“Hmm. Sounds like you like entertaining book girlfriends,” Monica said, “but you don’t have one at the moment, do you?”

Monica’s heart hammered as the seconds ticked by.

Slowly Kaylee met her gaze, lips thinned. “That’s a rather personal question.”

“All of my questions have related to personal assistance in some way, shape or form,” Monica said.

“Yes, but I don’t see where all this is going, and I don’t think these questions are related to the job description I read online.”

“Nonsense.” Monica stood up from her chair and approached Kaylee. “I asked you about fun and you hardly had or have any. I needed to delve deeper and find out what you enjoy. Working with childhood cancer patients is very taxing on the nerves. You need to be able to flip the relaxation switch, at will.”

Kaylee’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“What position did you say I was interviewing for now?” she asked slowly.

Wrong answer.

“At this point, you don’t get to ask the questions.” Monica eased one buttock onto the desk, overlooking Kaylee in her chair. “You only get to answer them.”

Kaylee stiffened.

Good.

The girl was catching on.

​“So back to the question—are you in an intimate sexual relationship with anyone?”

​Check out other Masturbation Monday posts.

Okay, I'm biased. Very biased. I write romance and erotic fiction. So of course you'd see a ring on it. The photo. I'm talking about the above photo. Of course. Yes, yes.

Disclaimer aside, I'm writing this short guide as a way to pay back to my community of indie authors who have helped me get a boost up on my own blossoming indie author career. ​Since I'm definitely going to fall short of ever repaying them ever, I'm going to pay it forward with this post. 

Second disclaimer: I'm far from "making it." However, I'm definitely seeing consistent progress as the months go by. That's the only qualification I have, the only street cred, to provide you this info. Credentials aside, I finally bring you this mini-indie author start-up guide.

Pros: Complete control over production, distribution, promotion, advertising, etc of ebook, audiobook and paperback. Don't like something? Little or no sales? Not interested in the long gap between writing and publishing? Change it. Experiment. Get real-time feedback from sales dashboards. No middleman. No boss.
Lesson: You're the boss.

Financial Gains: Higher royalty cuts direct from retail distributors, copyright ownership for life plus 70 years (yes, your grandchildren can benefit from your royalties, if you structure your estate correctly), and organizational restructuring to cut taxes if you earn high enough royalties. You'd need to consult your CPA and attorney regarding your particular situation in whatever place you happen to reside, though. 
Lesson: Yes, you're an entrepreneur. Writing isn't a hobby. Writing is a business.

​Cons:  The very same aspects that work for you can go against you. Yes, you're in charge of everything. However, that doesn't mean you have to do everything. That's where the experts come in. Cover artists, editors, promoters, etc. This is where the line gets blurry. Do you really want to brave it yourself or hire out? If you hire out, how can you ensure high quality and branding consistent with your products? 
Lesson: Have a business plan, a publishing plan, a marketing plan, and of course, a budget. Oh, and keep track of all your income and expenses for tax filing purposes.

Your unique way of spinning a story is your #1 asset. Yes, write what you love. That's your passion that keeps you spilling words on the page. Great. Go for it.

However, also notice the market. You'd last the longest and get the most financial benefit in indie if you find where your passion merges with readers' current demands. One of the great things independent publishing has over traditional publishing is the shorter time span between the final edits of a book and the day the book is actually released to the public. That means you have a higher chance of benefiting from hot trends before they get saturated and fizzle out.

Then again, if you're not certain exactly what you'd like to write and whether or not the market would embrace such a story, I'd suggest you go for it anyway and experiment.  The majority of books don't hit the ground running with the first book alone. If you've already published before, you've got fans and followers, you've got readers, then your first indie book may get more mileage than a book by a totally unknown author.

No matter what kind of author you are, don't stop at one book. These days, it may take anywhere between three to six books to actually build momentum in sales. The best way to maximize the benefits is to create a series of books that are linked somehow. For example, if you like writing about bad ass motorcycle clubs, then a whole series of books can revolve around the same club. If it proves to be successful, you can even create an offshoot of the series that focuses on a different motorcycle club. Even if you write nonfiction, you can benefit by writing a series of books related to some aspect of your niche. Perhaps you excel in coaching people in public speaking or some form of interpersonal communication. One book can be for friendships, another can be for the workplace, another about parent-child conversations, and of course you can write about intimate partnerships and so forth. See?

