Zoe York's Blog, page 7

Last night I had the privilege of being interviewed on the Self-Publishing Roundtable about the wonderful successes in the second half of my first year of self-publishing: hitting the New York Times and USA Today bestselling lists with the Seals of Summer Military Romance Superbundle; self-publishing 5 titles in my rather well-liked Wardham series of sexy small town romances; finding a lot of new readers through other box sets, a growing mailing list, active Facebook page, etc. There were great questions from the roundtable and the live internet audience about marketing strategies and what I’d do different on my next series (Pine Harbour, coming this fall!) — and all of that was AWESOME. You should watch the video or download the podcast from iTunes.

But something I didn’t address in enough detail was the first six months. Not even that…the first two weeks. And the six months BEFORE I hit publish, and what it’s like to launch a self-publishing career as a complete unknown. Or as Courtney Milan puts it at the end of a very thorough post on making the decision to self-publish, how to go from zero to five fans. She’s absolutely right when she says that’s much harder than turning 100 fans into 500. Success begets success, but first, you need a little success.

I don’t ever want to forget how I did that, how I had my first taste of success. And it was modest. But also wonderful.

It’s possible that I’m going to get some of these details wrong, because it’s been a year. Feel free to ask me questions, in comments or in email (zoeyorkwrites AT gmail.com), and I’ll clarify as needed.

1. I didn’t wait until I was “somebody” to establish my brand/mailing list/FB page, group, etc.

If I did, I’ll still be waiting. It turns out that a living wage can definitely be earned while still being a total nobody in the publishing world. I’m okay with that. I bought my domain name in October 2012, when I realized I had a couple of decent books in the works. I established myself on Twitter at the same time. Goodreads and Facebookcame later, much closer to publishing (probably 1 month prior to publishing for both of those). And in between them, I set up my MailChimp account for a mailing list. It was a long four months before I had enough names on that list to actually justify sending out a newsletter; another two after that before I had a significant jump in subscriptions.

I bold the website and mailing list in that paragraph because those are must-dos for any new author. Social media is smart but optional (in using them, I mean; you need to claim that digital real estate as yours). So if you haven’t done it yet, stop reading right now and go and sign up for a mailing list service. MailChimp is free until you reach 2000 subscribers. One year in, I haven’t reached that point yet, and I can definitely afford to pay for it once I do. Don’t be afraid of success.

2. I wrote a good book, with a plan for more good books. And I packaged them professionally, in a way that fit with the marketplace*.

Here’s some hard truths:

Not all manuscripts are good.Not all manuscripts should be published.Lots of good manuscripts sit in trunks for years.Some authors have too much ego (I probably fall into this category). Others don’t have enough.

When you make the decision to self-publish, you need to be able to put on the business person’s hat, the PUBLISHER’S hat, and look at your work objectively.  Every single day on author loops I see people post that their books aren’t selling, and they defend their: editing, cover, blurb, tag line, price point, etc. But as a publisher, ALL of that has to be up for re-negotiation at any point. Branding isn’t working: re-brand. Content isn’t working: re-edit. Price isn’t working: try a sale. But as a brand new author, before you get to that point, do yourself a favour and try to get it right the first time.

You probably won’t. I didn’t (this should be a link to a blog post about my latest set of cover revamps, but I haven’t written it yet…I really should. That’s good content for a writer’s blog). It’s a much harder mountain to climb, after you hit publish, if you’re starting at the bottom. Because then the pressure is on. Before you hit publish you’ve got all the time in the world to get it right. So work on your craft. Figure out what your hook is and where your characters have breakthrough moments. Work on your branding skills. Make practice covers and teaser images. Share those with the world…that might be how you find your first fan.

SO: write a good book. Work on it with CPs or a set of editors you trust. Share it and let yourself hear the feedback you get. Own the fact that your first chapters are muddy and you have crutch words. Take some online courses taught by successful people. I highly recommend Angela James’ self-editing workshop and craft books like Jodi Henley’s Practical Emotional Structure. Business books like Write. Publish. Repeat. and blog posts like Rachel Aaron’s classic on increasing from 2k to 10k words in a DAY (not every day, don’t freak out), because writing more is one important factor in writing better.

*Packaging: Cover, Title, Blurb that hooks readers in your genre. This is a whole post on its own, and others have done that better than me (*cough* H.M. Ward *cough*). And right there? If you protested that you’re in a different genre? Go figure out who YOUR genre’s H.M. Ward is and study what they’re doing, and when their breakout moment was.

Okay, so that’s build it. Now, let’s talk about making them come to you.

3. Big lesson learned: build it and they will come…slowly, and you’ll need to have infinite patience as you push and prod and wave giant flags that only manage to grab one person’s attention. For a minute. 

