Shoshanna Evers's Blog, page 11

Win an copy of Snowed in With the Tycoon!

Hello Fellow Writers!

I'm over at the Goddess Fish Blog, where I'll be posting a few blog posts and excerpts throughout the day. One commenter will win a $10 Amazon or B&N gift card, and I'll be giving away an e-copy of Snowed in With the Tycoon, a sexy contemporary romance - so please head over and say hi!
http://goddessfishparty.blogspot.com/

Mentioned in USA Today!

Hello Fellow Writers!

What a thrill I had recently, when I saw my first non-fiction reference book, How to Write Hot Sex: Tips from Multi-Published Romance Authors, had been mentioned in USA Today!

One of the contributors to the book (twelve authors, myself included, contributed essays, and I edited them), Desiree Holt, was interviewed in USA Today, and she was asked if erotica was just about sex.

She answered: "There's an anthology just out, How to Write Hot Sex, in which I join 11 other authors in discussing just this subject. Everyone must want to know, because it zoomed to No. 1 in Kindle/Authorship in the first 24 hours."

And the book remains on the Authorship Bestseller list, thanks to our amazing readers.

How to Write Hot Sex: Tips from Multi-Published Erotic Romance Authors is available now for only $4.99 from Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble.com.

How Important is the Beginning of Your Mss?

Hello Fellow Writers! How important is the beginning of your manuscript? Pretty darn important. If the opening doesn't grab the editor or agent (or reader), then you can forget about them discovering the amazing ending of the book - because they'll just send you a form rejection. On the other hand, if the opening is fabulous, then you've got the reader hooked, and she'll keep reading!
If you keep getting form rejections on your manuscript, don't you want to know *why*? How would you like an unbiased critique from three writers (including *at least* one published author)? My local RWA chapter is holding a fabulous contest that's only $10 - totally worth it (especially since the top five are ranked by Harlequin Editor Brenda Chin!) The 26th Annual Hudson Valley RWA Hook, Line & Sinker Contest is now accepting entries!

Deadline is November 1, 2011.
Enter the 1st 3 pages of your MS and see if you have what it takes to hook an editor or agent.
$10 for each entry.

Entries will be judged by published authors and experienced critiquers. Finalists will be judged by Harlequin Editor Brenda Chin.For more information and entry form:http://hudsonvalleyrwa.com/contest

RomantiCon 2011 was *Awesome*

Hello Fellow Writers!

Just got back from the Ellora's Cave romantic erotica convention RomantiCon, where I spent Thursday night though Monday morning connecting with my readers and fellow Ellora's Cave authors - as well as taking every opportunity possible to grab a photo with my favorite male cover model, Caveman Angelo ;)


The Book Fair was a lot of fun too - thank you to my readers for buying out my stack of books! If you didn't get a chance to buy my trade paperback Bound to Be Naughty, you can always buy it at Ellora's Cave here or Amazon, B&N, etc.

On Saturday night we had the Future party and I attempted a retro-futuristic costume, so if you're wondering why I look like a Jetson, that's why. I also dressed like a cavewoman for the Stone Age party. I haz school (publisher?) spirit! Woot! *shakes pom-poms*


At the Future party they handed out awards, and apparently I sat at a lucky table because even though they didn't give out a ton of awards, half of the people at my table, myself included, won "Superstar 2011" awards. My author friends write some damn hot books!  My award was for my erotic romance novella Ginger Snap.

Ask Shoshanna: the Advice Column

Ask Shoshanna: the Advice Column is a book containing my first year of columns - available now on Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble for only 99 cents!

Here's the introduction to the book:

Ask Shoshanna is a weekly syndicated newspaper advice column in New York. I give a lot of advice about relationships, love, and health because I'm a wife, mother, and registered nurse. You'll probably see yourself in many of these questions—I know I do.

And if you can't imagine ever having a problem like the one you're reading about, then feel free to read it for entertainment value. You wouldn't believe some of the pickles people get themselves into.

