Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 81
April 11, 2013
Do you have Qs?
KindleI think I need to update my FAQ page…
I’m getting a bunch of the same ones…
Are you writing a series about Zach’s brothers?
What happened to Puck?
Are you seriously making us waiting until 2014 for Broken Blade?
Is/Why can’t the Kit books be audio?
Why don’t you have more books in audio? Is Stolen part of a series?
These are the normal ones.
Do you have more? Leave them in comments. If there’s a theme, I’ll send about updating or adding a second FAQ page.
April 10, 2013
Today, I ask you to be a problem
KindleSo I saw the link to this…
It’s a review of Laura Vivanco’s book. I see Laura online. I know she’s wicked smart. That’s about all I know. But she wrote a book…about romances, awesome, right?
And this woman reviewed it and decided readers are the problem.
But clearly there is a vast and satisfied readership out there who want to read novels written like this: they choose to buy these books, and that’s the problem.
Hey. Cool. I like being a problem.
So, I bought two books.
I bought…
Chosen specifically since Doc Macdonald was really ragging on categories and I don’t think I can buy M&Bs here in the states. So I shared my love (and was a problem) with HQN instead.
I urge you today to be a problem. And if HQN or Mills and Boon isn’t your speed, you can always buy me. I’m totally for sale. 
April 9, 2013
There *is* only one way… my way
KindleI was reading Chuck Wendig’s blog. It’s about indie publishing and I’m not following the links to the kindle boards, because I’ve done that and I refuse to go down that rabbit hole again.
I just want to say this.
THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY.
For me.
I do traditional, digital and self-publishing. My Kit books are selfpublished and they outsell a lot of my digital books. I self published some really, and I mean really hot erotic romances…some did okay, one totally tanked. But my UF books under another name? The ones that aren’t romance? They outsell the romance stuff, the hot stuff. They are probably some of the bestselling books I have. They have more reviews than any other book I have out there. And they aren’t even a year old. New York didn’t want them. Go figure.
I didn’t do anything really special with my self published books. The erotic romance that I thought would sell really huge? Didn’t do all that great. It didn’t suck, but it didn’t do what I’d hoped it would. So the follow-up I’ve been planning to do just sits on the shelf. I may finish it, I may not, but it’s not priority.
The UF titles? I hoped they would do okay, but I wasn’t really expecting them to-to be honest, I’ve stopped hoping for things, but nothing I do seems to click, but this one is doing better than I would have let myself hope for. And it’s not romance, it’s not what I’m ‘known’ for. It’s not…’my way’, so to speak.
The bottom line? There is no ‘way’ except the one you find for yourself. If you’re out there screaming, or even quietly saying, traditional is best or indie is best or telling your books via figurative dance is the absolutely only way to do it? Well. Maybe it is. For you.
Let everybody else find their own way.
April 8, 2013
Stuff…. signed copies of WRECKED, the Kit books,etc.
KindleI had a great signing at Rose’s Bookhouse. There are signed copies of WRECKED and other books, if you’d like to order. They will mail them, just call. She’s also on Facebook, if you’d prefer to reach her that way. (There are a few copies of the Kit books, too.)
I stopped to eat dinner at this awesome little restaurant in Poseyville, Indiana. I think if you blink, you’ll miss the town. The Red Wagon was the restaurant and the Cajun Bayou chicken was awesome.
I also took this picture when I stopped at the stop sign.
We took a bike ride yesterday. Eight miles. Half of it in the wind. My legs aren’t too sore, but I’m sunburnt. Awesome.
It’s less than two weeks now until I’m going to be signing at Turn the Page…this is like a romance writer’s dream, right? I’m still waiting for somebody to pinch me. (I also wanna know if I’ve got time to figure out a way to go to the battlefield. I love Civil War history. Love it.) Anyway, if you want to order personalized signed books from me, you totally can. They’ve only got Wrecked and The Reunited listed, but if you give them enough time, they can get backlist books in. But that means…um, notify them now. Use their contact page or call them.