Got your stories, series, etc planned out, written, read/re-read, edited, revised and finalized? Great! 

Before you move on to the next thing on your checklist, whatever you do you must include a way for readers to stay in touch with you in the back matter of your books. Okay, yes, it helps to have some sort of social media presence. You've heard of Facebook, Twitter, and so on. However, the most important thing to add is actually a subscription link to your new release newsletter.

Even before I published any work, I created social media accounts and a newsletter subscription form. Mine is here (not the best example but simple enough to do the job). You may not have any or many people on your list as you continue your indie author career. However, one day, you may just have enough to make enough preorder sales that will make the difference on release day/week and get you onto a bestseller list. So start small. Start somewhere.

While there are a lot of email marketing programs out there, a popular choice is MailChimp. You can use it for free up to a 2000-subscriber limit. You can stick the newsletter sign-up form in your bio, your email signature, your website, your cards, and so forth even if you have nothing published yet. 

A great way to build your list is to offer a free book, worksheet or short story when readers sign up. (Um, haven't gotten around to doing this myself. So do as I say here; don't do as I do.)

Now you've got to think about the packaging. You can look at a lot of the covers in your genre for ideas to mix and match and/or communicate with your cover designer. Readers can tell a lot by the cover of your book and also any visual ads you use to promote the book. Whether you have design experience or not, it couldn't hurt to browse through some stock images as well for ideas. Sometimes, an image would grab me so much that the story would write itself, even though I hadn't been looking for the image.
​
Among the free stock image trials I’ve tried, Bigstock has the best deal right now – 70 free images (5/day for 14 days). They take down your credit card at entry so they can bill 3 days in advance of the trial’s end date. So if you cancel, be sure to do so three days before. The Standard License allows you to use the images as cover art for up to 250,000 sales of your book. Thereafter, you can purchase the Extended License or switch to a fresh image, if you feel so inclined.

After you've figured out the wrapping for your book, we can go onto the different formats you can create for your writing. I've ranked the next three headings according to the highest number of sales and royalties in these three following formats: ebooks (digital), paperbacks (physical), audiobooks (audio).

Ebooks come in multiple formats: Kindle requires .mobi files, Nook requires .epub files, etc. You can either format your ebooks yourself by using software (Jutoh and Scrivener are the more popular ones right now, although Vellum has been highly recommended by and for Mac users). 

​​Even if you didn't download additional software to format your ebooks, you can still get far with your plain old word processing software (Word, Pages, OpenOffice). Whatever you've used to generate your .doc file for your story can be uploaded directly to some direct publishing sites for their internal software to convert your document into their required interface.

​Even though it may be a huge learning curve at the very beginning, I wholeheartedly encourage you to publish direct to the five major online retailers:
Amazon -- .doc file okay for uploading
Apple/iBooks -- epub file required for uploading
Barnes and Noble/Nook -- .doc file okay for uploading
Kobo -- .doc file okay for uploading
Google Play*  -- epub or pdf file required for uploading
*If Google Play is not currently accepting publishers, then you can go through Pronoun for now, as they currently do not take a royalty cut after the retail site (e.g., Google Play) takes theirs for hosting your product on their site.

Why go direct?

Yes, you'd have to upload your book, cover, and enter all the details into the necessary fields to publish the book. Multiply that action by X amount of times for the first edition upload and every time you update your back matter or whatnot. Yes, it can be exhausting or headache-inducing just thinking about it, yes?

​The benefit of going direct, though, is that you’ll be able to keep the royalties, the reviews, and the sales rankings without having to start from scratch if you’ve gone through a middle man (an aggregator) to do the third party uploading for you.

About Aggregators: To reach other markets that may at first generate little to insignificant sales numbers, you can go through an aggregate such as Smashwords or Draft2Digital, both of which take a 10% cut from post-retail royalties. Yes, they do distribute to iBooks, BN, and Kobo. So if you want to buy yourself some time by doing one upload instead of several before you’ve gotten the hang of it, then by all means distribute through them first. Although Pronoun currently takes no cut, I have yet to find many authors using the site as an aggregator to distribute to the major online retailers. Unlike Pronoun, Smashwords and Draft2Digital also currently distribute to retail sites that do not accept direct upload from out-of-country residents, such as 24symbols (out of Spain) and Tolino (out of Germany).

