Stephanie Summers's Blog, page 7
July 27, 2014
Haunting is Available Now!
Haunting is available NOW!! That's right, I couldn't help myself and I hit publish two days early. Remember to send me your order confirmations so you can be entered into the Kindle giveaway!!
Here are the links:
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1tb8l40
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1khbuwF
iBooks: http://bit.ly/1jpIWLq (Probably won't be available until 7/28 because of distribution times I can't control)
B&N: http://bit.ly/1lJPaGG
All Romance ebooks: http://bit.ly/1utnb7z
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1qGtN0M
Here are the links:
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1tb8l40
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1khbuwF
iBooks: http://bit.ly/1jpIWLq (Probably won't be available until 7/28 because of distribution times I can't control)
B&N: http://bit.ly/1lJPaGG
All Romance ebooks: http://bit.ly/1utnb7z
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1qGtN0M
July 26, 2014
July 1, 2014
Haunting Cover Reveal and New Cover for Craving
The New Reveal!!
Title: Haunting Author: Stepahie Summers Release Date:July 29th 2014
Haunting Blurb Sabine Crowley is adjusting well to her new life at Willow Creek Manor with Remy by her side. That is, until she finds out some devastating news from Bastian. Has Remy been lying all along about his feelings for her? Had she been a fool to believe he could really love her?
Remy has been accused of trying to leave Sabine, Bastian, and Willow Creek Manor behind. He’s been locked up and drained to the point that he has no memory of why he is there or what has happened since just after Sabine officially became “his”.
Not being paired with a vampire has put Sabine into quite the predicament. Luckily for her, she’s managed to make a couple of powerful allies who are more than willing to help her out anyway they can. It’s up to Sabine to figure out the truth about Remy and how the secret of Willow Creek can help or hinder her quest to be free.
Haunting pre-order on iBooks: http://bit.ly/1jpIWLq
The Re-Reveal!!!
Craving Blurb Welcome to Willow Creek. People are happy, crime is practically nonexistent, life is good…unless you’re Sabine Crowley, who has been chosen to be the next blood bag for the vampire lord who has protected the town from otherworldly creatures for 200 years.
Sabine has big dreams for her life, and none of them include becoming a vampire’s concubine. On her 18th birthday, she seeks solitude to process the cruel turn her destiny has taken. As she sits alone in Cleary Park, a sexy stranger approaches her. He’s tall, mysterious, handsome, and a complete jerk. He soon reveals himself to be a vampire and she’s terrified of him and her strange attraction to him. She wants to get as far away from him as possible, yet finds herself wondering if she’ll see him again.
Remy, the cocky newcomer vampire, has been summoned by his maker, Bastian, to take his place beside him in the hierarchy of vampires inhabiting Willow Creek. He’s none too thrilled to be stuck in a boring little town in the middle of nowhere where he’ll have to feed exclusively from the girl he’s been paired with. He’s repulsed by the whole situation.
When Sabine tries to run away from her fate, Remy is forced to follow and bring her back. They’re unwillingly thrust into each other’s lives and reluctantly find an undeniable attraction between themselves. Will they ever look past their contempt for one another and act on their urges? Or are they destined to hate each other forever?
Links for Craving: First three chapters and prologue are available on my site! Check it out before you one-click! www.authorstephaniesummers.com/excerpts/craving
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1jTqtKz iTunes: http://bit.ly/1oKWpk7 All Romance ebooks: http://bit.ly/UCRQiF B&N: http://bit.ly/1j7qAOE Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1q1pOYg
Bio: So what can I say? I'm a self-published author who never considered writing a novel until after I was 30 years old. I decided to give it a shot, and, to my surprise, people actually liked my story! I have a couple other stories I'm working on and a ton of other ideas for future works. You'll soon figure out that I'm a little bit sarcastic (okay, a lot sarcastic), I curse way more than I should, and I like to laugh just about as much as I like to bitch about things that annoy me. That's me in a nutshell.
Author Bio:
Stephanie Summers is a paranormal and contemporary romance author. She recently graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in accounting, though writing is her true passion. Stephanie seemed to always have a story or two or ten running around in her mind. At the ripe old age of 30, she finally decided it was time to put aside the thought that she didn't have what it took to write a novel and began writing her first story.