I’m still getting a lot of questions about Zach’s brothers. I shall simply refer you to this post. :) I can’t answer that Q yet, because I simply don’t know. I’d love to write more, but that’s not always up to me. Word of mouth, reviews, all of that helps; the more people who are buying WRECKED and giving it a shot? The more likely it will be that I have the chance to tell more stories about the Barnes brothers. Yes, the first plan would be Keelie and Zane. But we’ll have to see what happens.
I read The Witness this weekend. I think it might be my new favorite by Nora Roberts. It’s kinda awesome. The heroine is a mess. She’s awkward and does and says things that don’t fit. And she’s brilliant.
A snippet from Wrecked for those who are still on the fence.
Maybe he should be careful about the games he was going to play, Zach thought after Abby had shut the door behind her and disarmed the alarm. She shot him a nervous look. Nervous . . . and hot. There was both dismay and heat in her eyes, as though she wanted to bolt and plunge right into this.
Whatever this was.
Deciding to make it easy on her, he moved a few feet into the house and sprawled on the staircase. “So what were you going to show me?
She fingered the material of the full skirt flaring around her legs. The material was pale pink, glowing against her skin like a rose. Zach smirked to himself as he thought it. She went and made him start thinking poetic thoughts like that, turned him into a knot with just a smile. He was a mess.
The heels of her shoes clicked on the floor as she came toward him and he found himself mesmerized by her legs. The skirt was modest, just an inch below her knees, but still, the heels and her legs . . ..
“Ah . . . you know, if you don’t show me soon,” he said, dragging his eyes up to stare at her face. “I think you should have to take the panties off. Just on principle.”
“That’s a weird principle.” She smiled at him, still fingering the skirt and watching him with that hot, almost fevered look in her eyes. “But I’m going to show you. Or better yet . . . you can see for yourself.”
She caught a fistful of her skirt and dragged it up and Zach felt his heart all but stop.
That grin on her face danced into somewhere just shy of devilish. “I need some help, Zach,” she said. “The skirt and the petticoat are a handful.”
He blinked, a little dazed. “Petticoat . . . ?”
Then he looked down and saw the black slip-like thing under it. Petticoat. Yeah, he knew what that was. Peeking out from under the skirt, tangling around her legs. He swallowed the spit pooling in his mouth and started to drag it up and then his heart really did stop.
Yeah, she was wearing stockings . . . and garters. And they . . . He closed his eyes and said hoarsely, “You’re keeping the damn panties on. You need to tell me where in the hell you got them because I want to buy stock in the place.” Tangling his hands in the layers of skirt and petticoat, he held all of it up to her waist and stared.
Black silk stretched over the round curve of her hips. He could see himself gripping those hips, holding her steady as he settled between her thighs and started to ride her. She’d cradle him just perfect, all lush curves and sweet heat. Dark silk encased her thighs and those thighs . . . damn. A thing of beauty, he knew.
The straps of her garters ran down from her panties to hold up her stockings and he slid one finger under the strap lightly as he leaned in and pressed his mouth to her.
Abby gasped and braced her hand against his shoulder. “Zach . . .”
And before he let himself do anything else, he stood up.
Amazon | Book Depository | BN | BAMM | Indiebound
April 6, 2013
That’s why they call it the blues…Break-up scene!
KindleFrom Night Blade. There be spoilers. But…well. There be spoilers, below the cut.
“I need you,” he roared. “Now. Come with me now.”
The phone rang again and anxiety rose to a wail in my mind as my office phone started to echo it as well. Calling both lines—not good.
And clear as crystal, I could see Damon speeding away from Assemblyman Marlowe’s house.
I opened my mouth… I have to tell them you were doing it for me—
That was all I had to say. That was all.
But the binding spell kept the words locked inside me and even when I tried to force the words out, it was like my throat was swelling shut on me while pain swelled like supernova behind my eyes, all but blinding me. Justin, you son of a bitch…damn you.
“Damon. It’s two hours.”
“No.” He shook his head. “It’s more than that. It’s over, baby girl. Good-bye, Kit.”
