K.J. Reed's Blog, page 3

Next Book with Ellora's Cave!

I am pleased to announce that my editor has accepted my fifth book with Ellora's Cave. This one is titled Comfort Zone, and it's the story of Brice and Mary Ellen, who were first introduced in Text Me, and had small cameos in Faithful to a Fault. Yes, I know. More than a few of you are thinking "Finally!" And really, I agree with you! It just took so long to get these two and their story straight. Expectations were there, and I didn't want to let myself, readers, or Brice and Mary Ellen down. So I took my time and hopefully, you'll agree that I got it right.

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No idea on a release date yet, sorry to say. Maybe sometime in September? I guess we'll find out soon enough. But there's my fun news for the week. I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend, and it carries over into your Monday.

Hubs Is Back!

Hubs is back from Morocco! I bet I know what you're thinking. Morocco, huh? Sounds like a kick-ass vacation. Sun, beach, shopping… Well, sort of. He did have a few days of relaxation. But the main reason he was there was for training. Each year, the Reserve units take a (roughly) 2-week training mission. This year, theirs was in Morocco. Now, he's not a reservist, he's active duty. But he obviously had to go along with them to keep things running. He was gone a lot longer than 2 weeks though. Boo. But he is back now, and he brought goodies with him!

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First up is a watch for me. I'm so freaking lazy, I have needed a watch for years. But I keep forgetting to look, or anything. So he picked up a watch for me, and it was perfect. Great size, right colors. He's a good guy.

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[image error]Next up is a tea set for his parents. This is only the teapot from the set. It also came with a huge serving platter. And a set of eight unbelievably cute cups. These aren't teacups like we have here. They're more like…juice glasses? They have hand painted designs all over them. Too cute. But they were already wrapped and packaged, so I didn't get a photo of the glasses. But they match the teapot, and here that is.

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And lastly, a very precious wooden box. This is extremely interesting. It's called a magic box. Now when Hubs told me he bought our two year old

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a magic box, I had horrid images of her trying to saw the dog in half. But that's really not what it is. It's about the size of a jewelry box. And it does have a compartment where you can put things in there to hide them. But it's hidden. You can't just pick it up and lift the lid. Look more closely. Many of those groves in the box are actually movable. You first have to slide one piece of wood away, then another. And the second won't move until you get the first right. And so on and so forth. You have to find the key, and then keep going until you can find the keyhole. Then, and only then, will the box open. It's actually very cool. Completely inappropriate for her at age two. But later on in life, I have these images of her storing a small diary in there, or any number of little treasures.

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So there we go. Hubs has some good taste, I think. And we're very glad that he's home, safe, after a long training session. Hope everyone had a good weekend, and have a happy Monday!

Friday Man Flesh

Yes, that's right. I'm being naughty again and sharing some man flesh. Go ahead. Tell me how disgusted you are with me. I'll wait. *crickets* Right. That's what I thought. But while I have your attention, I just thought I'd mention that…ahem…Whipped Cream Reviews gave Text Me a very lovely review. Some of my favorite quotes included:

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"KJ Reed not only describes sex well, but is also able to create an aura of sweet innocent romance between Ariel and her anonymous texter friend."

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"The story hooks for its funny moments, its coincidences, its sweetness, and the very realistic confusion that texting messages can create."

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Aww. Thanks, Bittersweet from Whipped Cream. That was a lovely, thoughtful review. I appreciate you taking the time to check my book out. Hopefully you also find Trav's sister's story in Faithful to a Fault. And for those who are still curious, YES! I'm hopefully going to be giving you Brice and Mary Ellen's story soon. Very, very soon. If all goes well.

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Now, on to the goodies. I like to think he was just asked if he was a boxers guy or a briefs man. And he was going to give us visual confirmation of his undergarment of choice. (Am I the only one sitting here, hoping that he's actually more of a Commando Man??)

