I think most of you have seen the news by now, but let me back up for a minute and be a little girly.

Seventeen years ago next week, when I was seventeen years old, my mom passed away suddenly. It’s a hard age to lose your mom, and I was just coming out of that difficult teen period and just beginning to be able to hold civil conversations with my mom again, when she died. But though I’ve now lived just as many years without her as I did with her, there are still memories I will never shake and she still contributed to who I am today.

One of those ways, unbeknown to her at the time, was my love of romances. I still recall the trips I’d take to the used bookstore with her, where she’d trade in a brown grocery bag full of Harlequin category books, and get another bag in return. She’d browse the shelves with a list in hand of the numbers she hadn’t gotten yet, and off we’d go with that bag of books, which would set next to her recliner until she’d gone through it. After she’d read through them, they didn’t actually go back to the bookstore, but moved on to my grandmother and aunt, who traded a similar bag back to my mom in return.

I have always been an avid (and precocious) reader, and in fourth grade, I snuck into that brown bag of Harlequin category romances and pulled a couple out. Hey, it was a large bag and she wouldn’t miss them as long as I returned them quickly, right? That night, and for countless nights in the following years, I read those Harlequin romances into the early hours of the morning, often by flashlight. My love of romance was born with those purloined books, and it hasn’t abated since.

So it’s with great pleasure that I get to say today* that I’ve accepted a position as executive editor of Carina Press, Harlequin’s new digital-only press. Some things come full circle, and I’d like to think this is one of them. Thanks, Mom.

*this links to a post I did for Dear Author, with more on my emotional journey in the past months

I was asked to speak for a few minutes about digital publishing for the Passionate Ink chapter’s RWA party last week. Since digital publishing is such a broad topic, I chose to take the rah-rah approach. I think the speech loses a little in translation, reading it instead of seeing it presented, but several people on Twitter requested that I post it so here you go:

“Zor Q’an Tal, High King of Tryston, Emperor of Trek Mi Q’an galaxy, Guardian of the Sacred Sands, and the most feared man in six hundred galaxies and seven dimensions, popped a cheesy doodle into his mouth.”

And in 2000, with those highly evocative words from Jaid Black, author of the Empress’ New Clothes, Ellora’s Cave was open to the public and thus began the age of erotic romance. Prior to 2000, there were other digital publishers in the market, but Ellora’s Cave, who holds the trademark for romantica, was arguably the publisher to put erotic romance on the digital map. After Ellora’s Cave came other digital publishers such as Loose Id and Liquid Silver. In 2004, Samhain Publishing exploded on the scene (I can say it like that because I work there ) with offerings like Maya Banks 2005 debut, Colters’ Woman:

“His big hands traveled down her back and settled on her ass, cupping and squeezing, pushing her against his groin. His cock, hard, big, bulging in his jeans, thrust into the cradle of her pelvis. Can you feel how much I want you?” he whispered.”

In the almost decade since erotic romance has made its mark on the publishing map, countless other digital publishers have opened their doors from Cobblestone, to Total E-bound, to Wild Rose Press, to the most recent addition, Quartet Press. Print publisher Red Sage joined the digital-first/digital-only ranks. In that time we’ve also seen traditional print publishers join the erotic romance trend…and now release their books in digital formats as well. Beth Kery’s Sweet Restraint from Berkley Heat:

“He saw her eyes go wide but he didn’t give her a chance to respond to his totally irrational proclamation before he covered her mouth with his own.
He drank from her furiously. Pain vibrated through his flesh. Not the discomfort of a wound or an injury, but the raw, searing pain that came from exposing a desire that had long been denied.
At that moment he needed Laura Vasquez just like he needed to breathe.”

And yet, while there is now an outlet for erotic romance in the traditional publishing realm, authors and readers continue to seek out digital publishers to publish not just erotic romance, but all genres of romance, as well as fiction.

When Passionate Ink asked me to speak to all of you about digital publishing, I didn’t know how I could possibly do justice to the topic in five to ten minutes. Where do I begin to explain why I think readers and authors continue to seek out digital publishers? How would it be possible to convey how amazing I think digital publishing is. How excited I am to work in a part of the publishing industry that gives me the freedom to publish books that I love, to push the envelope and allow authors the ability to get books that bend genres (and body parts) in new and unique ways.

