Writing, editing and house hunting

Well, the Schroeders have been on a roller coaster the last few days. Thankfully, it looks like we will not be homeless but we are still waiting to finalize everything.

Harmless News
I have been editing A Little Harmless Fascination. I am finally happy about it which rarely happens this early in the process, so that kind of worries me, lol. I have been double timing it, writing Possession rough draft and it is going scary easy. I will warn you, because of certain things, Possession will not be BDSM. Mainly because it doesn't fit the characters. There might be a little play here and there, but no heavy BDSM. Not sure about Surrender. A Little Harmless Submission is off for formatting for print. It will be releasing right around the time that A Little Harmless Addiction does this May. Not too long after that will be the Infatuation print release. I wasn't going to do it, but I love all the Harmless Military covers, so I really wanted them in print. I will be adding the Harmless shorts to it so it won't be too short. That will be releasing about the same time as the others in print.
 I had a notion of doing another Harmless really fast. Problem is, because we have to move ourselves, thanks very much for that Maxwell Housing Office, I won't have the time to do that one, with the next two books I have planned.

So, next up will be some paranormals. I have not decided which way to go yet. I know I have had a lot of emails about Angus and I wanted to talk about The Cursed Clan. I love this series. Just love it. I love all my books, but this really allowed me to play a little bit. And, for those of you who are looking for more paranormal in the storyline, it will expand with each book. As the clan works to break the curse, the magick surrounding them will increase.

The other paranormal I have is By Blood: Desire. This is the first of my Victorian vampire books and one that Kris Cook and Joy from Joyfully Reviewed won't leave me alone about. The idea was born back in 2009 and was the last project I shopped to NY with my agent. They all said it wouldn't work, then proceeded to put out their own versions. Thanks for that, lol. But it is another book where I get to mix it up with an entire world built within the ton.  I am kind of excited about it and hope that readers like it.
 Here is the blurb:

By Blood: Desire

Nicodemus Blackburn has seen the best and worst of mankind. Five hundred years of dealing with them teaches the vampire to be very wary of the creatures. Unfortunately, alarming events leave him no choice but to enter the world of the ton to hunt a villain. He must find a rogue vampire, one who is making his own army of blood thirsty vampires. Searching for the villain is not the worst of his troubles. That can be laid at the feet of bluestocking Lady Cordelia Collingsworth.


Cordelia has always been an outcast, even in her own family. She has forged her way in the world with her ability to write, and Nico Blackburn is the focus of her next article. Before she can obtain any information about the mysterious man, she is pulled headlong into a scandal that leaves her with no choice but to marry Nico—a man with dangerous secrets.  


Thrust into a world she knows nothing of, Cordelia finds herself falling in love with a man who claims to be a vampire. As their passion grows, so does the danger around them and Nico will have to call on all of his powers to protect the one thing he has realized he cannot live without: his opinionated, infuriating, and thoroughly delectable wife.

So, I am back to work. Lots of teaching and getting ready to move. And editing and writing. 

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.

Guest Post & Giveaway: Corrina Lawson

One of the questions I hear a lot is “Where do you get your ideas?”

I assume I get that more often than other writers because my ideas are a little out there. :)

The book I’m offering as a giveaway today, Eagle of Seneca, arose from a whole bunch of different inspirations, including my love of all things King Arthur, reading Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine as a teen and my fascination with history of King Philip’s War in New England, the last significant effort by the Northeastern native tribes to drive out the English settlers.

Add in the inspirations for my characters, which include the varied cast of Lois McMaster Bujold’s science fiction stories and my love of superheroes comics, and you have the mash-up that is the alternate history Seneca series.

The series is set around 900 AD in a world where the Roman Empire survived to colonize North America. For the characters,  I had people from three different cultures:--Native Americans, Romans and Vikings. The fun of writing the romance was to see if couples from such different cultures could overcome the cultural boundaries.  Not to mention the great chance it offered for conflict and angst. :)

All this meant I got to write a Native American princess flying a glider developed by her lover, a Roman engineer, to attack an invading fleet from the European Empire. Not to mention having Viking longships battle the fleet, which is about the level of technology of Revolutionary War era British warships.

Best. Job. Ever.

I think most writers experience the world in a unique way in that everything they absorb--books, movies, television, travel, family, children--eventually rolls around in their heads and becomes inspirations for tales, though perhaps not in the same mosh as mine do.