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And for my next act of man flesh sharage, how about him? He looks a little cold. You know, coincidentally, I've heard the fastest way to heat yourself up is to share body heat. I'm just saying…

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Have a great Friday everyone! Enjoy your weekend, and remember…hot man flesh is not to be wasted.

Publishing Spotlight – Sue Grimshaw

On Saturday at the Lori Foster Reader & Author Get Together, I had the chance to sit in on a chat with Sue Grimshaw. Sue was previously the buyer for Borders, but has since relocated and now works for Random House. She would define her position as a "category specialist," more specifically working with the newest project coming from Random House…a digital-first imprint. This imprint will be launching in the summer of 2011. If you want to find them, check out their Facebook Page or on their Website. (Note from KJ: The Romance At Random site is not actually active as of this blog post, June 9th, 2011. But it directs you to the random house home page. Check back later to see when the webpage goes live.) If you would like to find Sue Grimshaw herself, you can follow her on her Twitter feed.

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Sue first spoke a little bit about the new digital line. She explains that it is digital first, not digital only. As far as print, they aren't jumping in there quite yet. But it's absolutely an option. They are hoping to release 1 – 2 books per month to start with. They don't want to over-extend themselves from the get go. If the level of submissions rise and they can keep up and they are able to put out more, they might. But I don't believe, from hearing her speak, that they would go too high. They still want to be very selective on what they take out. There will be no editors assigned specifically to edit the digital imprint. Editors already hired would be the ones to take on new works.

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Right now, they are taking only completed works. (Of course, if your book is the first of a trilogy, they don't need all three books complete. But Book One should be.) They will accept works from 30,000-90,000 words. So from a good-sized novella to a full length book. They prefer trilogies, as many publishers tend to. Sue made a personal comment (Sue's opinion only) that the longer a series goes on, the more thin the world seems to get. Mostly because you tend to already know everything about the world by book 6 or so, and so it's not a new discovery with each book. However, she does still like some long-going series, so there's always a way to do it "right." They will be taking all sub-genres of romance (contemporary, western, paranormal, historical, etc.) Also, they will not be taking YA or erotic romance/erotica. Yet. She says she doesn't think it will be all that long before they will also take YA and erotic/a. But right now, they don't want to spread themselves too thin.

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What are they looking for, as far as story-wise? Alpha males, she mentioned. Definitely want the alpha. Lots of emotion (not angst, emotion) and tight relationships. Strong females, and always always always want that HEA (happily ever after). It's romance. So they need to know the hero and heroine are walking away hand in hand when all is said and done.

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The more business-oriented parts that she talked about included the fact that there would be advances. The royalties are going to be the same as print. (No percentage was given, and I don't know what their boilerplate contracts look like. So the number is lost on me.) Their price point for ebooks and print will be different, as she said it's odd to have an ebook the same (or more!) as a print book. And they will have normal distribution, all third party.

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On a more general note, she mentioned that the way publishing is going, having all your eggs in one basket is definitely a risk. And she sees nothing wrong with writing for more than one publisher. Most readers go for the author name, not the publisher. So if you have a Jane Doe book coming out from X publisher, readers aren't going to turn away from a Jane Doe book at Y publisher. They'll promote for each other. No harm done there. She also cautioned against using too many pen names. Things get fragmented, and people want to find the author, not have to work so hard at remembering "Okay, in this genre Jane Doe writes as this, but if it's that genre, she writes as that…"

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Overall, just on a personal note from myself, I found Sue to be wonderful. She's funny, engaging, nice, and unbelievably knowledgeable about the publishing industry, and the romance genre in particular. She's also aware of her short-comings, such as they are, saying "They knew when they (Random House) got me, they'd have to train me. This is definitely not the job I'm used to." Very down to earth, lovely woman. I enjoyed my hour of listening to her speak.

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I hope this was helpful to anyone who might have wanted to sit in on the Sue Grimshaw talk but was caught up elsewhere. Or maybe even people who weren't able to attend the conference at all. Let me know what you think!

