UPDATE:  CONGRATS to Missy Jacobs and Barbara Johnson for being randomly chosen to win the books.  We’ve contacted you via email for your physical address.  Thanks to everyone who entered!

Hi all!  I’m back from the Lyrical High Notes launching at the Books-A-Million store in York, and it was a wonderful signing!  Thank you to everyone who attended, especially my wonderful and wild Realm Runners.

I thought it’d be fun to celebrate the launching and my new website look (we’re still tweaking, but this is the look) with a giveaway.  Leave a comment below, and I’ll draw two names, one to win a signed print copy of CONSUMED, and the other a signed print copy of SHADOWED.  The contest is open world-wide.

If you don’t win, remember that you can buy either print book exclusively from Books-A-Million at the lower price point.

So, would you rather be a feline shifter or a vampire? 

Hi All!  If you’re anywhere near York, PA today (Saturday, November 8th), please drop by the Books-A-Million: 3000 Whiteford Road from 2:00 to 4:00.  We are having a huge launching party for the BAM-Lyrical High Notes Program.  I’ll be signing CONSUMED and SHADOWED, and M.Q. Barber will be signing PLAYING THE GAME.

There will be Door Prizes!  Bookmarks!  SWAG!  And of course, baked goods!!!  I’m hoping for cookies, but anything baked gets my vote.  Please drop by and say hi.  🙂

How is everybody doing?  I feel like I’ve been buried under deadlines for the last couple of months and can now finally breathe a little.  It’s fall where I live, the leaves are turning, and it’s not unusual to have rain, sun, and hail in the same day.  I’m hoping for an early snow, but I don’t think it’s going to happen this year.  I need to organize my thoughts, so I thought I’d do a quick update here to figure out where I am and what I should do now.  🙂

MARKED, Janie’s story, is in the pipeline and is ready to go.  (Release date: 12-22-14). I’ve finished page proofs, which means I won’t see the book again until it releases.  As you might know, Marked is the tenth and final book in the main Dark Protector series.  It was both the most difficult and the easiest book to write so far.  It was the most difficult because so many questions had to be answered and so many threads completed.  It was the easiest for the same reason–I had tons to write and didn’t stop for a second to wonder what to add.  I have to admit, I’m very happy with how Janie’s story turned out, and I hope you like it, too.  I was also really nervous to write it initially because readers have known Janie since she was a child, and now she’s all grown up, so it was a little like watching your niece fall in love with a badass Alpha male.  But I think it worked out nicely.  🙂

I hit send on TOTAL SURRENDER edits this morning, and it’s the longest book I’ve written at 102,000 words (approx. 400 pages).  (Releases 3/14).  This is Jory Dean’s story, and he was so much fun to write about.  My editor says it’s the best book yet, and of course, this makes me both nervous as hell and happy.  I hope you all like it.  This one choked me up a couple of times because those lost, dangerous, wounded soldiers can do that to you.

I’m finishing up Hawk and Dawn’s story (Maverick MT book 4) now, and I’m hoping it has a release date of early next year – but I probably won’t know the date until early next year.  The first scene is really fun with Dawn teaching Hawk a little lesson.  I hope you like it.  The last Maverick MT book hit the NY Times, so of course, I have high hopes for this one, too.

Did you know we contracted for a spin-off series for the Dark Protectors?  We did, and it’s called the Realm Enforcers.  The first book, WICKED RIDE, is already turned in and should have a release date soon.  I’m thinking it’ll be June of next year.  Wicked Ride is about Kellach Dunne (cousin to Moira and Brenna), badass witch enforcer and motorcycle club member.  The book takes place in Seattle, and a few of the Dark Protectors show up, including Dage and Garrett.

Also, I have a brand new series coming out.  We don’t have a name for the series yet, but it’s going to be something different for me.  Yes, it’s still a romance with some pretty hot Alpha males, and I’d tell you more, but I don’t really know more.  A novella will kick off the series, and it’ll be in an anthology with Alexandra Ivy to be released around next September.  Then the three books will be released January, February, and March of 2016.  These will be in mass market print and available at bookstores, online, etc.

Finally, if any of frequent BAM stores, keep an eye out for CONSUMED and SHADOWED from the Dark Protectors, would you?  (They should be available for preorder end of October).  Those books are part of a brand new program between Lyrical Press and Books-A-Million to be in print, with gifts for people who buy them.  I’d love to see those do well so the other DP books could be in bookstores. 

Also, there’s going to be a big party for the program in York, PA at the BAM store on November 8th starting at 2:00pm.  If you are anywhere near York on that day, I will be there, and I’d love to see you! 

Other than that, there’s a boxed set of the first four stories (Fated, Claimed, Tempted, Hunted) in the Dark Protector series releasing on October 13th, Blind Faith (Sin Bros 3) releases in print in January, and then Total Surrender releases in print and digital in March.

Whew.  Okay.  Now I feel organized. 

