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On Ghostwriting and Jordin Williams
I usually do my best to try and avoid drama. In fact, I basically just ignore people who try to cause drama, or I separate myself from any excessively dramatic situations. I’m perfectly content with having the only real drama in my life be in the stories that I write, because that’s a fun kind of drama, you know? It’s not tiresome and it doesn’t get old.
My one main exception to this rule is when someone says something that’s harmful to others. If someone wants to be involved in drama on their own, that’s their prerogative, but don’t drag in hundreds (thousands, millions?) of people into your issues by making mean, false statements about other people. It’s not only rude, but it’s damaging.
If you’re unsure exactly what I’m talking about, here is the quick version. There was a “new” author named Jordin Williams who released a New Adult Romance book titled Amazingly Broken. This book did very well and got some great reviews right off the bat from a marketing program they had where they contacted a bunch of book bloggers to promote their book. At one point it was close to #50 in the Amazon Kindle Store, which is A LOT of copies sold a day.
This went on for approximately 6 days before someone realized that whole paragraphs (many, many, much more than one or two or “accidental” mistakes) were plagiarized from Easy by Tammara Webber and Beautiful Disaster by Jamie Mcguire. Basically, what it seems like is that this Jordin Williams person cut/pasted segments from each book together, did some minor additions for cohesion, and “created” a new story that… was basically the same as those other two stories. Amazingly Broken wasn’t just similar, it was exactly the same as -at least- those two books. The cover is also the same as HM Ward’s The Arrangement 3 (with extremely minor changes), but that’s at least somewhat forgivable under regular circumstances, since many indie authors purchase the same photos from photographers. We pay for the rights to use these pictures, so it’s different. It doesn’t change the fact that the book was basically a copy/paste job of at least three different books.
So, that’s the story. Lots of people have talked about that, and you can find a ton of posts if you want to search around. I think the most prominent is at the Dear Author site where I first heard about it. This might actually be the first place to release this info, too, though I’m unsure of that.
Anyways!
The thing that bothers me the most about this are some of the Twitter comments that Jordin Williams tossed up in some attempt to mitigate her blame. One in particular essentially said, “Most/Lots of New Adult Romance authors don’t write their own books and hire ghostwriters.” Their defense towards extreme plagiarism before this was that they “hired a ghostwriter” to write their DEBUT NOVEL and didn’t realize the person they hired had done what they did.
First off, this makes no sense. A ghostwriter is basically someone who writes something for someone else for a price, and lets the other person take credit for their work. It’s kind of shady sometimes, but it’s useful in quite a few cases. The most common example is a celebrity’s book, since… honestly, most celebrities probably have an interesting story to tell, but they probably couldn’t write to save their lives. That’s fine, and we want to know their stories, so they chat with a ghostwriter, who takes their life story and writes it up into a book. That’s a perfectly great use of a ghostwriter.
Other places use a ghostwriter for big campaigns, which is also fine. I can’t give any good examples of this, but fantasy books for kids sometimes do this. Basically they want to have an entire “fantasy world” and keep it written by the same author name so that kids can find the books easier. So they have one or two (or more) authors who ghostwrite these books. That example is more like a pen name, but not quite, since some of those authors move on to do their own thing, or quits writing, or (hopefully not, but it happens) dies, and another takes their place. There’s nothing wrong with this, either.
This doesn’t happen for new authors (because why would it? There’s no audience, and there’s no point), and it’s almost guaranteed not to happen with indie authors, either. Indie authors, myself included, work so hard to tell a story, write it to the best of our abilities, edit it, get cover art done, formatting it for e-books, and so much more that people don’t even think about. To claim that a lot of us ignore all of that and have our books written by a ghostwriter is extremely disrespectful and rude. To me, it almost feels like Jordin Williams slapped all of my books out of my hands and told me that none of what I’ve been doing for almost a year now is real. All of the work I put in is a sham, and everyone should know it!
It’s not, though. The work is real. I do all of this myself. I don’t hire out a ghostwriter to write my newest novel. First off, I’m kind of bossy and I micromanage a lot, and I really don’t think a ghostwriter would want to work with me (haha). They’d probably get tired of it fast. Besides that, though, I love writing. I love making the stories my own. I don’t copy/paste people’s ideas. Some of my books might seem similar to other books, and I might have found inspiration in something I’ve read, or watched on TV, or listened to on the radio, but every single word I write is purely my own, and I would NEVER want it any other way.
I think a lot of indie authors are like this, too. It’s honestly a lot of hard work, and some of us have been rejected by big publishers in the past. I’ve never sent a book manuscript into any of the big publishing houses for this reason, too. Lots of people in the world want to make you feel inadequate and bad, just because it’s their job. I doubt that any of the editors at Random House or anywhere have anything against me, but if they don’t think my books will sell hundreds of thousands of copies, then they don’t want to see them and to them, that’s not good enough.
I have books that have sold less than a hundred copies, and I have some that have sold hundreds of copies. I even have some special books that have sold thousands of copies. But, you know what? I like all of them, and someone, somewhere, has also enjoyed each and every one. A big publishing house might not care about a book that’s only sold 83 copies (just making up a number there), but the 83 people who bought that book enjoyed it, and I love that. I love that I’m able to do that.
I admit that I want to write books that more people enjoy, and I’d love to write books that thousands upon thousands of people buy, but I just love to write. I love the time and effort put into it, and it’s extremely enjoyable to me. I love everything about being an indie author, even if some of it’s difficult or confusing or it upsets me sometimes. It’s a good kind of upset most of the time, you know? It means it might be hard now, but I’m doing something right, and in the end it’ll be more satisfying.
Basically, Jordin Williams ignored all of that. They plagiarized some books and published it as their own, and if that’s what they felt like doing, I don’t want to be a part of the drama involved. But the fact that she came out and BASHED other authors, taking away all of their hard work and effort, all of the time they spent perfecting a story, hoping that readers would like it… just throwing it out the window and claiming that lots of us hire ghostwriters?
It’s rude and disrespectful and mean. Most of us don’t do that. Most of us love our stories as much as you love our stories, and we wouldn’t disrespect other authors or readers by trying to place the blame on someone else.
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Product Reviews (and what I think about them)
Hello!