Another Courtney Milan bit of shrewd insight: the 4 stages of discoverability. I first heard about this from Courtney’s post on kboards. Then I saw a lot of excited chatter on Twitter about her recent presentation at the RT convention on the same topic. When you self-publish from day 1, you might spend a long time in Phase 1, where you’re working hard for every single sale. I did. I spent close to six months there. So tomorrow I’ll blog about how I went from Phase 1 to Phase 2, or 5 to 500 fans, but today I’m going to focus on let’s talk about getting your first five fans (or twenty-five).

4. I recognized the chance of someone stumbling across my book was slim to none. I was going to have to put it in front of people in an accessible but non-pushy way.

Hoping your book just takes off on Amazon isn’t a plan. It’s a wish and a prayer. I had a plan: share review copies with anyone willing to review my book. I naively thought that a nice whack of positive reviews would lead lots of other readers to buy my book. It didn’t. But it DID help me find my first few fans.

Goodreads: I just had a wonderful stroll down memory lane as I sorted through the reviews on my first book, What Once Was Perfect, on Goodreads in preparation for this post. (Side note: you can see the cover progression really clearly on GR!) As a long time romance reader, I’d passively used GR as a record of my reading for years before I wrote my first book. I was a member of a couple of groups, but not particularly active. I didn’t have any significant GR connections, and I think that’s a point worth highlighting. Most of my GR friends were not bloggers or reviewers, but IRL friends and friends from other, non-book related, internet communities.

So I searched for groups that encouraged authors to post review requests. And I worked on my pitch. You can see some of the posts I started in different groups here. A couple of those very first reviewers are now members of my street team. Others faithfully buy my books on release day.

Bloggers: I also reached out to a LOT of bloggers, with individualized emails. More than seventy-five emails sent, and fifteen review copies requested. I have no idea if that’s good or bad. I know that it was exhausting, and I haven’t done that kind of solicitation since, but I’m glad I did for the first in the series. And I probably will again for my next series. From that first wave of blog features came a couple of lovely friends and some very thoughtful reviews I could put on Amazon in the editorial reviews section.

There are other ways to offer review copies to readers in your genre: asking an author who shares a similar reader base to offer ARCs to their street team/review crew, for example. There are probably Facebook review groups similar to the GR groups. LibraryThing allows digital giveaways. NetGalley co-ops. You don’t need to do all of the above, but you need to have a review plan.

5. And I had that mailing list in place, and the sign-up information clearly presented in my book’s backmatter and on my website, from day one.

This is how you get your first 5 fans. By holding on to 5 of the first 50 people who liked your book. Don’t just send your review copies out there into a vacuum. Don’t hope that those people will remember you 3-6 months down the road when you publish Book 2. Give them a chance to join your: mailing list, street team, review crew, fan club, private message board, friend list on GR/FB/Google+/Twitter. Wherever they are, you should be, and you should be accessible to them in a way that they like.

I don’t want to hear anyone say, “I don’t like Facebook so I just have a profile; readers can friend me if they want.” Tough. There are some readers who don’t like friending authors. They want to either join a group or like a page. Set up a page and create a group. You don’t need to do much with it after that point, but you need to build it. “I don’t like newsletters so I don’t want to bug people.” Newsflash: no-one who signs up for your mailing list is going to be bugged by an occasional message letting them know about new releases. They WANT that information.

Tomorrow I’ll write more about what you do with that fledgling group of fans to grow it and move to the next stage of discoverability. And correct any grievous oversights in this post! (ETA: It took me an extra day, but the follow up post is now live!)

The other day, I shared how I found my first handful of fans — by giving my first book away to anyone who would review it. And how important it is to have a mailing list to hang on to as many of those fans as possible, so the next book’s launch is a little bit easier.

Now that I’ve been around for a while, I can see there are other ways to successfully launch a SPing career. Shari Slade and Molly McLain both did it differently than I did (and different again from each other). Cora Seton blew us all out of the water. Go and study what they did–and continue to do. There are different ways to get noticed, but the next step is the same for all writers. How do you take that tiny band of loyal readers, the first five or twenty-five fans, and turn them into a small army?

1. Write another book, and this time, make it better than the last one. Make it high-concept and AWESOME.

Part of the success I’ve had over the last year can be attributed to my willingness to improve my product. My new series, Pine Harbour, is going to feature military heroes and more “fantasy” elements like movie stars coming to town, for example, because readers love those things. *I* love those things. And that’s really important. Don’t jump on a bandwagon that you don’t get excited about yourself as a reader. Be authentic and trust your gut, but don’t pull your punches, either. I learned that lesson from Roxie Rivera, who made the leap to self-publishing with books that she couldn’t sell to traditional publishers, but in her gut she knew there was a marketplace for. All of her MANY readers are very thankful she did!

