Laurel Cremant's Blog, page 13

I Heart Jane Austen and Alan Rickman

Hello Lovelies,

     Yes you read that correctly. I totally HEART HEART them both! I watched Sense & Sensibility again last night and completely fell in love with Mr. Alan Rickman AKA Professor Snape AKA Mr. Smooth & Smexy. 

     Now my love for Ms. Austen is always and forever. And Admittedly I've got a Love Jones going for the BEST DARCY EVER, Colin Firth as well, but oh yummy yum yum, Mr. Rickman you totally have me lusting and  inspired. 

     Note to all of yo, this is what happens when I am Austen deprived. I spend months without reading one of her books or watching one of the film adaptations, and then BAM!  I remember why she will forever be the queen of romance and drama. If you have somehow managed to live up until this moment without reading one of her books or watching one of her movies, then please don't deprive yourself any longer. Add it to your bucket list. Just do it, you won't be sorry.

So back to sensuous lips Rickman...yup I'm still crushing hard there. His character has totally inspired an erotic romance character for me! The lovely Janet Eckford threw down a challenge when I was gushing about him in a book group last night and I have graciously and excitedly accepted! Brace yourselves, It's gonna be naughty!

Okay Lovelies, that's all the ramblings of an Austen induced coma victim yo're gonna get from me tonight.

Talk to you soon,
Laurel  

Winged Styles: eBooks Anyone?

Hello Lovelies,

Early this week I posed a question to the interwebverse at large regarding setting up my own eBook formatting service. A few of you emailed me with follow up questions regarding pricing and what exactly I would offer. The feedback I received was enough to convince me that it would indeed be a good idea to start my own service. 

What about my writing you ask? No need to worry I have no intention of letting anything interfere with my writing schedule. Today I actually finished several chapters of a novella I plan on submitting to Samhain (fingers crossed that they'll love it). However, your feedback has convinced me that perhaps it's time for me to scale back a little form my current 9-5 management day job. I'm at a point where working from home is more of a draw.

With all that said I'd like to announce the creation of WINGED STYLES , an eBook formatting service specifically geared towards romance authors. You can check it out here or by going to wingedstyles.blogspot.com. Please take some time to stop by the site and let me know what you think. 

Winged Styles will provide authors with custom eBook formatting sing HTML and CSS. Authors will get both MOBI and EPUB files as part of the service, which also includes custom title page and chapter headings creation. Lets be clear here. I'm not talking about just getting a book through the review process at Amazon or BnB. I'm talking about adding some custom style and swagger to books, to make them stand out and be a smooth experience for readers and reviewers. 

Interior eBook Formatting
$35 - Short Stories 1k - 7k words
$55 - Novellas 7k to 25k words
$75 - Novels 25k to 65k words
$100 - Novels 65k to 150 words
neg* - Novels 150k + words*
Since this is a new service I'm willing to offer my services for free to the first ten authors who contact me. All I ask is that they provide me with an honest testimonial/review of my work in the end.

Thanks again to all of you for all of your feedback and support!

Talk to you soon,
Laurel

Attention Self Pub Authors What's Your Opinion?

Hello Lovelies,

I'm seriously considering the idea of providing formatting services to self-pubbed authors. I learned a lot over the last few years regarding the different publishing sites as well as just running my own blog and website. 

Although I enjoyed the learning experience, and am lucky enough to be surrounded by a lot of tech savvy individuals who allowed me to pick their brains at times, I know that not everyone is that lucky. And even if they are they may not want the hassle and would prefer to outsource the whole issue to some one else to deal with.

The services I was thinking of were book formatting for Amazon, BnB, Smashwords and providing all of the formats that are available for ARe. authors send me their manuscript and I send them back all of the necessary formats of they'll need to self-pub. Of course there will always be a confidentiality agreement, for peace of mind for both parties involved. 

This is an idea I've been thinking about for some time now and really think it might be time to give it a go. Any opinions?

