Krista Lakes's Blog, page 8

New book coming!

I’m so excited for this one!

My little sister wrote a book! I got to co-write it!

It’s coming in just a couple of weeks (I’m editing the last bit now) and I’m so excited to get her debut book out into the world Keep a lookout- I’m working on the cover (in between edits, because edits suck) so I’ll have that soon!

Stepbrother Books

Stepbrother Dearest, Stepbrother Billionaire, Prick, Stepbrother Charming...

All Amazon Top 100 books.

I’d like to add two more to the list.

Coming this June…
Stepbrother’s Gift

A billionaire stepbrother, a long-forgotten IOU, and an attraction that can’t be fought.

Stepbrother Hero

He was the most honorable man I knew, but even he couldn’t resist our love.

 

 

“Krista,” you  may ask, “when did you have time to write these? You’re supposed to be writing Waterfall Kisses right now!”

That’s because I originally released these under my erotica pen name as two serials, so they are already written. “A Baby for My Billionaire Stepbrother” and “A Baby for My Military Stepbrother” were the original titles. The erotica pen name is no longer available on Amazon.

So why am I releasing these two books on my Krista Lakes pen name?

In their serial form, all 5 of “A Baby for My Billionaire Stepbrother” and all three of “A Baby for My Military Stepbrother” were in Amazon’s Top 1000. They were tearing up the charts. 5 of the 8 parts hit Amazon’s Top 100 before Amazon stepped in.

Then Amazon decided that the content of the books was inappropriate for their store and blocked them from sale. I still had the last part of “Billionaire” and three more parts of “Military” but was not able to publish them. It was heartbreaking.

Now, these are ROMANCE books. Yes, they are steamy. They contain two non-blood related, consent-giving adults having adult interactions of the physical kind. Obviously, if they were selling in the top 100 of the store, people were enjoying them. They are steamy, but I had considered releasing them originally on my Krista Lakes pen name.

But Amazon disagreed and blocked the books. Apparently, an erotica author can’t write romance.

We’ve been talking with Amazon and have finally gotten permission to resubmit these stories in a new form. “A Baby for My Billionaire Stepbrother” will now be condensed and novelized into “Stepbrother’s Gift” with the long-anticipated ending. “A Baby for My Military Stepbrother” will be condensed and have the final three parts added in “Stepbrother Hero.”

I want to note that my erotica pen name (which has some really raunchy stuff- got to write what sells to pay the bills!) is not my Krista name. Back when I was first starting out, erotica was an easy way to earn some extra money. I picked a genre within erotica and went wild, writing to trends and finding what sold. It paid my bills and saved my marriage. It is what allowed me to finally write what I really wanted.

It was also a perfect testing ground.

I had wanted to try a serial format of the hot new trend of stepbrothers and my erotica pen name made more sense as a testing ground. When the first “Billionaire Stepbrother” part took off, it caught me by complete surprise and unfortunately meant that the works were tied to that name. I didn’t want to switch a best-selling novella and risk losing my ranking in the store. After that, it made sense to publish the others on that erotica pen name since that’s where people were looking for them.

I wish I had just started them on Krista in the first place.

But now they are getting prepped and ready for submission to Amazon! I am excited about all the new content and it’s been a lot of fun getting to go through and tie everything together. Imagine taking a tv series and turning it into a movie. There’s so much good stuff to work with!

I hope that you all enjoy these very sexy stepbrothers! They’ll be available for .99 to start or Free with Kindle Unlimited! June can’t get here fast enough!

Waterfall Kisses Cover Results…

Here are the Waterfall Kisses cover results:

1: 97

2:331

3:128

4:92

648 votes!

Wow! Thank you all so much for voting! I am amazed at all the votes (and super flattered!)

Unfortunately, when I ran these covers past my rep at Amazon, she vetoed cover #2, and I have to go with what she says. So #2 is out.

I also learned that many people picked #2 simply for the waterfall. Technically, all of them had a waterfall in the background, but since it isn’t super obvious, I am going to do some photoshop magic and make the remaining 3 covers more “waterfall!” We’ll try again!

My Meeting with Amazon

This week I flew my family out to Seattle to meet my Amazon rep. We bought four plane tickets, two hotel rooms, and used our work time to come for this meeting.

I’m still trying to process exactly what happened, but it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. My rep did her best to salvage the meeting, but it was obvious her supervisors were not pleased with us.

I still write and publish in erotica. (You can read my post here on how Erotica actually started my career) And that was a problem yesterday at the meeting. Amazon does not like my erotica.