2. Make it part of a series.

This isn’t just a self-publishing tip, this applies to everyone, but when you are your own publisher, there is absolutely no reason your books shouldn’t be connected. Don’t believe me? Write a couple books that AREN’T connected. Write a couple that ARE. And experience the difference in reader response. Or just take my word for it because this is HUGE. My free short story, See Me, only gets 10% the # of downloads my currently free novella, Between Then and Now, gets. Standalone vs. Series book.

How books are connected can be as simple as writing in the same voice and the same world. It’s better if the characters in Book 2 are introduced in Book 1, but if you’ve already written it, there are work arounds. Drag the characters from Book 1 forward into Book 2 instead, even if it’s just a little peek into how they’re doing now. Use the same town or themes. Find some way to promise readers of Book 1 that Book 2 is more of the same awesomeness.

My new series? A SPIN-OFF of Wardham, and the characters from one town will visit the other. Same world.

3. Tell your 5 fans about it before it comes out AND when it comes out. And give them something to be excited about.

You have fans! Trust that they are INTERESTED in your next project. Get them excited by sharing…whatever you feel comfortable. Excerpts are great. Covers are awesome. Inspiration boards, series information (even just titles and potential future protagonists!), supplementary information (world maps, family trees, real life connections), etc.

Use your mailing list. Create a fan group space (Facebook groups are great for this; other authors use Yahoo group and forums hosted on their own website, but I like Facebook because it’s not a site they need to go to JUST FOR YOU – they’re already there). Maybe make some swag.

And share that gathering space where new fans might be looking for that information — front and back matter of your books. Your social media sites. Your WEBSITE.

Start to build relationships with those fans. Forge a connection with them.

4. Always be Networking (Never be Annoying)

Always Be Networking is a phrase that my sister, who works in radio, says to me from time to time. I like to mentally add the extra refrain, Never Be Annoying. Again, the idea of acting authentically will serve you well here. In the first post in this series, I talked about how Goodreads was a welcoming place for me as a new author. People have asked me about that, and shared their experiences were not as positive. It’s true, GRers don’t like authors to overstep and push their books. But if you are offering something of value (an awesome book) and not asking for anything more than what they’re offering in exchange (honest reviews), you’ll be just fine. Just make sure you’re doing in an appropriate space: the groups set up for reviews in your genre.

Facebook, Twitter, Google+ are all ways to passively connect with other authors, editors, bloggers and readers, and I use all of them in varying amounts.

But the real networking comes in more personal exchanges. Responding to requests for help. Last year I made people book covers and website banners, connected them with editors I knew had openings and retweeted, shared and +1ed a LOT of posts. I critiqued passages, whole books and self-design efforts, and I read a lot of books. Be someone’s fan!

None of this is to suggest that you should be spending a lot of your time on promo. You shouldn’t. Promo should be something that has purpose and successfully pumps up your brand. As David Gaughran says, if you don’t enjoy marketing, you’re doing it wrong. Promo and marketing are not the same thing as networking. (Don’t try and sell me your book!) Networking is building authentic connections with other people in your industry.

And then when you do all of that, opportunities start to come up. Opportunities for cross-promotion and collaboration. And while I’m really happy with my growing fan base for the Wardham series, it is through these two networking efforts that I hit the NYT Bestselling List and am now able to write full-time. My books alone do not yet earn me a full-time income.

5. Know the marketplace

When T. L. Haddix asked, in the Self-Publishing Roundtable podcast, how I stay informed about the industry, my first answer was Twitter. And that’s true – I follow as many industry people as Twitter allows me too, and I go there whenever I get a whiff of something new and interesting. Twitter shows me what people are thinking – reviews, opinions, debate. It’s all there.

In talking this blog post over with friends, they also reminded me that I can also name off what books are on the Amazon and B&N Top 100 list, who has new releases out in a given week, who signed with what publisher and what series are where I want my series to be. I (try to) have my finger on the pulse, for sure. And that can seem daunting. This is where networking can come in handy. Don’t reinvent the wheel–do some of that research yourself, and then share what you know with others. Let them share what they know with you. Half the work, twice the knowledge.

But don’t be a PASSIVE receptacle for information. You won’t retain it without being genuinely interested in the context. And this isn’t just about knowing what books are selling – marketplace knowledge is crucial as a self-publisher to properly brand and promote your work as well. Your covers need to fit on the Amazon Top 100 list or it’s terribly unlikely what’s behind the cover will ever end up there. Your promo plan needs to mimic what the bestsellers are doing, or you aren’t likely to be a bestseller.

