Ally Blake's Blog, page 3

Mira Lyn Kelly's first...act of reckless adventure!

The gorgeous Mira Lyn Kelly is here today talking excitement, adventure, thrills - and hot sky diving instructors!
Huge congrats, Ally, on ten amazing years!! 
Okay, so we’re talking firsts, and before I tell you mine, it’s worth understanding that by nature I am a wildly conservative creature. My happy place is well within the lines and, with the exception of one notable year in my life, I’ve always been an unrepentant better-safe-than-sorry girl. But there was that one year, and kicking it off was my first act of reckless adventuring…Sky Diving! 
I don’t remember exactly where the idea came from, but once it took hold there was no shaking it. I wanted the rush of wind in my face, I wanted the heart pounding thrill, and I wanted to fly. But most of all, I wanted something just a little crazy…I wanted to stop playing it quite so safe. 
10,000 feet later, I was suited up with a rather dazzling instructor of the tall, cocky, and capable variety buckled to my back, asking me if I was ready. I looked out the open door at the far flung landscape below and then back into the perfectly good airplane we were flying in. This was crazy. “Yes!”
The first seconds were a jumble—the wind whipping at my face and body, the roar of it past my ears, the utter unparalleled rush of free fall, heady and addicting. And then the chute released and the gentle loft and sudden quiet were a jarring contrast to the screaming intensity of the instant before. The peace of those next drifting minutes…*Sigh*. 
It was incredible. Freeing. And probably a good thing I’d taken a date with me or I might have considered a second reckless act that day involving my dishy instructor!  

MiraWebsite  |  Facebook  


Ever been sky-diving?  Bungee jumping?  Worse???  Let us know on my  Facebook page!

Louisa George's first...foray into romance novels!

Welcome the delightful Louisa George with her first!  The first romance she remembers reading.  Watershed moment much?

Unlike a lot of lucky people I came to the romance genre later in life. If asked what kind of books I liked I always said stories with heart, something uplifting, centred around characters and not plot, and with a happy ending. Duh! No-one ever suggested romance novels fit that bill! It was only after a writing mentor invited me to accompany her to a romance writing conference that the genre even came into focus for me.
I can remember the first romance I ever read; ‘Earthquake Baby’ by Amy Andrews (our very own KISS/Modern Tempted author) and I was totally blown away! Obviously Amy is a fabulous author and the story of a secret baby, post traumatic stress, a gorgeous hero and a damaged heroine enchanted me, it was a wonderful introduction to romance books, and I immediately fell in love with the whole genre (medical romance) and soon devoured loads more…. A few years later I was lucky enough to be writing for the very same line!  Louisa
Website


What's your number one favourite keeper romance?  Let us know on my  Facebook page!

Heidi Rice's first...paragraph from her first book!

So excited to welcome my witty, savvy, party-ready cohort Heidi Rice!  This ought to be good :).
First off, big congratulations to Ally Blake for 10 glorious years writing for Harlequin Mills and Boon! And thanks for inviting me to contribute to your anniversary blog.  (AB: Pleasure!)
When Ally asked me to come up with a blog on any significant first - I opted to do the first paragraph of my first published book. For the simple reason that I feel it contains a valuable lesson for all would-be novelists.  In the first draft of this story I had about three pages of navel-gazing info dump as my hero muses endlessly about his back story.  There was no sign of the heroine, no dialogue, and absolutely no action of any description (other than the odd gear change). So far, so mind-numbingly boring I hear you say! Then, while nodding off as I read though my manuscript before sending if off to M&B I had a moment of inspiration worthy of a cartoon light bulb, about where I should actually start the book, which I believe to this day is the reason why this book got published:
So here's the final opening paragraph:
"Whoever he is, he's completely naked," Jessie Connor said as quietly as possible. Not easy with the heat flaring in her cheeks and her heartbeat pounding like a sledgehammer in her ears. The most magnificent male specimen she had ever seen stood less than fifteen yards away. Stark naked. Thank goodness he stood with his back to her, or her heart would have probably stopped beating altogether. 
Shameless plug alert: If you want to read more about Jessie and Monroe their story has been reprinted recently in the UK as part of the Bedded for His Pleasure anthology, and is also available as an ebook in the US...
Happy 10-year anniversary Ally. Here's to a whole lot more!
Heidi x

Fabulous Heidi is giving away an ebook copy of Maid of Dishonor from the wildly popular The Wedding Season #HarlequinKiss quartet.  Just head over to my Facebook Author page and on Heidi's post, let us know if you have a favourite opening to a book ever?