Erotica pushes boundries.  I’ve pushed boundaries with my erotica, but I always stay within Amazon’s (rather vague) guidelines. It is important to note that the more “boundary-pushing” erotica sells more. I would venture to guess that sales indicate that something is a desired item, but Amazon apparently disagrees.

I was informed that because my Erotica pen name had “misbehaved”, our meeting had changed. It was no longer a meeting about Krista Lakes and opportunities for her, but instead a meeting about the problems with our erotica account.

I want to clarify something here: I understand their concern. We are the same actual people despite the accounts being very separate.

My issue is with how it was handled. Amazon has known about the erotica account from the begining, so this wasn’t a surprise to them. My rep did the best she could (and I hold no ill-will toward her), but the whole situation was unprofessional.

This was definitely something that should have been addressed before I spent thousands of dollars on travel expenses and dragged my 3 year old son to a strange city for four days. We even paid for a babysitter to come with us so that we could go to the meeting.

Amazon decided not to even tell us when the meeting was scheduled until 4:45pm the night before. They’d had our flight itinerary for over a month. We had to email them several times the week before and then as soon as we landed just to find out when we were meeting for coffee. The meeting then lasted all of 2 hours. My plane ride here was longer.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Thousands of dollars and four days of work for a two hour meeting. I wish they would have just canceled so I could have just used the travel insurance and saved everyone a lot of time and money.

Amazon is trying to be a “family-friendly” company, yet still sell everything (including erotica). This is an extremely difficult line to walk and unfortunately, it is the erotica authors that suffer the consequences. I’m not saying that hard-core erotica should be easily visible, but the only guideline as to what is not acceptable is “about what you’d expect.” With a directive like that, the only way to learn where the boundaries are is to push until someone says stop.

They say that the content I created (content I actually originally intended to publish on Krista but instead decided could fit better the niche of my erotica pen name) was too hardcore. I strongly and vehmently disagree. I would like to point out here that the work in question was firmly in the top 300 of Amazon’s store. People were buying and leaving 5 star reviews. I was, and am, still getting emails everyday asking for more.

I’ve been a big supporter of Amazon, but this has shaken my faith. Both Krista and the erotica pen name were Amazon exclusive. Krista was the #1 selling author in Kindle Worlds for months. I advertise my work as being part of KU and direct people to Amazon. My erotica pen name did the same. (You can see my blog post on my support of KU here)

My erotica pen name will be leaving Amazon. They don’t want her there anymore. Krista will still be available in KU for as long as it is mutually beneficial. However, after yesterday’s meeting, I have less and less confidence that my total embrace of Amazon exclusivity is mutually beneficial. Thanks for reading my post. This meeting has accelerated some of my plans and I’ll have big news soon. The Waterfall Kisses cover will be revealed as well!

Krista Lakes

How I Started Writing

Some of you may be surprised to learn that Krista Lakes is a pen name. (I know, shocking) I write in other genres other under pen names, one of which is erotica. Writing erotica is actually what got me into the writing business. My husband was on his second year-long deployment and to keep our relationship alive and hot, we would write sexy stories to one another. When he came home, jobs in the civilian world were in short supply and we started looking for other ways to increase our revenue.

We heard about this crazy new thing called self-publishing and that people were making decent money writing erotica. Since we already had these stories written, we went ahead and published them, not really expecting much. But then they sold. And sold. And sold so much that I was able to stay home with my son and my husband was able to quit his terrible, soul sucking job at the bank dealing with foreclosures.

Erotica saved us.

A writing friend then encouraged me to branch into romance. I had written the equivalent of several novels in erotica, but the idea was daunting. I did it. Burned (known then as Fire Always Burns) was my first real novel. The novel did not do well, but I knew I could do better. The next book was Saltwater Kisses and the rest is history.

I still write in erotica. If you want to get practice writing, write a sex scene. It is actually a lot harder than it sounds. The first time, you’ll blush and giggle and feel incredibly silly. Then you’ll read it and realize that the action is all wrong and the descriptions aren’t nearly enough. So then you try again. It’s like writing an action scene and it requires attention to detail and a lot of creativity.

(Hint: It’s also an AMAZING way to spice up your sex life. Try writing a sex scene sometime and see what happens.)

I know Erotica isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. It’s a sad state of the US that violence and graphic murders are acceptable (something you hope your children will never see) but that sex is considered evil and should be hidden (something your children will see and should be familiar with.) TV shows, movies, and books with graphic and gory murders and violence (CSI, Dexter, GoT, Super-Heroes, and more) are common fare, while a single butt shot of a consenual sex scene is considered extremely risque. I hope my child never encounters a murder, but I would like him to get married and have a family someday. Unfortunately, our media will have him prepared for the murder, but not the marriage.