6. Taking it to the next level is easier if you work with other people

So you can do it all on your own. Write five high-concept books in an awesome, grippy series. Brand them well and promote them like heck. That should work. (If it doesn’t, review and revise — one of the beautiful things about SPing is that nothing is set in stone. David Gaughran wrote a blog post on his experience with this).

But that collaboration and cross-promotion point? It can make the whole process so much easier. The trick is setting reasonable boundaries about your time/money/effort, working people who share an audience with you, and giving as good as you get.

This is the perfect time to rave about the Ink Heart Authors and Romance Divas. Two wonderful groups that make writing anything but lonely. You might see chatter about “author loops”. Some are closed (like our InkHeart group), and others are open (like Divas and Marie Force’s Self-Publishing Loop). You want to be in both types of loops. The smaller, private ones…those come about with time as you forge friendships and business relationships. They often start with a single partnership with a critique partner, and then expand to include one, two, five or ten similar writer friends. All of a sudden you’re organizing a box set! It’s an organic development when you have total flexibility to do whatever you want with your books.

Of course, there’s always more…

I haven’t talked about using free books as a funnel, or the importance of regular releases. I barely touched on front and back matter, or bundles/box sets/anthologies, really. Let me know if you have questions about those that you haven’t found answers to elsewhere, and I’ll address those in future blog posts.

And a final caveat. Courtney’s blog post that inspired this post was written to help someone decide which path to take: continue working with publishers or make the leap to self-publishing. I can’t say that this blog post is quite so similarly helpful, because I don’t know what it’s like to work with a publisher. I can’t offer that perspective. If anyone would like to collaborate on a balanced look at both options, I’d be happy to advocate for SPing in a respectful way. But if you’ve made the decision to SP, I hope that these two posts will help you get through the lonely days before you hit that third stage of discoverability when it all just gets SO. MUCH. EASIER.

The post 0 to 5 and 5 to 500: Starting a Self Publishing Career, Part 2 (5 to 500) appeared first on Zoe York.

Last night I had the privilege of being interviewed on the Self-Publishing Roundtable about the wonderful successes in the second half of my first year of self-publishing: hitting the New York Times and USA Today bestselling lists with the Seals of Summer Military Romance Superbundle; self-publishing 5 titles in my rather well-liked Wardham series of sexy small town romances; finding a lot of new readers through other box sets, a growing mailing list, active Facebook page, etc. There were great questions from the roundtable and the live internet audience about marketing strategies and what I’d do different on my next series (Pine Harbour, coming this fall!) — and all of that was AWESOME. You should watch the video or download the podcast from iTunes.

But something I didn’t address in enough detail was the first six months. Not even that…the first two weeks. And the six months BEFORE I hit publish, and what it’s like to launch a self-publishing career as a complete unknown. Or as Courtney Milan puts it at the end of a very thorough post on making the decision to self-publish, how to go from zero to five fans. She’s absolutely right when she says that’s much harder than turning 100 fans into 500. Success begets success, but first, you need a little success.

I don’t ever want to forget how I did that, how I had my first taste of success. And it was modest. But also wonderful.

It’s possible that I’m going to get some of these details wrong, because it’s been a year. Feel free to ask me questions, in comments or in email (zoeyorkwrites AT gmail.com), and I’ll clarify as needed.

1. I didn’t wait until I was “somebody” to establish my brand/mailing list/FB page, group, etc.

If I did, I’ll still be waiting. It turns out that a living wage can definitely be earned while still being a total nobody in the publishing world. I’m okay with that. I bought my domain name in October 2012, when I realized I had a couple of decent books in the works. I established myself on Twitter at the same time. Goodreads and Facebook came later, much closer to publishing (probably 1 month prior to publishing for both of those). And in between them, I set up my MailChimp account for a mailing list. It was a long four months before I had enough names on that list to actually justify sending out a newsletter; another two after that before I had a significant jump in subscriptions.

I bold the website and mailing list in that paragraph because those are must-dos for any new author. Social media is smart but optional (in using them, I mean; you need to claim that digital real estate as yours). So if you haven’t done it yet, stop reading right now and go and sign up for a mailing list service. MailChimp is free until you reach 2000 subscribers. One year in, I haven’t reached that point yet, and I can definitely afford to pay for it once I do. Don’t be afraid of success.

2. I wrote a good book, with a plan for more good books. And I packaged them professionally, in a way that fit with the marketplace*.

Here’s some hard truths:

Not all manuscripts are good.
Not all manuscripts should be published.
Lots of good manuscripts sit in trunks for years.
Some authors have too much ego (I probably fall into this category). Others don’t have enough.