She has since began and finished a paranormal romance, Craving (Book #1 of The Willow Creek Vampires Series). The second installment of The Willow Creek Vampires Series, Haunting, will be released July 29, 2014. Her short story, Love Forgotten, was chosen to be published in Stardust: A Futuristic Romance Collection. Her contemporary rock star romance, Take Me On, is scheduled to be released September 9 2014.
Sign up for my mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/PWB0P Check out my website here: www.authorstephaniesummers.com Like my Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/authorstephaniesummers Follow me on twitter here: www.twitter.com/AuthorSASummers Wanna join my street team? Come join in the fun here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1393550944198775/
Title: Haunting Author: Stepahie Summers Release Date:July 29th 2014
Haunting Blurb Sabine Crowley is adjusting well to her new life at Willow Creek Manor with Remy by her side. That is, until she finds out some devastating news from Bastian. Has Remy been lying all along about his feelings for her? Had she been a fool to believe he could really love her?
Remy has been accused of trying to leave Sabine, Bastian, and Willow Creek Manor behind. He’s been locked up and drained to the point that he has no memory of why he is there or what has happened since just after Sabine officially became “his”.
Not being paired with a vampire has put Sabine into quite the predicament. Luckily for her, she’s managed to make a couple of powerful allies who are more than willing to help her out anyway they can. It’s up to Sabine to figure out the truth about Remy and how the secret of Willow Creek can help or hinder her quest to be free.
Haunting pre-order on iBooks: http://bit.ly/1jpIWLq
The Re-Reveal!!!
Craving Blurb Welcome to Willow Creek. People are happy, crime is practically nonexistent, life is good…unless you’re Sabine Crowley, who has been chosen to be the next blood bag for the vampire lord who has protected the town from otherworldly creatures for 200 years.
Sabine has big dreams for her life, and none of them include becoming a vampire’s concubine. On her 18th birthday, she seeks solitude to process the cruel turn her destiny has taken. As she sits alone in Cleary Park, a sexy stranger approaches her. He’s tall, mysterious, handsome, and a complete jerk. He soon reveals himself to be a vampire and she’s terrified of him and her strange attraction to him. She wants to get as far away from him as possible, yet finds herself wondering if she’ll see him again.
Remy, the cocky newcomer vampire, has been summoned by his maker, Bastian, to take his place beside him in the hierarchy of vampires inhabiting Willow Creek. He’s none too thrilled to be stuck in a boring little town in the middle of nowhere where he’ll have to feed exclusively from the girl he’s been paired with. He’s repulsed by the whole situation.
When Sabine tries to run away from her fate, Remy is forced to follow and bring her back. They’re unwillingly thrust into each other’s lives and reluctantly find an undeniable attraction between themselves. Will they ever look past their contempt for one another and act on their urges? Or are they destined to hate each other forever?
Links for Craving: First three chapters and prologue are available on my site! Check it out before you one-click! www.authorstephaniesummers.com/excerpts/craving
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1jTqtKz iTunes: http://bit.ly/1oKWpk7 All Romance ebooks: http://bit.ly/UCRQiF B&N: http://bit.ly/1j7qAOE Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1q1pOYg
Bio: So what can I say? I'm a self-published author who never considered writing a novel until after I was 30 years old. I decided to give it a shot, and, to my surprise, people actually liked my story! I have a couple other stories I'm working on and a ton of other ideas for future works. You'll soon figure out that I'm a little bit sarcastic (okay, a lot sarcastic), I curse way more than I should, and I like to laugh just about as much as I like to bitch about things that annoy me. That's me in a nutshell.
Author Bio:
Stephanie Summers is a paranormal and contemporary romance author. She recently graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in accounting, though writing is her true passion. Stephanie seemed to always have a story or two or ten running around in her mind. At the ripe old age of 30, she finally decided it was time to put aside the thought that she didn't have what it took to write a novel and began writing her first story.