Talk to you soon,
Laurel

High Stakes: A Sneak Peek

Hello Again Lovlies,

I'm excited to share with you an excerpt from my new upcoming erotic contemporary romance, High Stakes. The book along with Negotiating Skills is part of my Boardroom Acts series. It’s a stand alone story, maintaining the theme of mixing business with please. The release date will be announced soon, but until then please enjoy this quick excerpt. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed bringing Pepper and Jaxon's romance to life!
Excerpt:
-Hey Pep, Can’t make the meeting next month. Reschedule.~We can’t postpone again. Get down to Miami A.S.A.P!!!-No can do.~Then give me your proxy. I will handle on my end.-No~Stop being an ASS! -Stop being a BRAT! See you in a few weeks.
That last text had caused her to throw her phone across the room and smash it against the opposite wall. The phone had splintered and shattered into small electronic pieces that gave her a split second of satisfaction before she added its demise to Jaxon’s list of transgressions. It was the third phone she destroyed since he decided to pull his disappearing act.As she stared at the shiny broken pieces scattered on the floor across the room, she made her decision to come looking for him.It only took her a few hours to track down his location. She just had to lure his ever efficient assistant away from his desk long enough to search for his latest bills. Jax was notorious for liking the finer things in life, so Pepper knew that wherever he chose to hideout, he would leave an extensive money trail.She was surprised to see that there had been only two major charges to his credit cards in the last three months. The first was for a first class plane ticket to Denver and the second was for a cabin rental in somewhere named Lissit, Colorado. When she had investigated she learned that he had rented the cabin through the remainder of the year. The news had only fueled her anger. No way was she waiting another two months for him decide to come back to Miami!She was on a plane to Colorado within twenty-four hours. When she arrived she took the time to buy a satellite phone, some warm clothing and rent an SUV equipped for trekking through the mountains.The weather delay had only served to increase her frustration. She had a lot of work still left to do regarding the acquisition of Lubtech. There was only so much she could get done from her laptop within her hotel room.After years of friendship, she couldn’t believe that he would up and just abandon her when he knew how hard she had worked to secure the deal. They had been friends throughout college and had survived financial ups and downs, family tragedies, and recent health issues together. Her mind skittered away from the breast cancer scare she had three months ago.Jaxon had been her rock through the whole thing. He was the first person she ran to when she noticed something odd in her left breast, and he was the one who sat, gripping her hand in support, when she was told the cyst was benign.She flushed deeply as she thought of that day. No doubt she felt relief about her results, and she knew that she was lucky to have been given a clean bill of health. However, she still remembered that day with a profound sense of embarrassment. If I had only avoided that last glass of wine, she thought. Perhaps if she hadn’t had that last glass of liquid courage her relationship with him wouldn’t be so awkward right now.Shifting uncomfortably in the leather driver’s seat, Pepper replayed that day, more specifically that night, over in her mind for what must have been the millionth time.Jax as always, had been an amazing friend. Just as she had been there for him only a few months prior when his mother passed away, he dropped everything to help her through the doctor’s visits, biopsy and ultimate good news that the lump she found was nothing serious.After the last doctor’s visit he took her out to dinner to celebrate, and the night should have ended at that. Unfortunately, Pepper was so relieved that she was healthy, that she made the drunken decision to finally act on her long standing attraction to him.The giddy need to seize life and finally live out her fantasy had almost ruined their relationship. For one night she had lived her fantasy. She had him in her arms and bed, but the cold light of day had shown her that he only stayed to spare her from embarrassment. Even now the event caused her panties to go damp and her body to prickle with heat.Do you trust me Pep?The huskily asked words whispered through her mind.She had always known that Jax was an intensely focused man. To have all of that raw energy focused on her was one the most erotic things she’d ever experienced. The idea of allowing someone else to control her pleasure had always appealed to her, but she’d never trusted anyone enough to give them that power. But with him…with him she had relinquished everything.Yes.She whimpered softly into the cabin of the plush rental car as her body heated and remembered the feel of him rubbing against her flesh. The feel of his hard chest pressing against her nipples as he pulled her hands above the bed and tied them loosely to the headboard.She remembered the sense of freedom she felt when she gripped the edges of his silk tie bond around her wrists.  That’s it honey let me in.A shiver worked its way down her spine as her body relived the feel of his almost bruising grip holding her hips down as he kneeled between her legs circling his cock at her wet entrance.The sound of his hisses of breath and grunts of satisfaction. The feel of his lips against hers. The slow licks of tongue and soft nips of teeth. The feel of his hard length slowly working its way into her was ingrained in her memory forever.  If only it hadn’t been the worst mistake of her life.
 

