Tori Ross's Blog, page 5

Turkey in Tennessee is now on Hoopla!

Need a Thanksgiving rom com for your holiday train ride or flight this year? Want to commiserate with Peyton as a house guest?

Not only is Turkey in Tennessee available on all retailers, it’s now available on Hoopla with your library’s Hoopla app! If your library doesn’t use Hoopla, you can also suggest a purchase through the Libby app. As you’ve probably seen in my blog, we get paid for library app usage, so don’t be shy. Authors love libraries!

You can also read it here: https://books2read.com/u/38ndEL

Happy reading.

Freebies and 99 Cent Books for the Month

Want some more freebies and sale books? Did the Cinnamon Roll Day not give you enough reading material?

If not, check out my group promo of the month. Head Over Heels in Hawaii (free) is on there, and so is Hot Sauce Blues (99 cents.) Go wild! Click here or on the graphic below.

Live Pre-Orders!

I thought I’d drop my pre-orders for the next few months now that they’re all up.

Click on the pics to be taken to the individual retailers.

Pre-Orders:

#1- All I Wank for Christmas – It’s $2.99 on pre-order and will be in Kindle Unlimited for one round.

#2- NEW! On January 16, The Panty Plot answers the eternal question of what happens when you’re so broke that you start selling your dirty panties online, only to have your brother’s best friend find out and start buying them. This will be on all retailers. Pre-order is 99 cents!

#3- Disco Bar is back up! This pre-order was canceled last year, but I’ve outlined it and written the first chapter. Good news: You’ll have it. Bad news: You won’t have it until June of 24. But it’s on pre-sale for 99 cents. This is my first “why choose” book. It is a novella/novelette, so can be read in an hour or two.

Watch for blogs/updates with the first chapter for each book closer to each release date.

Happy reading!

Kobo Plus and How It Compares to Kindle Unlimited

Lots of authors are leaving Kindle Unlimited. If you’re on Facebook, Tik Tok, or Instagram, you’ve probably seen an author you follow mention their books are leaving KU.

You may remember that I wrote a blog post on why some authors are leaving KU earlier this summer. You can read that blog here, but I want to talk more about Kobo Plus. I mentioned it in my last blog about the topic, but let’s really talk it through.

What is Kobo Plus? Is it cheaper than Kindle Unlimited? Does it provide a better author experience for authors?

Let’s answer these.

#1- Kobo Plus is Kobo’s version of Kindle Unlimited. What is Kobo and Kobo Plus? Kobo’s a Canadian company that, in the past, catered mostly to the international crowd. Recent stats show that, while Americans usually go straight to Amazon when we hear about a book we want to read, Canadians split on that. Canadians and Europeans are much more likely to go to Kobo.

Because, Ryan Reynolds, until this year, Kobo specialized in those countries. They have a clean platform that doesn’t have different territories that can have pricing in one territory that differs from pricing in another (cough cough.) It was available in the US, but Kobo Plus was not available for Americans until April of 2023.

#2- Cost: Get this. It’s actually cheaper than Kindle Unlimited, and you can also get audio.

No Audible membership that only gives you one credit a month. No separate Kindle Unlimited subscription. You CAN get all you can listen audio in two of the available packages.

So, what’s the price? As of the time I write this, you can get all you can read eBooks for $8 USD a month. You can get all you can listen for $8 a month. If you want BOTH, it costs ONLY $10 a month. Here’s the link to the Kobo Plus pricing.

But Tori, Audible has me by the balls. If I cancel, I’ll lose the books I haven’t read yet but have used credits for?

True. But you can PAUSE your subscription for up to 90 days, buying you time to listen to the books you have. That’s also enough time for you to do your 30 day free Kobo trial to see if that works for you. You can then cancel Audible.

Which brings me to…

#3- You get a free 30-day trial. (Although, when I signed up for Kobo, they sent me an email with a special offer giving me 60 days. That may have been a temporary promotion.) You can search around and see if authors in Kobo Plus are for you for thirty days before you pay your $8.

#4- Let’s talk about authors. When an author is in Kindle Unlimited, they’re locked into the exclusivity of Kindle Unlimited. They can’t have their eBooks on any other platform. (That does not apply to audio or paperbacks.)

