You're not going to screw yourself...

Note: This post was originally written in 2017.

A couple months ago, my mom bumped into a family friend she hadn't seen in a while. The friend asked, "What's Giselle up to these days?"

My mom proudly replied, "Giselle is a self-published author!"

When she told my sister and I this story, we burst out laughing.

My mom said, "What? Self-published--isn't that the good one?"

Classic Mom. My work has been published by imprints of Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins and even Oxford University Press, yet my mother goes around gleefully telling the world I'm a self-published author. "Isn't that the good one?"

Self-publishing has generally been more lucrative for me than placing my work with small presses. That's what my mom had latched onto, in conversation. My sister and I tried to explain the snobbery that still exists in the worlds of reading, writing, and publishing. If you go around saying you're a self-published author, most people hear "I suck and nobody's willing to publish my work."

I won't speculate as to whether I suck (my opinion of my writing varies with mood), but over the past 10 years my work has appeared in well over 100 print anthologies. That's in addition to ebooks placed at far too many small presses. I don't say any of this to brag, only to convey that I know for sure there are people out there who are willing to publish my work.

Or, there used to be.

So much has changed since I first started writing. Just today, I got word another anthology my short fiction was accepted for has been scrapped by the published. That's FIVE cancelled contracts this year.

As I've probably mentioned, I never set out to be a writer. I started writing on a dare. I'd just been laid off from my job in the big bad business world and was having a bit of a quarter-life crisis. I felt like I needed to pick a career and stick with it.

Ten years ago, I couldn't see this far into the future. I'd never have imagined I would self-publish my work. The erotica world seemed dominated by websites, magazines, smallish presses and largish presses. I wrote short stories to answer calls for submission. I'd never read an ebook, but I started writing them for small publishers. I'm not saying everything I wrote just magically got published. Trust me--I saw my share of rejection letters. My book Ondine was probably rejected by 6 different publishers. But it needed to be. I got great advice from some very caring editors and improved the book incrementally.

I'd only been writing a few years when author acquaintances started opening their own publishing houses catering to niche markets. I liked the idea of getting in on the ground floor (worked well for me with eXcessica), and I also wanted to support fellow authors who were beginning their own ventures. So I submitted a few works here, a few works there.

Pretty soon, I had ebooks (short stories/novels/novellas) placed with... oh, easily 20 different publishers.

That wasn't my first mistake, but it was probably my biggest.

I've never been an all-your-eggs-in-one-basket type, but Marge Simpson's got a good point when she says, "What would you have me do? One basket for each egg?"

There comes a point where the baskets themselves become too much to carry. In writing terms, how do you keep sending new work to 20 different publishers? If you slack, you're not going to satisfy fans at that publishing house. Putting out new stuff gets eyes on your backlist. Without those eyes, sales stagnate.

There was a point where I had a bunch of royalty cheques coming in for less than $10 each. And then less than $2 each. If I'd consolidated all those efforts with one publisher I really trusted, I think I'd have fared much better.

The trouble is, with the exception of a small handful of publishers, I wasn't working with people I had a lot of faith in. That's dangerous. Some publishers seemed to take their jobs less seriously than I took mine. That's extremely dangerous. That's when you get into publishers who don't bother to send you royalty reports. Or payments. Because they just don't feel like it or whatever.

One thing I've learned over the years is that you don't need to be good at business to run a business. Just because you've decided to become a publisher doesn't mean you're going to behave professionally. I've witnessed more than one publisher treat authors like shit behind the scenes. I had a reader email me one time to say they were having trouble downloading a book and when they wrote to the publisher, the response was basically, "Are you some kind of idiot? You're too stupid to figure out how to download a book?"

You think I'm exaggerating. I wish!

The real kicker was that this particular reader was also a well-respected book reviewer. Save me, Jebus.

When I first started out, I found publishers on the Erotica Readers and Writers Association website and then looked them up on Piers Anthony's site to find out all the dirt. Of course, I couldn't research the startups I hooked up with. They were too new. No data available.

I strongly encourage authors to do their research. Find out who you're getting into bed with. If you trust no one, get into bed with alone. Like Alison Tyler says: "You're not going to screw yourself." (that's not an exact quote, btw)

Wow, I sound really down on publishers. I'm not. I've found great success and incredible support with some. But not all. Most of the publishers I've worked with haven't been jerks. They've done their best, just like I've done mine, but the money wasn't there. Sales were crappy, so we parted ways. That's business.

I'm not sure what the takeaway is, here. Do your homework? Don't get into bed with acquaintances? Don't spread yourself too thin? I don't know. I still make too many mistakes to be giving anyone advice.

Garbage

This is a post I wrote a few years back for a writers' blog. It's a good one, especially for fellow creatives, so I'm reviving it here at Donuts and Desires:

I started hearing this song on the radio a couple months back--"Only Happy When It Rains." I kept thinking how much I enjoyed it. The lyrics spoke to me and I liked the sound.

Last Friday, by chance, I caught a concert of indie and alternative rock on PBS. One of the bands performing was called Garbage. That's how I found out who'd been singing that song on the radio: Garbage.

That's how I found out when the song came out: 1995.

I was in high school in 1995. If I could go back, I'd spend my teen years listening to grunge and punk and... I don't know. I still don't know what's cool. When I was a high school student I listened to a classical radio station and Broadway musicals. My best friend in Grade Nine loved Iggy Pop. I should have followed her lead.

Anyway, doesn't matter. I can't go back in time. The point I'm trying to make is that this song is 20 years old, but it's new to me because I didn't listen to cool-kid music back then. Everything we create--as artists, musicians, writers--isn't just new the day it comes out. A song is new forever to new listeners. 

A book is always new to new readers.

Tax-wise, I don't know how royalties are reported in other countries, but here in Canada royalties from artistic works or inventions are reported on a T5--a statement of investment income. That's how I like to think of my books: as investments. I don't expect to do the work today and get paid for it consistently at two-week intervals. That work needs to pay off over the course decades. After I die, it'll keep earning money for my heirs (okay, my cats).

Most of my readers don't know I exist yet. They haven't found me. I haven't found them. Some of them haven't even been born. Twenty years from now a reader will find something I wrote tomorrow and it'll be new to them. I'll be new to them.

Take Care,

Giselle

What Good is #Writing?

I used to tell people writing meant nothing to me. Family, friends, writers, readers... I told everyone that writing was something I only did to make money. Writing wasn't like breathing, for me. I didn't feel like I had to do it or I'd die.