Someone asked me recently about book reviews and the impact they had and if authors thought they were worth it. I thought this was an interesting question, since I’ve kind of been on both sides of it and been able to see how exactly reviews work and affect things on a different level than a lot of readers have. Secretly, I also have an obsession with buying things off of Amazon, and I read a lot of reviews. My most recent purchase is this really neat can opener, for anyone interested.
Anyways! I’m not going to talk just about book reviews right now, though I’ll get to that. I just want to mention reviews in general for a moment, so bear with me.
Why did I buy this particular can opener? Oddly, I didn’t look at the number of stars it had until just now, so that wasn’t it. Mostly, it looks really fancy, especially from the thumb nail. Also, it’s eligible for Amazon Prime 2-day shipping, which is important to me because I have Amazon Prime(it’s really neat and I recommend it if you like to buy things online). I’m a huge sucker for free shipping and prefer to buy things with it, and this can opener had it.
After that, well, it’s a can opener, right? It is, but it isn’t. I needed to read some reviews for this, so I did. I don’t actually read product descriptions a lot when I buy things like this, because they don’t tend to tell you too much(weird, huh?). This can opener in particular is guilty of this. It’s got a bunch of fancy words, but they don’t say much, and that bothers me. This is important, and I’ll come back to it in a moment.
I always check the 1-star reviews first, because I need to see if there’s any legitimate complaints. Check them out if you want.
Mostly, these reviews aren’t saying anything either. Someone gave 1 star because the cord isn’t long enough? Someone else didn’t read the instructions and couldn’t figure out how to get it to cut. Another person admits that they think they got a faulty can opener but didn’t bother to contact the seller and return it. To me, these aren’t very legitimate. If the cord is too short, I can get an extension, or if I can’t figure out how to make it cut then I’ll read the instructions, you know? If it’s broken, I’ll contact the company to get a replacement.
Now, if the company screamed at me after I called or emailed them and told me I was stupid, I’d probably give them a 1-star, but it doesn’t look like anyone’s rated it 1-star for that reason. The only thing I can really gather from this is that these are the type of people who will complain about everything.
For some interesting insight, Tim Ferriss actually mentions this exact thing in one of his recent blog posts. That’s kind of a long article, but interesting. For ease of reference, here’s exactly what he mentions: “The 1- and 2-star are usually written by people who hate everything (look at their other reviews if you
doubt me).”
So, you might wonder, why did I choose this can opener? I definitely needed to make sure there were no legitimate complaints at first, but after that, I checked out some of the more positive reviews. This one sold me immediately. It’s simple and to the point. He made a video of him opening a can with a regular can opener, then shows how the can opener in question works differently. That’s all I wanted to know and see, and once I saw the video, I decided this was a can opener I’d like. Easy, right?
It really is, but that’s the problem with reviews, too. People get confused about what makes a good review, or why they should pay attention to reviews, and for books it can be even worse. If you see a book with a 1-star, you might suddenly assume it’s bad, right? Except what if that poor rating doesn’t say anything? Is it fake? Is it just someone being angry because they’re always angry? Let me find a random book(that isn’t mine) and I’ll cue you in on some good strategies to take in regards to reviews. I’m going to pick a book in the “erotica” category on Amazon because in my experience, those tend to get some of the weirdest reviews.
The first book that came up is Seduced in the Dark, by CJ Roberts. I’ve actually heard this is a pretty good book, so I think it’s an interesting subject for this. Let’s look at the 1-stars, shall we?
The first one, the first line, says she didn’t finish the book, so it’s hard to really understand why she gave it a 1-star rating(because maybe it got better, you know?), but she does go on to say a lot more, so it’s not too bad. The rest of the review is actually really useful, so I’d say this is actually a “good” 1-star. You know what you’re getting into, and she goes into good detail about why she didn’t like it. Now, maybe someone else would LOVE the book for these reasons, right? I don’t know. It’s possible. Overall, despite the “negative” rating, I like this review.
Further on, you have another review that’s sort of the same. She also didn’t finish the book. The problem is, we don’t know why. There is literally no useful information in this review. I completely believe that this reader didn’t like the book, but I don’t know why. And she’s telling us not to read it? I think people should be nice in their reviews, even if they don’t like it, because at the very least, the author deserves some respect for the time they put into the book, right? To be fair, she wasn’t really mean in her review, but the “Don’t read” and with no further information, is just weird to me. If she told me why I shouldn’t read it, then I might agree.
And, on that same note, for books, I really only take into consideration people talking about the plot. If you browse Amazon a lot, or any other book selling site, you’ll notice people tend to randomly mention “grammar” and “poor writing,” but in my experience these tend to be go-to responses for “I didn’t like the book but I don’t know why, so I’m going to say they wrote it badly.” No one needs to know these things, because every e-book has a sample available that you can read. You will be able to immediately tell if a book has bad grammar or poor writing by reading the sample, right? If someone says a book has poor writing, and that’s their only complaint, it’s a good idea to read some of the sample yourself to check if it’s true or not. Sometimes it really is true, but sometimes it’s just people complaining because they’re angry at something and like to complain(see above).
Be forewarned, though! This doesn’t just happen with bad reviews. It happens in good ones, too.
I am positive this person loved this book, but I have no idea why. It’s great to know that they liked it a lot, and as an author it’s still really nice to get feedback like this. It’s important and it makes us happy to know our readers love our stuff. As a reader, it doesn’t tell me much about the book, though.
This MIGHT be alright, because it’s the second book in the series, you know? If I read the first book in the series and I loved it, and I see someone else who also loved it, then that’s useful to me in a different sort of way. We both loved the first book, and they loved the second, so we share similarities in what we like to read, and that’s enough. As an outside reader who hasn’t read this book, I’d need to find a more descriptive review, though.
Or, alternatively, I don’t actually read the reviews for books very often. I like to read the descriptions and check out the samples to decide if I want to read things most times, so maybe I’m a little weird. I’ve loved books that everyone else hates, and hated books that everyone else loves.
And this is fine! It’s basically exactly what I’m talking about here.
