EXCITING NEWS!!!!!

Callum has been nominated for ARe's Hero Contest this summer! I am so excited. I do have a soft spot for my McLennans and especially Callum. There will be several rounds and it is for the entire month August!!!
I will post all the particulars as soon as it goes up!

Monday Afternoon Cover Goodliness

Are they not pretty??? I cannot wait to see them all on magnets, which I WILL have at my Cursed N Blood party at AAD. Photography by Jenn Leblanc and the gorgeous cover art by Kendra Egert!

Cover Reveal: ANGUS

What do you think? Isn't he pretty? Another great cover by Kendra Egert and the photo from Jenn LeBlanc.

An Explanation about Free Reads, Clan and Upcoming Releases

I figured that I should explain a couple things that have been going on because I have been getting emails.

First, I want to talk about free reads.
I do not have the ability to put something for free on the Nook. Barnes and Noble does not extend that privilege to self-published authors. That is why I enrolled into KDP select to be able to do it on Amazon. I do appreciate that I have a lot of Nook readers, but as I said, Barnes and Noble doesn't allow us to do that.  I did a free read with All Romance Ebooks in December for A Little Harmless Submission and I would be happy to run a promotion at different places.  If readers send them emails complaining they do not offer this to people, they might think about doing it. Right now, they don't seem open to the idea so my hands are tied. The only way I could get it free were to have it put up there permanently for free. While that might be nice, I need to make a living and I cannot do that with my books for an indefinite amount of time.

The Cursed Clan and other books. 
When I chose to step into self-publishing, I knew that I would have to make decisions like a publisher. The last few years I looked at my writing that way. So, to earn money, I have to make sure that my earnings are balanced.  I love writing my Clan books, but I also have to earn a living. The truth is, Callum has sold as much as I thought it would. I was HOPING for more, but I know my writing and the market pretty well. It is one of the reasons I put it up for free. On average, most people  have been loving the book, so I have a feeling the more people who read it, the more who will buy the second one. Unlike a publisher, I will not end a series in the middle. It might just take longer to get the books out. Now, as a reader, if you love the series, make sure you let people know. Tell your friends and family about the series. Post reviews at Goodreads and Amazon and if you have a blog or facebook page, be sure to post stuff there. Word of mouth is HUGE and sometimes it can take a book from expected sales to OMG sales.

Scheduling for my upcoming releases is off the grid. 
What do I mean by that? I will not have specific dates until close to the release. I am doing this for a couple of reasons. One being that if I get sick again or something else personal comes into play, I won't feel that I have to get it done and risk my health and sanity. I am very goal oriented and once I set something in motion, it drives me crazy if I don't get it done. Secondly, I can also change the schedule up a bit to satisfy readers. If Clan takes off, I can slip books into the schedule, do some shuffling. If my Victorian vamp series By Blood explodes, I can release more than one a year. The release times are being stripped from the website so there will be no confusion. As I get further ahead where I finish books a few months before it releases, I will be able to put up release dates again.

I hope that explains a few things to readers. :) Now I get to return to Hawaii and Deke and his Possession.

Callum is finally here!

Yay! Callum is loaded up and I am so excited by it. I am proud of the work, and I hope readers like it. I will warn my erotic romance readers, this is not erotic. I know that I will get reviews, as I do for my historicals, that say they are not erotic. They are not labeled that way, but people will still complain. It won't make me change it, lol. Not that there are not sex scenes in it, or sexual tension.

CALLUM
AMAZON
ARe
B and N
SMASHWORDS



Will desire be the answer or the ruin of an entire clan?


The Cursed Clan, Book 1


As Laird, Callum Lennon feels he has always failed to protect his cousins. Callum’s impulsiveness caused the death of his father and the experience has scarred not only his body, but his soul. From that point on, he made sure to always go with the more logical choice in every matter. When his younger cousin Angus finds clues that might help break the curse, Callum begrudgingly hires Phoebe Chilton to investigate. Callum doesn’t like bringing outsiders into their family affairs. Their life would become fodder for the tabloids if anyone were to find out about the curse. It doesn’t help that the instant he meets Dr. Chilton he’s attracted. But, he doesn’t really have a choice because she might be their last hope. 
An expert in archeology, Phoebe has always been dwarfed by her parents’ shadow. Their high standards had her in college by thirteen and earning a second PhD by twenty-two. But her career and her broken marriage have left her needing something more than just diplomas and degrees. She wants to prove that her interest in legends, especially Celtic legends, is as important as her parents’ work. When the Lennon family contacts her, she sees the opportunity to win a massive research grant. With a long-time rival breathing down her back, she jumps at the Lennons’ offer her, hoping it will ensure her the grant. But uncovering the Lennon family secrets, and her attraction to Callum, could prove more than she can handle. 
Forces outside the family are determined to ensure that they fail. When an old enemy threatens both the well being of the clan and the fragile new love, Callum will have to choose between believing his mind or his heart.


