The fifth Vampire Morsel is now up on Smashwords as a free read!
“Short Story. Part of a collection about different vampires from the Amaranthine universe. When most people think of vampires, they think of blood, night and stalking prey. But sometimes vampires just want to relax and play a game of poker. “
Bethina will be next on Smashwords, as soon as I get a chance to do some editing, and I should be posting the rough draft of Herrick soon.
Posted by Joleene Naylor on October 8, 2011
http://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/benjamin-on-smashwords/
The third installment of the Amaranthine series is now available in paper back.
Right now you can get it from the very cool CS estore – https://www.createspace.com/3661748 – Amazon is coming next.
I’ve had a few people ask me about Barnes & Noble, and I have to admit I’m a little frustrated when it comes to B&N. I have been happily letting Smashwords handle my distribution to several places (Kobo, Barnes & Noble, etc) and they’ve always been prompt, but so far nothing. I inquired about why the book still has not shipped – one month after publishing – and was told that it will ship this week or next, which means another two weeks after that before it will show up at Barnes and Noble! I’m not very happy about that. Best case scenario is two more weeks, making it six weeks since I published – meanwhile my dashboard says it shipped to Apple on the 17th of September. If it can ship to apple why can’t it ship anywhere else?
This is the first time I’ve had trouble with Smashwords distribution, but if it doesn’t ship soon I’m going to go through Barnes & Noble myself. 
Okay, enough of the bad stuff! Go check out the estore – even if you’re not buying a paperback – because I am rather proud of the wallpaper (yes, I get custom wallpaper!) And while you’re at it, why not go check out the other two? They have cool wallpaper, too!
Shades of Gray - https://www.createspace.com/3399574
Legacy of Ghosts - https://www.createspace.com/3486396
Ties of Blood - https://www.createspace.com/3661748
Posted by Joleene Naylor on October 7, 2011
http://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/ties-of-blood-is-now-available-in-paper-back/
My 101 Tips for Traveling with a Vampire is still free on Amazon. I’ve given away over 11,000 copies of it and though I know those numbers probably aren’t much in the scheme of “real” authors, it’s mind boggling to me. Up to now I’ve only ever managed to give away and/or sell 437 through Smashwords and all of its markets (Barnes & Noble, Kobo, etc). I guess this shows the importance of being on Amazon, too. That’s not to say that I don’t think Smashwords will catch up to those kind of numbers or that people can’t do fantastically well there, I just think that if you do minimum advertising (like I do) it makes sense to have the book in as many places as possible so more people are likely to stumble on it.
Of course, with free has come the bad reviews, but they’re mixed with good ones, so not too big of a deal. The bad ones mainly seem to be from people who expected different genres (One lady has reviewed only romance novels besides that book) or else expected it to be longer, despite the fact that the description says it is exactly what the title implies. No fault to them, though. They just didn’t like it. Not everyone can. But then, I’m not really writing for everyone, anyway.
Which leads me to a point – not “my point”. “My point” is right on top of my head, which makes wearing stocking caps hard – hahahahaha! Get it? See, now not everyone thought that was funny. But, I digress. The point is that I’m not writing for everyone, I’m writing for “my audience” and, as Ruth pointed out in a post on SPAL earlier this month, that’s the most important thing. I guess I’m just lucky in the fact that “my audience” is probably ten eleven people. So long as they like it, then I’m happy because they’re the ones I have in mind as I’m writing or editing.
Does that make me short sighted?
And who exactly is this audience of ten eleven people?
Without naming names, I will say that most (though not all) of them like anime. They also generally find my jokes funny, or at least pretend to. And the female portion of said audience seems to like pretty boys. They also tend to like the alpha-get -your-hands-dirty-in-the-blood-of-your-enemies kinda guys. It’s even better if they can be that AND pretty at the same time. Oh, and men who take care of their women (much to the chagrin of some of the more radical women’s rights kind of readers). I firmly believe that women can do anything they want to and are capable of the same things as men, but frankly, why should they spend their time doing it all if they don’t have to? If the guy wants to take out the trash – or protect the damsel in distress from a horde of blood thirsty killers – I don’t see how that diminishes her as a person. Let him handle some of it. We don’t have to do it all just because we can. It’s not a contest.
Also, my target audience of ten eleven people like some gore or violence in between their romantic moments, seem to enjoy stretches of conversation as well as the odd overly dramatic setting (the old warehouse I compared to a bloody eyed monster in book 1 springs instantly to mind) and they like vampires that don’t sparkle.
Frankly, they sound like a fun group. No wonder I’m writing for them!
So here’s a big thank you to my audience, I believe you all know who you are. And also a thank you to those of you who are in my audience without my realizing it. After all, if you’d asked me last year I’d have told you my audience was only 
about five people, so there’s plenty of room for growth. Heck, I’ll even say thanks to those people who aren’t in my audience at all and left scathing reviews on Amazon. Some of those reviews are so bad they’re good. And isn’t that what we’re all striving for?
You can check out 101 Tips for Traveling with a Vampire on Amazon and Smashwords
(edited per the comments below – thanks Juli!)
Posted by Joleene Naylor on May 30, 2011
http://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/who-is-your-audience/
This is from Cattitude the Paranormal Romance by Edie Ramer available at: Amazon Barnes & Noble, Smashwords
“You’re reading Harry Potter?”
