September 3, 2012 in Her Russian Billionaire
If you loved HER RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE and know of any Spanish readers/speakers who also love a stormy romance, please do me the great favor of letting them know that HER RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE is now available in Spanish. Yay!
June 15, 2012 in ebook talk, Her Russian Billionaire, Her Viking Wolf, Owner of His Heart, Writing Advice
Hey Fellow Readers,
Thank you so much for all the lovely emails and comments as of late. Feel free to keep on sending them along, but here are some answers to some of my most frequently asked questions.
Q: Why can’t I get your latest e-book on the Nook, Kobo, Sony — on anything but Kindle?
A: I don’t want to go into too many details about how the sausage is made, but here’s what I like to do with my free time: read and write. I really HATE promoting and feel it takes away from time that could be better spent on writing and reviewing books. Fortunately, the KDP Select program gives me organized ways to avoid off-blog, self-propelled promotion all together. Unfortunately, they demand three months of exclusivity for the privilege. This means that there’s always a waiting period before the book goes “wide.” I hate to frustrate readers who don’t have Kindles or iPads. Here’s what you can do if, like me, you’re not a fan of waiting three months for a book to hit the platform of your choice.
1. Spend more and buy the book as a paperback. All of my books are available in print now.
OR
2. Download it to your smart phone or computer using the Kindle app.
Again, I apologize for the delay, but I can’t write efficiently and promote, too, so I had to make the hard call.
Q: When is your next book coming out?
A: Another reason I truly appreciate the KDP program is that in order to take advantage of the promotions, I have to stick to a firm 90-day schedule. This means that I’ll be releasing a new book once every three months. Here’s what my schedule will hopefully look like for as many years as it takes to finish my 50 Loving States series:
March: Contemporary Romance
June: Paranormal Romance
September: Contemporary Romance
December: The Holiday “Special” – This is a novel which will have some element that’s outside the norm of all my other romances: ex. menage, m/m, non-black heroine, sci-fi — whatever I’m feeling that year.
Q: Can you tell us about the next book?
A: I’m not a huge fan of hearing about books before I can actually buy them — even pre-order status drives me crazy, so I’ve decided to impose my views on the readers. Believe me it’s better this way.
Q: Why did you decide to go indie?
A: I work as another kind of writer during the day, so when I first decided to take the plunge into interracial romance, I did so feeling like I would no longer like to have any kind of boss or editor. Also, I happen to be married to a techie, so many of the DIY aspects of self-publishing didn’t turn me off. However, I remain open to publishing with a traditional press in the future. I would love to see a Theodora Taylor romance in the Kimani kiosk at the supermarket one day.
Q: Why do you review and write?
A: I wrote a super-long post about that. Check it out here: http://irbookreviews.com/2011/12/why-i-review-and-write/
Q: Do you read reviews for your own books?
A: Hahaha — no. I wrote a post about that, too. Check it out here: http://irbookreviews.com/2012/01/how-to-receive-criticism-as-an-indie-author/
Q: I want to review and write, too. Any advice about that?
A: I have a rich life full of close friends, love, family, and a wonderful job outside of my author platform. I also happen to have a great deal of social anxiety, which makes it easier for me not to be a part of the IR writing community — for example I’ll most likely never meet any of my fellow IR authors in real life, and you’ll never find me at any kind of writing conference. To a certain extent being too friendly with other writers compromises the review work I do anyway. There are a couple of writers I no longer cover, because I like them too much as people and fear I couldn’t be unbiased in my reviews. So if you’re like me, go for it. We definitely need more reviewers covering interracial romance. But most writers — especially newbie writers will want and need that community. Think about what you’ll need emotionally as a writer to get by.
Q: Do you have any advice for fellow indie writers?
A: Sure. Write, write, write! Read, read, read! Learn, learn, learn! Use jealousy to your advantage. I rarely get jealous, but I love it when I do, because that means that author has something to teach me. Above all things, attend to your craft. Really love your genre — I don’t understand IR writers who don’t read works by other IR writers. If you can, try not to compare yourself to other writers for either good or bad — it’s a waste of time, just learn from other writers as much as you can. Don’t seek out criticism. Don’t read your reviews. Always be writing the next book. If it comes down to a choice between promoting and writing the next book, choose the next book. Most of all, realize that it’s not about you. It is never about you. It is always about the books. Take nothing personally.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for THE OWNER OF HIS HEART?
A: For whatever reason, I’ve always been fascinated with James Spader’s character, Steff, in PRETTY IN PINK. I thought to myself what would happen if this jerk really fell head-over-heels in love with a super-sweet girl from the wrong side of the tracks?
Q: How did you come up with the idea for HER RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE?
A: For a while I had an idea kicking around in my head for a huge misunderstanding romance — I used to crazy-love these back in the 80s, but they’ve really fallen out of fashion. Then I saw an item about Naomi Campbell and her Russian boyfriend and it kind of all came together after that.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for HER VIKING WOLF?