My heart cracked down the middle as I stared at him. I’d taking beatings that hadn’t hurt like that. He…shit. He hadn’t just said that, had he? “What?”
He backed away from me. “You don’t trust me. Right now, you’re half sick with fear and I can’t get you to come with me when I need you like I need air. If we…if this is how it’s going to be between us, then maybe it’s better off if there isn’t an us. It’s done.”
Tears blinded me as he turned his back on me.
It was probably for the best.
I didn’t see him leaving me.
Read more at the J.C. blog!
Also… !!! NOW IN PRINT… shiny! ISBN is 9780615778068 if you’d like to support your local indie have them order it in. (FYI, bookstores will have to order it in, they won’t carry it in the store.)
iBookstore | Amazon | BN | Kobo | Smashwords | ARe | Book Depository | Indiebound
Other people on the snippet tour…singing about the blues…
Shelli Stevens
Caris Roane
Eliza Gayle
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Delilah Devlin
TJ Michaels
Myla Jackson
Lauren Dane
April 5, 2013
About those Barnes Boys
Kindle
I’m getting a lot of questions about whether Zach’s brothers will be getting books, whether this is the start of series, etc.
Specifically, people are asking about Zane and Trey. (Trey kinda surprised me…I would have thought it would be Sebastian, cuz he’s such an ass…lol).
Anyway, the answer is… I don’t know.
I’d like to, but…well, a lot of that is up to readers and whether or not the publisher thinks people want more. And I don’t just mean a handful. If WRECKED does really well? They are going to be more inclined to give it a shot, I would think. If WRECKED doesn’t do well?
Pfft.
The best I can do is put together a proposal (which I did, for Zane). If you all want to help, you can review WRECKED. Tell your friends about it. Talk to your book clubs about it, chat about it on Goodreads, facebook, twitter, etc.
All that word of mouth boost sales and that’s the sort of thing that will matter, in the long run, when the publishers decide whether or not they want to take chance on more books about those Barnes boys.
Signing in St. Louis tomorrow! Also, a PSA … on being an idiot.
Kindle
I’m signing in St. Louis tomorrow…
April 6
12:00pm CDT
Rose’s Bookhouse
8935 Veterans Memorial Parkway
O’Fallon, Missouri
~*~
If you live in or around the area, I’d love to meet you. I’ll be signing WRECKED and other stuff. I’ll have a few of the Kit books, so you can get one of those, but I mean a very, very few. 
Just a reminder… if you’d like to get a signed book from me, you’ve got a chance. You can pre-order it from Turn the Page. I’ll be signing there in two weeks and they’ll take your orders and I’ll sign them once I’m there. WRECKED and THE REUNITED will be the books they have on stock, as well as a few others, but if you want one of my backlist/older titles, contact them ASAP and they might be able to get it in, but please do not wait too long. They also ship internationally!! Order your signed books here.
The Bookpushers were with me with me when I had the idea for WRECKED. They blogged their thoughts on the book. They liked it. :)
And now… a PSA.
Apparently there’s a big petition on returning books to Amazon. Some authors don’t like it. Some authors don’t like that you can leave negative reviews and some don’t like the fact that the earth is round and that the moon is not made of green cheese, either.
Yes, some people will abuse that system. This is the fact of life when you’re doing business with the public.
The bottom line is sometimes you buy a book twice.
Sometimes you buy a book and you go to read and the formatting sucks…I handled the formatting on the first 2-3 selfpubbed books and while it’s pretty decent for a newbie, it’s not as good as my later stuff, which I finally paid somebody to do.
Some people buy a book thinking it’s a romance and it turns out it has terrible awful stuff like rape fantasy (yes, I’ve got one of those and I’ve had a few people unhappy because that sexy romance wasn’t sexy, it was filled with lurid stuff where the woman fantasized about being forced). That wasn’t their cuppa and they didn’t like it, which is totally okay, and they returned it.