With the lower royalties being paid out and Amazon’s acceptance of AI and low content books that push the rank down for real creators, authors are disgruntled with the program. Many of us have simply picked up our balls (hahaha) and have gone home. Why would we be exclusive to a retailer that bans legitimate authors because their work is pirated, pays us a third of a penny for a page read, and has done nothing to stop the AI content mill that has pushed our author rank down so our visibility is reduced? (All while raising the Kindle Unlimited rate for our readers?)

Pretty much.

Now, this is not a dig at people that love their Kindle Unlimited. I have 4 pen names. One is going to stay in Kindle Unlimited, simply because it would be a pain to move my entire catalog wide (it’s huge under that pen) and readers for that niche like KU. Fine.

But I left with my romance pen name and two erotica names. Other authors are leaving in droves too. This is why.

#4 Kobo’s author rules: In comparison, Kobo Plus does NOT require authors to be exclusive. We can put our book on Kobo, make it available on Kobo Plus, and also have it on Amazon, (just not in Kindle Unlimited) on Barnes and Noble, Apple, Scribd, and in libraries. Hell, we can wallpaper the street, and Kobo wouldn’t care a bit about what we do with our work.

#5 How do authors get paid? We talked about how authors get paid per page read on Kindle Unlimited. Kobo Plus works a bit differently. We get paid per time increments. The magic number as I write this is 300 minutes. After 300 minutes, we get a payout. If our books are shorts, it may take a few people to read the book over time to get a payout. If our books are longer, it may take only one read through.

#6 Do they have things I’ll want to read? Ah…the five million dollar question. (Or $8 question, I guess.)

Here are links to some popular authors on Kobo that are enrolled in Kobo Plus.

Contact High by Tori Ross

The Cuffing Season Contract by Tori Ross

Come on…Did you think I wouldn’t promote my own books?

In all seriousness:

Priest by Sierra Simone BTW- MOST of her stuff is there. She also had a great blurb about Kobo Plus in her newsletter a while back. So, if you’re a fan…just saying.

Perfect Together by Kristen Ashley

Captured by Lauren Biel – Amazon banned the eBook version entirely. You can read it on Kobo Plus if you like DARK romance.

On His Six by Patricia D. Eddy

Dominik by Sawyer Bennett – It looks like most of her catalog is also out there.

And many more!

Do I think it’s worth it for authors to be in Kobo Plus? Yes. There’s nothing to lose since we don’t have to be exclusive.

Is it worth it for readers? Yes! It’s cheaper even, as long as you can find the books you want to read. (Remember to use that free trial!)

Happy reading

Dottie Calvert’s Cookbook

If you’ve read Loved in Las Vegas, you know that Regi’s favorite food is her mother’s chocolate gravy on biscuits in the morning.

Someone asked me if that’s a real food, and the answer is yes. I thought I would also give you the recipe to celebrate the release of Turkey in Tennessee this month! Then…I was like, “Why not make a Kindle Vella of Dottie’s recipes with some of the foods mentioned in the series?” (Dottie’s cranberry conserve, a chili recipe from Peyton’s Chili Shack manager, a few of Dottie’s favorite “tipple” drinks.) You’ll get a weekly recipe on Vella with a little side of life advice from my favorite matriarch.

You can read Dottie Calvert’s Cookbook here. There are 4 episodes available as I write this. The first three episodes, including the chocolate gravy recipe, are free.

Here’s the recipe for chocolate gravy below. I hope you’re happy because it’s my own grandmother’s recipe, and I had to find it and test it. (My grandmother was notorious for leaving out an ingredient that only she knew or not telling you something you need to know when she gave a recipe. Our hypothesis was that she never wanted your food to taste as good as hers.) I tested it. This one works.

What you need to know…(because I’m not like my grandmother.)

#1- You cannot make this without stirring it constantly. Have a two-year-old that keeps your attention? Nope. Don’t try it. Have a partner that can’t keep their hands off you and wants to “put you on the counter” all the time? Don’t try it.

Stir. It. Constantly.

