you had a new book out for a while? And I think part of it's just maybe people don't realize I've been doing this a really long time and I don't wanna leave the industry, but it's fun for me when I can shake up what I'm doing a little bit.

So for example, with the Queen Charlotte book, that was a totally different writing process for me. I had never worked with source material before, and so I should probably back up and tell people the way that book was written was Shonda wrote six scripts for the television show and then gave them to me, and I turned the scripts into a novel.

So it's reverse engineering - so with Bridgerton you have the books that made the show, that made another show, that made a book.

It's a very weird closed circle there. But for me that was a great project because I got to use a different part of my writing brain. I got to do something a little different. And that's how I feel about [00:32:00] this project too.

I know I have readers saying we want you to write just another proper romance novel like you've been doing. And eventually I will. But I just, you know, I've done 29 of those. My brain is looking for something tangential.

I don't wanna necessarily go out and, open a coffee shop or do something totally different. I wanna stay with books, but it's fun for me to try to do something a little different.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah, I understand that. Even if you stay in the same industry for 30 years like you have like different roles and you start doing different things. And when you're a writer, obviously your writing skills increase or improve and continue to evolve.

Julia Quinn: Gosh, I hope so.

Andrea Martucci: Yes, of course. But it, but you are still doing the same thing. So I think that makes a lot of sense to me. And obviously with the reputation that you have in the industry and all the success you've had, it makes sense that you would shift into a role that takes advantage of where you're at now.

Julia Quinn: I think it's fair to say, and I hope this isn't being boastful or anything, but I think [00:33:00] well, I'm certainly the best person positioned to try to curate historical romances and elevate them and lift them and feature them and spotlight them. I think I am the best person positioned to do that at this time. Hopefully that will change. I would very much like not to be alone here. Not 'cause I I feel pressure or anything, but I want other authors to be doing as well as I am.

So,

Andrea Martucci: So, okay.

When you think about, maybe in particular the classics that you're considering highlighting in JQ Editions, what's your philosophy when it comes to problematic content that we know proliferates in the genre, particularly in the past, still today. How do you feel about that?

For example, would you choose a book where you're like, it's of its time. There's problematic things in it, but it's a good book that's interesting despite that. Highlighting it doesn't mean you're [00:34:00] endorsing things. Or are you like, no, I don't want to do that. Like, how do you feel?

Julia Quinn: It's very much a book to book issue. Like, I remember reading and loving Judith McNaught.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah

Julia Quinn: But even at the time, I remember, like for example, Once and Always, and I still love that book, but I remember reading it. He basically rapes her. And I remember being uncomfortable at that scene and being like, this isn't right, and feeling oh, I hate that. I still love this book.

But she does have other books where that's not part of it. And so for example, if I were to go back and do something with Judith McNaught I don't think I would choose that book even though, it was of its time. I did love it. There's much to love about it, but I just don't think that would be the book I would choose.

So I really have to go back and read each book.

And I did that with Lord of Scoundrels for example. Like I hadn't read that in decades.

And I remember I was like, okay, I better read it again and I [00:35:00] remember I started it being like, please hold up. Please hold up. It did. That was the best thing. It absolutely held up. So that was great. But yeah, but that's something that it will very much be a book to book thing. There, there's some things that I could probably be like, okay, that's of its time.

I think the hero can't rape anybody. It's just not gonna I just can't do that.

Even if there are many other wonderful things about the book it just, I can't do that.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah. I'm essentially a romance scholar, right? So like when I wanna read a Woodiwiss, right where there is literal rape on page, it's to understand what was happening in the 1970s with romance publishing. So I have a different goal in reading that, and I completely understand why even though that text is important to the genre and it's important, if you wanna think about how the genre has evolved to understand that point.

I don't think that a modern reader who isn't deeply interested in the history of the genre is gonna [00:36:00] find anything to enjoy about that book.

Julia Quinn: Probably I mean, I couldn't say, yeah. It certainly, you would have to come into it thinking like, okay, I am reading a book that was written in 1972 or came out in 1972 and these were all the things that were happening. And this was revolutionary because it was the first book where you actually showed the women experiencing pleasure.

Yeah. You have to approach it knowing all that, which is why I just don't think I could do that in a JQ Editions book because, I'm not putting this into your hands and saying to you, you have to come at this from a scholarly angle and you know, of its time.