A: My best friend is in love with the title character from THOR, and I am not. But I do love shifter romances, so…
Q: How did you come up with the idea for the 50 Loving States series?
A: It’s hard to be black and live in Pittsburgh without coming to develop a true appreciation for August Wilson’s “Century Cycle.” Now, I’m no August Wilson, but I wanted to taking on a writing challenge, which I could pull off within my lifetime. Also, I love to travel, and I figured this would be a great way to write off vacations. My husband jokes that when we retire, we should take one of those around-the-world cruises and write it off with a 50 Loving Countries series.
Q: How do you find time to write?
A: I get up early, and I write five pages a day every weekday, making up for any pages I missed on the weekends. I don’t think about my rough drafts. I save almost all research for the rewrites.
Alright, I think that covers just about every question I’ve ever gotten. If I’ve missed anything, let me know in the comments.
Happy Reading,
Theodora
May 23, 2012 in bwwm, bwwm romance, Her Russian Billionaire, Her Viking Wolf, historical, Owner of His Heart, paranormal, Wild One (The)
Is that a wolf in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? Seriously though, here’s the still-being-tweaked cover for my next book in the 50 Loving State series, HER VIKING WOLF, which is set in Colorado and will release next week on Amazon. So keep your eyes on this site for more details, which will be coming soon.
Meanwhile, I thought it might be fun to do a post about the soundtrack songs for my books. For every book I’ve written so far, I’ve chosen a Top 40 song that, if I had the wherewithal and the desire to use it for a book trailer, I totally would.
For THE OWNER OF HIS HEART it was “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele:
For HER RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE it was “We Found Love (In a Hopeless Place)” by Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris
For HER VIKING WOLF it was “Glad You Came” by The Wanted
And for my next novel, THE WILD ONE (aka the Andrew Sinclair book), it’s — gasp — “Wild Ones” by Flo Rida ft. Sia
Wow, that was the first time I saw most of those videos, having mostly listened to them on radio. And I now realize that they really don’t match my books. Just goes to show you how much music can inspire you when you’re able to form your own mind pictures.
But what songs are you just loving right now? I am enjoying the latest Santigold album on repeat, since seeing the music video for its lead song, “Disparate Youth” on Violet William’s author site. But I’m always looking for new music to commute to, so let me have your suggestions.
March 31, 2012 in Her Russian Billionaire, Troll
I’m weekending in Colorado, where my next book is set, and where I only have access to the Edge network on my phone (no computer, no wifi). It was meant to be romantic, but after brunch I found a message in my inbox that said I should check my Amazon reviews, because apparently I was being accused of some bad stuff.
In a swirl of limited technology, I texted my best friend to check the reviews and call me on the cabin’s phone. (I can get texts out, but I can’t actually call people on my iPhone).
From what I can understand I’ve been trolled by an author or the fans of an author who wrote an IR series surrounding a Russian crime family. A bunch of Amazon unverified reviews appeared on Friday, accusing me of stealing from this author’s — Latrivia Nelson’s — previous work.
Oh, my gosh.
This is AWESOME. While I’ve only read one Latrivia Nelson book — THE GRUNT which I gave 2 stars — I think we should all just go with this.
By all means, buy and read both books. If you think I stole from Ms. Nelson, which I’m pre-assuring you right now, I totally didn’t, please weigh in on Amazon. But if you think this is like saying everyone who writes about the Italian mafia has stolen from Mario Puzo, please weigh in with that.
Either way, I hope both Ms. Nelson and I enjoy lots of extra sales from this “beef.” I feel like Kanye and Fifty Cent. Many thanks to whoever made it happen. This is SO COOL!!!
Oh, and also many thanks to my best friend for cutting and pasting this message onto my blog. You’re the bestest, Bestie!
March 19, 2012 in alpha male, black woman white man, business man, bwwm, bwwm romance, ebook talk, erotic, Her Russian Billionaire, Owner of His Heart, steamy
As a few of you may have noticed, THE OWNER OF HIS HEART is out of the KDP program and is now available just about everywhere, including Barnes & Noble and All Romance e-Books, where it’s already a bestseller.
However, HER RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE is in the KDP program until June, so it won’t go wide until then. But if you’re just dying to read my second Amazon Bestseller and don’t have a Kindle, there are two ways to get the novel before June:
a) Download it to your smart phone or tablet with the Kindle App
OR
b) Buy it as a paperback!
And we didn’t want OWNER to feel left out, so we made my first book available as a paperback as well:
Many thanks to all of you who downloaded my first two books and made them Amazon bestsellers. Really looking forward to releasing the third book in the 50 Loving States series this June!
March 12, 2012 in ebook talk, Her Russian Billionaire, Owner of His Heart
Here’s something they don’t often talk about in the “So You Wanna Be an Indie Writer” brochures: KDP addiction.
For me, the major problem with taking the healthy step of not reading my own book reviews has been that I’ve become doubly obsessed with checking my KDP sales numbers and Amazon Sales Rank.
