Archive for Q & A
New cover…
First off, I’d like to share the cover for Close the Distance, book 2 in the Rags to Riches series. Yes, it’s the same guy from Remove the Empty Spaces. Which makes me very happy because Close picks up pretty much right where Remove left off. So you get two stories about Adrien and Ion. The 3rd book, Footsteps of My Father (title subject to change…lol) is next up on my list to be written. That one will be about Patrick, Ion’s best friend and Adrien’s personal assistant. He gets to meet Winston, the head of the London branch of Adrien’s company. It’s up on the coming soon page at Totally Bound. Click here to check it out.
Secondly, I was asked about book conventions and how to find them. I guess the best bet would be to google book conventions in your area or simply ask other authors which ones they’ve gone to and which ones they’d recommend for what you’re writing.
Like for romance, there’s the Romantic Times convention-which is geared towards readers but they do have industry panels where authors can learn new things from other authors. Plus you get to interact with a lot of readers. π Β The RWA (Romance Writers of America) convention tends to run towards authors/industry more than readers, though they do have a huge book signing.
Then there’s conventions for mystery/suspense and fantasy/sci-fi writers/readers. It’s simply a matter of doing the research to find which ones are in your area or are something you might be interested in going to.
I’ll be going to three cons this year-Spring Fling (which is put on by the a Chicago RWA chapter) in April in Chicago. The RT convention in May in New Orleans and GRL Β in Chicago in October.
RT and GRL are the two cons I always attend each year. But they might not be the right ones for other authors to attend. It’s really important to do your research and make sure you’re going to get the best return for your money when you go to cons. Of course, sometimes it’s nice to go just to have fun. π
I hope everyone is staying warm and have a great weekend.
Friday Q & A….
I was asked if it was easier to find publishers for LGBTQ stories than for het stories…..and I think the answer (for the moment) is yes. There are a lot more epublishers out there who have discovered the m/m phenomena and are accepting gay stories.
I think het stories now have to be very well-written because there is still a huge market out there, and publishers are becoming far more selective of which stories they chose to release to the public. I’m lucky that Totally Bound does both het and m/m. I can branch back out a little because as much as I love m/m stories and gay romances, I have to admit I get a little bored writing them all the time. Being able to write other types of stories helps keep me interested in all of the genres I write in. π
But there are a lot of fly-by-night publishers out there, so when/if you ever chose to write, please do your research and make sure they’re a reputable company. Sure, there is going to be at least one person who is unhappy with a publisher. You’re not going to find one pub out there that someone hasn’t had a bad experience with. But there will be a history of bad stuff going on with disreputable publishers. You just have to do your due diligence and make sure you’re comfortable working with whichever pub you chose.
I hope that answered your question. π Also, if anyone has questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll do my best to answer them. π
Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend.
Friday Q & A….
You’re probably saying quit promoing all those straight couples. We only want the two guys. π lol Which is fair. But I thought I’d let you know that Chicago, Book 4 in the Fallen series, is out now. That way if you want to tell any of your friends who read m/f stories, they could check it out. π Click here. If you’re not interested, then skip to the next paragraph…lol
Some of you might recognize this cover as the third book in the Preternatural series. This is Bandit’s story. I’ve been promising you all Rover’s story, and I really do mean to get it done soon. I haven’t forgotten this series. Heck, I can’t when both my dad and my brother ask me about it every time I see them (which in the case of my dad, is every week…lol) Β I do have some of it started and actually wrote a little more on it the other day. Now what I’ll tell you about Rover’s book is that I do plan on ending the overall story arc about the book and the bad guys. Then I’m thinking there will be three short stories featuring some of our favorite secondary characters. Just so we can wrap up a few loose ends.
So please don’t get too discouraged. I’m really hoping to get Rover’s story out at some point next year. Unfortunately, I can’t be any more specific than that. Oh, but it is on my board of stories to work on in the next month or so. π
I did have another question to answer, but I think I’ll save that for next Friday. But if you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll answer them when I can. Even if it’s about a book or a series you’re interested in finding more out about, I’m willing to try and answer those. π
I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving or Chanukah. If you went out shopping last night or today, I hope you were safe and got awesome deals. π
Friday Q & A…
This is the very hot cover for Blindsided, my Australian rugby/lifeguard story, written with the amazing Devon Rhodes. It’s be out in the next couple of months. π
Yvonne asked how I decide which publishers to work with.
I guess when I started writing, I submitted to publishers whose books I read and liked. I’m still with one of the three that I started with. I got my rights back from the other two. Not because I didn’t like working with them or anything like that, but because it was time to move on and try something different.
I was invited to submit something to Amber Allure, and I’d read a few books published by them. Also, when they approached me, I had just happened to finish up a book and thought I’d give them a try. So Allergies got sent there.
I started working with Totally Bound because Carol Lynne asked me to co-author a story with her. And really? I wasn’t about to say no to Carol Lynne!!! Β lol So when we finished Dracul’s Blood, she said she’d like to send it to TB, and I said why not! And now they’re my major publisher. I love working with them and their covers are some of the best in the business, imo.
MLR Press became one of my publishers because I got to know Kris Jacen, the editor in chief there. She became a good friend, and they had some sub calls that caught my eye, so I sent a story in. The rest is history.
Now when I write a story, if it hasn’t already been promised to one of my publishers, I try to think about what kind of story it is, and which pub I think it would fit in better with. Also, I want to make sure that I don’t have too many of the same kind of story coming out at the same pub.
If I ever pick up a new publisher now, it’ll because I like their reputation and the authors they have chosen to publish. Also, that I think they’ll do their utmost to make my story the best it can be.
Does that answer your question, Yvonne? Does anyone else have a question for next week?
Have a great Friday and a marvelous weekend, everyone.
Friday Q & A..and Chicago….
Oops…I’m using the old version of this cover. It doesn’t have the new Totally Bound logo. Oh well…I just thought I’d let you all know that Chicago is up for early download if you or any of your friends might be interested. Click here if you would like to check it out. π
But on to the real feature of today: The Q & A.
Yvonne asked last Friday: “how did your family & friends respond to your new career as a M/M author when you first started, and when you were first published?”
Well, I was first published in 2004 and I wrote M/F books at the time. My parents and brother were very proud of me, though my mom skipped over the sex scenes in the books…lol. To be honest, even without the graphic sex, the books weren’t really what she liked to read anyway.
Then in 2006, when I started writing M/M stories, they were still as proud of me as they were before, though this time my dad and brother started reading more of them. (Both of them are gay…just so you know…lol) My mom has never read any of my M/M books…that I know of…and I’m fine with that. I know she’s thrilled that I’m published and get a chance to tell my stories to people who love my books.
To be honest, I never received a negative response to what I was writing, whether it was M/F or M/M. I think it was more the fact that they were ebooks that made many people think that I wasn’t necessarily ‘published’ in the traditional sense. But when I tell them that I have over 70 books out, (or did at one time…lol) and that I quit my day job to write full time, they’re impressed. Because I’m doing something that I love and getting paid for it.
My dad is very proud of me, though he tends to introduce me as ‘the queen of porn’…I’ve given up trying to explain the difference between my graphic erotic romances (and let’s face it, the sex in my books has toned down in the last couple of years) and porn. But I don’t feel like he’s putting me down or anything like that. It’s more just having fun. And hey, it’s great that he’s not embarrassed to tell people what I do for a living.
I hope that answers your question, Yvonne. Does anyone else have any questions they’d like me to answer? I’ll be more than happy to do so next Friday.
Have a great day and a marvelous weekend, everyone.