Ella James's Blog, page 5
August 24, 2013
Saturday CONTEST!!!!
SATURDAY CONTEST: Share and tweet the Taming Cross buy link; vote for the book on Goodreads; review on Amazon and Goodreads; share about the book in your favorite FB book group or on your favorite blog. Each of these tasks = one entry! Prize drawing will be as soon as I get home from a wedding tonight. Prize is a paperback copy of Taming Cross and a $25 Amazon gift card! :D
http://www.amazon.com/Taming-Cross-Lo...
http://www.amazon.com/Taming-Cross-Lo...
August 21, 2013
My First Readers Contest
I just closed a contest for sharing the Taming Cross buy link on Facebook, and I've decided to start another one as a thank you to everyone who's taking a chance on Taming Cross and buying it early. It might not be something you think about a lot, but it really means the world to most authors when people decide to buy their book the first day out - or even the second or third day.
So, this is for all you guys who bought Taming Cross today, or who will buy tomorrow (Wednesday 8/21), or even Thursday 8/22. I may decide to extend it to Friday 8/23. The easiest way to enter is to forward me the e-mail Amazon sends you (or the receipt you get from Smashwords or BN.com) when you make a purchase. My e-mail is ella_f_james@ymail.com, and I will be cataloging all your e-mails to be sure everyone gets entered. Another way to enter and confirm that you've purchased is to review the book on Amazon or wherever you bought it. Then forward me a copy of your review.
This book is not 99 cents, so I know you have to decide carefully whether you want to buy it now or later, when you've heard more about it. I have so many wonderful, loyal readers, and you are the ones I want to reward - the ones who will just buy it because you know you like my stories.
I want to reward you in a big way... so the prize is going to be BIG. I'm going to pay for your ticket to one of the three events I've committed to this coming up year. I'll also give you a $300 lodging stipend and a $400 travel stipend. I'm giving you the choice of three events because I know not everyone lives in the same region of the country. The events are utopYAcon 2014, in Nashville, Tennessee, June 20-22; Penned Con in St. Louis, Missouri, September 12-13; and Queen City Indie Con in Cincinnati, Ohio October 24-25. If the winner I choose is for some reason not able to travel, I've give you a several-hundred-dollar gift card to your favorite e-bookstore.
In the meantime, help me spread the word about my contest - and enjoy Cross!
Buy links are:
Amazon
BN.com
Smashwords
P.S. I really, really, really hate saying this, but I've seen a notable increase in returns since I announced the contest. If I continue seeing more than usual returns, I may have to cancel it. Please don't buy the book and then return it! :(
August 20, 2013
Taming Cross now available!
Taming Cross is available on Amazon.com and Smashwords.com. It should be live on BN.com later today.
Here it is on Amazon, and here it is on Smashwords. SW has a format that will work on Nook.
Remember, Taming Cross can be read as a stand-alone novel!
Happy reading, and be sure to let me know what you think by leaving an Amazon review!
July 26, 2013
Taming Cross - Coming August 20!
TAMING CROSS WILL BE OUT TUESDAY, AUGUST 20!
Read the blurb and sign up for a release day reminder by adding it to your Goodreads TBR pile!
I can't wait to see what you think of Cross's story.
Good news
You guys, I'm so bad at updating this blog. I tend to spend most of my time on Facebook, so if you want to keep up with me, be sure you follow me on Facebook. :) I do giveaways ALL THE TIME, so it would definitely be beneficial!
Even though I'm kind of late on this, I feel the need to announce - somewhere other than Facebook - that I have a literary agent now. Her name is Rebecca Friedman of The Hill Nadell Literary Agency, and she is truly amazing. A few years ago, I spent a lot of time trying to find an agent. I stopped looking for one when selling ebooks as an "indie" author began paying the bills for me, and I told myself I wouldn't look for one again until I really needed one.
I'm working on some new things, so it was time to find an agent, and I was so lucky one of my acquaintances put me in touch with Rebecca. I'm so glad I didn't sign with another agent years ago, because I know if I had, I wouldn't be where I am today. And I really like where I am.
Even though I'm kind of late on this, I feel the need to announce - somewhere other than Facebook - that I have a literary agent now. Her name is Rebecca Friedman of The Hill Nadell Literary Agency, and she is truly amazing. A few years ago, I spent a lot of time trying to find an agent. I stopped looking for one when selling ebooks as an "indie" author began paying the bills for me, and I told myself I wouldn't look for one again until I really needed one.
