Travis Luedke's Blog, page 22
May 25, 2013
Hers To Command | Advance Review Copies (Sci-Fi Erotic Romance)
Hers To Command ♂♀♂ Advance Review Copies
(Sci-Fi Erotic Romance)
Author Name: Patricia Knight
Book Name: Hers To Command
Genre: Erotic Romance Sci-Fi/Fantasy MF, MMF, MFM
Number of FREE copies offered (for review): 20
Format offered: Epub, Mobi & PDF
For some, existence without their mate might seem like the end of their world--for the members of Verdantia’s Tetriarch, it would be.
Love triangles often create disastrous relationships, but the unlikely members of the Tetriarch face worldwide disaster without the successful bonding of their trio.
The inhabitants of the sentient planet, Verdantia, are poised on the precipice of extinction following a brutal invasion by an off-world, nomadic horde. Verdantia’s capital, Sylvan Mintoth, must have its failing energy shield restored, or the planet is doomed. The Elders know the shield can draw energy from only one thing—a very arduous and grueling coupling of two specific people who were pre-chosen by the planet Herself and promised by prearranged marriage contract.
Conte Camliel Aristos deTano, Ari, has long spurned the marriage forced upon him. His contractual bride, Princess Fleur Constante, is the beautiful future queen, who was but six years old when the contract was signed. Though young and inexperienced, she is willing to risk everything, including her own sanity, to save her planet.
Verdantia draws strength from the duo, but the sentient planet whispers to Ari that a third is necessary – Ari’s aide de camp, Visconte Doral deLorion, an angelically handsome, skilled assassin who silently surrendered his heart to Ari long ago.
The trio struggles to make this surprising partnership harmonious, pushing through pride, scars of past abuse, fears of inexperience and distrust. To save Verdantia, they must overcome their individual weaknesses and realize their full potential. Only the tetriarch and their combined synergy, can harness Verdantia’s immense power to shield its citizens from invasion.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17931021-hers-to-command
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please leave a blog post with email address & preferred file type--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~ Hers To Command ~
Release Date June 4, 2013
Patricia A. Knight is the pen name for an eternal romantic who lives in Dallas, Texas surrounded by her horses, dogs and the best man on the face of the earth – oh yeah, and the most enormous bullfrogs you will ever see. Word to the wise: don’t swim in the pool after dark.
I love to hear from my readers and can be reached at http://www.trollriverpub.com/ or http://www.patriciaaknight.com . Or send me an email at patriciaknight190@gmail.com . Check out my latest “Hunk of the Day,” book releases, contests and other fun stuff on my face book page: https://www.facebook.com/patricia.knight.71619
If you enjoyed Hers To Command, look for Sophi DeLorion’s story, Hers To Choose, coming out in mid-July 2013 and Steffania Rickard’s tale, Hers To Cherish coming in early August, 2013.
http://www.twluedke.com/
https://twitter.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Lued...
(Sci-Fi Erotic Romance)
Author Name: Patricia Knight
Book Name: Hers To Command
Genre: Erotic Romance Sci-Fi/Fantasy MF, MMF, MFM
Number of FREE copies offered (for review): 20
Format offered: Epub, Mobi & PDF
For some, existence without their mate might seem like the end of their world--for the members of Verdantia’s Tetriarch, it would be.
Love triangles often create disastrous relationships, but the unlikely members of the Tetriarch face worldwide disaster without the successful bonding of their trio.
The inhabitants of the sentient planet, Verdantia, are poised on the precipice of extinction following a brutal invasion by an off-world, nomadic horde. Verdantia’s capital, Sylvan Mintoth, must have its failing energy shield restored, or the planet is doomed. The Elders know the shield can draw energy from only one thing—a very arduous and grueling coupling of two specific people who were pre-chosen by the planet Herself and promised by prearranged marriage contract.
Conte Camliel Aristos deTano, Ari, has long spurned the marriage forced upon him. His contractual bride, Princess Fleur Constante, is the beautiful future queen, who was but six years old when the contract was signed. Though young and inexperienced, she is willing to risk everything, including her own sanity, to save her planet.
Verdantia draws strength from the duo, but the sentient planet whispers to Ari that a third is necessary – Ari’s aide de camp, Visconte Doral deLorion, an angelically handsome, skilled assassin who silently surrendered his heart to Ari long ago.
The trio struggles to make this surprising partnership harmonious, pushing through pride, scars of past abuse, fears of inexperience and distrust. To save Verdantia, they must overcome their individual weaknesses and realize their full potential. Only the tetriarch and their combined synergy, can harness Verdantia’s immense power to shield its citizens from invasion.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17931021-hers-to-command
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please leave a blog post with email address & preferred file type--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~ Hers To Command ~
Release Date June 4, 2013
Patricia A. Knight is the pen name for an eternal romantic who lives in Dallas, Texas surrounded by her horses, dogs and the best man on the face of the earth – oh yeah, and the most enormous bullfrogs you will ever see. Word to the wise: don’t swim in the pool after dark.
I love to hear from my readers and can be reached at http://www.trollriverpub.com/ or http://www.patriciaaknight.com . Or send me an email at patriciaknight190@gmail.com . Check out my latest “Hunk of the Day,” book releases, contests and other fun stuff on my face book page: https://www.facebook.com/patricia.knight.71619
If you enjoyed Hers To Command, look for Sophi DeLorion’s story, Hers To Choose, coming out in mid-July 2013 and Steffania Rickard’s tale, Hers To Cherish coming in early August, 2013.
http://www.twluedke.com/
https://twitter.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Lued...
Hers To Command ♂♀♂ Advance Review Copies (Sci-Fi Erotic Romance)
Author Name: Patricia Knight
Book Name: Hers To Command
Genre: Erotic Romance Sci-Fi/Fantasy MF, MMF, MFM
Number of FREE copies offered (for review): 20
Format offered: Epub, Mobi & PDF
For some, existence without their mate might seem like the end of their world--for the members of Verdantia’s Tetriarch, it would be.
Love triangles often create disastrous relationships, but the unlikely members of the Tetriarch face worldwide disaster without the successful bonding of their trio.
The inhabitants of the sentient planet, Verdantia, are poised on the precipice of extinction following a brutal invasion by an off-world, nomadic horde. Verdantia’s capital, Sylvan Mintoth, must have its failing energy shield restored, or the planet is doomed. The Elders know the shield can draw energy from only one thing—a very arduous and grueling coupling of two specific people who were pre-chosen by the planet Herself and promised by prearranged marriage contract.
Conte Camliel Aristos deTano, Ari, has long spurned the marriage forced upon him. His contractual bride, Princess Fleur Constante, is the beautiful future queen, who was but six years old when the contract was signed. Though young and inexperienced, she is willing to risk everything, including her own sanity, to save her planet.
Verdantia draws strength from the duo, but the sentient planet whispers to Ari that a third is necessary – Ari’s aide de camp, Visconte Doral deLorion, an angelically handsome, skilled assassin who silently surrendered his heart to Ari long ago.
The trio struggles to make this surprising partnership harmonious, pushing through pride, scars of past abuse, fears of inexperience and distrust. To save Verdantia, they must overcome their individual weaknesses and realize their full potential. Only the tetriarch and their combined synergy, can harness Verdantia’s immense power to shield its citizens from invasion.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please leave a blog post with email address & preferred file type--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~ Hers To Command ~
Release Date June 4, 2013
Patricia A. Knight is the pen name for an eternal romantic who lives in Dallas, Texas surrounded by her horses, dogs and the best man on the face of the earth – oh yeah, and the most enormous bullfrogs you will ever see. Word to the wise: don’t swim in the pool after dark.