Since a lot of the questions are almost universal problems, I'm hoping that the advice will be useful to you in your everyday life. For example, I answer questions like:
Does this mean our relationship is over?Will I lose weight doing this?My best friend ditched me for other friendsDo I need to get the flu shot?
And so on. You can check out the Table of Contents and skip around if you like, or read them all in order. I recommend reading even the questions you think don't apply to you, because the answer might surprise you – or make you laugh. Whichever.

The column has been written under another name (another title, actually) since I was working as an RN and didn't want people to know I also wrote sexy romance novels under the name Shoshanna Evers. Um, make that very sexy romance novels. Blush-worthy.

As Shoshanna, I've often mentioned my advice column on Twitter and Facebook, but without mentioning what newspapers it was in or what it was really called.

Enough of my readership has emailed me out of curiosity about the column that I figured it might be fun to put all of my columns from my first year as a columnist together into a book. It's also been rather difficult maintaining four separate identities – the private me, the nurse me, the advice columnist me, and the romance author me. I need to consolidate and just be Shoshanna Evers.

I worry a bit about losing some of my advice column readers when I "come out" as Shoshanna, but who knows? Some of the readers who like my advice might also like to read romance!

I'm not worried anymore about people who know me as an RN knowing I'm Shoshanna Evers for two reasons:

1. Nurses love romance novels
2. I recently "retired" from nursing to be a full-time author. Yay!

Disclaimer: I may be a nurse but I'm not *your* nurse and I'm not a doctor. None of my advice should be mistaken for medical advice and it's not a substitute for seeing a health professional in person, or a mental health professional as the case may be. If you read this book or my column you're agreeing that any consequences from taking my advice are not my fault, the fault of the newspapers that carried the column, and so on …Gosh, I'm so legal. Anyhoo…

If you want to send a question to Ask Shoshanna, email me at shoshanna.evers@ yahoo. com (no spaces) and put Question for Ask Shoshanna in the subject line. I'll keep your question anonymous and give you some darn good advice. That's my job! ;)

And if you feel like seeing what sorts of stories I write (assuming you're an adult, since they tend to be (ahem) spicy), check out my website at www.ShoshannaEvers.com.

Oh, and in case you're wondering—yes, that's me on the book cover.

Ask Shoshanna: the Advice Column is available now on Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble for only 99 cents!

Twitter 101 for Authors

Hello Fellow Writers!

Let's talk Twitter. I'm on Twitter (@ShoshannaEvers), and if you follow me I'll follow you back.

This is an excerpt about Twitter from my #1 Amazon Kindle Bestseller in Authorship book, How to Write Hot Sex: Tips From Multi-Published Erotic Romance Authors. There are 12 essays from best-selling and multi-published authors in this book, and this excerpt comes from my essay "Getting Published".

***Oh wait, you say you've never heard any of these terms bandied about because you're not in any publishing circles? Let's get you connected really quickly then. Join Twitter.

Don't tell me you don't "get" Twitter. Simply put, if you are an author or are aspiring to be one, you are shooting yourself in the foot by avoiding Twitter. You don't need to have a fancy phone or be able to text (myths that kept me off Twitter for years).

Just go online to www.Twitter.com and use your pen name as your Twitter handle. That way you're building name recognition every time you Tweet. I like to use TweetDeck, a free software that makes Twitter really easy to use.

You can set up searches for hashtags, which are topics. On TweetDeck, I create a separate column for each of my favorite hashtags: #amwriting #amediting #amreading #askeditor #askagent #writechat and #pubwrite.

Just like that, you've found other writers and authors and publishing peeps online to connect with.
One thing I've heard over and over again is "I tried Twitter, but I have nothing interesting to say." No! You've got it all wrong. Twitter isn't about shouting into the Universe, it's about listening.

Follow anyone you like. Follow Publisher's Weekly. Follow all the big literary agents. Follow your favorite authors—and tell them they're your favorite! We love that. Really really truly.
***


Read the intro to How to Write Hot Sex here.

How to Write Hot Sex: Tips from Multi-Published Erotic Romance Authors is available now for only $4.99 from Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble.com. 

Series or Single-title?

Hello Fellow Writers!

Today we have contemporary romance author Heather Thurmeier (who just happens to be my real-life critique partner and BFF) guest-blogging. Her first book, Love and Lattes, is available now, with her second book, Love on Landing, coming soon!



