Friday, August 23, 2019

Audiobooks, new covers, and stories, OH MY!



So... This is happening... The rest of Pierce Securities is going into audio.  In addition to that, they're getting a facelift!  A spin-off series!

Basically, Pierce is getting a new voice, new look, and new stories.

A few months ago, I reached out to a lovely man by the name of Warren Zemon, who agreed to narrate the rest of the Pierce Securities series, in addition to going back after he's finished and re-narrating Craze so we can hopefully do a boxed set in audio.  Wouldn't that be cool?

I love his voice.  He sounds so kind, smexy, and really really smooth.  I listened all last weekend to him reading my words, and holy cow was that an experience.  With the entire series going into the Romance Escapes, I think you guys will have a great experience with this series.

Also, I've decided to update the covers, to go along with a new spin-off series that I'm doing to bring y'all some more stories for this series.  So be looking for something new from your boys, soon.

And that brings me to the spin-off portion of my little spiel...

Yup.  Some of them are moving.  There is a set of brothers whose parents live in Montana, and they've got to go see them, right?  Getting caught up in the romance of the area (and a little family responsibility), they decide to stay and open their own company, Rocco Securities.  They end up hiring a few cowboys to seed their personnel, because I've always wanted to write cowboy books, but never had the nerve, so I'm jumping in, lasso flailing.

I did have to get a day job to continue writing, but so far, so good! I have the rough draft of the next Pierce book, the first Rocco book is undergoing revisions, and Wire is being reviewed by Audible's ACX dept for publication.  Warren is starting Click in October!  (I have a plan for more Breast Cancer donations during the release of that one, so stay tuned for that.)  I'm in deep discussions with my cover designer at Book Wiz regarding the new look for the Pierce and Rocco boys.

So many things are happening!  2020 will be the year of Pierce and Rocco!  Hold on tight!

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Friday, August 16, 2019

Hunt for Love is LIVE!!!  The Book B!tches, book #3 is HERE!



A haunted town. A murder mystery. The find of the century. 

Kristie Hunt has it all: her dream job, a fiancĂ© she loves, and her b!tches to keep her sane. The ongoing mysteries of Mystic have forced her to push her job to the back burner. When her life flips upside down, Kristie snaps. Thankfully, there’s somebody to help hold her together.

Jessie Burgess has come to Mystic to translate a diary Kristie found. It’s the discovery of a lifetime and will help lend him legitimacy in a family that has become a clichĂ©. Of course, the sexy blond goddess in charge of the exhibit isn’t hard to look at, and he doesn’t mind being the shoulder Kristie leans on while she sorts out the mess with her ex.

They’re just messing around—Kristie’s come off something serious, and Jessie’s not looking for another woman to try to change him—but when Kristie’s life is targeted, he realizes how much he truly cares for her.

Welcome to Mystic, Texas, where the past stays alive in more ways than one.


Here's an excerpt, for you reading pleasure!
“Comanche regard valor and bravery above all else. When we see something we want, we take it, and we fight like hell to keep it.”
The intensity in his eyes as he spoke those words sent a shiver of anticipation down her spine, leaving a pool of heat in her panties. She crossed her legs and ignored the tingles erupting across her skin as his eyes continued flashing at her.
Kristie could read into his words but decided not to. She chose to believe he was speaking about the woman who’d written the journal and the man who’d taken her. She didn’t want to believe that Jesse had seen her, wanted her, and was going to fight like hell to keep her. That would complicate things. A lot.
Kristie swallowed against the rising lust in her throat. Feeling awkward, she shifted in her seat, touching his thigh. A self-satisfied smile flickered across his features and he lowered his head.
“Well, did you get anything translated last night?” Eager to change the subject, she watched him shuffle some sheets of paper.
Ignoring the brush of his hand against hers, she took the proffered papers as he pulled a pair of glasses from his satchel. He read aloud from the document and paused to transpose it onto his laptop.
Okay, Jesse in glasses? She was doomed. Truly doomed. She desperately tried to come up with a reason not to launch herself at this man and finally managed to remember Shane coming out of the room where he’d fucked his secretary at a funeral.
But the glasses. And the biceps. And the long, dark hair. And the air of power.
Jesse was talking to himself. And it was wholly distracting.
The words were a husky murmur in a language of harsh consonants and excessive grunting. Coming from Jesse, it was pure eroticism washing over her skin and leaving her flushed.
Holy shit. She honestly didn’t see how she was supposed to actually work like this.
Swallowing and hoping her words weren’t about to sound rude, she cleared her throat. “Do you have to read it aloud?”
His eyes twinkled. Did he know his voice reading in Comanche was disintegrating her panties?
“You said it yourself. This woman isn’t Comanche. Our alphabet only has eighteen letters in it, and some of those aren’t in the English alphabet at all. So yes, I do have to read it out loud to hear it and know what I’m saying. Is it a problem? I can work in another room if it would be easier for you to read.”
His eyebrows rose. He was offering to take his laptop and the book and go elsewhere so she could read in his room in peace?
“No. That’s all right.”