#2- This will either be overly thick or overly runny, depending on which way the wind blows. I’m not even kidding. If you make it to recipe once, it will have a different texture the next time you follow the exact same recipe. Does it have to do with humidity? Barometric pressure? Unknown. Even when it turns out thin, it’s pretty good, though.

And save the leftovers and put them in the fridge. Instant fudge! In fact, I may have used this to make Christmas fudge.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup cocoa

3 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

1 tablespoon butter (should be slightly softened -not melted)

Directions: Combine cocoa, flour, and sugar in a bowl. Pour in milk (slowly) and stir until no lumps.

Cook mixture over medium heat until it thickens to desired consistency. (Personal preference. Some like it thin, others like it thick. If it doesn’t thicken up by 15 minutes of heat, it’s probably not going to thicken.)

Stir in butter or vanilla and serve

Again, this is a tempermental bastard of a recipe, but when you get it right…oh so good.

You can pour over biscuits, dip pieces of biscuits into it, or half biscuits and then cover. Personally, I’m a dipper.

Anyway, enjoy! Oh, and Peyton’s story, Turkey in Tennessee, is out on all retailers here.

Happy reading!

National Cinnamon Roll Day Celebration!

Today (October 4th) is National Cinnamon Roll Day.

Not THOSE kind…

I mean this kind:

You know…cinnamon roll BOOK BOYFRIENDS. Cinnamon rolls in romance books are the guys that are ooey gooey for their girls on the inside and will do anything to treat them well, save her, save her dog, save her cat, or save the entire world and look hella good when he does it.

Basically:

To celebrate, I’ve teamed up with the other mods over on our Cinnamon Roll Book Boyfriends Facebook group to bring you freebies with cinnamon roll main male characters.

You’re welcome. (Please note that one author was not able to get Amazon to price match her book, and Amazon also likes to flip prices during promotion. PLEASE check the pricing before you click.)

Most of you have probably read Head Over Heels in Hawaii if you’re a follower. However, grab it if you haven’t. Also grab some great other work that may only be available for one day. Here’s the link to the freebies:

https://cinnamonrollheroes.wixsite.com/cinnamonrollheroday

For me…I’m totally eyeing LM Fox’s Hot Chicken.

While you’re at it, come over and play with us on the Cinnamon Roll Book Boyfriends Facebook group. We’re fun and offer ARCs and other giveaways sometimes. What you’ll always have are great cinnamon roll recommendations.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/cinnamonrollbookboyfriends

Happy reading.

Books by the Arch

I had such a great time last weekend at Books by the Arch at the Hyatt in St. Louis. Check out the pics below.

I was able to meet new readers, and boy…St. Louis was really hungry for something like this. Thank you to everyone that came by my booth, bought a book, grabbed a post card or bookmark, signed up for my newsletter, or simply chatted with me and said they read eBooks but were coming to get ideas. We like those readers, too!

It was also the first time I got to use my NIEA award-winner stickers for The Cuffing Season Contract. Yay!

I got to meet Angie Stanton-Johnson who organizes Writers on the River in Peoria, Illinois. (Psst. I’ll be there in 2024.)

I even had friends from high school stop in to see me!

It was an amazing event, and I’ve already applied to go back in 2024. Fingers crossed!

Happy reading!

The Hoopla With Hoopla

Another blog dedicated to telling you how you can read popular wide author books for FREE and still support us?

Today, we’re going to talk about Hoopla. It’s taken forever for one of my books to get onto the Hoopla system. At the time that I write this, only Winning the Witch is out there. (See picture below and commit it to memory for when you immediately search for my title in Hoopla’s system. Got it? OK.)

If your library system has Hoopla, you can read my steamy, paranormal rom com book for FREE.

You may be asking yourself why you should use Hoopla. Does an author get paid from Hoopla? Is that really supporting authors?

The answer to these questions? Yes. You are supporting authors when you read from ANY library app. We get paid…somehow. When you request your library purchase our books on Libby, we get paid. (Usually around double or triple the list price.)

One author on Wide for the Win’s Facebook page said that, after Amazon, Hoopla was where she earned the second-best payout. We love it!

