Guest Author Cerise Deland

Erotic Romance Author Cerise Deland's has a new hot book out.
FALLING FAST debuts Tuesday, Feb. 23 from Resplendence Publishing and the cover, as you can see is DYNAMITE!

Cerise says, "It's a story dear to my heart, it tells of the challenges of one woman who tries to make amends to a man she done wrong."

It tells the story of a young man who has struggled with traumatic brain injury brought on by accidents in his bronc busting career. The young woman who is the love of his life learns here how to overcome her own fears and make amends to the one man she adores and cannot live without.
I hope you will read this story and learn a few of the challenges many have coping with TBIs, but more importantly, refresh your understanding that life is brief and precious.

Cerise is also an Ellora's Cave author and she had a romantic suspence novel out on January 20th. LAID BARE. http://www.jasminejade.com/ps-8088-50-laid-bare.aspx With another HOT cover too!

Tate Ryder has spent his life savoring plenty of women—until luscious Anna Stevens comes along, who doesn’t seem to know he’s alive. Then, inexplicably, Anna is attacked outside his condo. Tate keeps her safe by whisking her to his yacht, where he vows to enchant her sleek body with pleasures she’d only imagined.

Anna answers his intimate kisses with scorching caresses and wild revelations. She’s been on the run from thugs for years. She’s not who she claims. But one thing is real—her deep craving for Tate.

Enthralled, Tate lays bare her body…and is equally determined to lay bare her nameless enemy.

Check out the cool trailer for Falling Fast

Guest Blogger Author Autumn Jordon

I’d like to welcome Golden Heart finalist, Autumn Jordon, as a guest blogger today. She’s going to talk about her new release OBSESSED BY WILDFIRE by The Wild Rose Press. It was released on January 27, 2010. Autumn please tell us more about yourself. I really do hate this question, because I don’t like talking about myself. Simply, I’m a wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, friend, employee and an author.






Tell us more about OBSESSED BY WILDFIRE. I loved writing Obsessed By Wildfire. It’s a light read, fun with just a tinge of suspense. My publisher has rated it HOT because of the love scene between Isobel and Warner, the heroine and hero. They’re a fun couple.

Here’s a blurb:
Isabelle Trinidad is her own woman. She vows no man will rope her into the humdrum life of a housewife and take away her dreams of becoming the National Barrel Champion like her father had done to her mother. Her mind is set, until a handsome Yankee comes to town and upsets everything she has believed.



Arson brings State Fire Marshal Warner Keyson to Wayback, but a wildfire of a woman stops him in his tracks. Intrigued by Issy’s fire, he contrives ways to keep her close while conducting his investigation. What they create, which neither of them bargained for, is the blaze of a lifetime.

Did you have to do any special research for this book? Actually, I did. Isobel is a barrel racer. I have some experience barrel racing myself, but not at Issy’s level. I contacted several female champion barrel racers and they were wonderful in answering my questions and revealing their experiences while racing.


What genre(s) to you write? I’m an author who is torn between writing romantic suspense and romantic comedies. OBSESSED BY WILDFIRE I’d classify as romantic comedy. I have another novel, a romantic suspense titled EVIL’S WITNESS scheduled for release on June 18, 2010 also from The Wild Rose Press. EVIL’S WITNESS is my Golden Heart entry.

What is your advice for aspiring writers? Determination is the key. Definitely determination is a needed element for success. You can have all the talent in the galaxy, but without drive your chances for success dwindle. I also think setting small realistic goals , studying the craft and writing every single day are necessary for achievement.

*See more interview questions on Wednesday at the Dangerzone Authors http://www.dangerzoneauthors.com/ including what it was like for Autumn to final in the Golden Heart Contest.

SNEAK PEEK EXCERPT FOR EVIL'S WITNESS:


John peered through the tilted mini-blinds into the lieutenant’s office. He studied the woman inside who sat on a couch, sandwiched between two kids.

A mental checklist ticked off in John’s mind. She was small, maybe a hundred twenty-five pounds. Her arms and legs were scratched and bruised. If he had to guess, he’d say she was about five-six. A few light brown strands had pulled free from her pony tail and framed her tan face. The way she held her head, watching her children sleep, he couldn’t tell the color of her eyes.


Suddenly the little girl woke and scrambled into her mother’s lap.