I love to hear from my readers and can be reached at http://www.trollriverpub.com/ or http://www.patriciaaknight.com . Or send me an email at patriciaknight190@gmail.com . Check out my latest “Hunk of the Day,” book releases, contests and other fun stuff on my face book page: https://www.facebook.com/patricia.knight.71619
If you enjoyed Hers To Command, look for Sophi DeLorion’s story, Hers To Choose, coming out in mid-July 2013 and Steffania Rickard’s tale, Hers To Cherish coming in early August, 2013.
http://www.twluedke.com/
https://twitter.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Lued...
Book Name: Hers To Command
Genre: Erotic Romance Sci-Fi/Fantasy MF, MMF, MFM
Number of FREE copies offered (for review): 20
Format offered: Epub, Mobi & PDF
For some, existence without their mate might seem like the end of their world--for the members of Verdantia’s Tetriarch, it would be.
Love triangles often create disastrous relationships, but the unlikely members of the Tetriarch face worldwide disaster without the successful bonding of their trio.
The inhabitants of the sentient planet, Verdantia, are poised on the precipice of extinction following a brutal invasion by an off-world, nomadic horde. Verdantia’s capital, Sylvan Mintoth, must have its failing energy shield restored, or the planet is doomed. The Elders know the shield can draw energy from only one thing—a very arduous and grueling coupling of two specific people who were pre-chosen by the planet Herself and promised by prearranged marriage contract.
Conte Camliel Aristos deTano, Ari, has long spurned the marriage forced upon him. His contractual bride, Princess Fleur Constante, is the beautiful future queen, who was but six years old when the contract was signed. Though young and inexperienced, she is willing to risk everything, including her own sanity, to save her planet.
Verdantia draws strength from the duo, but the sentient planet whispers to Ari that a third is necessary – Ari’s aide de camp, Visconte Doral deLorion, an angelically handsome, skilled assassin who silently surrendered his heart to Ari long ago.
The trio struggles to make this surprising partnership harmonious, pushing through pride, scars of past abuse, fears of inexperience and distrust. To save Verdantia, they must overcome their individual weaknesses and realize their full potential. Only the tetriarch and their combined synergy, can harness Verdantia’s immense power to shield its citizens from invasion.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please leave a blog post with email address & preferred file type--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~ Hers To Command ~
Release Date June 4, 2013
Patricia A. Knight is the pen name for an eternal romantic who lives in Dallas, Texas surrounded by her horses, dogs and the best man on the face of the earth – oh yeah, and the most enormous bullfrogs you will ever see. Word to the wise: don’t swim in the pool after dark.
I love to hear from my readers and can be reached at http://www.trollriverpub.com/ or http://www.patriciaaknight.com . Or send me an email at patriciaknight190@gmail.com . Check out my latest “Hunk of the Day,” book releases, contests and other fun stuff on my face book page: https://www.facebook.com/patricia.knight.71619
If you enjoyed Hers To Command, look for Sophi DeLorion’s story, Hers To Choose, coming out in mid-July 2013 and Steffania Rickard’s tale, Hers To Cherish coming in early August, 2013.
http://www.twluedke.com/
https://twitter.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Lued...
May 22, 2013
A Spanking Good Time with Erotica Authors, PART II: Liv Honeywell
This is the second of a BDSM interview series for Erotica Authors. Our first adventure with Bad Penny was so popular, I decided to revisit this theme.
Be warned, there is very explicit content herein:
TL: “Hello fans of the Nightlife novels, we have returned for the second installment of my BDSM interview series with Erotica Authors. Here today with me in sunny, 90 degree San Antonio, is Liv Honeywell, a British author of BDSM erotica. She found me on Twitter, when I tweeted about male erotica authors experiencing discrimination.
Since then we did the mutual Facebook-Twitter timeline stalking, and snooped around each of our blogs – the social media equivalent of dogs sniffing crotch.
LH: “Most elegantly put there, Travis! Well, as you mentioned, we had quite a fascinating discussion before about the possibility that male authors are discriminated against, so when you offered to interview me, I thought it might be interesting. I hopped on a plane, came all the way here and now look at me!”
(Liv shakes her hiney to test her restraints)
“I walked in the door and, without so much as a by your leave – never mind a ‘hello’ or a ‘would you care for a cup of tea’ - two burly men grabbed me, removed most of my clothing and tied me to this… what is this? I know we’re all erotica writers together and so on, but dammit, I’m British!”
TL: “Yeah, perhaps you should have familiarized yourself with my own peculiar style of interview before you came?”
LH: “It appears that I should have. Well, I’m here now and I don’t appear to be going anywhere.”
TL: “Count yourself lucky I only had the guys grab you. The last one I drugged with ketamine, and she woke up like this.”
LH: “Oh. Dear me. Well, I’d much rather you did it this way, if you insist, rather than drugging me with ketamine or goodness knows what else.”
TL: (Sighs in resignation) “Disappointing, but we’ll have our fun nonetheless.”
LH: “I’m sure we will. Oh, what’s that?”
(TL pulls a small black briefcase from a drawer) TL: “This is what’s known as electrostim or electrosex. It’s supposed to be pretty fun. For one of us anyway.” (TL squeezes open the little jaws of the electrode clamps, chomping them in her face) “I’m going to hook these little clamp electrodes here and here on each nipple.”
LH: “Ouch! Those have teeth!” (Liv squirms and grits her teeth in pain)
TL: “That they do. Need a good solid bite for the current.” (TL twists a little with each clamp)
LH: “Ow! Don’t!” (TL twists some more and then licks each nipple softly) “Well … Okay I guess you can do that. You did say I am getting paid for this interview.”
TL: “You like a little pain? The last clamp goes down here …”
LH: “No! Not there! You are not putting that on my … oooooooh!”
TL: “Okay then, all set.” (TL hits the switch)
LH: “Bloody hell! That stings.” (LH wriggles her hips) “But it’s… rather nice.”
TL: “Love hearing the accent, very sexy. Does it hurt yet? I don’t think I’m using enough juice.” (TL turns it up a notch) LH: “Ow! Shit! That hurts. And you haven’t even asked me any questions yet. Can we talk about how much I’m being paid for this interview? You were a bit vague in your email. Does it bear any relation to how much you turn up that dial?”
(TL turns it off but leaves the dial setting)
TL: “That seems like the right setting. Okay, now we’re ready. So, tell us something about your latest book. I hear it’s a BDSM anthology. Is there any electrosex in your stories?”
LH: “Okay. My first story, Imagine, was published last year by Silver Moon Books, and my new book is called Coming, Ready or Not: Three tales of tease and denial. My latest work is the story of a couple, Will and Abby, developing a Master/slave relationship. It's about them learning together. There aren’t any billionaires in this one, no mysterious castles in the middle of nowhere; just two ordinary people, who could be anyone you’d see walking down the street, but who are in an M/s relationship. With the humour, the laughing, the fact that it isn't perfect, sometimes things do go wrong, and with the best will in the world you can't always obey, however much you want to, and there are consequences that come with that. And there’s not one scene of electrosex. (LH wriggles) But Travis, I don’t think you’re doing it right. It’s not supposed to hurt, is it?”
(TL flips the switch back on and turns it up another notch)
LH: “Ow! Okay! Okay! You’re doing it right! You’re doing it right!”