Robin Covington's first...romance read.

Welcome the faaabulous and talented and uber lovely Robin Covington to tha partay!  Take it away Robin.
My first time . . .Oh, get your mind out of the gutter dirty birds! I'm talking about my first time reading a romance novel. Under the covers. With a flashlight. Finally . . . FINALLY . . . understanding what all those "birds and the bees" books my doctor had given me were all about. LOL! It was 1981 and I had stolen "Skye O'Malley" by Bertrice Small off my mom's night table. Skye was a sea captain, raven-haired and she'd had men falling at her feet while she conquered the world. I don't know what turned me on more - the sex scenes or the heroine who never took no for an answer. It had me breathless, hooked like a junkie and I never got over it.  Sigh . . .
Robin
Website  |  Facebook  

Now, over at my Facebook page today, Robin is giving away two ebooks from her backlist!  Come "like" my Facebook page and comment on Robin's post with the first romance novel you ever read!

Liz Fielding's first...story sale (it might not be as 'big' as you think!)

I'm so excited that Liz Fielding has arrived to my You Never Forget Your First... party!   Liz and I have been great writing friends since two of our characters were thrown together in the Brides of Bella Lucia miniseries a few years back, and her lovely website is one of my fave I've ever designed.  So Liz, give us a first!


Congratulations on ten fabulous years, Ally. Loved your books, and loved working with you on the continuity, The Brides of Bella Lucia. Raising a glass to the next ten!  (AB: Thanks Liz!  And ditto!)


My first - my first sale. No, it wasn't to Harlequin - this life changing moment came when I sold a 600 word story to  a picture paper for little girls called Twinkle published by D C Thomson. It was called A New Home and I received the princely sum of £6 - but someone was prepared to pay me for words. Never looked back!


Liz
Website  |  Facebook 

Over at my Facebook page today, Liz is giving away a copy of Anything But Vanilla!  To be in with a chance "like" my Facebook page and let us know, do you remember your first job, and how much (or little) it paid?

Kimberly Lang's first...time she forgot one of her own books!

Next up at the You Always Remember Your First... party I give you my gorgeous friend Kimberly Lang, whose heroine in her February 2014 book No Time Like Mardi Gras, is going through some firsts of her own - including her first Mardi Gras in New Orleans!   Now, Kimberly did something once that I've never done...never. Just don't ask me to name the hero and heroine of every one of the twenty-something books I've written, 'kay?



Happy Anniversary, Ally, and many congrats on ten fabulous years! I’m looking forward to ten more!
There are so many firsts in this business – the first sale, the first time you see your book on the shelf, the first time a reader writes to you to let you know she loved the book, the first time you sign a book for a stranger – and all of them are unbelievably exciting.  Of course, these things never get old, either. Every time I’m asked to sign a book or get a reader email or just see one of mine on a shelf, I’m just as giddy as I was the very first time.  I certainly hope that feeling never goes away
But I’ll share with you an embarrassing “first” for this blog: the first time I forgot one of my own books.  At the RT Convention last year, a reader came up to me and asked me to sign my most recent book.  Then she started telling me about her favorite book of mine.  I had no idea what she was talking about. (Honestly, I thought at that point she’d mistaken me for Presents author Kim Lawrence. It’s happened more than once.) We went ‘round and ‘round like this for a few minutes, with her trying to convince me it really was one of my books, until I finally realized which book she was talking about.  (Granted, it was an older title, and I’d written fourteen books at that point, but really, there’s no excuse for that. How bad will I be when there’s a lot more than fourteen books under my belt?!)  I wanted to crawl under the table and cry at that point.  Of course, this might also qualify as the first time a reader got to witness how truly crazy and scatterbrained I can be… Neither is really good, huh? Buy here
Kimberly
Website  |  Facebook


Make Kimberly feel better… head on over to my Facebook page and tell us about the first time you embarrassed yourself in front of someone you wanted to impress.  She's giving I’ll give away a couple of books from her backlist in sympathy to the most cringe-worthy !