The sexy paranormal world of the Cursed Clan is so unique and compelling it's destined to enthrall readers and win hearts. -Shayla Black, NYT Bestselling author


Check out the Trailer:

Book Spotlight, Callum

We are over a month away from the release of Callum the first of The Cursed Clan series and I am already wanting to scream with delight. This is the book that finalled in the Romance Junkies Reader contest several years ago, and landed me an agent for a short time. Sadly, NY kept telling me that no one knew how to market it. I still find it absurd that a MARKETING department tells me they don't know how to market my book. Seriously? Anyway, with the self-publishing market opening now, I can do it myself. And, I decided to give you a little preview because it is a bit different from other things I have written.
The Cursed Clan is a five book paranormal series that tells the tale of five cousins, four men and one woman, who are trying to break a curse that is hundreds of years in the making. I will warn you, the beginning of the series starts off lightly on the paranormal side, but it will grow, I promise. Lots of magik and villians, especially from the clan who had the Lennons cursed in the first place.

These books are going to be sexy, yes, but they will not be considered erotic. I know the Harmless series has given me a reputation of writing light to medium BDSM but these, at the moment at least, will not have that. What I am excited about that to me, they are just as sensual, and much longer than my other books. I am aiming for about 80K for these books because there is a lot of story in them. It has a special place in my heart because I started with this idea almost FIVE years ago. Thankfully, now I don't have to wait for a publisher to tell me if it is good enough or not, and seriously, I just HAD to write these books. Poor Phoebe and Callum had been waiting for me to finish their book. I stopped right before their first love scene, lol.
I hope to have an ARC out to reviewers NLT Dec 20th, with a release date of January 17th, or there abouts. Here is a little tidbit and you can see that our heroine and hero are off to a bumpy start during their first meeting.

Unedited Excerpt (c) Melissa Schroeder

Callum Lennon was another story altogether.

Before coming to Scotland, she had researched the Lennon family, especially their leader. It was her way. Any smart woman would do the same before embarking alone on a mysterious trip like this. Other than the fact that he headed up one of the most successful corporations in the UK—if not the whole bloody world—Phoebe found precious little else. No pictures, no personal information. A man with this sort of money usually took pains to be seen out, a beauty on his arm, attending benefits, galas and whatnot. Truthfully, though, she doubted any photo could have lived up to the flesh and blood man standing before her. And what beautiful flesh it was.

From his expression to his dress, black suited him. Ebony hair, peppered with bits of gray, was cut ruthlessly short. Like his office, he was dour, and more than likely, predictable as a schedule. Where his cousins seemed approachable, Callum’s demeanor was a red light. 

The only thing appealing about him, other than the fact that he possessed one of the best bodies she’d ever seen, was his eyes. The shape of them would be considered bedroom sleepy, seemingly half-closed. The lazy sensuality was belied by the vigilant alertness she sensed in his study. This man missed nothing, but that wasn’t their most amazing quality.

The color held her almost mesmerized. Blue, a completely boring description, would not do justice to their beauty. They were almost unworldly in the shade of blue, but when light struck them in just the right manner, there was a hint of green. She’d sigh over them, if it wasn’t a completely adolescent thing to do. She’d just have to wait until she was in her room alone. With the lights turned out.

 “First, we need to talk contracts.” The burr in his voice had thickened since she’d first heard him speak, making her belly flutter. When his words registered, she sighed in regret. Such a beautiful man, completely out of her league, but she’d hoped they’d work on friendly terms.

“No. First, we need to talk about what you want me to do.”

He didn’t respond for a moment, clearly taken back by the fact someone disagreed so openly with him. There was a flash of irritation and something akin to admiration—which was an odd combination, to be sure—in his gaze.

“There is no discussion of anything until you sign a contract. We, meaning Lennon Enterprises, must protect our name.”

He crossed his arms over his broad chest and gave her what she was sure his most intimidating stare. Silly man, didn’t he know anything about her? She was handling professors who were just as intimidating when she was barely thirteen. And nothing would stand between her and the grant she needed to complete her most important work ever.

“No. As I discussed at length with Angus before I traveled here, I made it very clear that once I arrived I wanted information up front. I will sign a confidentiality agreement, but I will not sign a binding contract. I understand the need for secrecy, but I assure you there is no problem. I have a reputation that far exceeds even your vaulted standing in the business community.” One ebony brow rose in aggravation or respect for her snooping. “All I know is that it’s a serious matter dealing with an artifact you found and need help translating. We will work much better together if I understand what I am dealing with.” She offered him her best business smile, the one she used on interviewers and donors.

“I’ll no’ risk my family name, our honor, to be sold to the highest bidder. The information you could gather would be more valuable on the open market.”

Her temper wasn’t quick to ignite, but was a dangerous thing once it did. And Callum Lennon was perilously close to burning.

She took a deep breath. Then another. “Are you questioning my integrity? That something in your twisted logic thinks I would take what information you give me and sell it, my reputation be damned?”

By the time she finished her voice had risen almost to a shout, but the moment she stopped talking, deadly silence filled the room.