Then I realized that I probably don’t have to do that. Many of you already come from a digital publishing background. Those who don’t, who are here tonight, are here because of your love of erotic romance, a genre everyone can acknowledge got its push in digital publishing. So many of you already share my excitement and love of this corner of the industry.

Still, with all that’s been discussed leading up to this year’s conference, we have to acknowledge that there are those who don’t feel the same optimism, excitement and passion for digital publishing, and in some cases, erotic romance, as we do. It would be easy to be discouraged, angry and frustrated about this, and since I’m only human–don’t tell anyone, I heard earlier that there’s some talk I’ve never been seen in the sunlight and I don’t want to shatter anyone’s illusions– but since I am only human, I’ll admit there are times I feel all of those.

But then I remember I work in an industry that allowed talented authors like Lora Leigh, Lauren Dane, Angela Knight, Jaci Burton, Maya Banks, Beth Kery, Mary Janice Davidson, Megan Hart, Linnea Sinclair, Lilith Saintcrow and so many others to get their start. An industry that’s drawn authors like Deidre Knight, Shayla Black, Ilona Andrews and Lucy Monroe. And an industry that’s showcasing talents like authors Josh Lanyon, Laura Baumbach, and K.A Mitchell who write male/male fiction they otherwise might not have found a home for.

Digital publishing is a place where authors can start their careers, continue their careers, write short, write long, write erotic, write male/male, write female/female, write about three brothers loving and living with one woman…write about werewolves, demons, vampires, suspense, erotica, BDSM, and publish a book like Deidre Knight’s Butterfly Tattoo, a simple yet amazingly complex story of a man and a woman falling in love and facing obstacles…such as finding a publisher because the hero was formerly in a homosexual relationship. Digital publishing offers all of that and so much more.

I know that, you know that and I believe that as time passes and more people get to know digital publishing, they too will recognize that. I’m not going to stop believing in our industry because people question, disdain or disbelieve. In the words of Galaxy Quest, I choose to “Never give up. Never surrender.” because I have faith in digital publishing.

Chassie planned on having a whole lotta beer. She definitely needed alcohol to get the conversation started and probably an entire case to follow through with her plan. She took two bottles of Bud Light from the door and passed one to him. Snick, hiss, pop echoed, as the lids were untwisted.
Edgard’s backside rested against one counter; hers on the one across from him. She gulped her beer, cautioning herself to be tactful and calm, but what burst forth from her mouth was, “Are you in love with my husband?”

This is the industry that brought readers erotic romance and powerful books like Lorelei James’ Rough, Raw and Ready.
And it’s not going away.

Since I’m no longer with Samhain, I’ve deleted this call. If you want to submit an angel or demon story to me, I’d love to see them, any length, any heat level. It broke my heart to leave this anthology behind. You can send them to me at Quartet Press: submissions@quartetpress.com

Sometimes I put out an anthology call and I’m going to be doing one of those very soon, but in asking for ideas for my next anthology, I realized I would have liked to have gotten some holiday novellas. Historically, I have saved my December release spots for novellas, often erotic romance novellas and generally holiday-themed novellas. In the past, authors from within my “stable” of authors have provided these novellas but only one has indicated any interest this year so I’m putting out an informal call for submissions.

If you have a holiday-themed novella you’ve been working on, something that’s completed (or soon to be completed) I’d love to see it. Visit our submissions page for all submission information, including the email address to send it to. All questions about this should be directed to the submissions email, please don’t use my contact form here for questions related to this. I will also answer questions in the comments, as well.

In the query letter that accompanies your submission, please note that you’re responding to my request for holiday-themed novellas.

I’ll probably be looking to have those books contracted and scheduled no later than the end of July.

In addition to the regular auction still going for a critique from me, which ends in two days, today only there is a one day auction that includes a critique of a synopsis and first three chapters, as well as lunch with me at RWA for you and a guest, where we can talk about your book(s), publishing, or Christian Bale if that’s what you want to talk about! If you won’t be at RWA, I will either substitute a phone call or lunch at a different conference we are mutually attending.