Dropping her eyes to the pages, Kristie forced herself to focus on the printed paper in front of her and not his delicious voice. In time, the Comanche murmur was a pleasant backdrop and added a flair of authenticity to the diary.


If you haven't read this series, jump on it now!  The first in the series, Power of Love is FREE for a limited time:  http://bit.ly/2Z5jPNa



Welcome to Mystic, Texas, where the past stays alive in more ways than one.

Vanessa Power, a budding Indie Romance author, believes the town is calling her name, being the new life and fresh start she’s craving. She’s met an amazing group of women who have a regular book club, reading only Indie Authors. Unfortunately, her new house is in worse shape than she thought and holds more mysteries than she’s prepared for. And then there’s the handyman.

Linc Ward holds more mysteries than her house and the town combined, with a past he won’t reveal in a package which is built for nothing short of sin. 

Linc is captivated by his new boss, the only person in town who will give him a job, but only because she doesn’t know he’s an ex-con. Can he keep his past locked away, while at the same time indulging in his fantasies with the pleasantly curvy and deliciously sexy Vanessa? Probably not.

They are both looking for a new start in life. Will they be able to find it together? Or will something sinister keep them apart?




A captivating contemporary gothic romance...
Mystic, Texas has a serial killer on the loose, and Tiffany appears to be on his list.

After the loss of her husband, Tiffany Masters finds herself in Mystic, a town with a past more haunted than hers. The local book club, The Book B!tches, gives her the courage to be herself without worrying about adult things, like bills, parenting, and supper. However, her new boss may be more than she can handle.

Nick takes pride in his business. Being the only bar owner in town has its challenges, the biggest being his new employee. Tiffany's a fireball--sexy as hell, with a temper to match--and off-limits. She's got kids; he's been there, done that, didn't care to get the t-shirt. But she brings out buried urges in him he doesn't know how to deal with.

When their heated attraction sparks a spat, the sheriff gives them an ultimatum: settle their shit or go to jail. He's got a crime to solve--a woman's dead, Wren's still missing, and there's another possible victim.

**Welcome to Mystic, Texas, where the past stays alive in more ways than one.**

"The more I get of Mystic, the more I want!!"- Tami Czenkus, Amazon Review



About Anne Conley:  

Anne has written her entire life and has the boxes of angst-filled journals and poetry to prove it. She’s been writing for public consumption for the past several years. She lives in rural East Texas with her husband and children in her own private oasis, where she prides herself in her complete lack of social skills, choosing instead to live with the people inside her head.

Currently, she has five romance series.  Playing with Fire explores the trials and tribulations of a small team of fire fighters in the fictional mountain town of Pamona Gulch. In Pierce Securities, she gives us Ryan, Evan, Miriam, Zack, Quinten, Jordan, Hollerman, and Simon. Her favorite series, Book B!tches, is all about a group of women in Mystic, Texas who get into all sorts of shenanigans. In Stories of Serendipity, she explores real people living real lives in small town Texas in a contemporary romance setting. In The Four Winds, she chronicles God’s four closest archangels, Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael, falling in love and becoming human.