Callum’s eyes flashed and narrowed. “I doona know or care about your reputation. I have a policy for dealing with this situation. I willna have my family used.”

She counted backwards from ten, then did it twice more. Questioning her honor, was he? Granted, she wasn’t being completely honest with him, but she knew if she rolled over on this one, he would either be suspicious of her motives or think he would win every argument.

Phoebe pushed herself to her feet even as she told herself smacking a six and a half foot broody, totally delectable Scotsman wasn’t a good idea.

 “Phoebe.” She didn’t even flinch when Angus tried to interrupt. “Dr. Chilton.”

She ignored the worry in the younger cousin’s tone. Locked into stare-down with his cousin, Angus’s voice didn’t completely register. The room, and everything in it faded away, until only she and Callum remained. Fire leapt in his eyes, showing his barely-controlled temper. His rigid stance bespoke his command over his emotions. He probably hadn’t said even a tenth of what he was thinking, and she was already offended.

She was no coward, but she tended to work with people, negotiate. Her parents had taught her from an early age to be diplomatic. So, it was complete surprise that the urge to push him further, question his integrity, and make him slip over the edge of control, almost overwhelmed her.

Before she could stop herself, she stepped closer to the desk. His expression shifted, turning from anger to something that resembled…lust? Her heart tripped over itself, and her nipples tightened against her cotton bra. His nostrils flared. A charge filled the air, drifting over her, heating her. Bloody hell, every drop of moisture in her mouth evaporated.

Something primal that she’d never experienced before leapt in her blood. Her breath tangled in her throat. All she could think of was touching him, moving her hand over his flesh. Bare flesh. Thankfully, before she could embarrass herself, Angus interrupted her thoughts.

“Callum.”

The rebuke in his cousin’s voice reached the dark leader. He shook his head as if to clear it, and that was enough to bring Phoebe to her senses. She needed to keep her head straight or she would surely give herself away.

Drawing in a deep breath, she dropped back into the chair, her body still humming from the confrontation.

Infatuation, writing, things to come

Chloe Vale, my editor, and I are putting the finishing touches on Infatuation and I wanted to let you know that it will probably be delayed just a few days. The ickiness I had last week put me behind and I am just about caught up.

I also wanted to explain what these books are. Every one of them will be a long novella or short novel, whichever you like to call it. I had planned it this way for a couple of reasons. I was tied to my publisher to begin with and was looking at having to turn books in for consideration a year to eighteen months ahead of time. Since I was allowed to do the spinoff series as per my contract by myself, I thought these would be nice little side trips, not really in Hawaii, but Harmless all the way. Also, it is going to allow me to drop the price a dollar a book for readers.

Now I know that some of you are never going to be satisfied with a shorter book. Sorry about that, but this is the way I have them plotted right now. It also allows me to do a couple of things when they go to print this summer. I can put the first two books together in print OR I can write a free short story that will be included at the end. Still trying to decide what to do there:P But know I am not trying to short change you there. I wanted to do something in the vein of Harmless but not the same. Of course it has that military spin on it, but like the shorts, these are different from the main stories. I can almost promise you that the main Harmless Series will be 60K or above, so they will stay the same. I want readers to know what they are getting and this gives me a chance at playing with some Seals to see if I want to develop a larger military series in the future. Oh, and I give you some Harmless:)

Other things in the makings, A Little Harmless Gift should be out in early December, mainly depending on how long it takes me to get it formatted and I will be offering it up at .99. It is the cheapest I can go.  The coming months are going to be filled with new releases. Callum, the first of books detailing the Lennon Clan will be out in January. After that, I will have Falling in Love Again, a shorty connected to my Once Upon an Accident Series and will feature Victoria, Sebastian and Anna's mother. You get to find out just what was going on with her during The Spy Who Loved Her. Then, you get another Harmless book late in Feb, A Little Harmless Fascination. 

That's a lot of books in the next few months, so I will be keeping my nose to the grindstone working hard. I have had a few questions and yes, the longer books will be in print. My problem with Harmless is that A Little Harmless Addiction isn't going to be out in print until May, so I have to wait until then. After that, I will start rolling those out a few months after the digital comes out. One thing I will say is that the price will be as low as I can make it to break even and I will be doing it through Create Space on Amazon and putting them in distribution channels. 

Oh, and I wanted to give you my pricing scheme for digital books. I don't think I have posted it here, but I thought it would be good. These prices are for single titles and will not include digital bundles I do later:

Under 10K- .99

10-20K -1.99

20-50K-2.99

50-80K-3.99

anything over that will be 4.99

Now this might change depending on what retailers do. They have a habit of changing things without notice. Or, if my overhead costs rise, then I will have to raise the price of my books. Right now though, this works and I think readers are happy with it,  yes?

Now, I have more work to get done so I am off to work.

Trading Cards for Callum

I wanted to do something special for my Cursed Clan series. So, I thought it would be cool to do three different trading cards for all the books and the wonderful Kendra Egert has outdone herself again!