Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog, page 50
April 13, 2015
Buy 4 audiobooks, get a $10 credit at Audible in April (and The Big Book of Submission is on sale)
Audible has a great promotion going on through the end of April: buy 4 audiobooks, get a $10 credit. Not only that, but my latest audiobook,
The Big Book of Submission
, is on sale for just $9.97, so you could buy 4 others and get it free. Here are my 5 favorite of my audiobooks (I already told you which one of mine NOT to buy).
The Big Book of Submission
The Big Book of Orgasms
Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex
Orgasmic
Best Bondage Erotica 2014
Yes, this promo is real (I've already taken advantage of it):
Of course my top 3, linked to the above and below images, are narrated by Rose Caraway, because she has been the most wonderful person to work with, and the only narrator who has gone out of her way to promote my audiobooks both on her The Kiss Me Quick's podcast and by making specifically tailored images for them, and her talent, professionalism and dedication show in the audio and in the sales figures. Simply put: I'd love to work with her on all my audiobooks. Since that's not possible, the ones she has worked on are the ones I continually encourage people to check out, and I would love to work with her again (hint, hint!). I can't say enough good things about her, and the best part is you can just click on any Audible book, hers or another reader's, and get a free sample listen to help you decide for yourself. One of the main criticisms I've seen of my 3 69-story anthologies, all narrated by Rose, is that they are too short and there's not enough story. Well, if you only like novels or very long stories, these aren't for you! If you are like me and have a short attention span and love short and snappy and sexy and variety, then maybe they are. I hope to have the opportunity to edit another book of 69 short stories someday, because it's a fun process and I get to work with so many more authors than I usually do. (Right now my only call for submissions is the one for Best Women's Erotica 2016 , open to women authors with a June 1 deadline, though earlier submissions are strongly encouraged!).
Orgasmic is one of my favorite anthologies I've worked on and has a story I highlight in my erotica writing workshops: "Chemistry" by Velvet Moore. As someone who almost failed chemistry in high school (I could do the math but the science eluded me), I fell extra hard for this chemistry fetish tale, and it's just one of 25 amazing stories in the book, all centered around female orgasm.
I heard Audible founder and CEO Don Katz give a great talk on Saturday at TEDx Navesink about investing in their local community in Newark, and it's great to be a Jersey girl working with a Jersey company (who, yes, is owned by Audible). With that, I'll take a moment to post this graphic again, because I love working with Rose:
The Big Book of Submission
The Big Book of Orgasms
Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex
Orgasmic
Best Bondage Erotica 2014
Yes, this promo is real (I've already taken advantage of it):
Of course my top 3, linked to the above and below images, are narrated by Rose Caraway, because she has been the most wonderful person to work with, and the only narrator who has gone out of her way to promote my audiobooks both on her The Kiss Me Quick's podcast and by making specifically tailored images for them, and her talent, professionalism and dedication show in the audio and in the sales figures. Simply put: I'd love to work with her on all my audiobooks. Since that's not possible, the ones she has worked on are the ones I continually encourage people to check out, and I would love to work with her again (hint, hint!). I can't say enough good things about her, and the best part is you can just click on any Audible book, hers or another reader's, and get a free sample listen to help you decide for yourself. One of the main criticisms I've seen of my 3 69-story anthologies, all narrated by Rose, is that they are too short and there's not enough story. Well, if you only like novels or very long stories, these aren't for you! If you are like me and have a short attention span and love short and snappy and sexy and variety, then maybe they are. I hope to have the opportunity to edit another book of 69 short stories someday, because it's a fun process and I get to work with so many more authors than I usually do. (Right now my only call for submissions is the one for Best Women's Erotica 2016 , open to women authors with a June 1 deadline, though earlier submissions are strongly encouraged!).
Orgasmic is one of my favorite anthologies I've worked on and has a story I highlight in my erotica writing workshops: "Chemistry" by Velvet Moore. As someone who almost failed chemistry in high school (I could do the math but the science eluded me), I fell extra hard for this chemistry fetish tale, and it's just one of 25 amazing stories in the book, all centered around female orgasm.