She has since began and finished a paranormal romance, Craving (Book #1 of The Willow Creek Vampires Series). The second installment of The Willow Creek Vampires Series, Haunting, will be released July 29, 2014. Her short story, Love Forgotten, was chosen to be published in Stardust: A Futuristic Romance Collection. Her contemporary rock star romance, Take Me On, is scheduled to be released September 9 2014.
Sign up for my mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/PWB0P Check out my website here: www.authorstephaniesummers.com Like my Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/authorstephaniesummers Follow me on twitter here: www.twitter.com/AuthorSASummers Wanna join my street team? Come join in the fun here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1393550944198775/
June 23, 2014
Want a chance to win a Kindle Fire HD?
In celebration of the release of my next book, Haunting, on July 29, I am throwing a Facebook release party and giving away a Kindle Fire HD! Join the event at the link below and check out the pinned post for details on how to enter! Good luck to all!!
http://on.fb.me/TqbEVy
http://on.fb.me/TqbEVy
June 8, 2014
Amazon's "Adult" Tag is Ridiculous and Random (UPDATED)
I recently discovered Craving has been classified as "Adult" by Amazon, which explains why it now sits in the erotica category instead of the paranormal romance category I originally set for it. Being classified as erotica in and of itself isn't that big a deal, though I don't feel it's truly erotica.
Let me explain what I mean. The "Adult" classification, for those who may not be aware, essentially filters a book out of search results unless someone is specifically searching for that title, which means less people see it, and it has the very real possibility of fading into oblivion. Craving doesn't even show up if you search for "Stephanie Summers." Go ahead. Try it. I'll wait.
You back? See what I mean. If you click on my author page, then it's listed there, but not in the search results for books associated with me.
I have no issue with the erotica category at all. In fact, I have a few erotic short stories I plan on releasing this year. One of which is out under a pen name as we speak, but since I'm going to release it under my real name, I'll leave it nameless for now.
What bothers me is books such as the 50 Shades trilogy are NOT subject to this classification. Craving is over 260 pages long and only contains two sex scenes (equaling maybe four or five pages all together at the most). I couldn't finish the 50 Shades books because I got bored of flipping past pages upon pages upon pages of sex that became repetitive and unexciting. But because my cover has the dude covering the girls boobies with his arms, it's "Adult" and gets filtered. By the way, you can't even see the girl's cleavage on my cover. Just her abdomen and shoulders. What the actual fuck?
I will be changing the cover. Not because I don't like it, because, in fact, I love it, but because I wanted the series to have a more cohesive feel to the covers. Also, the couple who is on it are on TONS of other books, which makes me curious if those other books have been flagged as well, though it's probably hit or miss. The sad part about it is now that it's been labeled "Adult", which should really just say "Offensive to whichever Amazon employee happened to review it at the time", it'll be stuck with that label unless I take it down completely and republish it (losing all the reviews I've gotten so far).
If I had a large catalog of works published already, it wouldn't be much of an issue. However, since I only have one book out, I'm practically non-existent on Amazon, even more so than I would've been already.
I guess what pisses me off so much is the fact that it is so completely random. A book that is known for having way more sex than story and isn't filtered at all goes on to sell millions, while an indie book with minimal sex and lots of story is essentially labeled as pornographic and held back from any hope of achieving success. It's bullshit, my friends.
You can check out the website here that shows what I'm talking about: http://www.salesrankexpress.com/ You just have to type in the author and/or book title to see if the book has been flagged.
***UPDATE***
I wrote to Amazon and kindly asked them to remove the "Adult" restriction. I pointed out that there are books waaaaaaay racier than mine (50 Shades, Ahem) and books using the same stock photo as my cover that are not labeled this way. They actually decided to lift the restriction! I'm happy, but I'm not holding my breath. I've seen where other authors were successful in having the restriction lifted only to have their book flagged again a few days later. We will see, I guess. My only option if they do this is to wait until after the cover is changed and write them again. For now, I am happy. Now if the next 24 hours would hurry up so that pesky tag can be gone...
Let me explain what I mean. The "Adult" classification, for those who may not be aware, essentially filters a book out of search results unless someone is specifically searching for that title, which means less people see it, and it has the very real possibility of fading into oblivion. Craving doesn't even show up if you search for "Stephanie Summers." Go ahead. Try it. I'll wait.
