I’m over at the Borders True Romance Blog with the other RomCon finalists. It’s your chance to ask whatever question is burning your brain ;) I’ll answer, promise! They’re also giving away prizes and Borders Gift Cards. (Books! Who doesn’t need more books!) Come visit and say hi!
And don’t forget to scroll down here for the Lorelei James giveaway.
My very good friend, Lorelei James, has a new release and to celebrate, I’m giving away a signed copy here on my blog!
Sports therapist Lainie Capshaw has been rehabilitating injured cowboys long enough to know that a charming western drawl combined with a fine physical form doesn’t mean you fall for the man.
So no one is more surprised than Lainie when she finds herself involved with not one, but two different men: Hank Lawson, a bullfighter, and Kyle Gilchrist, a bull rider. Lainie feels guilty about her two-timing, but it doesn’t keep her from doubling her fun-that is until Hank catches her with Kyle.
She’s shocked that Hank isn’t mad. But she’s more shocked to learn Hank and Kyle are hometown buddies. But when the men offer to share her-in every way-she knows that she’s going to have to choose the one man who can give her the ride of her life…
Okay if you’ve never tried Lorelei James, you’re missing out on some yummy goodness! To enter to win a signed copy of this book, just drop me a comment and tell me what coming soon release you’re really really looking forward to.
[UPDATE: Some of the information in this 2010 blog post is no longer accurate. The most up-to-date info about my ebooks is now posted here.]
Today I’m going to try to explain an issue that seems most frustrating and confusing to the most readers. Perhaps my most asked question revolves around why are some of my print books not available as soon as the ebook. Or why wasn’t the ebook available on the same day as the print release.
I write for multiple publishers. To date, I have books contracted with Samhain Publishing, Silhouette, Penguin Group and Random House.
Now, for books published with the latter three, it’s pretty easy and straightforward. My books are always released in print on the release day. They are almost always released as an ebook on the same day as well. Note I said almost. There have been a few instances where the ebook release has been delayed but this is not the norm. You can pretty much count on my books with these publishers being available on release day in whatever format you so choose. This includes any of my erotic contemporaries for HEAT, my KGI series, any of my Silhouette Desires and my upcoming Scottish Historicals.
For books released with Samhain, it’s a little more confusing, and this tends to be where I get the most questions and irritation from readers. I’ve published a number of stories with Samhain. Most are shorter than my books for other publishers. They range anywhere from a short story at just over 15k words up to 80k words and all lengths in between.
When a book releases with Samhain, it always releases in ebook first. Samhain is primarily a digital publisher so it makes sense they’d release it as an ebook. They also have a print program, and so, typically a year after the release of the ebook, they publish the story in trade paperback.
It can get even more confusing, because a story has to meet a certain word count criteria before it will be released in paperback. If it’s too short, it either won’t be printed in paperback at all OR it will have to be paired with another shorter story. Such as was the case with Stay With Me and Songbird. Those two stories were published together in print as the anthology “Linger”. It was two years before Stay With Me made the move from being ebook only to an in print title.
Since I typically only have one release from Samhain a year now, the majority of all my published books are available in print definitely. On release day. Always. And usually as an ebook as well, but we’re at the mercy of places like BN who usually don’t get around to putting up a new ebook for a few days.
So a book not being available in both print and ebook on release day is the exception, NOT the norm for my titles. I will always post this information on my website. If I have different release dates for the individual formats, I will most certainly make it clear on books page. I try to always put links to print and ebook purchase sites so readers have a variety.
So for this year? My ONE exception is Colters’ Lady. It released in June in ebook. It won’t release until June 2011 in print. All my other books? Absolutely normal.
Next year it’s likely I’ll only have one exception again in Colters’ Daughter. If it releases in 2011 in ebook, it won’t release until 2012 in print.
I hope this clears up any misunderstandings or confusion. If not, pop in with a question and I’ll do my best to clear it all up for you.
Edited to add: Stacey had a really good question about not being able to find some of my Samhain titles in places like the SONY store. She has a SONY reader so of course she’d like to buy the format for her reader. The problem with third party vendors is we never know when or if they’ll put our titles up for sale. It’s random and frustrating. However, for ANY of my Samhain ebook titles, you can always buy the book in ANY format at www.mybookstoreandmore.com. Even for Sony. They sell the same formatted file that they SEND to Sony and the other vendors directly from that site. So if all else fails, go buy it and download it from MBaM :)
Over the next little while, I’ll occasionally (as I have time) be posting informational type blogs on issues that arise with my readers, websites, book info, reader email etc. These blogs will then be pointed to at intervals from the website for people who are looking for just such information.