I guess the takeaway is that reviews are important in as much as if they provide information. It doesn’t matter what star rating anything gets, or what anyone gives, it’s more about what they will tell me about what I’m looking at. If they don’t tell me anything, then I don’t know anything. If they tell me weird things that don’t really make sense, it’s kind of the same. If they tell me things that I can check, and already know from glancing at the product, that’s not really useful or exciting.
If I do look at a review, I don’t look at the star ratings, I look at what the person is actually telling me. I might love something for the same reason someone hated something, and that makes their review wonderful and very useful to me.
I kind of wish reviews didn’t have ratings at all, and it was just people talking about the product, because then there’d be a lot more useful ideas being tossed around. That’s what I think, anyways. Reviews can really hurt or help people because some people don’t bother to read them, too. There’s also fake reviews, or reviews that got confused, or any number of things. Some people don’t think before they review things, either, and they don’t realize that there’s a person behind the product, and that person relies on this product to make money to live. For me, this is actually why I don’t rate things badly very often(unless they are legitimately bad and I have many reasons for this). I don’t feel comfortable with it, because I don’t want anyone to starve or not be able to pay their rent or buy their children new clothes, you know? I’m not saying people shouldn’t give items, books, or whatever a low review, but if you do then at least be considerate with it. Tell people why you didn’t like it, and respect the fact that maybe someone else would love it. That’s just how life is =)
So, that’s what I think about reviews. It’s kind of a lot of words, but I hope it helps someone.
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Why do you write in so many different genres and styles?
Hello! Happy Monday!
I don’t know if anyone is actually curious about this, but I feel like it’s an interesting topic, and one that you don’t see a lot of writers talk about or do. Mainly, why do I write in so many different genres and styles?
Well, honestly, I don’t think they’re all that different, but here’s what I’ve got so far. Monster stuff is a big one, and then contemporary romance is the next. I recently finished my paranormal romance series(Soulless, Heartless, Hopeless), which was fun. I’ve also got some fairytale stuff, too. Historical, romantic comedy, noir detective mystery, urban fantasy, and a few more things that probably fit into one of the above but are a bit different, too.
All of these have erotic content, though, so I guess that’s the thread that binds them? I don’t know if that’s a good reason and I don’t really accept it, myself, but it’s there.
Anyways! I write them because I like that. That sounds kind of like a cop out answer, I guess, but it’s just fun to me. I enjoy exploring new genres and taking my own spin on them. I think that’s what this boils down to, really.
If I’m being perfectly honest, I prefer medieval fantasy-style stuff. Or I used to prefer it, anyways. I don’t think that’s a good mindset to get into with this kind of thing. I mean, hey, if I just wrote medieval fantasy all the time, I’d have a lot of that, and that’d be great, but… then what? I know authors who do this and have read more than my fair share of books from authors who basically never branched out from any one genre. It honestly gets stale and you can tell in their writing.
One random example–and I’m only using her as one because I honestly really love her writing, so it was kind of a love/hate thing, but I’ve got tons of respect for her–is Elizabeth Haydon. The first three stories in her Symphony of Ages series were WONDERFUL. I absolutely adored them and I would suggest them to everyone and read them over and over again(and I think I have). They’re kind of fantasy romance with adventure and action and all of that. After the first three, though, it started going downhill. I believe I enjoyed the 4th, but the 5th was kind of lacking, and I can’t say I enjoyed the 6th at all.
After she “finished” that series(because honestly it just kind of stopped, and I’m not sure it ever really fully concluded anything), she started up a YA series set in the same world. I haven’t read those, but I think that’s an interesting thing to do. Mostly, the other books were VERY adult, with sex and violence and all of those kinds of adult things. I have no idea how her YA fantasy books are, but I’m sure they’re nice because she has a wonderful style and tells a good story.
That’s really the thing, though. She got herself stuck in the Symphony of Ages books and I think it showed. By the end of the 6 book series, I don’t think she was as into it as the first three books. It feels like she wrote more because she felt like she NEEDED to write more, and not because she wanted to. Sometimes this can work out, but I think a lot of times it leads to burn out and disappointment.
I’d still read her books if she continued with the series, but I’m not sure if that’s a good idea on her part.
In the same kind of genre, Jacqueline Carey does an excellent job of writing the same but switching it up, too. Her Kushiel’s Legacy books start with three wonderful books, then continue on with three more great ones(my favorites of hers actually), and there’s three more after that. They’re all in the same world, but each set of three switches the main character, and so provides a new and interesting fresh look at her world of Terre d’Ange. Though, to be honest, I’m not sure the last three worked out so well with that, but they -were- interesting, just not really my favorites. Or, I’ve only read the first on of there(the seventh overall), so maybe I’ll change my mind when I get to the last two? I don’t know.
And even still, she has other books that are great, too. Her more traditional epic fantasy books kind of fit with the Kushiel’s ones, and then she completely throws you for a loop with some urban fantasy/paranormal stuff later on. I think this is great and a good idea.
So that’s where I stand, really. For my own writing, I want to write interesting things and continue writing them. If I’m really into an idea, I think I’ll tell a better story than otherwise. I want you, as a reader, to love what I’m writing as much as I do. I do “force” myself to write things, also, but I try not to push it too far. I try to explore new genres and test out ideas because I want to. It’s more of a “forcing myself to do this because I want to” instead of a “forcing myself to do this and I hate it,” which I think is a key difference.
And, honestly? I think it’s turned out well. I never liked contemporary stuff much before, so I rarely wrote it, but I wanted to try one. My best friend isn’t really into reading anything fantasy and she sticks to just contemporary stuff when she reads(which isn’t a ton, but she does read a few books a year), so I wanted to do it for that reason, too. I wanted to write something that she would want to read, so I wrote my Billionaire’s Ultimatum series.
I didn’t really like it at first, truthfully. I didn’t like it because it was HARD for me. But, on that same note, I think it became a much better story because of that. It made me think and decide on different things and try out new ideas and a new style of writing. I never liked first person point of view much before writing that, either, but I thought I’d try that out, also.
Now? I like contemporary. I think The Billionaire’s Ultimatum is a fun story and I’ve received a lot of good feedback on it, so I think I probably did a good job writing it, too. I didn’t like how hard it was for me to write it at first, but I got better with practice and I really loved the idea of the story itself, so I kept up with it. It’s different, it tested me, and overall it was fun and a good experience.