And then there’s really weird thing where sometimes you buy one book and you get…oh, say…the file of another! No. That can’t happen, right? Um, guess what? It’s happened to me…twice. And it wasn’t a formatting issue on my part-it was something publishers or distributors did. The customer’s best course of action at the time was to return and repurchase.
Sometimes, as much as it pains me to point it out, you just buy a book where the writer either didn’t care about quality, or doesn’t know what quality is. Where they do crap like:
hey look over their, there go to the market over they’re.
or…
hey! what DO YOU MEAN i USE CAPS all WRONG!!!!!
or
HEY! I LIKE TO EMPHASIZE SHIT!!!! AND I’LL ABUSE THE BOLD TYPE AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! ALL!! THROUGH!!! THE BOOK!!!!
or
She was a pre-madonna
FYI… that was really fricking used in a book. Not prima donna. But pre-madonna.
other crap like:
sh eopened the door and sawhim standing there. Sohot. Sosexy. And hers. Hewasall hers. And just hers Sh3 just wanted him. Nthing but him. Teh neeed insde her was going t kill her
And it’s pretty damn obvious the book didn’t even get a read through or a basic grammar/spell check on Word, much less finding an editor who’d read it through.
The above stuff does happen. There’s plenty of that stuff on Amazon. I see in excerpts, in samples that I download, etc. It’s why I’ll only read a self-pubbed work if it’s by authors I know or somebody who comes very very highly recommended and then I’ll take it with about five grains of salt. (I’m also saying this with a grain of salt because I’m aware I miss things in my self pubbed works and I’m constantly trying to think of ways to improve.)
Some people can overlook and that is fine. Others don’t want to. It interferes with the reading experience and if they are spending their hard-earned money, they are entitled to spend on something they will enjoy.
So, authors? It’s in your best interest to make sure it’s in the best possible shape for the reader. Get the book formatted. Hire editors. Self-published works are not as likely to get the treatment that New York works get-those books get read through multiple times by multiple people, editors, multiple line editors, etc and the cost of that is astronomical. But you can definitely find a content editor and a line editor. You can use spell and grammar check. SmartEdit will cut back on the repetitive words. You can do plenty of things to shape your work up.
If your return rate is that fricking high, it oughta tell you something-you need to improve your craft. Most readers are looking for new authors to love…not books to return. So be that author.
Also, it’s kinda silly for anybody to argue that you know within seven days if you’ll finish the book…oh, silly, silly rabbit. This?
That’s the top half of one of my print bookshelves. The books are double-stacked. There are books behind the books in front. On both shelves. I don’t think I’ve read any of these yet. Except the SEP.
There are two more bookshelves just like it. And that doesn’t even touch on the ebooks. Readers glom on books. So you’re kinda lucky that they even cracked open that book to notice there was a problem within in seven days.
Amazon’s rules are set up so that as long as you return the book within a week, you can get a refund. That’s set up to protect the customer. Are there jerks who will abuse it? Yes. Because people are people and some people are jerks. Just like some authors are out there calling readers scammers and thieves… (FYI…that’s being a jerk.) But the majority of readers do not set out to buy a book just to return it, rip you off. Amazon can track that. If excessive returns are made, their accounts do get flagged. Then those accounts can be shut down.
Dealing with returns is part of being a writer. Traditionally pubbed writers have to deal with it. And so does this new ‘cutting edge’ part of publishing. I know. I do it all and I’ve dealt with it all.
You want to be a writer? This is part of it.
Tomorrow? Dealing with bad reviews. (No. Not really. I already blogged about that. It involves pink unicorns. Or maybe they were purple.)
ETA: BTW, hopefully it won’t be an issue, but if you wonder onto my blog because if my PSA… please be civil. Otherwise, the post won’t remain up for long. I try to keep this a decent place for my readers and they won’t want to come back if it gets ugly. If you want to be uncivil and such, you can do it on your own turf. This is mine. Disagree all you want…that’s fine. But do it in without getting ugly.
April 3, 2013
So… I’m signing at Turn the Page!