For example, I was just lucky enough to spend several nights at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills on a press junket for my work with www.GeekMom.com as a mommy blogger. Aside from deciding that being treated as rich doesn’t suck, It’s extremely likely the hotel will become a setting in one of my books down the line. I also got to meet Betty White in person and she made such an impression I suspect a character inspired by her will end up in a book at some point.

So the ideas come from everywhere.

And here’s the best part of that: that means everything you do as a writer can be research or classified as part of the writing process. Want to absorb Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick’s full backlist in a month? Awesome, I can learn how to plot suspense properly as well as be entertained. Watching “How the Earth Was Made” on cable television when I really should be writing? That’s okay. Because something in that show tripped an idea for the basis of magic in the steampunk world in my current work in progress.

About the only thing I can’t use in my writing are my kids, at least not directly. (Okay, I did use one of them for a cameo in a book.) But I think drawing on the joys and frustrations of parenting can really inspire a writer as well, even if only to make them run to a computer to make up stories to escape. :)

So the writers out there, the next time you’re sitting down in front of a television with popcorn and soda to watch a movie instead of write, it’s not being lazy.

It’s called looking for inspiration. :) 

~~~~

Prize: ecopy of EAGLE OF SENECA 

Buy: Amazon

For the giveaway: It is open international, ebook only.

Get your name in the running just answer the following question:

What energizes you up as a writer or a reader? 

(Could be anything from music to comics to books to movies.) 

Learn more about Corrina and her books on her website

Some Updates and What Not

Callum is just about done and should be going out tomorrow, hurrah! I wanted to let you know that I had to rework the schedule. I have talked about this before, but I wanted to give you a little heads up about how I will process from now on.
I have six more new releases planned for this year. That doesn't count the shorties I will be releasing for free, my rereleases, or my Kiera West or Melissa Schroeder Siren releases. That last bit is important. I have three more books due in for the Great Wolves series. To be able to do that, I have to space out my selfpubs. I also have two more Texas Temptations planned, so in order to get that done, I have to lighten my schedule.
I am also homeschooling now and we have decided to move on base. Well, we hope to move on base. Not sure if it will work out, but I think it will. So, I have a lot on my plate this year and I want to make sure I can give my readers the quality they expect.
Another little plug here and then I am reading through Callum one more time before formatting. I am going to start posting chapters on my Facebook Fan Page. You will have to LIKE it to see it, so make sure you do that so you don't miss out. I am presently working on a new website and there will be a member only area, so this is just getting us ready for it:)
Off to work and I hope everyone had a great weekend. Oh, and I guess we need a purty man?

Sunday Scribbles: Goals for 2012

Well, I figured since everyone does this, I will hop on the bandwagon. I had to reassess my plan for 2012. I have to make sure that my youngest is getting her school work done and I need to schedule the kids more activities, including social activities and the oldest wants to take voice lessons. What this means is that I will be running around more. My kids are more important than my writing, so I had to look at the schedule and see what I could do.

I plan on having a release just about every 4-6 weeks, including a few rereleases there. I used to have a goal of 5K a day. But that is so difficult if I add in the 2-3 hours I do of teaching every day. Add in more activities, I have some issues there, right? So, I am cutting back to 3K every week day, then 5K over the weekend of 2500 a day. That should give me over 60K edited a month, which will make it easier on me.

I am a fast writer. 3K isn't that hard for me to do. But that is unedited. Plus, with my schedule with the kids, I was spending way too much time in front of the computer. If I didn't, like over Christmas, I get way behind then have to spend about 10 hours a day at my desk. With my degenerative disc disease, aka crack disc in my back, that is not a good thing. Migraines happen that way.

It is actually going to allow me to be more productive. I had to look at my work habits over 2011 and while I have accomplished A LOT this past year, I have had to work way too hard for it at times. Mainly because I did not follow my plan. So, my 3K a day is going to work. AND, unless I work it into the schedule, I will be doing 3K a day every day, including at AAD and yes, in Hawaii. That is unless I am ahead of schedule before I leave.

This is still going to allow me to have time to play with readers and reach my goal of 50 releases available for sale by December 31, 2012. That is, if the ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE hasn't happened. Then, well, I will have spent more time with my kids before we were eaten.

Do you have any goals for 2012?

Sunday Scribbles: There must be a formula...right?