You back? See what I mean. If you click on my author page, then it's listed there, but not in the search results for books associated with me.
I have no issue with the erotica category at all. In fact, I have a few erotic short stories I plan on releasing this year. One of which is out under a pen name as we speak, but since I'm going to release it under my real name, I'll leave it nameless for now.
What bothers me is books such as the 50 Shades trilogy are NOT subject to this classification. Craving is over 260 pages long and only contains two sex scenes (equaling maybe four or five pages all together at the most). I couldn't finish the 50 Shades books because I got bored of flipping past pages upon pages upon pages of sex that became repetitive and unexciting. But because my cover has the dude covering the girls boobies with his arms, it's "Adult" and gets filtered. By the way, you can't even see the girl's cleavage on my cover. Just her abdomen and shoulders. What the actual fuck?
I will be changing the cover. Not because I don't like it, because, in fact, I love it, but because I wanted the series to have a more cohesive feel to the covers. Also, the couple who is on it are on TONS of other books, which makes me curious if those other books have been flagged as well, though it's probably hit or miss. The sad part about it is now that it's been labeled "Adult", which should really just say "Offensive to whichever Amazon employee happened to review it at the time", it'll be stuck with that label unless I take it down completely and republish it (losing all the reviews I've gotten so far).
If I had a large catalog of works published already, it wouldn't be much of an issue. However, since I only have one book out, I'm practically non-existent on Amazon, even more so than I would've been already.
I guess what pisses me off so much is the fact that it is so completely random. A book that is known for having way more sex than story and isn't filtered at all goes on to sell millions, while an indie book with minimal sex and lots of story is essentially labeled as pornographic and held back from any hope of achieving success. It's bullshit, my friends.
You can check out the website here that shows what I'm talking about: http://www.salesrankexpress.com/ You just have to type in the author and/or book title to see if the book has been flagged.
***UPDATE***
I wrote to Amazon and kindly asked them to remove the "Adult" restriction. I pointed out that there are books waaaaaaay racier than mine (50 Shades, Ahem) and books using the same stock photo as my cover that are not labeled this way. They actually decided to lift the restriction! I'm happy, but I'm not holding my breath. I've seen where other authors were successful in having the restriction lifted only to have their book flagged again a few days later. We will see, I guess. My only option if they do this is to wait until after the cover is changed and write them again. For now, I am happy. Now if the next 24 hours would hurry up so that pesky tag can be gone...
Amazon's "Adult" Tag is Ridiculous and Random
I recently discovered Craving has been classified as "Adult" by Amazon, which explains why it now sits in the erotica category instead of the paranormal romance category I originally set for it. Being classified as erotica in and of itself isn't that big a deal, though I don't feel it's truly erotica.
Let me explain what I mean. The "Adult" classification, for those who may not be aware, essentially filters a book out of search results unless someone is specifically searching for that title, which means less people see it, and it has the very real possibility of fading into oblivion. Craving doesn't even show up if you search for "Stephanie Summers." Go ahead. Try it. I'll wait.
You back? See what I mean. If you click on my author page, then it's listed there, but not in the search results for books associated with me.
I have no issue with the erotica category at all. In fact, I have a few erotic short stories I plan on releasing this year. One of which is out under a pen name as we speak, but since I'm going to release it under my real name, I'll leave it nameless for now.
What bothers me is books such as the 50 Shades trilogy are NOT subject to this classification. Craving is over 260 pages long and only contains two sex scenes (equaling maybe four or five pages all together at the most). I couldn't finish the 50 Shades books because I got bored of flipping past pages upon pages upon pages of sex that became repetitive and unexciting. But because my cover has the dude covering the girls boobies with his arms, it's "Adult" and gets filtered. By the way, you can't even see the girl's cleavage on my cover. Just her abdomen and shoulders. What the actual fuck?