KindleI’m trying not to be all dorky and stupid about it, but yeah! I’m signing at Turn the Page! With Nora Roberts! A bunch of other awesome authors, but my brain went blank at the Nora Roberts’ part.
Here’s the cool part. If you all would like a signed book from me, you can contact them about ordering it. They have WRECKED and THE REUNITED, but if you give them enough notice, they can probably order others. I did mention BLADE SONG and they will see about that. If you’re looking something specific, you can email them. Contact info is here.
And I promise. I’ll try really hard not to make an idiot of myself in front of Nora this time. Really. But I’ll probably do it again anyway.
Other stuff…
You know WRECKED is now available, right? No? It is! Here… go read some more about it…
There’s the authors on a rampage mess where we try to play tricks on you and give you prizes. This week, we are at Alyssa’s blog.
I’m getting questions about whether or not I’ll write more about Zach’s brothers. Honestly, I’d love to… but that’s up in the air. It depends on how this one goes and whether or not the publisher wants more. So…spread the word. Write reviews. Tell people you loved it. The more people who like Zach’s story and put the word out, the more likely it is I’ll be able to pursue more stories like this.
He went to kneel on the bed and stilled.
Abby was staring at him, her breath coming in harsh little pants that had her chest rising and falling in the most interesting way imaginable. A flush started low on her chest, spreading up her neck and higher, higher, suffusing her entire body a pale, gentle shade of pink. Her eyes locked blindly with his and her voice was a little shaky as she said, “Damn it, Zach. When did you get to be so beautiful?”
Something hot and satisfied moved through him as he crawled across the bed and leaned over her, dipping his head to catch her mouth. “Hey, they weren’t trying to get me on the stupid Bachelor show for nothing,” he teased. He had his share of arrogance, he knew. But nothing equaled the rush of pride he felt right now.
The look of want in her eyes was almost enough to lay him low.
April 2, 2013
WRECKED… out today!
Kindle
from WRECKED…
“Okay, here are the important things,” Zach said as he studied the design. It was cute and sexy as hell. If he found out another guy was the one who got to press his lips to that dragonfly where it curved low over the flare of her left hip, he thought he just might go insane. “I’ll send you home with some instructions on how to care for it, but you need to make sure you keep it clean. No scrubbing at it or anything—you need to be gentle when you wash it. I’ve got some ointment I’ll send home with you and I’ll go into detail about using that, too.”
She was still staring at it over her shoulder in the mirror. Worrying her lower lip with her teeth and eyeing the dragonfly like she expected it to take flight or something.
“I need to get the bandage on,” he said softly.
“What? Oh.”
She continued to stand there and he reached up, pressed his hand between her shoulder blades. “Lean forward a little.”
Hunger screamed, jerking on the leash inside him as he eased the waistband of her skirt just a little lower so he could get the bandage in place. Bent over the table like that, he could so easily imagine pulling the hem of the skirt up. Slipping his hand between her thighs. Would she sigh? Moan?
No. This was Abby and she’d freak the hell out and then she’d run away and he’d lose her—
A soft, shaky sigh caught his attention as he smoothed the bandage down. Keeping his head bowed, he checked the mirror from under his lashes and his knees almost buckled.
Fuck.
Abby was staring at their reflection and her face was flushed.
What. The. Hell.
Abruptly, he stepped back and moved away. If he didn’t move away immediately, he was going to grab her and do things he should never do to his best friend. The woman he loved. That was the problem. He’d loved her for too long and he was misreading the signals and—
“Do you really think all that’s true? About Roger?”
Hearing that shithead’s name on her lips snapped his temper. He turned around and glared at her. “If I didn’t think that was the case, Abs, I wouldn’t have said it. He’s an egotistical, arrogant piece of work and he never loved you. You deserved a hell of a lot better and I knew it all along. But he was what you wanted so who in the hell was I to say any different?”
“You’re my best friend,” she said quietly.