Yesterday I had a well-meaning person (you can't hear my voice so I will add sarcastic tone here) tell me I should rename my blog and not have a warning on it. First off, I have to have a warning or could get reported for content. It is one thing I am fixing on my new site by moving to wordpress. But for now, I leave it. I put half naked men and naughty excerpts up and I don't want to get reported. The name of my blog, uh, yes, I have had that name for about 5 or so years, so I guess I should change it, right? (eye roll). The author might have been well meaning with his advice, but I have a feeling he didn't check me out. With his one published book to my forty something, yeah, I lost count again, he was giving me advice he had heard. I have run into this before in the 11 years I have been writing romance. Everyone thinks there is a FORMULA. Sadly, I don't think there is one way to succeed. Of course, that gives you more options, but it also makes you have to work harder.
 I will say it heren again. THERE IS NO ONE LITTLE FORMULA TO BECOME A SUCCESS.
The first time I experienced this was at my second RWA which was NY 2003. My first RWA was Denver and all of you who were at that one knows what I mean when I say it is amazing I showed back up at another one. Talk about a PITA conference. It should have told me I was never going to be cut out for the RWA and all their nonsense. But I digress as usual, lol.
I was with a really good friend of mine who wanted to make it in Category. For those of you not in romance, that--at the time--was considered Harlequin. Digital publishing has blurred the lines recently. Desire was her favorite line I believe and she really wanted to make it. I am not saying that in a snarky way at all. I have no problem with Harlequin, other than what they pay for digital rights and the fact that they have a long history of slipping things into contracts, ie HQN first look clauses in 2004. I think you should write for what makes you happy because people will feel it when they read your work. Anyway, she told me that Desires had, according to those in the know, 2.5 love  scenes per book. Now, this has always made me giggle. I mean, who has been left unfulfilled? lol Still it shows you something. People try to boil this down to a scientific formula. And believe me, I was in the group for awhile. Sometimes, those things work. Sometimes they don't. That's the way this game is played. And, with the changes in publishing in the last few years, those rules really don't apply.
I floundered a few years ago while I tried to jump through hoops. Had to write a paranormal because they were big, and I had to change this and that and I couldn't be too erotic because people are sick of that. The market is bored with erotic and it will never sell. Oh, sure, you're successful with your Harmless series, but that was a fluke. And besides, Harmless has run it's course. (I heard this more than once from other authors and publishers)
Listen up, because I am sick of telling people this. The best way to become a success is to have consistent releases that are appealing to your core base of readers while pulling in new ones. That's it. Sure, you can do other things, and those help. But no matter what your blog is called--or if it has a warning or not--no matter how many friends you have review you, tag your product, or how much promo you do, if you do not have consistent releases of the best quality YOU can offer, no formula is going to make you succeed. Nothing. There is no mad scientist method to becoming a success. There are flukes in the business, but you will notice those people don't always have long careers, or they fade.
If I worried about the formula, I would have given up years ago. When I started out, you had to be a NY published author with an agent and writing mainstream romance to be a success in the business. NY shunned me, I lost my agent, and well, my most successful series is erotic with most books firmly placed in the BDSM category. I no longer write to a market. I gave that up. Do I look at my best selling books and decide what to do? Of course. I'm not an idiot. But, I no longer look at articles that tell me what NY publishers think will be the NEXT BIG THING. There have been so many NEXT BIG THINGS, that I have lost count. And while I read articles about promotion, I do not look at every article as the holy grail.
Write. It is the only way you are going to get published and keep getting published. And write the best you can. There's a formula everyone can handle. Oh, and remember, don't give up. The only reason I succeeded is because I am a hard-headed bitch who refused to quit. I am kind of annoying that way.

It's just different

I am buried in writing and teaching, I know what is new, but I am happy as a clam. At least with writing. Teaching makes me do math and science and it might be Barbie of me to admit this, but I hate those subjects. They are hard. I am not good at them, which makes teaching them oh, so much fun. Luckily, my youngest is a math whiz, as is her sister and my husband, and Les is pretty good with Science.