When you make the decision to self-publish, you need to be able to put on the business person’s hat, the PUBLISHER’S hat, and look at your work objectively.  Every single day on author loops I see people post that their books aren’t selling, and they defend their: editing, cover, blurb, tag line, price point, etc. But as a publisher, ALL of that has to be up for re-negotiation at any point. Branding isn’t working: re-brand. Content isn’t working: re-edit. Price isn’t working: try a sale. But as a brand new author, before you get to that point, do yourself a favour and try to get it right the first time.

You probably won’t. I didn’t (this should be a link to a blog post about my latest set of cover revamps, but I haven’t written it yet…I really should. That’s good content for a writer’s blog). It’s a much harder mountain to climb, after you hit publish, if you’re starting at the bottom. Because then the pressure is on. Before you hit publish you’ve got all the time in the world to get it right. So work on your craft. Figure out what your hook is and where your characters have breakthrough moments. Work on your branding skills. Make practice covers and teaser images. Share those with the world…that might be how you find your first fan.

SO: write a good book. Work on it with CPs or a set of editors you trust. Share it and let yourself hear the feedback you get. Own the fact that your first chapters are muddy and you have crutch words. Take some online courses taught by successful people. I highly recommend Angela James’ self-editing workshop and craft books like Jodi Henley’s Practical Emotional Structure. Business books like Write. Publish. Repeat. and blog posts like Rachel Aaron’s classic on increasing from 2k to 10k words in a DAY (not every day, don’t freak out), because writing more is one important factor in writing better.

*Packaging: Cover, Title, Blurb that hooks readers in your genre. This is a whole post on its own, and others have done that better than me (*cough* H.M. Ward *cough*). And right there? If you protested that you’re in a different genre? Go figure out who YOUR genre’s H.M. Ward is and study what they’re doing, and when their breakout moment was.

Okay, so that’s build it. Now, let’s talk about making them come to you.

3. Big lesson learned: build it and they will come…slowly, and you’ll need to have infinite patience as you push and prod and wave giant flags that only manage to grab one person’s attention. For a minute. 

Another Courtney Milan bit of shrewd insight: the 4 stages of discoverability. I first heard about this from Courtney’s post on kboards. Then I saw a lot of excited chatter on Twitter about her recent presentation at the RT convention on the same topic. When you self-publish from day 1, you might spend a long time in Phase 1, where you’re working hard for every single sale. I did. I spent close to six months there. So tomorrow I’ll blog about how I went from Phase 1 to Phase 2, or 5 to 500 fans, but today I’m going to focus on let’s talk about getting your first five fans (or twenty-five).

4. I recognized the chance of someone stumbling across my book was slim to none. I was going to have to put it in front of people in an accessible but non-pushy way.

Hoping your book just takes off on Amazon isn’t a plan. It’s a wish and a prayer. I had a plan: share review copies with anyone willing to review my book. I naively thought that a nice whack of positive reviews would lead lots of other readers to buy my book. It didn’t. But it DID help me find my first few fans.

Goodreads: I just had a wonderful stroll down memory lane as I sorted through the reviews on my first book, What Once Was Perfect, on Goodreads in preparation for this post. (Side note: you can see the cover progression really clearly on GR!) As a long time romance reader, I’d passively used GR as a record of my reading for years before I wrote my first book. I was a member of a couple of groups, but not particularly active. I didn’t have any significant GR connections, and I think that’s a point worth highlighting. Most of my GR friends were not bloggers or reviewers, but IRL friends and friends from other, non-book related, internet communities.

So I searched for groups that encouraged authors to post review requests. And I worked on my pitch. You can see some of the posts I started in different groups here. A couple of those very first reviewers are now members of my street team. Others faithfully buy my books on release day.

Bloggers: I also reached out to a LOT of bloggers, with individualized emails. More than seventy-five emails sent, and fifteen review copies requested. I have no idea if that’s good or bad. I know that it was exhausting, and I haven’t done that kind of solicitation since, but I’m glad I did for the first in the series. And I probably will again for my next series. From that first wave of blog features came a couple of lovely friends and some very thoughtful reviews I could put on Amazon in the editorial reviews section.

There are other ways to offer review copies to readers in your genre: asking an author who shares a similar reader base to offer ARCs to their street team/review crew, for example. There are probably Facebook review groups similar to the GR groups. LibraryThing allows digital giveaways. NetGalley co-ops. You don’t need to do all of the above, but you need to have a review plan.

5. And I had that mailing list in place, and the sign-up information clearly presented in my book’s backmatter and on my website, from day one.