I heard Audible founder and CEO Don Katz give a great talk on Saturday at TEDx Navesink about investing in their local community in Newark, and it's great to be a Jersey girl working with a Jersey company (who, yes, is owned by Audible). With that, I'll take a moment to post this graphic again, because I love working with Rose:
April 10, 2015
Getting excited for TEDx Navesink tomorrow
Tomorrow I'm staying local and going to TEDx Navesink, where I will hear people like Audible founder and CEO Don Katz (and we know how huge an impact Audible has played in my career), who recently said in a Q&A:
What's especially of interest to me is that the theme for tomorrow is "Accelerators," and I've actually slowed my life down a lot since moving from Brooklyn to New Jersey, while trying to accelerate what was a stagnating career. I can safely say that the professional opportunities that have come my way in the last two years of living in Monmouth County have proven it is a much better fit for my work life, not to mention my personal life, both of which have thrived here where they floundered in New York. So I look forward to listening and learning. I'm not necessarily going to live here forever, but I am proud to be a Jersey girl, and even though I'm largely a homebody, I want to get more involved in my local community, so I'm starting tomorrow.
To have well-composed words professionally intoned and interpreted by a skilled actor adds an intellectual and emotional dimension that actually enhances the experience of a text. Scientific research we commissioned two years ago to gauge the neurocognitive and behavioral characteristics of listening to words indicated that subjects obtain an equivalent, if not superior, level of comprehension through listening to a book versus reading it. This has huge implications for learning at all levels of the spectrum, and beyond our Immersion Reading product, which synchronizes text and audio on Kindle tablets and has been roundly embraced by parents and educators, we have only begun to crack the surface of the potential here.The other person I'm excited to hear speak is Abby Daly, Founder and Executive Director of nonprofit Bridge of Books Foundation. Here's info on their mission from their site:
Bridge of Books’ mission is to provide an ongoing source of books to underprivileged and at-risk children throughout New Jersey in order to support literacy skills and to encourage a love of reading.You can donate to them from their site.
Our goal is to get as many books as possible into the hands of New Jersey’s at-risk and underserved children. We generally acquire books through book drives and individual donations.
What's especially of interest to me is that the theme for tomorrow is "Accelerators," and I've actually slowed my life down a lot since moving from Brooklyn to New Jersey, while trying to accelerate what was a stagnating career. I can safely say that the professional opportunities that have come my way in the last two years of living in Monmouth County have proven it is a much better fit for my work life, not to mention my personal life, both of which have thrived here where they floundered in New York. So I look forward to listening and learning. I'm not necessarily going to live here forever, but I am proud to be a Jersey girl, and even though I'm largely a homebody, I want to get more involved in my local community, so I'm starting tomorrow.
3 audiobooks, 3 bestsellers: Thank you, best narrator ever, Rose Caraway
I don't have enough words to express how grateful I am to Rose Caraway for being such a brilliant narrator of my audiobooks for Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex, The Big Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories and The Big Book of Submission: 69 Kinky Tales . When I saw Rose pays my rent, I'm not kidding; her audiobooks make up a large percentage of my royalties, which are what allow me to work from home and cobble together what still often feels like a crazy, pinch-me, how-did-I-get-here career for a woman who dropped out of law school with no plans and no money. She brings such dedication to her work, making sure everything is perfect, creating fun, wonderful graphics and truly bringing a level of professionalism to the recording and promotion of these audiobooks like you wouldn't believe.
I wanted to take a moment to thank you, and to encourage you to listen to her The Kiss Me Quick's podcast. Another reason she's awesome: she sent her anthology The Sexy Librarian's Big Book of Erotica around the world to get signed by her international group of authors and is giving that signed copy away! Who does that? Nobody else I know. I love the passion and excitement she brings to all her projects. I promise to share the free stories she will be posting from this latest collection of BDSM erotica, as I've done before.
Here's one of my favorite images, for the free recording of "Forced Orgasms" by Shoshanna Evers in The Big Book of Orgasms. Listen to it:
Listen or download this sexy story at: http://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/kisstherose/id/2811318
Or subscribe in iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-kiss-me-quicks-sex-stories/id463196186
or Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/rose-caraway/the-kiss-me-quicks-erotic-sex-stories-by-rose-caraway
(FYI, she also narrated the audiobook my essay collection Sex & Cupcakes , which I recommend, but in terms of my bottom line, I won't get royalties on that for 10 years, so I am focusing on the whole earning a living thing here.)