I'd heard from a lot of other authors that they'd write even if nobody paid them for it.  Even if nobody bought their books.

Not me. I was only in it for the cold hard cash.

That was then.

It took me quite a number of years before I started to realize the place of meaning and resolution writing held in my life.  When I first started writing, I was selling erotica shorts to anthologies and periodicals. I was signing contracts with niche publishers.

I think it was the market for periodicals that dried up first. Anthologies followed a few years later.  Around that time, the small publishers I was signing with started toppling like dominoes.

So I started self-publishing. Why not?  The stigma was lifting.  It was suddenly easy to publish independently. And I had quite a number of works at my disposal, including those that had come back to me from publishers that had folded.

Things went pretty okay.  I was hardly a Kindle Millionaire, but I understood the process.  Publishing seemed pretty straightforward. I uploaded my books to various retailers through various distributors and in various formats. They sold copies. Again, not a million copies, but enough that I could pay my rent and put food on the table (and in my cats' bowls).

And now?

Looking at my life holistically, I'd have to say, at the moment, it's a mess. My career is a huge part of that mess. I've experienced an enormous amount of grief and loss this year--in terms of loved ones dying and so forth--but also in terms of loss of income, dwindling sales.

The last book I wrote that was meaningful to me sold two copies.

Although my career is writing, writing is not merely a career.  Not anymore.

Writing has become much more than a career.

Much, much more.

After my cousin's death this summer, I started writing about grief.  About my grief.  Non-fiction. I started out telling myself it was publishable, that I was writing for monetary gain. But I realized very quickly that allowing anyone on the planet to read the most intimate details of my family's pain would be a betrayal to those who were hurting the most. There could be a time in the future when that changes, but that's kind of not the point.

The point is that, even after I realized I was writing stuff I couldn't possibly publish... I kept doing it.

I kept writing because the act of writing helped me. That's when I realized I was actually journaling. Didn't feel like it, because I'd never typed a journal before. I'd run out of people to talk to (or, I convinced myself I had, convinced myself nobody wanted to hear me repeat the same thoughts over and over again), but I could always write.

It helped me so much. I could never have imagined how much, honestly.  If you're going through some shit and it's never occurred to you to write it all down, I highly recommend it. Most people have probably figured this out by the age of eight.  Guess it took me a little longer than that.

There's something freeing about getting to a low point in your career.  You can stop thinking about what others want from you, because clearly they don't want anything--if they did, they'd be buying your books.  It's a time when you can turn to yourself and ask, "All things being equal, what would you really like to work on?"

And then you can write a book like this:

Or a book like this:

Or a book nobody's ever going to see, because it isn't a book at all.

Thank you for being a reader. #readers #writers #gratitude

I saw a tweet the other day that really pissed me off.

I won't say who it came from or even what line of work they're in, but the tweet was a real screw-you to all their followers. It said something along the lines of: you think you're so supportive because you follow me and retweet me, but if you're not buying my products then you're not helping me at all because retweets don't pay the rent.

When I saw that, I was seriously taken aback. I haven't stopped thinking about it, and it makes me want to communicate, now more than ever, that I don't feel that way about my followers on twitter or on my blog here or anywhere else. Quite the opposite. I appreciate the time you take to read my words, whether they're in blog form, tweet form, or book form.

I appreciate your time.

If you read something I've written here at Donuts and Desires or on twitter and you take a moment to share it with others, I appreciate that action tremendously.

In fact, it's about more than just your time. It's about much, much more.

The other day I was thinking about book reviews. I don't read reviews of my work, but I appreciate beyond words that readers take the time to share their thoughts with the entire internet.

Sharing your opinions with the world isn't always easy, especially when you consider the nature of what I'm writing: erotica and queer fiction. If you write a book review about my work, you're sharing a lot about yourself.

Some readers are not in a position where they're able to be "out" as kinky or queer or whatever the case may be. They don't feel they can tell the world this is what they're reading. If you fall into that category, I want you to know it's okay. I don't wish for you to put your security in jeopardy to boost me up. Just know in your heart how much I appreciate that you're reading my words.

And if you are in a position to share your views on my work with the world, I appreciate that too. I appreciate it tremendously. And I appreciate it even if you didn't buy the book you're reviewing--if you checked it out of your local library or you got it for free during some kind of promotion or you found a tattered copy in a bus station bathroom.

Yes, I write for a living. Yes I need to put food on the table with my words. And pay the rent. And cover utilities. I couldn't do any of those things without readers. But does that mean I begrudge the people who "only" subscribe to my newsletter, who "only" retweet me once in a while, who "only" read the free stories on my blog? No! Not in the least.

Let's be real: this is the world of erotica. Most of the people who buy a title like "Forbidden Family Erotica" won't remember my name once they've read my smut. And you know what? I'm okay with that.

Not every reader needs to be a fan, and not every fan needs to be a reader. Most of my twitter followers have probably never read my work, and they probably never will. But every so often someone retweets a book trailer I've made, and that gets seen by a few people who've never heard of me, and they get interested in my work and a fan inspires a reader without even knowing it.

It's so shitty for anyone to tell their followers "if you're not purchasing my product, you mean nothing to me." I can't get over it. It's got me so riled up.

Hey, YOU. Yes, you! If you're reading this right now, you mean something to me. I've written these words. You've read these words. No money has changed hands, but we've got a connection. And that means something.

At least, to me it does.

And if you want to support me financially, Patreon is as good a place as any!

Excitica has closed its doors and this sucks for everyone.

You know how everything is terrible? Well, here's more terrible to add to the list.

If you check out Excitica's storefront, here's what you'll see:

It is with great sadness that we have to announce that Excitica will be closing our doors, effective immediately.

Unfortunately, we are unable to continue providing you with the stories and books you love in the current climate due to strict payment processing standards holding us hostage. We have attempted to fight this form of censorship to no avail. We will be paying all publishers and authors royalties owed to them. We apologize for this lost opportunity and regret that we won’t be able to continue our relationship.

Readers, please download your purchases before Friday, February 8, 2019. Thank you all for your support through the years.

In case you're not familiar with Excitica, it was the erotica ebook store Selena Kitt created when other ebook retailers started removing tons of erotic stories and books from their shelves--particularly taboo erotica, dubcon, noncon, hardcore BDSM, and whatever else the retailer deemed offensive.