The same with the Soulless series, too. The same with most of my stuff, honestly. The only thing I can’t really get too into is the gay shifter story I wrote, because it was just kind of difficult to really get a handle on the idea, but I think it turned out well. I’d like to write another gay male story in the future, or at least maybe bi-curious or something.
Anyways! I write in these different genres and styles because I like them and I want to try them. I don’t think any of my stuff is so far out there that you’ll be absolutely appalled if you see it in my catalogue along with something you’ve liked, either. I mean, some of it seems pretty far out there, but it’s still me writing it. I have standards and a general style and I promise to try to never disappoint any of my readers with sub-par, worthless junk.
Sometimes you just want to try something new, you know? Sometimes it’s easier to get eased into that new thing, though. If you like my writing, you’ll know generally how I write, and so it’s a nicer process trying something different as opposed to having to find a completely different author that you’re unsure about, and then reading their stuff, too. I know how much of a turn-off that can end up being, where you want to try, say, a science fiction book or something, but you end up finding the one that’s super confusing and weird and you have no idea what’s going on. Then you think you hate science fiction! And, honestly, I’m not actually a huge fan of science fiction, but I absolute love some of it.
It’s good to try new things sometimes. And maybe to take slow, baby steps, so you don’t get overwhelmed.
That’s the reason I do what I do, at least.
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New Direction
Hey!
I’ve recently made a decision. It’s honestly a difficult one to make, because it involves a certain amount of risk, but I’m willing to do it because I think it’s a good idea. I had this in my mind the entire time I started this, but I was never sure if I’d be moving along as well as I have.
My writing has been going well, though. I’ve landed on some Hot New Release lists, a few best sellers(I need to update that, but so far it’s Fantasy Series, Gay & Lesbian, Comic Fiction, Fairytales, Erotica[Brazil only], and Fantasy Romance[Germany]).
I want to push it farther, though, and I think you, as my readers, deserve that, too. My catalogue will still mainly consist of fantasy, paranormal, and contemporary romance, with some other fantasy and paranormal things added in for fun, but I’m moving into something more.
I’m not trying to be vague there. What I mean is paperback books and full-length novel e-books. I’m working on some audiobooks, too, but those are mostly beyond my control. One’s available, though! (I’ll show that at the end)
Anyways! What does this mean for you, as a reader? Well, the first paperback book slated for release is the full-length Princess Miri book, “Princess Miri: An Erotic Coming of Age Monster Romance.” The title’s maybe a bit of a mouthful, but I wanted to sum it up in as few words as possible, and there it is. The paperback will be released with an initial price of $7.99, and the e-book will be released soon, too. I’m hoping to have both of them out in a week or two, but I need to wait on some outside things first.
And, next? The Billionaire’s Ultimatum series will be packaged up into a print book and e-book version. That’ll be a little farther down the road, in a couple months or so. I do most of this myself(and I still have to write new stuff, so there’s that).
I didn’t know where to price them, though. It’s honestly difficult. I think I’ve come up with a solution, though.
I’ll be pricing paperback books as low as I can for as long as I can, but I do want to reach a wider audience, too. I know most people use a Kindle and Amazon, but I have a lot of people who buy my books from B&N and iTunes, too. iTunes isn’t too important for this, but B&N sells paperback books, so I don’t want to leave them out. This is technical junk, but in order to sell to B&N, I need to raise the price a little. I’m -hoping- that the end price for most books will be around $9.99, but I can’t 100% guarantee that.
E-books are different, though! I can price those at competitive prices everywhere, with everything being relatively low. Herein lies the issue, though. The original Princess Miri series, bought as parts, is pricier than what I’d like to price the full-length novel version as. What I -want- to do is price it at around $4.99, with occasional sales dropping it lower. I’m almost positive this is what I’m going to do, but if anyone wants to offer comments or opinions, I’m willing to listen.
Mainly, the full-length novel is coming out approximately 8 months after the first Princess Miri story was released. The people who bought it then got to read it far earlier than anyone else. It’s the same story, and fully edited, everything professional, but I’m thinking for those people who wanted to read it early, it’s worth it. Anyone who waits and ends up wanting to read the full-length version can get it cheaper, but they need to wait months before that.
I wasn’t up front with this in the beginning, and I’m really sorry about that, but I didn’t actually know this was anything I was going to do, either. Going forward, my new direction, this is what I’m going to do, though.
Basically, if you want to read everything first, then you can buy all of my writing in parts. These will be full parts, with a story in each, with an estimated length of 8,000-25,000 words each(approximately 32-100 paperback pages). Once the entire story is done, I’ll wait a few months(at least 6 months, maybe more, after the release of the first “part” of any story), and release a paperback version and a novel-length e-book version.
I’ll make everyone aware of this in the future as best I can. The easiest way to learn about any of this is to follow my site(there’s a button on the side!) and/or sign up for my newsletter(there’s a link on the side!). Almost everything with multiple “parts”(though I’m transitioning to putting (#number) instead, because these are still full stories in their own right) will end up like this.
Again, I’m -VERY- sorry that I wasn’t crystal clear about this in the beginning. I completely understand that it might make some people upset. I know it’s not the best thing ever, but I’m working on getting some bookmarks and stuff like that to do fun giveaways, and if you’re angry about this, I’d be happy to send some your way free of charge. Just email me at cerysdulys (at) gmail (dot) com and let me know(they aren’t ready yet, but I’m going to get them set in a few weeks). You can also send me angry fanmail, or ask me questions, or just talk, and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as possible.
So! Again! Going forward, new direction. If you want to read something first, you can. It’ll cost a bit more, but it will be available to you FIRST. This, in my opinion, is pretty neat. If you like the idea of something but you’d rather wait and get it a little cheaper, or you prefer a paperback version? You can do that, too, but you’ll need to wait 6+ months or so.
