Dec 31, 2014

2014, The Lovecats' Year in Review

2014 has been another grand year for the Lovecats Down Under and with that year careening towards a close, we thought it the perfect time to reflect upon -- and bask just a little* in -- our achievements.  
*Note, it will be a very little as the Cats prefer to bask in sunshine while preparing to launch into another big year of writing and reading and living the DownUnder life.

As a group, we achieved the following in 2014:
  • Published a combined total of 39 books
  • These titles represented a range of genres, from contemporary romance to romantic comedy to romantic suspense to young adult and, of course, our favourite category romance
  • Published in 12 different category series or imprints 
  • Published titles with 5 different publishers, as well as independent releases 
  • Made the finalist short-lists in 8 different awards or contests
  • Won 4 different reader or reviewer judged awards
  • Hit bestseller lists including USA Today, Bookscan and the Amazon Top 100
The writing highlights from our year:
  • Michelle Douglas was a double-finalist in both the Booksellers Best and the Golden Quill awards in the US
  • Amy Andrews became a USA Today bestseller for the first time with No More Mr Nice Guy
  • Barbara De Leo won RWNZ's Koru Award in the Short Sweet category with Last Chance Proposal
  • 3 Yvonne Lindsay titles hit the Bookscan top 50 
  • Louisa George won RWNZ's Koru Award in the Short Sexy category with How To Resist A Heartbreaker
  • Rachel Bailey presented workshops at the Romance Writers of Australia conference and for the Melbourne Romance Writers Guild
  • Annie West attended the Love Letters Reader Convention in Berlin
  • Stefanie London published her debut novel, Only The Brave Try Ballet, AND moved to Canada
  • Jennifer St George represented romance as a panelist at the Byron Bay Writers Festival
  • Amy Andrews won the ARRA Award for Best Contemporary Romance with Holding Out For A Hero  
  • Barbara De Leo's Last Chance Proposal was a bestseller with both Barnes and Noble and Amazon, hitting #2 on the Series Romance bestseller list
  • Annie West and Yvonne Lindsay were finalists in RWNZ's inaugural Koru Awards
  • Louisa George's A Baby On Her Christmas List hit #1 on the Amazon Medical Romance list in both the US and the UK
  • Jennifer St George made the Amazon Top 100 Bestseller List in the US
  • Yvonne Lindsay and Amy Andrews were finalists in the RWA Romantic Book of the Year Awards
  • Annie West published her first novella and her first independent release 
  • Claire Baxter and Rachel Bailey published debut titles in new genres (romantic suspense, young adult and single title romantic comedy)
  • Amy Andrews was short-listed as Favourite Author in both the ARRA and AusRomanceToday Awards
  • Jennifer St George, Michelle Douglas,  Annie West and Amy Andrews (double-finalist) were short-listed in the ARRA Awards for Favourite Short Category Romance
  • Barbara DeLeo's Last Chance Proposal was a finalist in the Booksellers Best Awards
  • Michelle Douglas's university awarded her a Publication of Excellence Award for her romances
  • Amy Andrews made the DABWAHA tournament as one of the best category romances of the year
  • Yvonne Lindsay published her first novella with Tule Publishing Group
  • Jennifer St George's The Billionaire's Pursuit of Love was a #1 bestselling book on Google Play
In other news, Michelle Douglas succeeded with her New Year's resolution by taking up yoga; Annie West has declared 2014 her most productive writing year ever, and Yvonne Lindsay is celebrating reaching the end of the year without going *completely* crazy. 

At year's end we are not only raising our glasses to celebrate our achievements, but -- most importantly -- we are toasting our wonderful, dedicated readers.  You are the reason we write, the reason we strive to write better, and the reason we look forward to publishing even more funny, touching, hot, sweet, suspenseful, sensual, heartwarming stories in 2015. Thank you one and all.

Annie, Amy, Barbara, Bronwyn, Claire, Helen, Jennifer, Louisa, Michelle, Rachel, Sharon, Stefanie, Sue and Yvonne


17 comments:

  1. Huge congrats Everyone and thank you all for the great stories we have had to read :)

    Wishing you all a very Happy New Year that is filed with lots of love and peace

    Have Fun
    Helen

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  2. A special thank you to you, Bronwyn, for compiling the list. Big waves and smiles to the other, ever-so-productive LoveCats and to our readers. Thank you all! Wishing you everything good for 2015!

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  3. Wow, Bron! That's one fantastic list! I'm adding my thanks for compiling!

    Happy New Year to my fellow LoveCats and to all our lovely visitors! Hope 2015 is a fab year for you all!

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  4. Yep. Thanks Bron! What a productive lot we all are!
    Here's to a bigger and busier 2015! Happy New Year to everyone!

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  5. What a clever bunch of Vegemites we are. :-) Wishing all the Cats and all our wonderful readers a fabulous New Year. Here's hoping 2015 is filled with great books, good friends and lots of laughter!

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  6. Happy New Year to the Love Cats. 2014 was a great year for you all

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  7. Thanks for pulling this together, Bronwyn! What a fantastic list, kind of blows the mind to see it all out there. We've achieved some amazing things.

    Happy New Year! May 2015 be even better x

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  8. Congratulations on all of your successes! Happy New Year!

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  9. Happy New Year everyone!! Thanks so much Bron for compiling that list and wow, what a list.

    Wishing every a happy and safe 2015!

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  10. Wow lots achieved by the Lovecats when you look at that list :)

    Happy New Year to all.

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  11. Yay, the Lovecats! Thanks so much for compiling the list, Bron,and thanks as always to all our fabulous readers. Happy new year, everyone!

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  12. Thanks, Bron, for putting together this list! Wishing all Lovecats and all our readers a wonderful year in 2015.

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  13. I love being part of this group! Thanks, Bron, for pulling all that together, thank to the other LoveCats for being an awesome group, and thanks to the readers who visit our blog and make it such a fun place to hang out! Happy 2015 to everyone!

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  14. What awesome achievements all of you. I have to admit, I'm not surprised that Michelle was a double finalist. You're all an inspiration. I wish you all much success for 2015.

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  15. I've got another achievement that the Lovecats did this year: they inspired me to finally put pen to paper and start writing as part of NaNoWriMo. The resulting writing is very slow but its still a positive that I was inspired to start writing by this wonderful and supportive group of authors.

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  16. Lyn, that is wonderful news. Go you! And I'm sure I speak on behalf of all the LoveCats in saying we are chuffed -- and touched -- to be an inspiration. Keep up the writing, no matter how slow, you will reach The End of your first story and what an achievement that will be.

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