Selena created Excitica so independent authors/publishers like you(?) and me could get our work out into the world, like the internet gods intended.

I'm gutted that Selena's had to close Excitica's doors. I've been working with her for more than a decade and I love her like family. She has done so ridiculously much to help other authors, building co-ops and websites that would benefits erotica readers and writers alike. Trust me, she has been fighting the powers that be for years any time our books have come under fire. She's the one who's always gone to bat for all of us. I could never do what she's done, for myself much less for erotica authors as a whole.

Erotica's always had a bad rap, and it takes a strong leader to create spaces for readers who read it and writers to write it. Selena's been that leader for more than a decade. She's done her damnedest, and I can only thank her for her efforts.

I can't fault Selena for the closure of Excitica. I can only praise her for building it in the first place.

But Excitica's closure does not bode well for those of us who read and/or write erotica. It doesn't leave us many retailers to purchase from or publish at. The only ebook retailer (that springs to mind) that continues to allow taboo content is Smashwords, and I thank the many, many readers who continue to purchase my work and Lexi's from that source.

A Tale of Three #Taboo #Erotica #Anthologies, or Testing the KU Waters in 2019

In case you haven't heard about Lexi Wood, she's the sock puppet who lives in my apartment and writes taboo erotica for me to publish.

Two years ago, Lexi wrote 6 brand new, never-before-published stories about stepdaddies and stepdaughters doing the nasty. Usually I publish Lexi's stories individually, but since I had 6 in my possession that had not yet been published wide, I figured I'd bundle them together and introduce them to Kindle Unlimited for 90 days.

I'm not sure why I made the decision to put New Taboo Erotica in Kindle Unlimited. I almost never put anything in KU, seeing as I have a monstrous fear of commitment--so much so that being exclusive to one retailer even for 90 days makes me jittery.

But I made the decision, and, boy, was I glad!

As an author, as a business, as an author-business, I generally rely on a long tail of sales to earn my income. We're talking mediocre-to-poor sales spread out over years, even decades. That's how I operate. I view every book I write as a long-term investment.  I don't expect it to earn its keep within a week of being published, or even within the initial 90 days. If I had a baby (highly unlikely), I wouldn't expect it to walk and talk at 3 months. I view my books in the same way.  At 90 days, they're still infants.

That's how I operate. I don't have monumental expectations of anything I publish.

So when New Taboo Erotica brought home the bacon, I was blown away.  Truly.  I don't think any other book I've written has paid my rent in the first month of its existence. I know there are a lot of authors who rely on new release income spikes, but I'm not one of them.

New Taboo Erotica felt like a boon, and the results came as a big surprise.

Still, by the end of that 90 day exclusivity period, pagereads had trickled off, so I took the book out of KU and sent it out into the wilds of the big wide world.

The next year, I decided I would do it all over again.

I didn't see any reason why lightning wouldn't strike twice.

Except that Amazon's algorithms seem to change on almost a weekly basis, and you can never expect the same thing to work from month to month, much less year to year...

At any rate, I instructed Lexi to write 6 more brand new taboo erotica stories.  I bundled them together, called them New Taboo Smut, and published them into KU last winter.

It was a total flop.

I'd tried to replicate my initial success using the same steps, the same template, the same theme, the same author... and the result was utter and dismal failure.

What a let-down.

So why on earth would I try it again this year?

Well, I didn't actually plan this.  I'll start by saying that.

November was National Novel Writing Month. I planned to... you know... work on a novel. But then my grandmother died, and I was still reeling from the tragic death of my cousin last summer, and grief sent me spiraling.

Most unexpectedly, it was Lexi who saved me.  She took over, planting herself at my computer and spewing out story after nasty, taboo story.  She was uncontrollable! She'd finish one story and immediately start on the next.  She'd have two on the go simultaneously.  It was wild.

What we ended up with were 6 brand new taboo erotica stories. And these ones were themed: sex-with-an-ex. How can a stepfather and stepdaughter also be exes?  Well, you'll obviously have to read these six stories to find out.

With these 6 previously unpublished stories at my disposal, and at the same time of year I'd published New Taboo Erotica and New Taboo Smut, it seemed only natural to continue my KU experiment.  Well, it wasn't an experiment the first two times, but it is now.  As much as I distrust and dislike KU, curiosity got the best of me.  I NEED to find out what will happen in 2019, on my third attempt to publish a bundle of 6 new taboo erotica stories by Lexi Wood.

The book is called Taboo Sex with an Ex.  Will it be a huge success?  I doubt it.  Will it be a dismal failure?  Probably!  Don't you love my optimism?  Hey, I'm a realist.  Everything seems to be tanking these days.

But I'm giving Taboo Sex with an Ex the opportunity to succeed in its initial 90 days.  Lexi's stories are scorching, they really are.  She writes dirty stuff.

If you're into dirty stuff--especially dirty stuff with a daddy fetish and a focus on the tension that exists between ex-lovers--you're going to want to read this collection. And I don't just say that because I want your sweet, sweet KU pagereads... although that's definitely part of it. These stories deserve to be read. They're trash in the best sense of the word.  They're filthy, forbidden garbage stories that will get you off just like they got me through a period of intense grief.

They're just that good.

Am I skewing the results of my KU experiment by asking you to read Taboo Sex with an Ex? Maybe. But it doesn't matter. This isn't real science. It's just me and Lexi, earning a living with our sex writings.

Read it Taboo Sex with an Ex today:

Taboo Sex with an Ex
6 Explicit Erotica Stories
By Lexi Wood

These girls love taboo sex so much they just keep coming back for more… even though they know they shouldn’t… even though they said they wouldn’t! In this mouth-watering collection of sinful smut, six young women return to strictly forbidden men to fill their needs as only the man of the house can. They shouldn’t have done it in the first time. They shouldn’t come back for seconds. But here they are, pretty and purring and ready for more!

US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MLW8Z3F?tag=dondes-20
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07MLW8Z3F
CAN: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07MLW8Z3F
AUS: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07MLW8Z3F

The Amazing Disappearing-Reappearing #Erotica

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is one of the few movies I still have on VHS. When it came out, it pretty much changed my life. I loved cartoons when I was a kid (I wanted to be an animator) and the idea that humans and cartoon characters could co-exist... well, that just blew my mind.

Why am I telling you this? Not really sure, to be honest. Oh! Right. It was the disappearing-reappearing ink.