And I'm putting books into people's hands being like, you're gonna love this. And nothing more. You're gonna love this. And so I need them to hold up to modern reading goals, I guess I should say.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah, that makes sense, right? This isn't a college course. There's no class discussion for you to like, unpack all this stuff, right? There's interesting things about some of these older books and you can appreciate them, but [00:37:00] it's not the thing that you're gonna hand off to somebody who maybe is like, why should I read Historical Romance in 2026?

Julia Quinn: Certainly any book that we're publishing if it's an older book, I'm rereading it

before we do anything with it.

Andrea Martucci: What about different eras? So of the first three that you have Lord of Scoundrels takes place in the Regency, I

Julia Quinn: I think it might be slightly after the Regency,

But that vibe.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah. And then, oh wait, hold on. I've got the book in front of me. Okay. The prologue starts in the late 17 hundreds. And then - 1828.

Julia Quinn: See it. So I was right -slightly later

Andrea Martucci: Okay. And then Extraordinary Union is the Civil War, so 1860s in the US. So you've got Britain Post Regency, or is that Georgian then? I don't know. And then you've got Alyssa Cole, so that's America in 1860s. And then the Last Lady B, is that Victorian?

Julia Quinn: I think it's Regency. It's up in Scotland.

Andrea Martucci: Okay.

Julia Quinn: Yeah. There is gonna be a definite Regency lean for a couple [00:38:00] reasons. One, it's what I love best and I'm picking the books. And two, that's just what there's a lot of to choose from.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah.

Julia Quinn: Honestly it's tough to find great romances set in the Civil War because it's such a problematic time period in so many ways. And on top of that, there haven't been a lot recently, and the time when there were a lot more of them, I would say like maybe in the eighties and early nineties, there was just a lot of, the heroine is a Southern Belle, who her best friend is her slave, which seems really messed up to me. Explain how that comes about.

Andrea Martucci: And then there was like all the westerns where like the guy was in the Civil War and he goes out west, to be free again. And you're like, which side did you fight for? Like, And it's, it's like always the Confederacy and, yeah there's it's not even subtext really, but yeah, there's some choices being made that are very interesting.

Julia Quinn: And then another sub genre, when I started there were still quite a [00:39:00] lot of Indian romances where, you know, which, and all the titles had the word savage in there.

Yeah. So yeah, I don't think we're gonna be doing that.

Andrea Martucci: What about do you think you'll delve into Medievals or,

Julia Quinn: oh, I for sure. For, yeah. I just gotta find the one I wanna do.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah. Okay. You know what, if you're open to it, I'll think of some things and I'll send them over for your consideration.

Julia Quinn: You're a scholar of the genre. You can send me a few,

I already have some in my head I wanna do in 2028.

We, it says we've got the 2027 list pretty much set. I think I know what I want. Yeah. So the big question for us also is, are we gonna go to a monthly box in 2028 or stay every other month?

I don't know.

Andrea Martucci: Right. Well, So I mean, I assume you'll see how it goes and see what the appetite is for the cadence because you want people to have time to read the books

Julia Quinn: And also, it gets expensive. We're gonna, oh, we didn't even get to this part. So we're gonna be launching with a Kickstarter, and at the Kickstarter there'll be some extras too, but the meat of it or the books, you [00:40:00] can subscribe to 2026, or 2026 and 2027. So you consider, okay.

And and 2026 is basically half a year. So it's basically an every other month kind of thing. And if we go up to every month, that doubles your yearly price. You're getting double the product, but it does make it more expensive for people. So I, we have to figure out what exactly we want to do in that realm.

Andrea Martucci: So you have your three types of books that you're acquiring: the brand new ones, recent gems and Classics. Are you trying to balance it equally?

Julia Quinn: Um, Yes, I would love to. Getting access to the brand new ones is a little harder. So there'll probably be fewer of those. I don't think we have one for 2026. There's one we're looking at for 2027. There's one we're absolutely looking at and I, I've already talked to the editor and I'm hoping we can get it, but I think that one may not even be coming out till 2028, so there's that.

'Cause like I have to know what's coming. I have to be able to read it ahead of time.

So those are just a little trickier to do. [00:41:00] I am fortunate in that I personally know so many editors, so that helps me to do this. For example, with the Eloisa James book she recently moved from Avon to Simon and Schuster to her longtime editor, Carrie Feron, who's moved from Avon to Simon Schuster a few years earlier. So I knew about this book. I had talked to Eloisa about it. I'm friends with Carrie, so I knew, so I was able to like, request it and get it like, really early and do it all without telling Eloisa because I was like, what if I don't like it? But really, it's my favorite book from her in a long time.