One day auction to benefit Diabetes Research

Angela James of Samhain Publishing will critique a proposal (synopsis and first three chapters) of an unpublished manuscript, and sit down with you and a friend to discuss it at RWA National in Washington DC (or over the phone if you’re not going to national).

I ran this morning, the second day of the Couch to 5k. I might add a page here so I can track my progress without inundating you all with said progress. Today was somehow not as easy as Day 1, but not terrible. I fear for the next week, when I have to run for longer periods of time. Can’t I just do Week 1 forever?

When I got home and got to work, I found the news that Barnes and Noble has purchased Fictionwise for 15.7 million dollars. Congratulations to Fictionwise and the Pendergrasts (the founders of Fictionwise), that must feel amazing.

I also found that Colleen Lindsey had declared today QueryFail Day on Twitter and that she thought I should participate. I hadn’t really intended to read queries today (I was going to edit) but I’m all about joining in and playing along. So I did. All. Day. Long.

If you want to check it out:

Here: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23queryfail

or here: http://tweetgrid.com/irc?r=rtt&q=%23Queryfail

And more on QueryFail day here at Colleen’s blog: http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2009/03/queryfail-day-on-twitter.html

I just want to say that while I did try to do some query wins as well, statistically speaking, the query fail is more likely in an agent/editor’s inbox. We just…get a lot of bad stuff. Especially in the query letter itself. And some of the queries, while not bad enough to fail, aren’t good either.

But QueryFail day was entertaining to both participate in and read, because some of the queries were…oh my. Well, you need to go read for yourself.

All of the articles I wrote in the Epublishing series are now live here on my blog for easier reference and linking (in case anyone would have a reason to link to them).

If I missed any topics, please let me know and I’ll continue the series.

Today and tomorrow Samhain Publishing, myself and ten authors are being featured on RomanceNovelTV.com

I was fortunate to do a video interview with the fabulous Marisa last October while at NJRW, and part of that is up now, so wander over, check out my interview, my blog post and those of the authors in the next two days. Post in the comments over there and win ebooks!

http://www.romancenovel.tv/wordpress/rntv/marias-blog/

Confession: I’m completely exhausted and only the thought of failing out only the second week of the Friday Confessional kept me doing it. Brianna has the flu and was up all night last night throwing up. After the second time (and second bedding change) I slept with her, nearly got barfed on the third time (and third bedding change) but after that she figured it out and managed to tell me with enough time I could get the bucket under her. I don’t either of us slept more than an hour straight at any given time. I’m just a little groggy. She had a spurt of energy for a few hours this morning but has since collapsed back to the couch and is now upstairs sound asleep. Poor thing.

I was going to post about how I think seeing other people vomit is the grossest thing ever (I’m a sympathetic puker). I worked as a nurse’s aid to put myself through college. I could deal with anything, any bodily function. Just not puke. I once discovered a body after the person had been dead for three days in the Arizona summer heat. No one but me was able to enter the apartment without a mask. I’ve dissected a number of cadavers. I can handle disgusting things. But vomit gets me. I was going to post all that and then realize there’s one thing that gets me more than vomit: maggots. I can’t handle them, not to think about, not to look at on TV, nothing. Ew ew ew ew. Now you know my weaknesses. Vomit and maggots.

Moving on!

Quick question. I’ve been using a new Firefox addon called Zemanta to help add links to my content. Some things you see (like Zemanta) are linked for me by them, just by clicking on something on my dashboard. The program will also add related content links of my choosing to the bottom of the post, have you noticed them? It does other things, but so far those are the two most useful. Oh, the “Reblog this” that you see at the bottom of the post also comes from that. What do you think? Useful or intrusive?

For Readers:

I’m sure everyone has seen this, but just in case:Harlequin is giving away 16 free books as part of their anniversary celebration. This is very cool. There’s something for everyone! You can also download them via Stanza (also very cool).