Website/newsletter/blog: www.anneconley.com
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6907845.Anne_Conley
Follow on Instagram: anne.conley   https://www.instagram.com/anne.conley/ 

Thursday, March 28, 2019

#NewRelease Break of Dawn #HurricaneHarvey

New Release!  This one was inspired by Hurricane Harvey, and is dedicated to all the  first responders who dropped everything--jobs, family-life, missed vacations--and drove to Houston with a flat-botttom boat, and cases of water to get the people out of rising flood waters.  




One woman in hiding. A man desperate to escape his future. A union that can’t ever happen.

A bad girl meets a good guy who is just trying to do the right thing.

Dawn takes jobs—the jobs people need done, but don’t want to get their hands dirty with—because she’s good. But this job may be her last. She not sure if she’ll survive it.

Jackson is reluctant to fit into his father’s mold. The Mayor’s son, he’s ready to live his life on his own terms, but it seems his life is already laid out for him.

When he rescues her from a “job” in the middle of a hurricane wracking their fair city, the two paths collide.

And the consequences could be dire.

Buy links:
Amazon:  https://amzn.to/2WuQ9E8
Amazon UK:  https://amzn.to/2HKS7wL
B and N:  http://bit.ly/2U3l65A
Apple:  https://apple.co/2UdD0Sp
KOBO:  http://bit.ly/2HWlLON
NEW!  Google Play:  http://bit.ly/2FxQ5N5




Excerpt:
Her first thought was of his proposition. She couldn’t imagine what he would want, except sex. She wasn’t immune to his charms in that regard, but Dawn repeated her earlier thoughts to herself. He wouldn’t want just sex. He looked like the sort to dissect things, talk about feelings, put labels on what they were and shit. She wasn’t the sort who did that type of thing. Not anymore.
Her second thought was all about the creature comforts. She hadn’t brushed her teeth, needed a shower, and if she ever wore this fucking body suit again, it would be too soon. Dawn needed clean underwear in the worst way, and her bed screamed at her from where it sat across town.
And she wanted to look at the laptop that had Twitch so fired up.
She sighed, and Jackson’s gaze snapped to hers. “You said you lived by Freed Park?”
She nodded, just now starting her pancakes. The buttery, syrupy batter melted on her tongue, and she let out a small moan. Jackson stared at her with a stark heat in his eyes that had her swallowing hard.
“It’s all underwater over there. Like, a ton of water.”
She ate another bite, shoveling it down because it tasted amazing. She honestly wasn’t hungry but didn’t know when she would get another chance to eat a meal cooked this well. Breakfast might be all the people got. She could be relegated to granola bars, or worse, the rest of the day.
She was smart enough to know not to turn down perfectly good food.
So Dawn ignored him and cleaned her plate, letting out a soft belch when she was finished before pushing the plate away. Jackson picked it up and threw it in the trash in the corner before coming back to sit in the seat next to her. The air thickened between them, and he tugged her chair closer to him, placing her between his knees. He leaned down so they shared the same air. It was totally unnecessary in the largish space of the room that only held the two of them, but she allowed it.
Reveled in it, actually.
She could see his greenish-gray eyes in the light of the morning. At night, they had glittered in the darkness, but she hadn’t been able to tell what color they were.
Dawn was hopelessly lost in them. His sandy-blond hair was cut short on the sides, still standing up on the top of his head, but it had been tamed a bit since last night. And his breath smelled slightly minty.
Son of a bitch had found a toothbrush.
“I think I can use you,” he said, breaking the pregnant silence with words that held a double entendre she couldn’t not laugh at. He blushed, and it was cuter than she cared to admit. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Okay. I do need you, but not the way that came out.”

She sighed, angry at her curiosity for rearing its head. She just knew she was going to get in too deep with this guy. Dawn could feel it in her gut.

About the author:
Anne has written her entire life and has the boxes of angst-filled journals and poetry to prove it. She’s been writing for public consumption for the past several years. She lives in rural East Texas with her husband and children in her own private oasis, where she prides herself in her complete lack of social skills, choosing instead to live with the people inside her head.
Currently, she has five romance series.  Playing with Fire explores the trials and tribulations of a small team of fire fighters in the fictional mountain town of Pamona Gulch. In Pierce Securities, she gives us Ryan, Evan, Miriam, Zack, Quinten, Jordan, Hollerman, and Simon. Her favorite series, Book B!tches, is all about a group of women in Mystic, Texas who get into all sorts of shenanigans. In Stories of Serendipity, she explores real people living real lives in small town Texas in a contemporary romance setting. In The Four Winds, she chronicles God’s four closest archangels, Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael, falling in love and becoming human.