Belle started, Max’s voice shocking her head up, her jaw open, her heart hammering. The only other time she’d been surprised by a human was the day Caroline grabbed her. Caroline had snuck in, but Max didn’t sneak anywhere. He always strode in boldly.
“Harry Potter is wonderful,” she said. “He had a bedroom in a room beneath the stairs. The Dursleys are mean to him.”
“You learned how to read that well already?” He frowned, and she wondered if he thought she was faking, like Annette on The Love Chronicles.
“I’m not faking anything.” She scowled at him. Yes, she was lying, but he should still believe her. He should believe everything she told him.
He remained standing over her, his expression hard instead of soft. She liked soft much better than hard. “Your memory could be coming back.”
“Or it could be that I’m very smart.” Or brilliant. She’d always suspected she was brilliant. Or perhaps she was tapping into the body’s brain cells. Though Sorcha had vacated the body, maybe some of her knowledge remained. Maybe that was why she was catching on so quickly.
She shifted in her chair, then shifted back. She wanted her own knowledge, not Sorcha’s.
He grinned and she sucked in her breath, feeling as if she’d been kicked in the heart.
His smile never made her feel this way when she’d been a cat.
Bending down, he grabbed one of the books she’d set apart. “Did you read this?” He showed her the cover, a cartoon cat in a hat, tall with stripes.
She made a face, though she was glad to talk instead of think. “It’s a silly book, the worst ever.”
His eyebrows climbed up his forehead and his body relaxed, an odd look on his face that she couldn’t place. A good one, not bad. “Sure it’s silly, but everyone loves The Cat in the Hat.”
She waved her hand in the air. She didn’t care what everyone liked. Everyone was human and didn’t know better. “Cats don’t wear hats,” she said.
He laughed harder than she’d ever heard him in all the years she’d lived with him. Looking at him, she felt the kick in her heart again. She swallowed a scream that said, No, no, no! I should not feel this way about him.
“What about a book about a dog?” he asked.
The horror made it easy for her to ignore the kick and remind her that Max was not perfect, though this stupid body seemed to disagree.
“I don’t like dogs.”
“You remember that too?”
She glared at him. She supposed it wouldn’t be appropriate to give him a warning nip. “I don’t remember anything.”
One corner of his mouth quirked up. “You look so offended.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant but she nodded. From his face, offended was a good thing to look like.
“If you change your mind, I saved one of my favorite dog books.” His mouth straightened, and his mood changed. “I wish I could forget I’d read it, so I could read it all over again.”
His eyes darkened, touching a spot within her heart, making her ache for him and want to say something that would warm his eyes and curl up his mouth again.
“Why?” Her voice sounded funny to her own ears, and she couldn’t think of one thing to say that would make him smile. “Why does it make you sad?”
He shook his head and backed up, his face closing. “Just thinking. It was a favorite of my dad’s. I’d better get back to work. I have a lot to do.” He gave a sharp nod and left.
She watched him turn into the hall, the ache still heavy in her chest. Frowning, she sat and returned back to reading Harry. It stopped her from thinking about what had just happened. It stopped her feeling sad because Max was sad. It stopped her from thinking of the kick in the heart because he laughed.
Most of all, it stopped her from thinking how un-catlike she felt when Max was around.
This was not good, not good at all.
***********
Bio:
I live in southeastern Wisconsin with my husband, two dogs, and the original Belle the cat. I started writing in the 1990’s, selling short stories in the mystery genre to National magazines and two Women Sleuth books. In addition to non-fiction articles, I wrote verses for greeting cards, and I possess a drawer filled with cards for any occasion. I’m co-founder of Write Attitude, an inspirational website for writers. I’ve won RWA writing contests with four different books (including CATTITUDE and her upcoming book, DEAD PEOPLE), and I was an American Title V finalist. You can read about my journey as an independent author on my blog. I also blog at Magical Musings, along with 8 amazing and brilliant writers.
you can find more of Edie at:
Posted by Joleene Naylor on February 11, 2011
http://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/cattitude-by-edie-ramer/
Yeah, it’s a “two fer’” post.
First I want to announce the exciting news that Shades of Gray, previously $11.00 in paper back, is now $7.50.
That's a $3.50 savings!!
Yeah, this is that “Pro plan” I talked about, though I opted out of the extended distribution for the moment because it means I’d have to leave the price at $10.50. And, where as it does make the books available to book stores such as Barnes and Noble or Borders, the only way my book would be there is if someone walked in, went to the counter and said, “Hey, can I get Shades of Gray by Joleene Naylor?” And if they’re doing that, then there’s a good chance that they could have just gotten the book online. In the end, with shipping and handling, they probably pay the same amount, and have it there in the same amount of time, except that they then have to go back to the bookstore to pick the book up, vs having it dropped off at their door.
I don’t know. I might enable it later, meaning that this $7.50 thing may not be around forever. So, if you haven’t got the paper back yet, now’s the time to do it.
On a side note, I’m still waiting for the prize books to arrive. They’re supposed to be here no later than Monday, which means Wednesday for us in hicksville, so cross your fingers.
And now for the videos I promised!
I found these from random postings on the CPC Vampire vs Zombie Challenge and wanted to share them. The first one is short but hilarious:
And here’s another spoof/parody that gave me a giggle:
And as a bonus, this one isn’t exactly vampire related, but it was catchy and amused me:
Posted by Joleene Naylor on October 21, 2010
http://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/special-sale-and-fun-videos/
Check out Authorgraph.com to get your digital ebooks autographed!
