Rachel Leigh's Blog, page 26
February 15, 2012
Welcome fellow Wild Rose Press author, Lelani Black!
Welcome back to my blog, Lelani! Loving the Boss With Benefits theme...even the title gets the expectations hitched up a notch or two, yum...Anyway, welcome! Looking forward to reading your post :)
Take it away!
My Review of Reviews
By Lelani Black
I love a good review. What author doesn't? I don't even mind the average reviews where the reader didn't connect with the story. As a reader, not everything I get my hands on will always resonate, either.
As a writer, I know that some readers will "get" the message in my stories. Others? Not so much. As a reader, a poor review of someone else's work doesn't stop me from buying their story, either. It can actually get me to buy the book just so I can make my own determinations.
One thing that sticks in my craw? When others scorn good reviews, convinced only friends and family can possibly love the story. Friends and family are readers, too. Often, they may be the only ones initially brave enough to put their name out there and review, for example, an erotica romance.
If you're an author whose release could use some reviews, go to a review site and ask them if they'll do a review. Pay attention to your publisher's policies regarding sending your books out to be reviewed—example: make sure it's not a site that your publisher has already sent your book to. Sometimes getting a review is a waiting game. It's a plus if the review site also posts their reviews on Amazon, and Goodreads. But if they don't, they'll still have a following that may boost your book's visibility when they review it.
True story—a writer acquaintance had me review their works-in-progress, offline. Everything from poems, to short stories, to novellas etc… I gave lots of feedback, kept it all positive and bright, even though it was not my genre. This person read one of my books, then basically trashed my work to me. Had nothing good to say. The characters were all wrong, the motivations were all wrong, the erotic scenes would never happen that way etc… After having my published work given a callous drop-kick by this individual, I gathered my bearings, and like a good author, said, "Thank you for your thoughts," and ended the Lelani Black free nuggets of feedback and critique program that I was lavishly throwing this person's way.
Months later this person pops up in my rearview mirror and asks me for yet another review of their own work! Oh-em-geee! Yup, one of those bang-head-against-rock-wall lessons that I'll forever cherish.
Please check out my website at: http://www.lelaniblack.com
FREE short, cute, erotic reads in the Books Section—you must be 18 and older, and love erotic romance!
Author Bio: Lelani Black is a multi-published author of Erotic Romance whose characters live, and love, in exotic island settings. Her debut erotic romance, Boss With Benefits, is now available in Audio book through her audio publisher, AudioMinx, at Amazon and at other audio book e-tailers.
http://www.audiominx.com/books/boss-with-benefits/
All of Lelani Black's titles may be found here, at The Wild Rose Press:
Great post, Lelani - reviews are part and parcel of the business BUT under no circumstances is it okay to put down someone's work in such a way it has zero use. You know what I mean - the times when an author has nothing to learn or improve on from your observations. Hmm...oh, yes. We've all been there!
Comments?
February 14, 2012
Welcome prolific author, Rebecca Royce...
Welcome author, Rebecca Royce! I am sooo impressed by your booklist, you put me completely to shame with my two little stories, lol - looking forward to read your post. Good luck with the tour!
Over to you...
Tips For Aspiring Authors
I get asked for advice for aspiring a lot and my answer is always the same: write everyday. None of us begin writing for publication with the idea that we want to languish in sales and never make it. Of course not. If we didn't care about having readers, we would write things and leave them on our computer. We want to be successful. And if there is one thing I know about how successful writers became successful it was that they worked on their craft every day.
If you want to be published, treat yourself like you are a published writer. Make deadlines. Keep to them. Writing is tricky. It is both an art and a career. If you want it to be a job, treat it like. Go to it at the same time every day and make the commitment to doing so. Go to the blogs of some of your favorite bestselling authors. What are they talking about doing that day? They're writing.
We can't write once every so often and expect to make a book out of it. Our characters demand more than that from us. If you want to tell their stories, tell them. Don't let them float around in your head with the idea that some day you'll put them down. How many people do you know with half a book written? I would bet a ton. Not everyone can write a book, can be an author. If you can be, you have to do the work.
Write every day. Because I want to read your book on my Kindle. I want to lose myself in the world you created. I can't wait to do so.
Blurb:
Gabriel Ward has no problem with the fact that he's an Outsider. Hell, he's always known he was different. What he takes issue with is the idea he has to follow any destiny at all. He's taken care of himself-and others-since birth. There's no way he has to start following rules now.
Loraine Peacock can speak to animals. Other than that she thinks she's just a regular woman making her way in the world. She figures its not that weird. Many people have unusual abilities.
But when Gabriel and Loraine are forced together by a destiny he denies and she is ignorant of, they will both finally have to accept their Outsider legacy and help the others in their quest to defeat the ultimate evil—a demon bent on world destruction. That is, if they can both survive to find their way to the most important part of their destiny: love.
Excerpt
"Are you going to tell me what happened to you? You just stood there and let that wave slam into you. I thought you were dead but Futon knew you were alive."
Futon? He regarded the dog. A medium sized border collie with black spots stared back at him. His heart sped up. He'd heard that name for a dog before. In fact, it was the same damn dog.