I am moving along slowly in Callum. It is so different to write a big paranormal book. I have never done it before, and so it is a bit daunting. I have the whole thing plotted, which most people would see as a good thing, I do not. It is starting to hamper me a bit, but I will preserve. I am a pantzer for the most part. I write by the seat of my pants. A few years ago, I allowed one of my acquaintances to talk me into the notion that I needed to plot. Everything. It was a D I S A S T E R! Major. It was probably the most unproductive times in my career. During that time, I wrote the first 30K of Callum and plotted the rest. My main problem is if I come up with it, and write it down in the plot, it MUST happen. In my head, I cannot get rid of it in the plot. So I am struggling a little bit with that.  But, because I am too damned stubborn, I will prevail!

So, with it being plotted, which is actually a good thing since this is a huge paranormal, and because of the fact it is a HUGE paranormal, it is like I am more of a newbie author. I am having those doubts I always do with the writing of the book. (FYI, I had serious doubts about Submission). So, I might not be as visible the next few days as I hunker down to finish this.

I am off to do a little writing before the kiddos roll out of bed. Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

Announcement: New blog series

Since I had so many emails, comments, and views, on the self-publishing blog, I am going to start writing more publishing industry kind of blogs. I probably won't do it every week, but I'll post them on Sundays if I do. They will be called Sunday Scribbles if you want to search for them. Not sure if I will get my backlist blog written today because I am working on my December newsletter then getting into Callum's book. But, so you know, the first one will be about the importance of a backlist and how it can beneficial to your career and pocket book, and make your readers happy.

Self-Publishing-The First Six Weeks

I think the subtitle of this blog should be: Boring facts and ramblings from Mel.

Readers, this may be of little to no interest to you, but I have had a few authors ask me questions about my process and I thought I would address them here. Now when someone emails me, I will just send them to this post, lol. I will be very surprised if anyone reads it, but hey, at least I have a post to send people to if they do ask, lol.

As many of  you know, deciding to self-publish was not easy. It was a long process. I had dipped my toe in the water, putting out a short story and a few rereleases, but I had not done a full on release of a series there. As an author published with several companies, I will make close to or over 200,000 dollars this year. Yep, I know a lot of people don't realize it, but I actually make a lot of money. And now I will get bashed for saying it but oh well.


My problem was that I felt stifled by publishers. They have their own interests and they don't always correspond with mine. That's business and I understand that. I also had a problem with being told another Harmless book might not come out for close to 9-12 months and that there seemed to be no interest whatsoever in the spinoff series. That military series was a brain child born last winter, not recently. I tried working within the system for years and basically just gave up. I couldn't allow this to continue. My husband is retiring in August of 2013 from the AF and for the first time in 20 years, I want him to have the freedom to do what he wants. To do that, I needed more control.

I did not go into it lightly, nor did I think I could just slap a book together and put it out there. You need good cover art and editing. Am I saying that what I put out was perfect? Nope, but I do believe I put out a good product. I also had done a lot of reading on both sides of the fence. Konrath has good posts. Okay, he can be a bit of an ass, but he makes me laugh sometimes and he has cold hard figures. He never hides what he is doing, nor does he paint pretty pictures. I can deal with the blunt truth better than having someone blow smoke up my ass. I might write romance, but I need facts. Telling me that someday I MIGHT make it somewhere for a possible four figure deal...no thanks. Telling me what works and what doesn't, that works for me. Konrath has always done that.

People kept telling me to just start submitting to NY again. Why? So that I can possibly get 1000-5000 advance and then not get paid for another few years. (psst...I made more than that in my first full month of self-publishing, but I will talk more about that later). One thing I disagree with a few people on is that there needs to be marketing. You cannot just throw a book out there and make money. Oh, some people do, and even in my own genre. I don't like taking risks. Calculated risks, yes, but just risks? This cappy doesn't roll that way. So, my PA Brandy Walker and I launched a marketing plan for my books. We are doing it for all of them in different ways, but I do promo, I do have a newsletter and I actually do get out there online and talk to readers. (hint, if you are a romance author who "doesn't have time for readers" you might find they don't have time for you.)

For authors, remember you are not just an author anymore. You are the publisher. I cannot stress this enough. That is what self-publishing is. You are the publisher, the marketing and art department, or you hire people to do those things. Do not ever think that putting out a book yourself is easy. Is it worth it? In my opinion, yes. Ten times over. So, I launched A Little Harmless Submission on the Oct 18th. It was a success. Did I have to deal with a glitch or two? Yep. But, I think that in the end, it was worth it. And, I am so excited about my upcoming year. I get to write two paranormals I have been waiting years to do, and I get to do a lot more Harmless books, including at least two more military books and at least three full harmless books, woo hoo.  This is something that would never happen if I were working through a publisher.

