Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog, page 5

New essay on bingo, debt, finances, freelancing and anxiety

I'm very happy that my essay on why spending $2,000 playing bingo was totally worth it is up now at The Goods in their Best Money I Ever Spent series. It covers my pretty much nonstop anxiety, debt, personal finance, freelance and how bingo plays a role in all of those.



Firstly, I love The Goods and read it every day. Their reporting is super smart and interesting. Secondly, this series has been wonderful, whether it's about a US work visa, the TSA or a rose gold trash can or a vibrator. It's a delight because we all spend money, but we do so differently. I also wrote for The Goods earlier this year about bookstore crawls and Independent Bookstore Day.

I'm also honored that my essay got a custom illustration! Click here to see it. I think that's a career first. Yes, I know: Anyone who plays bingo will easily see that the numbers allocated under B-I-N-G-O are not all accurate to the game. But that's okay. If it gets people to read it, I'm all for it (I didn't see the illustration until the article when live this morning).

How to quit your business or side hustle

I'm very proud of my first article for The Riveter on how to quit your business or side hustle. I was inspired by my own side hustles, Cupcakes Take the Cake and In The Flesh, which I was involved in for 10 and 5 years, respectively. I hope it will be helpful to some of you, or to people you may know. I learned and relearned a lot of things while working on this, most of which boil down to that there's no shame in ending a project you love or once loved but that's no longer working for your life or business. I interviewed the former owner of New York City bakery/restaurant Sweet Revenge, a woman who quit being a face painter, and the author of a book about women and careers. Check it out!

How to get a literary agent for your nonfiction book

If you write memoir or other nonfiction, I think you'll appreciate my interview with literary agent Iris Blasi of Carol Mann Agency, and part two focused on memoir specifically. Each part links to the other so you don't have to worry about missing any of it. While she delves deep into exactly the types of books she is and isn't looking for, and how authors can position themselves to get signed by a literary agent, I think much of what she says could be applicable to other agents, in my layperson opinion. This is my first two-parter for Forbes.com, which I did for length.



And please follow me on Twitter or Forbes, because I have agent and editor interviews coming up and all sorts of interesting bookish content. October marked 12 months for me of having books as my beat there, which means a total of 84 articles. I'm so proud and excited to get to focus on one of my favorite subjects, and branch out for other publications, like my article on why book subtitles are so long for Washington Post Book World and curse word book titles for MEL Magazine. There's more book pieces coming soon too!

NOTE: I am NOT a literary agent or in any way employed in the publishing industry. The last time I wrote about how to get a cookbook literary agent and get your cookbook published I received many emails asking me what cookbook authors should do. The point of these articles is: I don't know so I'm asking the source! That's what I recommend you do: read the guidelines of the agency, submit accordingly, ask questions if they aren't answered on the site. But I'm not some magical publishing genie who has the answers, nor am I someone who can afford the time to dole out free advice.

In the erotica and sexuality nonfiction realm, I do consult with authors and offer professional manuscript critiques based on my work as a writer and editor, and can help with writing book proposals, market research, and advise on social media, author branding, getting articles and essays published to bolster your platform, etc. My consulting rates are going up January 1, 2020, though you can book me in 2019 at this year's rates for services to be completed in 2020. There's more information about what I do here and student and client testimonials here. I have room for one more client in December, and then any other work would have to be done in January.

My birthday and my new erotica book giveaway

Over the weekend I saw Elton John in concert, explored Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square and ate delicious meals at Zama (some of the best sushi I've ever had) and V Street, a vegan (aka plant-based) restaurant, acquired a shift dress and sweater dress at Madewell, bought mushrooms and English muffin/bagel hybrids (the Philly muffin) from Philly Bread at the farmers market, and turned 44. Here's me in my new sweater dress, which pretty much feels like wearing a stylish blanket and is going to be perfect for the coldest of winter days:



It was a busy, happy and sad weekend all rolled into one and I'm so happy I got to spend it with my boyfriend. My birthday was on Sunday, November 10, which also marked one month until the release of my new anthology, the outrageous-themed Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5 , which recently got a wonderful review in one of the top trade publications, Publishers Weekly .



I've been working on this book for over a year, and am actually finalizing my draft of the Volume 6 manuscript now (if you're waiting to hear back, you will as soon as I can get you an answer), so it's thrilling that it will finally be in bookstores very soon. I'm also gearing up for the sexy 2020 book tour , which is taking me to Brooklyn January 19 for Stoya's Book Club Sex Lit (tickets will be on sale later this month), and weather permitting to Chicago February 13 for an amazing lineup at feminist bookstore Women and Children First , then to LA for a Valentine's Day reading at Skylight Books . I'll even have an entourage! Authors Jayne Renault and Lauren Emily are joining me in both Chicago and LA. We're all traveling together to LA and I can't wait to catch up with them in person.