Promo: What Works and What Doesn't

On Saturday morning at the Lori Foster Reader Author Get Together, I attended a workshop held by Jenn Stark. It was about promotion for authors, what works and what doesn't? It was based off of her own previous knowledge as well as a survey she passed out the night before. The survey had 205 responses. 103 of those identified themselves as readers. 27 said they were authors, and 75 said they were both readers and authors. Though, to be honest, I think most authors are likely readers as well…

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The top three things that readers (pure readers, not authors) identified with helping them buy books were (in order top to bottom) were: contests, free books, newsletter/email promo, and excerpts online or picked up at a signing.

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For authors (both straight authors and reader/authors): excerpts, free books, and blogs.

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If you added them all together, you would have gotten number one as excerpts. Number two as contests, and the third top reason people bought books was Newsletters.

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This was honestly a little shocking to me. I was under the impression that giving away books doesn't actually help people buy more of your work. (Though I still do it, just because I like having fun that way!) I wasn't shocked that writers picked the excerpt first.

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What doesn't work? For readers, they said: virtual book signings, special features online (such as "behind the book" things and spin-off areas on the site) and direct mail (such as mailing post cards, bookmarks, etc.).

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None of that was a huge surprise to me, I suppose. Your typical reader isn't going to be aware of virtual book signings or other virtual promo past your blog and website. And while post cards and bookmarks are fun to look at, I don't know how long they last in anybody's home before they get lost or destroyed.

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So with all that said…how do readers find new authors? As in, they've never read the author before, so they have no idea what to expect, but they'll give it a try. For everyone, the number one way, overwhelmingly, was to have the book or author recommended from a friend that you trust. Someone you know, such as a friend, or someone online that you have trusted before because you know you have similar taste.

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What doesn't work to find new authors? Advertisements by the author and the author holding workshops or seminars.

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Other things that people wrote into the comment boxes and that kept appearing over and over included: Amazon recommendations ("If you like this book, then you might like…"), Goodreads, brick & mortar bookstores with their "coming soon" promo, cover blurbs/cover quotes written by authors you already know, and "buzz."

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Buzz is a big one we see more and more these days as the internet grows and we get things fast. Things can explode on Twitter at the speed of light. A recent buzz that I recall was The Iron Duke. That book was everywhere, everyone was talking about it, and you couldn't ignore the name. I don't really read the genre, and even I was looking it up to see more about it because I'd heard so much.

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We also talked about how to handle bad press. There was mention of a certain self-published author who behaved badly due to a sort of negative review, and the entire thing was all over the internet within an hour. If that. It exploded. Not in a good, buzz-worthy way.

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That was the Promo: What works and what doesn't? workshop. I hope you come back tomorrow to see what I learned from Sue Grimshaw, who used to be the buyer for Borders but now works for Random House. She was extremely knowledgeable and sweet and lovely. So pop back by tomorrow to find out what she had to say!

Lori Foster's Conference: Day 2

Today was the second day, and the one with the most stuff, on this weekend's conference. For those playing catchup, I'm at the Annual Reader & Author Get Together, put together by Lori Foster and her fantastic group of volunteers. It's been a tiring day, but also very fun and informative. Definitely a great start for my first conference. It's smaller (but not TOO small, over 400 registered attendants!), but it's also pretty relaxed, pretty fun, a laid-back atmosphere. For example…not really many (if any) business suits. I'm wearing black pants, black flats, a colorful tank top and a lightweight, summer cardigan over that. And I'm very comfortable. But lots of jeans and things, and those aren't out of place either.

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[image error]We found some Divas (from the online community Romance Divas) in the morning, eating some breakfast. So of course, we had to snag a picture. Pictured here (from left to right) are Paige Tyler, Kaily Hart, me (tall one in the back), Maddy Barone, Keri Ford and Sasha Devlin. Note how we sort of just take over our area. We're pretty cool like that. For breakfast, it was your simple continental affair. Bagels, toast, fruit, coffee, juice.  We ate, we chatted, we relaxed. Well, all but Keri, who claimed she needed "real food" for breakfast and had something in the hotel restaurant.