Leah (Madame Butterfly) has a rant about DRM and why one publisher has lost her business because of it. I’m not a fan of DRM from the publisher side, and Leah’s post illustrates why.

An interesting blogpost on the Kindle, what it is and how it might affect trends.

SciFiGuy lists the February 2009 paranormal, fantasy and urban fantasy releases.

Agent Nathan Bransford asked: will you ever buy mostly ebooks? Only 10% of the almost 1000 respondents said absolutely yes. I wish I knew the demographic breakdown of people voting. That would be interesting!

Twilight fans will enjoy this: Twilight done by bunnies (in 30 seconds) via Katiebabs

For Kindle owners. MakeUseOf.com tells you how to read feeds on your Kindle device for free.

In the Kitchen:
If you’ve ever had any questions about using your bread machine, you must read this post, Bread Machine Basics. I stumbled across it Googling for something and it’s an amazing source of answers for all your bread machine questions!

What do you get when you combine a pound of bacon and two pounds of sausage (besides a non-kosher heart attack?): the bacon explosion. This horrified and fascinated me so much I had to share it. via Tastespotting

How to make Skittles Vodka from tipnut.com You know you want to. Heck, I KNOW *I* want to.

For the Crafty:

Lisa begins a series of bag making for beginners. The first post is about sewing terms. Part two is choosing fabric and interfacing. I’m really excited about this series because when I sew, purses are one of my favorite things to make. I actually thought about making something and donating it to the Brenda Novak auction but that hasn’t solidified in my head.

How to make an old cupboard door into a serving tray. I love their finished product.

For Authors:

Epublishing and traditional publishing compared by an author published with both.

Agent Rachelle Gardner did some posts on the “elevator pitch”.

Agent Jessica Faust discusses the form rejection letter. It’s a fantastic post and she lists many of the reasons we use a form letter at Samhain.

Author Ilona Andrews is doing a series of one paragraph critiques. It’s interesting to see how she tears down and rebuilds each paragraph. The first one is here and she does a terrific job of relating POV to camera angle.

Anyone who’s seen my workshop on epublishing or read the articles I’ve written has heard me talk about Yog’s Law. Agent Jennifer Jackson takes this time to remind you: money flows toward the author.

For everyone:

Domino, Wondertime, Country Home and Realms of Fantasy magazines will all be shutting down or have shut down. Ouch.

Interested in politics or what President Obama has been up to? Follow the new White House blog. It’s been interesting for me, to get updates on what’s going on. I like it.

Agent Rachelle Gardner wrote a post about Twitter. She doesn’t want you to use Twitter to try and do business with her. I feel similarly. I wish I had written this post. I almost reposted the entire thing here. I might still. I like Twitter, but it’s not where I conduct business. Like Rachelle, I rarely discuss business related things there and anyone hoping for brilliance from me on Twitter is going to be sadly disappointed.

SuperBowl Sunday is this weekend (I can’t believe it’s going to be February already!) and whether you’re staying at home with just your family, having a big bash or attending one, you must check out these two posts full of delicious-looking dishes to make. The first is from Cathy at Noble Pig and oh man, did this post make me hungry! I think I’m going to try a few of those. The second is from Pioneer Woman *insert fangrrl squee* who also has a post full of dish ideas. Both posts have photos, and I dare you to go look and not drool.

Something fun: Karen Scott posts the best complaint letter ever. Ewww is all I have to say!

Picture of the week:

I’m going to give you a couple. This one, because I saw it last week and immediately marked it to use for today. The emotion of the moment is so beautiful. via Huffington Post

Then this one from Paperback Writer’s blog because, hello, who doesn’t love a picture of a cute puppy?

And from Brianna’s photos this week. This elephant is no bigger than a tennis ball but the perspective on this one makes it look much bigger. I love this picture.

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Okay, not really. I was actually talking to Sarah and Jane for their third “Smart Authors, Dear Bitches” podcast. We talk about digital publishing and Samhain, tips for aspiring authors, as well as what we’re looking for in submissions. It’s a short podcast, just 15 minutes long, so check it out!

Smart Authors, Dear Bitches podcast with Angela James

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