April 9, 2015
Why I'm paying $100/story to authors in Best Women's Erotica 2016
Since issuing the Best Women's Erotica 2016 call for submissions, I've been asked about two aspects of it I'd like to address, namely money and word count. I know from having been published in prior editions that the payment to authors in the past has been higher, so I wanted to share how I came to the $100/author payment. I'm not privy to anyone's business details but my own, of course, so this is solely about my experience with this specific book. This is my first and possibly only time editing the series (I don't have a contract for any future editions, though of course I hope I will be asked to edit it again).
Using my entire advance, I can afford to pay for 25 stories at $100 each. I'll leave you to do that math. What that means for me as an editor is that I will pay the contributors the entirety of my advance (I may contribute a story as well if there is room, but have room to purchase 25 stories, without paying myself extra for me), so I will not see any income from this book until the book earns over $2,500 in royalties, so the earliest I will see any money from it is, I believe, July 2016. (I don't know the exact pub date, but am now being told the book will be for sale before Christmas 2015, rather than early 2016 as I had originally thought, but I will confirm this once I know for sure.) As a full-time freelancer, this is the most I can afford to pay. Otherwise, if I spent more, I would be paying out of my own pocket, which I do not by any stretch of the imagination have the funds for. If, and I tend to far prefer to deal in reality than "if" land, but if I am ever in the position to be editing the series and given a bigger advance, I will adjust the author payments accordingly. Only you can decide if that potential payment is sufficient to submit to this book, or any book or publication. If it's not, I completely understand. But since it's been mentioned at least twice that I've seen on Facebook, I wanted to address how I came to that number.
I also hired a lawyer for one hour at $250 to look over my contract, which then helped me to negotiate the best terms I could get, so I have actually invested my own money into this project in the hope/belief that it will be worthwhile. I include that information to let you know that I care deeply about my own value as a worker and about the value of my books, and about my authors, and did not take on this project lightly. I am cutting way, way back on the number of anthologies I edit per year; it used to be 6-8, and that did not make sense for my schedule or for my book sales. I do hope to have other calls posted later this year, but as I said, right now this is the only call I have up and the only new book I'm slated to edit as of now.
Which brings me to word count. I arrived at my 1,500-3,500 word count after doing a calculation of how many stories I can afford to buy and how many I will need to fill the book and not go over or under my assigned word count. This was my best estimate. When I've edited books of extremely short fiction, 1,200 words or less, namely Gotta Have It , The Big Book of Orgasms and The Big Book of Submission , the short word count was the point, and I was able to pay $20/story to 69 authors (actually, 68, excluding myself). I hope that to be able to edit another collection of short short erotic fiction again because I've found those fun to work on and I would far rather say yes more times to submissions than no. But that remains to be seen.
I consider my role here an experiment. Will I enjoy it? Will I produce a book readers want to read? Will I produce the book I envisioned in my head when I was asked to edit it? Will I produce a book my publisher is happy with? Will I contribute something new and interesting to a giant, sprawling genre that's already filled with new and interesting books?
I've been reading the Best Women's Erotica series since it started, and have contributed to multiple editions under the editorships of Marcy Sheiner and Violet Blue. I am a fan of the series and look forward to reading the submissions that have already stacked up my inbox, and the ones that will be coming in. Beyond that, I don't have any expectations regarding content, save that I hope to be awed and dazzled by what I read.
My first allegiance, as I see it, is to my readers. Of course I also want to do as well as I possibly can by my authors and my publisher, but without readers, I will stop creating books, because there would be no point. So, in addition to the above considerations I've given to the authors, I am thinking about the readers as I dive into this project. And now I will go continue printing out the dozens of story submissions I've already received. I look forward to reading many more, as long as they arrive by the deadline of June 1 (yes, submissions received on June 1 will be considered, but I strongly recommend submitting earlier).
