The HEA Cafe

Archive for the ‘Good News’ Category

Happy Holidays! Santa and I talked it over, and I have a few gifts under the tree for my readers.

This December, I’m participating in a Find the Icon Scavenger Hunt with about 30 fellow authors. Prizes include a Sony Pocket Reader and a $50 prepaid Visa card. The contest runs live from today, December 1st, through Christmas Eve. For details, visit http://www.ravenhappyhour.com/Rockin_Raven_Xmas_Tree_Contest and start hunting!

On December 15th, I’ll be on www.maryeason.blogspot.com from 10 to 11 am for a Christmas extravaganza full of good books and great giveaways. Along with me, Mary Eason, Cindy Green, Inez Kelley, Renee Wildes, Jane Toombs, Tina Donohue and Mary Wine will also have an hour apiece on the blog to showcase their books and give away prizes.

My free short story, White Collar Christmas, releases December 16th if all goes as planned from www.samhellion.net . Take one rookie FBI agent and put her undercover with a sexy art forgerer and see who gets on Santa’s list of Naughty Girls and Boys.

The TICKLE MY FANTASY anthology is now available, WITCHES ANONYMOUS included, just in time for gift giving. For anyone who enjoys werewolves, ghosts, witches and love, this anthology is perfect! It’s available from www.samhainpublishing.com , Amazon, Barnes and Noble and your local independent bookstore.

May health and joy be yours this season. Please feel free to stop by my website, www.readmistyevans.com , drop me a note at misty@readmistyevans.com or find me on Twitter, www.twitter.com/readmistyevans .

Happy reading!

What could be better than bringing romance readers and writers together? Just like ComicCon and other fan conventions, the upcoming RomCon in Denver next year will be an exciting venue for readers and industry professionals alike.

 

According to Tiffany James, one of the founders of RomCon 2010, the convention’s focus will be on readers. To draw them in, all workshops and events will be geared toward educating and entertaining them. “One of the big events we’ll be hosting at RomCon is the announcement of winners of our new contest–the Readers’ Crown,” says Tiffany. “We have a vetting process in place to ensure, to the fullest extent possible, that our contest judges are readers.  And, we’ve partnered with Borders to bring a true market impact to our entrants with things like end-cap placements, invitations to be interviewed on Sue Grimshaw’s True Romance program, listing of winners on her site, and much more.  Plus, winners will get airfare, hotel (2 nights), and RomCon registration paid for the next year’s RomCon event.”

 

How will RomCon bring authors and their readers together before and after the convention? Check out the new website Tiffany and her partners have built www.romconinc.com (the site goes live this month, so if it’s not up yet today, please keep checking.) They’re pulling together the huge amount of information that is available on the internet about the industry to really connect authors with readers. 

 

What’s there for authors?

·         Authors with syndicated blogs can repost headlines and/or excerpts of them with links back to their blogs. 

·         A shared calendar of literary events capturing author book signings, lectures, blog tours, charity events, etc. 

·         Forums where live chats and on-going discussions can take place. 

·         Twitter ticker tape feed that updates continually with tweets from subscribed authors

 

What’s there for readers?

Registered users can rate author sites, romance friendly bookstores (where are the friendly stores, do they pass out author promo items, etc.) and review sites.  That will build a knowledgebase of information that authors can use to target book tours, submit books for reviews to the highest regarded review sites, and know better what readers like in an author web site when they go to build or overhaul their own site.  And readers get to know where they should shop, what sites have the best reviews and what author sites are fun and should be in their hotlinks.

 

A win-win situation in my book (pun intended) and I can’t wait to join in and participate. I love to meet new readers and this website and the romance convention will provide great opportunities to for me to find new authors to read as well as new fans!

 

Please stop by on Thursday, October 29^th for my debut guest blog on www.romconinc.com. I’ll be talking about my super agent series and giving away a free copy of one of my books to a lucky commenter. The whole kick-off month of October will be filled with guest bloggers, like me, so visit often and enjoy!!

I think it was the fabulous Clair Delacroix/Deb Cooke who once told me that writing is a job. I sort of believed it then, but not as much as I do today at this particular point in my career. I remember when writing was fun, exciting, joyful, passionate and EASY. So what happened? Where along the way did writing become less of these things.

