Changes to Amazon's Publishing Program

Well, if you live in the self publishing world at all then you've probably heard about the changes KDP is making in regards to how authors enrolled in the select program will make money. Now it's based on pages read---this could be a good thing, could be a bad thing. I'm never very good at explaining royalties so I'm going to refer you to one of my fave blog sites on book marketing. I saw this woman, Penny Sansevieri, lecture last year at a writing conference. She rocks! Check out her views on this latest change!

The New Changes to Kindle Unlimited

http://www.amarketingexpert.com/the-new-changes-to-kindle-unlimited/

RWA 2014

So today I'm off to San Antonio to check out the Romance Writers of America Nationals conference. I can't wait! While I've attended writer conferences in the past, this is the first really big one. As a hybrid author (traditionally published and self published), I'm looking forward to learning about topics that are specific to the genre I write, as well as, rubbing elbows with agents, editors, and other writers.  This is my SXSW!

If you happen to be in San Antonio on Thursday, July 24, drop by my Kensington book signing. It's from 9:45-11:15 at the Marriott Rivercenter Hotel.  I will be signing copies of Nephilim and giving away lots of free swag.

Esmae Browder will also be attending RWA! Be sure to drop by the Goody Room and pick up copies of her Naughty Shakespeare series. Can't make it? No problem. All three of her books will be free at Amazon this week in honor of RWA 2014!

And speaking of free...if you haven't picked up the companion stories to Nephilim, they will be free next week at Amazon!

Hope to see you at RWA 2014!

Hell's Leak Tales are Free Today!

My short tales from Hell's Leak are free today on Amazon!

We are all guilty of sin every now and then, but at Hell's Leak, your sins can be branded onto your soul... 

Bob is lazy and his old habits that once made him a loveable if odd "character" have finally run off all his friends. Stuck in a lifestyle full of selfishness and sloth, he can't really figure out what went wrong in his life. Getting a tattoo seems the perfect thing to help him start up conversations, impress new friends, get a girl or two into his bed. But entering the small tattoo shop on Sixth Street called Hell's Leak proves to be more than egotistical Bob expects. His new goat tattoo is not just visually impressive--it can walk, smoke cigars, and sounds a little like George Carlin. The problem is that it won't shut up and makes suggestions that slowly drive Bob insane. How far will he go to quiet the tattoo that now marks not only his skin, but his soul, too? 

Feed Your Soul is one of several short companion stories to Mary Ann Loesch's book Nephilim featuring Nathan Ink and his infamous tattoo shop, Hell's Leak.

Envy. It's one of the most common Seven Deadly Sins. For Karen Robison, it's a way of life. Vile thoughts. Trash talking. Gossip. Karen doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut. When she sits down in Nathan Ink's chair at Hell's Leak, she discovers that her own lies and envious deeds are about to be sewn up in a neat little package. 

Sort of. 

Step inside Hell's Leak, my friend. Nathan Ink doesn't just mark up your skin with a tattoo. He brands your soul. 

Silenced Envy is a short tale in the Hell's Leak series which features Nathan Ink, a character in the novel Nephilim.

Short Tales from Hell's Leak

As many of you know, my urban fantasy romance Nephilim was recently acquired by Kensington Publishing. I'm really excited about this new acquisition! To celebrate, I've published a series of short stories that are companion tales to Nephilim and Nathan Ink. Want to know what he was like prior to meeting Faye? Want to see how his special brand of tattoos affected people with the Seven Deadly Sins? Then check out these short tales--a steal for only .99cents at Amazon! Drop a review, and if you are in San Antonio in July, drop by the RWA Conference and get a signed copy of Nephilim!

NEPHILIM

When sin stains your soul, he tattoos your skin…

Tattoo artist Nathan Ink is more than he seems. An angel living in secret on earth, he forces his clients to face their flaws by tattooing images of their sins on their bodies, but this glimpse into the soul often results in his clients' deaths. Although Nathan avoids the other angels, when they ask him to keep an eye on Faye, a nephilim being stalked by another of her kind, he reluctantly agrees.

