When I started writing, I had no idea digital publishing even existed. It wasn’t until I’d managed to complete a manuscript and started trying to get it published that I discovered the existence of digital publishers. The way I happened to find out was because I discovered one of my favourite authors (Toni Blake) wrote e-books under another pen name (Lacey Alexander) for Ellora’s Cave. I loved her print books so I decided to try some of her ebooks and I downloaded them and read them on my computer. This led me to explore digital publishers for my own books.
Soon after my first book came out digitally, I decided I had to have an ebook reader. If I was going to try to convince people to buy my digital book, I felt I should be reading digital books too. So I bought my Sony reader. I fell in love with it immediately. I loved how I could carry around a hundred books with me, which his so great when I’ve travelling. I loved how I could buy a book at eleven o’clock at night in my pyjamas. I slip it into a Ziploc bag and take it into the bath tub and to the beach.
The publishing industry is going through a lot of changes and I think the business model publishers like Samhain use is just so smart. The old business model is so inefficient and wasteful and slow. The big print publishers don’t understand digital books, even though they produce them – they don’t understand how to price them or how to market them, and this is really hurting them. So I’m thrilled to be working with publishers who do understand digital publishing!
Giveaway: 1 lucky winner will get a digital copy of Sweet Deal. Leave a comment on this post no later than 7:00pm on June 7th to enter to win.
Sweet Deal
The relationship is pretend. The chemistry…isn’t.
After her last job ended with a broken heart and a humiliating exit from the company, Shelby Leighton’s project management career is back on track with a new job and a high-profile project. The problem: her new boss is a little too friendly, and the staff is talking. Can you say, “déjà vu?” The solution: casually mention a fictional new boyfriend.
New problem: She’s expected to bring her new man to the upcoming corporate picnic.
Jake Magill doesn’t do relationships. It’s casual or nothing, but the hot blonde he’s been eyeing at the coffee shop sure is something. Especially when she confesses her problem, and he finds himself offering to act as her date.
Sounds simple. Stroll around the party with Shelby’s sexy curves clinging to his arm? He’s all over it. Until he meets her boss—the man who once stole and married the one woman Jake thought he loved.
Now Jake’s the one with a reason to pretend. If only to save his own pride…and Shelby from the predatory gaze of the man who could ruin her, and any chance of finding out if their fake connection is the real thing.
Excerpt
They drank another beer, chatted a bit more, danced again. As the evening grew cooler, Shelby slipped on a hoodie she’d brought. She almost forgot to be aware of where Andrew was, and whether he was watching them. As the crowd dwindled, she looked at Jake with regret.“We could leave now,” she said softly. “I think our mission is accomplished.”“Yeah. Okay.” He nodded and set down the cola he’d requested instead of beer last time. “I’ll drive you back to your car.”“Oh. Yeah.” She hesitated. “You know, that wasn’t very smart of me, but I think I’ve had too much to drink.” She bit her bottom lip as she met his eyes. “I completely forgot I had to drive.”“That’s okay. I’ll just drive you home then. Will you be able to get your car tomorrow?”Things were pleasantly blurry as they walked hand in hand toward the parking lot. “Yeah, I’ll get it somehow. But thanks for driving me home. Geez, I feel so stupid.”“You are far from stupid, Shelby Rose.”“I like how you call me that,” she confessed. He opened the passenger door of his Audi SUV, and she paused. “Man, this is a high vehicle.”“It is for an elf,” he said. “Here.” He lifted her and sat her on the passenger seat, then closed her door.“Hey!” But he was walking around the vehicle to his side. She glared at him when he slid in and he grinned.“I’m teasing.” He leaned over and brushed his mouth across hers, sending tingles cascading over her whole body. She blinked at him, then remembered to fasten her seatbelt.He parked on the street in front of her apartment building in the quiet residential neighborhood and walked with her to the door. As she paused at the door, the shadows of the tall queen palm shifting moonlight over and around them, he slipped his fingers beneath her chin and lifted her face. She stared back at him, her gaze moving over his dark eyes, crinkled at the corners as he smiled, the cleft in the middle of his chin, the sexy curve of his lower lip. Oh. Her breath whooshed out of her.Heat expanded, the air around them feeling like it might ignite, and then they were wrapped in each other’s arms, mouths fused together in a hot, impetuous kiss, bold, frantic and hungry.His arms crushed her to him, her purse thunked to the ground and her feet lifted as he hauled her higher and tighter to his body.“Jesus,” he muttered against her mouth, before taking it again in another devouring kiss. She kissed him back, mindless, frenzied. The sexual tension that had been smoldering inside her all evening burst into flames. Heat swept over her.His tongue dragged over hers, licked her bottom lip, then his mouth sealed over hers again. An intense ache bloomed low in her belly, and she slid her hands into his hair, holding his head, and she kissed him back, a full-mouthed, full-bodied kiss that had more heat exploding between them.Eventually, she pulled back, panting, heart hammering, and gasped, “Wait.”He made a sound like a groan.“We don’t have to do this,” she wheezed. “This was supposed to be an act.”He made a derisive noise. “Yeah. It was supposed to be. But don’t tell me you don’t feel it too, Shelby Rose.”His hands tightened on her ass, pulling her against him, and she felt his erection against her belly. Holy crap, he was big. She’d made him that hard. And he’d made her so wet her panties were soaked. You couldn’t fake that kind of reaction. She gazed up at him, uncertain of what to do now.“Invite me in,” he ordered softly.She licked her lips. She wanted to, she really, really did, but she’d made this mistake before. Slept with guys too soon, because they got her all hot and bothered, because dammit she liked men, and she loved sex. Her friends had analyzed to death her tendency to fall into bed with men and she knew it had to do with wanting attention from them, and she was determined she was done with all that. But all those old doubts fell away when she studied him, remembering what he’d done for her that evening, how he’d helped her, how he’d really cared that she fixed things with her boss, and a tender warmth spread through her. She was lost.