(TL switches it off with an evil grin of satisfaction)
TL: “I read the instruction manual. I know what I’m doing. See right here on the label it says ‘Electric stimulation can be painful and even deadly if performed in an inappropriate or unsafe manner’. Now where were we? You were telling us about your non-electrosex erotica novels? Please continue.”
LH: “A man reading the instruction manual? I thought I’d never see the day…”
TL: “Really? That’s what you’re going with? Think you’re in a good position to sass me?”
(TL turns the box back on)
LH: “Ahhh. No. Sorry. I’m sorry.”
TL: “I should think so. Now, you were saying. About your book?” (TL turns off the box)
LH: (Panting to catch her breath) “The… the book shows Abby being teased right to the edge of orgasm and kept there until Will says otherwise. She wants to obey him, wants to hold on, but can she? And what will he do if she can’t? I’m also delighted to be able to show off my new cover by the wonderful Blue Harvest Creative.”
TL: “Interesting! Giving me ideas, Liv. Great cover, too. Oh yeah. And, one more thing, while I have you here, what were you saying about male erotica authors encountering discrimination? Surely you’re not disagreeing with me?”
LH: “Well, actually, when I ran a discussion on my blog about it, most of the women who commented said they’d be really interested to read more male …”
(TL flips the switch and watches her convulse, squirm, and squeal as he turns it up two more notches)
LH: “NO! Oh no! You’re right! We discriminate! Women aren’t used to reading smut written by men! You’re right!” (TL turns it off, LH gasps and moans)
TL: “I knew I was right.” (TL smiles and reaches into the black case for another toy) “Do you smell that? I think that’s the scent of burnt nipples.”
LH: (Liv groans) “What are you doing now?” (LH squirms, craning her neck around to see what TL is doing as he steps behind her)
TL: “This goes into your--”
LH: “Ahhh stop!”
TL: “Yes, that’s right. Now let’s see just how much power this thing can put out before the batteries go dead.”
(TL cranks the switch all the way to its highest setting and flips the switch)
TL: “Now, when’s the book out? And tell me how everyone can get a hold of you or you will be sorry!”
LH: “Okay, okay! Coming, Ready or Not will be out on 30th May on Amazon and… and my blog is http://www.liv-honeywell.com. You can find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LivHoneywellErotica and Twitter http://www.twitter.com/LivHoneywell. My... owww! My Goodreads page is http://www.goodreads.com/LivHoneywell and my Amazon page is http://www.amazon.com/Liv-Honeywell/e/B009F9WJ4C/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_3. Ouch! Okay, wait. Now when am I getting paid for this interview?”
TL: “Yeah, about that. The check’s in the mail!”
(LH glares at Travis and then speculatively eyes the two men still guarding the door.)
LH: “Hmmm, I don’t suppose there’s any possibility I could keep one of them instead? Wherever did you get them from? Did you borrow them from Ellora’s Cave?”
TL: “We can discuss that later. When I’ve finished interro… I mean, interviewing you.”
(TL reaches into another drawer with a wicked grin)
LH: “Uh, hang on, what are you doing? I didn’t sign up for this. No, I’ve already told you everything! I really have.”
TL: “I don’t believe you.”
LH: “Nooooo. Put down the cattle prod!”
----------------------------- ~ * ~ --------------------------------
Liv’s Bio:
When not writing about delicious, hot male dominants and the female subs who love them, I’m usually doing something craft-like, reading, baking, eating the results of said baking, and attempting to satisfy the demands of His High and Mighty Dominance (the cat!). My first story, Imagine, was published with Silver Moon Books last year and Coming, Ready or Not will be published May 30th.
You can follow me on my blog – www.liv-honeywell.com, Twitter http://www.twitter.com/LivHoneywell or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/LivHoneywellErotica
http://www.twluedke.com/
https://twitter.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Lued...
Be warned, there is very explicit content herein:
TL: “Hello fans of the Nightlife novels, we have returned for the second installment of my BDSM interview series with Erotica Authors. Here today with me in sunny, 90 degree San Antonio, is Liv Honeywell, a British author of BDSM erotica. She found me on Twitter, when I tweeted about male erotica authors experiencing discrimination.
Since then we did the mutual Facebook-Twitter timeline stalking, and snooped around each of our blogs – the social media equivalent of dogs sniffing crotch.
LH: “Most elegantly put there, Travis! Well, as you mentioned, we had quite a fascinating discussion before about the possibility that male authors are discriminated against, so when you offered to interview me, I thought it might be interesting. I hopped on a plane, came all the way here and now look at me!”
(Liv shakes her hiney to test her restraints)
“I walked in the door and, without so much as a by your leave – never mind a ‘hello’ or a ‘would you care for a cup of tea’ - two burly men grabbed me, removed most of my clothing and tied me to this… what is this? I know we’re all erotica writers together and so on, but dammit, I’m British!”
TL: “Yeah, perhaps you should have familiarized yourself with my own peculiar style of interview before you came?”
LH: “It appears that I should have. Well, I’m here now and I don’t appear to be going anywhere.”
TL: “Count yourself lucky I only had the guys grab you. The last one I drugged with ketamine, and she woke up like this.”
LH: “Oh. Dear me. Well, I’d much rather you did it this way, if you insist, rather than drugging me with ketamine or goodness knows what else.”
TL: (Sighs in resignation) “Disappointing, but we’ll have our fun nonetheless.”
LH: “I’m sure we will. Oh, what’s that?”
(TL pulls a small black briefcase from a drawer) TL: “This is what’s known as electrostim or electrosex. It’s supposed to be pretty fun. For one of us anyway.” (TL squeezes open the little jaws of the electrode clamps, chomping them in her face) “I’m going to hook these little clamp electrodes here and here on each nipple.”
LH: “Ouch! Those have teeth!” (Liv squirms and grits her teeth in pain)
TL: “That they do. Need a good solid bite for the current.” (TL twists a little with each clamp)
LH: “Ow! Don’t!” (TL twists some more and then licks each nipple softly) “Well … Okay I guess you can do that. You did say I am getting paid for this interview.”
TL: “You like a little pain? The last clamp goes down here …”
LH: “No! Not there! You are not putting that on my … oooooooh!”
TL: “Okay then, all set.” (TL hits the switch)
LH: “Bloody hell! That stings.” (LH wriggles her hips) “But it’s… rather nice.”
TL: “Love hearing the accent, very sexy. Does it hurt yet? I don’t think I’m using enough juice.” (TL turns it up a notch) LH: “Ow! Shit! That hurts. And you haven’t even asked me any questions yet. Can we talk about how much I’m being paid for this interview? You were a bit vague in your email. Does it bear any relation to how much you turn up that dial?”
(TL turns it off but leaves the dial setting)
TL: “That seems like the right setting. Okay, now we’re ready. So, tell us something about your latest book. I hear it’s a BDSM anthology. Is there any electrosex in your stories?”
LH: “Okay. My first story, Imagine, was published last year by Silver Moon Books, and my new book is called Coming, Ready or Not: Three tales of tease and denial. My latest work is the story of a couple, Will and Abby, developing a Master/slave relationship. It's about them learning together. There aren’t any billionaires in this one, no mysterious castles in the middle of nowhere; just two ordinary people, who could be anyone you’d see walking down the street, but who are in an M/s relationship. With the humour, the laughing, the fact that it isn't perfect, sometimes things do go wrong, and with the best will in the world you can't always obey, however much you want to, and there are consequences that come with that. And there’s not one scene of electrosex. (LH wriggles) But Travis, I don’t think you’re doing it right. It’s not supposed to hurt, is it?”