Anna Cleary's first...ocean voyage with a man!

The next guest to arrive at the You Always Remember Your First... party is the delightful Anna Cleary with a "first" story that makes me certain the two of us should NEVER travel together :).  Drinking wine and chatting on the other hand...
I thought I'd share with you some of the highlights of my first ocean voyage with a man.
We joined the ship at Brindisi, in southern Italy, for the crossing to Greece. Though it's quite a short voyage in marine terms, because we were travelling overnight we'd booked ourselves berths.            Naturally we enjoyed a hearty Italian dinner before boarding, probably even heartier than usual in my case. As was the tradition at this time, the men's sleeping quarters were strictly segregated from the women's--no doubt in fear of some dangerous cross pollination of ideas. Greg and I said goodnight, then I sought my berth deep in the ship's bowels. I'd been allocated a tiny space within a miniscule airless, windowless, diesel- scented cupboard to be shared with three strange women. They hadn't arrived when I first ensconced myself on my bunk, which was a pity, I'm sure they all agreed later. What happened next was simply shocking. The ship's engines revved up, and under my feet and all through my delicate insides I felt a hideous whooshing swell. A swell that was inescapable, and never ceased. As the walls advanced on me I grew alarmingly hot, and in desperation to cool down took off my clothes. A nasty sensation told me that my insouciant attitude to sea-sickness had been misplaced. Why, I'll never know, since I'm renowned in my family for chucking breakfast on every road I travelled as a child.  Without a bucket or any convenient kind of receptacle to hand, I was forced to snatch one of the extra pillow cases that for some reason had been left on each bed. I'm afraid I filled that pillow case. And every other pillow case I could get my hands on. During this ghastly operation, the three other women arrived. Far from being disgusted by the state of their cabin, the stench, my near- naked misery, these three wonderful strangers--from Germany, the Netherlands, and Guatemala, I believe--showed me the most generous, warm-hearted humanity and concern. I'll never forget them. Somehow they helped me get my clothes back on before the Italian steward burst in, slapping his forehead in disbelief and fair screaming his outrage at the fouling of his pristine bed linen. I managed to escape the hell I'd created. Too shaky to stand, I crawled on hands and knees to the bathroom, pursued by two more furious stewards flapping their hands, alternately snarling vicious threats and wailing. It was one of the longest journeys in human history. Luckily there were plastic- lined rubbish bins at fifteen metre intervals. I availed myself of every one. After a wobbly cleanup in the bathroom, I somehow staggered my way up towards the light, air and a deck, and was just contemplating throwing myself into the dark, dark sea when Greg located me.  I knew I looked a wreck. I was green, vomitous, and my hair has a tendency to twist into corkscrews when stiffened by brine and other things, but the expression on Greg's face confirmed my worst fears.
Horror rendered his voice all but inaudible. 'What the hell happened to you?' he croaked at last.
This was my first ocean voyage. And I promise you, my last!
AnnaWebsite  |  Facebook 

Anna is another collaborator in the When Honey Got Married... anthology.  So, what the heck?  "Like" my Facebook page, and leave a comment for the chance to win an ebook copy of the book!

Kelly Hunter remembers her first... author collaboration

The first guest to arrive at the You Always Remember Your First... party is the fabulous Kelly Hunter!  Take it away Kelly...