2012 Reflections

Hello Lovelies,

I'm so excited for this upcoming new year! 2012 was a great year for me. It was filled with a lot of big events. After having a JP ceremony last year, my hubby and I finally did the official "big" ceremony in December and it was awesome.  I published my first romance novel, Negotiating Skills in August and had my very first virtual book tour. Negotiating Skills also made the All Romance Best seller list for three weeks in a row in November and it received several 4.5 and 5 star reviews! All in all the year went pretty darn well as far as I'm concerned. I'm not sure what the new year will have in store for me, but I am excited to get some of my current Works in Progress out in print in 2013. I'll be announcing the release date of How to Kill Your Immortal at the end of January, as well as the release date for my new erotic contemporary romance titled High Stakes. So stayed tuned and have a pleasant and prosperous New Year!
Talk to you soon,
Laurel

Virtual Book Tour: And The Winners Are...

Hello Lovelies,

First of all Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year to all! I'm excited to announce the lucky winners who followed the Virtual Book Tour for Negotiating Skills. So the winners are...drum roll please...


1.) $10 Amazon gift card- Joanne B from the Harlie's Books post
2.) 4GB USB drive- BN100 from the 3.) I Heart Dr. Who mug- Catherine from the Sugarbeat's Books post

A special thanks goes out to all of you who followed along on the tour. Thank you so much for your comments and support. And a special thanks goes out to all of the tour hosts and to Goddess Fish Promotions for putting the tour together. I had a lot of fun! For those of you who missed the tour you can still catch all of the interviews and posts just check out the links below.  DateHostNovember 17th* Rachel Leigh RomanceNovember 26th* Sugarbeat's BooksDecember 3rd* Harlie's Book Blog* Reviews by MollyDecember 10th* Bodice Ripper NovelsDecember 17th* Words of Wisdom from the Scarf Princess* Talk to you soon,
Laurel

Virtual Book Tour: Final Stops!

Hello Lovelies,

I'm writing to you all today from beautiful and sunny Antigua! I'm on a cruise ship with my hubby and have very limited and spotty internet connectivity so please bear with me. Today are the final stops for the virtual book tour for Negotiating Skills. Today you can find me at Queen of the Night Reviews  and at Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess.This tour has been such a blast. Each host has been so great and I've enjoyed all of the questions and comments from readers. You've all been great. I cant wait to announce the winners! Anyway please mosey on over to my last two stops and show some love :)  The cruise ship internet network has deemed all things romance a banned site apparantly so I'll be checking in to those posts as soon as I can find an internet cafe onshore ;)

Talk to you all soon,
Laurel

Virtual Book Tour: Fourth Stop with Bodice Ripper Novels

Hello Lovelies,

Today is the fourth stop on the Negotiating Skills Virtual Book Tour! As I've mentioned before, the awesome ladies at Goddess Fish Promotions have set up a virtual book tour for Negotiating Skills. Today's stop is an interview with the lovely Terri of  Bodice Ripper Novels.

Follow me along on the tour and get a chance to be one of three participants who wins either a $10 Amazon gift card, 4GB USB flash drive or an "I heart Dr. Who" coffee mug!

You can find the full tour schedule here so please don't be a stranger and travel along :).  
      
Talk to you soon, Laurel

Negotiating Skills: Four Star Review and Recommended Read!

Hello Lovelies,

I'm super excited to announce that Negotiating Skills has received a Four Star Review from Reviews by Molly and been labeled as a Recommended Read on Harlie's Books! Color me crazy, super excited!

It's so nice to read or hear that someone has enjoyed one of my works. These lovely reviews totally made an already amazing week rock even harder :)

Talk to you soon, 
Laurel

Virtual Book Tour: Third Stop with Harlie's Books and Reviews by Molly!

Hello Lovelies,

Today is the third stop on the Negotiating Skills Virtual Book Tour! As I've mentioned before, the awesome ladies at Goddess Fish Promotions have set up a virtual book tour for Negotiating Skills. Today's stop is a double header with Harlie's Books and Reviews by Molly :)  

Follow me along on the tour and get a chance to be one of three participants who wins either a $10 Amazon gift card, 4GB USB flash drive or an "I heart Dr. Who" coffee mug!

You can find the full tour schedule here so please don't be a stranger and travel along :).  
      
Talk to you soon, Laurel