With OWNER (which I released last December), it got really bad. Over the holidays, I wasn’t reading, I couldn’t fully concentrate while watching TV, and I got called out a few times for only half-listening by my husband. But worse of all, I most definitely wasn’t writing. It all came to a head on Christmas morning, when I found myself unable to focus on opening presents, because I wanted to go check the sales stats so bad. I was jonesing so bad. That’s when I came up with the following strategy for weaning myself off of checking KDP and my Amazon Sales Rank all the time.
STEP 1: Realize you have a problem: If you’re not getting as much day job work done, if checking KDP and Amazon is affecting your interpersonal skills and relationships, if your mood is going up and down in accordance with your sales and rank numbers, if you can use the word “obsessive” to describe your relationship with the KDP and Amazon sites, if you’re NOT WRITING THE NEXT BOOK — then you have a problem.
STEP 2: Once you realize you have a problem, start checking KDP and Amazon only once an hour. Do this for however many days it takes to get to the next Monday. Set an alarm to keep yourself honest. During this time, I check mine, then I set a timer on my phone for 60 minutes.
STEP 3: On the Monday following your problem realization, start only checking once every four hours — at 8am, 12pm, 4pm, and 8pm — you may also do a bonus check, right before you go to sleep. Do this for seven days. Don’t worry if you fall off the wagon a few times. Just get back on. By week’s end, you should be fully sticking to the once-every-four-hours plan.
STEP 4: On the second Monday following your problem realization, start checking two times a day. When you get up and before you go to sleep. Do this until…
STEP 5: The following Sunday. On this day, check your numbers once. From that point on, only check your numbers once a week, until you get to ….
STEP 6: The 16th day of the month. Check your monthly report on this day, then don’t check your numbers again until the 16th of the next month.
Some weaning pointers.
-When you start checking twice a day, take the KDP site off your phone. That is, if you, like me, made a home screen app for it, or have been leaving it open in your phone browser, close it down. And log out of Amazon, so that you’ll have to take a bunch of extra steps to access it when you’re not supposed to be accessing it.
-If you can, only ever check your stats on your computer.
-Logout of KDP and close out the window after checking your stats, so that you’re not tempted to keep checking when you’re not supposed to.
-Have a friend or loved one check your Amazon Rank for you. It’s all good not to read reviews, but if you hit certain numbers on the bestseller charts, then you should definitely know for marketing purposes alone. You’d be surprised by how many people will be happy to take on this particular obsessive activity for you, leaving you free to concentrate on writing.
-Don’t check your sales at the day job after the first week. Both good and bad sales numbers are productivity killers.
-Redirect your obsessive energy to writing the next book.
-Be prepared to go on a binge and have to rewean yourself off every single time you put out a book. I found this out the hard way, when I put HER RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE up last Saturday.
I’m now once again working the steps and have finally gotten to the point where I’m able to actually work on my next book project, because I’m only checking twice a day until next Sunday, when I’ll only be checking once a week. Wish me luck, with quitting this awful KDP and Amazon habit. For a second time.
Don’t want me to be sad the next time I check my KDP numbers? Then pick up THE OWNER OF HIS HEART and HER RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE, the first two books in my 50 Loving States series, for $4.16 each at Amazon.
March 2, 2012 in alpha male, ebook talk, Her Russian Billionaire
Many apologies for the blog silence. Consumed with the details of getting my next novel, HER RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE, up on Amazon. Speaking of which, check out the first three chapters here. And come back tomorrow, when I make an exciting announcement about THE OWNER OF HIS HEART.
Happy Reading,
Theodora
January 26, 2012 in ebook talk, Her Russian Billionaire, Owner of His Heart
Greetings!
So we think this is going to be the cover of my next novel, which is tentatively titled HER RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE, and will definitely be hitting Amazon in March. Don’t drop dead of shock, but the hero is a really intense alpha male.
I’m a huge fan of writing intense alpha males and favor complicated plots with heightened situations populated by people with really strong personalities.
But you know what, I just love reading a good novel about regular folks. If your novel has two regular people with really realistic obstacles, send it my way, because I will love it to death.
I think I like these “real romance” novels, because I can’t really write them. I need the drama and the sturm und drang to stay interested enough to write to the end. So I’m fascinated by writers who can weave compelling tales about regular people.
Really, many of the novels I love most, tend to deal with subjects and situations I wouldn’t be able to write myself. For example, I know nothing about the armed forces, but I love a good Marine novel. I could never do the research required for a historical romance, so I just love to read those.
I also tend to give novels an extra star just for being different. For example, Koko Brown’s PLAYER’S ULTIMATUM had me at soccer player lead. And Zena Wynn’s THE QUESTION, which I’ll be reviewing very favorably next week, had me at surrogate mother love quadrangle.
I don’t think a lot of writers read this blog, but if you are, I’d be interested to know about what you like to read vs. what you like to write.
Meanwhile, if you, too, enjoy a particularly intense alpha male, consider giving my novel, THE OWNER OF HIS HEART, a read.