So, it's been 6 weeks and here are the figures for my newly released books as of midday Dec 2 w/ combined sales from Amazon, B and N, Bookstrand and ARe:

A Little Harmless Submission
Released Oct 18th
3602 copies

Infatuation
Released Nov 14th
1659

And this is not the only thing that happened. I watched was the rise of my older Harmless books. I think I had two of the older ones on the best selling erotica books on Amazon. I won't get that payment for another six months, but all of my Samhain Harmless books were under 5K in sales ranking for several days. The only thing that bothers me is a slight dip in my sales at B and N. But, at the same time, my sales at Kindle have soared, so maybe my readers moved that? Not sure.

For Submission, 6 weeks of sales have me at just about 270 sales less than Addiction. I just got the figures for the first month of Amazon sales last month (it released in June) But that included Addiction's first month of sales AND two months of preorders from B and N and Amazon. I averaged 1.80 per book, which would have gone down to 1.35 cents per book for a book with less than 60K words. And, since this was over 60K, I would have only earned 1.65 per book offsite.  I averaged 2.60 per book this way. Even before the contract changes I would only get 2.20 per book, but even with just these sales and the new Samhain contracts, I would have lost 3400 bucks. Let that sink in. In six weeks, I would have lost 3400 bucks.

Am I the best seller? Hell, no. But one thing that I know is what I will get paid in December and January. I will know by the end of December what I will get paid in Feb. It is easier to plan that way.

I am not someone who will condemn people who decide not to self-pub. Everyone has considerations in their personal life. Mine forced me to take the scary step and go out there and do it.  I needed to have a steady living and I know I can trust myself. Honestly, after having a book from a bestselling series sit around for a year before release for no good BUSINESS reason, I don't trust anyone. For those of you considering it, I would say dip your toe in. I put out a short and a few rereleases. See if you can operate this way. I don't think you need to pick just to be self-pubbed or traditionally published. You can, but you can also try both. One thing self-pubbing gives you is a monthly paycheck and the knowledge of what that paycheck will be about 7 or more weeks in advance. It also fuels your other book sales as I have mentioned. Or it might just help you creatively. Doing something so different, like my Cursed Clan and By Blood, can fuel your creativity and that is always a good thing.
Here are a few pointers:

Start with a budget
That sounds simple, but it is imperative. You have to put out money. My upfront budget for formatting, covers and editing is 500-800 bucks. This changes depending on the size of the book, ie how many words. Know you will need that before you make any money on the book. And, if you do your own formatting or can do cover art, and I mean make it look professional, then your costs might be less. Also, depending on pics, etc, cover art might get expensive.

Understand YOU are the publisher
Marketing, editing, etc, all needs to be arranged by you. Cover art needs to be considered, when to release, etc. This is no small feat and make sure you can do this before you jump into it. I know some people have said you don't have to worry about it. But in romance, I think you do. There is a lot of competition out there, and why wouldn't you take that extra step to make more money?

Regular releases
I know that one of the reasons my first two books did so well is because I had two Harmless releases back to back. I have a shorty coming out this month, and then another Harmless book in Feb. This is my best selling series and my readers have been irritated with long waits for new books. So, I want to make them happy.

Now, I read someone make the comment that they NEEDED the recognition of other authors. I think for me, I have worked outside of the box for so long, I don't care.  Would I love for people to accept me? Sure, but I have given up on that. From the time I first got published and was told by a local RWA that I was NOT really published because I was an ebook author, to having people pretend they don't know me because they signed NY contracts, I have lost the interest in gaining acceptance. Readers like my writing, and that is all that matters.

I am not here to answer challenges from people who think self-pubbing is going to ruin publishing as we know it. Truth is, it IS going to change. Digital is now the new mass market, as it was reported that digital fell over 50% in sales this past September. I am just putting my info out there for those thinking about it. Will everyone do as well as I do? Uh, no. And some people will blow way past me. Let's be honest. Some unknown or newbie authors are kicking my ASS. But the truth is, no one tells people not to send to NY publishers because they might never make a lot of money. And people are condemned for talking about it. Again, I really don't care. I think knowledge is power and anyone who throws a fit about info being revealed is afraid of the future. Painful but true. Because people decide to go this way is no reflection on you because, and I hate to break this to you, the WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOU. I think taking 18% on digital from a publisher is insane, but I don't condemn anyone for it. It's their life, their career and their decision.