Series books or single-title books? 
by Heather Thurmeier

I love a good series. In fact, if I were choosing between two books and one was the first of a series and the other wasn't, I'd buy the one that was part of the series. It's an easy choice for me.

So often when I read a book I totally fall in love with the characters, the world, the setting—all of it. And I want more of it as soon as I read the last page. That's why I'll always choose a series over a single-title. I love knowing that the option of reading more will be there if I want it.

When I contracted LOVE AND LATTES to Silver Publishing, I never dreamed it would be the start of a series. But it is. And I'm thrilled! I had so much fun writing and editing that novella and I totally fell in love with the characters living in the elite community of Meadow Ridge—a place that lives only in my head. Suddenly I realized this community could be the home for more that just Chase and Julia. Anyone I dreamed up could live there and because it's a wealthy community, anything could happen.

So I immediately got to work on a sequel. Now that LOVE ON LANDING has been contracted, my brain is already potting who the next characters from Meadow Ridge will be for the next novella. I love it!

So do you like books that are part of a series? Are you more likely to buy a book if you know the characters or the world will carry over to another book or many books?

Happy Reading!

Heather Thurmeier
~Heart, humor and a happily ever after.


Blurb for LOVE AND LATTES by Heather Thurmeier

Chase Bloom wants the one thing his wealth can't buy--a woman who loves him for who he really is and not just his money. Not only is Julia Walker beautiful, funny, and so incredibly sexy, she's also the first girl who doesn't seem to know who Chase is. Finally, after two years of playing the field Chase gets a chance to date a girl who's interested in him, not his status. As Julia waits at the bar in one of the local clubs, she wonders how much more cleavage she'll have to show to be granted a drink by a bartender with blinders on. Just when she thinks she's bound to die of thirst, the man of her dreams steps up to the bar and into her heart with a frosty Cosmo. Their casual encounter at the bar quickly escalates into an intimate encounter in the bedroom.

When Julia runs into Chase on her first day of work she's excited to finally see him again—until she learns he's her new boss. Now Julia must stop fantasizing about him even though her mind is constantly remembering his hands on her body, his lips on her eager flesh. But her fantasies fizzle when both Julia's first customer and her new manager threaten her to stay away from the boss. Chase is a player and Julia is his new toy. Should Julia heed the threats about Chase or is a chance to fall in love worth the risk?

LOVE AND LATTES is available now!

http://heatherthurmeier.com
heatherthurmeier@gmail.com
Facebook: Heather Thurmeier, author
Twitter: @hthurmeier

How to Write Hot Sex: Tips from Multi-Published Erotic Romance Authors

Hello Fellow Writers!

I'm thrilled to announce my first ever  non-fiction writing reference book is available now on Amazon and Smashwords, (and soon B&N too).

This is the introduction to HOW TO WRITE HOT SEX!

How to Write Hot Sex: Tips from Multi-Published Erotic Romance Authors features everything you need to know about adding sizzling sexual tension, scorching sex scenes, and emotional impact to your romance writing in twelve info-packed essays from bestselling and multi-published authors so you can get published and get paid.

Whether you're writing sensual, steamy, or full-on explicit sex scenes, writers can learn from the authors who write and sell sexy books for a living. Do you want to write erotica? Or an erotic romance? Perhaps you just want to add some hot sexual tension to your romance novel.

You've come to the right place.

Here you'll find essays on the art of writing smokin' hot vanilla sex, gay sex, BDSM, kink, and ménage, as well as information on how to find paying markets and publishers for your books and short stories.
How to Write Hot Sex: Tips from Multi-Published Erotic Romance Authors gives you all the information you need to write sex well and get published! The authors are published with New York publishers, small presses, and e-publishers, including Berkley, Kensington, Ellora's Cave, Harlequin, Carina Press, Samhain, The Wild Rose Press, Loose Id, Running Press, Flying Pen Press, eXcessiva Publishing, Xcite Books, Circlet Press, loveyoudevine Alterotica, Amber Quill Press, Beyond the Page Publishing, Cleis Press, Resplendence Publishing, Total-E-Bound, as well as becoming Amazon Erotica Bestsellers with successfully self-published books.

