Catherine Bybee's Blog, page 26

Highland Shifter is Available NOW!

Highland Shifter is Out Now!

Yep, that's right. Simon and Helen's story is out on Kindle, Nook, Smashwords and Print. whatever your pleasure, you can read the next chapter in my time travel series.

I went through great pains to make sure Simon's book was all his own. Don't be shy if you haven't read the others in the series. Here is what others are saying about Highland Shifter.


"If you've not yet read BINDING VOWS, which precedes HIGHLAND SHIFTER, or the other titles in the MacCoinnich Time Travel Romance series, don't let that discourage you from grabbing this one right away. Ms. Bybee does such a fantastic job of world building in HIGHLAND SHIFTER..."  ~ Sarah Ballance

"I LOVED this book, it has definitely become my favorite in the series." ~ Holly

Enjoy 300 pages of time travel and romance for only $2.99.

Happy Reading

Catherine

Win a free Kindle

So here is the deal... As I told you all last week, Wife by Wednesday has made the New York Times Bestseller list. It being Sunday and all it will be easier for you to find a paper. I live in California but they do sell the NYTs here. Starbucks even has copies of this power-house newspaper.

In celebration of making the NYT's list, I'm giving away a Kindle. Here is what I'd like you to do. Go out and get a NYT's paper and take a picture of you with it. Upload it to Facebook and tag me so that I see it and I can share it on my Facebook page. You will have a week to do this. On February 21st, I will pick a winner of all the photos and that person will win an entry level Kindle. If you already own a Kindle, then I will send you a $80 Amazon gift card.

Now go forth and find yourself a paper and let's play!

Still a couple of days to win a print/signed copy of...

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Goodreads Book Giveaway








Wife by Wednesday


by Catherine Bybee

Giveaway ends February 15, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

It's official... I have an agent.

Not to long ago I wrote a blog about 'should we or shouldn't' we have an agent. To be honest, there was a time I actively searched for representation, but my writing kept me from sending out most of those queries. I was learning more about my craft and even more about self publishing to get wrapped up in finding someone to represent me. The two agents that read Wife by Wednesday passed.

However, with the success of Wife by Wednesday, and reaching the New York Times Bestseller list, the phone has been ringing and the emails have been filling my inbox. A great problem to have, BTW. Still, publishers have been asking to look at my work for audio publication, for foreign right publication and I started to feel a little panic. This was when I knew I needed someone in my court who understood how to traverse this landscape.

I'm proud to announce that Jane Dystal of Dystel &Goderich Literary Managment has agreed to represent me.

But Catherine, you're self publishing, how does this work?

I'm not completely sure yet, but our goal is for me to keep e-publishing my current work and work toward foreign distribution. Perhaps even a paperback/mass market deal. I'm not sure yet. And then there is Hollywood. I can't tell you the email and tweets I get from readers telling me Wife by Wednesday would make a great movie. So, maybe.

I would LOVE for the MacCoinnichs to be on the big screen. Now that would be epic!

The bottom line is, I will have different options and an easier time dealing with contracts and negotiations with an agent. So far I'm very impressed with Jane and Miriam over at DGLM and they have come highly recommended. With self publishing giants such as John Locke and Joe Konrath encouraging me to join Jane and her team, I know I'm in good hands.

Where is Catherine today?

I'm over at Lost in Fiction today... come on over and wave so I know I have some cyber-friends.

New York Times Bestselling Author

YEP!!!

On February 12th 2012 I will debut on the New York Times Bestseller List at #18 for E-Books for Wife by Wednesday. Can you even believe it? I sure as heck can't.

Apparently editors get these lists before they go out. The Internet list will be out on the NYT's website next Sunday.

So here is what I want to do. For everyone who goes out and picks up a NYT's paper on the 12th and takes their picture with the list... then post it on my facebook page... I will put names in a hat and give away... A Kindle. Yep, why the heck not.

Post pictures on my facebook page and come back here to comment. I will pick a winner the following week and give away a entry level Kindle. Already have a Kindle? Okay, so I'll give you a Amazon Gift Card for $80.00

YEAH!!! I'm so excited.

Tour

Here is just a simple heads up for those of you who are in the LA area. I'll be doing a book signing and book talk in mid February at my local libraries. Where is that? Why in Santa Clarita about 40 miles north of LA.

So keep an eye to my blog for details. If you comment below I'll be sure and send you the dates when they are finalized. Just be sure and leave an email addy for me.

