Sunday, October 17, 2010

Today's Special - - Lori Brighton

Today, we're happy to welcome Lori Brighton to The Romance Dish!  Lori is the author of the historical romance, Wild Heart (Kensington - Nov. 2009).  She's here today to tell us about her new paranormal contemporary, The Ghost Hunter, a Kindle e-book she has self-published through Amazon and she's generously  giving e-copies of The Ghost Hunter to two random commenters on today's blog.  Thanks, Lori! 

Learn more about Lori at her website.  









The New Self Publishing

A few years ago the idea of self publishing brought with it all kinds of negativity. The common agreement was that self published authors would be forced to spend money printing their books only to be left with hundreds of copies and a hole the size of Texas in their wallet. With the popularity of E-readers, companies like Amazon and Smashwords have changed the self publishing world. What makes this new form of self publishing different? Self publishing an E-book on a place like Amazon costs the author no money.

Even New York published authors have seen the benefit of self publishing their backlists and making a little extra cash. Check out designer and Kensington author Kimberly Killion’s site:

http://www.hotdamndesigns.com/bookcovers.asp

Notice anyone familiar? Kim has designed book covers for quite a few E-authors, some of which are self publishing their backlists and she’s getting orders from even more authors.

A friend of mine and self published author, Edie Ramer, was the first to tell me about the new self publishing world. When she introduced me to Zoe Winters, I realized just how well a self published author could do. Zoe has found great popularity with her three romance novellas. Amanda Hocking is another author who has actually been able to make a living off of her self published young adult books. And when my friend H.P. Mallory self published her two paranormal books and immediately started making good money, I finally decided to give it a try.

My debut historical romance, Wild Heart, had been published by Kensington. But I had a contemporary paranormal romance, The Ghost Hunter, which was just sitting on my computer. I figured why not self publish it? And so a month ago, I became not only an Ebook author, but a self published author.

Self publishing isn’t for everyone and of course not everyone will have success. Both Amazon and Smashwords have guidelines on how to format your books for their sites. Still, if you’re computer illiterate like me, the formatting can be difficult. You’ll have to edit your own book and spend hours promoting.

As a reader, what should you look for if you want to buy a self published book? The same thing you look for when you buy a printed book; recommendations. Read the blurbs and excerpts, read the reviews, and ask for opinions. As self publishing is becoming more popular, don’t be surprised if one of your favorite authors ends up self publishing her next novel.

To celebrate the release of my self published book, I’m giving away two E-copies of The Ghost Hunter. Interested in a blurb? Here it is!

When Ashley Hunter inherits the Inn where her father mysteriously vanished years ago, she jumps at the chance to finally uncover the truth about his disappearance. But soon after taking ownership of the decrepit building, Ashley realizes she’s in for far more than she bargained. Not only has she inherited answers to many sought-after questions, she’s also inherited spirits, demons and even fallen angels! Then Cristian arrives, a gorgeous man who insists he merely needs a room to rent. She believes him, until one by one her ghosts start disappearing...

As a fallen angel destined for a life of servitude, Cristian Lucius is relegated to protecting earth from unwanted spirits. But he can’t accomplish this daunting task alone. He requires assistance from the very woman who frustrates him as much as she intrigues him. Cristian is determined to ignore his intense attraction for Ashley, and focus on his mission. If they don’t work together, they won’t have a chance in hell of defeating the demon threatening their lives. The problem is getting Ashley to trust him. No easy task, considering Cristian is the very man responsible for her father’s disappearance.

So feel free to leave a question about the self publishing world and I’ll try to answer. Or just leave a comment!

Thanks for blogging with us today, Lori and clearing up a few questions I'm sure we all had about self publishing.   I love the premise of your new book.  Good thing I have an Amazon gift card just waiting to be used! :)

Remember, two people who leave comments today will each win an e-copy of Lori's new paranormal contemporary,  The Ghost Hunter!


21 comments:

  1. Lori

    This sounds really interesting I have an E Reader but only a small one as I live in Australia the big problem with mine is that it won't read any books with a DRM but there are still lots out there that I can buy and read.
    Congrats on self publishing I love the sound of the book and I did enjoy Wild Heart very much

    Have Fun
    Helen

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  2. Helen honey, you need a Kindle. It will change your life!

    Lori, thanks so much for blogging about self publishing. It's a very brave step. Can you please point me in the direction of learning more about self publishing on Amazon? I've a friend who has written a few books but hasn't started the process of agent hunting, blogging, promoting, publishing and this may be some useful information for her. I'm going to check out your book on Amazon as I'm a huge Amazon Kindle eBook reader (some might say I'm a little addicted!).

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  3. Lori, checked out your book on Amazon. Lots of 4 and 5 star ratings, which is fantastic. Congratulations on the consistently good review on Amazon - great because they are all user / reader driven. Definitely on the to read list.

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  4. Helen, I've just entered the e-book realm so this is all new territory to me but I'm enjoying it. Love the idea of taking oodles of books on vacation with me without filling up an entire suitcase! :)

    I love the sound of The Ghost Hunter too. Can't wait to read it!

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  5. Daz, Lori should be popping in throughout the day to answer questions.