This is how you get your first 5 fans. By holding on to 5 of the first 50 people who liked your book. Don’t just send your review copies out there into a vacuum. Don’t hope that those people will remember you 3-6 months down the road when you publish Book 2. Give them a chance to join your: mailing list, street team, review crew, fan club, private message board, friend list on GR/FB/Google+/Twitter. Wherever they are, you should be, and you should be accessible to them in a way that they like.

I don’t want to hear anyone say, “I don’t like Facebook so I just have a profile; readers can friend me if they want.” Tough. There are some readers who don’t like friending authors. They want to either join a group or like a page. Set up a page and create a group. You don’t need to do much with it after that point, but you need to build it. “I don’t like newsletters so I don’t want to bug people.” Newsflash: no-one who signs up for your mailing list is going to be bugged by an occasional message letting them know about new releases. They WANT that information.

Tomorrow I’ll write more about what you do with that fledgling group of fans to grow it and move to the next stage of discoverability. And correct any grievous oversights in this post!

The post 0 to 5 and 5 to 500: Starting a Self-Publishing Career, Part 1 (0 to 5) appeared first on Zoe York.

 

I’m so excited to share the news about my next series! This is going to be a spin-off of the Wardham series and I’ll continue to write in both towns–we’ll even see residents from one visit the other at some point!

A few hours north of Wardham, Pine Harbour sits on the eastern shore of Lake Huron. Cottage country meets northern living and for generations, the Foster family has been a rock in the community. All the Foster men serve in the local Army reserve unit and the youngest adult generation is no exception.

Meet the Foster boys: Dean, Jake, Matt and Sean. A cop, a contractor, a paramedic and an adventure racer. All soldiers. None of them looking for love, but it’s coming!

Make you you join my mailing list to hear about all my new releases, and my Facebook Reader Group for sneak peeks as I start to write this series and continue writing the Wardham books (and sexy Navy SEALs, and Vikings, and the occasional New Adult story … I’m busy these days)!

I’ll be officially revealing the first three covers for this series at my 1 year anniversary party next week on Facebook. Don’t miss it!

The post New series (a Wardham spin-off!) appeared first on Zoe York.

For the last while I’ve been posting new releases to Facebook, but that content is getting harder and harder to find for readers, so I’ve decided to start posting links to new books (or older books I’ve newly discovered, maybe…the rules will be loosey-goosey) to a weekly blog post. Maybe weekly-ish, don’t hold it against me if I skip a week around deadlines. ~ Zoe

New Releases for week of May 12, 2014

I think there really is something here for everyone. The Lucky Charm is a week old, but I liked it so much I needed to include it…and it’s on the sweeter end for those who like that.

     

The Lucky Charm by Beth Bolden

Crazy Love by Melanie Shawn

After This Night by Lauren Blakey

A Game of Brides by Megan Crane

The Pirate Take a Bride by Shana Galen

Desired by the Pack Part Two by Emma Storm

The post New Release Monday – May 12, 2014 appeared first on Zoe York.

Wardham #0.5 is now available in the Spring Fling Romance Box Set! 5 Sweet and Sexy Contemporary Romances for the price of 1!

BUY IT NOW: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Google Play

Passionate rivalries, friends to lovers, scandal, redemption, second chances and a marriage in trouble.

Five hot romance authors steam up the pages of this collection with heat and sweet, a perfect combination of stories for you to fall in love with this spring.

Wild for Mr. Wrong by NYT Bestselling Author Virna DePaul

Can an uptight prosecutor with a dark past and a laid-back, southern defense attorney find love despite their opposing agendas?

She’s determined to keep her distance. He wants to pull her close. Together they’ll find their place in each other’s hearts.

Rough Ride by Keri Ford

Lane is torn between which part of his heart he should follow. There’s the side that’s falling for Gretchen. She’s funny, sweet, and everything he could ever want from a woman. But staying in town for her means facing his brothers every day. He’s been holding a secret about their mom for years and seeing them daily makes the guilt hard to carry. If he stays, he’ll have to tell them and risk losing them forever. Or he can leave and lose Gretchen.

The Sweetest Seduction by Crista McHugh

Adam has spent years trying to convince world famous chef Amadeus Schlittler to open a restaurant in Chicago, but he wants the prime location held by Lia. Business has always come first… until sparks fly when Adam meets her. When things get hot outside the kitchen, though, they’re both in danger of getting burned.

An Affair in April by Clarice Wynter

Reporter Evie Prentice lands in the arms of sexy self-defense instructor Tanner Croft, a man with a reputation for charming all the ladies in town. Tanner relishes the challenge of convincing the prickly journalist to take a chance on him, but when Evie gets the opportunity to grab a front page headline, the connection they forged is threatened.

