Nan Comargue's Blog, page 3
July 2, 2013
New Erotic Romance: The Gamble
My new erotic romance The Gamble was just released by my publisher, Total-E-Bound! Check out the cover and blurb from their website:
Cara and her billionaire husband Reeve Turner learn about each other—and love—when they bring his reporter friend Logan into their bed for a steamy ménage. Buy erotic romance The Gamble now!
Cara and her billionaire husband Reeve Turner learn about each other—and love—when they bring his reporter friend Logan into their bed for a steamy ménage. Buy erotic romance The Gamble now!
June 27, 2013
Celebrate with Crimson Romance Kindle Fire HD Contest
My publisher for my contemporary romance novel, Power Play, is celebrating their one year anniversary and giving away a Kindle Fire HD preloaded with every book from their first year of publications!
Yes, every single title for a year. That should keep some lucky romance reader very busy.
Enter on the Crimson Romance website for a chance to win!
Yes, every single title for a year. That should keep some lucky romance reader very busy.
Enter on the Crimson Romance website for a chance to win!
June 9, 2013
Celebrate Erotic Romance with a Spa Day Draw!
To celebrate the release of the At Your Service Anthology, my publisher Total-E-Bound is giving you the chance to enter their fabulous prize draw. Spend $20/£20 or more and you will be automatically entered into a draw to win a Spa day voucher!
Here is the link to the page giving more information: http://www.total-e-bound.com/ays.asp
Here is the link to the page giving more information: http://www.total-e-bound.com/ays.asp
May 6, 2013
Pre-Order My New Erotic Romance and Save!
My newest erotic romance story,
A Lady for Two
, is debuting soon in the
At Your Service
anthology, published by Total-E-Bound.
Here's the blurb from the website:
'A Lady for Two' by Nan Comargue
Aristocratic couple, Charles and Lise Hessell, enjoy bringing other men into their sexual play, but their marriage is hollow until handsome Luke Holden arrives in the village.
After three years of marriage to Charles Hessell, the last son of an old aristocratic family, Lise thought she knew everything about him. But when Luke Holden walks into their lives, and into her home, she realises that Charles has been hiding a past that included this sexy stranger.
Although the two men now hate each other, Charles is forced to employ Luke as his overseer when his former property manager absconds. The situation offers intriguing possibilities. Lise has dallied with servants before, with her husband’s blessing, but this new arrangement would mean an emotional commitment that she does not know if she could contemplate. With Lise’s sly interventions, the two men are able to make up their own quarrel and when Lise catches them kissing passionately, she realises that she has fallen in love with both men. But is there room in their pairing for her?
Pre-order your copy on the Total-E-Bound website now and save 15%.
Here's the blurb from the website:
'A Lady for Two' by Nan Comargue
Aristocratic couple, Charles and Lise Hessell, enjoy bringing other men into their sexual play, but their marriage is hollow until handsome Luke Holden arrives in the village.
After three years of marriage to Charles Hessell, the last son of an old aristocratic family, Lise thought she knew everything about him. But when Luke Holden walks into their lives, and into her home, she realises that Charles has been hiding a past that included this sexy stranger.
Although the two men now hate each other, Charles is forced to employ Luke as his overseer when his former property manager absconds. The situation offers intriguing possibilities. Lise has dallied with servants before, with her husband’s blessing, but this new arrangement would mean an emotional commitment that she does not know if she could contemplate. With Lise’s sly interventions, the two men are able to make up their own quarrel and when Lise catches them kissing passionately, she realises that she has fallen in love with both men. But is there room in their pairing for her?
Pre-order your copy on the Total-E-Bound website now and save 15%.
April 22, 2013
Erotic Romance Calls for Submission - Spring Edition
This week, I broke out my spring dresses for the first time in the year. It was still a little chilly up here but it felt great to wear a dress again, even if it was with tights.
Bring on the warm weather!
Of course, with spring comes thoughts of love (and sex), so here are a few erotic romance publishers who are looking for your stories.