See, I used a distributor called Pronoun to distribute a couple books to Amazon. Pronoun closed down recently. That means those books needed to be re-published.

They're disappearing-reappearing books!

Well, now that they've reappeared, I'll let you know where they can be found:

Giselle’s Best Adultery Erotica: 10 Tales of Forbidden Love   Love is complicated. Sometimes the most passionate love affairs take place with partners who are strictly forbidden. Infidelity can be driven by mutual attraction, money, desire, want of attention or even sheer hatred. In this collection, read Giselle Renarde’s top ten favourite tales of adultery, hand-picked by the author. Whether the sex is angry or loving, spontaneous or carefully planned, the characters all have one thing in common: they’re sleeping with someone they shouldn’t—and it’s hot as hell!

Take a Look at Giselle's Best Adultery Erotica at Amazon

And here are a couple $0.99 disappearing-reappearing new arrivals on Amazon's shelves:

As always, if you enjoy listening to Audio Erotica as much as I enjoy creating it, I invite you to become my patron at Patreon!

Amber Quill Press is Closing

Amber Quill Press, publisher of my novel Anonymous, will be closing down operations March 31, 2016. A notice on their website states that the site will be dismantled at that time, ending readers' access to their bookshelves and order history. If you've earned Rewards Points at the site, better use them up. (Might I suggest my MMF menage book, Anonymous?)

Amber Quill Press is a respected publisher of fiction, straight romance and LGBT romance. They've been in business since 2002, so the closure comes as a bit of a surprise. They always felt like an established, professional enterprise, to me. I enjoyed working with them. They were responsive to authors, reporting was excellent, they never paid late. I'm sorry to see them go, but I wish Amber Quill's owners and my fellow authors all the best in business, in writing, and in life.

Giselle

Coffee Time Romance & More eBook Store Closing

In an email sent out Monday, Coffee Time Romance announced they will be closing the eBook store section of their site effective December 31, 2015. They cite Amazon's devaluation of the ebook as the central cause of this closure:

With their Kindle Unlimited Program which allows subscribers to borrow books in the program for only $9.99 a month, as well as, how they encourage self-published authors, and small e-publishers to give away their latest releases for free, readers now believe that even $.99 is too much for an e-book. The hard truth is, it is no longer cost effective to sell e-books in our store.

They go on to say readers who have purchased ebooks from their store in the past will not lose access to those books.

My heart goes out to the crew at CTR because I know how hard they tried to make it work. There's nothing more frustrating than working your ass off at something and being crushed by giants. In terms of sales suckage, I have an indie spot in their store (for the next couple weeks) and I haven't sold a book there since July.

Love you,
Giselle

Nominate Your Favourite Erotica Author for a Ravishing Reads Award

Did you know there's an Erotic Authors Guild? Well, there is and they give out awards.

Readers can nominate their favourite author for a Ravishing Reads award. (I know what you're thinking, authors, and the answer is no--sadly, you can't nominate yourself.)

There are a bunch of categories, ranging from Best Use of Toys in an Erotic Scene to Best Cowboy/Cowgirl Erotica. Lexi will be pleased to know there's even an award for Best Taboo Erotica.

Here are the rules stated in the nominations form:

The Erotic Authors Guild is excited to be giving awards for the best erotic works of 2015! These awards are open to any erotic authors and their works even if they are not a Guild member.

Rules and Limitations
* You may nominate an author for more than one category.
* Self-nomination, including via your Personal Assistant or street team, is not allowed and will be grounds for disqualification. Anyone else may nominate, including readers, authors and bloggers.
* Duplicate nominations for an author by the same reader/author/blogger will be disqualified. However, you may nominate different works for the same author in the categories involving specific works. Each nomination for a specific story must be submitted separately.
* The nomination phase will remain open until January 7, 2016. Further details on the final voting will be given after all nominations are received and verified for validity.
* All nominations will be vetted by the awards committee for fairness and validation of nominations.

The link to the nomination form is found on this page (click where it says "Nominate"--I missed it on first read): http://eroticauthorsguild.org/ravishing-reads/

You've got until early January to nominate an author and/or their work, so keep the categories in mind while you're reading dirty sex books.

Love you!
Giselle  

Canadians Can Be Thankful

Got a nice bit of news yesterday, which was Monday of the Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. I planned to share it last night, but, due to a turkey-induced food coma, I fell asleep on the couch.

But I'm partially awake now, so here is the news I received from CreateSpace:

Hello,

Starting October 8, we began making CreateSpace titles enrolled in the Amazon.com sales channel available directly to readers in Canada on Amazon.ca. Your title may already be offered on Amazon.ca through Expanded Distribution or other channels, but now you can earn the same royalty on Amazon.ca that you would earn for a sale on Amazon.com.

You can expect to see a title enrolled in the Amazon.com sales channel on Amazon.ca in 30 days. [...]

Best regards,
The CreateSpace Team

What does this mean for YOU (assuming you're Canadian)? It means print versions of my books will now be available directly via the Canadian Amazon site.

I know this sounds like "so what?" news, so I'll tell you why it matters to me.

A couple years ago, when I published my award-winning trans lesbian novel The Red Satin Collection at CreateSpace, a library system in New Brunswick expressed interest in carrying the book. The problem was that they purchased their books at Amazon.ca (which was a surprise to me--I thought all libraries purchased through special secret library-only channels) and The Red Satin Collection was not available for purchase at Amazon.ca. For whatever reason, they couldn't buy from the .com site or any other channels.

When you're an author who starts self-publishing (especially when you began your career in a small press world), suddenly you're thrust into handling all aspects of your own little publishing business. And sometimes you don't know what the hell you're doing.

In this instance, I contacted CreateSpace and asked how this library could go about purchasing the book at Amazon.ca. In the end, I couldn't solve the problem. Now, two years later, CreateSpace has solved it. They're making print books available at the Canadian site.

Why it took so long... well, don't ask me. I still find this business baffling. But, in true Thanksgiving tradition, I'm grateful that Canadians will now be able to purchase my paperbacks more easily.

Oyster Is Done Like Dinner!

Oyster Books is closing up shop. Now who's going to tell me my books won't be listed on their shelves because: "The content is primarily of an erotic nature, intended to stir sexual desire."

If you've never heard of Oyster, it is/was an ebook subscription service where you pay a monthly fee for access to as many books as you can read. I shouldn't imply that NONE of my books were listed there. Some are/were... like Sweet Lesbian Love Stories, which has no sexual content.