I'm working on some new things, so it was time to find an agent, and I was so lucky one of my acquaintances put me in touch with Rebecca. I'm so glad I didn't sign with another agent years ago, because I know if I had, I wouldn't be where I am today. And I really like where I am.
June 19, 2013
Solstice Sale - Win sixteen signed paperbacks!
The authors of Indie Inked are running a .99 cent sale this week on sixteen bestselling books, including books by Tabatha Vargo, Lizzy Ford, Julia Crane, Alexia Purdy, Brina Courtney, Sarah M. Ross, JA Huss, and more! (Did I mention Selling Scarlett is one of those on sale?)
You can check out the Solstice Sale here, but the coolest part of it is that all the books on sale are also being given away in paperback form, in two big prize packs. Selling Scarlett is in one of the prize packs. I just got the paperbacks a few days ago, and they're really pretty! You should definitely go check out the Indie Inked page and enter to win.
You can check out the Solstice Sale here, but the coolest part of it is that all the books on sale are also being given away in paperback form, in two big prize packs. Selling Scarlett is in one of the prize packs. I just got the paperbacks a few days ago, and they're really pretty! You should definitely go check out the Indie Inked page and enter to win.
May 27, 2013
utopYA Awards 2013
If you know me, you know how much I love utopYAcon. It's a con for female writers of paranormal fantasy and the readers who love them, and last year, I was lucky enough to get a seat on a panel during the con's kick-off year.
I really can't even describe how impacting the experience was for me. It was one of those things that came at exactly the right time. I wasn't a 'known' author (at all), but I had a few books out, and I was starting to make money selling them. A few of the other authors there have become fabulous, international author-stars this year...but last year they still had time to talk to newbies like me - and I really benefited from some of their advice - not to mention I had a ton of fun with everyone I met.
Angeline Kace and Heather Hildenbrand taught me how to tweet. I went bar-hopping with Jessica Sorensen and Delphina and Amy Evans. For the first time ever, I started to feel like I could be a successful author.
Anyway, fast forward a year, and it's time to vote for the 2013 utopYAcon Awards. I'm thrilled to be nominated in two categories - best YA sci-fi novel (Here) and break out author of the year. Even if I only get my husband's vote, it's exciting to be nominated. I know a lot of the other authors nominated, and everyone (that I know, anyway) is both talented and super nice. So if you get a chance, go cast your vote!
And if you've never heard about utopYA, go read about this super fun convention. It happens in Nashville every June.
Oh yeah! Almost forgot: I'm doing a group signing Thursday, June 27 from 6-8 p.m. If you want to drop by and meet me (as well as a bunch of wonderful authors), here's the FB link: https://www.facebook.com/events/151861124993285/.
xox
P.S. If you're curious. I'm shooting to release both Chasing Cross and Trapped in July. No promises yet, but that's the goal. ;)
I really can't even describe how impacting the experience was for me. It was one of those things that came at exactly the right time. I wasn't a 'known' author (at all), but I had a few books out, and I was starting to make money selling them. A few of the other authors there have become fabulous, international author-stars this year...but last year they still had time to talk to newbies like me - and I really benefited from some of their advice - not to mention I had a ton of fun with everyone I met.
Angeline Kace and Heather Hildenbrand taught me how to tweet. I went bar-hopping with Jessica Sorensen and Delphina and Amy Evans. For the first time ever, I started to feel like I could be a successful author.
Anyway, fast forward a year, and it's time to vote for the 2013 utopYAcon Awards. I'm thrilled to be nominated in two categories - best YA sci-fi novel (Here) and break out author of the year. Even if I only get my husband's vote, it's exciting to be nominated. I know a lot of the other authors nominated, and everyone (that I know, anyway) is both talented and super nice. So if you get a chance, go cast your vote!
And if you've never heard about utopYA, go read about this super fun convention. It happens in Nashville every June.
Oh yeah! Almost forgot: I'm doing a group signing Thursday, June 27 from 6-8 p.m. If you want to drop by and meet me (as well as a bunch of wonderful authors), here's the FB link: https://www.facebook.com/events/151861124993285/.
xox
P.S. If you're curious. I'm shooting to release both Chasing Cross and Trapped in July. No promises yet, but that's the goal. ;)
May 6, 2013
Selling Selling Scarlett
Selling Scarlett has been out for almost a month now. About a week after it came out, after I'd changed the price from 99 cents to $3.99, it broke into the Amazon Top 100 and got 'down' to #80 overall. This happened during a nightmarish beach trip during which my husband ended up going to the hospital; the next day, we had to go home early (no refund on the room). The beach trip was supposed to be a much-needed break before a grueling, two-week-long medical trip for my son, and I was pretty bummed about how badly it went. Then I checked the rankings that night and it was pure magic. More so, even, because no one in the Ella James camp had been online trying to drive up sales. Don't you just love it when things come together like that?