Click here to lean more about Kelly.
As an early "convert" to e-books (2003) and a former member of EC's cheerleading squad way back when, watching the big print publishers literally make asses of themselves has been a mixed experience: amusing at times, extremely aggravating at times. The prices of ebooks and DRM are the two major issues that currently irk me. Anyhoo, I didn't know Lacey Alexander was Toni Blake!
Best of luck in your continued writing endeavors 🙂
Mireya
Thanks Mireya! I know what you're saying and I'm waiting too, to see how things shake out.
Ive only been reading digital books for about two years now. Im absolutly in love with my kindle, and its so easy to get a book when i want it right them. And between you and me im pretty impatient, lol! I love all your other books so ill be getting this one too!
Happy writing 🙂
Rebekah
I've had a kindle for 2 years and a half now, and I love it! It's great to have hundreds of books in a tiny machine and I love that I can buy a book and begin reading it a few seconds later. Progress can be wonderful 😉
I agree with what you say about the ebook industry. It's true that the publishing world is changing. It gives a lot of new opportunities for the publishers, the authors and the readers. I can't wait to see how the whole thing develops!
Thank you for the extract of "Sweet Deal". Sounds great!
Kelly~ Thanks for sharing a bit of Sweet Deal with us. It sounds really good and I am adding it to my list of must buys.
I have only been reading ebooks for a few years…I got a kindle for Christmas two years ago. I am really loving it although I do still like to hold a book.
Again, thanks for the peek into Sweet Deal.
I've only started reading e-books a year ago but I love it! I can read a book whenever and wherever I want to. Because I'm not in the US I sometimes get very annoyed with geo-restrictions.
Rebekah – I also am very impatient, which is another reason I love ebooks! Instant gratification! Thank you for your kinds words!
Lori, glad you like your Kindle. Sometimes a real books is good, too though.
Claudia I live in Canada, so I know what you mean with those geo restrictions, that REALLY annoys me.
Hi Kelly,
Thanks so much for participating in the DFRAT! I think it's going to be a great month bringing notice to Digital first publications.
I was never opposed to reading digitally but always liked the feel of the print books in my hand. A few years ago I got an ereader and my reading changed. I moved up to another and then a friend gave me a kindle last year. I have a hard time putting it down and reading a print book off of my shelves nowadays! I love the convenience and of course carrying all of those books with me in one small package.:)
Sweet Deal sounds really good.Thanks for sharing the excerpt.
I love my ereader.I've been reading ebooks for about a year now.Although I still get some print for series books I already have but I mostly read ebooks now.
elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net
Thanks for the giveaway! I must say I am a huge fan of ebooks! I have a Nook and an iPad!
I love e books and I've been reading them for a few years now.
I live in Israel and it used to be so expensive for me to buy print books so when i discovered e books I was so happy!
Last year I bought a Kindle so I'm reading even more e books than before but I do still buy a lot of print books (I was able to find an online store that offer free shipping worldwide).
I have to say that I try not to buy e books that cost the same as the print version- I think some publisher are charging way too much money for an e book and there is no reason to pay 10$ for it!
I can still remember my first ebook, Elizabeth's Wolf by Lora Leigh, and got botth hooked on the format and the genre. I read off my computer too, which lasted about 6 months, before I bought my first reader, an Ebookwise. I got a Kindle Fire for Christmas and am always adding new authors and stories to it. Plus I never leave home without it.
caity_mack@yahoo dot com
You are so right about the big name publishers not understanding the ebook market. I love to read. Wait, no, I L-O-V-E to read. But, if I am going to pay $7.99 for a book (or more in many cases), I am going for paper. Why? I can share it if I love it. I can hold it in my hands and feel the paper. Plus, I find it insulting to be told that it costs a publisher just as much to produce and distribute an ebook as it does a paper book. And don't even get me started on the pricing of an ebook that comes out at the same time the book comes out in hard cover! I frequently need to be resuscitated! jepebATverizonDOTnet