(TL flips the switch back on and turns it up another notch)
LH: “Ow! Okay! Okay! You’re doing it right! You’re doing it right!”
(TL switches it off with an evil grin of satisfaction)
TL: “I read the instruction manual. I know what I’m doing. See right here on the label it says ‘Electric stimulation can be painful and even deadly if performed in an inappropriate or unsafe manner’. Now where were we? You were telling us about your non-electrosex erotica novels? Please continue.”
LH: “A man reading the instruction manual? I thought I’d never see the day…”
TL: “Really? That’s what you’re going with? Think you’re in a good position to sass me?”
(TL turns the box back on)
LH: “Ahhh. No. Sorry. I’m sorry.”
TL: “I should think so. Now, you were saying. About your book?” (TL turns off the box)
LH: (Panting to catch her breath) “The… the book shows Abby being teased right to the edge of orgasm and kept there until Will says otherwise. She wants to obey him, wants to hold on, but can she? And what will he do if she can’t? I’m also delighted to be able to show off my new cover by the wonderful Blue Harvest Creative.”
TL: “Interesting! Giving me ideas, Liv. Great cover, too. Oh yeah. And, one more thing, while I have you here, what were you saying about male erotica authors encountering discrimination? Surely you’re not disagreeing with me?”
LH: “Well, actually, when I ran a discussion on my blog about it, most of the women who commented said they’d be really interested to read more male …”
(TL flips the switch and watches her convulse, squirm, and squeal as he turns it up two more notches)
LH: “NO! Oh no! You’re right! We discriminate! Women aren’t used to reading smut written by men! You’re right!” (TL turns it off, LH gasps and moans)
TL: “I knew I was right.” (TL smiles and reaches into the black case for another toy) “Do you smell that? I think that’s the scent of burnt nipples.”
LH: (Liv groans) “What are you doing now?” (LH squirms, craning her neck around to see what TL is doing as he steps behind her)
TL: “This goes into your--”
LH: “Ahhh stop!”
TL: “Yes, that’s right. Now let’s see just how much power this thing can put out before the batteries go dead.”
(TL cranks the switch all the way to its highest setting and flips the switch)
TL: “Now, when’s the book out? And tell me how everyone can get a hold of you or you will be sorry!”
LH: “Okay, okay! Coming, Ready or Not will be out on 30th May on Amazon and… and my blog is http://www.liv-honeywell.com. You can find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LivHoneywellErotica and Twitter http://www.twitter.com/LivHoneywell. My... owww! My Goodreads page is http://www.goodreads.com/LivHoneywell and my Amazon page is http://www.amazon.com/Liv-Honeywell/e/B009F9WJ4C/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_3. Ouch! Okay, wait. Now when am I getting paid for this interview?”
TL: “Yeah, about that. The check’s in the mail!”
(LH glares at Travis and then speculatively eyes the two men still guarding the door.)
LH: “Hmmm, I don’t suppose there’s any possibility I could keep one of them instead? Wherever did you get them from? Did you borrow them from Ellora’s Cave?”
TL: “We can discuss that later. When I’ve finished interro… I mean, interviewing you.”
(TL reaches into another drawer with a wicked grin)
LH: “Uh, hang on, what are you doing? I didn’t sign up for this. No, I’ve already told you everything! I really have.”
TL: “I don’t believe you.”
LH: “Nooooo. Put down the cattle prod!”
----------------------------- ~ * ~ --------------------------------
Liv’s Bio:
When not writing about delicious, hot male dominants and the female subs who love them, I’m usually doing something craft-like, reading, baking, eating the results of said baking, and attempting to satisfy the demands of His High and Mighty Dominance (the cat!). My first story, Imagine, was published with Silver Moon Books last year and Coming, Ready or Not will be published May 30th.
You can follow me on my blog – www.liv-honeywell.com, Twitter http://www.twitter.com/LivHoneywell or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/LivHoneywellErotica
http://www.twluedke.com/
https://twitter.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Lued...
May 21, 2013
The Dangers of Overindulgence
The Dangers of Overindulgence
-OR-
A prescription for a lean, mean manuscript.
There are empty calories for people and there are empty calories for manuscripts. For people there are foods that only up the fat or sugar content while providing no nutrients. For manuscripts, there are words that add nothing to the vitality, exposition or description of a manuscript and should be eliminated -- or like chocolate, indulged in sparingly. Here are some of my favorites:GoodNiceReallyTotally, CompletelyVery, ExtremelyThat, ThereJustThingMany, FewKind ofHave, Had, Get, Was, Is, Are, WereAlreadyAlmostThenFinallySuddenlyA lot, SomeFelt, FeelBig, Large, SmallWellLikeThe above list is an incomplete, generic list of words that are the potato chips of the writing world. Empty description, no nutritive value. I am certain you can add to this list. Eliminate or reduce their use.
In every genre, genre-specific words abound prompting the writer into over-indulgence. Since I write erotic romance here are some of my favorite over-indulgences: erotic, thrust, sensation, hot and, um, certain slang descriptions for the male and female genital area. Consumed sparingly, these words add clear description and atmosphere. Overused . . . okay, my writing puts on a few pounds and prompts my readers to point and giggle.
So make selective word choices and eliminate the empty calories.
Chocolate is SEXY, if you're naked and swimming with Heidi KlumWhat are your favorite empty words?
Next week: What did you say? Those pesky dialog tags.
Healthy writing! ~*~ Dr. Editor, Manuscript Doctor
“Dr. Editor” is also known as Patricia A. Knight, erotic romance author.
Hers To Command – June 4, 2013
Patricia A. Knight is the pen name for an eternal romantic who lives in Dallas, Texas surrounded by her horses, dogs and the best man on the face of the earth – oh yeah, and the most enormous bullfrogs you will ever see. Word to the wise: don’t swim in the pool after dark.
I love to hear from my readers and can be reached at http://www.trollriverpub.com/ or http://www.patriciaaknight.com . Or send me an email at patriciaknight190@gmail.com . Check out my latest “Hunk of the Day,” book releases, contests and other fun stuff on my face book page: https://www.facebook.com/patricia.knight.71619
If you enjoyed Hers To Command, look for Sophi DeLorion’s story, Hers To Choose, coming out in mid-July 2013 and Steffania Rickard’s tale, Hers To Cherish coming in early August, 2013.
http://www.twluedke.com/
https://twitter.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Lued...
May 13, 2013
Gliterary Girl SPRING BOOK BASH
SPRING BOOK BASH
WELCOME FRIENDS!
Gliterary Girl Group is proud to present the first ever Book Bash. It is our way to connect the reader with the writers so you can discover books you may not have read otherwise. Here is what we are giving away and how the event works.
It will last from now until June 14th and every Monday and Wednesday we will highlight 5 or more new books that are in the giveaway where you can get links and info.
Thanks to the wonderful authors who graciously donated each and every book, we are giving 10 lucky winners 5 books each. They will be sent directly from the authors and you may even get a signed hard copy!
SEE ALL THE BOOKS HERE
Courtesy of Sarah Fae from Fae Books and Gliterary Girl Media 2 $5 Gift Cards to Amazon will also be raffled along with a Free 5 Day Book Tour!
Gliterary Girl Media is a publicity and editing house who work with aspiring and professional authors.
Good Luck Everyone and Happy Reading!
SEE ALL THE BOOKS HERE
a Rafflecopter giveawayhttp://www.twluedke.com/
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May 12, 2013
Prescription for a Healthy Manuscript
An Initial Prescription for a Healthy Manuscript
Part 1 of an ongoing series by Dr. Editor, M.D. (Manuscript Doctor):
Picture walking into a doctor’s office with an ailment and having the learned professional say, “Yeah, you are sick.”
