So AJ Rose Books has grown up and moved to https://ajrosefiction.com. Be sure to sign up to receive notifications and/or update your RSS feeds. See ya over there!
I Have Moved!
Reply
Guest Post Giveaway – My First Time Publishing by Davidson King
My First Time Publishing
And Why I’m Crazy Now
For four years now I’ve reviewed books in the LGBTQA+ genre. I know this side of it. I know how promotion works, what publishers are out there, avenues to take, people to talk to, and how to get a book review to the masses. This has been my life for four years. Then I decided to follow my dream and publish my first book.
I really believe that every person who has ever criticized an author should go through this process. For every person who has ever pirated a book, they should go through this process. And every person who said self-publishing is easy, should go through this process.
First came the idea. Snow. I always knew Snow was my baby. I was going to tell his story. So I got a notebook and I wrote his backstory. My Snow needed his other half. And so Christopher Manos was born. Then came Simon and so on and so forth until all the players were there.
I plotted and outlined. Just enough so I wouldn’t write myself into a corner. Bullet points. Tried to keep the timeline right but that took a bit of tweaking. Then I opened Word and began to unleash my mind.
This is a very emotional thing. Taking your imagination and putting it into words. Hoping you grasp situations and feelings right. Stopping to research certain parts. Feeling like you can’t finish it. Thinking it’s crap. Then thinking you are writing a wonderful book. And so on and so on.
Then you type those liberating and terrifying words. The End.
Oh, but it is not the end at all. It is just the beginning.
I thought writing the book was the hard part. It’s not. Because now you need Betas, an editor, proofreaders, a cover artist, and a formatter. This is of course if you’re self-publishing. If you go the publisher route let me know how that worked out for you.
Once you have all those things, it’s ALL the edits. All the waiting. Then there’s the cover and hoping it’s what you want. Going back and making sure you got all the Trademarks so you don’t get sued. Writing a blurb, acknowledgment, author note…. OMG, I need an author bio. OH NO, I NEED SOCIAL MEDIA! Oh FFS I need to open an account on Amazon and KDP, and am I going to use KU or not?
This is where the crazy comes in. At this point, you’re just hoping that you get a flat tire so you have to spend a few hours in a garage just to excuse your writing break.
There is SO much to do. It’s the hardest thing I have ever done but being this close to hitting the publish button I can say, it’s been worth it. I have a new appreciation for authors. I thought I respected and admired them before but now I feel like I get it.
I work both sides of the curtain now and even though I’m bald from pulling my hair out of my head I also feel like I’ve come home… to the nut house.
Author Bio
Davidson King, always had a hope that someday her daydreams would become real-life stories. As a child, you would often find her in her own world, thinking up the most insane situations. It may have taken her awhile, but she made her dream come true with her first published work, Snow Falling.
When she’s not writing you can find her blogging away on Diverse Reader, her review and promotional site. She managed to wrangle herself a husband who matched her crazy and they hatched three wonderful children.
If you were to ask her what gave her the courage to finally publish, she’d tell you it was her amazing family and friends. Support is vital in all things and when you’re afraid of your dreams, it will be your cheering section that will lift you up.
Davidson King can be found on
Goodreads
About the Book
Title: Snow Falling
Author: Davidson King
Publishing on November 28, 2017
Length: 54k words (about)
Cover Artist: Morningstar Ashley of Five Star Designs
Blurb:
After running from a past destined to kill him, Snow has been hiding on the streets.
Tell nobody your name.
Tell nobody your secrets.
Trust nobody!
These are the rules of the streets.
His entire life changes when he saves an eight-year-old boy from a violent end. Christopher Manos is one of the most powerful crime bosses in the country.
Don’t ask anyone to do something you aren’t willing to do yourself.
Secrets can get you killed.
Trust nobody!
These are the rules he lives by.
When his eight-year-old nephew disappears, he never expects the boy’s savior to end up being his own. A man with a dangerous past and a man with a dangerous future find love amidst murder and mayhem. But with Snow’s life being threatened at every turn, will Christopher’s best be enough to prevent Snow Falling?
Giveaway!!
Enter to win a copy of the ebook ON release day November 28th!
NEW RELEASE – Soul Searching
Soul Searching by AJ Rose, Published by The Grim Writer Press, Releasing October 23, 2017
Amazon: $4.99 mobi format
Barnes & Noble: $4.99 epub
iTunes: $4.99 epub
Page Foundry: $4.99 epub
Sea to Sky Books: $4.99 epub, pdf, mobi
Length: approx. 71,000 words
Genre: m/m, gay romance, paranormal
Something lurks within the walls of the house Trevor Mathews and his best friend Merrick Taylor share. It watches them and their friends. It needs them. It knows their weaknesses.