If you subscribe to my newsletter, you received a new contest to caption a funny picture for the chance to win $50 at Amazon.  If you don’t subscribe, the button is over to the right.  🙂

I have fun and exciting news, and I’ll be in York, PA in November for a book launching!  I’ve never been to York, and I’m so excited to go!  Here’s the press release sent out yesterday:

KENSINGTON PUBLISHING PARTNERS WITH BOOKS-A-MILLION FOR LYRICAL HIGH NOTES, A NEW LINE OF EXCLUSIVE DIGITAL-TO-PRINT TRADE PAPERBACKS

August 19, 2014: Kensington Publishing Corp. has announced an exclusive partnership with retailer Books-A-Million to launch Lyrical High Notes, a new program through which select titles from the publisher’s digital imprint will be brought to print for the first time. These special editions will be made available for a limited period exclusively at Books-A-Million as trade paperbacks.

Steven Zacharius, President and CEO of Kensington Publishing Corp, said, “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Books-A-Million to extend the readership of these fresh and edgy books. Each of the titles chosen for the Lyrical High Notes program was highly successful in its e-only format, and these special printed editions will give our digital-first authors the retail presence that they deserve.”

The program will launch in November 2014 with the release of three USA Today bestselling romances previously available only as eBooks: Consumed by Rebecca Zanetti, Shadowed by Rebecca Zanetti and Playing the Game by M. Q. Barber. Following the release of two more trade paperbacks in January 2015, Crossing the Line by M.Q. Barber and Better than Perfect by Kristina Mathews, the program will continue with one new release per month for the remainder of the year. Books-A-Million will be the exclusive retailer for the Lyrical High Notes trade paperback editions for each title’s initial three months in print.

Margaret Terwey, Senior Buyer, Books-A-Million, commented, “I’m so excited to partner with Kensington for the opportunity to offer bestselling eBooks in print format exclusively for Books-A-Million customers.”

Kensington and Books-A-Million also have teamed up on a multi-channel campaign to promote the launch of the new program through online, social media, event and print marketing. In addition, a “Lyrical High Notes Welcome Committee” of bloggers will be tapped to support the arrival of the new books in print with online giveaways and virtual events.

These online initiatives will be coupled with an equally robust offline push that includes prominent in-store placement and a launch party on November 8, 2014 with Rebecca Zanetti and M.Q. Barber at the Books-A-Million store in York, PA. In advance of the release, each of the 260 Books-a-Million stores in the US will also receive a “Lyrical Launch Pack” containing promo items including branded notepads that will be given as free gifts to the first customers who purchase one of the line’s debut releases in November, personal thank you notes from the debut authors, and special gifts for the store employees.

Alexandra Nicolajsen, Associate Director of Social Media & Digital Sales at Kensington Publishing, said, “Kensington is a house where we pride ourselves on getting behind authors to help grow their careers—from their debuts to becoming bestsellers. This new Lyrical/Books-A-Million partnership will continue to build on that idea. Creating an in-store presence for Lyrical books along with additional marketing and promotion across all channels—in-person, in print, social media—will bring even more exposure to these successful titles.”

Rebecca Zanetti, Kensington’s New York Times and USA Today bestselling Lyrical Press author, commented on her upcoming print release saying, “As a reader, I love wandering the aisles in a traditional book store, and thus I’m thrilled that Books-A-Million will be featuring Consumed and Shadowed on their shelves!”

I’ve been getting a lot of fan letters and new FB likes lately with UNDER THE COVERS about to be released in May, TWISTED in June, and FORGOTTEN SINS in July…and I LOVE it!  There are a few things I didn’t know before becoming an author that I wish I’d known…and here they are:

1)       Authors with NY Publishers have no say in the price point of the books. None-zippo-zilch.  I have no clue how much my book is priced at until I either see it in a store or check online retailers.  🙂

2)      Those of us with traditional publishers don’t create our own covers.  I see the cover after it’s pretty much ready to go.  Having said that…I’ve LOVED my covers!  The graphic arts departments at Kensington, Entangled, and Grand Central seriously rock.

3)      We have no say in whether a book gets printed or not.  Or whether it’s available in e-book or not.  These type of things are never guaranteed in a contract.  Of course we want them in both e-book and print.  Always.  So far, I’ve been fortunate.

4)      We know not to read reviews…yet we do.  And yeah, sometimes we take them personally…and wish year-long yeast infections on the reviewer.  Yeah, I’m talking to you—mean reviewer.  And…we can tell if it’s a personal issue and not something to do with the book…even if somebody tries to mask it.

5)      When someone gives us a poor rating on Amazon or GoodReads because the price of the book is too high…we think she’s a moron.  (See number one above.)

6)      Once we get several reviews…we realize that the EXACT same thing one reviewer just loved is the reason another reviewer didn’t like the book.  This is a great thing…because then we realize we can’t please all the people, and we should just go write the next book…and stop reading reviews.  🙂

7)      We’re taken aback and overwhelmed by the kindness of readers and how they’re willing to go out of their way to help promote our books.  (Yes, FB street team… I mean you.)  It’s very humbling, and I hope I express how much this means to me and how much I appreciate all of my readers.

8)      Reading fan mail is the best part of many days.  Thanks for sending fan mail!

9)      There’s no magical muse.  Honest.  We just have to sit down and write when we’d rather be doing laundry sometimes.  This actually is a job.

10)   We feel an incredibly strong loyalty to our readers and really, really, really don’t want to let you down.  Ever.