Loose Id is looking for hot stories about the new boss, whether that's in an office setting or the "new Dom at the club" -- wow. Submissions should be novella-length, so 20,000 or more words. Deadline for writers who aren't already working with this publisher is May 25th so get writing!
Entangled wants stories with moderate to high heat levels set in exotic locales. Story lengths can range from 10,000 to 40,000 words. Not sure about the deadline for these but the call went out earlier this month so get those pens working.
Ellora's Cave has two calls for submission for 2013: Boys Will Do Boys (deadline: May 1st) and sweet Regencies for a Christmas collection (deadline: May 15th if you don't already write for them).
Lastly, Entranced Publishing is seeking novel length winter and holiday-themed romance fiction. Deadline is May 1st so this is perfect for any of you who already have a manuscript gathering dust (like me). Get editing, folks!
Bring on the warm weather!
Of course, with spring comes thoughts of love (and sex), so here are a few erotic romance publishers who are looking for your stories.
Loose Id is looking for hot stories about the new boss, whether that's in an office setting or the "new Dom at the club" -- wow. Submissions should be novella-length, so 20,000 or more words. Deadline for writers who aren't already working with this publisher is May 25th so get writing!
Entangled wants stories with moderate to high heat levels set in exotic locales. Story lengths can range from 10,000 to 40,000 words. Not sure about the deadline for these but the call went out earlier this month so get those pens working.
Ellora's Cave has two calls for submission for 2013: Boys Will Do Boys (deadline: May 1st) and sweet Regencies for a Christmas collection (deadline: May 15th if you don't already write for them).
Lastly, Entranced Publishing is seeking novel length winter and holiday-themed romance fiction. Deadline is May 1st so this is perfect for any of you who already have a manuscript gathering dust (like me). Get editing, folks!
April 16, 2013
It's Never Too Late
It's never too late to be who you might have been - George Eliot
Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss are two of my favourite classic works of literature. And Mary Anne Evans was brilliant in other ways as well.
Her quote above is constantly inspiring me.
You see, I've been writing for a long time. Seriously, for most of that time. I've only just started getting published in the past couple of years. My goals are simple: every year, I publish more.
Will I ever become a great writer, like Ms. Evans? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I keep trying. That's the only way to become who I might be.
Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss are two of my favourite classic works of literature. And Mary Anne Evans was brilliant in other ways as well.
Her quote above is constantly inspiring me.
You see, I've been writing for a long time. Seriously, for most of that time. I've only just started getting published in the past couple of years. My goals are simple: every year, I publish more.
Will I ever become a great writer, like Ms. Evans? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I keep trying. That's the only way to become who I might be.
April 8, 2013
How to Make Bookmarks Work for You
I have a problem: I'm a multi-tasker.
Back when I was in my twenties, this was a great thing to be. You, presumably, got a lot more done by being adaptable and able to switch frequently from reading, to emailing, to letter writing (yes, we still did that in my twenties), and so on.
Now, in my thirties, they tell me that being a multi-tasker doesn't work. But, of course, I'd already learned that.
Multi-tasking doesn't work for me for no other reason than it has significantly shortened my attention span. As a kid, I could spend an entire day reading. As a post-secondary student with a part-time job, I learned to snatch bits of text book readings during my fifteen minute breaks. Later, as a professional, I often had to break up a block of researching or drafting documents with interviews, phone calls and correspondence. My day-long attention span was suddenly down to minutes-long or even seconds.
Even that solitary activity I enjoy best of all (get your mind out of the gutter!)--writing--no longer engages my attention for long hours at a time. I can write for maybe fifteen or thirty minutes at a time before my mind starts wandering. Usually, when this happens, I jump on the internet to do some "research" and I end up clicking through a dozen or more links until I'm playing an online game or reading about some celebrity I've never even heard of. (I guess that should be "celebrity".) An hour later, when I finally come back to my writing, it's usually time to do something else, like make dinner.
