Tanya Chris's Blog, page 8

Omegaverse Primer

The first rule of omegaverse is there aren’t any rules. An
omegaverse needs omegas. That’s about it. Building your own world is part of
the fun of writing omegaverse, and exploring new worlds is part of the fun of reading
it.

An omegaverse might take place in this world… but it might not

A fairly typical omegaverse will be set in our world except
with shifters—sometimes hidden from the humans, sometimes right out in the open.
But omegaverses might take place in dystopian futures, Middle Earth fantasy
lands, or even on alien planets.

In Slow Heat
by Leta Blake, we’re in a world where all the women died out in a long-ago
catastrophe and male omegas have been engineered to propagate the species. Even
though this isn’t our timeline, the characters are humanoid and the environment
feels familiar. Contrarily, Changed
by Robin Moray takes place on an alien planet somewhere in our distant future.
One of the main characters is human. The other is an alien from a species that
includes omegas.

The main characters might be fated mates… but they might not

The fated mates trope can be so satisfying. Imagine that in
all the world there’s one person specifically designed for you, and that
nothing can come between you and them. One of my favorite fated mates stories
is Omega
to the Alpha by Stephen Hoppa. Alex is a street-toughened human who doesn’t
believe in love, never mind in fated mates. Silas is a biologically smitten werewolf
wondering why fate has insisted on pairing him with such an impossible man. No
matter how hard Alex fights his bond to Silas, Silas never stops hopelessly
adoring him.

But in plenty of other omegaverses, the characters have to fumble
their way into a relationship, just like you and I do. Though once established,
a bond may be sealed by a claiming bite which ties the partners irrevocably
together—like a marriage, except a lot less easy to dissolve. Nerds Who Knot by Amy
Bellows is a series of three omegaverse novellas that explore bonding bites
from all different angles.

They might be wolf shifters… but they might not

Shifters—basically werewolves who can control their shift
and retain human understanding in animal form—are the standard omegaverse
inhabitants. They come in multiple forms. From the classic wolf to mythical
creatures like dragons
and gryphons,
to other apex predators like lions and jaguars, to the mundane like house
cats and bunnies, to the outright odd like herons and crocodiles.

Then there are weres—a sort of in-between state that’s
neither human nor animal. In Stray
by Crystel Greene, Alpha Aryn and Omega Trae don’t shift back and forth between
human and animal states. They’re always weres—creatures with stronger, sharper
senses than human who are more attuned to their animal nature.

Omegas might go into heat… but they might not

Heat and knots and slick… oh my. These are a few of my favorite
tropes. Which is why I love Omega by DJ Heart, the
book through which I was first introduced to the concept of heat. Heat is an
irresistible state of sexual need, and an omega in heat will often trigger an
alpha to go into rut. It’s all tied up with scent and pheromones, creating an
animalistic need to have raw, toppy sex RIGHT NOW.

An omega in heat will often produce slick. Slick is the
omegaverse answer to “where’s the lube?” In some omegaverses, slick only happens
when the omega is in heat. In others, it happens whenever the omega is aroused.
And some omegaverses don’t have slick at all. Sometimes even shifters have to go
in search of the lube.

DJ Heart’s Omega also includes knotting. A knot is an
extra bump at the base of an alpha’s cock similar to what real life dogs have. The
alpha’s knot prevents withdrawal after ejaculation, forcing a period of
togetherness. I’m not going to pretend to know how dogs feel about knotting,
but in omegaverse knots are pleasurable for both the alpha and the omega. In
fact, omegas commonly (especially in my
books, lol) beg for a knot. And what could be better than mandatory cuddle time
after?

Heat might mean male omegas can get pregnant… but it might not

In M/M circles, omegaverse has almost come to be synonymous
with MPREG, but not all omegaverses include the ability for male omegas to become
pregnant, and male pregnancy can occur without omegas. Trans men can become
pregnant, for example. And though heat and knots are tied to fertility in real
life, they happily exist in non-MPREG omegaverses too.