So what are these gals gonna teach you? We'll start this book off with erotica extraordinaire Cara McKenna, who also writes for Harlequin Blaze as Meg Maguire. Her essay Real Ugly will show you how to craft realistic, gritty sex scenes that will raise your prose above "steamy" to "unforgettable." Then we've got the award-winning, prolific Desiree Holt. How prolific? Desiree recently released her one-hundredth book. Now that's what I call multi-published! She shows you how to use all five senses to bring your romance novel to life in Five Sexy Senses to Rev Up Scenes.

By now you've probably heard of the huge market for male/male erotic romance. Interestingly, the readership for these stories is mainly straight women. Christine D'Abo teaches you how to cash in on a hot sub-genre with Boys Will Be Boys: Writing Male/Male Romance. Then L.K. Below dissects sexual tension in The Law of Attraction. With her advice, you'll learn how to make your character's attraction to each other come alive off the page as the sparks fly.

Bestselling Kensington author Kate Douglas (Wolf Tales) discusses Writing the Fine Line Between Erotica and Porn. By infusing your stories with emotional impact, you'll always have a love story you can be proud of—no matter how explicit or graphic your sex scenes get. You'll learn How to Write Convincing Fetish and Niche Market Sex from one of erotica's bestselling LGBT authors, Giselle Renarde. Not sure what all those initials stand for? No worries—Giselle will walk you through the writing process she's perfected over the years in the niche sex erotica market. You won't believe some of the things that could get you on an editor or reader's naughty list. At least you won't be making those mistakes after reading her essay!

Then we get back to the basics with Amazon bestseller Charlotte Stein, who breaks down how to use varying sentence structure and wording to bring your Sexy Sentences from drab to fab. Even the hottest story idea won't sell if it's not written well, so heed Charlotte's advice to take your writing to the next level—the level agents, editors, and readers need to see. You can also learn a lot about writing a good sex scene by studying the way fight scenes are written. That's right, fight scenes, like sex scenes, can add levels of intensity and emotion to your stories. Award winning multi-published Isabo Kelly shows you how in her essay Fighting Sex.

BDSM erotica is hot—hot to read and hot to sell! Delphine Dryden asks So You Think You Can Kink? After reading her essay on Domination and submission in erotic romance, you'll be answering hell yeah I can kink! Then we have New York Times bestselling author Jean Johnson, whose essay puts you directly in her classroom as she stands at the podium and plays sexy professor for us in Biology: The Good, The Bad, & the Sex Scene. Learning how our bodies physically and mentally become aroused will give you the tools you need to write hot sex with confidence.

But what if you've written a sex scene, and something's just not right? Enter Fictionwise bestseller Cari Quinn and her Rx for a Sagging Sex Scene. You'll be able to diagnose an ailing scene and make it exactly the way you need it to be after reading her essay. Lastly, I've contributed an essay on Getting Published. A year before this book you're reading came out, Shoshanna Evers didn't exist. In the space of one year I've had eleven books release with four different publishers (and my sixth Ellora's Cave book is coming out soon) plus my own self-publishing. I became an Amazon Erotica Bestseller with my self-published work, in fact. In the span of one year I went from not existing to leaving my job as an RN to write full time. If it can happen to me, it can happen for you.

Many authors dream of signing with a literary agency but don't know where to begin—so I decided to share the query letter that snagged my agent's attention! Everything you need to know about the process of getting published is here. Whether you're hoping to land an agent and multi-book contract with a big New York publisher, write for some of the fabulous electronic publishers, or self-publish and take control of your own publishing destiny, I'll walk you through the steps.

Are you ready? Let's learn How to Write Hot Sex! WOOT!

 Buy or sample the book now on Amazon and Smashwords

Self-publishing sales vs Traditional sales

Today I'm on Flirty Author Bitches, blogging about self-publishing sales versus traditional pub sales. Why are my self-pub books outranking my other books? How did I become an Amazon bestseller with OVERHEATED, one of my self-pub books?

Stop by my post at FAB and find out!
http://flirtyauthorbitches.com/2011/09/15/self-pubbed-books-outranking-my-other-books-why/

How Debra Holland sold 17K books in 4 months!