A Word on ISBNs: Many digital retailers are ISBN-optional. However, there are digital retailers that do require you to have an ISBN. If you don't have one, they may provide their own free ISBN or some other form of identifier to the book. If you're serious about producing books, then hop on over to Bowker to buy your own ISBNs. The most cost-effective way of purchasing ISBNs is to have one ISBN for each format of the book regardless of which retail site you upload your book: 1 for digital (ebooks), 1 for physical (paperbacks), 1 for audio (audiobooks). Thus, if you made your first indie book available on all three formats (digital, physical, audio), you'd only need to purchase three ISBNs and have one ISBN designated for each format. (Ahem. Do as I say; don't do as I do/did.)

Imprints, A Corollary to ISBNs: If you're going to buy ISBNs, you may consider establishing an imprint, which can make your work appear more professional. 

Of the ones who go indie, I've seen people choose between IngramSpark and Createspace. The former charges an upload fee and additional fees for future revisions. The latter publisher, which is affiliated with Amazon, does not charge fees. In fact, if you know how to format your own files and either already own your ISBN or choose the free Createspace ISBN, you won't have to pay another penny to get your book available as a paperback.

I'm still relatively new to the audiobook market. The only option I've tried is ACX, which is also affiliated with Amazon. If you upload with them exclusively to get the higher cut (40% as opposed to 25%). You can either do:
1.  A royalty share with the narrator to get the audiobook out with no upfront fees;
OR: 
2. pay a flat upfront fee for production of the audiobook and earn out in the future.

​On Copyright Registration: If you haven't registered your copyright yet, you can do so via the Copyright Office, which is part of the Library of Congress in the U.S. If your book is published or made available in the U.S. and you're not sure if you can benefit from registering your copyright even if your copyright is automatic, then check out the FAQs here and do what you will. 

​The terrain of self-publishing and the publishing industry as a whole is constantly changing. What you may have read thus far in my post I hope is as immutable in years to come. Some things are just tried and true, you know?

Regardless of where the wind blows, if you've got your first book out then work on the next one. Each book helps market your prior books. If I had limited time or all the time in the world, I'd still write over 90% of the time and devote the rest of my time to promotion-related activities.

If you've found this post helpful, please share and/or post a comment. Thank you and happy new year!

You can listen to the first 5 minutes here! 

Funny, Sad, Uplifting -- Get Your Seat Belts On!

I have to admit that when I read the book description, I wasn't eager to read the story at all because of the death and dying concept. I know me when I read books--I get smitten by the characters and then of course I want everything to go well for them. So of course I don't want them to suffer.

However, Stanley is one of my favorite authors and I'm so glad I read this book because not only do the characters go through the rough parts but they get to the other side. No, not the death side, but the other side of the rough where it's smooth. So, yes, of course, Stanley delivered a story where both characters live to tell the rest of their romantic tale.

Onto the story, starring the long-time lovers Louis and Jesse. They both work at a Voodoo shop in NOLA. Louis has grown up with this tradition all his life and had turned his back on it long ago. When Jesse's cancer comes back full force post-remission, they both arrive at a crossroads. Jesse has a choice to fight for his life or die. Louis has a choice to either do something that he no longer believes in or slay his past demons.

Told in first person, I immersed into the story easily and was on the brink of tears a couple of times. As with other stories of Stanley's, this one was also a one-sit read. Can't help it. Captures me every time. So if you're up for a humorous yet sad yet uplifting story, this one's for you. Highly Recommended.

“Mariah?”

Her eyes instantly flicked open in a haze at the husky masculine voice that had dominated her masturbating fantasies eons before. Disoriented, she found her wide-eyed stare steadying on the familiar chestnut eyes of a suited man she thought she had once escaped months ago. Could it really be him? How the heck did he find her?

Mistress V spun around, waves of electric fury rolling off of her. “You don't interrupt a scene.”

