Greetings friends,
*sips coffee* I’m glad to see you all; glad to be back
to work. I must apologize for my prolonged absence. After a lengthy battle with
depression and other health issues, we closed out 2016 with some personal
tragedy. 2017 isn’t starting off much better. However, I’m making a determined
effort to separate my writing life from my home life, to still “go in to the
office” as it were, in 2017.
In that vein, I’m very excited to announce that Havan
and I have completed first round edits on the latest Parkerburg book, Spark to
the Heart. Look for more information on that release soonish. There’s likely to
be at least two more rounds of edits, plus cover art, blurb writing and so on.
Maybe a month? *shrugs* Anyway, it feels good to have a release in the offing!
Also, the Story Orgy is cooking up something new for
2017. We’ve got a theme, sorted out our prompts, and set a tentative first
draft deadline. There won’t be any Monday morning posts for this one, because
we’re all on different schedules, but I will share some snippets of my own
story as it comes together.
Meanwhile, in the land of wtf that is writing, first
day back on the job so to speak, I found out that All Romance eBooks was closing
with some shocking terms for authors. I’m not a big seller at All Romance, not
in the last couple of years. So, we aren’t talking about a huge amount of money
there that was owed to me for that fourth quarter. Still, one tenth of what was
owed is not an acceptable settlement. I declined that payment, though after
consulting with the SO, I have decided not to pursue payment on the total
amount we are owed.
While it wasn’t a big dent in our income, ARe’s
closure left a serious gap in my markets. Some of the things I write are only
marketable through places like All Romance. Amazon frowns on things that are
too …kinky. In fact, the last time I tried to upload a twins story- they
threatened to close out my account. *pouts*
So, I refreshed my old Payhip store and will be adding
the rest of my titles to it. Currently there’s only a small selection of titles
there, but I will be updating it with everything, including the Trapping Drake
series that Amazon refused to publish. As an added bonus, there’s a coupon for 25% off all items purchased from the Lime Time Press (that’s me) payhip
store.
For 2017, you’ll find my books at Payhip first, then
Smashwords and Amazon. Smashwords is great, they distribute to Barnes and
Noble, iBooks, and a dozen or more other venues for their authors who are in
the Premium catalogue. To be honest, Amazon pays more, but it’s hard to trust a
corporate giant to always have your back, you know?
On the other hand, Amazon is rolling out a paper
program that might be easier than managing Createspace. I have a few paperbacks
available via Createspace, but I will be testing out this new Amazon program.
If it really is easier, you’ll be seeing a lot more paper books from me in
2017.
A few people have messaged me about the newsletter.
*guilty sigh* I will seriously try to put together a decent newsletter this
year that is available monthly. If you think it’s time for one and you didn’t
get it, feel free to nudge me on FaceBook and remind me.
Finally, Crawl in Bed is back this year. I’ve got a
few guests lined up over the next few months but am accepting requests from
authors who’d like to appear. Just pm me on FaceBook or email me at lee.brazil@ymail dot com.
I've been reading about the ARe closure and even though I have a few titles there, I have not been graced with their closing email letter. And yes, I agree, their proposed terms of payment, pennies on the dollar, are unacceptable. At the same time, I did receive a timely email from Wilde City Press, who are also closing their doors but are doing it the right way, Payments to authors, plenty of notice, and time to decide what to do with the titles authors have their currently. If you know any authors currently published with Wilde City, they have probably received notice but I'd be happy to share further info. It's a shame about ARE, they were around for a long time and while my sales there werent terrific, I did have some. Now I wont be paid, but it was mere dollars and not worth the expense of pursuit. Oh, and if you could forward me more infor on this new paper program at Amazon, easier than createspace? Either I work to hard at night or am woofully behind.
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