I will be changing the cover. Not because I don't like it, because, in fact, I love it, but because I wanted the series to have a more cohesive feel to the covers. Also, the couple who is on it are on TONS of other books, which makes me curious if those other books have been flagged as well, though it's probably hit or miss. The sad part about it is now that it's been labeled "Adult", which should really just say "Offensive to whichever Amazon employee happened to review it at the time", it'll be stuck with that label unless I take it down completely and republish it (losing all the reviews I've gotten so far).
If I had a large catalog of works published already, it wouldn't be much of an issue. However, since I only have one book out, I'm practically non-existent on Amazon, even more so than I would've been already.
I guess what pisses me off so much is the fact that it is so completely random. A book that is known for having way more sex than story and isn't filtered at all goes on to sell millions, while an indie book with minimal sex and lots of story is essentially labeled as pornographic and held back from any hope of achieving success. It's bullshit, my friends.
You can check out the website here that shows what I'm talking about: http://www.salesrankexpress.com/ You just have to type in the author and/or book title to see if the book has been flagged.
Let me explain what I mean. The "Adult" classification, for those who may not be aware, essentially filters a book out of search results unless someone is specifically searching for that title, which means less people see it, and it has the very real possibility of fading into oblivion. Craving doesn't even show up if you search for "Stephanie Summers." Go ahead. Try it. I'll wait.
You back? See what I mean. If you click on my author page, then it's listed there, but not in the search results for books associated with me.
I have no issue with the erotica category at all. In fact, I have a few erotic short stories I plan on releasing this year. One of which is out under a pen name as we speak, but since I'm going to release it under my real name, I'll leave it nameless for now.
What bothers me is books such as the 50 Shades trilogy are NOT subject to this classification. Craving is over 260 pages long and only contains two sex scenes (equaling maybe four or five pages all together at the most). I couldn't finish the 50 Shades books because I got bored of flipping past pages upon pages upon pages of sex that became repetitive and unexciting. But because my cover has the dude covering the girls boobies with his arms, it's "Adult" and gets filtered. By the way, you can't even see the girl's cleavage on my cover. Just her abdomen and shoulders. What the actual fuck?
I will be changing the cover. Not because I don't like it, because, in fact, I love it, but because I wanted the series to have a more cohesive feel to the covers. Also, the couple who is on it are on TONS of other books, which makes me curious if those other books have been flagged as well, though it's probably hit or miss. The sad part about it is now that it's been labeled "Adult", which should really just say "Offensive to whichever Amazon employee happened to review it at the time", it'll be stuck with that label unless I take it down completely and republish it (losing all the reviews I've gotten so far).
If I had a large catalog of works published already, it wouldn't be much of an issue. However, since I only have one book out, I'm practically non-existent on Amazon, even more so than I would've been already.
I guess what pisses me off so much is the fact that it is so completely random. A book that is known for having way more sex than story and isn't filtered at all goes on to sell millions, while an indie book with minimal sex and lots of story is essentially labeled as pornographic and held back from any hope of achieving success. It's bullshit, my friends.
You can check out the website here that shows what I'm talking about: http://www.salesrankexpress.com/ You just have to type in the author and/or book title to see if the book has been flagged.
June 6, 2014
Craving is now 99 Pennies!
Craving is now just 99 cents! It is the first book of The Willow Creek Vampires Series. Pick it up before Haunting, book #2, is released July 29! It is available through Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords. It will be available in the Apple Store and Kobo shortly. Links will be provided as soon as they go live. Amazon: http://amzn.to/1jTqtKz
B&N: http://bit.ly/1j7qAOE
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1q1pOYg
June 4, 2014
Leave Other Authors Out of It
I was perusing reviews for a book I'm currently reading. Yes, I realize it's probably weird to do that after the fact, but I sometimes like to see if other people are enjoying or disliking some of the same aspects of the book I am. Anyway, in addition to doing this, I also like to read the 1 star reviews of books before I buy them. I'm rarely deterred from buying a book just because of a bad review, but sometimes the bad reviews are more honest than the gushing 5 star reviews, and I feel like I can go into the book knowing potential weaknesses beforehand.