In a blog post that uses a lot of words to say pretty much nothing, Oyster Books announced they "will be taking steps to sunset the existing Oyster service over the next several months. If you are an Oyster reader you will receive an email personally regarding your account in the next few weeks."

This Publishers Weekly post is more informative: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/68130-oyster-is-shutting-down-operations.html

What's left as far as ebook subscription services? Well, there's Amazon's Kindle Unlimited, which is shitty for authors because they demand exclusivity (so we can't sell our books anywhere else) and Scribd, which recently unloaded a bajillion romance books because romance readers read too much.

I've kind of lost track of how many of these "such and such a site is closing down" announcements I've made over the years.

To be honest... I get a little scared...

What kind of writer are you?

I've decided I'm Alf.

ALF, the alien, eating a kitten

No, not that Alf. This one:

Alf Ventress, from Heartbeat, cuddling a kitten

I found myself watching an old episode of Heartbeat at two in the morning, and my brain started making all these strange connections.

See, I know a lot of really successful authors. I'm super-duper not ONE OF THEM. They make BIG MONEY off their books. I... do not. I know people who earn more in a month than I earn in a year. Waaay more.

But I'm happy. Yes, that's right: I have the audacity to be happy while poor. I've learned that's something you're not supposed to say around rich people, because we poverty-stricken individuals are supposed to be striving for better, better, more, more, more!

I always say if I wanted to be rich, I wouldn't be a writer. But you can't say that around writers who have gotten rich by writing because they're just like... well, I did it. What's your major malfunction?

That's just it: I don't have one. I am content with my tiny market share. I have a roof over my head. I live in a safe neighbourhood. I can afford to buy food! Life is good.

But what does any of this have to do with my pal Alf Ventress?

Alf and I are twinsies because we show up every day. We're always around. We do the job, eat a few boiled eggs, put the kettle on.

We're slow, sure, but what's the rush?

We're not driven toward other people's ideas of success, but that doesn't make him any less of a village bobby and doesn't make me any less of a small-time writer.

You don't tune in to see Alf, but he's always there and there's something comforting about that. All these young coppers from London, they have their flash in the pan and then they take off. Think of the number of young actors (and older ones) who came and went of the course of Heartbeat's history.

Alf was always there.

I'm Alf. I'm always around. I'm always publishing something. My output is consistent. I don't give up when the going gets tough because, for me, the going has always been tough. Success never embraced me. Or, if it tried, I shied away because I don't enjoy the spotlight. Of course I want people to buy my books (that's what pays the bills, after all), but is it worth screaming how great I am all over the internet all the time?

No way. That would be exhausting. Anyway, I'm nothing special. I'm just here. I've been here going on ten years, and that's not about to change any time soon.

So buy my books at your leisure. I know a lot of authors who packed it in when they weren't shiny and new anymore, but I'm not one of them. I was never shiny and new--or, when I was, nobody knew I existed.

Life will go on and I'll keep writing. Every day I'll be at my computer, writing. That's just the kind of writer I am.

What kind of writer are you?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Oh, What A Difference A STEP Makes!

In 2013, my Adam and Sheree series hit the market and was immediately banned by almost every ebook retailer in existence. There were very few sites that would sell a trilogy about brother/sister incest. 

The series sold (and continues to sell) well, considering it's available from so few stores, but when your book isn't available from Amazon, that's a huge chunk of shoppers who don't have access to it. (Once upon a time, I worked with a publishing house that refused to make their books available at Amazon--on moral grounds. They aren't in business anymore.)

Anyhoo, the reason I loved writing my Adam and Sheree trilogy is that, when you're dealing with a brother and sister, their relationship can get really antagonistic without making the reader go, "Why wouldn't you break up with that jerk?" You can't break up! You're siblings! You're stuck in this relationship for the rest of your lives!

Antagonism is probably the reason stepbrother romances have become so hot at Amazon over the course of the summer. So, in the interest of bandwagon-jumping, and because I'd already written this entire motherfucking series that Amazon wouldn't allow on its site, I went back my 100,000-word Adam and Sheree trilogy and made some edits.

Oh, what a difference a STEP makes!

The stepbrother manchests of summer

In this reworked and re-titled and re-covered version of the Adam and Sheree series, the first book (Adam and Sheree's Family Vacation) is called STEPBROTHER SUMMER. It is now available from Amazon, and I strongly encourage you to buy your copy now!

Here be some links, me mateys:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014GMUKPM?tag=dondes-20
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B014GMUKPM
Amazon Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B014GMUKPM
Amazon Australia: http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B014GMUKPM

The second book, STEPBROTHER AND COMPANY (a reworked version of Adam and Sheree's Family Business--my fave of the three, and thus the one with the crappiest sales) will be out in September.

Actually, maybe the Christmas one is my favourite. Or maybe the first one is.

I don't know. These are difficult decisions.

Anyway, buy the book.

Love you!

Giselle

Romance Readers Read Too Much Romance. No Books For You!

Have you heard the latest publishing news? Scribd is removing a shitload of romance novels from their site because romance readers read too much.

Let me repeat that: Scribd is removing most of the books in its most popular genre. They're removing the books their subscribers want to read, love to read, NEED TO READ!

If you're saying "WHAAAA?" then my response to you is, yeah, this is every bit as ridiculous as it sounds. I really don't have to embellish or editorialize when it comes to this story.

If you're asking "What the fuck is a Scribd?" then I'll quickly tell you it's a subscription service, like Netflix for ebooks. Until now, you could read (some) of my books there. (They don't like erotica.)

Apparently their subscribers are voracious romance readers and, because their business model sucks, readers reading books is costing them too much money. So instead of changing their payout structure or doing something sensible like that, they're removing their most popular books.

Want the inside scoop straight from the horse's mouth? Here's the email I got from Draft2Digital, which is one of the distributors I use:

As we all know, the concept of a subscription service for books is extremely new. There are several models on the market now for effectively monetizing subscriptions, and none of them exactly matches what we’re used to from traditional sales royalties. As the market experiments with different approaches, there are bound to be some missteps and false starts along the way. In fact, we should expect this business model to evolve even more in the near future.

Scribd took a significant risk putting in place a model that paid authors the same amount as a retail model for each book read by a subscriber. As we all know, romance readers tend to be incredibly avid readers. In trying to cater to this voracious readership while under this progressive payment model, Scribd has put itself in a difficult place. In a bid to better balance these operating expenses, Scribd is immediately slashing the volume of romance novels in its subscription service.