"I know you." He pointed at the creature. "But the last time I saw you was with an old woman on Magazine Street in New Orleans."
Gabriel had been working for a shady lingerie storeowner on the bad side of Magazine Street at the time. Trying to find out what Sebastian wanted with the man, he would later uncover that the demon had employed Trent, the owner, to kill virgins by bleeding them to death. Gabriel still didn't fully understand how it benefited Sebastian and he wasn't sure he ever would. On his second day, he'd been hassled by an old woman on the street who'd told him Sebastian was in New Jersey and that he needed to hurry up and get there.
She'd spoken of fate and a lot of mumbo-jumbo he hadn't understood. It had turned out that she was right and he'd high-tailed it off to New Jersey to help stop Sebastian's assault on the Outsiders. The woman had been with Futon.
The woman shook her head. "There are lots of border collies around this area. You must have seen a different one because Futon never leaves me."
As a teenager, Rebecca Royce would hide in her room to read her favorite romance novels when she was supposed to be doing her homework. She hopes, these days, that her parents think it was well worth it.
Rebecca is the mother of three adorable boys and is fortunate to be married to her best friend. They live in northern New Jersey and try not to freeze too badly during the winter months.
She's in love with science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal and tries to use all of these elements in her writing. She's been told she's a little bloodthirsty so she hopes that when you read her work you'll enjoy the action packed ride that always ends in romance. Rebecca loves to write series because she loves to see characters develop over time and it always makes her happy to see her favorite characters make guest appearances in other books.
In Rebecca Royce's world anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect that it will.
Rebecca is giving away a $50 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2011/12/virtual-book-tour-love-beyond-loyalty.html
Current and Upcoming Works
The Outsiders
Love Beyond Time
Love Beyond Sanity
Love Beyond Loyalty
Love Beyond Sight (TBA)
Westervelt Wolves
Her Wolf
Summer's Wolf
Wolf Reborn
Wolf's Valentine
Wolf's Magic
Alpha Wolf
Angel's Wolf
Darkest Wolf (coming soon.)
The Warrior
Initiation
Driven
The Conditioned
Eye Contact
Embraced
Sexy Superheroes
Screwing the Superhero
Banging the Superhero
Other Works
Behind The Scenes
First Dimension
Yes, Captain
Return to the Sea
One Night With A Wolf
Another Chance
Light Me Up
I'll Be Mated For Christmas
Rebecca is waiting to hear from you...comments? Questions?
February 11, 2012
Saturday Promo - Kathleen Scott...
Bateo Gunner is dead.
The treacherous bastard met his fate in a Celedon prison cell by a stroke of a very long and delicate blade. The lethal strike appears to have come from an Ashlin tiger sword, and suspicions fall to the only other person of that warrior class in the royal residence.
Stationed on the royal planet of Celedon, Ashlin Warrior Nadja Kelswan is charged with acting as liaison between her country of Vanden and the Celedon tsia. Also, to get answers from Bateo Gunner on the conspiracy that turned Jovita Rees into a weapon and now infects a good portion of the Celedon Empire. Nadja's most important duty came from the tsia himself, to act as Prince Rohan's personal bodyguard. It is a task she takes seriously, even as the conspiracy around them thickens.
Duty prohibits her from acting on the intense feelings she has for the tsia's heir. Seeing his sorrow and loss over Jovita to another man, touches Nadja deeply. But the prince keeps an active sex life going with the palace whores, and Nadja fears their approaches to sexual relationships will forever clash. It is in the middle of one such intimate transaction that Nadja must save the prince from an insidious laser-guided weapon sent from within the palace walls to kill him.
Prince Rohan of Celedon has had his heart broken twice: once by the faked death of his lover, Jovita, then by her desertion to another man. Loving only one woman since childhood, it surprises him when a raven-haired Ashlin warrior haunts his dreams. She's strong and lithe and formal. Her stagnant hazel eyes are so different than the twirling depths of a Celedon's. Her training as an Ashlin has also made her extremely wise beyond her years. He finds solace in her counsel. By rights he should hate Ashlin Nadja for her interference in his reunion with Jovita, but he can't seem to help himself from falling under the warrior's spell.
Any man takes his life into his own hands to attempt a seduction with so lethal a weapon as an Ashlin warrior. Now, with everyone in the palace a suspect to murder, it is Nadja who suggests they share quarters so she can better protect him. It is the chance Rohan has been waiting for since her arrival on Celedon.
The list of crimes against Celedon continues to grow: parts are missing from shipments to outposts, security vids are tampered with and the body of Bateo Gunner is missing from the morgue. The more questions they ask the more the questions come. Amidst all the chaos a new planet sends an overture of friendship to the tsia. It is an ill-timed and suspicious request as far as Nadja is concerned.
Nadja's suspicions are realized when Rohan is taken ill and his body infested with a newer more sinister nanite. One that replicates faster and has the power to compel the host to do whatever the programmer wishes. Torn between duty to her sword and her love for Rohan, Nadja takes up the mantle of protector to rid the palace of the conspirators once and fall all. Even if it means giving her very life to save those she's sworn to protect.
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