Trevor’s in love with Merrick and hasn’t got the nerve to tell him. Merrick’s relationship is already failing, but he doesn’t believe he deserves what he truly desires. And the dark presence enjoys their suffering.
The entity wants to exploit them, push Merrick’s boyfriend into fits of jealousy and possessiveness, encourage Trevor to avoid the man he’s stood by most of his life, and frustrate their friend Tempest who’s tired of knowing Trevor and Merrick are perfectly matched souls, but they’re too scared to try.
The entity needs them to fight, to hurt, to scream at each other in anger and pain. It thrives on their helplessness and targets their insecurities. And it won’t stop until it has devoured their joy, destroyed their hope, and eventually, shattered their souls.
Excerpt after the jump.
Come See Me!
St. Louis area readers! Saturday, June 24, I will be at Rose’s Bookhouse in O’Fallon, Missouri signing books and giving away swag. The event is from 12 pm – 2 pm Central time, and here are the details. Come chat about books, get a signed copy of a paperback, and maybe take a selfie with me!
Click through the read more tag for excerpts of the books I’ll have available for signing.
Hey There. Come Here Often?
[pulling out the Dory voice] Well, hi!
It’s uh… been a bit of time since I’ve posted here so I thought I’d check in, crack open a drink, and have a conversation with you all.
The last few months have been extremely hard for me, I’ll be honest. Some stuff happened that redefined the way I look at people I know in a serious way. There were police investigations (closed now) and the fallout will continue for years to come, but the initial whirlwind of holy shit has subsided. I’m relieved and disappointed, angry and fearful, determined and protective. It’s an exhausting mix of emotions, to be honest. All I have to say is thank god for Kate. She has always been and always will be my rock in stormy times. Things are looking up, at least somewhat. I’m trying to be a positive, immovable wall of reliability for those who need me. It’s difficult, and in quiet, solitary moments, I break more often than I’d care to admit, but those moments are becoming less frequent at least. Maybe we’ll all be okay with time and perspective.
Then of course there’s the election of our new Dark Lord POTUS and the fallout from that, which will also have ramifications for years. I stand in shocked disbelief on a daily basis since Lord Cheeto took office. But I also see the protests, the activism, the phone calls to representatives, the sheer rising up of our nation to keep the new PEEOTUS from sinking us all, and it gives me hope. I cling to the hope sometimes, because it feel like the only thing I have, this tiny little lifesaver ring in the face of racism, sexism, cronyism, nepotism, and discrimination. And also batshit crazy. Because Bannon is fucking insane and he’s Wormtongue, whispering his evil into the King’s ear.
But! I don’t want to get into all that political shit in this post. This is more of a hey, what’s up? thing. I’ve been working as a virtual assistant the last couple months, too. The book sales are still decent, but they don’t stretch the way they used to, so I picked up some extra work to even out the valleys and make it easier to save during the peaks. This is also the reason Kate and I have started a Patreon, so we can worry less about scraping together money for bills by doing side jobs and devote that time to the actual writing. It’s been a bit stressful, if I’m honest, but hopefully in the next few months, we’ll have a little more breathing room. Honestly, the Patreon is a lot more fun than I anticipated. I have lots of ideas for it, just need the time to execute.
I’m 42,000 words into Restraint (PE 4) and I’m predicting it’ll be around 100,000 words. This one is not quite as dark as the first three (quite possibly another reaction to the last few months. The darker real life gets, the fluffier I write. Maybe. If I could ever be classified as “fluffy,” which I think is a stretch. More like Addams family dark rather than Ted Bundy dark.) I’ve been having fun with the research for Restraint though. It’s set in Seattle, which is a city that’s always fascinated me. In fact, Kate and I have tentative plans to move there for a couple years when the kids are in college, and before we go to England. Assuming the US still exists by then.
I’ve also got the second Long Fall of Night queued up and ready to begin as soon as Restraint is released. Honestly, I need to write it before what I’ve had plotted for 2 years now comes to pass and I get accused of taking advantage of sick and twisted times. It’ll be quite the roller coaster, for sure.
After that, I have a few ideas. There’s a possible Reaping Havoc 3, a PE spinoff with a character from Restraint (plus another spinoff from Consent with a couple of those characters), and then the beginning of a futuristic slave epic I’ve been kicking around for months now, tentatively called Genesis Rising. That one, I cannot wait to sink my teeth into, but the plot is slow in coming, and I’m taking my time with it so as not to force anything. It’ll be a flop if I don’t do it right. I’m also considering whether or not to make it a menage. I haven’t written a poly relationship in a long time, and never for more than a scene in a work I’ve published. I miss the dynamics of it, and I would love to explore all the facets of it again. It’s such a beautiful kind of love.