Using my entire advance, I can afford to pay for 25 stories at $100 each. I'll leave you to do that math. What that means for me as an editor is that I will pay the contributors the entirety of my advance (I may contribute a story as well if there is room, but have room to purchase 25 stories, without paying myself extra for me), so I will not see any income from this book until the book earns over $2,500 in royalties, so the earliest I will see any money from it is, I believe, July 2016. (I don't know the exact pub date, but am now being told the book will be for sale before Christmas 2015, rather than early 2016 as I had originally thought, but I will confirm this once I know for sure.) As a full-time freelancer, this is the most I can afford to pay. Otherwise, if I spent more, I would be paying out of my own pocket, which I do not by any stretch of the imagination have the funds for. If, and I tend to far prefer to deal in reality than "if" land, but if I am ever in the position to be editing the series and given a bigger advance, I will adjust the author payments accordingly. Only you can decide if that potential payment is sufficient to submit to this book, or any book or publication. If it's not, I completely understand. But since it's been mentioned at least twice that I've seen on Facebook, I wanted to address how I came to that number.
I also hired a lawyer for one hour at $250 to look over my contract, which then helped me to negotiate the best terms I could get, so I have actually invested my own money into this project in the hope/belief that it will be worthwhile. I include that information to let you know that I care deeply about my own value as a worker and about the value of my books, and about my authors, and did not take on this project lightly. I am cutting way, way back on the number of anthologies I edit per year; it used to be 6-8, and that did not make sense for my schedule or for my book sales. I do hope to have other calls posted later this year, but as I said, right now this is the only call I have up and the only new book I'm slated to edit as of now.
Which brings me to word count. I arrived at my 1,500-3,500 word count after doing a calculation of how many stories I can afford to buy and how many I will need to fill the book and not go over or under my assigned word count. This was my best estimate. When I've edited books of extremely short fiction, 1,200 words or less, namely Gotta Have It , The Big Book of Orgasms and The Big Book of Submission , the short word count was the point, and I was able to pay $20/story to 69 authors (actually, 68, excluding myself). I hope that to be able to edit another collection of short short erotic fiction again because I've found those fun to work on and I would far rather say yes more times to submissions than no. But that remains to be seen.
I consider my role here an experiment. Will I enjoy it? Will I produce a book readers want to read? Will I produce the book I envisioned in my head when I was asked to edit it? Will I produce a book my publisher is happy with? Will I contribute something new and interesting to a giant, sprawling genre that's already filled with new and interesting books?
I've been reading the Best Women's Erotica series since it started, and have contributed to multiple editions under the editorships of Marcy Sheiner and Violet Blue. I am a fan of the series and look forward to reading the submissions that have already stacked up my inbox, and the ones that will be coming in. Beyond that, I don't have any expectations regarding content, save that I hope to be awed and dazzled by what I read.
My first allegiance, as I see it, is to my readers. Of course I also want to do as well as I possibly can by my authors and my publisher, but without readers, I will stop creating books, because there would be no point. So, in addition to the above considerations I've given to the authors, I am thinking about the readers as I dive into this project. And now I will go continue printing out the dozens of story submissions I've already received. I look forward to reading many more, as long as they arrive by the deadline of June 1 (yes, submissions received on June 1 will be considered, but I strongly recommend submitting earlier).
My Portland, Maine erotica writing workshop June 2nd at Nomia
I'm going back to Portland, Maine for this erotica writing workshop June 2nd at sex toy store Nomia and an erotica reading June 3rd, time and location to be announced very soon, for
Come Again: Sex Toy Erotica
and
Best Bondage Erotica 2015
. I had originally envisioned a tour for Come Again and had several sex toy stores interested but between the cost of travel and my authors being spread all around the world, I've narrowed it down to a few events, and this will be the first! I love meeting the authors in my books in person and look forward to the opportunity to do so. Stay tuned for details on the June 3rd event, which I will post on this blog and my website and @comeagainbook on Twitter and comeagainbook.com as soon as they're finalized.
June 2, 7:30 pm - 9 pm
Erotica 101 Writing Workshop, Portland, Maine
Rachel Kramer Bussel, professional erotica author and editor of over 50 erotica anthologies, such as The Big Book of Orgasms, Come Again: Sex Toy Erotica, Please, Sir and Please, Ma'am, will take you through the ins and outs of modern erotic writing. Learn how to get started, find your voice, and write against type. You'll discover how to incorporate everyday scenarios as well as outlandish fantasies into your writing, and make them fit for particular magazines and anthologies. She'll also talk about submitting your work and keeping up with the thriving erotica market (including anthologies, ebooks, magazines and websites). Whether you're writing to that special someone, penning longtime fantasies, or want to earn cash for your dirty words, this workshop is for you. Please bring paper or writing implements or a laptop to use for in class writing exercises. A bibliography with erotica resources will be provided. $25/person. Seating is limited to 20 people and we expect this workshop to fill up FAST! Call Nomia at 207-773-4774 or visit store to register.
