Kelly Apple's Blog, page 59

The Wicked Merman – Out now!

My merman has decided he’s had enough of sitting around waiting to be unveiled and is now on Amazon. That’s right, The Wicked Merman is a bit of a Mr. Bossy Pants and he demanded I release him as soon as I’d finished writing book 5. So…

The Wicked Merman (Monstrous Tales #4)

When her friend drags her off to the lake for some much needed R&R, Ari thought she’d be getting away from supernaturals for a few days. Sunning and swimming sound divine and it might help her shake off the funk of being parted from her beloved Guardian.

But when a girl who loves monsters ends up at a lake housing a merman, she’s going to end up doing a lot more than swimming.

Ari can’t resist trying to find the answer to the age-old question: How do mermen have sex?

This wicked merman is more than happy to give her some hands-on experience.

Warning: This book contains a lake, a midnight swim, and an unexpected hard-on. Don’t let the fins fool you, this merman has all the right stuff to get Ari where she needs to go.

As I mentioned, it’s up at Amazon (here’s the universal link for those outside the US) and it’ll be up at Goodreads shortly.  Btw, if you haven’t read books 1-3, YOU’RE IN LUCK, because Monstrous Tales Volume 1 is available as a bundle. YAY!

Stay tuned next week for the cover and blurb of The Wicked Naga!

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Monstrous Tales Volume 1 – Out now! (and some talk about pricing)

I’m very excited to announce that Monstrous Tales Volume 1 is now available. This bundle includes The Wicked Woods, The Wicked Wolf, The Wicked Dragon, and a never before published short story set between books 1 & 2.

Monstrous Tales Volume 1: The Wicked Woods, Wicked Games, The Wicked Wolf, The Wicked Dragon

Ari Colton’s always been a little different. She has a thing for monsters of all shapes and sizes, but she’s resigned herself to loving them only in her dreams. That is, until the day she’s abducted by one and finds an entire supernatural world right under her nose.

Now she has all the monsters she can handle and she’s loving every minute of it.

This bundle contains the first three books in the Monstrous Tales series and a never before published short story.

The Wicked Woods

Abducted from campus by a muscle-bound monster, Ari has a choice to make: Walk away or live out one of her wildest fantasies.

Wicked Games: A Monstrous Tales Interlude (never before published)

Ari’s decided to institute game night with her Guardian to learn more about him. So far, it hasn’t gone as planned. But Ari’s determined and her Guardian doesn’t stand a chance. Especially once their clothes start coming off.

The Wicked Wolf

Forced out of her green love’s arms by his duty to his people, Ari finds a werewolf willing to help ease her loneliness.

The Wicked Dragon

Waiting for her beloved to finish his breeding duties hasn’t been easy, but the dragon in Ari’s backyard is eager to please and Ari has always been a sucker for the strange and unusual.

Currently, it’s only available at Amazon (here’s the universal Amazon link for those outside the US) but I am planning on putting it up on other platforms. Stay tuned! I’ve also added it to Goodreads for those who use that site.

One thing I’ve been thinking long and hard about is pricing models and how to reward those who buy early, while still making the bundles attractive for those just coming into the series. Working toward this, I added the short story Wicked Games to the volume 1 bundle (and then gave the short story away to my newsletter subscribers as a thank you).

Taking a page from several of my favorite authors, new installments of Monstrous Tales will be offered at the $0.99 price point for the first 2 to 3 weeks, at which point the price will go up to $1.99. Bundles will be between $2.99 and $3.99 depending on how many stories are in each. At this point, I plan on continuing to add an exclusive short to future bundles and making the short available to newsletter subscribers. Interested in signing up so you can get in on hot monster erotica freebies? Here you go! (You can also sign up at the bottom of the page under “Join the mailing list”)

In the meantime, I’m gearing up to release The Wicked Merman into the wild soon!

Happy monsters!

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So you wanna write for a living? There’s a pep talk for that.

The other day I was talking to an old blogging pals (old, as in I knew her before I published, way back in the day when I used to blog daily about how Battlestar Galactica was ruining my life because THE DRAMA! WOE WOE! and how saddened I was when Buffy was going off the air WOE WOE!) and we got on the subject of writing, publishing, etc. I ended up spewing word vomit all over her as I shared some of the things I’ve dealt with/had to realize in my quest to publish.

Now, I’m going to share them with you.

(And, yes, some of these are of the common sense variety. Sometimes the easiest things are also the hardest.)

