RIRW exists to promote excellence in women’s and popular fiction, to help writers become published and build careers in their writing field, and to provide continuing support for writers within the women’s and popular fiction publishing industry. Formed in 1983 as a Romance Writers of America chapter, we disaffiliated in 1988. We are an independent, nonprofit organization in Rhode Island.
If you are serious about writing popular fiction, we invite you to join us! Click here to see membership benefits.
We welcome everyone, without regard to race, color, national origin, disability, religion, cultural identity, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, physical appearance, or any other identity distinction. Furthermore, we recognize that because racism, homophobia, and other forms of bias are systemic in our national culture, people from marginalized communities continue to be denied advancement in our industry. RIRW strives to address this by raising awareness within our membership and increasing our efforts to attract members from a variety of backgrounds to enrich our community of writers.
We meet from September to June on the first Saturday of the month (except for February, when we hold our annual retreat). Because of holidays and/or other conflicts, the date or venue may change (scroll down to see list of dates). We will announce changes here on our home page. We do meetings via ZOOM.
Check us out on our public Facebook page (click here!)
Dec. 5, 2026 – Lisette Giroux: Escape the Rapid-Release Hamster Wheel
How to Turn Your Backlist into High-Margin $30–$50 Reader Packages
The “write, publish, repeat every 30 days” cycle is burning authors out, while retailer payouts continue to drop below half a cent per page. But your core superfans don’t just want another discounted ebook—they crave deep immersion, exclusive worldbuilding, and frictionless series access.
In this actionable, high-impact presentation, Lisette reveals how independent authors can step off the rapid-release hamster wheel and unlock $30 to $50+ direct-to-consumer offers using assets probably already sitting on their hard drives.
- We’ll walk through identifying your core reader types.
- You’ll identify the assets you already have in your backlist.
- Figure out your tech and budget hurdles.
- You’ll take all of that information and find the profile that best suits you and your readers.
- Develop a clear path and identify the asset you should build first.
Through real-world case studies and zero-manual-labor tech frameworks, attendees will learn how to build a sovereign publishing ecosystem outside retailer platforms. You’ll leave with an actionable blueprint to begin creating an offering tailor-made to appeal to your readers.
Why you should show up live: The presentation is quick —on purpose. I’ll take two volunteers to work through their cases live so you can understand the process.
Speaker’s bio: Best-selling author L.C. Giroux writes smart, sexy, fun romance novels in so many genres Amazon has no idea what to do with her. She has written 30 books that are as much about the love of a family as about any one couple. Romance might be an odd fit after an architecture degree and careers in cosmetics and molecular biology, but five minutes into their first date she knew she had met her future ex-husband. Twenty-two years later, a kid, and their fair share of richer, poorer, sickness, and health, she still believes in the power of love and a happy ending.
Read excerpts of her work at www.lcgiroux.com
Note: We welcome Visitors for up to two regular meetings before you need to join. If you want to check us out, please send us a message by NOON on Friday (day before meeting) and we’ll send you a ZOOM link. Come join your fellow writers for a free-ranging discussion!
For regular meetings, we gather to chat at noon; Meeting starts at 12:30, with workshops starting about 1:15/1:30
Fall Schedule, 2026 (speakers TBA):
September 12 (Labor Day is Sept 6): Linda McHenry
October 3 – Maggie Cooper, Agents
November 7 – Roundtable on Branding and Marketing
December 5 – Lisette C. Giroux, Profiting from your backlist
Winter/Spring Schedule 2027:
January 9 – TBD
February 5-6 – TBA(Retreat, separate registration)
March 6 – TBA
April 3– TBA
May 1 – Julie Duffy
June 5 – Roundtable, election