Today it’s going to be all about email. I love email. Really, I do. See, I hate to talk on the phone. I’d much rather email someone then spend an absurd amount of time on the phone pussy footing around a subject and filling awkward silences with uh…uhm…yeah…well….and (you get the picture)
At any rate, I answer all my email. Really. If you’ve ever email me and haven’t gotten an answer, it’s because I never got it. There are a few minor exceptions. I mean if you email me to say I’m going to hell, I probably won’t respond with thank you, but I might send you my prayer request list. (It’s kind of long) And any email which begins “shame on you” is instantly relegated to the trash bin, because really, it can only go down hill after that.
Now I say all this only to bring up the point that while I DO answer all my email, there are simply times when I’m not able to answer it as quickly as I’d like to. Sometimes it might just be a few days. Sometimes I answer within minutes. Other times it might literally be weeks. When I’m on a tight deadline, email is the first sacrifice to the God’s. I could literally get lost in emails for an entire day and I can’t afford that kind of distraction when I have to finish a book like yesterday.
I’m working with my web designer to try and ease a lot of the questions I receive via email. I know it’s frustrating for readers not to have the answer they want, and it’s frustrating to me when I have the answer on my website but still get asked those questions. This is where I need help asking what can we do different? How can we make it clearer and absolute that the information on my website constitutes every thing I know to date about my books, blurbs, covers and release dates? And how can I make the information more accessible?
We’re working more and more on my FAQ section to try to answer as many frequently asked questions as we can. As soon as I get them, I have them posted with detailed answers.
But back to my point. I read and enjoy every single email I receive from readers. I know that readers like and want a personal response. I’d want one too. I just ask that you bear with me at times when my inbox starts overflowing to the tune of 15k emails. When I’m writing and email gets busy, I sorta just shut down and stop looking at the email all together because it stresses me to have unanswered emails. I like to give my readers what they expect.
So my promise still remains. I always read and respond to all email (within reason because if you’re screaming at me about hell and damnation, I’ll direct you to my sister who’s a pastor’s wife and have her teach you a few things about casting stones and what not) It’s just that sometimes I’ll answer more quickly than others and in those times when I haven’t responded in a bit, don’t think I’ve decided to no longer be gracious. It’s just that I’m probably losing my mind and no one really wants to see all that ;)
Lots of love!
Maya
Oh my… It’s really all I have to say!
So let’s pretend you can go anywhere you want, no conditions, no nothing. For an entire week.
Where would you go?
However, they finished up before 8am this morning and we’ve FINALLY started filling it. See my tadpoles? They couldn’t wait :)
After an interminable wait, the pool will FINALLY be finished today. My kids are about to drive me insane asking when, when, when, but as I type, they are doing the plaster and as soon as they finish, the pool will start to be filled. Which means my kids will be wallowing in the shallows as it fills. I have some cute pictures last year when the pool at our old house was being filled. They pretended to be alligators. I’ll have to snap a few more this year.
It’ll take until Saturday to completely fill, but that won’t mean the kids won’t live in it until then. We won’t get the pumps started and the chemicals in until Monday so in the meantime, they’ll be taking the equivalent of a cold bath.
And now I can stop being cranky when asked when, when, when!
Is Minnchica, comment #41!
Congrats! If you’ll email me your snail mail address to mayaATmayabanks.com I’ll get your ARC in the mail to you :)
Maya
It’s been one year since ex-Navy SEAL Ethan Kelly last saw his wife Rachel alive. Overwhelmed by grief and guilt over his failures as a husband, Ethan shuts himself off from everything and everyone.
His brothers have tried to bring Ethan into the KGI fold, tried to break through the barriers he’s built around himself, but Ethan refuses to respond… until he receives anonymous information claiming Rachel is alive.
To save her, Ethan will have to dodge bullets, cross a jungle, and risk falling captive to a deadly drug cartel that threatens his own demise. And even if he succeeds, he’ll have to force Rachel to recover memories she can’t and doesn’t want to relive—the minute by minute terror of her darkest hour—for their love, and their lives, may depend on it.
The Darkest Hour kicks off my new action/adventure romantic suspense series that focuses on the Kelly family. I’m super excited about The Darkest Hour. I’ve waited a long time to tell Ethan and Rachel’s story. Right now there are plans for at least six books, and I hope to do more :)
Ali, a reader on the Writeminded Readers loop, asked for recommendations for books that involved a husband and a wife who for whatever reason were forced apart and the story focused on them coming back together. I always call them marriage in jeopardy stories and I LOVE them. It’s a particular favorite theme of mine. So tell me what you think of them? And if you’re so inclined, share some of your favorites! I’ll choose one winner at random from all the comments posted. The winner will be asked to provide their mailing address so I can ship the autographed ARC. I’ll leave entries open until this coming Sunday and I’ll post the winner Sunday night.
Good luck to everyone!