My copies should arrive this week, and then I'll be sending them to the contributors and my new street team and some to the wonderful Rose Caraway, who's narrating the audiobook and will do a giveaway. Speaking of giveaways, I'm doing one more over at Goodreads to win one of 10 SIGNED COPIES of the final book. That giveaway runs through December 4 and is open to U.S. and Canadian addresses. If you want my monthly giveaways that are open to everyone, subscribe to my newsletter. The new one is going out this week, probably tomorrow (Wednesday). And follow bestwomenserotica on Instagram because there will be lots of giveaways there, plus sneak peeks of the book and other fun stuff. Speaking of sneak peeks, there's a cupcake bakery erotica story titled "Frosting" by Kathleen Delaney-Adams in Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5 that's VERY kinky. Here's a little teaser from it, and you can catch Kathleen live February 13 with me in Chicago.

How sexy is my new bondage book cover?

I'll share more details closer to the March 10 publication date, but for now I wanted to share how sexy the cover is for my 2020 Cleis Press anthology Best Bondage Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 ! Covers matter for all books, but especially erotica. Sometimes it's tough to find one image that fits a huge range of stories in an anthology, but I think this one says a lot. I promise there's lots of hotness and variety inside! Details and giveaways in the new year. For now, feel free to add it to your Goodreads want-to-read list and/or pre-order on IndieBound or pre-order on Amazon for Kindle (Amazon print link coming soon).

69 erotica stories for $1.99 - now through Wednesday

My erotica book sales continue! Today, Monday, October 21, my Cleis Press anthology Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex is on sale for $1.99 at U.S. ebook retailers Kindle, Nook, Google Play, iBooks and Kobo. Double check the price before you buy but the sale price in the U.S. is correct as of this posting, and the sale should last through October 23. I don't believe this sale covers outside the U.S., but I do a monthly giveaway open internationally every month in my newsletter and am sending the next one out today or tomorrow!



If you want to be notified whenever my book prices drop, which happens several times a year usually, please follow me on BookBub. This book has had two covers, but the contents remain the same. I'm including them both here just for fun.

SALE ALERT: The Big Book of Orgasms and Serving Him are only $1.99 - act fast!

For the next few days, The Big Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories and Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission are on sale. If you're following me on BookBub you'll also get an email about those sales. These are limited time and I believe The Big Book of Orgasms sale ends on Sunday, October 20 and the Serving Him one ends on Monday, October 21, but if you want to be sure to get them at this total bargain price, buy them now! Purchase links below, and please double check the price before buying. They're $1.99 as of this posting. There's one more sale happening next week too!



Get The Big Book of Orgasms for $1.99 for:

Kindle

Nook

Google Play

iBooks

Kobo



Get Serving Him for $1.99 for:

Kindle

Nook

Google Play

iBooks

Kobo

Erotica books on sale - get notified on BookBub!

Three of my Cleis Press erotica anthologies are going on sale in the next week. I'll post when they're actually on sale, but these sales only last a few days, so if you want to be notified via email when they happen, the best way to do that is to follow me on BookBub.



I also post reviews of sexy books on BookBub. I'm aiming for one a week but don't always have that much time to read so it's usually more like two per month. You'll also be notified when I have a new release. In addition to following me, you can follow books in your favorite genres to find out when they're on sale, and follow your other favorite authors.

How authors can book readings directly with bookstores

Over at Medium, I have an article up on how to book readings with bookstores. I interviewed several independent bookstore staffers, and can say anecdotally from booking my own readings for many years that if you follow the instructions of each bookstore, it's usually a smooth process. Sometimes, I haven't heard back, but usually I've been able to book events in cities I wanted to. If you like the article and use Medium, please give it some claps (hold down the hands button on the bottom left, up to 50 times), which helps it be seen by more readers. This article was originally published in the Novelists, Inc. (NINC) newsletter.



Speaking of bookstores, I hope you'll mark your calendars for Valentine's Day, February 14, if you're in LA and let all your LA friends know. I consider bookstore readings for my Best Women's Erotica of the Year series so important that I put my money where my values are (yes, I cover all my own event costs) and am flying out to LA for this sexy erotica reading at Skylight Books along with Joanna Angel, CD Reiss, Jayne Renault and Sabrina Sol. They were so wonderful to us for our Volume 2 reading and are a delightful bookstore with a tree in the middle!

Join my street team to get my books before they're in stores!

As I gear up for the release of Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5 , which I'm super excited about with its amazing lineup all on the theme of OUTRAGEOUS, I've started a street team. This will be a group of readers who are fans of my work who will get ebook and print copies of my books (about two or three books per year) before they're in stores, and will write reviews and share the news of the releases online. For the first round, I'm selecting 20 people, and may expand it if it goes well. If you'd like to be part of the street team, fill out the form here (it's visible only to me).



Thank you so much for supporting my books over the last 15 years. I'm humbled and honored that I get to keep editing anthologies (my three latest Cleis Press calls for submissions have deadlines coming up fast!) and publishing new authors all these years later. And I'm doing a few erotica book giveaways; one is to win a galley of Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5 over at Goodreads. It's open to U.S. and Canadian addresses and the deadlines is October 30. The other is via my September newsletter, which also has details about my January 19 appearance at Stoya's Book Club in Brooklyn and my Los Angeles Valentine's Day reading at Skylight Books. If you're a subscriber, check your inbox and hit "reply" with your name and mailing address to enter. If you're not a subscriber, get on my mailing list so you can enter next month's giveaway. Good luck!