I’ve also been knitting and listening to audiobooks. I’ve got intentions of getting audio production going for my backlist in 2017, but that depends on a lot of factors, so I can’t make promises at this point. I wish I could, because I want to hear Gavin come to life in a bad way, but patience is the name of this game.
So, that’s what I’ve been up to lately. Trying to keep my head above water and hold on tight in these changing, somewhat troubled times. I’d love to report Casa Rose-Aaron smells of roses and freshly printed money and is filled with the sounds of books being written at a lightning pace, but the reality is much more mundane and less exciting.
I do want to know what you all have been up to, even if it’s not glamorous or exciting, or even if you think it sounds like complaints. You know what? We’re all in this together and can share strengths. So come sit by me. Tell me a little bit about your worlds and what you hope happens in the next few months. I’ve missed you guys.
Perchance to Patreon
There’s been a lot of controversy the last week in the m/m world concerning authors who have Patreons set up. Patreon is basically a service artists (from all walks of life, like photographers, musicians, painters, filmmakers, models, you name it) can employ for fans who wish to support them in ways beyond buying their end product.
Patrons have been around for thousands of years. Shakespeare had patrons, and considering some of the salacious rumors surrounding just how much of himself he shared with his patrons, it’s possible he took it to levels well beyond what the modern patron does through the Patreon website. The artists of the Renaissance had patrons, and how many of you have seen the Starz network TV show Spartacus? Ilithyia, Glaber’s wife, became a patron of the House of Batiatus, promising enough money to completely cover the expense of training and caring for one of the gladiators. While parts of that show are not historically accurate, this detail is, and Spartacus lived a hundred years before Christ’s birth.
So patronage is not a new thing, though it has morphed into something the modern artist can take advantage of digitally, and in ways people from all walks of life—not just the rich—can take advantage of.
Being writers, we don’t get a fixed income. I know 60 days in advance what I’m going to get from Amazon. Payments from Draft 2 Digital—my distributor through Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Inktera—are monthly, so we know what we’re getting there as it hits our accounts. ARe were great at telling us what to expect each quarter, until they decided to keep it all instead. And my French publisher is still in the process of translating Power Exchange.
There is little margin for error in living like this. The most I get is 2 months’ notice that what I’m bringing in isn’t going to pay the bills—less than that if I switched to KU for my income, because Amazon only decides what they’re paying those authors two weeks after the month-end. Two months is nothing if you need to scramble to find a job, start working, and earn your first paycheck before then.
“So, if you can’t cover your bills through writing, get a job that does cover them,” some people might say.
I released 2 books in 2016. That’s the same output I had when I was working full time as a corporate drone, not the doubled quantity I’d hoped for when I was laid off and in a position to really have a go at the writing gig. Why?
Because I have gotten another job. 2 of them, in fact. I’ve picked up transcription work and have also become a virtual assistant for a multitude of clients… a lot of whom are like me, artists who are trying to free up their time from the doldrums of business running so they’ll have more time for their creations. I’ve also watched my wife, who only released one book at the beginning of 2016, become completely inundated with virtual assistant work to the detriment of her writing career. Kate has a post about her side of this as well, and you can read it here.
We are killing ourselves to make ends meet, and not because we’ve mismanaged funds, or because we’ve sat on our asses eating ice cream in front of the TV all day. Kate spent thousands to move here and a few months later, she had to have emergency surgery, adding thousands in debt to our situation because in this country, healthcare even for non-chronic issues can be enough to bankrupt a person. Amazon keeps changing the algorithms on how they feature books that are selling in order to support their Kindle Unlimited model, which is a royalty vampire for all but the biggest of names involved in it. Those algorithms are what put our books in front of new readers when people are browsing for what to read next. A writer friend of mine said the other day, “Is it any wonder only 15 of the top 100 books on Amazon’s rankings are not KU products?” All Romance eBooks decided to make off with our (and a bunch of others’) royalties for the last quarter of 2016. For Kate, Scribd changed their model in an attempt to compete with KU, and also nixed most romance books out of their inventory (which is why now only 2 of my titles are in it anymore) and that cut our royalties from them down by hundreds.
More $ going out + less $ coming in = unsustainable bill paying + AJ & Kate getting side jobs that have quickly become full time jobs because the paycheck is monthly as opposed to every 60 days for Amazon and descending amounts at varying points in time from the smaller vendors.