The angels have kept Faye in the dark about her stalker, but to keep her close to Nathan, they've tasked her with investigating the high mortality rate of Nathan's clients. Despite her distaste for his methods, she finds herself fighting a growing attraction to Nathan, and discovering he's not a rogue after all forces her to question her own mission. When Faye learns her stalker is another nephilim who intends to use her to breed a new race of hellish beings, teaming up with Nathan may be the only way to prevent a genocide.

FEED YOUR SOUL: A SHORT TALE FROM HELL'S LEAK

We are all guilty of sin every now and then, but at Hell's Leak, your sins can be branded onto your soul... 

Bob is lazy and his old habits that once made him a loveable if odd "character" have finally run off all his friends. Stuck in a lifestyle full of selfishness and sloth, he can't really figure out what went wrong in his life. Getting a tattoo seems the perfect thing to help him start up conversations, impress new friends, get a girl or two into his bed. But entering the small tattoo shop on Sixth Street called Hell's Leak proves to be more than egotistical Bob expects. His new goat tattoo is not just visually impressive--it can walk, smoke cigars, and sounds a little like George Carlin. The problem is that it won't shut up and makes suggestions that slowly drive Bob insane. How far will he go to quiet the tattoo that now marks not only his skin, but his soul, too? 

Feed Your Soul is one of several short companion stories to Mary Ann Loesch's book Nephilim featuring Nathan Ink and his infamous tattoo shop, Hell's Leak.


SILENCED ENVY: A SHORT TALE FROM HELL'S LEAK

Envy. It's one of the most common Seven Deadly Sins. For Karen Robison, it's a way of life. Vile thoughts. Trash talking. Gossip. Karen doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut. When she sits down in Nathan Ink's chair at Hell's Leak, she discovers that her own lies and envious deeds are about to be sewn up in a neat little package.

Sort of.

Step inside Hell's Leak, my friend. Nathan Ink doesn't just mark up your skin with a tattoo. He brands your soul.

Silenced Envy is a short tale in the Hell's Leak series which features Nathan Ink, a character in the novel Nephilim.

Kensington Publishing Corp. Aquires Lyrical Press!

As a Lyrical Press author, I'm thrilled with the news below! This means Nephilim and any other books I publish with Lyrical will get a wider audience and Kensington Publishing Corp. has a great reputation!--Mary Ann

KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP. 
AQUIRES DIGITAL PUBLISHING COMPANY LYRICAL PRESS


NEW YORK, NY - Kensington Publishing Corp., one of the foremost commercial independent publishing houses in the United States, announced today that it has acquired the eBook publishing company Lyrical Press.  Beginning in January 2014, Lyrical Press will operate under its current name as a digital-first imprint at Kensington Publishing.  

Steven Zacharius, President and CEO, Kensington Publishing Corp., says, “This deal delivers on Kensington's mission to publish the books that America wants to read and to be the house that talented authors want to call home.  The ability to have a digital imprint that works efficiently like a small independent press is what first attracted me to Lyrical.  With Renee Rocco’s cutting-edge expertise in running a small independent press and Kensington's team of talented professionals, we look forward to building new and existing authors while expanding the titles published under the Lyrical Press imprint.”

The imprint will be overseen by Adam Zacharius, Kensington’s Director of Special Projects and Alternative Media.  Renee Rocco, who founded Lyrical Press in 2007, will be Managing Director of the imprint.  

"When I first founded Lyrical Press, I strove to emulate Kensington’s standard of quality and the company’s dynamic atmosphere,” states Renee Rocco, Managing Director. “As the publishing business evolved, we sought strategies to expand the reach of Lyrical Press and strengthen its foothold in the industry.  The opportunity to now join forces with Kensington, a company I have deeply admired, and become a member of the Kensington team is both an exciting adventure and the realization of a lifelong dream."

