#DFRAT Guest Author (+ a Giveaway): Beth Williamson

Help us welcome Beth Williamson! She’s here to celebrate her latest release as Emma Lang, Endless Heart.

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It’s All in the Bytes

What’s in an e-book? It’s all in the bytes. ☺ As an author and reader, I’m a huge proponent of e-books. I’ve been published with e-books since 2004 – amazing to think I’m almost been 8 years! I feel like a mason who has carefully built my career up one brick at a time, one e-book at a time.

My journey began with lots of rejections, as many do, from the large publishers in New York. I didn’t know much about e-books or small print publishers, but I decided to find out. I paid for an editorial review of my second full-length novel, The Bounty, and after eight years of careful crafting (wince), I found a publisher. Liquid Silver Books published The Bounty in 2004, much to the delight of the author.

I was so excited and did my best to promote myself, stumbling and bumbling around in Yahoo groups and forums. When my first royalty statement came, my stomach was full of butterflies. Could I quit my day job? Could I pay off debt?

Um, no.

Much to my disappointment, my first month’s sales were in the neighborhood of 20 books. It was an eye-opening experience and to be honest, a huge letdown. I mean, where were the throngs of readers to rescue me from my mundane life?

Well, they didn’t know me yet. One small e-book does not a career make.

I kept at it though, and published two more with LSB before I got my first novella contract with Loose ID, then a full-length novel and three novellas. My career continued to grow. However, I realized there was only one thing that was going to allow me to reach my dream of being a full-time author.

Writing every day and really hard work. I found the more I wrote, the more I enjoyed it. I pushed my own limits, finding all the things I could accomplish if I simply let my imagination run wild. And run wild it did – I wrote sensual, sexy, erotic and even a bit of kinky stories.

In early 2006, I met Crissy Brashear, who owns Samhain Publishing, along with Sasha Knight who has remained my editor with Samhain since. I republished The Bounty, and its two subsequent books in the Malloy family series, The Prize and The Reward. When I first held The Bounty in print, I rubbed my hand across the shiny cover, breathed in the scent o’ new book, and knew I’d made one giant step on my journey.
Since my meager start in 2004, I’ve published twenty-two novels, eight novellas, and half a dozen short stories. Many of them are in print now and I have three main publishers including Samhain, Kensington and Berkley.

I’m not a Cinderella story by any means. I’m more like just plain Ella, cleaning up the cinders and working my butt off one page at a time. I love what I do and realize that without that first e-book contract, I would not be where I am today. When I found out I had been nominated for a lifetime achievement award in Erotica from Romantic Times twice (2009 and 2010), I could hardly believe it.

Yet here I am, with more than thirty published works, and I smile because it all started with a byte. Digital books are finally arriving as the medium of choice. I, for one, can’t wait to see what happens next.

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Beth Williamson, who also writes as Emma Lang, is an award-winning, bestselling author of both historical and contemporary romances. Her books range from sensual to scorching hot. She is a Career Achievement Award Nominee in Erotic Romance by Romantic Times Magazine, in both 2009 and 2010.
Beth has always been a dreamer, never able to escape her imagination. It led her to the craft of writing romance novels. She’s passionate about purple, books, and her family. She has a weakness for shoes and purses, as well as bookstores. Her path in life has taken several right turns, but she’s been with the man of her dreams for more than 20 years.
Beth works full-time and writes romance novels evening, weekends, early mornings and whenever there is a break in the madness. She is compassionate, funny, a bit reserved at times, tenacious and a little quirky. Her cowboys and western romances speak of a bygone era, bringing her readers to an age where men were honest, hard and packing heat. For a change of pace, she also dives into some smokin’ hot contemporaries, bringing you heat, romance and snappy dialogue.
Life might be chaotic, as life usually is, but Beth always keeps a smile on her face, a song in her heart, and a cowboy on her mind. 😉
To learn more about Beth Williamson, please visit www.bethwilliamson.com or send an email to Beth at beth@bethwilliamson.com.

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Beth has offered a copy of Endless Heart to one lucky commenter! Say hi for a chance to win!

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