So while this might seem to some to be coincidental timing given the latest brouhaha, Kate and I have set up a Patreon after months of waffling back and forth on it. We waffled in part because we’ve seen grumblings like what has become a swell of voices this week decrying the practice, and in part because we keep trying to cover ourselves with “one more client” on both our VA client rosters. And I’ll be honest, there’s a little fear on my part that we’ll do this and the response will be chirping crickets.
We’ve decided to go into this jointly, because it’s all for the same household, and together, we think we can give patrons double the bang for the support—with new writing each month from the both of us, ebooks, signed paperbacks, and swag (plus we might come up with other ways to offer our talents and gratitude to patrons as we get better at this) depending on the tier patrons subscribe to.
For those who think this method of interaction between reader and author is nothing but bribery for content that “should be done out of love” or a demand for more from readers who already buy our works, I totally respect your decision to stick to supporting your chosen authors by buying their distributed works as you see fit. For those who think you’d be interested in helping support Kate and I in exchange for more content in the form of short stories, scene flashes from future works and WIPs, and perks above and beyond the traditional exchange of money for a formatted and edited ebook, check out the link to our Patreon and see if it’s something you might consider supporting.
—
On another note, as a result of the ARe closure, I realized my readers who prefer the PDF version of my books have no venue from which to purchase them. I’ve taken immediate steps to correct this, joining the Sea to Sky Books family in the hopes of providing readers with another choice in book buying options. My Books page has been updated with the new links to each title. I hope those who once used ARe as a source for buying books will consider this new option, run by Tina Haveman who is the owner/operator of eXtasy Books publishing. I’ve had extensive conversations with Tina and feel this could be the beginning of a good working relationship for both me and my readers alike. Happy reading!
Intermission
So it’s the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and I imagine a lot of people are still in family mode. The kids are breaking in their new shoes or figuring out their new electronics or draining the batteries on the new toys at record rates. The parents are probably looking around their houses and wondering how it takes so long to clean and only seconds to destroy again. Grandparents are likely watching their whole broods with pride in their eyes and reveling in spoiling those they love.
Me, I’m kind of in planning mode for the food we make on New Year’s Eve. Since I was a little kid, New Years meant a table full of finger foods and movies, and then we’d drag ourselves sleepily off the couch, pat ourselves on the back for (barely) making it to midnight, have a glass of fizzy non-alcoholic grape juice, and take ourselves off to bed.
As I got older, the food was the one thing that stuck. We never went bar hopping (the door covers were outrageous, as were the crowds) so a friend would sacrifice their house and we’d fill it with people, booze, and food. Some years there was drunken snow sledding at 1 am, some years there was dancing in the living room, and some years, New Years Day was warm enough for a pickup basketball game in the driveway once we weren’t too hungover to move.
These days, it’s much tamer. There’s still no way I could brave crowds in a public place New Year’s, and it’s Kate’s birthday, so I try to make it more about her than about rolling over another year (although this year, I may go streaking through the neighborhood and whooping for joy at seeing the ass end of 2016, because Jesus it’s been a shit year). So our New Year’s Eve will consist of more finger foods than we can possibly eat, a rendition of Happy Birthday, some gifts, and at midnight, champagne for the adults and sparkling grape juice for the kids before we ship them off to bed and hope the next year beats the pants off this one in terms of good stuff. Lord we all need a good year.
I wish everyone a happy and safe New Year’s Eve and all the blessings to come in the new year. If you’re the resolution type, I wish you the fortitude to succeed.
My resolution: get more books out. Two in a year is pathetic. I want to double that.
Many of you already know, but voting is going on for the M/M Romance Group Goodreads Member’s Choice Awards. Click this link to vote, if you’re a member of the group.
A huge thank you to those who nominated me for the following 5 categories!
Best Hurt/Comfort: Defenseless
Best Paranormal: Reaping Fate
Best Established Couple: Mitch and Nate (Reaping Havoc series)
All Time Favorite Romance: Reaping Fate
All Time Favorite Author
Get voting! Polls close December 31.
Restraint (Power Exchange Book 4) or How This Disastrous Election Won’t Stop Me
I think I’m done reeling from the election results. I might have my balance back. Now, I’m rolling up my sleeves and ready to fight. I’m ready to take on those who want to see immigrants and Muslims and People of Color and LGBTQ people shuffled out of their country, into dark corners, or into some other kind of oblivion. President Trump is the dying gasp of a white patriarchy who can’t handle otherness, and while it may feel like a hurricane force wind right now, I’ve got lungs, too, and I plan to scream back. I will be like Lieutenant Dan, on the mast of a small ship riding stormy waves, screaming into the wind and the rain, “Is that all you got! Come on! Bring it!”