The acquisition includes approximately 250 romance, YA and genre fiction titles in the Lyrical Press backlist. Kensington will immediately begin acquiring new titles for Lyrical Press, as well as expanding its publicity, marketing and editorial departments in order to dedicate the resources necessary to supporting and growing the new imprint.  All eBooks published under the Lyrical Press imprint will be DRM-free and books over 60,000 words will be available as print-on-demand editions.  


ABOUT KENSINGTON PUBLISHING:
Founded in 1974, Kensington Publishing Corp. is located in New York City and is known as “America’s Independent Publisher.”  As the foremost independent commercial publishing house in the United
States providing hardcover, trade paperback, mass market and digital releases, Kensington publishes the books that America wants to read.

The house of New York Times bestselling authors including Fern Michaels,  Lisa Jackson, Joanne Fluke, William W. Johnstone and many others, Kensington publishes over 500 fiction and non-fiction titles each year. Its diverse imprints including Zebra Books, Brava, Citadel Press, Dafina, Pinnacle Books, Aphrodisia, K-Teen, eKensington and Lyrical Press are well-known for providing readers with a range of popular genres such as romance, women’s fiction, African American, young adult and nonfiction, as well as true crime, Western, and mystery titles.

With 2014 marking its 40th anniversary, Kensington remains family owned and operated. It is the only major US publisher to have had three generations serve the company since its founding by the late Walter Zacharius. Currently Steven and Adam Zacharius, the second and third generation of the family, lead a talented staff, many of whom have been with the Company for over 20 years.   
Visit www.kensingtonbooks.com

ABOUT LYRICAL PRESS:
Founded in 2007 by Renee Rocco, Lyrical Press offers readers a rich catalog of titles ranging from tender contemporary romances and edgy erotic paranormals, to suspenseful thrillers and shocking science fiction. Authors can expect a personalized publishing experience from Lyrical Press, where the relationship between the author and publisher is understood to be symbiotic. When the authors succeed, the house succeeds.  Readers will find Lyrical Press books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, iTunes, and most other eBook sites including www.KensingtonBooks.com.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Vida Engstrand, Kensington Publishing / vengstrand@kensingtonbooks.com / 212.405.1573

Writers' League of Texas Manuscript Contest

This just popped into my inbox today and I thought I'd share it with all of you out there in the blog sphere. Writers' League of Texas is opening up for submissions to its annual Manuscript Contest. Having been a past winner in the Sci/Fantasy category in 2009, I can tell you that this is a worthwhile contest. My urban fantasy, Nephilim, took first place! Did winning shoot me to new heights of fame and glory? Well, no. But it did help me make a lot of connections with agents and authors that have been invaluable! Check our the blurb below and then click on the link to get even more specifics!--Mary Ann

Been slaving away on an unpublished manuscript that's finally ready to see the light of day? Well, here's your chance! You are invited to submit a short synopsis and the opening pages of your unpublished work to the League’s 14th annual Manuscript Contest. The winner in each category will meet individually with an agent at the 2014 Writers’ League of Texas Agents Conference, June 27 – 29, 2014. You do NOT have to be a member of the Writers' League to enter this contest.

 

This contest gives you the chance to…
• Attend a private meeting with a literary agent in your genre
• Have your work professionally critiqued by a published author
• Find out how your first ten pages rank against others in your genre
• Be recognized at the 2014 WLT Agents Conference

 What’s new for 2014?
This year, the Manuscript Contest has gone 100% digital! All entries must be submitted online, and payment must be made online via credit card at the time of submission. Checks and paper entry forms are no longer accepted.

Click here to find out more! http://www.writersleague.org/109/Manuscript-Contest

Book Research: Tattoos and Nephilim

When sin stains your soul, he tattoos your skin…

Tattoo artist Nathan Ink is more than he seems. An angel living in secret on earth, he forces his clients to face their flaws by tattooing images of their sins on their bodies, but this glimpse into the soul often results in his clients' deaths. Although Nathan avoids the other angels, when they ask him to keep an eye on Faye, a nephilim being stalked by another of her kind, he reluctantly agrees.