I got the idea for Selling Scarlett years ago, at a time when I desperately needed money and had a certain something to sell, had I wanted to. (I didn't!) I think I sold my platelets to the blood bank instead. ;) But I filed the idea away for future use. I didn't think of it again until one weekend this Spring when I was working on Trapped, feeling bored and tired of writing things on a schedule. So I wrote Scarlett. I put everything else on hold and just let this story take me where it did. And I was surprised at where it went!
Writing about a brothel was one thing, but my hero being blackmailed by a hooker? That kind of thing was not my forte. I hated how Hunter just kept right on going, according to Priscilla's plan. I hated how long it took for him to get together with 'Libby'. I hated what happened to Cross. The more I wrote, the more I worried. What would people think of this crazy book? What would my family say? A romance novel is one thing, but this was racy. Dark. And not in that ever popular we're-broken-till-we-find-each other kind of way. Just dark.
So I held my breath when I pressed 'publish'. What would my writer friends think? What about my YA readers? Someone would have something to say about it. I bit my lip and waited for rotten tomatoes to start flying at my head. The good thing was, there were a lot of flowers and a lot of confetti first. There are so many nice people in the world - readers who just want to build you up and help you. People who are happy to e-mail you and let you know a man from New Orleans would never say 'Crayfish'; it's 'Crawfish'. People who tell all their friends how much they loved your book. But for every handful who like it, there's someone who doesn't.
Shame is such a heavy thing to put on anyone. All I could think about for days was that someone thought I should be ashamed of myself. Not just someone. A former fan. I'd never had this kind of feedback from any of my YA books, and I have to be honest: It was hard to handle. I've never been the kind of person who can just shrug off what other people think. I don't like disappointing people. I'm a perfectionist. I don't like conflict and have only in the last few years learned that sometimes it's necessary.
I spent a lot of time thinking about my new book. Why couldn't I write something more socially acceptable? Why didn't I write something more reader friendly, like a campy mystery or Christian fiction? (I have a Christian romance plotted, TBR under another pen name, and it, too, took a dark turn after about ten seconds of me sitting at my keyboard). I'm a fairly modest person in 'real life'. Why don't I have a problem churning out a steamy sex scene? I don't know why - I just don't!
Finally I reached a bottom line for myself, and this is it: If you're going to be a fiction writer, there's got to be some magic in it for you. You can try to write to the market to a certain extent, especially if you've got the benefit of a quick publication time (which comes with being an ebook author), and I guess you can censor your story to a certain extent - but part of the thrill and beauty of writing is writing what you want. Writing a story how you see it. And accepting that not everyone is going to like it. I think this is especially true for romance writers, who take so much heat (har har) for writing what we enjoy.
My best buddy in the town where I live doesn't like romance novels, so she didn't read Scarlett. My sister bought it, but I'm not sure how she liked it. I can tell you up front that it's not her kind of story. I'm pretty sure if people in my hometown knew that I write, they wouldn't be sharing snippets from Selling Scarlett in the lifestyle section of our little newspaper. And you know what? That's okay with me. I wrote a story that was interesting to me. I wrote the characters how I thought they would really be. From start to finish, this book took me less than two months to produce. Is it perfect? Um, of course it's not. But I had fun, and people are reading it, and the reviews are more good than bad - at least so far. ;)
Today, on one of my favorite cause/charity blogs, I saw a quote that really stuck with me:
I could still be working in the admissions office, or at the sports clothing store, or at the newspaper, but I'm not. I chose to say something - to tell my own stories. I wanted to write books, so I started writing them. They might not be as good as I want them to be yet; I'm not perfect at this. But I'm learning. And I'm doing it. Which is more than a lot of people can say...
I set this quote as my computer's wallpaper, and every time I get an icky review, I'm going to read it. You can't win 'em all, but you can win some of them. Maybe even most of them. And that's pretty damn cool.
I got the idea for Selling Scarlett years ago, at a time when I desperately needed money and had a certain something to sell, had I wanted to. (I didn't!) I think I sold my platelets to the blood bank instead. ;) But I filed the idea away for future use. I didn't think of it again until one weekend this Spring when I was working on Trapped, feeling bored and tired of writing things on a schedule. So I wrote Scarlett. I put everything else on hold and just let this story take me where it did. And I was surprised at where it went!