Thursday, January 24, 2019

Selling books

I've been needing to blog for a while, struggling with a topic.  This morning, it came to me, so bear with me while I slog through the miasma that is my brain and attempt to say something coherent.

I get questions all the time about how to sell books.  I'll get PM's on facebook, conversations at my local pub, or random tweets, asking me how I'm so successful, what part of me is a machine that allows me to make a living off my book sales.

It's not just one thing, and my definition of success is so different from these people that call me successful. If I were really successful, would I have this desperate NEEEEED to sell more books to pay for this car I just bought because my old one D-I-E-D? Maybe.  Maybe not.

I realized that it's not a selling books thing, it's a SALES thing.

To sell anything, from books to the latest herbal supplement, to makeup, to cars and houses, there is one common factor.

Hunger.

I'm not talking a physical hunger, a gnawing pain in your belly.  No.  It's a level of frantic desperation that equates itself to the buyer as a NEED from you to SELL them something.  It makes the buyer NEED to BUY from YOU.

In my business, it's a clear understanding of what I want from them: to buy MY books.  Not Jane Doe's.  Not that Jane Doe is a bad person, or a bad writer, but maybe Jane Doe hasn't done all the homework, she doesn't know exactly how many books she has to sell to feed her kids mac n cheese, how many more books she needs to sell to feed them a hamburger casserole, and how many MORE books she needs to sell to feed them crab legs on Fridays.

Maybe Jane doesn't know where to go to sell books?  Maybe she doesn't know the rule of three.  For every three people that you talk to about your book (or show your book in a newsfeed), ONE will think about buying it.  Now, you have to know your audience for this to work, because it doesn't work at all if you're selling romance books and talking to mystery readers. 

Maybe it's something else?  Maybe Jane just hasn't done any homework?  Maybe she doesn't have a newsletter list?  Or a website?  Or friends to bounce ideas off?  But I think Jane doesn't know her numbers.

Not only do I know this, I have strategies to sell this number of books every month.  These strategies vary from month to month.  If something isn't working for me to feed my kids crab legs, hopefully, I will catch it in time to change it before the month is over because it may not work at all next month.

I'm about to come up on my six year publishing anniversary.  In that six years, I've seen things work that no longer work for anyone (hello, G+?).  I'm constantly trying new things, though, so that when what's working now quits working, I have options.

Because I'm hungry.  No, I just had a protein shake, but there's a frantic feeling inside me to sell books.  In fact, I haven't written new words in MONTHS because I've been working on my marketing.  I have taken a marketing class through RWA, and am implementing those strategies to add to my arsenal.  I'm getting ready to publish a new book.  I'm MARKETING because I'm hungry.  I'm a writer, first and foremost.  But if I don't market these books to sell, there's absolutely no point in trying to make a living from selling.

Go take a class, make some new friends to talk marketing with (not just hey, retweet my stuff, although that's a part of it, but LISTEN to what they're doing, and figure out how to implement it.), don't be scared to try new things, and don't have a defeatist attitude, give some stuff away, do ALL the things, because eventually, something will work.  Be hungry.  Tell your readers to buy your stuff because Jane Doe doesn't know how hungry she is.  She's written the pretty words, and shoved her book in buyer's faces, but she's not intentional about it.

Be intentional.  If something isn't working (how many times really, can you retweet that tweet?) find something else.  Facebook ads, group takeovers on facebook, a bargainbooksy, spend some time on *gulp* goodreads or bookbub.  Explore, figure out what can do something for you.  Then spend some time doing it.  This is not a business where you can publish a book and expect your friends to buy it and then retire.  You have to work for it.

When I get the inevitable question, "How can I sell more books?"  I'll always ask, what they're currently doing to sell books.  They'll tell me Blog Tours or nothing, I don't know where to start.