TTFN

Life

I sit hear staring at my disorganized desk and thinking of all the things I need to do before I turn in for the night. I have a few edits to go over to send to my editor... my tax form for 2011 that I need to complete...and a shiny new potential contract staring me in the face.

2011 was an amazing year for me as an author. Well, the end of it anyway. Keep in mind that before the publishing world opened up for me I was a small press author who had yet one more rejection to add to her name. But then I decided to self publish a book... a good book. But self publish none-the-less. Said book went on to make the Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestseller list... not to mention it hasn't left the #1 or #2 position in romance on Amazon since Thanksgiving. I've had a couple of agents contact me... an audio publisher...a foreign rights publisher...

Who knew?
I didn't.

The fact is I managed to write a romance that resonated in readers minds. A romance that helped them forget about their world and escape into mine for a few hours. You couldn't have told me I'd be where I am today this time last year.

As some of you know, before I started writing romance full time I was an Emergency Room RN. There were days I saw the worst...and the best in people. Days I left my work with faith in humanity and days I thought we were all going to hell. I think because of those days I'm now dedicated to making people smile. I write because I have to. Like many authors I can't 'not' write. It's not possible for me to go along in my day and not explore stories in my head.

Today I learned that a friend of mine has a new diagnosis of breast cancer. I think back on my education... of my years of being a nurse and wonder if I'm in the right job. Should I be writing books about fractious people living a life that we won't? Is there something else I can do to be helping others who are sick... who need care?

I firmly believe that things happen for a reason. Five years ago an injury kept me from returning to a job I loved and forced me to stay home. I took that lemon and made lemon aide. Yet I would have never met my friend who has a new challenge in life with a diagnosis that would make most of us cringe. I may have been placed in her path for a reason I don't yet know. Or maybe I needed to know that to reach people I needed to be a writer and not a nurse.

Every rejection may be a silver lining.
Every diagnosis may be a salvation
Every bad turn may be what saves your life.

Six Sentence Sunday from Highland Shifter

I'm but a couple of weeks from releasing Highland Shifter... so how about a lil' taste.


"You're not crazy, lass."
She voiced a short humorless laugh and brought her glass to her lips. "Sanity is being able to judge and reason sensibly. I'm not falling into that category. Against all sensibility, not to mention everything I've ever been taught in life, I'm starting to believe everything you've been telling me since we met." She took another swig from her glass and squinted her eyes as the amber liquid went down. "And you just jumped into a cage with wild gorillas. That's not sane, Simon! Not sane at all."

Highland Shifter, Simon's story, will be here by mid February. Be sure and read your way to this book starting with Binding Vows...

Avery Flynn Blog Tour Stop

Please make welcome Avery Flynn on her blog tour for her latest release, A Dry Creek Bed. Today she's talking about family and how she explored what family means to her.


The Meaning of FamilyBy Avery Flynn

More than seven million women in the United States have an impaired ability to have children.
Slightly more than two million married women between the ages of fifteen and forty-four are infertile.
Nearly twelve percent of women between the ages of fifteen and forty-four have received infertility services.
Many women are childless by choice and I say more power to them. However, there are millions of women out there who are unable to conceive despite it being their greatest wish and they report often feeling alone in their struggle. My heart breaks for them.

I have three rugrats of my own, but spent quite a bit of time researching infertility issues before writing A Dry Creek Bed, the second in my hot and steamy romantic suspense series. With A Dry Creek Bed, I really wanted to explore the idea of family and what the word parent really means.

Beth Martinez is the heroine of A Dry Creek Bed and she's recently had a hysterectomy because of a fibroid tumor. This has rocked Beth's world. Her parents died when she was eight, the grandparents who raised her have passed on and now she won't be able to have children of her own.

To twist the knife even more, she's been in love with Dry Creek County Sheriff Hank Layton for most of her life. Hank wants Beth, there's no doubt about it, but he also wants to start a family and Beth's emotions are so tangled ups she's not sure if she ever wants to adopt. Not wanting to force Hank to give up his dreams of a family or make him feel obligated to stay with her, Beth keeps her infertility a secret and denies she has any interest in him.

Hank can't stop thinking about Beth to the point where he's afraid of becoming permanently bowlegged. And even though the sexual tension between them is thick enough to trip over, she runs every time he chases.

But when a mysterious developer forces her neighbors off their land, Beth becomes the one person standing between the scoundrel and millions of dollars. Only Hank can help her uncover the truth. Together they risk their lives exposing decades-old secrets and learn that everything is not as it seems in their rural Nebraska town. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Dry Creek Bed
By Avery Flynn
Book 2


Blurb


"I do believe I can arrest you for looking at someone like that. You've got to be breaking some indecency laws."