Nomia, 24 Exchange Street, Suite 215, Portland, Maine, 207-773-4774.
June 2, 7:30 pm - 9 pm
Erotica 101 Writing Workshop, Portland, Maine
Rachel Kramer Bussel, professional erotica author and editor of over 50 erotica anthologies, such as The Big Book of Orgasms, Come Again: Sex Toy Erotica, Please, Sir and Please, Ma'am, will take you through the ins and outs of modern erotic writing. Learn how to get started, find your voice, and write against type. You'll discover how to incorporate everyday scenarios as well as outlandish fantasies into your writing, and make them fit for particular magazines and anthologies. She'll also talk about submitting your work and keeping up with the thriving erotica market (including anthologies, ebooks, magazines and websites). Whether you're writing to that special someone, penning longtime fantasies, or want to earn cash for your dirty words, this workshop is for you. Please bring paper or writing implements or a laptop to use for in class writing exercises. A bibliography with erotica resources will be provided. $25/person. Seating is limited to 20 people and we expect this workshop to fill up FAST! Call Nomia at 207-773-4774 or visit store to register.
Nomia, 24 Exchange Street, Suite 215, Portland, Maine, 207-773-4774.
April 8, 2015
"Yes, Fat Women Are Sexy" is my latest at DAME
It's one thing to write something in the plain old Times New Roman font I use in a Microsoft Word document, and another to see it in bold type on a website I contribute to. My first instinct when I saw "Yes, Fat Women Are Sexy" was to think, Duh. I mean, obvious town, right? But it's still something that needs to be said and reinforced with word and image, and the women I spoke to and quoted, namely April Flores (about her soon to launch site Fat Girl Fantasies), Substantia Jones, Kitty Stryker and Brittany Gibbons, are doing just that. Please check it out, and see the full archive of my DAME columns here. Suggestions for future topics related to women and sex? Email me at rachelkb at gmail dot com with "DAME" in the subject line.
Self-care, burnout and making the best choices for my business in 2015
Updated April 8th At the CatalystCon opening keynote panel, we were all asked what we do for self-care. I was stumped. I’m sure I said something that probably sounded sane and rational (I don't recall exactly what I managed to get out), but the truth is, self-care is hard. Yes, I worry about burnout, about waking up in the middle of the night with dreams about an assignment I haven’t finished yet (which does happen when I’m in that situation), about the way I bite my nails or can’t keep off my phone to the detriment of my relationship. I am concerned about those things, but what keeps me from taking better care of myself, meaning more time away from both my literal desk and my mental obsessing about work, is money.
I’m more worried about not having enough money to pay the immediate bills, and not having enough money to raise the child I am trying to create inside me, than taking a walk every day or treating my body as more than a vessel for typing and thinking. It’s such a hard balance, one I feel I get worse at juggling, rather than better. I know I used to juggle a lot when I had a full-time job, but working for myself, combined with living with a partner, has upped the ante.
I want to spend more time being a better girlfriend, but lurking in my mind, always, and not at the back of it, is whether I can be a good or even halfway decent financial partner. I have zero job security. My books could all sell zero copies in any given quarter. My two sex columns could end tomorrow (yes, in my experience, that’s how it happens one day you have a column, the next day you don’t). Everything is constantly potentially in flux. That's why it's hard to know where my job ends and I begin, and vice versa, and why I get the desire to be an adult preschooler.
On Monday, I took the day off to go to New York to see a friend I hadn’t seen since October. We chose the date based on her schedule, which turned out to be fortuitous because it was absolutely gorgeous out. My initial plan to get a manicure and pedicure at my favorite First Avenue nail salon that I’ve been loyal to for many years was dropped in favor of walking from Penn Station to Union Square, both saving money on subway fare and letting me get some much-needed exercise. I did a little consulting work on the train in and then decided to give myself permission to be off. Of course, I paused at the library to recharge my phone and my energy, and two assignments I hadn’t even pitched showed up in my inbox, which made me feel I was doing a smart thing.