“Well, yes,” you say, “that’s why I’m here, but what is wrong with me and how do I get better?”
You don’t want to hear, “Haven’t a clue and here’s your bill.”
This is what happens when critiques don’t tell the writer the “whys” behind all those red lines. They indicate the “sickness” but don’t come through with a “prescription” for wellness. Don’t go to that doctor anymore. Get a good one.
As an editor, my job is to ‘cure the patient.’ Get him back to wellness so that he can be a healthy individual. Run fast, jump far. Or in this case, make the New York Times Best Seller List. Notice I didn’t say make him over with replacement parts of my choosing.
In order to do that, I need to give my patient an action list for how to get, and stay, healthy. For example, feeling lethargic, bored? Has life just lost its zip? Let me see your verbs. Are they action verbs, full of strength and vitality? Or are you stifled by energy-robbing passive voice and weighed down with was’es and “had’s”?
Now that I have examined your verbs, let me see your adverbs . . . all those words with the “ly” endings like quietly, softly, urgently. As they say in poker, “That is a tell.” And my patients should never “tell.” My patients should only “show.” My patients don’t live happily. My patients walk around with a smile on their face and a bounce to their step and hum the soundtrack to Iron Man II.
Now you tell me, which description created a better picture in your mind?
Are people laughing at you behind your back?
Let’s take a look at your chronically misplaced participial phrases and overwrought modifiers. Do you have everyone in the State of Texas coming over to Aunt Judy’s for barbeque when you really mean that you are barbequing at Aunt Judy’s just like everyone else in the State of Texas? And then there is your habitual abuse of adjectives. To remain healthy, please only use two at a time. It is easy to OD. The little devils are terribly addictive. Pick your two favorite. Delete the rest. Modifiers, when misused or overused, create a comedic atmosphere in your text. Great for farce. Death for thriller, drama, horror or romance.
So here is my initial prescription for action points to start to create a healthy manuscript:
Do a self-examination of your verbs. Every time you find “was” “is” “had” “has” “have” – examine the sentence. Can you rewrite it with a verb of action?Scour your text for the “ly” endings. Take them out. Figure out a way to write that sentence with a description that allows the reader to figure out for themselves if your character spoke quietly or moved urgently. Remember that the modifier, be it a phrase or a single word, should follow immediately after or immediately precede what is being modified. This makes for some awkward sentences if the phrases are too complex. In which case, fall back and KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid.When you are tempted to have a golden, fragrant, waist-length, wind-blown, curling mane – STOP! Back up. Pick your favorite two and go with it.
Next week: Diets– Words you should stop consuming for the health of your manuscript.Healthy writing! ~*~ Dr. Editor, Manuscript Doctor“Dr. Editor” is also known as Patricia A. Knight, erotic romance author.
Hers To Command – June 4, 2013
Patricia A. Knight is the pen name for an eternal romantic who lives in Dallas, Texas surrounded by her horses, dogs and the best man on the face of the earth – oh yeah, and the most enormous bullfrogs you will ever see. Word to the wise: don’t swim in the pool after dark.
I love to hear from my readers and can be reached at http://www.trollriverpub.com/ or http://www.patriciaaknight.com . Or send me an email at patriciaknight190@gmail.com . Check out my latest “Hunk of the Day,” book releases, contests and other fun stuff on my face book page: https://www.facebook.com/patricia.knight.71619
If you enjoyed Hers To Command, look for Sophi DeLorion’s story, Hers To Choose, coming out in mid-July 2013 and Steffania Rickard’s tale, Hers To Cherish coming in early August, 2013.
http://www.twluedke.com/
https://twitter.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Lued...
May 9, 2013
Will My Publisher Let Me Self Publish Too?
Prepare for a rant:
Hello, its me again, drinking coffee, reading my morning emails. And look what new gem of wisdom I found, an article from Rachelle Gardner, an Agent who "partners with authors to bring worthwhile books to publication." Rachelle asks the burning question:
Will My Publisher Let Me Self Publish Too?
Rachelle very eloquently expresses the issues traditional publishers (TPs) have in allowing authors to self-publish simultaneously along with their traditional publishing business/contract. She's very succinct in making all these important points for consideration. Only an agent who caters to TPs and makes a living siphoning off an author's revenues would have the audacity to come out and say this publicly.
You see, Agents and TPs don't necessarily like the idea of their contracted authors going hybrid, and experimenting with self-publishing. Go figure.
Here's the list of issues Rachelle has with her contracted authors attempting to self-publish:
1. Branding issues. TPs don't want your self-published works to mess up the author and/or series brand they have painstakingly created. But it is your name, your novels, and your series that's been branded--right? Not. TP's probably have some fine print somewhere that you didn't even know you signed, that gives them some slimy toehold over your own name as BRAND. And who are you to go out in social media and use your own name without permission? Silly author.
2. Quality issues. TPs spend so much time, money and effort creating quality literature. All those poor unguided fools in self-publishing could never produce the same quality without them. And of course, your inferior quality self-published works might adversely affect your good name and reputation and BRAND, which they perceive to own.
3. Time issues. TPs want your time commitment. They want you to work for them. Not for yourself. Silly author, you thought you owned your own time! They have your name, your BRAND, they control your quality, and your time. Silly authors shouldn't be using their precious time to self-publish.
4. Promotional issues. TPs "don’t want your promotional efforts on your self-published books to eclipse their promotions on your contracted books. If they allow you to self-publish, they may lose their right to set boundaries on what you’re allowed to do promotionally, and this can be disastrous."
Oh the horror of it all! Heaven forbid you should compete promotionally with your contracted books, that's not fair. You might outsell them. You might make more money selling your self-published books than they pay you from your contracted books.
You might learn how to effectively promote and publish and sell your own books. And then what would you need them for?
This entire article is sickening.
Its about an agent who is losing books from contracted authors who are starting to realize they may not need to sign anymore of those shitty contracts with Traditional Publishers in order to publish their books. Obviously, some of Rachelle's authors are contemplating self-publishing. Better do your best to talk them out of it Rachelle, either that or start looking for ways to help them self-publish.
Maybe you could find a way to help your authors maintain quality. Maybe you could find a way to help your authors publish, promote, and sell their self-published works. But there wouldn't be any money in that. OOPS.
NOTE: I found this article, through Joanna Penn, who blogged about it, and sent out emails to all her subscribers (me too):
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2013/05/09/permission/
Joanna Penn is a wonderful woman who has successfully navigated the labyrinth of self-publishing and has published a wonderful series of novels. She regularly blogs on the publishing business, and ways and means of self-publishing successfully.
So, lets have it. Comments, complaints, rants, hate mail, nods of agreement. What do you have to say about this?
http://www.twluedke.com/
https://twitter.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Lued...
Hello, its me again, drinking coffee, reading my morning emails. And look what new gem of wisdom I found, an article from Rachelle Gardner, an Agent who "partners with authors to bring worthwhile books to publication." Rachelle asks the burning question:
Will My Publisher Let Me Self Publish Too?
Rachelle very eloquently expresses the issues traditional publishers (TPs) have in allowing authors to self-publish simultaneously along with their traditional publishing business/contract. She's very succinct in making all these important points for consideration. Only an agent who caters to TPs and makes a living siphoning off an author's revenues would have the audacity to come out and say this publicly.