I will be venturing into print soon, but I have to wait for all the Harmless books to release, and Addiction is not out until May. If there is interest I will update, because this is an ever changing business. Daily something happens. Just this week Italy and Spain were added to Kindle's list of countries.  Of course, if only three people read this, one being my mother, I think I might not spend any more time posting lol.

Here are some of the people who helped me.

Covers and all print promo: Kendra Egert is an amazing artist. I had been using another cover artist when he told me that he could no longer do covers for me. Kendra was a godsend and she is always helpful with promo ideas too. She knows the biz and her covers are amazing. Other than For Love or Honor and Sinner's Delight, Kendra has done all my self-pub covers. She is fast and professional on top of all that.

Formatting: I have known April Martinez for awhile. She and I have been around this biz for a long time, lol. She is a great cover artist but she is also a fantastic formatter too.  Always professional and very understanding when I make the gazillion mistakes that I do.

Editing: Chloe Vale is fast but she is also a very talented editor. She has a background in teaching English but she is also a READER. That is important.  Anyone with good editing skills can read through your manuscript, but a reader can tell you more. Chloe is very good at that.

All of this would not mean much without my PA Brandy Walker. Thanks to her mad organizing skills, I can promote without spending too much time on it. It gives me more writing time and more reader time.  One of the things I love is spending time with readers online. Since that is where I hung out as a reader, I consider some of them good friends. I was getting so bogged down in promotion that I didn't have time to deal with it. Having her in my camp makes it possible for me to self-publish and in fact, she has been urging me to do it for awhile now.

So, there you have it. My boring self-publishing post that hardly anyone will read, but now I have that link to send people who email me, lol.

UPDATE: Thanks for the great comments and please, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I had to spend MONTHS reading up on this stuff and still didn't get it all right. Oh, and for the few emails I got, the Harmless in Hawaii, that is my trip next month to, you guessed it, Hawaii. I am taking Brandy with me so we research the possibility of having a reader get together and doing some book research and goodie buying for the ADDICTS!

Hump Day Thoughts

I am working hard at getting us all back up to speed here at the Schroeder household. My youngest and I have been hard at work, and hopefully, we are back on track with school work. I have made a pledge to write 5K a day, six days a week. That should give me about 30K a week to work with. I am trying to get ahead of the game and it is working out nicely. As soon as I finish Callum next week, I will be into my Feb releases and some Kiera West books on top of that. But, my concentration is to get ahead in my own selfpublishing. I hope to have a completed Harmless book by mid December ready for my editor to look over. So, you can see that I have a lot of work ahead of me during a very busy time of the year. I will be around, but remember it might take me a few days to answer emails. And, a newsletter should be going out in the next week or so with info on some upcoming contests and peeks at my upcoming schedule.  Hope everyone is having a happy humpday, and well, of course we need a gorgeous guy to help us through the day:

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.

Back in the saddle

Or so to speak. I am back from what I called a hellcation, and it truly was. The kids had a great time and we actually got pics with more characters this time around. I am happy that they had this experience, and glad we could give it to them, but I am done with Disney for years to come. I have already warned them about it. For me, it is kind of a pain because of the damaged disc, I can't ride all those great roller coasters and scary rides. So, it is kind of a boring just walking around to watch other people ride rides. I did get those great pics and I plan on posting a few later this week.

But, I'm back to writing. I'm sending off the first half of Callum to my editor this weekend and Sunday and Monday I will be working on A Little Harmless Gift. I hope to have it done by the 13th. For a reminder, this is Micah and Dee's short story. I am really excited to finish it up and have my editor proof it for me. I know Micah has gathered as many admirers as Evan:)

I will be very busy over the next few weeks getting ready for the holidays, teaching, and writing. It may take me a couple days to get back to you if you email, so please be patient. Know that I am trying to get ahead of the game so I can bring you more stories, Harmless and otherwise, to read in 2012.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, or weekend if you don't celebrate the US Holiday of Gluttony, lol. Oh and because I used the cowboy reference: