Never self publish...

...because you'll go to hell...apparently or not...

Congratulations!

Male Me by Amarinda Jones has just hit the Allromance.com Bestseller List!

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-maleme-1151921-340.html

Funny how I still self publish after all the dire warnings of failure.

Yeah...hell beckons.

Kit Catlyn…Hot As Hell…

Who is Kit Catlyn? No, she’s not me. I have enough trouble with the names I do have. Talk about Heinz 57 varieties. But Kit? She’s a one off…an original and one of the few very good authors that do not go inundating us with stuff. What she writes is good and solid and worth reading. As for hot? Hot as Hell, baby.

For a limited time there is a 10% off this book at All Romance E-books. Go on, do yourself a favour…

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-hotashell-739062-144.html

The Blurb…

Faire-man, Adan Edward’s impish aunt is always up to mischief. But this time she surpasses herself when she places a wager with the devil. The stakes? Redemption of Satan’s beautiful minion against Adan’s soul. One look at the sultry beauty and Adan’s willing to risk it, unaware the results will be Hot As Hell.

The excerpt…

He entered the Demon Lounge, smiling at the appropriateness of the title. Leave it to the woman to find the hottest new club in South Beach. He stood at the top of the stairs, his hand on the black iron balustrade breathing in the scent of alcohol and such a flagrant mix of perfumes that it made his nose twitch and his head spin. The band played a rock and roll number from the sixties.

His gaze, like every other male in the bar gravitated to the woman in red on the dance floor. There was no doubt, she was thoroughly enjoying herself as she swung under her partners locked arms, her silky dress flaring, revealing a marvelous set of legs atop stiletto red heels. Pure joy radiated from her smile.
For a moment, he forgot to breath. This woman might be made for sinful pleasures, but she was also made for love and life not death and the pits of hell. He wondered what had sent her there.
As Adan made his way down the steps and across the crowded floor to the bar, several women caught his eye, an open invitation on their faces. He nodded but kept going.
“Scotch on the Rocks,” he told the bartender. As he waited for his drink, he looked up and saw his reflection in the wide mirror. The male looking back at him with dark brown eyes would have passed for a man anywhere. The only sign of his wings were two knots on his shoulder blades and those were hidden by an expensive gray shirt. He shifted his gaze to his trousers and plucked a small piece of lint from the black silk.
“Here you go, sir.” The round, balding bartender set the glass down in front of him.
“Keep the change.” Adan passed him a bill.
“Thank you, sir.” The bartender lifted the glass, passed a white towel along the wood, returned the glass and walked away.
The cool tumbler in his hand, Adan took a sip of the liquid, letting it run down his throat and warm his stomach. He turned, leaning his elbows on the counter, and watched the dancers. In particular, one red dress that flashed like garnets against the dark smoky dance floor.
The band switched songs and began a slow bluesy number.
The woman looked up seductively into the big jock’s arms she danced with. He gathered her close.
Adan took another sip of Scotch, studied the two then set his glass down and pushed away from the bar. Winding his way between the dancers, swaying back and forth, he tapped the big burly man on the arm. “Cutting in, mate.”
Adan was six-two but the man the demon danced with towered over him and had a neck as thick as a tree.
“I don’t think so, mate,” the jock emphasized the last word and swung her around.
In a smooth blur of motion, Adan once again stood in front of them. He looked directly at the demon. “Before this goes any further, do you have a problem dancing with me?”
“No problem at all.” Her cobalt eyes warmed with sexual heat, her gaze traveled from the top of his curly close-cropped black hair down to his expensive Italian loafers, giving him a slow seductive smile.

Kit Catlyn’s other work is here - http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-whennightfalls-480529-140.html

Smashing it..

So, I’ve been working on putting all the Scarlet Harlot Publishing books on Smashwords. It’s a lot of work to those of us of the half arsed persuasion. Everything has to be a certain way or you don’t get to forge on to the next level. Yes, it’s kind of like a game. And yes, Smashwords has also been caught up in the supposed Paypal witch hunt but like All Romance Ebooks and unlike Bookstrand, they haven’t kicked Indie authors and publishers to the curb without advising what they require. No, I have no respect for Bookstrand at all. Fear and censorship are not admirable qualities to me.

And yeah, lots of writer type people are still not going to be happy with what goes down with book sites but to me that just means finding another angle, another workable solution. There is a way around everything and if there’s not make your own way. No one said you had to go in a straight line now did they? And despite theories to the contrary Paypal does not rule the world.

Rules? Yes, follow them up to a point and then go about your own sweet way smashing them.

I woke up this morning ...

....to various emails about ‘what is happening to erotica?’ – and - the need to ‘defend erotica.’

What is happening to erotica? Stuffed if I know. It seems it’s a case of looking for ‘reds under the beds’. Those who write it are pissed at the sudden puritan morality that seems to have struck ebook land. Fucking hell people, its sex in a story. It cannot hurt you unless you go out and actively do something stupid and sexually impossible and let’s face it erotica is just that. Fanatsy. A kink. A thrill and nine times out of ten bloody impossible scenarios. See Jane have ménage/bondage sex with five shapeshifter wolves. See Jane have fun. See Jane get tired…very, very tired from aching legs and a sore back. See Jane ask the wolves to stop moulting or shave more. See Jane decide it’s all too hard having sex with hairy wolves and she has sex with cowboys…see Jane get spur marks...seriously, if Jane is that stupid then no one can help Jane. No one can blame erotica for the actions they choose to take. Woman up. You have sex with wolves? That’s your choice. The author didn't make you do it.

Erotica cannot hurt paypal, credit card companies, book depositories or those with starched knickers and closed minds. The call from some authors is 'defend erotica.' No, I see no reason to defend it. If I did I would have to defend dildos, cock rings, lingerie, alcohol, strippers, Thunder from Down Under, burlesque, marriage, waxing, drugs, movies, back seats of cars, sexy men, deep and meaningful looks and sexy words from a person's lips. All of that can lead to sex. As for being told not to link the current slamming of erotica with censorship? Excuse me, but I come fully formed out of the box with my own opinions and beliefs and being ‘told’ to do something makes the whole censorship issue valid. I issue a polite ‘Bugger off’ to that.

Erotica – love it, hate it, legs closed or open, come or don’t come, imagine or refuse to, sex/no sex, read it, chuck it, moralize over it or don’t give a crap. This is just a storm in a tea cup that will blow over when ebook profits go down and the thinking turns back to selling more erotica because monetary greed beats sexual need.

Things of interest from the email…

…sent by All Romance ebooks, which from what I can work out is overtaking any other non publisher site.

All Romance eBooks, LLC 2011 Trend Analysis
# Total publishers in 2010 = Approx 4700
# Total publishers in 2011 = Approx 7600

I find this not at all surprising because publishing is no longer an area that a tradition bricks and mortar, we-tell-you-what-to-do-or-else owns. New, more progressive publishers who are staffed by authors or ex-authors or the Indie publishers, like myself, who do it on their own terms are growing in number.

Heat Rating = over 97% of sales are on books rated 3 or higher, of significance is that the 5 and 4 flame sales have see a combined drop of 4% over last year with most of the difference shifting to the 3 flame rating.

Interesting considering daddy-incest-force-the-virgin-ménage sex is considered a big seller. Also indicates to me that most writers are heading back to the traditional romance of the romance novel - sure, they may still have sex in them but instead of every second page it’s gone to every 5th page. Maybe plots will come back?

Romance remains, by far, our biggest seller. Although still popular, the overall market shares for gay fiction, multiple partners, BDSM, and interracial were all down 33 - 67% from 2010.

No surprise on any of that. Gay erotica has been dying slowing in the arse...pardon the pun...for a while.

The overall market share for erotica increased another 22% in 2011 and sales increased significantly for all of speculative fiction sub-genres. In rank order we saw growth in sales of Paranormal, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Vampire/Werewolves/Shapeshifter books. In addition…the Contemporary seems to be making a comeback with a 17% increase following last year’s 55% decline.

In terms of which romance sub-genres owned the biggest piece of the pie in 2011, the top 10 are = Erotica, Vampires/Werewolves/Shapeshifters, Gay Fiction, Paranormal, Contemporary, Sci-fi/Fantasy, Multiple Partners, Interracial, Historical, Time-travel, Drama, and BDSM.

Are the over abundance of multiple partnered books wearing people down? How many ways can three, four, five people have sex without it all seeming the same?

All in all, an interesting report and a good indicator of trends. Food for thought. Thanks All Romance ebooks.

**Yellow is from the ARE email.