I’ll also occasionally be holding book giveaways and things like that. I’ll do the book giveaways through Goodreads, so if you haven’t signed up there before, now is a great time to do it! I’m not very good at Goodreads(it’s misleading!) and I have no idea what I’m doing yet, but I’d love to make more friends there. Here’s my profile so you can add me: http://www.goodreads.com/CerysduLys
And, to end it, here’s a sample for the first audiobook in The Billionaire’s Ultimatum series! I think Lauren did a great job. Give it a listen and let me know what you think? =)
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It’s Normal to Doubt Yourself (Weekly Sale)
I think everyone goes through phases of doubting themselves. You never really know, right? Are you doing the right thing? Could you do something better? What if you’re wrong?
Maybe it’s a depressing topic, but I think it’s an interesting one, too. That’s also the mindset I used when I started writing the Monster Within series.
Drop of Doubt is the 4th story in the series, and it’s also the one I decided to put on sale this week. I know it might seem a little odd to have the 4th story of a series on sale, but I have a reason for that, too. The 1st is permanently set at $0.99, the 2nd and 3rd are $2.99, and the 4th is currently $0.99 until the end of the week. Overall, if you want to grab all 4, it’s only going to cost you around $8. All four parts are close to ~220 paperback book pages in length, which is longer than a lot of romance novels nowadays. You’re definitely getting your money’s worth.
Saying that, the Monster Within series isn’t finished yet. There’s more to come for Solace and Bastion and their story is one that’s really close to me in a personal sort of way. Yes, they’re just characters, but I’ve put a lot of my heart into them and some of the themes I wanted to explore are ones I’ve had to deal with on a personal level. There’s a very large amount of emotion put into these stories.
They are fantasy stories with demons, goblins, ogres, wisps, angels, elementals and all of that. I understand that’s not everyone’s thing, but I tried to make it nice and accessible. I didn’t go too overboard with the magic stuff. If I had to compare it to something, I’d say it’s similar in vein to Brent Weeks’ Night Angel Trilogy(though not quite, but they do explore some similar themes and ideas now that I think about it). Brent Weeks is a great author, too. I really respect him and I love his writing. He doesn’t really write romance, but if you enjoy interesting fantasy stories with a bit of spice sometimes(not often, but sometimes), then you should check him out, too.
The Monster Within series is about doubt and hope, learning to trust, finding a glimpse of happiness and holding onto it as tight as you can. It’s about finding that one person who accepts you for who you are, no matter what, and is willing to learn and explore the world with you. I really think it’s a wonderful story.
I’m tearing up a little here because of how emotional this story makes me. I have a lot of doubts sometimes(a drop or more), and sometimes I doubt what I write. I doubt if anyone will enjoy something and I doubt if I’ve written well enough. I want to do better, always, and maybe it seems like a silly thing to admit here on this blog post, because, who cares, but there’s a point to it.
Drop of Doubt(and the Monster Within series as a whole) is somewhat of an autobiography of sorts. Not –actually– since I’m nothing too similar to any of the characters, but the emotion behind them is real.
Which, I think, is interesting! Many writers are afraid to put too much into their writing. They don’t think they can, or they are scared, or whatever. I don’t know the reason. It’s hard, though, it really is. But if you want to read that kind of thing, which I think is interesting and I think a lot of others might find interesting, too, these stories are definitely for you.
The fantasy, monsters, and all of that are a part of them, but the real story is about emotions.
Drop of Doubt is a Fantasy Erotic Romance novella and will be available for $0.99 until February 22nd, 2013 at these select retailers!
Amazon | B&N | Kobo* | ARe | Smashwords (Use Coupon Code: QP65X )
*Kobo is lagging behind in price changes for some reason. I went ahead and requested they do it again, so hopefully it’ll be changed soon. If you prefer their shop, I apologize for the wait!
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Happy Valentine’s Day!
(At the bottom of this post are some fun flash fiction pieces from some characters from my writing. Scroll down to the “Valentine’s Day Stories” section if you’d rather get right to those)
“A Note from Me” or “How to be Sexy and Satisfy People (in a happy way, don’t get dirty thoughts here)”
I hope everyone’s having a great Valentine’s Day so far, and hopefully it’ll be even nicer later in the afternoon and evening. I think even if you’re single, today is a fun day, and everyone should enjoy it.
So I have some things planned for everyone for this Valentine’s Day to make it more fun and exciting, no matter who you are.
First, some DOs and DON’Ts, brought to you by the Daily News (mostly because I don’t know anything about this and they have statistics which seem neat).
Apparently 85% of people say sex is the centerpiece of their Valentine’s Day. That’s quite a bit. I don’t know how that works for single people exactly, but don’t forget to practice safe-sex habits, people. Besides that, I won’t judge. Do what you like and have fun with it!
The Daily News article makes some really good points at the end, though. Don’t overindulge and don’t set your expectations too high. This is supposed to be fun! There’s no need to spend a fortune and it’s not -just- about sex. Talk and enjoy yourself and build up some excitement and anticipation. If it doesn’t work out exactly like you wanted? Well, that’s alright, because I bet it can be just as exciting if you just go with the flow.
I’d absolutely love if everyone’s relationships were as wonderful as some of the ones in erotica and erotic romance, but sometimes they need a bit more work than that, too. Why not talk about it with your boyfriend/husband/girlfriend/whatever you have and figure out a way to make it happen, if just for a day?
One thing that I think could be really sexy/fun is to have your partner(whatever their gender) read aloud from one of your favorite erotic books and really try to get into it. Even if it’s a bit silly, that’s alright. Maybe act it out after, or fulfill some fantasies through that? Are you a girl and think two guys falling head over heels for each other is really attractive? Ask your partner if he’d be willing to read some passages from a gay erotica story out loud and imagine it’s him playing the role of one of the characters.
It’s not going to be perfect, but it can still be fun, and that’s what this is all about.
If you’re single, there’s a lot you can do, too. Ask someone out on a date or stay home and make a special night of it for yourself, or whatever you like. What do you have to lose? Single men and women all like going on dates, even if they don’t lead to anything, and a Valentine’s Day date is especially nice because it makes people feel even happier about the date than regular. I don’t have any real statistics here, but I bet people are more willing to go out on a limb for this kind of thing on Valentine’s Day and accept an offer for a date.
Just, maybe, don’t go overboard there? If it leads to some bedroom antics afterwards, I’m not going to say you should or shouldn’t do that but just be careful. And if it doesn’t, that’s fine, too, because it’s still a fun and nice thing to do.