    Those reviews are terrific, aren't they? Makes me want to chuck my "must do" list and cuddle up with Lori's Ghost Hunter!

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  6. Welcome to The Romance Dish, Lori! It is nice to have you with us today. I enjoyed your post about self publishing as I didn't know much about it. I don't have an ereader, but hoping the upcoming holiday season with change that ;-)

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  7. Lori, thanks for the shout out. I'm glad you jumped into the self-publishing pool and that doing so well and getting great reviews. :)

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  8. I just spent 15 mins writing a responce to you all and it didn't go through and disappeared. lol. Don't you hate when that happens? So I'll try shorter responses.

    Thanks so much for the kind words about Wild Heart, Helen.

    I'm totally new to this ebook book stuff too, to be honest. I never expected to self publish. I had send The Ghost Hunter to a lot of interested editors, but they all fell through. One thought it wasn't dark enough, one thought it was too dark, one thought it didn't have enough romance and another thought it had too much. And one didn't publish books that had ghosts of any kind in them. lol.

    Editors have their own likes and dislikes that influence what they buy. They have a limited amount of books they can buy and with the economy the way it is, they're even more reluctant to buy books. So just because a book is rejected, doesn't mean its bad. And its great that authors now have another avenue in self publishing.

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  9. Daz,

    Self publishing is great if other avenues have fallen through. But I do know authors, like Zoe, who decided to self publish from the beginning, forgoing agents and editors. She's very much a go- getter and if you're not like that, you might want to try NY first.

    Both Smashwords and Amazon Kindle have guidelines to help you format your book. Smashwords is great because it gives you a code/coupon so you can give your book out for free. I've used it a lot. Amazon, though, is where you'll get most of your sales. Here is a link to Amazon kindle:

    https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/signin?ie=UTF8&ld=AZEbooksMakeM

    Daz, tell your friend to feel free to email me if she has any questions. I'll try to help and if I can't, try to find the answer. In fact, if anyone is interested in self publishing or has a friend who is, they can ask here or email me.

    About reviews and tags (which are those descriptive words about halfway down on an amazon page): there is a rumor that the more reviews you have and the more times readers have clicked on your tags, the more your book will come up in searches. This is why you'll sometimes see self published authors scrambling to get more reviews and tag clicks.

    That's the thing about self publishing, its a bit scary because sales are dependent on you. There's no help from editors or sales team. Its scary but at the same time I'm so grateful to have another avenue.

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  10. I have no idea why I spelled response with a c. lol.

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  11. Hi, Lori. Thanks for visiting with us today and telling us more about self-publishing. I've learned so much!

    I do have an e-reader (a Nook), and I love it! While I still buy books---love the feel of a "real" book in my hands---it's nice to be able to have hundreds of books on one little device. Great for traveling.

    The Ghost Hunter sounds like my kind of book. :-)

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  12. Hehe!! My first thought after reading the blurb was, "Uh oh!" ;-) I like the sound of the book. I'll be adding it to my list!

    Congrats on self publishing!

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  13. Hello and welcome back, Lori! We're so glad to have you with us today. Congrats on your success with self-publishing! Your blog was very interesting and informative, so thanks for taking the time to talk about it. The Ghost Hunter sounds really good!!

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  14. Hi Lori, I read the excerpt on Ghost Hunter and I must say, I am extremely intrigued. I definitely want to add it on to my TBR list since I am a paranormal romance junkie. I'm wondering if Ghost Hunter is a stand-alone novel or if you plan on making this the first book of a series. Thank you so much!

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  15. Great post! I have a couple of friends (non-fiction writers) who are looking into self-publishing. They have published paper books, but they have more ideas than interested publishers.

    "The Ghost Hunter" sounds great!

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  16. Hi mom2ajava! We're glad you stopped by. Is this your first visit?

    I found the excerpt of The Ghost Hunter very intriguing as well. I've always been fascinated by ghosts.

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  17. Sheree, I'm sure there are a lot of wonderful ideas floating around out there, both fiction and non-fiction, and only so many publishing company slots to go around. It's great that they have other avenues to publication.

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  18. Hehe!! My first thought after reading the blurb was, "Uh oh!" ;-) I like the sound of the book. I'll be adding it to my list!

    LOL @ Monica! My first thought was very similar!

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  19. I'm so glad you all like the blurb! When you get a book published by a NY publisher, usually the editor writes the blurb for the book. So because The Ghost Hunter was self published, it was up to me to write the blurb.

    I am working on a second book that will be a spinoff of The Ghost Hunter. The hero will be a secondary character who is in the first book.

    I've also got a Young Adult book that will be out sometime. It's with a publisher right now and if they end up not wanting it, I'll definitely self publish it. So either way it will be published.

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  20. Hi Lori!
    Congrats on self publishing! The Ghost Hunter looks really good!

    I've been debating on whether or not to purchase an E-reader. It seems to be very convenient to have a ton of books on one device, but I'm like Gannon. I like the feel of a book in my hands. Christmas is coming up, so maybe I'll get one. ;)

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  21. Lori, thanks so much for responding. I've bookmarked the link you provided and will point my friend your way if she asks for any help.

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