Hello Fellow Writers!

If you're even thinking about self-publishing, you need to read this. Amazon bestseller and self-published romance author Debra Holland sold 17,000 books in the past four months. Yes, 17K. I interviewed her to find out as much as I could about how exactly she did that!

Shoshanna: Thanks for being here! Can you walk us through how that happened?

Debra: I can give it a try. I have some ideas, but a lot of it seems like plain good luck. :)
Much of my books' success stems from hitting two niche markets--sweet and Western. There are lots of readers out there looking for romances that are traditional. They either don't want sexy books, or they like to read both sexy and sweet.

Western romance fans tend to pounce on a Western because they don't get many of them. The historical Western market is particularly scarce.

Did it start slow and build or were you immediately selling well?

It started slow and built, sort of like a jagged slope. I'd be at a level, then start selling a little more, stay at about that level, then bump up a bit, level out for a week or so, then go higher.

What seemed to make a difference was 5 star reviews. For each one, my sales bumped up a bit. Although, once I got to ten 5 star reviews, it didn't seem to make a difference any more.

The other thing that helped was making Amazon top 100 lists. That happened to Wild Montana Sky at about six weeks and Starry Montana Sky at about two months. The books have been climbing the lists ever since.

What sort of marketing did you do?

I'm doing very little. Mostly I've written some personal blogs--about eight, and some guest blogs--also about eight. Not too much for four months.

I'm trying to encourage other writers to consider self-publishing. Ever since I started having success, I've been beating the self-publishing drum. I love helping others succeed. For that reason, I'm blogging very honestly about what's happening with my self-publishing career, including exact sales and money. Those blog links seemed to get passed along a lot. :)


My success isn't the norm for everyone. Many self-published authors start out far slower. But remember, sales can build over years. Think long term.

I know I should do more. I'm not even on Goodreads yet. That on my to-do list. I need to submit the books to book reviewers. Also on my to-do list. But I've trying to use my spare time to write. I think putting out new books are the best ways to promote!

What price points are you selling your books at, and how did you decide to sell at that price point?

I'm selling Wild Montana Sky at .99 and Starry Montana Sky at 2.99. I chose .99 for the first book because I'm an unknown author, and I think readers are willing to risk trying me when the price is a bargain. I've done the same thing for the first book in my newly published Fantasy Romance series. Sower of Dreams is .99 and Reaper of Dreams is 2.99.

Your covers are beautiful. Who is your designer? 

My friend, Delle Jacobs did the Western covers. I chose a different designer, Lex Valentine, for my fantasy romances because I wanted a different look. I think all four covers are wonderful, and I'm very happy with them. Doing your own covers are definitely a benefit to self-publishing!

Do you have plans for future books?

I'm writing the third book in the Western series, Stormy Montana Sky, and I have two more books after that. I'm hoping to have Stormy out in November. I'm also working on the third book in the Fantasy Romance trilogy, Harvest the Dreams. If I can stay on track, I'm hoping to have it out in January.

Do you have any suggestions for writers looking to self-publish?

Learn the craft. Write a great book. Get it professionally edited. Study the market. Have FUN!


BLURB: WILD MONTANA SKY
With the tragic death of her fiancé, Elizabeth Hamilton believed she'd never love again. The comfortable life she's settled into with her brother in Boston is upset when he abruptly marries. Displaced by her spiteful new sister-in-law, and hoping to find a home for herself, Elizabeth allows handsome cowboy Nick Sanders to escort her from Boston to her friend's Montana ranch.

In Montana, Elizabeth meets attractive Caleb Livingston, a wealthy banker who strongly resembles her beloved fiancé, and believes she has a second chance at love. Yet, she has to fight a growing attraction to Nick. In braving the dangers and hardships of the West, Elizabeth discovers unexpected strengths within herself--strengths tested when an influenza epidemic ravages the town. As a child's life hangs in the balance, Elizabeth must choose between the man who has everything, and the one with nothing but his heart to offer.

Buy Links:
Wild Montana Sky Amazon: http://amzn.com/B004YKZCD2
Starry Montana Sky Amazon: http://amzn.com/B004YL2RNO

Website:
http://drdebraholland.com