You see, Agents and TPs don't necessarily like the idea of their contracted authors going hybrid, and experimenting with self-publishing. Go figure.
Here's the list of issues Rachelle has with her contracted authors attempting to self-publish:
1. Branding issues. TPs don't want your self-published works to mess up the author and/or series brand they have painstakingly created. But it is your name, your novels, and your series that's been branded--right? Not. TP's probably have some fine print somewhere that you didn't even know you signed, that gives them some slimy toehold over your own name as BRAND. And who are you to go out in social media and use your own name without permission? Silly author.
2. Quality issues. TPs spend so much time, money and effort creating quality literature. All those poor unguided fools in self-publishing could never produce the same quality without them. And of course, your inferior quality self-published works might adversely affect your good name and reputation and BRAND, which they perceive to own.
3. Time issues. TPs want your time commitment. They want you to work for them. Not for yourself. Silly author, you thought you owned your own time! They have your name, your BRAND, they control your quality, and your time. Silly authors shouldn't be using their precious time to self-publish.
4. Promotional issues. TPs "don’t want your promotional efforts on your self-published books to eclipse their promotions on your contracted books. If they allow you to self-publish, they may lose their right to set boundaries on what you’re allowed to do promotionally, and this can be disastrous."
Oh the horror of it all! Heaven forbid you should compete promotionally with your contracted books, that's not fair. You might outsell them. You might make more money selling your self-published books than they pay you from your contracted books.
You might learn how to effectively promote and publish and sell your own books. And then what would you need them for?
This entire article is sickening.
Its about an agent who is losing books from contracted authors who are starting to realize they may not need to sign anymore of those shitty contracts with Traditional Publishers in order to publish their books. Obviously, some of Rachelle's authors are contemplating self-publishing. Better do your best to talk them out of it Rachelle, either that or start looking for ways to help them self-publish.
Maybe you could find a way to help your authors maintain quality. Maybe you could find a way to help your authors publish, promote, and sell their self-published works. But there wouldn't be any money in that. OOPS.
NOTE: I found this article, through Joanna Penn, who blogged about it, and sent out emails to all her subscribers (me too):
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2013/05/09/permission/
Joanna Penn is a wonderful woman who has successfully navigated the labyrinth of self-publishing and has published a wonderful series of novels. She regularly blogs on the publishing business, and ways and means of self-publishing successfully.
So, lets have it. Comments, complaints, rants, hate mail, nods of agreement. What do you have to say about this?
http://www.twluedke.com/
https://twitter.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Lued...
May 7, 2013
The Author Exploitation Business (Reblog)
Reblogged from: http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/the-author-exploitation-business/ The Author Exploitation BusinessPosted on May 4, 2013 by davidgaughran
Writing is a glamorous occupation – at least from the outside. Popular depictions of our profession tend to leave out all the other stuff that comes with the territory: carpal tunnel syndrome, liver failure, penury, and madness.
Okay, okay, I jest. I love being a writer. Sharing stories with the world and getting paid for it is bloody brilliant. It’s a dream job, and like any profession with a horde of neophytes seeking to break in, there are plenty of sharks waiting to chew them to bits.
Publishing is a screwed up business. The often labyrinthine path to success makes it much easier for those with nefarious intentions to scam the unsuspecting. But it doesn’t help that so many organizations who claim to help writers, to respect them, to assist them along the path to publication are actually screwing them over.
Before the digital revolution made self-publishing viable on a wide scale, the dividing lines were easier to spot. Traditional publishers paid you if they wanted to buy the rights to your novel. Self-publishers were people who filled their garages with books and tried to hawk them at events. And vanity presses were the scammers, luring the unsuspecting with false promises and roundly condemned by self-publishers and traditional publishers alike.
Today it’s very different. The scammy vanity presses are owned by traditional publishers who are marketing them as the “easy” way to self-publish – when it’s nothing more than a horrifically expensive and terribly ineffective way to publish your work, guaranteed to kill your book’s chance of success stone dead, while emptying your bank account in the process.
Some of you might think: hey, it’s just business. Caveat emptor and all that. And don’t these people know how to use Google?
That’s easy to say from our position of experience. Do you remember how naive you were at the start? Do you remember just how badly you wanted to get published? Do you remember the crushing grind of the query-go-round?
I’m not surprised people get scammed. When you want something so badly, and you can’t seem to make progress towards that goal – no matter how hard you work – you start to go crazy. You get desperate.
And it’s much harder to tell the scammers from the legitimate organizations when they are owned by the same people.
Take Penguin-owned Author Solutions, one of the worst vanity presses out there. Here’s how they hoodwink inexperienced writers into using their horribly expensive service.
If you Google a term like “find a publisher” the results are littered with sites like FindYourPublisher.com (which I’m not going to link to because that will help their SEO, but you can cut-and-paste that address).The website purports to be an independent resource, helping to pair you with the most suitable publishing company. Or as they put it:
Except the only companies recommended are Trafford, AuthorHouse, Xlibris, and iUniverse – all of which are scammy vanity presses, all owned by Author Solutions. And, fitting with the rest of the pattern, FindYourPublisher.com is just one of many (many!) such sites owned and operated by Author Solutions, purporting to make independent recommendations, but only recommending Author Solutions companies.
I have sympathy for those hoodwinked by awful companies like Author Solutions. The dividing lines aren’t as obvious as they were. And inexperienced writers naively assume that a company like Penguin has their best interests at heart. Maybe it’s the cuddly logo.
Newsflash: Penguin doesn’t care about writers
When Penguin bought the world’s biggest vanity press for $116m last July, many people in the publishing business gave them a pass. They claimed that Penguin would clean up the cesspool. But instead Author Solutions CEO Kevin Weiss was given a seat on the Penguin board.
A seat on the board!
Emily Suess wrote an excellent guest post here back in February, detailing how the slick Author Solutions scam hadn’t changed one bit since the Penguin takeover.
It’s now almost a year since Penguin bought the company (instead of buying, say, Goodreads, but I digress). It should be clear to everyone now that Penguin has no intention of changing Author Solutions’ scammy approach. In fact, Penguin has been looking under the Author Solutions hood for 10 months now. Its conclusion was this: we can make this bigger. We can take this scam on the road and start exploiting writers all over the planet.
And Penguin is still getting a pass for this crap.
The Penguin Omerta
The This is something I’ve been noticing for a while, and Publishers Weekly isn’t alone. The pieces in The Bookseller, GalleyCat, and Digital Book World also make no mention of the widespread criticism that Author Solutions has attracted, nor do they mention that the company is currently the subject of a class action suit for their deceptive practices.
More disturbingly, my comment pointing this out appears to have been scrubbed from The Bookseller, is stuck in the moderation queue on Digital Book World’s piece (despite explicitly stating that they had posted it).
The reaction at the London Book Fair was similar. No-one from traditional publishing wanted to talk about Penguin’s ownership of Author Solutions. No-one wants to talk about how a supposedly legitimate publisher now owns the most successful author scamming organization on the planet.
These guys are probably taking their cue from the New York Times, who won’t mention anything remotely critical about Author Solutions, but are happy to spend lots of time showing them in a positive light (like here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).
Writer Beware
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has done sterling work over the years warning writers away from people like Author Solutions both on their own site, and through their industry watchdog Writer Beware.
However, I would love to see them go one step further.
Remember those awful Random House digital-first imprints? Public pressure forced Random House to change the horribly one-sided terms it was offering writers. That result was achieved after Writer Beware blogged about it, SFWA president John Scalzi followed up, and SFWA itself threatened to de-list Random House as a qualifying market.