Also, hey! Epiphora. I love this blog and I think she does a really good job of being down-to-earth and telling it like it is, without getting too crass and without the TMI moments that a lot of stuff like this could have. Check her out here if you’re interested (Please be aware that this is a sex toy review site, so the content is best not viewed in places where this could be potentially awkward).
If you need something to supplement your Valentine’s Day in a pleasant way, she’s probably got a million ideas ready and waiting for you. If you want some erotica/erotic romance stories to help out, too, I’ve got plenty of those, myself. Between my stuff and her site, you should have all your bases covered! (Haha)
Anyways, I think that’s it. Just have fun today! Do you have any plans you want to share, or other ideas, too? I’d love to hear your comments below(just keep them PG-13ish if you do share. Sneaky secrets are more fun than blaring ones).
And, without further adieu!
“Valentine’s Day Stories” (None of these are canon, but just for fun)
These include potential spoilers if you haven’t read the stories! Continue at your own risk.
Princess Miri
Miri was sitting in her room in the castle, absolutely bored. Thump had left with Allysin for whatever reason, and no one else came to amuse her, and this really bothered her. Today was… well, today was a day when no one should be bored(especially her!) and… except maybe Thump didn’t know? Did trolls have Valentine’s Day where they were from? She’d never asked, merely accepted it as a universal truth that everyone should know about it.
But he didn’t, apparently! Ugh! So she was the only one on Valentine’s Day stuck without a lover, was that it? What had Allysin needed to steal him away for, anyways? The cursed servant girl barely touched upon the subject and just skirted around it like it was some vague, unknowable thing. “Oh, yes, I need to borrow Thump to do a few things and then I’ll bring him back.”
Miri needed Thump to do a few things, too, and she needed him now. She could do a few things with herself by herself, but she just didn’t want to.
Someone knocked at the door.
“Go away!” Miri screamed.
They didn’t listen to her and opened the door anyways. Ignoring them, Miri heard Allysin whispering something to Thump, and Thump quietly arguing and sounding rather bashful. That was her favorite thing about him, actually. He acted innocent sometimes, sort of, but then… well, later in bed he was anything but. Dominant and strong and willing to take control!
Except he wasn’t that now, and it struck her as curious, so foregoing her attempt at ignoring the both of them at the door, she glanced up. Allysin pushed the ten foot tall monster into the room and slammed the door behind her.
In the doorway, blushing, Thump held a pretty pair of white panties with the cutest little blue bows on the sides by the hips.
“Are those for me?” she asked. Oh, she hoped so, and really, who else would they be for?
“Allysin tell Thump give to Miri and say Happy Valentine’s,” Thump said, shy. “Here is!” He held them aloft in both hands, stretching them out for her to see them better. “Happy Valentine’s, Miri.”
“Come! Come here! Let me see them. Ooh… they’re cute! Did you pick these out yourself? Do…” She didn’t know why she felt so shy all of a sudden, but she did. “Do you want me to try them on right now?”
Thump smiled at her with his toothy, ugly grin, but in her mind it was the most handsome thing she’d ever seen. Eyes glimmering, mischievous, he said, “Yah.”
His Absolute Valentine’s Day: The Billionaire’s Ultimatum
I knew Asher needed to work, since it was Thursday, but I really wished he didn’t. It was Valentine’s Day–our first together–and I had kind of hoped we could spend the entire day together. Maybe a little unreasonable, but… no, I told myself. I couldn’t begrudge him for working, because he loved his job and I didn’t want to make him feel bad about it no matter what.
That didn’t help me right now, though. Sitting in his guest house, re-living old memories, nostalgia slipping in, I remembered everything we’d gone through. Worrying about this one thing seemed so silly and inconsequential when I thought of it like that and it made me laugh. Valentine’s Day, really?
We did have plans, but I didn’t know how I felt about them. Asher wanted to take me out to the restaurant we’d gone to the day after I met him, which was nice. I told him I didn’t need anything fancy, though; I just wanted to spend time with him. He nodded and smiled and laughed it off.
I half-suspected he had some secret plan, but neither he nor Jeremy would tell me what it was. If there even was one, I reminded myself. Sometimes I ended up expecting so much from Asher–though honestly, he never really disappointed me in those regards, either–but I knew I shouldn’t.
Well, it didn’t matter. It bothered me, but what was the use in that? Was I going to mope around the house all day, hiding away here instead of staying in the main house where I could find more people or things to occupy my time? No! I refused.
But I wanted to look upstairs once more. Awhile back, Asher asked Jeremy to buy me new clothes, and I’d kept some of them here in the closet in the master bedroom. There was one thing in particular that I’d hidden away on the outskirts of the closet because…
Just because. I couldn’t wear that! My gods, it made my cheeks red just thinking about it.
Except I could wear it now, since no one was around. Sneaking up the stairs, slipping into the bedroom, I opened the closet and pulled out the beautiful red corset. I’d never really worn a corset before, but I loved the look of this one. And, made by Frederick’s of Hollywood no less! My heart quickened imagining myself wearing it, laying in bed while I beckoned to Asher, seeing the expression on his face when he saw me there and then wondering what else he might do afterwards.
I nearly tore off my clothes in order to try on the corset. It wasn’t a real corset, not really. It looked and acted like one, but without all of the boning that trained your waist to look thinner. I thought my waist was fairly nice as it was, so I didn’t really need something like that, but the look of it… shoulderless, pushing up my chest, giving me a more accentuated hourglass figure…
I dressed, now wearing only the corset and a matching pair of red underwear. I skipped to the bathroom to inspect myself in the mirror, except…
Asher stood in the bedroom door, watching me. I stared at him, mouth wide open, aghast.
“Asher! I thought you wouldn’t be back until later?”
“I wanted to surprise you for Valentine’s Day,” he said with a grin. “Apparently you’ve got some surprises, too.”
“Oh, uh…”
I blushed and tried to cover myself with my arms, for all the good it did me. Asher strode over and grabbed my wrists lightly, pulling my hands up and over my head. Leaning forward, lips so deliciously close to mine, his breath hot and heavy and wonderful, he said, “I had plans to take a long weekend and bring you somewhere special, but we don’t need to leave for a couple hours…”
“We don’t?” I asked, feeling shaky, my voice fluttering.