“Shit.” He went to pass a hand over his face and stopped. He still had his gloves on. Stripping them off, he tossed them into the red trash can near the door and headed over to start cleaning up. “Yes. I am. You asked me what I thought and I told you. But I can’t tell you what is in that fucker’s head. You can always ask him when you call him to tell him off, although I doubt he’ll tell you the truth. He doesn’t even see the truth anyway.”
“Have you ever been in love?”
In the middle of gathering up his supplies, he paused. Zach closed his eyes and started to mouth every single foul, nasty curse he could think of. He had four brothers. He could think of a lot of cuss words. Halfway through one that involved anatomical improbabilities and a goat, a hand touched his shoulder.
“Zach?”
Damn it, he couldn’t do this. Moving away, he started grabbing his supplies at random. Dumping trash, slamming the tools here, there. Being fucking careless with them, but he couldn’t look at her yet. If he did, she might see—
He went to dump the trash and turned around.
Abby was right there, dark brown eyes locked on his face, her shirt still knotted just under her breasts, leaving her belly bare.
“What is this?” she teased. “You make me play twenty questions all the time.”
Edging around her, he focused on cleaning up. “I’m thirty-two years old, Abby. Yeah. I’ve been in love,” he said, keeping his voice flat and his eyes on the task at hand. “It didn’t work out.”
“Why not?”
“She never seemed to notice that I was staring at her when she walked into the room.”
Amazon | Book Depository | BN | BAMM | Indiebound
April 1, 2013
Stuff! I meant to post this STUFF earlier…and forgot
Kindle
Look it! Go look now! I’m all cool and awesome and hanging out with Eloisa James and Nora Roberts… (well, sorta, but let me indulge my fantasy life, okay?)
Like rollercoasters and racecars? You should come to Ohio this summer and meet me. Check out the Speed Reader weekend.
Look it here! I’m a recommended read… or, well, Zach and Abby are. And then… over here, I need ya to vote for me…(my cover, really). Pretty please? Zach and Abby want your votes.
Then…make sure you go HERE…It’s Alyssa’s blog and it’s the next entry in the Author Wrecking it Up Tour. We’re causing trouble and other stuffs. Guess who it is!
Wrecked is due out tomorrow. I would most definitely love for you to buy it. Pretty please. I had so much fun with this book and I want to share it with the world.
“You aren’t going to be drunk on anything but me tonight.”
Her skin seemed to burst into flames.
“I think I already am,” she said, her voice shaking a little as he carried her through another door, into a room she hadn’t seen before. And she didn’t even see it then, not really. He hit the lights but all she saw was the huge bed and Zach as he laid her down and came over her, his hands tangling in her hair.
The impact of that kiss was enough to make her nerve endings implode, one by one. She heard them exploding, sizzling through her as she wrapped around him, desperate to get closer. His shirt was in the way and she shoved it up, needing to get at his skin.
He leaned back and tore it away but when he would have come back down over her, she braced her hands against his chest, keeping a few inches between them as she stared at his chest and shoulders. Her breath hitched a little as she smoothed one hand down over his pectoral, lingering over the bleeding heart design that had been inked there.
Ironically, it was just above where his heart was. A dagger pierced it and there was stylized, twisting scrollwork done around the blade and the heart. It should have looked ridiculously feminine, she thought, but like every other tattoo he had, it suited him. She shifted her attention to the tiger that crouched just across from the heart. It was so vivid, so detailed, she could almost imagine it coming to life, muscles bunching as it leaped from Zach’s skin into reality.
“I’ve never told you this,” she murmured, flicking him a look. “I’ve never told anybody . . . but I really love your tattoos, Zach.”
He covered her hand with his and caught her wrist, dragging it away and pinning it over her head. He did the same with her other one and she caught her breath as she felt his bare chest against her own. “You can pet them and play with them all you fucking want,” he promised as he caught her earlobe between his teeth and bit her lightly. “After.”
She shuddered, her entire body going tight at the thought. After. He was serious. Finally. Lifting her foot, she stroked it down his calf, feeling the worn denim against her sole. “You’re still wearing too many clothes.”
Amazon | Book Depository | BN | BAMM | Indiebound
Reviews & the ARC tour