What Author Solutions is doing to writers is far, far worse.
Isn’t it time to do something about this? Isn’t it time to threaten to de-list Penguin as a qualifying market if they don’t clean up Author Solutions?
Hands Up If You Don’t Own A Vanity Press
There’s only one problem with this approach. Where do you stop? Because you would have to threaten to do the same with all these guys too:
1. Simon & Schuster hired Author Solutions to run their own scammy vanity press – Archway Publishing. If that wasn’t enough, they then offered a bounty to bloggers to lie about the company.
2. Harper Collins-owned Thomas Nelson have their own crappy vanity operation called West Bow Press – also “powered” by Author Solutions.
3. Harlequin, never afraid to turn down a penny, jumped in the game a few years ago. Author Solutions provided the white-label vanity operation for them.
4. Showing that it’s not just the larger publishers, Hay House contracted Author Solutions to set up Balboa Press – another scammy, crappy, overpriced vanity press.
If it was down to me, I would threaten to de-list all these guys until they cleaned house, but Penguin would be a good start, given they (a) it all comes back to Author Solutions, (b) Penguin owns Author Solutions, (c) Penguin has shown no interest in addressing concerns, and (d) Penguin is planning a massive expansion of the Author Solutions scam.
Writers Digest & Lulu
I’m sure Digital Book World’s reluctance to mention the problems with Author Solutions has nothing to do with the fact that they are owned by F+W Media, which also owns yet another crappy vanity press – Abbot Press (which has some of the worst prices out there).
In a refreshing change of pace, this crappy vanity press is not actually powered by Author Solutions. Abbot Press is a division of Writers Digest. Yes, that Writers Digest.
If that catches you by surprise, I’m sorry to say that Writers Digest went over to the dark side a few years back, and now spam their subscribers with crap like this.
I’m sure Author Solutions was disappointed to miss out on that deal but at least they can console themselves with the new partnership they struck with Lulu last month to provide premium (i.e. overpriced and ineffective) marketing services to Lulu customers.
That’s right. Lulu made a deal with the devil.
How Can We Fight Back?
Penguin think they can continue to ride out the storm, ignoring the criticism and collecting their ill-gotten gains, but if we make enough noise, they will have to respond. That starts with sharing this post, or, even better, blogging about it yourself.
But it also means reaching out to inexperienced writers and trying to steer them away from these crooks. We need to get the message out that self-publishing is not the impossible task it’s painted as. Sarah Woodbury has a helpful post on the basics here, and I have another here. Feel free to point newbies to them, or write your own.
Each time you see an article talking about Author Solutions and not mentioning all the issues, comment underneath and call them on it. Even if the media don’t change their one-eyed approach, readers will see the comments.
If you’re a member of a writers organization like SFWA, RWA, or MWA, ask what they are doing about Penguin. Ask them why they haven’t threatened to de-list Penguin. And keep pressing them! The SFWA (and the RWA) were really strong in response to Random House. We need the same from them again.150,000 writers have been screwed over already. I think that’s enough. Don’t you?
CORRECTION: Abbott Press (the Writers Digest vanity press) shares the same address as Author Solutions so I think it’s safe to assume it’s being run by them. The packages are all quite similar, as is the marketing. Indeed, Emily Suess names Abbot Press as being powered by Author Solutions (scroll down to bottom). More profit for Penguin! Hooray!
* * *
Reblogged from: http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/the-author-exploitation-business/ http://www.twluedke.com/
https://twitter.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/TWLuedke
http://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Lued...
Writing is a glamorous occupation – at least from the outside. Popular depictions of our profession tend to leave out all the other stuff that comes with the territory: carpal tunnel syndrome, liver failure, penury, and madness.Okay, okay, I jest. I love being a writer. Sharing stories with the world and getting paid for it is bloody brilliant. It’s a dream job, and like any profession with a horde of neophytes seeking to break in, there are plenty of sharks waiting to chew them to bits.
Publishing is a screwed up business. The often labyrinthine path to success makes it much easier for those with nefarious intentions to scam the unsuspecting. But it doesn’t help that so many organizations who claim to help writers, to respect them, to assist them along the path to publication are actually screwing them over.
Before the digital revolution made self-publishing viable on a wide scale, the dividing lines were easier to spot. Traditional publishers paid you if they wanted to buy the rights to your novel. Self-publishers were people who filled their garages with books and tried to hawk them at events. And vanity presses were the scammers, luring the unsuspecting with false promises and roundly condemned by self-publishers and traditional publishers alike.
Today it’s very different. The scammy vanity presses are owned by traditional publishers who are marketing them as the “easy” way to self-publish – when it’s nothing more than a horrifically expensive and terribly ineffective way to publish your work, guaranteed to kill your book’s chance of success stone dead, while emptying your bank account in the process.
Some of you might think: hey, it’s just business. Caveat emptor and all that. And don’t these people know how to use Google?
That’s easy to say from our position of experience. Do you remember how naive you were at the start? Do you remember just how badly you wanted to get published? Do you remember the crushing grind of the query-go-round?
I’m not surprised people get scammed. When you want something so badly, and you can’t seem to make progress towards that goal – no matter how hard you work – you start to go crazy. You get desperate.
And it’s much harder to tell the scammers from the legitimate organizations when they are owned by the same people.
Take Penguin-owned Author Solutions, one of the worst vanity presses out there. Here’s how they hoodwink inexperienced writers into using their horribly expensive service.
If you Google a term like “find a publisher” the results are littered with sites like FindYourPublisher.com (which I’m not going to link to because that will help their SEO, but you can cut-and-paste that address).The website purports to be an independent resource, helping to pair you with the most suitable publishing company. Or as they put it:
dedicated to helping both first-time and experienced authors identify the most suitable indie book publishing company for their book. With the information you provide about your book and goals, FYP makes a recommendation as to which indie book publisher has the best publishing package to help you reach your publishing objectives.Below this message is an online questionnaire asking you about your book. When you have completed that and handed over your phone number, the site makes a recommendation based on your answers.
Except the only companies recommended are Trafford, AuthorHouse, Xlibris, and iUniverse – all of which are scammy vanity presses, all owned by Author Solutions. And, fitting with the rest of the pattern, FindYourPublisher.com is just one of many (many!) such sites owned and operated by Author Solutions, purporting to make independent recommendations, but only recommending Author Solutions companies.
I have sympathy for those hoodwinked by awful companies like Author Solutions. The dividing lines aren’t as obvious as they were. And inexperienced writers naively assume that a company like Penguin has their best interests at heart. Maybe it’s the cuddly logo.
Newsflash: Penguin doesn’t care about writers
When Penguin bought the world’s biggest vanity press for $116m last July, many people in the publishing business gave them a pass. They claimed that Penguin would clean up the cesspool. But instead Author Solutions CEO Kevin Weiss was given a seat on the Penguin board.
A seat on the board!
Emily Suess wrote an excellent guest post here back in February, detailing how the slick Author Solutions scam hadn’t changed one bit since the Penguin takeover.
It’s now almost a year since Penguin bought the company (instead of buying, say, Goodreads, but I digress). It should be clear to everyone now that Penguin has no intention of changing Author Solutions’ scammy approach. In fact, Penguin has been looking under the Author Solutions hood for 10 months now. Its conclusion was this: we can make this bigger. We can take this scam on the road and start exploiting writers all over the planet.
And Penguin is still getting a pass for this crap.