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[image error]Then I headed in for my first workshop. There were also author chats offered, and some agents and editors were doing pitches. My workshop was the one run by Jenn Stark about promotion, what works and what doesn't. It was more interactive, which was good, and we got to see the results of the survey given the night before on what everyone liked and didn't like, what worked and didn't work as readers. This is something we all, as authors, want to know. Because the goal is never to annoy readers, only to make sure they know that we're here so they can make their reading selections. So great knowledge. And Jenn was a really funny, personable presenter. In the next few days, I'll post an actual post dedicated to what I learned with this workshop. (And I'll come back here and edit the post so the link is clear.)

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Then I was able to sit in on a Q&A with Sue Grimshaw. That was pretty awesome, actually. I've heard amazing things about Sue, but having never been to a conference before, clearly I'd never met her in person. She was wonderful, very open about her thoughts on her new job, the publishing business as a whole, and what she would tell authors to do if it were up to her. So that was very nice. Lovely lady. And just like the other workshop, I'll post what I learned in the next day or two, and come back here to post the link.

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[image error]After that, there were Author Q&As, but I was tired. I headed back to the ballroom and sort of hung out with Jess Granger and Stephanie Julian. Aww, so sweet, those two ladies. Stephanie actually shares all three publishers with me (Ellora's Cave, Carina and Sourcebooks). So we talked about that a little. And then it was lunch (buffet style) and the signing. I managed to snag autographs from Lori Foster, Toni Blake and Judi Fennel, who I am also sharing a publisher with in Sourcebooks. Another great lady. She was so sweet, in my book she wrote "Welcome to the family." How cool is she?

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Then it was time for some group pictures. I included those below as well as labels. Hell, I can't get everyone's names right, so if you want to comment in here on who you are (or who you know is in here) along with what you/they are wearing, that would be extra appreciated!

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[image error]After that was dinner, which was also buffet style. We hung out, we had some laughs, and Kaily and I plotted a new contest coming up on Passionate Reads. During this time, they were finishing up the raffles. Kaily won something…I forgot what. haha Keri won a bag full of spa things. And after joking the whole time that I never win anything like this (because I don't!) … I, of course, won something. A basket full of lovely reading material from Turquoise Morning Press. There are seriously 18 books in here, along with a cute journal, some towel clips, and a tshirt and beach towel. Thank goodness I'm driving, because this sucker would never have made it on the plane! Thanks Turquoise Morning Press!

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[image error]And then it was off to the bar, where Keri and I hung out a little more, along with others. Keri managed to get herself wedged into a booth and it would have been difficult to get out. But someone just HAD to hit the bathroom. So she limboed, literally, out from under the table. This picture of her is not upside down. She, instead of crawling, did the limbo under the table. And this is what it looks like from my side of the table.

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And of course, here are the group photos. As I said before, go ahead and let me know in the comments section if you recognize people!

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These are the Ellora's Cave authors. I know that we've got Kaily Hart, myself, Sasha Devlin, Paige Tyler, Stephanie Julian, and…help me out, guys!

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Divas from the online writing community, Romance Divas. So many of us, go ahead and help me out!

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Be on the look out the next few days for the notes from the promo workshop and also the Q&A with Sue Grimshaw. Good info. And I hope, if you weren't able to come, you're getting a little something out of these blog posts. Because I love knowing what's going on at conferences!

Lori Foster's Annual Reader & Author Get Together: Day 1

So here we are on Day 1 of the Reader & Author Get Together. The drive here wasn't too bad at all, only two hours. That's not two hours from my home, but I had to leave the Tot somewhere. So I drove last week to my parents' house, and then on Thursday I headed to the hotel in Cincinnati. The actual town the hotel is in (West Chester) is pretty decent, nice little area. First I'll give you the lowdown on what went on, and then I can go ahead and post a few pictures!