So I'm reading 1 star reviews for this particular book (which I'm really enjoying, by the way), and can't help but notice several of those bad reviews go on to praise another author in the same genre. Let me just say that if you bash a book and then go on to mention some other author who does it way better (in your opinion), you tend to look like you're just bashing for the sake of pumping up the other author, even if that's not your intention, which kind of discredits your opinion. And when it's the same author being mentioned over and over, it looks REALLY bad. Just sayin'.
Word of advice on writing reviews, leave other authors out of it and focus on what it is you liked or disliked and leave it at that. You may think you're helping, but if some other author really is better, it's easy to discredit said author by looking like you're a minion of theirs looking to take out the competition.
So I'm reading 1 star reviews for this particular book (which I'm really enjoying, by the way), and can't help but notice several of those bad reviews go on to praise another author in the same genre. Let me just say that if you bash a book and then go on to mention some other author who does it way better (in your opinion), you tend to look like you're just bashing for the sake of pumping up the other author, even if that's not your intention, which kind of discredits your opinion. And when it's the same author being mentioned over and over, it looks REALLY bad. Just sayin'.
Word of advice on writing reviews, leave other authors out of it and focus on what it is you liked or disliked and leave it at that. You may think you're helping, but if some other author really is better, it's easy to discredit said author by looking like you're a minion of theirs looking to take out the competition.
May 27, 2014
Stardust: A Futuristic Romance Collection now available!
Stardust: A Futuristic Romance Collection is now available! Check out my short story, Love Forgotten, along wiht nine other awesome stories!www.amazon.com/Stardust-Futuristic-Collection-Rene-Folsom-ebook/dp/B00KKB499M
May 26, 2014
What to do, what to do?
Up until a few minutes ago, I was sitting here working on Haunting. It occurs to me that the story is most likely going to be shorter than Craving, mainly because I don't have to fool around with too much back story and introducing the main characters. Craving ended up being just under 63,000 words and I'm sitting at 25,000 words for Haunting, and I can tell you I'm probably going to be wrapping it up in another 10 - 15,000 words. I already have the third installment planned out (if only in my mind) and I'm beginning to think I need to combine those two stories together into one book. I don't like the idea of maybe having to come up with unnecessary filler just to fill out two separate books.
If I decide to combine them, it would mean Haunting would just be a sequel to Craving, and I'd be breaking away from the trilogy format I originally planned for. Now, I could still expand the Willow Creek Universe by dreaming up some other adventures for Sabine and Remy later on or writing about other vampires, shifters, whatever that may be linked to the area somehow. I'd love to explore the character of Gretchen a bit more, and I'd like to go back in time and write some shenanigans Remy partook in before Sabine. These would all fall under the Willow Creek Vampires Series, though I may need to tweak the name a bit.
I have time before I need to turn my manuscript over to my editor, and I'm confident I can get everything banged out in time. It's just a tough decision to change course once you've decided where you want to go. I am well aware this is probably just a late night rambling, and I could very well wake up tomorrow and think of a whole other direction to take the last installment and decide it has to be its own book.
I don't know. I guess part of me just wants to give my readers more bang for their buck, and I feel bad if Haunting only ends up being a 2/3 the size of Craving. However, if I combine, then Haunting could end up being way longer than Craving.
What to do, what to do?
If I decide to combine them, it would mean Haunting would just be a sequel to Craving, and I'd be breaking away from the trilogy format I originally planned for. Now, I could still expand the Willow Creek Universe by dreaming up some other adventures for Sabine and Remy later on or writing about other vampires, shifters, whatever that may be linked to the area somehow. I'd love to explore the character of Gretchen a bit more, and I'd like to go back in time and write some shenanigans Remy partook in before Sabine. These would all fall under the Willow Creek Vampires Series, though I may need to tweak the name a bit.
I have time before I need to turn my manuscript over to my editor, and I'm confident I can get everything banged out in time. It's just a tough decision to change course once you've decided where you want to go. I am well aware this is probably just a late night rambling, and I could very well wake up tomorrow and think of a whole other direction to take the last installment and decide it has to be its own book.
I don't know. I guess part of me just wants to give my readers more bang for their buck, and I feel bad if Haunting only ends up being a 2/3 the size of Craving. However, if I combine, then Haunting could end up being way longer than Craving.
What to do, what to do?
