I’ve got promotional news about my backlist titles! I’ve made some discounted bundles on Google Play, and I’ve included all my books in all Kobo Plus regions.
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Tag Archives: readers
Heat levels vs. erotic romance (and erotica)
In one of my writers’ groups the subject of heat levels in romance came up, and how to describe romance novel sexy times (or lack thereof) on some sort of scale.
You probably think this is an easy discussion, right? Ha!
There is literally no industry standard for heat levels, and yet romance readers constantly want to know what to expect sexiness-wise between the covers.
Having no industry standard means everyone has their own opinion including one particular retailer which randomly puts romance books into their “Erotica Dungeon” even if said romance book is not erotica (plus erotica is not a heat level — more on that below). Continue reading
Love in the Time of COVID-19
The world is currently a very stressful place with the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, and elsewhere, we are being asked to self-isolate which means hunkering down at home. For introverts, which many romance readers are, finding an activity to pass the time while being at home is not difficult. Romance readers will be reading romance, attacking their To Be Read piles with a vengeance.
But small brick-and-mortar businesses and people whose livelihoods depend on in-person interaction are already, and will continue to be, greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Brick-and-mortar businesses, such as your local bookstore, rely on foot traffic and in-person purchases. No customers means no sales. Many people forced to stay home cannot work remotely and will lose income. No income means no book purchases.
How can romance come to the rescue? Continue reading
Sex Scenes: Who, What, When, Why, and How Many
“How many sex scenes?” is a perennial question in the National Novel Writing Month Erotica Forum. Meaning, how many sex scenes should an erotica or erotic romance novel have? Just this week, I saw the same question asked on a private Facebook group and felt compelled to write this blog post with the answer and an explanation.
The answer? Wait for it… Continue reading
Join me at Passport to Romance!
Want to meet me in person?
Of course you do!
I will be a featured author at the Passport to Romance Reader Appreciation Event sponsored by the Emerald City Writers’ Conference!
This evening cocktail — or “booktail” — party is free to all and will be held Saturday, October 14th, 6pm-8pm, at the Bellevue Westin Hotel, Bellevue (near Seattle), Washington.
The first 100 readers to arrive will receive a goody bag with lots of author swag, including a download card for a copy of my historical erotic romance The Pleasure Device (Harwell Heirs Book 1)!
I will also be giving away: Continue reading
How A Book Gets Its Cover
Vote for my historical romance covers in the JABBIC!
It’s that time of year again, when everyone gets to vote in the JABBIC Readers’ Choice contest!
What’s the JABBIC? It’s Judge A Book By Its Cover (JABBIC), a well-known contest run every year by the Houston Bay Area Chapter of Romance Writers of America. It’s a super fun way to see lots of book covers by genre: Contemporary Romance, Historical, Inspirational, Mainstream, Romantic Suspense, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Paranormal, Sexiest Cover, and Young Adult. [UPDATE: The JABBIC contest is, sadly, no longer held!]
This year I entered >four of my covers, all in the Historical Romance category:
Imperial Warriors: Two Scorching Tales of the Roman Empire
The Pleasure Device (Harwell Heirs Book 1)
Disobedience By Design (Harwell Heirs Book 2)
Where Destiny Plays (Harwell Heirs Book 3)
They are all on page 4 of the JABBIC Historical category listing, and I’d love your 5-star votes! Continue reading
Ex-EC Titles Re-Released: Part Three #notchilled
For an explanation of what I’m doing here, please see Part One and Part Two of this blog series. More authors and their re-released reverted titles are listed below (with another “thank you” shout out to reader Cayenne!). Let’s do something positive to support your favorite author and their ex-EC titles! Buy their books! Review their books! Spread the word about their books on social media! Continue reading
Ex-EC Titles Re-Released: Part Two #notchilled
For an explanation of what I’m doing here, please see Part One of this blog series. More authors and their reverted ex-EC titles are listed below. This time around I received help from a reader who had an extensive library of books purchased from the Ellora’s Cave website — a library that vanished during EC’s website “upgrade” (many readers had this happen). This reader, Cayenne, started keeping track of reversions and re-releases for herself, and shared the list with me. Readers are awesome. Authors would be nothing without them, and publishers should do more to recognize readers’ importance.
Now for the list. Let’s do something positive to support your favorite author and their ex-EC titles! Buy their books! Review their books! Spread the word about their books on social media! Continue reading
Ex-EC Titles Re-Released: Part One #notchilled
The publisher Ellora’s Cave has been having problems for the last couple of years. They’ve had massive layoffs, late and missed payments to authors and contractors, then, when they sued a blogger for defamation, all hell broke loose. There was mudslinging and accusations and a boycott of Ellora’s Cave books led by some pretty powerful people in the field of romance. EC authors themselves begged their fans not to buy their EC books so they could request reversion of rights based on low sales.
I want to go beyond the negativity, the “don’t”-ness of a boycott, and instead explore positive actions to support authors still trapped in the EC quagmire. Let’s get some love for your favorite EC author!
— Buy non-EC books by your favorite EC author!
— Write a review for a non-EC book by your favorite EC author!
— Blog or post on social media about non-EC books by your favorite EC author!
— Recommend non-EC books by your favorite EC author to all your reader friends! Continue reading
Amazon Adds Samhain to Its List of Victims
The digital-first, romance publisher Samhain has announced it is closing. Despite never having been published by Samhain, this news makes me very sad. Samhain was my target publisher, the one I aspired to be published by. The publisher from whom I got the absolute best rejection letter ever. Continue reading