Then, after a lovely day, I got home and found out one of my steady gigs is ending. It’s not the end of the world, but it does mean being more diligent about pitching and pushing myself. It’s a good reminder to never rest on my laurels and to always be asking myself both what I want to achieve professionally and how to get there. I’ve been doing a lot of that this year, starting with my promise to myself not to write for free, and it’s actually paying off. I’m finding that when I step back and don’t take every single offer without even thinking more than two seconds, when I cut back on going to New York, which I only plan to do in the next few months for a family reunion and Book Expo America (I'm signing Wednesday, May 27th, details TK!), I am choosing to believe in myself and my potential. I’m acknowledging that I do indeed work hard, that I start soon after 7 most days and go until 5, and that I need to use that time to my best advantage.
Often, rather than figuring out how I can advance my career, I look around wistfully at those who have jobs I envy and think, I wish I did that. Maybe I do wish that, but I’ve chosen this path and its rewards far outweigh its negatives. I love that right now, even if it doesn’t last forever, I can afford the $29.50 to go to New York to see my friend, to bask in the sunshine, the $10 I spent on greeting cards. I can afford to do events like my upcoming Portland, Maine gigs (details TK), where, yes, I’ll be teaching one class, and paid for it, but doing one reading to promote my new book, which I won’t be paid for directly except if people buy the book from me. I have a ton to be grateful for, and that’s what I want to model, both for myself and, should the universe smile upon me, my future children. I don’t want to spend my limited time on earth thinking about what ifs or feeling sorry for myself or worrying every minute I’m not working about where my next dollar will come from.
This year, my self-care is about recognizing the things about my career I can’t change, the things I can, and putting into practice strategies and choices to make sure I can continue to do this for as long as possible. It’s also meant recognizing that maybe “as long as possible” will be only a few more weeks, or months, or years. Maybe I’ll move to some new city and find a job I actually want to go to, and pare down my freelancing to an article here and there. Who knows? I need to be prepared for that, and to keep learning and building and growing my business, and my self-esteem, and my stamina and fortitude in handling the highs and lows of a very unpredictable businesses (two, really, if you count freelance writing and book publishing). That took me a bit longer than a minute or two to come up with on a panel, but now I’m prepared if I’m asked again!
I’m more worried about not having enough money to pay the immediate bills, and not having enough money to raise the child I am trying to create inside me, than taking a walk every day or treating my body as more than a vessel for typing and thinking. It’s such a hard balance, one I feel I get worse at juggling, rather than better. I know I used to juggle a lot when I had a full-time job, but working for myself, combined with living with a partner, has upped the ante.
I want to spend more time being a better girlfriend, but lurking in my mind, always, and not at the back of it, is whether I can be a good or even halfway decent financial partner. I have zero job security. My books could all sell zero copies in any given quarter. My two sex columns could end tomorrow (yes, in my experience, that’s how it happens one day you have a column, the next day you don’t). Everything is constantly potentially in flux. That's why it's hard to know where my job ends and I begin, and vice versa, and why I get the desire to be an adult preschooler.
On Monday, I took the day off to go to New York to see a friend I hadn’t seen since October. We chose the date based on her schedule, which turned out to be fortuitous because it was absolutely gorgeous out. My initial plan to get a manicure and pedicure at my favorite First Avenue nail salon that I’ve been loyal to for many years was dropped in favor of walking from Penn Station to Union Square, both saving money on subway fare and letting me get some much-needed exercise. I did a little consulting work on the train in and then decided to give myself permission to be off. Of course, I paused at the library to recharge my phone and my energy, and two assignments I hadn’t even pitched showed up in my inbox, which made me feel I was doing a smart thing.
Then, after a lovely day, I got home and found out one of my steady gigs is ending. It’s not the end of the world, but it does mean being more diligent about pitching and pushing myself. It’s a good reminder to never rest on my laurels and to always be asking myself both what I want to achieve professionally and how to get there. I’ve been doing a lot of that this year, starting with my promise to myself not to write for free, and it’s actually paying off. I’m finding that when I step back and don’t take every single offer without even thinking more than two seconds, when I cut back on going to New York, which I only plan to do in the next few months for a family reunion and Book Expo America (I'm signing Wednesday, May 27th, details TK!), I am choosing to believe in myself and my potential. I’m acknowledging that I do indeed work hard, that I start soon after 7 most days and go until 5, and that I need to use that time to my best advantage.