If you are receiving this email, then you are a Draft2Digital author who has published books in the romance genre to Scribd. This means that some or all of your romance novels are likely going to be delisted from their service today. (Books that are priced at free will not be removed.)

While a large number of romance novels will be removed from Scribd, it isn’t all of them. We aren’t privy to the exact guidelines Scribd is using to decide which romance novels will remain, and it’s our understanding that they remain in flux at Scribd. However, over the coming days, we will be working closely with Scribd to resolve the exact criteria and share them with you so that you’ll have the opportunity to restore all of your titles to the service.

Please Note: If you write in other genres, understand that those books will not be affected by this policy change.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and assure you that we are working with Scribd to explore alternative solutions to this challenging problem, always searching for new terms that could restore our full catalog to their service.

Believe me, this situation is just as difficult for Draft2Digital as it is for you. We also stand to lose a significant portion of our revenue due to this change. More importantly, we regret that we couldn’t give our authors more notice, but unfortunately we were informed quite late in Scribd’s decision-making process. It has been our highest priority throughout these discussions to preserve as many of your books in the service as possible, and we will continue to pursue that goal going forward.

So, like... "Oh, wow, our subscribers LOVE romance. They read a bajillion romance novels a week. So let's get rid of our romance novels."

Smooth move, Scribd.

Top 3 Reasons I Started Self-Publishing

You might have noticed I've been self-publishing a lot of my books lately. Or maybe you haven't noticed. In fact, I hear most readers don't care who published the book. If we want to read it, we buy it. Decisions are based more on covers and blurbs.

The truth is, I made the switch to self-publishing for three simple reasons:

1.

Quarterly royalty cheque from one publisher (one novella)

2.

Quarterly royalty payment on 6 short stories

3.

Quarterly royalty payment on 4 short stories

I want to be clear about something: I'm not anti-publisher. Not at all! If not for publishers, I wouldn't be blogging at you today. I'm indebted to so ridiculously many industry people. You know who you are. I've learned so much from you. And if we don't work together anymore, it's not because I don't love you.

I guess I'm a hybrid author, because I do still work with some publishers--the ones that earn me money. Sometimes I worry I come off like a capitalistic asshole, but we're not talking "the rich get richer" here. I live below the poverty line. I say that with confidence, because I looked it up. Yeah, the poverty line is WAAAY above my head. Not complaining. I'm poor but happy. But I'd be a lot less happy if I couldn't pay my rent or buy food.

And I don't know what food costs where you live, but around here $1.90 isn't going to pay for three months of anything.

Writing is my job. It's what I do for a living. No fall-back. No day job. Just this.

Nobody's ever accused me of caring about money more than people, so I guess I'm just arguing against myself right now. I guess, deep down, I feel like I'm betraying old industry contacts by going my own way.

Mind you, many of the publishing companies that gave me my first chances have long since gone out of business, so...

Yeah.

This is going to sound totally backwards, but I think if a new author asked me whether they should submit their work to publishers or dive into self-publishing, I would advise them to try the old-school route first.

Following submissions guidelines, writing synopses, submitting and waiting and waiting and waiting did me good because it provided structure. 

Rejection letters crushed me back in 2006. Why would I want to put new authors through that pain? Because you learn from it. You learn from feedback. You learn what the market wants and what it doesn't--through the lens of a particularly editor, granted, but when you don't know what you're doing that's extremely useful.

I still get rejection letters--just got one last week, in fact. They don't have any emotional impact anymore. It's just part of the book business.

Same goes for edits. I remember I got my first round of edits back on my first ebook with Dark Eden Press, and I just cried. I said to myself (literally--said this out loud to myself), "That's it. I'm never writing another book ever again." The experience basically felt like taking a shot of wasabi (don't ask how I know this), but I learned so much. And I learned so much because I knew NOTHING.

From working with publishers, I learned marketing techniques that have come and gone. I learned about readers' expectations, and I learned that the queer fiction I was naturally drawn to was actually extremely unpopular. Who knew?

And I'm not saying all the advice I got early on was good advice. A few publishers told me not to bother writing lesbians and bisexual women because that stuff just didn't sell.  Well, my highest-grossing book just happens to be Nanny State, which just happens to be lesbian fetish erotica. It's also adult-filtered by Amazon, so I don't know how anyone even finds it anymore, but readers do. (Thanks, by the way) But, by and large, it's true--lesbians and bi girls and queer chicks and genderfuckups like me are hard to sell.

I write them because I AM them.

Oh boy. It would take three days to list everything I've learned over the past nine years. Thing is, I'd never have learned it on my own. Working with publishers was hugely beneficial to me. I realize now I worked with too many pubs (20 or 30, by my estimate), which meant spreading myself too thin. Placing 3 books each with 20 different publishers is a stupid thing to do. Feel free to learn from that particular mistake.

The publishing landscape has changed tremendously since I started writing. Even authors published by fancy-ass houses take on heaps of responsibility beyond just writing the damn book. Sometimes I feel like writing isn't even the work anymore--the real work is selling what you've written, as well as the neat little product called YOU.

The truth is, I don't like marketing myself. I'm not a showy-offy person. I'm too depressive and self-effacing to do the work publishers expect of authors these days. In that sense, self-publishing is my way of hiding. Self-publishing means I only answer to myself and my readers. Nobody's telling me I have to host a Facebook launch party or hit up GoodReads for... I don't know what they do there, to be honest. Reviews?

Hmm... I didn't expect to write so much. Guess I had a lot to say. But I'm going to stop myself now or I won't stop at all.

Thanks for meandering through my thoughts with me. I usually keep them to myself, these days. Maybe I should share more often. I kinda like talking to you.

It Burns! It Buuurns!

I'm having trouble concentrating today, so I'm going to ask you this burning question as a means of procrastination...

Here's the set-up: I wrote a book for a vampire box set that's now off the market. The book's called Earth Blood is Easy and it's a quirky sci-fi New Adult heteromance about an alien vampire who's shocked when she discovers you can't just order up blood by the glass here on earth.  You have to like... suck it... out of people!

No sex. It's fun and funny (I guess it's a romantic comedy?), but it really doesn't fit with my... ummm... repertoire? What's the word I'm looking for?  Well, you know what I mean. I write erotica and queer fiction. This book isn't erotic and it isn't queer. It doesn't scream Giselle.