The angels have kept Faye in the dark about her stalker, but to keep her close to Nathan, they've tasked her with investigating the high mortality rate of Nathan's clients. Despite her distaste for his methods, she finds herself fighting a growing attraction to Nathan, and discovering he's not a rogue after all forces her to question her own mission. When Faye learns her stalker is another nephilim who intends to use her to breed a new race of hellish beings, teaming up with Nathan may be the only way to prevent a genocide

 .

That's the blurb from my urban fantasy, Nephilim. I really enjoyed writing this lurid little tale, and I especially enjoyed researching information about tattoos and their significance to people. You know, tattoos have been around forever. Early man (and probably women!) were tracing outlines on their body and rubbing dirt to hold the design from the very beginning. They did this for all sorts of reasons--homage to the gods, a sign of tribal unity, and probably because it just seemed like a good idea.

Wow. Those are some of the same reasons drunk frat boys do it, too. I guess not much changes through the ages...

My husband is very tattooed. He wasn't when we were first married so seeing his body slowly become an artist's palette has been an interesting transition in my thought process. I went from thinking that tattoos were just a terrible idea to realizing there is lots of beauty in what they can represent. Of course, that led me straight into the idea of a novel and the research on tattoos and angels. As I look towards the sequel for Nephilim, it's been fun revisiting my inspiration for the first book and reviving my fascination with the reasons why people get inked in the first place.

My protagonist, Nathan Ink, is an angel, but prior to his angelic status, he was a gypsy traveling in Madrid. Gifted with the second sight, Nathan started his humble life scratching symbols into the skin of people who wanted good luck, better crops, or babies. His symbols were gifts that could help those in need meet their goals. Of course, once he became an angel, God charged him with a different mission, a different purpose for his gifts. Now he had to create symbols that represented the seven deadly sins. His job was to figure out which sin his victims fell prey to and then tattoo them with that symbol. The symbol could be something simple like flames or it could be a creature like a monkey. Regardless, every symbol meant something different to whoever received it, and every symbol caused them to either change their sinful ways or suffer the consequences...

Lots of readers have asked me if I have any tattoos. As of this posting, the answer is no. Honestly...I'm a big chicken. I hate pain. But I love what they can represent, and I am considering the possibility of getting inked in the future. I'm always interested to know why someone picked the tattoo that they did. What was the inspiration? Do you regret it? How has it changed you? I've heard some really interesting answers and all have helped me in my writing.

You can get your copy of Nephilim today by clicking on the book picture on the right hand side of this blog!

The Business of Writing: Some Thoughts on KDP Select

I've been chatting with several Indie writers lately who are curious about how I'm faring with the KDP Select program. I've actually only been apart of it since Oct. 1, so I still have roughly sixty more days to go before I can make a fair determination.

So far, so good....

Obviously, I'm not a millionaire yet.

But then again, I've never expected to be. I will say that my sales are decent, but I can't help but think that may be due to some good word of mouth. My book, Bayou Myth, was free on Amazon for over two months prior to me joining the Select program. This was because of marketing strategies I employed that had nothing to do with making money, but were about getting the book out there. Because of this, I've gotten a lot of great reviews which I think help with sales. I can honestly say that I've made more money on Bayou Myth than I have through my publisher, Lyrical Press, for my first novel, Nephilim. Of course, part of that is that I have a little more leeway with marketing and the ability to raise and lower the price as I see fit.

So will KDP Select help me in the long run?

Hmm...right now I'm going with maybe. Like I said, I'll know better in sixty days whether or not it was worth it. Remember, with KDP Select you can only sell your book digitally through Amazon. That means no Barnes and Noble and no Smashwords with all of their outlets.

Anyway, I am going to take advantage of KDP Select's freebie days. With Halloween being just next week, I will offer my little tale of voodoo and horror, Bayou Myth, for free Oct. 30-31. Enjoy!