Writing about a brothel was one thing, but my hero being blackmailed by a hooker? That kind of thing was not my forte. I hated how Hunter just kept right on going, according to Priscilla's plan. I hated how long it took for him to get together with 'Libby'. I hated what happened to Cross. The more I wrote, the more I worried. What would people think of this crazy book? What would my family say? A romance novel is one thing, but this was racy. Dark. And not in that ever popular we're-broken-till-we-find-each other kind of way. Just dark.
So I held my breath when I pressed 'publish'. What would my writer friends think? What about my YA readers? Someone would have something to say about it. I bit my lip and waited for rotten tomatoes to start flying at my head. The good thing was, there were a lot of flowers and a lot of confetti first. There are so many nice people in the world - readers who just want to build you up and help you. People who are happy to e-mail you and let you know a man from New Orleans would never say 'Crayfish'; it's 'Crawfish'. People who tell all their friends how much they loved your book. But for every handful who like it, there's someone who doesn't.
i knew this book was going to be different than her previous writings but nothing prepared me for this . one star is too many to give this book. shame on you ella.
Shame is such a heavy thing to put on anyone. All I could think about for days was that someone thought I should be ashamed of myself. Not just someone. A former fan. I'd never had this kind of feedback from any of my YA books, and I have to be honest: It was hard to handle. I've never been the kind of person who can just shrug off what other people think. I don't like disappointing people. I'm a perfectionist. I don't like conflict and have only in the last few years learned that sometimes it's necessary.
I spent a lot of time thinking about my new book. Why couldn't I write something more socially acceptable? Why didn't I write something more reader friendly, like a campy mystery or Christian fiction? (I have a Christian romance plotted, TBR under another pen name, and it, too, took a dark turn after about ten seconds of me sitting at my keyboard). I'm a fairly modest person in 'real life'. Why don't I have a problem churning out a steamy sex scene? I don't know why - I just don't!
Finally I reached a bottom line for myself, and this is it: If you're going to be a fiction writer, there's got to be some magic in it for you. You can try to write to the market to a certain extent, especially if you've got the benefit of a quick publication time (which comes with being an ebook author), and I guess you can censor your story to a certain extent - but part of the thrill and beauty of writing is writing what you want. Writing a story how you see it. And accepting that not everyone is going to like it. I think this is especially true for romance writers, who take so much heat (har har) for writing what we enjoy.
My best buddy in the town where I live doesn't like romance novels, so she didn't read Scarlett. My sister bought it, but I'm not sure how she liked it. I can tell you up front that it's not her kind of story. I'm pretty sure if people in my hometown knew that I write, they wouldn't be sharing snippets from Selling Scarlett in the lifestyle section of our little newspaper. And you know what? That's okay with me. I wrote a story that was interesting to me. I wrote the characters how I thought they would really be. From start to finish, this book took me less than two months to produce. Is it perfect? Um, of course it's not. But I had fun, and people are reading it, and the reviews are more good than bad - at least so far. ;)
Today, on one of my favorite cause/charity blogs, I saw a quote that really stuck with me:
I could still be working in the admissions office, or at the sports clothing store, or at the newspaper, but I'm not. I chose to say something - to tell my own stories. I wanted to write books, so I started writing them. They might not be as good as I want them to be yet; I'm not perfect at this. But I'm learning. And I'm doing it. Which is more than a lot of people can say...
I set this quote as my computer's wallpaper, and every time I get an icky review, I'm going to read it. You can't win 'em all, but you can win some of them. Maybe even most of them. And that's pretty damn cool.
April 20, 2013
Selling Scarlett Big Giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
If you can't enter via Rafflecopter for whatever reason, just comment below and let me know what you did!
Grab your copy of Selling Scarlett
Selling Scarlett is finally out! You can get it at Amazon.com and BN.com. I hope to have it for sale at the iBookstore and on Kobo soon. :)Just a reminder: This is an adult book not suitable for readers under the age of 17 or for readers who do not enjoy adult genre romance. It has some steamy scenes, so please don't make this an auto-buy just because you enjoyed my young adult books. If you enjoy adult romance, I think you will love Selling Scarlett - lots of people have - but I don't want anyone to be surprised by the difference in maturity level. ;)
If you've already read Selling Scarlett and are wondering about the second book in the Love Inc. Series, it's called Chasing Cross, and it will be out this summer, just as soon as I can get it to you!