My first writing collaboration only happened last year. Some authors write a lot of collaborations once they have a few books under their belt. Not me. I wasn't just the last kid chosen for the basketball team, I didn't get to play at all. Was it me? (sniffs surreptitiously at armpits). Was I... difficult? I figured I could drive myself nuts wondering why I was collaboration-less or I could do something about it.  That was when Ally, Kimberly Lang, Anna Cleary and I got together to write 'When Honey Got Married...'

Buy here So, Ally, you were my first! I am a collaboration virgin no more, and I say with hand over heart that we rocked that story. RT 4.5 starts top pick, five happy endings in 70,000 words and so many fine belly laughs along the way.

Congratulations on your 10 year writing anniversary, Ally, and thanks for all the fun and fabulous stories along the way.  Here's to many more.

xkelly
Website  |  Facebook 

Kelly is giving away an ebook copy of When Honey Got Married...  To be in with a chance "like" my Facebook page and let us know if you have a must read author collaboration we simply can't miss!

Get Ready to Party!

Next month marks the 10th anniversary of the release of my first book -  THE WEDDING WISH!  Boy oh boy how that time has flown; me still feeling like such a newbie at this game and all.

In that time I've written more than 25 other books, sold over three million copies of my stories worldwide, traveled the world - all research baby - bought two houses (not a the same time), moved interstate, met so many wonderful authors whose books I adore, received mail from my wonderful readers that has made me goose pimply every single time, had three kids, and eaten more M&Ms than my doctor/husband/self would care to know.

To celebrate - mostly the book stuff, really :) - I'm throwing a party!  It's called the You Always Remember Your First... party (because you do, right?) and it's going for the whole of December.

Just  "like" my Facebook Author Page to keep up with all the fabulous goings on such as giveaways, flash backs and a whole bunch of romance authors giving up the goss about their most memorable firsts!

See you there!
Ally
xXx

how audiobooks are made

Today I'm over at the RT (Romantic Times) blog chatting about a guy I met on twitter - or more specifically a gent who voices audiobooks.  Cool huh?!  His name's Noah Michael Levine, he's voiced over 40 audiobooks and here's a snippet of WHEN HONEY GOT MARRIED...  he kindly voiced for moi!


And as a kindly companion to the interview, for anyone who's ever wanted to have a book turned into an audiobook, her's Noah's take on how to go about it.  Take it away Noah!