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[image error]Registration was easy, just giving them both my pen name (which is on my name tag) and my real name, they handed me my tag, my goodie bag (more on that later, maybe tomorrow) and a raffle ticket. Sasha Devlin, Keri Ford (both pictured to the left), Kaily Hart and I meandered a little and found a table. We sat, we chatted, we waited and then at 6pm Lori took the mic and announced a few things, including introducing the special guests (editors and agents taking pitches) and the volunteers.

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[image error]Then it was time for pizza, provided by Liquid Silver. And a huge cake that a few people (volunteers I think?) brought, celebrating the fact that Lori Foster has been a published author for 15 years. So it was an "anniversary cake." Pretty cute. Some people took off to do dinner elsewhere. And others had editor/agent pitches tonight. But Kaily, Sasha and I stayed and ate pizza. We hung out, checked out the baskets that were there for a raffle. Keri Ford and I actually put one together between the two of us. It's over there to the right. It includes Keri's book (Volume 1 of the Apple Trail series), actual apples, some sodas, a thumb drive with all my books, mason jars and apple tea.

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[image error]There were lifesize cut-outs of Lori Foster's newest three heroes, the men who walk the edge of honor. You could get your pic taken with them. I managed to snag a picture of Lori herself standing with "her boys." Then they started up some games. There was something like musical chairs…except they read excerpts from books instead of playing music. And then there was also Pin The Post-It On The … Dog Tag. (You totally thought I was about to say something dirty, weren't you? haha) They brought over one of the cutouts that had visible dog tags and you were blindfolded and had to find the tags. That was amusing. Somehow a lot of post it notes ended up a little close to crotch level…

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[image error]Sasha, Kaily and I headed to the bar afterward. (See myself and Kaily pictured to the right. Not my best photo ever…but Kaily looks great!) We talked with a few people, I had a delicious raspberry daiquiri, and we just relaxed a bit. And then we headed up to our rooms, where I am now writing this blog post.

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So far, it's been fun. But tonight wasn't really the meat of the conference. Tomorrow (Saturday) is going to be the big day. There are workshops, there are "author Q&A" sessions, and there's the book signing, which I'm really looking forward to. Following are a few more photos of the day. More to come later. Check back for day 2 and photos and more of what I experienced at the Get Together!

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Here's Keri putting together our basket before we went down for the registration. We had quite a bit of amusement on how to wrap the whole thing up. And wow, there were some unbelievable, awesome baskets donated this year!

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Here's one of myself and Sasha before I got ready. She's all cute and made up, and I don't even have makeup on! But she looks so cute, I couldn't not share it.

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Here's something cool. My first signature! And it's on a tote bag, of all things. haha Someone from Author Island is using the tote bags as give aways, and she asked all authors to sign it. So I signed several tote bags (along with the other authors at my table). My first signature! (Of course, since I took the pic, that's not me doing the signing. That's Keri. But my signature is in the blue-green pen. )

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Conference is almost here!

[image error]In a few days I'll be heading to Ohio for the Annual Reader & Author Get Together sponsored by Lori Foster. This is my first conference as a professional writer. Nerves and excitement are warring in me, but overall I'm just thrilled with the opportunity to meet some people that I have known online in the writing communities for awhile now. Plus, the days without being a wife or a mother will be a great break for my mental health!

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I am hoping to blog and tweet about the event as it goes along. Whether I am able to actually blog and tweet during the workshops or if I wait until the night to blog about how the day went, that remains to be seen. But if you would like pretty timely updates on how the Get Together is going, how I'm enjoying things, or seeing some pictures that I end up taking, make sure that you are following me on twitter at @authorKJReed and that you have subscribed to my blog so you get quick updates!