I just love it so much. And that's saying something, 'cause I like all her books. Yeah. So it has a lot to do with me knowing what's coming and hopefully, if JQ editions takes off, maybe more editors will approach me saying, this is in the pipeline, I know you like this author, this is in the pipeline, and then maybe we can do it and get the timing right.

Andrea Martucci: I was gonna say, once you get the word out, I'm sure they'll come to you.

Julia Quinn: That would be great.

So coming up it's more of the classics of the modern genre and recent gems and to some degree there's crossover [00:42:00] with that. Like what is a classic of the modern genre? It's, it's hard to say sometimes.

Andrea Martucci: So I wanted to ask about marketing.

You said that maybe you might have a letter explaining why you love this book, but it wouldn't be in the book itself. How are you going to use your platform and your brand as Julia Quinn to not just put the imprimatur of Julia Quinn on these books, but help readers understand what there is to love about historical romance and these particular books?

Julia Quinn: That's a lot of what we're working on right now, figuring out how best to do that as we develop the website and like that. But right now we've just started I say right now, as we are recording this, which is a little bit before when it'll come out, we're just starting to drip information into the public.

And so far all it's been is basically me being like, something's happening. Follow. So we're really just relying on my position in the industry to pique people's interest, [00:43:00] and that's the main thing, we'll be reaching out to some influencers. We'll be reaching out to some media. Yeah, I don't know. We're figuring a lot of this out as we go along. Hey, that's why I'm here talking to you.

Other than your delightful face, which, I love seeing on a Saturday morning.

Andrea Martucci: Thank you. Thank you. I love seeing your delightful face.

Julia Quinn: I well, it's afternoon for you, but Yeah.

Andrea Martucci: It is. Okay, so is there anything else that we didn't cover that you're like, oh, this is super important about JQ Editions and I wanna say it.

Julia Quinn: Oh. Maybe just to stress again, like these are books I love, like to me I consider them the very best of the genre. Although I feel like I need to say, I haven't read every book in the genre, so I'm not saying other books aren't at the very best of the genre.

Andrea Martucci: You should get on that.

Julia Quinn: I may not have read the book that you think is the very best of the genre.

Oh. One thing we are doing, which is pretty fun and this will be in the Kickstarter, is we are having what's called the Diamond Club, which is readers [00:44:00] can join the Diamond Club. And this is like a slightly different level in the Kickstarter and it has fun perks that are non-tangible.

So for example, I will then give you a hint as to one of our 2027 authors because one of them will be

Andrea Martucci: [redacted] Actually, we can't say yet.

Julia Quinn: And members of the Diamond Club will get to vote on which of her books we publish.

Andrea Martucci: Oh, okay. Cool.

Julia Quinn: And I think we're gonna repeat that with an author in 2028 and hopefully, at least one author a year being like, okay. You choose from one of these four or five books. We can't do the whole list. Some of these people have so many books. So that's really fun.

But I just thought that'd be really fun to be able to have a say in which books get picked among choices. And then, yeah. So that's one thing that's really fun. We want it to, we want to create some sense of community around it too.

It can't be something that requires tons and tons of time on my part. Like I'm not gonna be moderating a bulletin board or anything like that. But, you know, Just, we want the [00:45:00] members, the subscribers to this book box to feel like they are part of something special. And, we're also hoping to do things like, with some of the books that we publish that are maybe the first in a trilogy to be able to later publish the other two, under the guise of complete my set.

Andrea Martucci: Yeah.

Julia Quinn: I very much want to publish special editions of the other two books in the Loyal League series. Loyal League is the series that An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole is part of, and there are three books in the series and I'd love to be able to publish the other two and then maybe sell them on our online storefront.

We don't have a physical storefront, so that people who were part of the book box can buy the other two to complete the set.

Andrea Martucci: As a professional marketer, have you started an email signup?

Julia Quinn: Yes.

Andrea Martucci: Okay, good. That is key. You gotta capture them right away so that you can, remind them when the time is ripe. Okay, good. That's like whenever like anybody does [00:46:00] anything in romance, I'm like, where's your email newsletter sign up?

Julia Quinn: Yeah.

Andrea Martucci: don't just trust social media.