For all of you authors out there – if you haven't gotten involved in getting your work done in audio format – I highly recommend it.  It's a huge business that has been growing very nicely over the last few years.  I am NOT a representative of Audible or their sister branch – ACX – but here's a quick rundown on how the process works.
From what I can tell – All the books done through AUDIBLE are typically negotiated deals with the publishing house that puts out the book – as opposed to the author, themselves.  Under this umbrella – I simply get a list of titles that Audible needs me to record – I record them – send them to the editors – they send back what I need to fix – I fix it – they send it on to Audible and then the audiobook is posted on the site.  I don't know much about how these deals are negotiated or what kind of royalties/rights the author receives/retains.  And I've rarely had contact with authors when narrating books through Audible – so there's usually no involvement or collaboration between myself and the author.
   ACX is a platform designed for self-published authors to connect with narrators and pay them directly to produce your audiobook.  As an author, you would go to http://www.acx.com and sign up – set up your profile – post your book and cover art – upload whatever audition material you want read and then wait for the auditions to start rolling in.  There are different levels of compensation for the narrators – Though I don't know how the author determines what level to choose.  Once you sign up with ACX you will have access to their support staff that can help you
   The different options range from Royalty share (no up-front, monetary outlay by the author, but you share the sales income), to $0-$50 - on up to $400–$1000.  What's important to understand about the dollar amounts is that they are for PER FINISHED HOUR (PFH) of recording.  So it doesn't matter how long it takes the narrator to produce the project – it's the actual, finished run–time of the audiobook that you are paying for.  So – if you post a project in the $100–$200 range, negotiate with the narrator for a rate of $150 PFH and the audiobook comes out to 10 hours – you will pay the narrator $1500
    Remember that, with ACX, the narrator is not only responsible for narrating – but also for editing and mastering the project – which makes them considered a "Producer," as well as a narrator.  Also remember – the less you pay PFH – the more likely you will be working with a less-experienced narrator/producer – and vice/versa.  The editing/mastering process is very time consuming and labor-intensive and can make a big difference in the quality and flow of a project.  Also – you can choose to only receive auditions from "Audible Approved" narrators/producers, but bear in mind that those people will cost more PFH.
    For your audition material – select a 3-5 minute piece of your work that you feel would give you a good sense of the narrator/producer's abilities.  Once you select a narrator, you make them an offer through ACX.  They might accept right away – or they might counter offer.  Once you agree on a rate they have to record the first 15 minutes of the book – upload it to ACX – whereupon you will have to approve it before they continue.  Once that is approved – they continue with the production, upload the finished files and then you will need to approve the final production.  Once that is approved, you pay the narrator.  Once the narrator has confirmed receipt of payment – the audiobook can then be posted on Audible, Amazon and iTunes.
   The turnaround time can be as short or as long as you and the narrator agree upon.  But I've seen, typically, that it's about 4 weeks from accepted offer to finished product.
    You also need to decide how involved you want to be in the process – and that might vary depending upon your faith in the narrator and time availability.  For example – Liliana Hart and I emailed a lot – but she was not involved on a chapter-by-chapter basis.  (Partially, I'm guessing, because she's one of the busiest, most-traveling authors around!)  We established some basic character issues up front – I sent her some samples – and she was, like … "Go for it."  She was great – and really supportive.  Other authors have been much more intricately involved.  I worked with Stephen Carpenter very closely – as well as, currently, with Debra Holland – talking frequently on the phone about characters and voices – going over every chapter.  They want(ed) to be involved in every step – and I think that's great.  I can't speak for how any other narrator works – but I enjoy both "going for it" and collaborating closely with authors.
   I use a laptop computer with wireless keyboard and mouse, on which I use Audacity recording software (a free download), an iPad (or other tablet) for reading the material, a good-quality USB microphone with a wind-screen and a 3TB external hard drive to keep all my files safe.
I don't read the book before I perform it.  Honestly, it would take too much time.  I just go in, sit down, and start reading.  The prose and the characters make themselves known – I hear it a certain way in my head – and it comes out of my mouth.  And, for me, not reading ahead of time gives me a level of inspiration that I don't think I'd have otherwise.  I make lots of mistakes along the way – that's for sure.  But that's the beauty of working with software.  If I don't like something I've done – I stop – delete the errant line – and start again – right from where I left off.  It's called a "punch-in" and I do a LOT of them.  And, again, some books flow off my tongue way more easily than others – so there are less punch-ins.  It's such a great feeling when I get on a roll – really feeling the author's work – getting into the characters and the flow and the dialogue.  It's very cool.
In the collaboration process I typically send the author a chapter or two at a time – as I finish them - using Dropbox or Hightail – they give me notes – I make the corrections and then the chapter is done.  This, I believe, actually saves a lot of time on the back-end, since you, as the author, would not, then, have to listen to the entire audiobook AFTER it’s been recorded – and THEN have the narrator do the fixes.  With the "as-you-go" process, by the time the narrator is finished recording last chapter, the audiobook is pretty much good-to-go.

I've been asked by authors if they are supposed to A) Send a message to every person who auditions to let them know you’ve received their audition and B) Send a message to all those who auditioned to let them know you've selected someone else.  All I can say is … A) No and … B) No.  Unless you want to.  It's certainly nice – communication is always great, but not, I feel, necessary in this instance.  In all my years acting – hundreds of auditions for theatre, film, television and voiceovers – I have never, once, EVER had a casting director contact me to let me know I DIDN’T get a part.  That's just not the way it works.  And a couple of ACX authors have told me they've received messages from narrators who auditioned demanding to know what was going on.  I don't feel that's a professional attitude.  In my mind – you audition – you forget about it – and move on – unless you hear otherwise.  But, as always, go by what you think is right for YOU to do.  :-)