It's daunting, yes.  But throwing your money at something that isn't working won't sell your books.  Do your research.  Figure out what others are doing (but don't just ask them to tell you their secrets, that's mean).  I once heard someone equate it to a cockpit, and each tool is a button on your dash.  Facebook ads.  Reader group parties.  Newsletter.  Others' newsletters.  Freebooksie or Bargainbooksie.  Bookbub.  These are all buttons.  The goal is to have as MANY buttons to push as possible.

Go forth.  Get hungry.  Find your buttons.

And if you want to join in my Facebook party for my six-year publiversary, feel free to join my reader group:  https://conleycorner.blogspot.com/2019/01/selling-books.html

Much fun is to be had.  :)

Friday, December 7, 2018

Guest Post ~ Ciara Ballintyne ~ Tangled Lights and Silent Nights



Meet Alloran – the fantasy equivalent of a mad scientist, whose stock in trade is magic, not science.

I conceived of Alloran after reading The Accidental Sorcerer by K.E. Mills. The main character in that book has a friend, Monk Markham, who is a brilliant wizard constantly dabbling in things he shouldn’t—and getting away with it.

And I thought—but what if he didn’t? What if his hubris had consequences?

Poor Alloran has been plagued with mishaps, and in The Seven Circles of Hell he stumbles from disaster to disaster, in each book trying to put right what he made wrong in the last. Maybe he should just stop. Maybe it’s time to call it quits.

But he has itchy fingers, and he can’t put a puzzle down once he’s picked it up—and what’s a poor wizard to do when his best friend is on the loose, trying to destroy him, and, incidentally, the world?
Events all started a long time ago in a galaxy… I mean, just a long time ago. Alloran is more than a hundred years old, and when we meet him in Confronting the Demon, he’s abandoned his research and has committed himself to a life of carousing. Because if you don’t behave seriously, people can’t expect you to solve serious problems, right?

It seems like a sensible decision—if you are addicted to something bad, the general wisdom is to give it up. But Alloran gets sucked back in when he’s framed for summoning demons and winds up on the run while someone is murdering his friends.

So that’s how he got back into magic. But why did he quit in the first place?

Alloran was the man who discovered how to open gates into hell—which is why everyone thinks he summoned the one in Confronting the Demon. His research was burned and demon summoning banned, so who else could it be?

That first ill-fated foray into the hells, what was to be Alloran’s crowning glory, turned into a disaster that made him the man we meet in Confronting the Demon.

When I was asked to write a Christmas story for Tangled Lights and Silent Nights, my first thought was ‘how do you write a Christmas story in the epic fantasy genre?’ Then when I gave it some more thought, I realised I had a story that needed telling, that some readers had been asking for—the story of that first imp he summoned from hell, that started events in motion.


"Another Bloody Festival" is that story—how it all went terribly wrong for Alloran—set against the backdrop of the winter solstice—because is there a better time of year for a demon to be loose in the halls?



Ciara Ballintyne grew up on a steady diet of adult epic fantasy from the age of nine, leaving her with a rather confused outlook on life – she believes the good guys should always win, but knows they often don’t. She is an oxymoron; an idealistic cynic.

She began her first attempts at the craft of writing in 1992, culminating in the publication of her debut work, Confronting the Demon, in 2013. Her first book to be published with Evolved Publishing is In the Company of the Dead.

She holds degrees in law and accounting, and is a practising financial services lawyer. In her spare time, she speculates about taking over the world – how hard can it really be? If she could be anything, she’d choose a dragon, but if she is honest she shares more in common with Dr. Gregory House of House M.D. – both the good and the bad. She is a browncoat, a saltgunner, a Whedonite, a Sherlockian, a Ringer and a Whovian… OK, most major geek fandoms. Her alignment is chaotic good. She is an INTJ.

Ciara lives in Sydney, Australia, with her two daughters and a growing menagerie of animals that unfortunately includes no dragons.

Links:
Twitter: @CiaraBallintyne

OTHER BOOKS BY CIARA BALLINTYNE

The Seven Circles of Hell
Confronting the Demon
Stalking the Demon
Becoming the Demon
Being the Demon (coming soon)

The Sundered Oath
In the Company of the Dead
On the Edge of Death
To Make the Dead Weep
The Romance Reviews