Erotica gets a bad rap, but I am a firm supporter of the written word in any form that isn’t hate filled. Sex isn’t bad. It’s a part of life (a really important one since it makes life possible).

I love writing erotica. I love writing romance. I love writing fantasy. It’s all just writing, and each genre uses my brain and creativity.

Pick the cover for Waterfall Kisses!

It’s that time again! Help me pick the best cover for Waterfall Kisses! (Available May 29th!)

Voting is 4/22- Noon PST 4/27

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

How to get Rafflecopter Entries

I’ve been asked this a couple of times now, so I put together some screen shots to explain how to sign up for a rafflecopter!

First, what is Rafflecopter? Rafflecopter is a company that allows businesses to run giveaways (or Raffles). By giving points for doing an activity (like going to their page on Facebook, signing up for a mailing list, sharing on social media) you earn entries. At the end of the time period, Rafflecopter picks the winning names and prizes are given out. (Here’s their website for more).

It’s basically a way to run a digital raffle

Step 1: Click on the entry you would like to do
Step 2: Follow whatever the instructions are. It will probably take you to a new tab/page, so remember to come back to get credit!
Step 3: Come back and verify that you did it. (In this case, it was signing up for the Krista Lakes Newsletter. If you already get my newsletter, there is no need to sign up again. You just put your email in and get the points because you already did it!

Step 4: Click enter

 

Step 5: You now have 5 entries to win! Sign up for other authors’ mailing lists to get even more entries!

Step 6: There are other ways to get entries too! Share this raffle on Facebook, Twitter, or Email and get more chances at winning those gift cards!

 

And that’s it!

Signing up for the mailing lists will let those authors email you with their new releases and sales. Good luck and earn some gift cards!

Be sure to sign up for the my current Rafflecopter! ( http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e05c901573) 60 authors have joined up to offer $600 in Amazon gift cards! 

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Brooke has been awesome enough to pick my books for her Series Saturday blog!

(https://brookejaxsen.wordpress.com/category/series-saturday/)

I love her use of gifs, and her sweet style. Basically, you should check them out. They’ll make you smile.

https://brookejaxsen.wordpress.com/category/series-saturday/

 

Also- check out her books!

 

Miss Black 3

WOOP! It’s here! 

The exciting end to the Miss Black Trilogy!

 

Sunrise Kisses is now Available!

It’s out! It’s free! Pick up your copy!

Free January 30th- February 3rd!

 

 

 

 

 

No better way to start off the day than Sunrise Kisses…

Ava Fairchild was sure that she’d never find love.

Seemingly lost in a sea of self-pity, she was delighted when her appraisal company was given a job in the Caribbean. A once-in-a-lifetime trip to appraise Sebastian Belrose’s billion-dollar estate seemed to be exactly what she needed to relax and enjoy herself.

A walk to the beach at dawn gave her a first impression of the billionaire himself, paddle boarding on the gentle waves. He was reserved and mysterious, and Ava wanted to know all of his secrets. His evasiveness and the fact that he forbade her from traveling to his Study just added to his allure, while simultaneously reminding her about the secrets that destroyed her last relationship. Still, every sunrise that they shared together made her fall more desperately in love with him.

But Bastian had a reason for keeping to himself. And as Ava saw the scars that criss-crossed his body, she knew that what she had found was a soul not unlike herself. A man who had been damaged. A man who deserved to trust. A man that deserved to love, and to be loved. Would this beauty be able to tame the beast, or would they be left with just memories of sunrise kisses?

 

An Excerpt:

“Thank you,” I whispered. “You saved me.”

I leaned forward and kissed him. It started innocently enough, but the adrenaline and fear mixed with gratitude and attraction overwhelmed me. I found my tongue pushing to enter his mouth, wanting his in mine and my hands pressing into his broad chest for more.

He pulled back, grabbing my wrists and holding me in place.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he groaned, fighting with his own desire. “I don’t want to take advantage.”

I pushed harder against him, imploring with him with my eyes not to stop. “Please,” I begged, unable to fight my attraction for him. His chivalrous refusal not to take advantage only made it that much harder. I wanted him even more. “Please…”

His brow softened. He picked at a loose strand of hair by my cheek, carefully tucking it behind my ear. His eyes absorbed me, trying to decide if I really was asking.

“Please, Bastian…” I whispered one more time. The sound of his name was his undoing. He kissed me just as the car pulled to a stop in front of the house. It was a short kiss, but full of raw passion.

He had my seat-belt undone in an instant, picking me up in his arms and carrying me up the steps to the main entrance. Elijah opened the door, but that was the last I saw of him as Bastian carried me up the stairs and to his bedroom, kissing me the entire way…