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And if you're within the Cincinnati, OH area, it is so worth it to come for the book signing. Authors such as Lori Foster, Toni Blake, Kate Douglas, Nalini Singh, Shiloh Walker and SO many more are going to be there signing books, talking with fans, and mingling. That's at 2pm on Saturday, June 4th. Come on over to the Cincinnati Marriott North on Mulhauser Road, get a book or two signed, and talk with some authors. How much better of a Saturday can you get?

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And if you can't get there, then just follow me! I'll lead you through the conference as best I can.

Hot Hunk – Water Boy

Uh, no. Not the Adam Sandler version. No, no, no. How about this though? I wonder if the water hits his skin and then just sizzles… I should probably note…I had to crop this picture. Yeah. You can guess where it got cropped. Don't hate me.

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KJ In the Kitchen – Corncakes!

[image error]I'm always on the hunt for finger-foods, no utensils required. With a toddler who hates using a fork or spoon (correctly, anyway…), finding food that isn't messy but is new and interesting can be a big challenge. So when I saw these Italian Parmesan corncakes on the Weelicious blog, I thought, Perfect! She loves eating pancakes with her hands (no syrup or butter) so maybe she'd like these for something a little different. And the other great thing was, everything for the recipe I already had in my kitchen, except for actual cornmeal. But that's cheap and easy to find, so no huge problem there.

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Just so you know, for the full recipe and a much nicer picture of the finished product, head on over HERE and check it out, along with a ton of other great recipes that are kid-friendly. (I am giving a photo of the finished product too, but my photography leaves something to be desired. haha) I'm going to basically give you my play-by-play here, along with pictures from the actual process.

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[image error]We started with 1 cup cornmeal, 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons sugar and 1 teaspoon baking powder. Mix those all together in a decent-sized bowl. Then in a second bowl, beat together 1 large egg, 3/4 cup milk and 2 tablespoons oil.

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Mix the dry and wet ingredients together. It'll be thicker than pancake mix, more grainy looking. That's okay. Then let them rest for 10 minutes. I'm not sure why, but it has something to do with the texture. I know my cornmuffin recipe says to do the same thing for crunchy tops. But the science is lost on me. Whatever, I do it anyway. haha

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KJ Note: These 10 minutes are a good time to wash your measuring spoons and whatever else you used to create the batter. I'm one of those people who can make one dish, but my kitchen looks like I fed an army afterward because I forget to clean. Honestly, you'll thank me for this later. Take the time during these 10 minutes and wash what you can.

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Back to the recipe. After it's rested, heat your skillet or frying pan. Whatever you use to make pancakes with, if you ask me. The official Weelicious recipe says to oil your pan or skillet, but here's my thing…if you don't oil it for pancakes, then don't oil it now. Is it hot? Good. Pour one tablespoon of batter onto the skillet for each corncake. Doesn't seem like much, but it's enough.

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[image error]KJ Note: For me, the batter was a little thick. So what I did was after pouring the tablespoon onto the pan, I sort of used the spoon to smooth it out a little until it was a tad flatter, and circular. It's not in the recipe, but it helped after the first one, make them a little flatter and cook through easier. You can see above there, that's an un-smoothed cake before I flattened it a tad. It looks sort of like an uncooked oatmeal raisin cookie. Smooth it. Promise.

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Again with the official recipe. Cook them for about two minutes each side, or until they're golden brown. Just like pancakes. No real science or surprise here. She suggests serving them with marinara sauce on the side for dipping, and I can see where that would compliment the Italian Parmesan flavoring. But for Tot, she just went to town on the finished product. No dipping required! There she is a the bottom, watching her new all-time favorite thing ever: Tangled. Which she calls 'Punzel. "Watchin' Punzel mama?" Daily. This movie has been out a month, and I've already got it memorized. Thanks Disney.

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[image error]Oh, I should probably mention…I've got a release coming out today! Strike a Chord is an epilogue to my first release, Songbirds. It stands alone as a Naughty Nooner short story, but if you read Songbirds and you liked it and want to see what Ava, Cross and Knight are up to now, check it out! Click on the cover for more info.