Don’t give up. If this is what you want to do, keep trying. With the way publishing evolves and changes, WHO KNOWS what next year will bring. (Honestly, this applies to everything in life, doesn’t it? If you want something bad enough, DON’T GIVE UP.)

Start building your platform now. Let people know you’re an author. And -TRUTH- if you’re writing, you are an author, you just aren’t published yet. Let people know you’re working toward that goal. Sharing your plans sometimes gives you that extra push to finish what you’ve started.

If you don’t have a website under the name you’re going to write with (I use a pen name, so I snapped up KellyApple.com as soon as I settled on it), get one. Then, start blogging about writing. Share any goals you set for yourself. Talk about writing. Talk about reading. Talk about accomplishments. (I’m the type of person who does much better when other people know what I have planned. For me, it’s a lot harder to quit when you know you’re letting people down. I wonder what that says about me.)

Find someone you trust to give you feedback. Someone who can say things the way you’re comfortable hearing it. That sounds funny, but I work a lot better with someone who says “This doesn’t quite flow with the previous section…” as opposed to “This is a mess! You need to fix it!” They might be saying the same thing, but it’s all in the way they say it.

Grow a thick skin. Not everyone will like what you write. Period. Accept that and move along.

Typos happen. No matter how many times you look over a story, a manuscript, an email, a blog post… TYPOS HAPPEN. I used to be terrified of sharing my work because it wasn’t perfect. You know what? NOTHING’S PERFECT. Do your due diligence. Do what you can to catch those errors, but don’t let fear of putting out something imperfect stop you in your tracks.

There you have it. Advice from someone who got bit on the butt last weekend by her nephew. So, you know, take it as you will.

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Blurb and cover for Monstrous Tales #4!

‘Tis time to see how Ari ends up with a merman, don’t you think?

As a reminder, The Wicked Woods (book 1), The Wicked Wolf (book 2), and The Wicked Dragon (book 3) are currently available through Amazon.

The Wicked Merman (Monstrous Tales #4)

When her friend drags her off to the lake for some much needed R&R, Ari thought she’d be getting away from supernaturals for a few days. Sunning and swimming sound divine and it might help her shake off the funk of being parted from her beloved Guardian.

But when a girl who loves monsters ends up at a lake housing a merman, she’s going to end up doing a lot more than swimming.

Ari can’t resist trying to find the answer to the age-old question: How do mermen have sex?

This wicked merman is more than happy to give her some hands-on experience.

Warning: This book contains a lake, a midnight swim, and an unexpected hard-on. Don’t let the fins fool you, this merman has all the right stuff to get Ari where she needs to go.

The post Blurb and cover for Monstrous Tales #4! appeared first on Kelly Apple.

The Wicked Dragon – Out now!

Part 3 in the Monstrous Tales series is live! That’s right, The Wicked Dragon (Monstrous Tales #3) can be found on Amazon (here’s the universal Amazon link for those outside the US)! I’ve also added it to Goodreads for those who use that site!

The Wicked Dragon (Monstrous Tales #3)

It’s been five days since Ari and her green Guardian were forced apart. Ari’s determined to ride out the storm of sexual longing she feels whenever she thinks about him, but it’s hard.

When a dragon appears in her backyard, Ari is faced with a dilemma—send him on his way and continue pining or follow him into the woods to see what he can do for her. She’s already tried out a werewolf, is there anything a dragon could possibly offer to keep her mind off her missing beloved?

As it turns out, this wicked dragon might have a trick or two up his sleeve.

Warning: This book contains a dragon with an impressive package and a girl who likes getting gifts. No flight plans were filed (or interrupted) during their interlude.

The blurb for book 4 is hidden away at the end. I’ll be highlighting it here next week. So, STAY TUNED!

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I’m not going to let me stop me!

I have a confession to make…

I never thought I was good at writing short stories.

I’m talking more about length than writing prowess. It always seemed like my brain tried to go big and add layers to what should be something short and sweet. So the short story becomes longer and longer and suddenly it’s less a short and more a story and I’m left scratching my head.

Then my accountability partner dared me to write what would become part 1 of the Monstrous Tales series. And I did. I wrote it and it came in at under 10K words (I was aiming for 8-10K, so it hit the bulls eye on the word count). Honestly, I thought that was a fluke. When I set out to write part 2, I had ALL SORTS of hangups about how I wasn’t going to be able to come in within my (self-imposed) word limit.