So my question is, what should I do with it?  It's previously published, but only in the box set. It was published as Earth Blood is Easy by Giselle Renarde, so whatever I do with it I'm not, like, disowning it or anything.  That said, I feel like if I pub it that way (either self-pub or with an indie publisher), I'm acknowledging that it's mine, I wrote it, all that.

But from a marketing perspective... see, here's what I don't want to happen: a teen picks up Earth Blood is Easy, likes it, says to self, "I want to read more by this Giselle character" and then BAM is hit with a wall of smut. Earth Blood is Easy is TOTALLY appropriate for teens. There is no explicit content, and I think it would appeal to NA readers of all ages. It's just got that tone.

Should I publish it under a pen name?  That's what I'm thinking I should do.  Then it's at arm's length and there won't be any underage readers seeking out more of my work because they love this book so much they just can't get enough of me. Because that's super-likely to happen. The book's just that good.

Sorry, that was my Canadian self-effacing-ness speaking. Earth Blood is Easy really is a cute little book. In fact, of all the books I've written (and she's read), it's my girlfriend's favourite. And she's a sci-fi geek, so that says I didn't miss the mark.

What do you think? Publish it under a pen name, even if I don't intent to keep it up or write anything else for that author brand?  Or is that a bad idea?  Any other authors have experience with this? Any readers want to chime in?

Any good pen names to suggest...?

Thanks! Love you!

Giselle

Book Review: Brand It Yourself: The Fast, Focused Way to Marketplace Magic by Lynn Altman

Remember like two weeks ago when I said I pretty much never write book reviews? Well, that applies mainly to fiction--especially erotic fiction. When you work in a certain niche, reviewing your peers' books can get awkward. And I don't just mean if you didn't like for the book. Give a glowing review and you run the risk of being called a pusher of your cronies' fiction (or worse).


Well, I don't write marketing books and I don't know author Lynn Altman, so I'm going to review this book of hers called Brand It Yourself: The Fast, Focused Way to Marketplace Magic.

Brand It Yourself is an industry-focused (yet very approachable) book that explores brand creation/invigoration/reinvention via creative process and brainstorming. It's coming at you from the point of view of a freelancer working with major corporate clients. Whether or not this book would be applicable to and useful for someone like me--an author whose writing business consists of myself and two cats--really depends on whether or not I choose to actively translate the lessons I've learned into methods I can incorporate into my little venture.

The first thing I did when I'd finished reading Brand It Yourself was to flip back to the copyright page to see when it was written. This book felt really recent, so I was surprised to find a copyright date of 2006--nearly 10 years ago. Most industry books I've read come off dated the second they hit the market, but not this one. That's quite a feat.

I'm a sucker for a business book written in an amusing tone, and I found myself laughing out loud a few times as I read this one. It's very approachable, in that sense. Author Lynn Altman basically says, "Here's what I do with my clients" and provides a good deal of general insight for a book that's really quite concise.

If you're like her and you have corporate clients (or you are that corporate client--someone who works in a marketing or brand development department, for instance), the ideas in Brand It Yourself are easily transferable. As for myself and my business of one (where I am the brand and my books are my products), I'll have to sit with what I've learned for a while.

Often when I'm reading books on marketing, I've got a notepad beside me and I'm madly scribbling ideas. I didn't take any notes while reading this book. I just read it. Up until the penultimate chapter, it was looking like a 4-star book, but I took a lot away from "Chapter 8: Avoid the Quagmires: Mistakes and missteps based on firsthand experience." (Always finish reading the book before writing the review!) I learn a lot from other people's mistakes, and this kind of writing always assuages my fears that there are these infallible gurus out there in the world who never mess up. The takeaway is sometimes greatest when pros allow themselves to be the anti-experts.

Great tone, useful information (particularly for pros in a corporate or freelance setting), and I ate this book up even though I'm usually a slow reader, so it must have been entertaining. I'll have to sit with what I've learned before I know for sure whether I can brand myself after reading Brand It Yourself.

Brand It Yourself: The Fast, Focused Way to Marketplace Magic
by Lynn Altman
Published by Penguin
Available from Amazon

I Need to Explain Sexi Lexi's Super Valentine's Day

Okay... where do I start with this one?

If the title "Sexi Lexi's Super Valentine's Day" sounds a little familiar, it should be. Kind of. Because this bisexual romp has been previously published both as Good Bi Valentine and All in a Valentine Day's Work.  The Sexi Lexi part probably sounds familiar because you've probably read this blurb (or something like it) in the past:

How many naughty tenants can one bisexual super tame before Valentine’s Day is done?

Lexi the sexi building superintendent is taking Valentine's Day by storm. Who needs candy hearts and a dozen red roses when she can have casual sex with foxy tenants? If Lexi can help a shy couple celebrate their love, she’s on it. If Mrs. Suraj wants her to fix those rusty pipes, she’s on the job. But when handsome Dwight tugs at her heartstrings, will Sexi Lexi turn cute and coy? How much love can one bisexual super capture before Valentine’s Day is done?

Basically, if you have a copy of Good Bi Valentine you already have a copy of Sexi Lexi's Super Valentine's Day.  Don't go buying it again, unless you're really keen on supporting me financially. And if that's the case, WOW, thank you!

The newly uploaded edition is clearly marked in the blurb as "previously published as..." so I don't think there's a chance of readers snapping up a copy without realizing they already own it, but I want to be extra sure I'm not pissing anyone off.  I can totally understand being pissed off because you just bought a book you already own and the blurb gave you no indication that it was ever published under a different name.

(Has that ever happened to you, by the way?)

I won't go into tooo many details about why I've had to re-release a THIRD edition of the ebook under a different name (mainly because I've spent enough time ragging on ebook retailers and their incomprehensible treatment of indie authors) but suffice to say one e-tailer that shall remain nameless banned the second edition. Wouldn't tell me why, wouldn't tell my publisher why. Guys, honestly, this novelette is an erotic comedy with zero taboo content and nothing that even brushes up against any e-book retailer's no-no list. I have no effing clue why it was banned.

Anyway...