One of my favorite omegaverses addresses the subject of
MPREG in a particularly interesting way. The title for Human
Omega Discovered on the Slave Planet by Eileen Glass implies you’re in for
some trope-laden erotica, but the book is actually an original and intricate
SciFi M/M/M romance featuring a human cis-male space soldier who gets captured
by the enemy and ends up sharing a cage with two friendly aliens who think he’s
a child-bearing omega.

Carter knows he can’t get pregnant, no matter how much his
mates are convinced otherwise, but over the course of what is currently a
three-book series, he begins to wish he could. He continues to identify as a
man. He just wants to be a man who can bear children, and he applies his
scientific and technical knowledge to figuring out how to make that happen.
Carter isn’t actually an omega, but that’s okay because…

There might be omegas… and there might not

[record scratch]

Yeah, I said the only rule of omegaverse is that you need
omegas, but given how thoroughly blurred the lines are between omegaverse
universes, paranormal universes that include shapeshifters, and SciFi universes
that include MPREG, some of my favorite omegaverses don’t actually have any omegas.

Lyra Evans’s Three
Courts series, for example, is a paranormal universe with fae, mages, and
shapeshifting wolves. Some of her wolves are alphas, but none of them are
omegas. Which means you get all the hot alpha vibes without having to worry
about omegas being an oppressed stand-in for women.

One of my favorite ever books, The Werewolf & the Merman by June Hessian, includes knotting, fated mates, a claiming bite, and shapeshifters of both the mermaid and wolf variety, but no alpha/beta/omega typing at all. This surprisingly sweet love story doesn’t revolve around a power imbalance.

Omegas are continually being reimagined

There are more variations on omegaverse than I can possibly
describe, which is why I had to ask myself which tropes I was going to use in
building my own world. Naturally, I picked my favorites.

So if you’re looking for some good heat-driven knotting in a non-MPREG omegaverse, check out the three novellas included in Omega Reimagined. And remember: omegaverse means never saying never. Whatever you like or don’t like, you’re sure to find something that hits all the right buttons.

Coming Soon: Pledged

I have to show off the cover of Pledged, a new spanking short for fans of Owned, expected to be released in August. Pledged takes place at a frat house and features lots of M/M spanking fun.

A Promise to My Readers

As a romance reader, I don’t have a favorite genre. I grew up reading M/F, but these days I mostly read M/M. I like male submissives, whether the top is male or female, but I’ve read and enjoyed plenty of M/f too. I can get equally into a tender romance or a kinky BDSM story. What gets me going is interesting characters, hot sex, and good writing.

The genres I write in match the genres I read in. In other words, it might be anything. The advice usually given to authors who write in multiple genres is to separate them by pen name. That way you, the reader, would know that Amy writes contemporary M/F feel-good stories or that Barbara writes hardcore M/M BDSM, and your expectations in buying a book would be met.

If I only wrote in two sub-genres, I’d do that, but I’m all over the place. And it’s only going to get worse. My next release will be M/F (with a smidge of M/F/M) and more Women’s Fiction than Romance. From there, I’ve got a M/M historical and a F/m (femdom) BDSM queued up. Who can guess what I’ll get up to next. So when someone picks up a Tanya Chris book, what can they expect?

These are my promises to you, the reader:

My books will be feminist-friendly. Women will not be objectified or hurt. They will occupy positions of power and trust at least as often as men do. They will be free to enjoy sex, however they enjoy it, without judgement, and they’ll be treated respectfully by their partners
I will not propagate hate towards any group. My books will encourage diversity and tolerance. They will be sex positive for all consensual sex acts
My characters won’t abandon each other over misunderstandings or overblown jealousy. They’ll discuss what needs to be discussed and will be respectful of each other’s positions. I won’t ask my characters to fall in love with people who abuse them
Most importantly, I will be clear in my descriptions, particularly with respect to story length and gender pairings.  I’ll give content warnings for triggers that might not be obvious from the plot. I will choose transparency over cheap surprise or increased sales

Whether a book takes place today, two hundreds years ago, or two hundred years in the future, whether it deals with humans or shapeshifters or aliens or I-have-this-one-idea-that-involves-Satan, whether it’s M/F or M/M, or non-binary, monogamous or menage, I’ll stick to my principals, and I’ll give you enough information to decide whether to buy or to pass.