You know what? I managed to get it done despite myself.

The Wicked Wolf tells the entire story I was setting out to tell and it did it between 8K and 10K words.

Unfortunately, my disbelief in what I’m able to accomplish didn’t end with me hitting the goal I set for myself. Twice. Nope. When I set out to write part 3, I was sure I wasn’t going to be able to tell the whole story and keep it under 10K words.

Ha. Oh, self. Stop with the negative talk.

The Wicked Dragon is at the low end of my 8-10K range, but I still did it.

So, my confession isn’t so much that I thought I wasn’t any good at writing short stories, but rather that I was wrong about myself. With a little planning and the right motivation (proving myself wrong, as the case may be), I can push through those mental roadblocks and do what I need to do.

Take that, self!

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Interview and giveaway!

I’m at the lovely Tracy Cooper-Posey‘s blog today with an interview and giveaway. It’s kind of exciting to see my name on an author’s blog I admire. Plus, she’s some sort of genius with what she did with the book covers and such I mention in the interview. It makes the whole thing so darn pretty!

Anyway. Head over and take a look. Leave a comment and you could win an Amazon gift card!

The post Interview and giveaway! appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Blurb and cover for Monstrous Tales #3!

I have the blurb and cover for The Wicked Dragon! The Wicked Woods (book 1) and The Wicked Wolf (book 2) are currently available through Amazon and they CRACKED ME UP while writing them.

So. Without any further ado…

The Wicked Dragon (Monstrous Tales #3)

It’s been five days since Ari and her green Guardian were forced apart. Ari’s determined to ride out the storm of sexual longing she feels whenever she thinks about him, but it’s hard.

When a dragon appears in her backyard, Ari is faced with a dilemma—send him on his way and continue pining or follow him into the woods to see what he can do for her. She’s already tried out a werewolf, is there anything a dragon could possibly offer to keep her mind off her missing beloved?

As it turns out, this wicked dragon might have a trick or two up his sleeve.

Warning: This book contains a dragon with an impressive package and a girl who likes getting gifts. No flight plans were filed (or interrupted) during their interlude.

I’ll be adding this bad boy to the Monstrous Tales page soon!

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The Wicked Woods – free at Amazon

In honor of The Wicked Wolf going live this week, I’m offering book 1 in the Monstrous Tales series for free today and tomorrow. It will go back up to its regular price on Saturday 1/11, so if you’re interested, now’s the time!

The Wicked Woods (Monstrous Tales #1)

Ari’s always had a thing for monsters. Big ones, small ones, and all the ones in between. They turn her on like no human can. She’d be an ordinary girl if not for that one little quirk.

Since monsters aren’t real, she’s resigned herself to loving them in her imagination.

But, as Ari is about to find out, monsters are real and now one of them has her in their grasp. Will reality be better than fantasy? Or will she walk away and lose her one chance at fulfilling her wildest dreams?

Warning: This book contains a girl who isn’t afraid of monsters and a monster who wouldn’t mind a special lady friend. You’ll never look at those all-night monster marathons on TV the same way again.

Grab it from Amazon before the price goes back up!

Purchase links: Amazon (Amazon outside the US)

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The Wicked Wolf – Out now!

I love writing these serialized installments. Not only do they fall out of my head with wondrous abandon, they’re SUPER easy to edit and format.

WHO DOESN’T LIKE EASY, RIGHT?

Anyway. The Wicked Wolf (Monstrous Tales #2) went live on Amazon late Sunday! If you’re outside the US, here’s the universal Amazon link! I’ve also added it to Goodreads if you use that site!

The Wicked Wolf (Monstrous Tales #2)

After several months with her monstrous lover, the unthinkable has happened—Ari’s Guardian is being called upon to mate with others of his kind. Not wanting to put her in danger, her Guardian sends her away, promising they will reunite once he’s fulfilled his duty.

Now Ari has a choice—she can pine for her monster as he lies with compatible females or she can seek out other supernaturals and see if what she feels for her Guardian is true.

Is it love or only lust? There’s a wicked wolf who’s willing to help her find the truth.

Warning: This book contains lovers (metaphorically) torn apart and a girl determined to experience the supernatural. Timid creatures need not apply.

As I like to do, I’ve tucked the blurb for book 3 at the end of this book. Lots of monster-y goodness for everyone!

2014 feels like it’s going to be a good year, doesn’t it?

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