If your Valentine's Day needs a fun and funny erotic read, here you go:

Sexi Lexi's Super Valentine's Day
by Giselle Renarde
Buy Now from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/405048
All Romance: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-sexilexi039ssupervalentine039sday-1411532-341.html
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I8R7I2U
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I8R7I2U
Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00I8R7I2U
Amazon Australia:  https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00I8R7I2U

Trials and Triumphs: The Pagan Sorceress (A Guest Post by Slave Nano)

Today is the first day of the rest of my blog! I mean, today's post is the first in a series called Trials and Triumphs (thanks, Sally!), about how the books we authors think are sure-fire hits tend to flop and the books we don't have high hopes for can succeed beyond measure.

Thank you to Slave Nano for providing the first in a series: 

Slave Nano: The Pagan Sorceress

Before I start can I say what a great idea Giselle has come up with for a series of blogs.  As authors I’m sure at some time we’ve all written something we think is great but which nobody else does and have wondered why!

The story I have that fits that bill is one called The Pagan Sorceress.  This is a novella length book (15,000 words) published by House of Erotica in Aug 2012.  I’ve included the story blurb with this blog but, briefly, this story switches between a contemporary setting and Anglo-Saxon times and involves the intertwining of characters between the two periods. It's erotica but part historical and part paranormal.

Personally, I like the story.  I’d set myself the challenge of both trying to switch between the two periods and consciously writing in a different style.  I deliberately wrote the Anglo-Saxon part of the story in the language of an Anglo-Saxon heroic saga such as Beowulf.  At the time I felt I’d done a pretty good job and was pleased with the results.

I did all I reasonably could to promote the book, given that I work full time (so, probably not nearly enough).  I wrote what I thought was a tolerably engaging story blurb (see what you think for yourself).  I arranged a couple of blog tours for it, I publicised as much as I could through social networks and sent out some review copies. 

The book hardly sold any copies, so what went wrong?  Well, on reflection, I think there were several reasons in addition to the general issue of how you make your book stand out amongst the many out there.

1) There was too much going on in a novella length book to market it to any particular audience.  It was erotica, it was historical and it was paranormal.  The basic idea would have made for a great historical romance, but that’s not what I do or where I wanted to take it. This meant it got lost between different sub-genres.

2) The story was originally written for a specific submission that had a 15,000 word limit.  That was probably never really long enough to develop the story fully.  So, lesson learned there is to write the story you think is right rather than try to squeeze it into an artificial word limit for a specific submission call.

3) The language of the Anglo-Saxon part of the story was a problem.  Yet for me this was part of the writing challenge I’d set myself and an integral part of what I’d set out to do.  I think a warning sign was when one reviewer, who had earlier reviewed another book of mine favourably, asked me if she had the final version or an un-edited draft.  Oh dear!  She had not got it.  I had to explain that, no this was the final version and that the language was meant to be like that and was a conscious attempt to mimic the style of an Anglo-Saxon heroic saga.  Having said that, this can’t be the main reason the book didn’t sell because a reader would only encounter the language after buying the book!

Basically I had a story that was trying to do too much in too short a space and with some challenging language. 

So, on reflection, I can understand why it didn’t sell.  For my part, I think it’s a good story and I still feel I met the challenges I set myself pretty well. The idea could have been written with more commercial success as a straight forward historical romance but that’s not what I wanted to do.  And for an author I guess this is the crunch question - do you write what you want to write or do you write to sell to specific audience?  I fall in the former camp, which means I have to accept that some of my books won’t sell.  But then that’s an easier position to adopt if you’re not dependent on writing to eat!

Buy links

Amazon.co.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Pagan-Sorceress-ebook/dp/B008Y25MDQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348169378&sr=1-1

Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/The-Pagan-Sorceress-ebook/dp/B008Y25MDQ/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348169573&sr=1-7&keywords=the+pagan+sorceress

Story blurb

Sam is about to carry out a strange experiment.  She is an archaeology student specialising in reconstructive archaeology and her idea is to recreate an Anglo-Saxon pagan burial ceremony.  It’s Samhain eve and the night of a full moon so it’s the perfect time to carry out such a ritual.  She enlists the help of her friend, Dan, and together they go off to the site of a burial mound where wonderful swords and sceptres were excavated many years ago.

A travelling story teller is at the court of a Saxon king.  He recites the tale of two soul-entwined lovers from an earlier, more chaotic, period when king’s warred amongst each other.  He tells the tragic tale of Cyneburh, Pagan sorceress and daughter of the mighty Pagan king Penda and Alhfrith, son of Athelwald the king of Deira, her hero-warrior lover and betrothed.  The two kings have formed a mighty political and religious alliance but, more than that, the young woman and man have forged a passionate union of their own.  But this new alliance has enemies and before their wedding night is over there will be a tragic outcome.  As King Penda stands at the edge of their burial chamber he invokes a curse of vengeance against the murderous act perpetrated against him.  But, how many years will it take before he is finally avenged?

As Sam stands on top of the burial mound dressed as an Anglo-Saxon pagan priestess with Dan at her side, is she aware of what ancient powers she will invoke as their lives become entwined with those of Cyneburh and Alhfrith from many centuries ago?  Will the pagan king’s oath of vengeance be fulfilled?  Will the souls of the two lovers be finally released?

Story extract

Lo! Hearken all to me.  Greetings most worthy and noble king.  Lord of mead hall and giver of rings.  This humble skald offers greeting and proffers thanks for the hospitality of your fabled hall.  Hearty of fare and potent of ale, the warmth of your hearth is most welcome to a traveling story teller seeking shelter from wind-blown wastes of moor and fen.  Noble heroes and retainers, arraigned with gifts and loyal of heart, I also partake of the generosity of your lord.  No debt of wergild or threat of blood feud disturbs the harmony of his hall or the peace of his lands.  But it was not always thus.  Albion’s blessed shores were not always so united in loyalty and bound by kinship. 

I bring you a tale from a dark past when warring thanes fought and fierce retainers clashed with bloodied sword in angry feud, when great kingdoms and noble lords battled for land and treasure of victory in war to distribute to their loyal thanes, when old religion and new were locked in deadly combat for the faith of their people. I bring you a tragic tale of two soul entwined lovers cut down in the prime of their youth; of Cyneburh, pagan priestess, daughter of Penda, king of Mercia and Alhfrith, hero-warrior, son of Athelwald, lord of Deira.

About the author

Slave Nano is a writer of erotic paranormal and fantasy stories with bdsm and fetish themes.  He has had short stories and novellas published by Xcite Books and House of Erotica.  His erotic novel, ‘Adventures in Fetishland’, was published by Xcite Books in March 2012.

Web site: www.slavenano.co.uk