Mesmerized, John watched the woman Zohara identified as Stephanie Boyd cradle her daughter, smoothing her hair and whispering into her ear—just like Julie had done with Katie.

Fury as familiar as the air he breathed flickered fresh in John and he fingered the rubber band he’d worn on his little finger for the past two years.

He punched the anger away.

He couldn’t deal with his demons now.

“They watched their father murdered,” Zohara said, pulling John back to the conversation.



How can readers find out more about you?
My website, http://www.autumnjordon.com/ ,
http://www.facebook.com as Autumn Jordon
http://www.myspace.com/autumnjordon
http://twitter.com/ as AJordon
Thanks so much Autumn for visiting me at my Passion Sense Blog. Good Luck with your current and upcoming releases!

Writing the HOT Stuff

Yesterday during the blizzard, I was Featured Friend on Janice Curran's Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/JaniceCurran . It was set up like an on-line chat/lecture and the topic was Writing the HOT Stuff or writing erotic love scenes. I posted a few tips and Facebook Friends asked questions and shared their thoughts. One person said she couldn't make it because her power was out--dang blizzard. It was such a good turn out. And for those who couldn't make it, I thought I'd post the mini-lecture of tips.

If anyone had thoughts or suggestions for what they do when writing the HOT stuff, feel free to share.

Steamy, racy stories sell, but if you want to write for the erotic romance market there are a few things to keep in mind.

• All great romances have strong, well-developed characters whether it’s a sweet or erotic romance. I think the most important thing in any story is to elicit emotion. And emotion grows out of conflict. Not only do you want your hero and heroine to fall in love, you want your reader to fall in love.
• It's not all about the sex. Each love scene should be more than just sex. There should be an underlying conflict whether it's between the characters or influenced by the plot.
• Don't forget sexual tension. Build up to the sex scenes. Erotic romances do have more love scenes than most traditional romances but make your reader wait for the payoff.
• A sex scene is an action scene, and in erotic romances the heat level is taken up several notches. They’re usually longer and more explicit with no flowery euphemisms. These stories may push sexual limits a bit and be edgier. Still something larger must be at stake. There is a well-developed story with a satisfying ending--Either a happily ever after or happily for now.
• The characters should change and/or their relationship should change after a love scene. The scene should directly or indirectly push the plot forward.
• Erotic romance readers want to read all the juicy details, not a summary. Push your limits in writing the hot stuff and your stories will shine.

As with writing any romance, it helps to read a lot and a variety of authors--not just to see how they write love scenes but how do they develop plot, character, emotion, conflict, etc.

What helps you to write erotic love scenes? And what makes a good erotic love scene?

Aphrodisiacs - Strangely Arousing?

An aphrodisiac is a substance that if used is believed to increase sexual desire. The name comes from Aprodite, the Greek goddess of sensuality and love. Aphrodisiacs have been a part of many cultures throughout history. Many foods, drinks and animal-based products have claimed to have pleasure enhancing qualities of one kind or another. Scientifically, most got their reputation by the sheer belief that the product would be effective or because of their suggestive shape like an oyster or rhinoceros horn, while others have possible drug interactions.

Some foods, herbs and drugs favored to be aphrodisiacs :

Celery
Gingo
Ginsing
Lettuce

Saffron
Oysters- Legend says Casanova age 50 oysters a day. Oysters also are high in zinc which is necessary for sperm production.

Dark chocolate – possibly the presence of a chemical called phenylethylamine. In theory, phenylethylamine when released in the brain, may be involved in sexual attraction and arousal.

Yohimbine – Tree bark from a West African tree is an MAO inhibitor. Its main action is as an alpha-adrenergic antagonist, by which yohimbine may increase genital bloodflow and both sexual sensitivity and excitation in some people. The bark should be used with caution. Side effects can include rapid pulse, sweating, and anxiety reactions in susceptible people. (According to Wiki P.) It's said to be a natural Viagra, but too much can kill you.

Tribulus and Maca – Similar to Yohimbine with the same warnings. In fact, any herb therapy should be taken with caution.

Testosterone – used in treatment for postmenopausal women and men over age 60 to replace decreased hormone levels and help increase libido.

Artichokes
Asparagus
Bananas – in Central America the sap of the red banana is considered an aphrodisiac.
Tomatoes
Truffles
Strawberries

WEIRD OR EXPENSIVE APHRODISIACS:

A Blowfish contains a substance that’s 1,000 times more toxic than cyanide but Japan favors this as an aphrodIsia, carefully prepared. Yikes.