Orgasm on hold, Mariah could hardly breathe. In fact, she had stopped breathing. The man really was here, in the flesh. She wasn't delusional. If anything, he looked more chiseled than before, the suit as crisp as their prior meetings in the board room and beyond. His once over was as penetrating as it had been before.

With a slight nod, to Mariah's relief, he excused himself. Still, she felt too frozen to track his departure. All she could do was force herself to fill her lungs with air and release the stiffness that had taken over her body. As she started to breathe and relax again, she noticed Mistress V's penetrating regard of her.

“Interesting.” Mistress V's narrowed eyes drew up warning flags within Mariah. “You gripped me extra tight when he interrupted. Makes me want to push—”

Mistress V struck a deep place within her, and Mariah couldn't help but buck her hips forward and moan.
“—that hard limit of yours on public humiliation. You like it when you go all animal on me in public? Let the world know how sweet a cunt you have, what a whore you are, that you like being fucked like a slut?”

Oh, god, that was furthest from the truth. What the heck was Mistress V doing, still stroking her and talking dirty? Fucking her pussy as if it was some sort of lie detector? Breathless form Mistress V's relentless probes, Mariah shook her head.

“Hmm. Perhaps you like being watched by a third party? How about sex with a handsome stranger who chances upon two copulating females? Still not your cup of tea?” The dips and glides quickened in pace and pressure, and she couldn't resist squeezing those fingers. “Ah, there we go, a bit of that clench again, but not as strong as the one you gave me when caught in the act by that handsome man. Tell me, would you like me to invite him over to play with us?”

Her heart stopped at the absurd notion. She wasn't a doormat or a play thing! She fervently shook her head and cursed herself when she felt her pelvic walls tighten around Mistress V's fingers.

“Interesting,” Mistress V muttered, her eyes narrowing. “You shake your head but your pussy liked that idea. So do those beaded pebbles on your chest.”

Mariah's breath hitched. Oh, god. No!

“Not to mention the catch in your breath and those flushed cheeks …” Mistress V's lips curved with sinister intent. “However, some more alone time together would ensure that this pussy is mine.”

​A few quick jerks of those fingers coupled with several swivels of the thumb to her clit sent her flying. She came, screaming into the wool stocking as Mistress V continued stoking the fires of her orgasm.

​Check out other Masturbation Monday posts.

Mariah stepped through the door and saw a corridor of security monitors with live feed. The sound of her heels reverberated through the hall. Farther along, Britta stepped through another door and kept it open for her. Mariah quickened her pace and caught up to Britta, who closed the door promptly behind her. Her eyes widened when she scanned the room. The place would have looked like a lounge space, if it weren't for the four poster bed at the far corner.

Mariah had assumed that they would step into a more private conference area. This was way too private of a room for a discussion over to-do items, even if the current campaign had to do with further extending the reach of the company's new medical line. They could have stayed in Britta's office, couldn't they? A foreboding wave of nausea gathered in her belly. Just what did Britta have in mind?

“Let me see what's still on your list,” Britta said.

Mariah handed over her clipboard. Britta took one glance, then set it down on the kitchenette counter before opening a drawer and extracting a couple of items, including what looked like doctor's headbands with much shorter straps.

“I'd like to product test these,” Britta said, handing the mini-headbands over. “Wear them on your wrists so that the discs face out and are over your pulse.”

Mariah inspected the product, which was heavier than she expected. The straps were about two inches wide and felt and smelled like leather. Attached to each strap was a thick circular metal disc with a flat surface that accounted for the weight. She secured each strap to her wrists and looked up at Britta expectantly.
Britta walked her over to an armchair near the coffee table and padded the back of the chair. “Sit and rest your arms so that the discs face the ones built into the chair.”

At first glance the armchair looked like any other, except the wooden arms did have circular discs the same size as the ones she had on her wrists. Unlike the flat surface found on the discs strapped to her wrists, the built-in discs in the chair had a depression in the center and a black ring outside of it. Mariah sat down on the leather cushion and positioned her wrists in place.

“Keep them there,” Britta said. “For this exercise, I'll need to blindfold you as well. No objections?”

​Mariah swallowed, the feeling of dread rising in her stomach. Just what kind of product testing was this?