While, I don’t think I’ve lost the excitement, the joy or the passion of writing, I now understand far better the words of wisdom that well-establish writers have handed down to those of us who haven’t hit certain levels in our career. But, the writing has become more of a job and these things I’ve always associated with writing seem a bit out of reach at the moment. I don’t know if it’s because I took a step up the career ladder or if it’s because I’m putting extra pressure on myself to do more than I’m capable. Super Writer syndrome as it were. Maybe it’s the holidays, but I feel like I’m in the Foreign Legion with my back to the wall and I’m smoking my last cigerette.

Why am I feeling this way? Part of it is my October contract with Berkley for a three-book paranormal series. Writing paranormal is new to me, so as Yanni says, “A little bit of fear means your are doing something worth doing — you are stretching — you are going outside your immediate grasp. Out of my immediate grasp? Can we say outside the atmosphere and I’m scared spitless? A three-book historical series would be easy. I know that world. But creating a new one definitely makes me stretch. And it’s scary as hell!

Another monkey wrench that’s been thrown into the mix is that I’m trying to market my newest release Dangerous, which comes out the end of January. I’ve got advertising in place, but I’m already planning for Mirage’s release in June!  I need to hire Baby to help me out. Problem is she’s just 11, and she’s not savvy enough to do it without me guiding her, and if that’s the case, it’s easier to do it myself. So I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. If only Oldest were more computer savvy and eager to help.

Then the week before Christmas, I landed my second contract with Berkley, this time for two historicals. One of those books is written (THANK GOD) but I have to write a new one. I’m over the moon about another NY sale, but OMG, my scared spitless monitor just went through the roof. I’m now facing deadlines unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my entire career. Normally deadlines excite me. Right now, I’m asking myself, “WTF were you thinking you idiot! Three and half books in 13-14 months???”

All of these things mean I’ve got writing deadlines, proposal deadlines, marketing deadlines and then the actual marketing of the releases. Maybe this wouldn’t be so daunting if I didn’t have to work a day job, but like most struggling new writers, I have to work the day job to keep a roof over our head.

So perhaps you can see where I’m wondering what happened to the days when writing was fun, exciting, joyful, passionate and EASY. I think those things are still there, I just don’t see them as well as perhaps I once did. It was much easier when there weren’t deadlines to deal with. I’ve always submitted completed books, now I’m selling on proposal, and the books ARE NOT written. Then there are the craft issues to include at the editor’s request, learning the technical and financial business aspects of the publishing industry (I’m a VERY SLOW learner) and this or that business piece to comprehend. And for the newbies reading this and thinking, “I don’t know what she’s whining about, she sold.” All I can say is, my Mom used to tell me you’ll understand when you grow up. She was right, damn it.

So Claire, and any other writer I ever dismissed for telling me it was hard, my apologies for my arrogance. It is easier to sell than it is to keep up with the results of selling. However, the one thing in my favor is my stubbornness. I’ll make it just to have the pleasure of saying I made it. *grin*

What do you do to keep deadlines and everything else from driving you insane?

Monica
Monica Burns | http://www.monicaburns.com
Dangerous, 4.5 Stars Romantic Times
“…a pretty good read.” MrsGiggles.com
Master of Sin, Berkley 03/10

This summer I got first peek at the cover for the first book in my Dragonfire series. Ooooo, it’s HOT!

Check it out on my site and let me know what you think.

I’m thinking February 2008 is too far away…

Narian Summer

by Tianna Xander & Bonnie Rose Leigh

copyright 2007, Cobblestone Press

Genre: Sci-fi / Vampire / Menage

Avaliable April 13th, 2007

Blurb:

The summer heat on Naria used to be a welcome time–a time of fertility and bounty.  A time where the Narians celebrated life and everyday worries could be easily tossed aside for momentary pleasure.  After three millennia of cultural and scientific stagnation coupled with a blatant disregard for their home planet, the summer heat is now deadly.

As Naria’s citizens prepare to leave their world in search of a new home, three Vampyre find that love can happen in only one day’s time.  Lania Cadmus meets her mates, Nicolaos Konstantinos and Herodes Kreios, aboard their ship, The Poseidon, and quickly realizes they are determined to make her their mate.

With only one day to get to know each other before the fleet departs, the men must not only get past Lania’s fear of intimacy, but prove to her that love is all they’ll need to take with them on their journey to a new world.