Bird’s Nest Soup, a delicacy in Chinese cuisine and one of the most expensive dishes. At a pricy $230 per bowl, I don’t think so.

Shark’s Fin Soup, another Chinese delight. A bowl in Hong Kong can cost $100.
Sea Cucumber from the Far East as a food. Not very appetizing if you’ve ever seen one.

I'll stick with chocolate and strawberries, but a hunky guy is the best aphrodisiac.

E-Book Wars

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about the price and distribution of ebooks especially with the release of all the new e-readers on the market: the Kindle, Nook, Sony, and Apple’s new iPad .

With the sales of these devices on the rise (2.5 million Kindles have sold to date), publishers and retailers like Amazon are scrambling and knocking heads trying to decide when to release the ebooks (coordinating with the release of the hardcover and print titles) and how much to charge. The dispute over the ebook pricing came to a standoff this past week with MacMillan Books, one of the largest publishers in the United States. MacMillan and Amazon could not agree on terms for the pricing of ebooks. The publisher is concerned that Amazon’s current policy for pricing will devalue the price of print books.

Publishers have tried to deal with this by delaying the ebook release after the hardcovers of particular titles were released. This hasn’t gone over well to say the least with owners of the Kindle e-readers or with Amazon.

In retaliation, Amazon yanked Macmillan ebooks off their virtual shelves. Here's an article about it: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/technology/30amazon.html

I try to understand all this but my eyes glaze over as I read articles on it. I have mixed feeling about Amazon. My print and ebooks are listed there. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=kathy+kulig But I don’t want Amazon’s success to come at the expense of the brick and mortar stores I love. And I certainly don’t want to see a monopoly. That would be a crime. The traditional publishers have this new element to deal with that's causing them more headaches than they expected. Change is painful. I'm sure they will resolve this issue soon. It seems to be hurting everyone: the vendors, publishers and authors. Both vendor and publisher do have a common goal: Sell books and make money. They just haven't figured out how to meet on common ground yet.

What do you think? Or what are your feelings on this?

An aside, I like to buy ebooks at Ellora’s Cave and that’s one of the reasons why I got a Nook ereader. Even though most of EC’s ebooks are available in the Kindle format, they’re cheaper bought directly from the Ellora’s Cave site. http://www.jasminejade.com/ EXAMPLE: My new release DAMNED AND DESIRED is $5.95 at Ellora’s Cave. On Amazon it’s $9.52. The Amazon price may change according to demand or other factors I don't understand.

Even as I finish this blog to post on Sunday, Publishisher's Lunch popped up with a new update:

In summary, Amazon announced to its customers on Sunday night that although they strongly disaggree regarding MacMillan's terms to sell their ebook titles at $12.99 - $14.99, Amazon will offer those ebooks to their customers and let the customer decide if they want to pay what they believe is needlessly high prices for bestsellers. The more attractively priced ebooks from independent presses and self-published authors may be an alternative.

The story continues, we'll have to wait and see...

I think JA Konrath has a great take on all this see his posting: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/01/selling-paper.html

Winning Query Letters

Janet Reid from Fine Print Literary Agency gave an excellent lecture on writing effective query letters at a recent Greater Lehigh Valley Writer's Group meeting. Here are some of the things she talked about and tips taken from her hand out. Check out Janet Reid's blog too.

A query letter is a business letter, even if you’re sending it via email, it should still be professional. Get rid of auto-signatures with pictures and fancy fonts. DO NOT copy and paste from a Word.doc file into the email or that email the agent gets will be full of those weird characters, you’ll lose all the formatting and get a big block of text that’s hard to read. Type the letter manually into the email or save it into a draft in your email and then copy and paste.

A query letter MUST tell an agent what the book is about:

Who is the main character(s)?
What happens to her?
What choice does s/he face?
What terrible thing will happen because of that choice?

Here’s a sample formula for writing a blurb: The main character must decide whether to ________. If s/he decides to do (this), the consequences/outcome/peril s/he faces are: If s/he decides NOT to do this: the consequences/outcome/peril s/he faces are:
A query blurb describes the book’s premise, it’s not a synopsis. Don’t tell the ending. Stick to hero/heroine and possibly the protagonist in your blurb and that’s all. Avoid character soup in your blurb.