It’s OK to pass. We all have our preferences, and those are OK.

Happy reading!

Tanya

Bonus promise: There will be hot sex scenes. Because, ultimately, isn’t that what we’re all here for?

Kindle Giveaway Experience

I had such an unexpected experience with my first Kindle giveaway that I thought I’d share it with my fellow authors. First, to make sure we’re on the same page as to what kind of giveaway I’m talking about: if your book is in KU, you have the option through KDP of listing it as free for up to 5 days a year. With no idea what would happen, I made my M/M BDSM short story, Deep Under, which had been out for almost a year, free for a five day period starting on a Tuesday.

I tweeted about it being free and a few people RT’d me. I also posted to a FB group for M/M readers. I ran a $7 ad in a relevant newsletter. I think that’s the sum total of the marketing I did. Like I said, I had no idea what to expect.

In total I gave away more than 800 copies, more than half of them in the first two days. That sent me to #1 on the free list in M/M Romance (although this is a short story, Amazon has, for whatever reason, never tagged it as a short read, so this was the full-length category). It only spent a day at #1 but it was in the top 10 for the entire 5 days, because the best seller list is a self-fulfilling cycle. Readers see it so they buy it so it stays on that page.

Bragging – I’m ahead of Will & Patrick (a fave of mine) and, for some reason, The Picture of Dorian Gray

At first, I thought this promo was a complete bust. There were only two new reviews. I got one new “fan” who bought and reviewed another book. There were no newsletter sign-ups. I did see a small bounce on my most similar title (Owned, another short M/M BDSM). During those 5 days, KENP for Deep Under ran at normal levels. Despite the fact that readers could have “bought” the book for free, some were still borrowing it. (I’ve done that myself – just click on the button I’m used to clicking on).

I believe strongly that a huge percentage of the people who claimed the book didn’t read it. I feel like there must be people who just haunt the free lists and grab whatever they can get, regardless of whether or not they’d be interested. Because 800 copies? That was more than this book had sold total in its lifetime, and it was only a 99 cent book. If there was that kind of demand for it, 99 cents isn’t a gigantic barrier.

BUT

Big but coming.

I can’t begin to explain how this works, but that title has seen an increase in traffic ever since that free period. Immediately following the free period, KENP more than doubled (and remember it didn’t decrease during the free period). Two months later, both sales and KENP continue to be slightly higher than they were before the free period and overall I’ve nearly doubled reviews in that time frame.

Across all books, my KENP was slightly higher after the free period than before. Since I didn’t have a new release during the time, the normal trend would be downwards. In the graph below, you can see the free book spike and below that, the following increase in KENP.

The heightened interest in this book (and reader reviews to the effect that they’d have liked a less abrupt ending) caused me to write an epilogue (Back Under) and put it on my website. I’ve updated the ebook to link to my website where I’d hope to collect newsletter sign ups. My one regret is that I didn’t do that before I gave away 800 copies.

In summary:

It doesn’t seem that giving away copies decreases sales over the long run. Contrarily, it appears to increase sales, even for the book I gave away
Think about how to draw those new readers to your website before you run the giveaway
More than half the copies I gave away were in the first two days. Since you have 5 days per book per year, it might make sense to split them
Deep Under is the book I consider my “gateway” book. It’s representative of my work but it’s nichey enough to draw attention and people seem to like it. Don’t give away crap.

Now available: Aftercare

Aftercare is now available on Amazon in paperback and e-book and is eligible for Kindle Unlimited.