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Holidays are a great time to catch up on reading. Find a new book from some great publishers, discover a fresh material from your favorite authors, go down the rabbit hole and immerse yourself in another realm. :-)

This edition features an interview from hot cover model Ani Saliasi and actress Irene Santiago-Baron.

You might also learn some surprising facts from Christy English's "Hot Hunks of History" column.

Plus, you get to indulge in a nice short Christmas story from Victoria Vane, a longer story by Bridie Hall.

Although you'll find reviews in your favorite genres as expected, check out the Kayla Lords' Heat Diva column for the spicier stuff. LOL

“What were you doing in the forest?” Alpha asked.

“Sleeping,” Skid answered. Bare facts. That should protect him from being carted back to his foster family like a sack of rotten potatoes.

Alpha raised an eyebrow.

“And your family?”

Damn. How Skid wished that Alpha hadn’t asked.

“Dead,” Skid said flatly without missing a beat. In a way, they certainly were. Those government subsidy-sucking vampires were living off him.

​“Well, then,” Alpha said. From the way he had narrowed his eyes, of course he didn’t believe Skid. “If you’re going to stay here with us, then you’d better make yourself useful.”
​

Available at the following online retailers:
Amazon  |  Apple  |  Barnes and Noble  |  Google Play  |  Kobo   |   Nook UK  |  Smashwords  |  All Romance eBooks

Cheerleaders in Heat
by
   Muffy Wilson  and  Chrissy Laurence
                @SexyMuffyWilson                                      @LaurenceChrissy              

US    UK    CA    AU    DE    FR    ES    IT    NL    JP    BR    MX    IN

BLURB

WARNING:
ELECTRIFYING ORGASMS!!!
NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART

Miami Rattlers Cheerleader Cherie Redd is exquisitely beautiful, athletic, and very, very lonely. Romance: a puzzling phenomenon she figured had something to do with guys' fear of rejection or lack of self-confidence because they just didn't have what it takes to win someone like Cherie.
Titillatingly sexy and breathtakingly beautiful, Cherie and her other cheerleading friends often spent their lonely Saturday nights lamenting their beauty and available just for the asking. The prettiest single women around: lonely, loveless and forlorn.
Frustrated by too many quiet nights at home or with other cheerleaders, Cherie was oh-so-eager for romance and a man to seduce her lavishly. She wanted to feel what a real orgasm in the arms of an adoring man was like once again. So, she tucked her vibrator away and took to the Internet. Cherie had no clue how rapidly the seduction would begin or where her life would careen as a result. Painfully naive and overwhelmed by admirers before her spinning head cleared, Cherie was learning things her momma never even knew enough to warn her about.
Follow Cherie and her friends as their sexual scoreboards light up brighter than in any stadium as their downward spiral introduces them to hot ménage sex, perversion and degradation.
Or does it?

EXCERPT

​As the evening darkened into night, the lights of Miracle Mile slowly came on, one-by-one, to welcome the late comers to the Strip. They were clearly interested in one another, their eyes locked in a magnetic embrace. Her emerald eyes lost their golden flecked luster to a dark, nighttime desire, matching Juan’s. Their hands touched often, fingertips communicating the messages lovers speak that only they can hear. Cherie, thinking the better of the two with the most to lose, excused herself to the ladies room.

There was a fiery feeling building up a steam that needed expression and release. In the restroom stall, Cherie raised her dress and put her hand up her thigh. She moved her red thong out to the side as she searched for her honey spot, now wet and eager. She knew this would not take long; so much emotion had burned through her already tonight.  Her head relaxed to the wall and she began to finger herself rapidly as she thought about Juan holding his cigar and the size of his hands. God, but he was handsome, tall and virile. She wondered about his cock. Was he circumcised or did he have a turtleneck sweater? She smiled and released a slight giggle. Was he long, thin, short, thick, wide and flat, bushy or trimmed?  How did he smell: like a warm musky forest after a light rain or like boot leather? Did he like briefs or boxers?  Oh, God, maybe a thong… Oh God, oh God, maybe he was wearing a thong now, or nothing! She could feel the earlier tension redirecting energy to her clit as she became more and more aroused at the thought of Juan’s cock.  She was adept at fingering herself and she wasted no energy now.  She began to moan and move with the rhythm of her hand and fingers.  She released her neck muscles and her head rolled from shoulder to shoulder.  She could feel it all over now, everywhere.  She was electrified, getting wetter with each stroke. Damn, she wished she had her finger vibrator, but she only carried it when she travelled. She would have to rethink that strategy another time.