A query letter should include the word count, title, genre and publishing credits you have. You don’t have to say the novel is complete. It should be before you query. Publishing credits are published works, not self-published, not winning a contest, not awards, not classes or teachers you’ve studied under, not an MFA, not conferences attended.

Instant rejection phrases: Fiction novel, sure best seller, Oprah, film potential, “dear agent”/”dear sir or madam”.

Things to avoid: Don’t beg, flatter or demean yourself. Don’t quote rejections letters (even ones with good feedback). Don’t quote critique groups, friends, paid editors, or ask rhetorical questions like: “What would it be like to kill your husband?”

Don’t offer exclusives (if you do give a time deadline). Don’t attach anything unless asked to do so. Don’t engage your spam filter or auto responder. Keep your letter to the point and be specific.

For email queries, put your contact information at the BOTTOM. Include the following: Email, phone, website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, mailing address. Janet said she once had to get intouch with a potential client through his blog because her emails kept bouncing.

Expect to hear a lot of NOs. And never, ever argue with a rejection.

Have a query tracking system so you know what/who/when/where you queried and the response.

Here’s an example of a format for an equery:

Subj: QUERY – Title by Author

Dear (Name of Agent)

Paragraph ONE: 100 word paragraph on what the book is about. This is not a synopsis. Have a line break every three lines. Makes it easier to read. Include Title, genre and word count.

Paragraph TWO: Your writing credits (If none, then skip)

Paragraph THREE: Any kind words, how you found the agent, why you picked that agent, etc.

Closing: Thank you for you time and consideration. (No need for other stuff.)

Your Name
your email
your phone
your website
your blog
your twitter name
your Facebook page

Your physical address

Featured Author/Blog Tours

FEATURED AUTHOR TODAY

As a result of my blog tour during the week of my release for Damned and Desired, I was asked to be a featured author on Erotic Romance Crush Junkies reviews. Check it out if you like. Interviews are a challenge. It’s hard talking about yourself. I’d rather talk about my books. More on the results of my last minute Blog Tour below.

BLOG TOURS

When I was notified I only had a week before the release of my novel, Damned and Desired, I scrambled for the best ideas to set up an emergency promotional plan. I’d just sold the book in November and hadn't expected such a quick turn around. It was a pleasant surprise, but I was also panicking. I put a call out on a couple writers loops asking to do last minute guest blogs. Fortunately, I had five responses for the week of my release. I had just set up my first Blog Tour. Ashlyn Chase has a list of bloggers interesting in hosting blog tours.

What do you usually include in a blog tour when you’re invited to be a guest blogger?
Ask the owner of the blog first. Usually, they like a short article (one to two paragraphs) on a topic related, more or less, to your book; your book cover with buy information, links and ISBN; a short blurb of the book and a short excerpt—about 500 words or less. Ask the blog owner if they prefer a PG rated excerpt before you submit a hard core sex scene. Also include your website and/or blog links.

Since I was blogging at five different sites within three days I wrote up five slightly different mini articles. Yes, it takes more time, but if you post the same article on each site people will lose interest.

On the day that your guest blog is posted, announce it with the topic on Twitter, Facebook, other social networks and loops, and provide the link.

After your guest blog is posted, check it regularly and respond to comments. That helps to keep the conversation going. It also helps to include a question in your post or comment to encourage more comments.

Check the blog a few days after for late comments.

Offer to return the favor to your host on your blog or in your newsletter.

You can also offer a give-away contest during your guest blog to increase traffic. Mention in your post the freebie (a book or other item) and when the name will be randomly selected from those who commented.

If you have more time to plan, advertise your blog tour schedule on your website or blog weeks in advance.

How effective was my blog tour? As with most promotional plans, it’s hard to measure. I did receive a request from a review site to review my book. Most authors will tell you how hard it is these days to get your book reviewed. I also was invited by another review site to be a featured author, AND they offered to review the new release and the first book in the series. That book Desert of the Damned only received two reviews. I hadn’t contacted these sites before. One author, Adele Dubois, did track the hits on her site for the day I guest blogged. We only had about fifteen comments which I thought was pretty good. But she said the number of hits were over 10, 500!!

If anyone has other suggestions or wants to share their experience or expertise about blog tours, please post a comment.