I will not go quietly into the closet/dark corners/oblivion like apparently half the voters in this country would like me and other marginalized groups to do. Nope. This is MY country, too and I absolutely refuse to be a doormat because these people have deemed my differences are not differences they can tolerate.
So much for America the melting pot.
I’ve been kicking around an idea for a 4th Power Exchange (this series has taught me to never say never. It keeps coming back so much I might as well make that the tagline). Ben of all people has been whispering to me, saying, “Hey, I have a story, too. Maybe I’m ready to let you tell it.” It has some legs, so I’ve tinkered out a plot and in the last couple weeks have gotten the first scene down amid a wedding, some serious personal strife that knocked me over like Hulk punching Thor, and this ugly, UGLY election. I cannot promise when Restraint will be released other than to say 2017. But it’s my foremost project, and is the one getting my attention. It may not go as fast as Consent did (4 months to write) or it may. The point is that I’m writing it and in the wake of heartbreaking, devastating news, I wanted to share with my people that maybe we still have things to look forward to. I know I still have a voice, and I plan to use it. I’m going to be getting louder. This is my way of saying I will not sit down, I will not shut up, and in fact, I will write about the love of people like me until I take my literal dying gasp. I will never quit.
So, as a promise to you all, I give you the first scene from Restraint, Power Exchange Book 4. I hope you like it and are excited Ben and Gavin have more to say. Click through to read on.
DEFENSELESS Release Day Contest
Defenseless by AJ Rose, Published by The Grim Writer Press, Releasing September 13, 2016
Amazon: $3.99 pre-order price, $5.99 regular price. mobi format
Barnes & Noble: $5.99 epub
iTunes: $5.99 epub
All Romance Ebooks: $5.99 mobi, epub, pdf
Page Foundry: $5.99 epub
(Links made live as they become available.)
Length: approx. 145,000 words, 438 pgs
Genre: m/m, bisexual romance, legal drama, contemporary
From Rainbow Award-winning author AJ Rose, Defenseless is a gut-wrenching, heart-stopping story of love through adversity.
——
Kyle Decker knew dating Jesse McGovern would change his life. Young and in love, and with the Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality, the world is theirs to conquer.
But their victorious Pride celebration ends in a savage attack, brutally demonstrating they’re far from equal. Instead of wedding planning, Jesse and Kyle face an arduous recovery and a shattered sense of their place in the world, their once-promising future suddenly something to survive.
While Jesse struggles with a permanent injury and its emotional aftermath, Kyle’s single-minded focus on Jesse’s recovery is the only thing keeping his demons at bay…for now. What was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love is now full of lies and resentment.
With their dreams tattered and forever changed, trusting anyone—even each other—is daunting. So how can they have faith in twelve strangers on a jury? They’ve already learned the hard way it only takes a moment to become truly defenseless.
Official Book Trailer:
https://animoto.com/play/MCGt4tIjRVE7n47BG0syDw
I will give away an ecopy of the book to two lucky commenters on this post, but you have to answer this question: Where were you when you heard the SCOTUS ruling on marriage equality, and what went through your head?
Contest ends 8 pm Central Time, tomorrow, September 14th.
DEFENSELESS Available for Pre-Order!
For a limited amount of time, get a special pre-order price of Defenseless, only $3.99 (regular price $5.99). Available now at Amazon! Get it now while you can!
Title: Defenseless
Author: AJ Rose
Length: approx. 145,000 words, 438 pgs
Genre: m/m, bisexual romance, legal drama, contemporary
Publication Date: September 13, 2016
About Defenseless:
From Rainbow Award-winning author AJ Rose, Defenseless is a gut-wrenching, heart-stopping story of love through adversity.
——
Kyle Decker knew dating Jesse McGovern would change his life. Young and in love, and with the Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality, the world is theirs to conquer.
But their victorious Pride celebration ends in a savage attack, brutally demonstrating they’re far from equal. Instead of wedding planning, Jesse and Kyle face an arduous recovery and a shattered sense of their place in the world, their once-promising future suddenly something to survive.
While Jesse struggles with a permanent injury and its emotional aftermath, Kyle’s single-minded focus on Jesse’s recovery is the only thing keeping his demons at bay…for now. What was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love is now full of lies and resentment.
With their dreams tattered and forever changed, trusting anyone—even each other—is daunting. So how can they have faith in twelve strangers on a jury? They’ve already learned the hard way it only takes a moment to become truly defenseless.
AJ Rose Books 