Aayan Denir knows Garrett Hillier was once a high-powered defense attorney, and—thanks to a leaked photograph—he knows Garrett is sexually submissive, which makes him ideally qualified to defend Aayan’s brother from the charge of murdering his sub. Aayan would do anything to protect Syed, even if he doesn’t understand how Syed could hurt someone he loves. He could never hurt Garrett. He only wants to take care of him—love him, serve him, cherish him. And maybe torture him. Just a little.

Garrett probably shouldn’t be dating his client’s brother. Right? And what’s the use in a confirmed sub dating a guy who doesn’t want to be a Dom anyway? The important thing is to get Syed cleared of the discriminatory murder charge he’s facing. Aayan is a distraction. But for the first time in the three lonely years since Garrett’s husband died, he’s feeling hope, ambition, and desire. Can he give up the pain he craves to find the love he needs?

As Syed’s trial date looms, Aayan and Garrett explore what a BDSM relationship means for them, and what they mean to each other.

Back Under, available free on website

Back Under, a 4,500 word sequel to Deep Under, featuring Maddox and Jack, is now available for free on my website.

 

 

Predestination Unknown

While I get Aftercare ready for publication next month, I’ve started writing a new book. Predestination Unknown tells the story of Luther’s accidental trip back in time to the Salem witch trials era where he meets Ezekiel, a Puritan farmer. Luther knows what’s about to happen, but that doesn’t mean he can stop it.

Coming Soon: Aftercare

My next release will be Aftercare, the story of Garrett, a submissive attorney who lost his husband/Dom three years ago, and Aayan, a reluctant Dom who hires Garrett to represent his brother. Together they find a way to over

Aayan Denir knows Garrett Hillier was once a high-powered defense attorney, and thanks to a leaked photograph, he knows Garrett is sexually submissive, which makes him ideally qualified to defend Aayan‘s brother from the charge of murdering his sub. Aayan will do anything to protect his brother, even if he doesn’t understand how you could hurt someone you love. He’d never hurt Garrett. He only wants to take care of him–love him, serve him, cherish him. And maybe torture him. Just a little.

If you’re interested in receiving an ARC copy of this book for purposes of providing a review, please use my contact form to contact me. Anticipated release date is late April or early May.

Fun interviews and good reviews

Here’s some press I’ve gotten lately. First, a really fun author interview with A. B. Funkhauser on her blog.

Then a character interview for Charlie from When It All Falls Down on Lexi Miles’s blog.

I also got two great reviews for When It All Falls Down, from the Hearts on Fire blog and from OJ He Say.

Thanks for all the love!

Tanya

More than Everything by C. Cardeno

I just discovered C. Cardeno.  More than Everything is M/M/M which would be a favorite genre of mine except it’s so rarely done well. This is definitely my favorite ever.

The story spans a long time and multiple relationships, starting with Charlie and Scott. Then, when that relationship ends (with a whimper), it moves on to Charlie and Adan. That relationship also ends (with a bang), and so we arrive in the current day where Adan and Scott have become an established couple (you’re going to need to suspend some disbelief for a chapter or two here) and run into Charlie again, at which point Adan and Scott unanimously (and very quickly – suspend that disbelief!) agree to pursue Charlie for a committed polyamorous relationship.

I’d have liked more weight on the last third of the book, but all three portions were well done with a  strong narrative, lovable characters, and relationships built more on good times than bad. There’s a limited amount of M/M/M sex (mostly it’s M/M in the various couplings) but M/M/M sex is hard to write well. The pronouns are impossible and the result is a frantic detailing of who’s sticking what where in such a way that the reader inevitably loses track. All the sex in this book is good, even if it’s not all threesomes.

And if you like all-male threesomes and want to see my attempt at detailing who’s sticking what where, checking out my book Three by Three which includes a M/M/M story (in addition to other threesome stories). It’s actually my favorite of all the sex scenes I’ve written. Three by Three is only .99 if you have to buy it and free on KU, so it’s hopefully worth it even if you don’t want any M/F/M.