Between Then and Now by Zoe York

Ian Nixon is juggling the family farm and a second job, his kids are a crazy handful and every time he gets close to his wife, she snaps at him. Carrie knows she’s being too hard on her husband, but eight years ago she had a one-night stand that turned into a lifetime of diapers and dinners. She can’t shake the feeling that she wants more, or the fear that her husband won’t understand. They’ve always had a sizzling physical connection. Now they need to find a way to leverage that into reconnecting on a deeper level.

BUY IT NOW: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Google Play

The post Spring Fling bundle now available! appeared first on Zoe York.

This past winter I had the immense pleasure to work with Samantha Chase (along with Noelle Adams and Rachel Curtis) on the Love For the Holidays Christmas box set. Samantha had two holidays stories in that set, including her breakout hit The Christmas Cottage. She is one of the sweetest, most fan-friendly authors in contemporary romance, and I’m thrilled to add her interview to the Zoe Q collection.

Join me in welcoming Samantha today!

What is your favorite word?

Really.  Usually said in the form of a (sarcastic) question.  When I’m sleep deprived and feeling ridiculous, then my favorite word is poop.  I don’t know why.

What turns you on?

Sense of humor, strong hands and nice abs

What turns you off?

Liars

If you had to choose one word to describe yourself, what would it be?

Ridiculous.  Really.  Life is always crazy and I tend to go from being super intense to just a complete idiot in the blink of an eye.

If you could live anywhere in the world, other than your home town, where would you be right now?

Disney World.  Or Montana.  I have a weird obsession with Montana and I’ve never been there.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Theme park engineer

What profession would you not like to do?

Anything that involves math.  Just to be straight, when I said “engineer” in the above answer, I really meant “ride designer”.  NO MATH!

What was the last thing you had to eat and drink?

Chinese food – Hunan beef, fried rice, crab rangoon and water.  I miss my Coca Cola…

If you died, and came back as a person or thing, who or what would you be?

Somebody with great metabolism so that I can finally be skinny!

What is your favourite curse word?

Just remember, you asked!  Fuck! Fuck!  Fuckety-Fuck.  It’s a sentence enhancer!

New York Times and USA Today Bestseller/contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan’s Return, in November 2011. Her second book, a holiday novella titled “The Christmas Cottage” hit #10 on Amazon’s Overall Best Seller List on Christmas Eve.

More titles quickly followed: “Catering to the CEO”, “Wait for Me” (Montgomery Brothers book 1), “Trust in Me” (Montgomery Brothers book 2), “In the Eye of the Storm”, and “Stay With Me” (Montgomery Brothers book 3) which hit the USA Today bestseller list upon it’s debut. “Catering to the CEO” was included in the romance bundle “Loving the CEO” – a five-book package – that made the New York Times and the USA Today Bestseller list.

When she’s not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contemporary romances, blogging, playing way too many games of Scrabble on Facebook and spending time with her husband of 24 years and their two sons in North Carolina.

Connect with Samantha today: Website | Facebook

Next week in the Zoe Q spotlight: Ruthie Knox!

And if you missed it, last week was Inez Kelley…

And have you checked out the Fall 2013 series of Zoe Qs, with Victoria Dahl, Noelle Adams, Pamela Clare and Rosanna Leo?

The post The Proust Questionnaire – Winter 2014 Series, Week 3 – Samantha Chase appeared first on Zoe York.

Two years ago I read a great friends-to-lovers book about radio co-hosts (Turn It Up by today’s hot seat gal, Inez Kelley). And I meant to read more by her, but like many readers, my TBR pile is out of control. So it wasn’t until last fall that I picked up another Kelley book, this one the first in a series set in West Virginia. I fell in love with Matt Shaw in Take Me Home (in fact, I put that book on my Top 10 list for 2013), and promptly gobbled up Sweet as Sin from her backlist as well…and I put the next book in the Country Roads series on pre-order. Well, Jonah’s book, The Place I Belong, released yesterday, and tonight he’s going to be mine. And Zury’s, apparently…check out the blurb at the bottom of the page!

I’m totally stoked to have Inez join me today to answer the Zoe Qs.

What is your favorite word?

Plethora. It just feels good on my tongue.

What turns you on?

A clean house? No dirty dishes or laundry? Not what you meant, huh? Uhm, *thinking* I do love a good meal and nice music.

What turns you off?

A messy house? Piled up dirty dishes and laundry? Okay, okay, I’ll stop. *thinks* Stupidity, bigotry and body odor.

If you had to choose one word to describe yourself, what would it be?

Hermit.

If you could live anywhere in the world, other than your home town, where would you be right now?

I love West Virginia but that is my home state so if I had to choose elsewhere, I’d probably go Alaska (what? I like the cold and the snow)

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

I’ve actually tried a lot of different ones. Some were okay, some sucked. I was a 911 dispatcher for 11 years and loved that job, they just pay very little and the stress levels are very high. If I had to try a new one, I might be interested in something like an artist.