“No,” he said. He picked me up by the waist and tossed me onto the bed, admiring me.
Right about them I was pretty sure I loved Valentine’s Day.
(More to come later, possibly! Check back soon!)
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A Zombie Romance Story
There’s been a lot of talk about that new zombie movie, Warm Bodies, lately. I haven’t gone to see it, nor have I read the book, but I think it’s a really interesting concept. The trailer for the movie looks awesome, though. I love the idea behind it and the different take on zombies.
Warm Bodies is, of course a zombie romantic comedy. It’s cute, funny, and I bet there’s a lot of interesting subtleties there wrapped into the romance plot.
So, thinking about this, I decided to write my own zombie story! Easy, right? Except I write erotica and erotic romance. Comedy is alright sometimes, but that’s not really what my stories are about, so I can’t fall back on that.
Anyways! Long story short, I came up with this:
An erotic zombie romance
This was one of the most interesting and different stories I’ve written. Zombies are commonplace and probably everyone knows about them. I couldn’t take regular zombie lore for my zombie romance story, though; it just wouldn’t work. It took me awhile, but after thinking about it and planning things out, I came up with a way to redefine zombies for my story so that they would work in a serious, romantic sort of way. This is way harder than it sounds, but I believe I did a good job of it. I even talked with my friend who’s a Physician’s Assistant(PA) to get some of the inner details down. I didn’t bog the book down with crazy sci-fi stuff, because I don’t think anyone cares about that, but in my personal notes I have science-y reasoning for what exactly happens in the story.
I don’t want to brag, but honestly I’m pretty sure this story is unique(and in a good way). If you enjoyed my Billionaire’s Ultimatum series, then I’m pretty sure you’ll like this story. I would -love- to turn Soulless into a series, too, but I just don’t know yet. It’s one of those things where I think it’s an amazing story, but I have no idea what other people will think of it, you know?
I’m pretty sure it’s nothing like Warm Bodies, but if you’ve gone and seen the movie or read the book and think a zombie romance could be interesting, I bet you’ll love Soulless.
Currently it’s available for $0.99 at most of your favorite eBook retailers! Check it out =)
Amazon | B&N | Kobo | ARe | Smashwords | Apple (Coming Soon!)
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Caitlyn St. Cyr’s Fuzzy Handcuffs (Weekly Sale!)
Detective Caitlyn St. Cyr stared out through the grimy window in her too-small office. The sun was setting in the distance and darkness began covering the city like a thin layer of dust. Just the way she liked it, really. The sun was nice–a happy place for happy people–but she didn’t need any of that crap. She had a job to do and it was easier if people were asleep. Sighing, peeling herself away from the window, she walked over to her grungy couch and lay down. What kind of screwed up stuff was she getting herself into lately? Where were the good jobs and the interesting mysteries? Maybe she should give up, become some kind of dream fairy, use her special magical abilities to wander through people’s dreams and give them hope and happiness and maybe a blowjob or something–
F**k Screw that! No way. She wasn’t done yet. Something interesting would happen, and when it did, she’d be ready. So what if she didn’t have enough to buy more than the bread in a hot, juicy pastrami sandwich with pickles and mayo and olives, with hot peppers, and…
What the hell was she laying on? Reaching behind her, she felt the hard fuzzy object digging into her back and pulled it out. She stared at the fuzzy handcuffs for a moment, then grinned. They looked fake, but they were real, and they worked great for catching horny idiots.
She tossed the handcuffs away and lounged on the couch, closing her eyes. “There better be something I can use tonight. I’m getting tired of this.”
—–
Caitlyn St. Cyr is one of my favorite stories. It’s really different from most of what I write, but it was a ton of fun to write, too. Caitlyn’s a succubus with the ability to enter people’s dreams to try and get information for her detective business. She works alone mostly and never tells anyone what exactly she does, or how she does it, so the cops always wonder how she solves her crimes. Unfortunately when you go into criminal’s dreams, you tend to have to deal with fantasies of a more adult nature, but she’ll do what she has to do to solve a case. Sometimes it’s not so easy to convince thugs to tip her off, but she’s got plenty of ways to make them talk.
It’s a great story and a lot of fun. It’s a mix between monster sex erotica and hard-boiled women sleuth fiction. The sexy parts are detailed and dreamy, dirty and explicit. The crime is crooked and mysterious, too. Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to enter someone’s dreams and become a part of them? Ever wanted to hear someone’s deepest secrets and learn their private fantasies?
Well, here you go! I really hope you enjoy this story as much as I do. I’m definitely going to continue it in the future, too, so be on the look out for that.
Caitlyn St. Cyr is a Monster Sex Mystery Erotica novelette and will be available for $0.99 until February 1st, 2013 at these select retailers!
Amazon | B&N | Kobo | ARe | Smashwords (Use Coupon Code: BY77L )
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Used by the Beast, an erotic fairytale (New Release!)
I finished this story earlier in the week, but I wanted to wait a bit before releasing it. I prefer to put stuff up on Thursdays and Fridays(though sometimes I do other days). I don’t really have a reason for this, it’s just some goofy superstition thing =P
Anyways! It’s done. I love this story, and I think it’s really exciting. I enjoy fairytale stuff a lot.
Used by the Beast is the fourth in my loosely based erotic re-imagining of the classic Beauty and the Beast. I kind of take a lot of liberties with my fairytale stuff and prefer to make it my own instead of just the same general story with some sexy scenes, so it’s mostly entirely different. I did use the general concept of a man cursed to look like a beast, the magical rose, and a poor merchant with three daughters. I liked the idea of servants in the Beast’s mansion having their souls trapped in everyday objects, too. I think that’s a fun idea.
I’m actually going to be finishing this series up with the fifth one(I believe, unless something super strange happens). After that, when I get a chance, it’ll be made into a print book, too. I’ll -probably- release an eBook bundle version, also(with all 5), for $9.99, but I need to figure some stuff out first. This is me rambling, so I’ll stop that now. Sorry!