Taking a deep breath, she recovered her bearings. Mostly. "You're out of your jurisdiction, sheriff."


Dry Creek County Sheriff Hank Layton is the stuff of dreams. Nasty, steamy, delicious fantasies that leave Beth Martinez weak-kneed and desperately wanting the man she can never have.


Hank can't stop thinking about Beth to the point where he's afraid of becoming permanently bowlegged. And even though the sexual tension between them is thick enough to trip over, she runs every time he chases.


But when a mysterious developer forces her neighbors off their land, Beth becomes the one person standing between the scoundrel and millions of dollars. Only Hank can help her uncover the truth. Together they risk their lives exposing decades-old secrets and learn that everything is not as it seems in their rural Nebraska town. 









A Dry Creek Bed Excerpt - The Kiss
She stopped with her back to him. "One kiss?"One little kiss."A fall breeze brushed the tips of her mahogany hair across her back and she straightened her shoulders. Spinning around, she made her way back to him with a fuck-you strut. Stopping just short of his feet, she dropped her gym bag. It hit the pavement with a thud, the whole world seeming to have gone silent around them. "Let's get it over with."Something primal inside of him howled its approval. He wanted to devour her full lips then and there. Stick to the plan, dude. He held firm. Barely. "OK, you can kiss me.""Wait a minute -""You're the one who says there's nothing between us, so I figure you should set the tone of the kiss. It's up to you to disprove my theory.""Of all the stupid things." She huffed out a breath. "Fine." Hank held his breath, hoping all his bluster would pay off. God, this woman undid him.  She laid her soft hand against his chest. There was no way she could miss the hammering behind his ribs. Navy blue nails shone bright against the red of his cotton shirt. Her shoulders twitched with a shiver. A flicker of doubt shook him. Maybe she'd ignored him after the party for a reason.  Then her lips touched his. Chocolate and caramel coffee teased his taste buds as their tongues twisted around each other. His hands roamed to the bottom of her soft, wool sweater, snuck underneath the hem and caressed the soft skin above the low waist of her jeans. Her vanilla perfume surrounded him as he lowered his mouth to taste the sweetness of her neck. He lost himself to the hungry lust streaming through his veins and the moaning woman in his arms. There was no street, no gawking neighbors, no one else in the world. "Hank, stop." Beth's breath brushed against his cheek.More plea than demand, her words sliced through his euphoria. Unwilling to let her go yet, he lifted his head but kept his fingers tucked into her waistband. Still tasting her on his lips, he couldn't form any words.A flush pinked her cheeks as she pursed her kiss-swollen lips. "So ... that's ... out of the way." Her hand shook when she patted him on the chest, her fingers lingering for a few seconds over his pounding heart. With a sigh she pulled out of his embrace and trudged up to the house, never looking back. She thought this was over? After a kiss like that? His balls couldn't be any bluer if they were made of blueberries. For a smart woman, she sure wasn't thinking straight.  
About the Author:
Avery Flynn, the author of UP A DRY CREEK and A Dry Creek Bed, books one and two in the Dry Creek series set in Nebraska, grew up in a small town in the western part of that state, a far cry from her present day home just outside of Washington, D.C. It was no accident that she went back to her roots for the small town setting for her romantic suspense. 

"When I graduated high school," she says, "I couldn't cross the state line fast enough.  The older I got and the farther I moved away, the more I realized what a wonderful place Nebraska had been to live.  I swore I'd set a novel there as a way to give people a look into the amazing folks that live in my home state."
The name Avery Flynn is a pseudonym for the author who, at least for now, prefers to remain behind the scenes.  She believes having Avery as her alter ego is a very good thing because, as she says, "Pen name Avery is way cooler than me. Her favorite color is hot pink. She drinks single malt scotch on the rocks. She loves the Argentinean tango and stays at Iceland's Ice Hotel." 

Author Avery has been writing since she was a child and her father gave her a baby blue Brother typewriter. She couldn't read but nonetheless wrote numerous stories about her stuffed animals in gibberish. She hasn't stopped since, though she maintains that her spelling has gotten much better and she now prefers to write in English.

Today she's enjoying her own happily ever after with her dashing husband, three crazy kids and two arthritic dogs.  She dreams of one day having a floor-to-ceiling library à la Beauty and the Beast and is working to perfect the coffee IV drip.  


http://www.averyflynn.com
 http://www.evernightpublishing.comTwitter: @averyflynnFacebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Avery-Flynn/177161972329973