Often, rather than figuring out how I can advance my career, I look around wistfully at those who have jobs I envy and think, I wish I did that. Maybe I do wish that, but I’ve chosen this path and its rewards far outweigh its negatives. I love that right now, even if it doesn’t last forever, I can afford the $29.50 to go to New York to see my friend, to bask in the sunshine, the $10 I spent on greeting cards. I can afford to do events like my upcoming Portland, Maine gigs (details TK), where, yes, I’ll be teaching one class, and paid for it, but doing one reading to promote my new book, which I won’t be paid for directly except if people buy the book from me. I have a ton to be grateful for, and that’s what I want to model, both for myself and, should the universe smile upon me, my future children. I don’t want to spend my limited time on earth thinking about what ifs or feeling sorry for myself or worrying every minute I’m not working about where my next dollar will come from.
This year, my self-care is about recognizing the things about my career I can’t change, the things I can, and putting into practice strategies and choices to make sure I can continue to do this for as long as possible. It’s also meant recognizing that maybe “as long as possible” will be only a few more weeks, or months, or years. Maybe I’ll move to some new city and find a job I actually want to go to, and pare down my freelancing to an article here and there. Who knows? I need to be prepared for that, and to keep learning and building and growing my business, and my self-esteem, and my stamina and fortitude in handling the highs and lows of a very unpredictable businesses (two, really, if you count freelance writing and book publishing). That took me a bit longer than a minute or two to come up with on a panel, but now I’m prepared if I’m asked again!
April 7, 2015
69 BDSM erotica stories in The Big Book of Submission now for your listening pleasure!
I couldn't be more thrilled that Rose Caraway has narrated the audiobook of my BDSM erotica flash fiction anthology
The Big Book of Submission: 69 Kinky Tales
. (click that title to read excerpts from all 69 stories!)
It's my third book of 69 very short stories, each 1,200 words or less, and the third of them that Rose has narrated. I'm not just saying that because the two she previously narrated, The Big Book of Orgasms and Gotta Have It have sold so well they pretty much made up half of my entire last royalty check. I'm saying it because she has singlehandedly brought my erotica offerings to a whole new audience and it's such a huge honor to get to keep working with her and innovating. I think she'll be bringing you more free listens from this hot offering but for now, you can get a sample of The Big Book of Submission audiobook on Audible.
You might also like:
The Big Book of Orgasms
Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex
It's my third book of 69 very short stories, each 1,200 words or less, and the third of them that Rose has narrated. I'm not just saying that because the two she previously narrated, The Big Book of Orgasms and Gotta Have It have sold so well they pretty much made up half of my entire last royalty check. I'm saying it because she has singlehandedly brought my erotica offerings to a whole new audience and it's such a huge honor to get to keep working with her and innovating. I think she'll be bringing you more free listens from this hot offering but for now, you can get a sample of The Big Book of Submission audiobook on Audible.
You might also like:
The Big Book of Orgasms
Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex
Fictional sex with Rob Gronkowski and Monica Lewinsky
Yes, I went there in my new Philadelphia City Paper sex column which is up online two days ahead of its newsstand version. In "Sex with celebrities, and other fantasies," I wrote about celebrity erotica and fan fiction, which of course is how I got my start, and why I loved the lesbian Secretary of State story "Madam Secretary" by Jaye Markham that I published in my anthology
Hungry for More
. Like the column? I'd love if you'd click "like" at the top and/or share it in any other ways; it makes a big difference to the longevity of the column. Missed my previous columns? Here's the archives.
YouBeauty feature on beauty secrets women hide from our partners
I'm very proud of how this piece turned out! It's called "What’s Too Personal About Your Beauty Routine To Share With Your Partner?" at YouBeauty. If you like it, there are sharing links at the top of YouBeauty's site and I'd of course love if you commented or passed it on. Of course, most of my interviewees wanted to remain anonymous, so many thanks to them and my experts Hitha Prabhakar, Shar Rednour, Nadine Jolie Courtney (who you can watch now on Bravo's Newlyweds: The First Year) and the wonderful makeup artist Kim White.