I find fairytales really interesting, though. It’s one of those things where they used to be much darker(go read the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales! Those things are brutal), and then they were toned down for a younger audience sometime between now and then. But, why? Why not switch them up a bit and bring back some of that more primal nature to them? That’s the kind of mindset I go into these with. It’s not -too- far into it, because I didn’t want to make it super vicious or anything, but the general tone of this story is an erotic horror type of thing. There’s obsession and stalking, exploitation, humiliation, voyeurism, rebellion and rivalry, and dark magicks. I really liked the ending, and I hope you will, too. The last one(tentatively titled Bound by the Beast) is going to go a little further with this, make it a bit scarier(but still sexy!).
And a happy ending. I know a lot of erotic horror doesn’t have a happy ending, but I’m not a big fan of those. Not to judge anyone, but horror movies like that bother me, too. Hostel and the Saw series and all of those? Ugh, I can’t even watch them.
I’m a bit tired at the moment, so forgive my meandering! Here’s the cover of Used by the Beast. Links for where you can buy it will be up as soon as I have them(which should mostly be tonight, except for Apple and maybe ARe). Enjoy!
Used by the Beast is an erotic fairytale with various aspects of erotic horror and monster sex.
Amazon | B&N | Apple | Kobo | ARe | Smashwords
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New and Improved! (Plus my first weekly sale)
This is really exciting for me, and I hope it’ll be just as exciting for you! I have found a way to increase the quality of my eBooks by quite a bit, and I am in the process of updating old stories to fit these new standards.
I mostly have D2D to thank for this. Now, don’t get me wrong or anything, my older eBooks are fine. There is literally nothing wrong with them whatsoever, and they still contain everything. I’ve already gone through and updated some to have nicer covers, plus better descriptions, and some other minor changes, but with D2D’s conversion software(plus their simplified distribution, but that’s probably only super exciting to me, so I won’t ramble about that one), I can provide basically -better- than “professional” quality eBooks to you all.
Now, I say -better- than professional quality, because, honestly, the major publishing houses don’t actually do anything really above and beyond for their eBooks most of the time. They are essentially just as good as mine in terms of format, and while obviously the story quality is different(you never really know what you’re going to get sometimes), besides that there’s nothing really setting my books apart from anyone else’s besides format.
Here’s some examples for you:
Alessandra Torre’s Blindfolded Innocence
E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey
My Vanima’s Dirty Dilemma
Now, obviously all those contain different content, which is mostly beyond anyone’s control, but the format’s vary widely depending on how much effort the publishing house/author puts into it. Blindfolded Innocence started as a self-published book and was picked up by Harlequin, but despite that it’s not really anything more than simple. Also, the cover inside the book is potentially going to show up as a giant square or some awkward shape depending on what you read the book on. Don’t get me wrong, the story is the same, and I do like Blindfolded Innocence so I’m not trying to bash Alessandra Torre by any means, but the person who formatted her eBook did the absolute minimum in order to make it presentable.
On the other hand, Random House did an amazing job with Fifty Shades of Grey. It looks super first-class and really nice. I haven’t read Fifty Shades of Grey yet(I know, I know! I’ll buy it soon!), but I’ve heard great things about it. I think it’s awesome that the eBook version is so crisp and nice looking, too. You can tell that her eBook formatter put a lot of time and effort into it.
Then, mine. That’s the first I had a chance to switch over, so the content is kind of widely different than Blindfolded Innocence and Fifty Shades of Grey, but the concept is there. The cover in the book(which is something that not a lot of self-publishers do for B&N, since it’s not a requirement there), plus the really crisp title and copyright pages, and then the Table of Contents. You can’t actually see it, but the Table of Contents in my book is in the -back-. This seems odd, except you can access the Table of Contents for an eBook through different menus, so putting it in the back is actually nice since it doesn’t clutter up the front of the book. That’s more of an opinion thing, but I’m a fan of having the ToC available(through menus) but hidden so you don’t -need- to look at it if you don’t want to.
Anyways, the whole point is that, before D2D, I was kind of stuck with “good” but not “amazing” eBook formatting. I like to think that everyone still really enjoyed them, because the content was the same. My stories are still fun and sexy and exciting, but the formatting was always something I struggled with. It’s either a.) Expensive! or b.) -VERY- time consuming. As the sole person in charge of my writing(I literally do everything, and I already spend tons of time on it! Editing, formatting, cover art, editing again, and more), it was impossible for me to get my eBooks up to super pro level. As you can see from the Blindfolded Innocence example, this is considered fine, though.
But, ugh! I’m a perfectionist. I don’t like -fine-, I want AWESOME! So, D2D is amazing, and as long as they continue to be amazing, all of my future eBooks(and eventually all of the past ones) will not only have a great story with wonderful characters and some really erotic sex scenes, but they will also look really nice on whatever eReader you own. They are also helping me get more of my books onto the iTunes iBookstore, which I think is wonderful.
Anyways! Hey! Sorry for the rambling a bit, but this is really exciting to me. To kick this off, I wanted to offer a great sale this week. I will be offering Vanima’s Dirty Dilemma for only $0.99(or equivalent if you’re purchasing from another country). This is a 67% discount! It is technically the second part of the “Vanima’s Initiation” series, but you can read it as a standalone if you’d like(or go buy the first, also, which, total between the two, would still end up being a 33% discount overall).
Vanima’s Dirty Dilemma is a contemporary fantasy novelette about a teacher who is mistaken for her niece by the sorority president at the Magic Academy where she teaches(they’re both elves, and so they age slower than humans, so even though Vanima is older, if she puts on college student clothes she looks very similar). I don’t want to say it’s exactly like this(because it’s not), but think of it like Harry Potter, if they were all in college, with sexy hazing rituals and mistaken identity. It’s dirty, but in a delightfully erotic way. I redid the cover just for this(though the woman on the front is still the same; and beautiful). I know you’ll love it! =)
Vanima’s Dirty Dilemma is a BDSM Monster Erotica novelette and will be available for $0.99 until January 25th, 2013 at these select retailers(some are currently processing to convert to the $0.99 price point. I apologize for the delay if they don’t show up immediately as that, but if that happens it should be switched in a couple hours):
Amazon | B&N | Kobo | ARe | Smashwords (Use Coupon Code: BP42G)
Cerys du Lys 