Julia Quinn: No we do. That hasn't been super advertised that much yet, but it is on our, we have a temporary one page website. It is there. And then also through Kickstarter you have a three week or four week buildup period where people sign up and follow your kickstarter. So then they get the Remi when you actually go live. It's not live 'cause the other part is live too. But when you actually start like taking backers, they get emails from you through Kickstarter and so they will get reminders that way as well. But we do definitely want people to go to our website jqeditions.com and you can sign up for our email

Andrea Martucci: that is like the num 'cause even through a Kickstarter, I don't know if you can like, download the list eventually.

Julia Quinn: You can't, I don't think

Andrea Martucci: Right.

So y'all, if you wanna stay up to date, go to jq editions.com and sign up for that email newsletter.

Julia Quinn: Follow us on social. Also, we are on Instagram and Facebook right now.

Andrea Martucci: All right. This is my real last question.

Julia Quinn: Okay.

Okay

Andrea Martucci: From Julia [00:47:00] Quinn's curatorial perspective, what is something or some things that make you love a romance novel? Like what is top of your mind when you're thinking about what makes the cut for JQ Editions?

Julia Quinn: It's so amorphous. Do I stay up to read it? If I stop, do I pick it up the first thing in the morning? I mean, like, So it's little things like this. It's, I love a book that's got some humor in it, but obviously that's not strictly necessary because, I don't think anybody would call An Extraordinary Union a funny book. And I think that one's amazing.

I want to care about the characters. I want them to feel like real people. I want to have a moment where you're like (gasp) oh! So it's not necessarily things that are easy to put into words, but, for me, a lot of it's about the voice. Do you feel like you're in there with the characters, or do you just feel like someone's telling you a story? There's just it's [00:48:00] hard to explain. And I read some books sometimes where I'm like, the writing is really good and, this line made me chuckle and this is good. And, I don't understand why I am not captured by it, so it's a, I know it when I see it kind of thing, which is hard because it's, I want to be able to give people a better answer or something that says more, but it's really I know it when I see it. And I'm really approaching this as a reader, like as a reader, what am I loving?

Andrea Martucci: Right. So maybe, maybe not, you know it when see it, but you know it when you feel it.

Julia Quinn: Yes. That's much better. Maybe you're the writer here, not me. I dunno.

Andrea Martucci: I'm the marketer and I've thought about this a lot, right? There are books that you're like, technically this is fine. And it's it's not making you feel anything.

Julia Quinn: Well, and, and not even just technically is fine. Technically this is great.

I've read books where I'm like, technically this is great, but I'm just, I keep putting it down

Andrea Martucci: Yeah. And then you like pick it up and you're like, just keep checking your phone or something,

Julia Quinn: Yeah, you're just [00:49:00] like, I'm reading it. You're like and and like I, there's nothing I really can specifically complain about, but it just I, I have to do books that grab me and pull me in.

Andrea Martucci: And then of course you're hoping that it will do the same for your audience.

Julia Quinn: I sure hope so, and I really hope that when people read these books, they run out and get another book by these authors. I really want them to see that it's just not a one-off. And again, all of our authors that we're working with, it's not their only book. Most of them. It's not their only romance.

Andrea Martucci: Julia, thank you so much for ringing me up and saying hey, I want to talk about JQ Editions. You had mentioned it when I saw you, but I'm just honored that you thought of Shelf Love as a place to talk about this.

Julia Quinn: Yeah.

I had met you in person and you asked such great questions, so I was like, she'd be a great person to talk to, so thank you.

Andrea Martucci: Awesome.

Th thank you. I'm so flattered. Okay, so as you said, folks should check out jq editions.com. And then is it @ JQ editions on all the social medias?

Julia Quinn: Yeah. On the two that we're on right now. Yeah,

Andrea Martucci: Okay. And by the time this episode [00:50:00] comes out, we will know when it's officially launched and I'll put that in the show notes.

Julia Quinn: That would be great. Yeah. And certainly if you follow us on anything or give us your email on the website, you will get good information about the Kickstarter.

Andrea Martucci: Hey, thanks for spending time with me today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, or review on your favorite podcast app, or tell a friend. Check out shelflovepodcast.com for transcripts and other resources. If you want regular written updates from Shelf Love, you can increasingly find me over at Substack. Read occasional updates and short essays about romance at ShelfLovepodcast.substack.com. Thank you to Shelf Love's $20 a month Patreon supporters: Gail, Copper Dog Books, and Frederick Smith. Have a great day. Bye.