Hoopla works a bit differently than Libby. We get paid per checkout, and the library can cap how many checkouts they allow per month. For example, you may not find Colleen Hoover’s book in your Hoopla system. That’s because they’re so popular, the limit on checkout could have been reached for the month. Or, your library may already have it on Libby, so they block it on Hoopla to avoid double paying. Libraries have limited budgets, and they can’t pay Colleen Hoover indefinitely.

What do we get paid?

We get about $0.26 per checkout. It can vary, depending on country conversion rate for authors or other factors, but it usually hovers around there.

Nobody said being an author was a get rich quick scheme. But I love the heck out of that $0.26 when it shows up in my dashboard. Don’t take me for ungrateful.

Why do I care about $0.26 when it shows up in my bank account? Here are a few reasons:

#1- It means people are supporting their libraries. There is nothing I love more than libraries. If you don’t use Libby or Hoopla, libraries won’t purchase that software or keep it. It’s your tax dollars at work and probably better use of tax dollars than some of the other stuff your local government comes up with.

#2- People are reading my books. If they like what they read, they recommend it to a friend or leave a review on Goodreads. This triggers that friend (or a Goodreads follower) to either buy my book or give me another $0.26 on Hoopla if they read it there. Every author knows that quarters and pennies add up to real dollars at some point. (Nickels and dimes together are how most authors make their money, to be honest. It’s the work equivalent of hunting for change in your couch and finding enough to pay for your child’s flute rental every month.)

#3- For some reason, seeing a quarter and a penny come through on my publishing dashboard makes me happy. Promo newsletters don’t include Hoopla. You can’t run ads on Hoopla. That means, someone out there has decided to specifically search for my work…or they randomly found me and thought the book sounded good. Those things make me happy.

#4- It’s free for my readers and makes it easy on them. There is nothing I love more than my readers. Love me or hate me, I love you just for reading my book, and I want your reading experience to be easy and enjoyable.

Moral of the story: Yes, we get paid for a Hoopla checkout. We love libraries. We’re just happy you’re not reading our stuff on a pirate site. We get paid. And that $0.26 with several borrows adds up.

Best part? You don’t need to recommend our books to Hoopla like you do with Libby. Hoopla shows up automatically in all Hoopla-using libraries when an author chooses to distribute to Hoopla. (And after it goes through the long approval process at Hoopla. I hope my other books get there soon.) It just conveniently appears in your app when Hoopla is done processing the book.

And support those libraries. Tell your librarians how thankful you are for Hoopla and Libby. A little gushing goes a long way to help authors, and it’s a free way to support us.

Happy reading.

Suggested Books for the Weekend

It’s getting cooler where I am. The nights are getting longer, and I’ve been drinking a lot of hot apple cider and (finally) reading more. Here are some books to read this weekend if you’re looking for something. Click on the covers below to grab them.

First…Winning the Witch is now on Hoopla! If you read on Hoopla through your library system, you can read it there for FREE. If you’re not familiar with Hoopla, it’s like KU from your library. I hope to have my other books there soon, but they have a long approval process. It’s also on all major retailers. (There may be a Smashwords coupon for it, too. shhhhhhh)

If you’re really in the fall mood, Turkey in Tennessee is available ten days early over on Smashwords through pre-sale. Grab it there if you just can’t wait.

Being a guest for Thanksgiving was never so much fun…

Happy reading!

Stuff Your E-Reader Day!

That’s today?

Yep. Totally.

Actually, it goes from today until the 22nd. Hopefully, we won’t break Amazon this time since it’s over 3 days. It’s usually called “Stuff Your Kindle” day, but Nook users, Kobo users, and people who read on any platform can find books there. You may just need to check for some that are widely distributed.

Head Over Heels in Hawaii is just one of the thousands of books you can download for zero pennies, zero dollars, and zero nickels today!

Yes, Will Ferrell. I’m totally serious. There are 2,400 free books in this promo.

Click here or go to https://www.romancebookworms.com. Check to make sure the price is actually FREE before hitting download!!!! Amazon switched my price in some territories, and I was not the only author that had this happen!

Make sure to grab Head Over Heels in Hawaii while you’re there. Happy reading.