Recently, though, I've come up with a way of blending my shortened attention span with my overflowing email inbox. When I have a fifteen minute time slot on hand (sometimes, I'll admit, during boring conference calls), I'll skim through my inbox, concentrating on the emails I get about writing. I mean to read these eventually, it's just that I never get around to it. So, instead of letting these emails languish in my inbox, I sort out the articles that look interesting, file them away in my Bookmarks folder under Writing and I come back to them as soon as my interest in actual writing starts to wane.
Now, when I take a break from writing, I read interesting writing articles that inevitably get me back into my own work-in-progress. Since the articles are short, I can usually finish one in a few minutes, delete the bookmark, and get back into my work without getting up from my desk. If it's a long article, I just leave it in my bookmarks until the next time my attention wanders. Now I no longer feel guilty about not reading those emails I subscribe to and I spend less time procrastinating from my actual writing. Try it out. I'll bet it works for you.
Back when I was in my twenties, this was a great thing to be. You, presumably, got a lot more done by being adaptable and able to switch frequently from reading, to emailing, to letter writing (yes, we still did that in my twenties), and so on.
Now, in my thirties, they tell me that being a multi-tasker doesn't work. But, of course, I'd already learned that.
Multi-tasking doesn't work for me for no other reason than it has significantly shortened my attention span. As a kid, I could spend an entire day reading. As a post-secondary student with a part-time job, I learned to snatch bits of text book readings during my fifteen minute breaks. Later, as a professional, I often had to break up a block of researching or drafting documents with interviews, phone calls and correspondence. My day-long attention span was suddenly down to minutes-long or even seconds.
Even that solitary activity I enjoy best of all (get your mind out of the gutter!)--writing--no longer engages my attention for long hours at a time. I can write for maybe fifteen or thirty minutes at a time before my mind starts wandering. Usually, when this happens, I jump on the internet to do some "research" and I end up clicking through a dozen or more links until I'm playing an online game or reading about some celebrity I've never even heard of. (I guess that should be "celebrity".) An hour later, when I finally come back to my writing, it's usually time to do something else, like make dinner.
Recently, though, I've come up with a way of blending my shortened attention span with my overflowing email inbox. When I have a fifteen minute time slot on hand (sometimes, I'll admit, during boring conference calls), I'll skim through my inbox, concentrating on the emails I get about writing. I mean to read these eventually, it's just that I never get around to it. So, instead of letting these emails languish in my inbox, I sort out the articles that look interesting, file them away in my Bookmarks folder under Writing and I come back to them as soon as my interest in actual writing starts to wane.
Now, when I take a break from writing, I read interesting writing articles that inevitably get me back into my own work-in-progress. Since the articles are short, I can usually finish one in a few minutes, delete the bookmark, and get back into my work without getting up from my desk. If it's a long article, I just leave it in my bookmarks until the next time my attention wanders. Now I no longer feel guilty about not reading those emails I subscribe to and I spend less time procrastinating from my actual writing. Try it out. I'll bet it works for you.
April 2, 2013
Calls for Erotic Romance and Getting Published
Last year, I released my first erotic romance stories, Captive Angel and Country Hearts with Total-E-Bound publishing. Total-E-Bound produces incredible erotic (and other) romance e-books in a myriad of subgenres. They have been a real pleasure to work with and, partly for that reason, I have two more erotic romances coming out this year.
Previously, I've posted about Total-E-Bound's calls for submission.
I thought, since I have benefited from these same calls, I would show my work by letting you know that I've used those very same postings to review the guidelines for stories, to submit and, ultimately, to be published. Yes, really.
In August, 2012, for instance, I posted the following:
Total-E-Bound accepts erotic romance manuscripts between 10,000 and 100,000+ words and has specific calls for submissions going on right now. These include - At Your Service (short stories about domestic staff) deadline: November 1, 2012, Whip It Up (BDSM, obviously) deadline: March 1, 2013, and my favourite, Wanton Witches (Halloween themed for next year's season) deadline: April 1, 2013.