The Penguin Omerta
The This is something I’ve been noticing for a while, and Publishers Weekly isn’t alone. The pieces in The Bookseller, GalleyCat, and Digital Book World also make no mention of the widespread criticism that Author Solutions has attracted, nor do they mention that the company is currently the subject of a class action suit for their deceptive practices.
More disturbingly, my comment pointing this out appears to have been scrubbed from The Bookseller, is stuck in the moderation queue on Digital Book World’s piece (despite explicitly stating that they had posted it).
The reaction at the London Book Fair was similar. No-one from traditional publishing wanted to talk about Penguin’s ownership of Author Solutions. No-one wants to talk about how a supposedly legitimate publisher now owns the most successful author scamming organization on the planet.
These guys are probably taking their cue from the New York Times, who won’t mention anything remotely critical about Author Solutions, but are happy to spend lots of time showing them in a positive light (like here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).
Writer Beware
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has done sterling work over the years warning writers away from people like Author Solutions both on their own site, and through their industry watchdog Writer Beware.
However, I would love to see them go one step further.
Remember those awful Random House digital-first imprints? Public pressure forced Random House to change the horribly one-sided terms it was offering writers. That result was achieved after Writer Beware blogged about it, SFWA president John Scalzi followed up, and SFWA itself threatened to de-list Random House as a qualifying market.
What Author Solutions is doing to writers is far, far worse.
Isn’t it time to do something about this? Isn’t it time to threaten to de-list Penguin as a qualifying market if they don’t clean up Author Solutions?
Hands Up If You Don’t Own A Vanity Press
There’s only one problem with this approach. Where do you stop? Because you would have to threaten to do the same with all these guys too:
1. Simon & Schuster hired Author Solutions to run their own scammy vanity press – Archway Publishing. If that wasn’t enough, they then offered a bounty to bloggers to lie about the company.
2. Harper Collins-owned Thomas Nelson have their own crappy vanity operation called West Bow Press – also “powered” by Author Solutions.
3. Harlequin, never afraid to turn down a penny, jumped in the game a few years ago. Author Solutions provided the white-label vanity operation for them.
4. Showing that it’s not just the larger publishers, Hay House contracted Author Solutions to set up Balboa Press – another scammy, crappy, overpriced vanity press.
If it was down to me, I would threaten to de-list all these guys until they cleaned house, but Penguin would be a good start, given they (a) it all comes back to Author Solutions, (b) Penguin owns Author Solutions, (c) Penguin has shown no interest in addressing concerns, and (d) Penguin is planning a massive expansion of the Author Solutions scam.
Writers Digest & Lulu
I’m sure Digital Book World’s reluctance to mention the problems with Author Solutions has nothing to do with the fact that they are owned by F+W Media, which also owns yet another crappy vanity press – Abbot Press (which has some of the worst prices out there).
In a refreshing change of pace, this crappy vanity press is not actually powered by Author Solutions. Abbot Press is a division of Writers Digest. Yes, that Writers Digest.
If that catches you by surprise, I’m sorry to say that Writers Digest went over to the dark side a few years back, and now spam their subscribers with crap like this.
I’m sure Author Solutions was disappointed to miss out on that deal but at least they can console themselves with the new partnership they struck with Lulu last month to provide premium (i.e. overpriced and ineffective) marketing services to Lulu customers.
That’s right. Lulu made a deal with the devil.
How Can We Fight Back?
Penguin think they can continue to ride out the storm, ignoring the criticism and collecting their ill-gotten gains, but if we make enough noise, they will have to respond. That starts with sharing this post, or, even better, blogging about it yourself.
But it also means reaching out to inexperienced writers and trying to steer them away from these crooks. We need to get the message out that self-publishing is not the impossible task it’s painted as. Sarah Woodbury has a helpful post on the basics here, and I have another here. Feel free to point newbies to them, or write your own.
Each time you see an article talking about Author Solutions and not mentioning all the issues, comment underneath and call them on it. Even if the media don’t change their one-eyed approach, readers will see the comments.
If you’re a member of a writers organization like SFWA, RWA, or MWA, ask what they are doing about Penguin. Ask them why they haven’t threatened to de-list Penguin. And keep pressing them! The SFWA (and the RWA) were really strong in response to Random House. We need the same from them again.150,000 writers have been screwed over already. I think that’s enough. Don’t you?
CORRECTION: Abbott Press (the Writers Digest vanity press) shares the same address as Author Solutions so I think it’s safe to assume it’s being run by them. The packages are all quite similar, as is the marketing. Indeed, Emily Suess names Abbot Press as being powered by Author Solutions (scroll down to bottom). More profit for Penguin! Hooray!
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Reblogged from: http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/the-author-exploitation-business/ http://www.twluedke.com/
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May 6, 2013
Iniquitous Solace: THE AFTERMATH
We last visited with Penelope Jones, a.k.a. "Bad Penny" and her friend Max, for the pending release of their coauthored poetry compilation titled Iniquitous Solace. We had Bad Penny all tied up, played with some power tools, and had loads of wicked BDSM fun.
But as these things sometimes go, life happened, shit happened, and Bad Penny emerged solitary, with a newly inspired poetry compilation. Come walk a mile in Penny's shoes (or striped socks) and experience her life, love, erotic bliss, and the aftermath:
INIQUITOUS SOLACE: THE AFTERMATH
We all want to fall in love and for it to last a lifetime. But life and wishes rarely coincide, so what happens when love dies and you're the only one still holding onto broken dreams?
In Iniquitous Solace - The Aftermath, we get a glimpse into the world of one such lovelorn poetess. Come laugh and love with Penelope as she shares her very soul through her heartfelt words and poetic verse. With this girl you get it all; come walk in her shoes, wear her stripy knee-socks, or even her collar that locks! Though battered and bruised, you will love the spirit that defies disappointment. Penelope Jones picks herself up, dusts herself off and stares life straight back in the eye.
Iniquitous Solace - The Aftermath. For a different kind of love.
"Iniquitous Solace: The Aftermath" includes romantic, erotic, angry relationship poetry intended for mature/adult audiences.
*Approximately 8,200 words Amazon US
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You can find Penelope Jones…
Email: LittleMissNotoriety@Gmail.com
Blog: http://thepenelopejones.wordpress.com
Twitter: @Penelope_Prose https://twitter.com/Penelope_Prose
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/ThePenelopeJones
Facebook personal: https://www.facebook.com/penelope.jones.564
Fetlife: TheVeryBadPenny https://fetlife.com/users/2142473
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May 1, 2013
★THE NIGHTLIFE PARIS★ Official Release!!
Official Release & GIVEAWAY ★THE NIGHTLIFE PARIS★
Vampire master Michelle, and her slave, Aaron Pilan, flee to Paris, leaving behind the slaughter in Las Vegas. Aaron made the costly mistake of taking a bloodslave, and then married her. The tragedy of his wife's death has driven a rift between them and Michelle is desperate to heal the breach.
Struggling with his predatory alter ego, Aaron is fractious, rebelling against his master. He desires another bloodslave, and that Michelle cannot allow. She opens her heart and soul to Aaron and he relives, through her memories, her dark, gritty tale of survival in the savagery of WWII Paris under the German occupation. Michelle's staggering revelations are deeply disturbing. The confrontation of master versus slave comes full circle as the couple faces death and separation.
And they are not alone in Paris. An investigator has followed them from Vegas seeking the unique gifts of Michelle’s blood. He’s watching and waiting for the opportunity to make his move against them.
Find out what happens in the third novel of the Nightlife Series.
Purchase The Nightlife Paris here:
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