She moaned, gyrated, clinched and quivered.  She moved in harmony with her passion, with the ebb and flow of her pulse. Her eyes closed floating in the image of Juan, and then she raised her foot to the seat in the stall.  She spread her legs giving her hand full open access: oh, what a vision she must have been.  She was hot, looked sublime, and coming soon in her red silk undies.  Her thong and garter belt pushed aside, she tormented her clit and pussy.  Aware that people looked at her as if they wanted her made her feel better and gave her an emotional edge. She pretended Juan was looking at her now in the same way.

She began to come in her hand: two fire-red tipped fingers plunged inside of her pussy and her red-tipped thumb found the pink pearl of her existence.  She worked herself into frenzied hot passion as she imagined Juan kissing her, holding her breasts, pinching her nipples, bending to suck her aureole and bite her nipples.  Her hardened nipples stretched and made an appearance under her tight fully fitted dress.  God!  Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, God and she released a moan with her breath as she gripped her thighs tightly together, pushed, quivered, contracted and came.  She stood like that for a few seconds then relaxed as she rotated her head and released her neck muscles.  She felt like a new woman: a woman that knew she should be headed home before her quality time with the man at hand, Juan, turned into quality debauchery. 

​Cherie emerged from the ladies’ room looking like a redheaded goddess, to Juan’s eye. It was a wonder to him what women could do to themselves in a few short minutes to freshen up.  Begging the late hour and an early call tomorrow, Cherie left after the next glass of wine and a penetrating kiss promised more to come.

CHEERLEADERS IN HEAT
Amazon Buy Links
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​Readers/Listeners Say:
"I could not tear myself away from the book. It is fresh, unpredictable and interesting."
~ Reader
"The story and characters have an authenticity that makes this an enjoyable audiobook."
​~ Listener

Sample the first five minutes!
​Go to the Audible sample page.

When the car doors opened, Kaylee stepped inside and pressed the key for the fifth floor. Right before the doors shut, an attractive woman (almost thirty?) in a Speedo top and sweatpants entered. She had a strip of spiky brown hair, kind of like a short mohawk, that was dyed blond at the tips. The rest of her hair, which was the same length as the spikes, hung naturally with that soft butch look.

Was she a dyke?

​One look at those luscious lips had Kaylee down for the count, thinking of their sensuous pucker at her nether region. Just looking at the woman made Kaylee weak in the knees. But those eyes? Those dark blue eyes looked like midnight and made Kaylee think of sinful things that people only did in the cover of dark. 
​
The woman gave her a wolfish grin with a glimpse of perfect pearly white teeth.

Kaylee blinked.

Oh, shit.

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“Good girl,” he praised, letting go of the belt. “That spanking took care of one of your infractions.”

Her body stayed slack, perhaps spent in defying him. He rubbed her flushed ass with a liberal amount of aloe.

“You smell incredible,” he murmured. His eyes glazed as he spotted the generous trail of drool sliding down her thighs. A submissive after his own heart. “My god, Mariah, you're a walking wet dream.”

He abandoned the aloe and dove in with his fingers. Her channel was so slick, it swallowed him to the knuckles. “You're so tight, so wet. I want my cock in you.”

With each thrust of his fingers, he learned her. His cock swelled to ginormous proportions, tenting his slacks. Ignoring his need, he continued to plunge into her wet folds and swirl his thumb over her clit on occasion. He listened for the peak of her bliss, watched the rise and fall of her upper back, relished the increased frenzy of her breathing, lusted after the slight tension flitting across her face, devoured the flush of her body, and felt for the imminent tremble of her sex.

She was close.

So close.

He withdrew, a quirk shaping his lips.

A muffled cry of agitation rent the air before being replaced by the rise and fall of her heavy breathing.

She tried to squeeze her legs together, but he kept them apart.

​“Uh-uh-uh,” he warned. “If you try to get yourself off, your remaining infraction doubles.”

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