I submitted a story called "A Lady for Two" for the At Your Service anthology since I've had good sales with the other anthology piece I submitted to them. I sent in my historical piece the day before the deadline, on October 31, 2012, and I received an acceptance about seven weeks later on December 11, 2012. Pre-ordering starts later this month and general release is scheduled for June 10th.
That means, all together, it's taken about a year to write, submit, edit and otherwise get my story ready for publication. Total-E-Bound staff has made this a smooth process but, don't get me wrong, the creative process can also be fraught with difficulty.
The message: it's hard work to be a writer. Keep on top of general calls for submission and try out my publisher. If you don't send your stories out there, you will never be published.
Take a deep breath, write like crazy, and submit your work.
March 27, 2013
Why I've Received No Writing Rejections This Year
I haven't received a rejection letter in a long time.
Why?
Because I haven't been sending out any writing submissions.
See how that works?
In order to be published, you need to send your work out into the cold harsh world. If you're good (or talented, or lucky, or connected...whatever adjective describes your world view), you have your work published, it sells thousands of copies and you make a name for yourself (and a little cash too).
If your work is rejected, does it mean that it wasn't good/talented/etc.? No way. It could be any host of reasons. You might be sending the right work to the wrong publisher or agent. You might be sending it out a day after you finished writing the first draft, with no more than a bare spellcheck to get you through. (Don't do that, by the way). It might be okay but needs work. Or it might be good and needs the right audience.
When you send the work out, you take your chances. Without sending it out, there is no chance that it will be published. Got that? NO CHANCE IT WILL BE PUBLISHED.
That's what I've got right now. No chance. No hope of selling those thousands and thousands of copies and getting my name heard.
Yes, I keep writing every day. But writing is about more than that (if you want to be read by anyone other than your family members).
I have to suck it up and get my work out there. So should you. We'll hold each other's hands, I promise.
Why?
Because I haven't been sending out any writing submissions.
See how that works?
In order to be published, you need to send your work out into the cold harsh world. If you're good (or talented, or lucky, or connected...whatever adjective describes your world view), you have your work published, it sells thousands of copies and you make a name for yourself (and a little cash too).
If your work is rejected, does it mean that it wasn't good/talented/etc.? No way. It could be any host of reasons. You might be sending the right work to the wrong publisher or agent. You might be sending it out a day after you finished writing the first draft, with no more than a bare spellcheck to get you through. (Don't do that, by the way). It might be okay but needs work. Or it might be good and needs the right audience.
When you send the work out, you take your chances. Without sending it out, there is no chance that it will be published. Got that? NO CHANCE IT WILL BE PUBLISHED.
That's what I've got right now. No chance. No hope of selling those thousands and thousands of copies and getting my name heard.
Yes, I keep writing every day. But writing is about more than that (if you want to be read by anyone other than your family members).
I have to suck it up and get my work out there. So should you. We'll hold each other's hands, I promise.
January 23, 2013
Day on the Links: Nan in the News
Since the release of my new contemporary hockey romance, Power Play, I've been getting a ton of hits, reviews (mostly good) and exposure. So I wanted to share some work I've been putting out there.
I recently answered a Q&A about sexy music to listen to while...you know: on my publisher, Crimson Romance's, website.
I also completed a blog post for Crimson Romance about--what else?--writing the athlete romantic hero.
Lastly, I've been working on my author profile on Goodreads, which I'm finding is a great (and nerve wracking) way to get feedback on your published works.
Happy reading and don't forget to check out my new romance about hockey and hot athletes, Power Play, available on Amazon.
I recently answered a Q&A about sexy music to listen to while...you know: on my publisher, Crimson Romance's, website.
I also completed a blog post for Crimson Romance about--what else?--writing the athlete romantic hero.
Lastly, I've been working on my author profile on Goodreads, which I'm finding is a great (and nerve wracking) way to get feedback on your published works.
Happy reading and don't forget to check out my new romance about hockey and hot athletes, Power Play, available on Amazon.