Assuming I had any talent, which I don’t.

What profession would you not like to do?

Teaching. No desire there whatsoever.

What was the last thing you had to eat and drink?

Sweet tea and a turkey sandwich.

If you died, and came back as a person or thing, who or what would you be?

Do I have to come back? If I do, I want to come back as a spoiled housecat.

What is your favourite curse word?

Ha! I have several, most of which are made-up and only used when I am super irritated.

Herpes-ridden dick-holster is my current fave.

INEZ KELLEY was born and bred in the mountains of West Virginia. Although you can never take the hillbilly out of the girl, her knight in shining armor transplanted her to the Midwest along with their teenage drama queen, Spawnetta, and the Demolition Duo – Damien and his twin, the Omen.

Signup for Inez’s newsletter to get sneak peeks and contest entries. You can visit her at her website or on Facebook and follow her on Twitter at @Inez_Kelley.

THE PLACE I BELONG

Jonah and Zury butt heads over timbering in Black Cherry Canyon. But an eco-te rrorist shows them who the real bad guys are.

Jonah Alcott found his true calling as the PR Director of Hawkins Hardwood. He’s a master of mediation, but the Black Cherry Canyon project has pushed him to his limit—beautiful but obstinate park manager Zury Castellano crossed a line when she enlisted the help of known eco-terrorists to protect “her” land.

For Zury, the unspoiled, scenic Black Cherry Falls State Park is more than a job, it’s the only place she’s ever considered home. And she’ll stop at nothing to ensure Hawkins Hardwood doesn’t touch a single twig in it, even if that means agreeing to spend the weekend with cocky Corporate Hottie Jonah. He might think they’re working toward a compromise, but Zury has no intention of backing down.

Infuriating but irresistible, Zury teaches Jonah that the beauty of the mountains can’t be bought. But Jonah will need to prove he’s on her side—in life and in love—and show her who the real bad guys are, before it’s too late…

BUY IT NOW: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Google Play | Kobo Books

Next week in the Zoe Q spotlight: Samantha Chase!

(Last week was Shannon Stacey if you missed it…)

And have you checked out the Fall 2013 series of Zoe Qs, with Victoria Dahl, Noelle Adams, Pamela Clare and Rosanna Leo?

The post The Proust Questionnaire – Winter 2014 Series, Week 2 – Inez Kelley appeared first on Zoe York.

I get asked a lot about the reading order of my books, and what’s coming next, so here’s an updated list of everything I’ve got, published and upcoming:

The Wardham Series

Between Then and Now (Novella #0.5 – Carrie & Ian)

What Once Was Perfect (Book #1 – Laney & Kyle – currently FREE in February)

Where Their Hearts Collide (Book #2 – Karen & Paul)

When They Weren’t Looking (Book #3 – Evie & Liam)

Beyond Love & Hate (Novella #3.5 – Beth & Finn – coming Summer 2014)

No Time Like Forever (Book #4 – Chase & Mari – coming Fall/Winter 2014)

More Than They Know (Book #5 – Ty & Stella – coming Winter 2014)

All That They Need (Book #6 – Evan, Jess & Brent – coming early 2015)

Camo Cay

The new series! This will be a slower publishing cycle than the Wardham novels. It starts with an erotic novella, Fall Out, in the upcoming SEALs of Summer box set (more on that soon!), and that will be followed by a full length romantic suspense, Fall In, in Summer 2014. The next two books in the series will be released in 2015.

Ember and Gage

See Me will be joined by two more Ember and Gage short stories this year, both for charity anthologies. Details to follow in the spring.

The post Welcome to Wardham! appeared first on Zoe York.

The Kowalski series by NYT bestselling author Shannon Stacey represents the very best of small town contemporary romance: believable, recognizable characters that are anything but ordinary, and story lines that readers can identify with and get swept up in a wonderful fantasy at the same time. And the best part? There are already seven books out for you to glom, and two more coming this year.

It is an absolute pleasure to welcome Shannon to my blog for Zoe Qs.

What is your favorite word?

Wicked. It’s not only a wicked awesome word but, sinc e my family’s been in New England since a few ships after the Mayflower, I don’t know how to communicate without it.

What turns you on?

A guy with a sense of humor and an easy smile (but maybe a firm hand) who hates the Yankees, Jets and Canadiens.

What turns you off?

People who talk over me in an argument. If the only way you can win is by not letting me talk, y ou lose. Plus, I want to kneecap you.

If you had to choose one word to describe yourself, what would it b e?

High-strung.

If you could live anywhere in the world, other than your home town, where would you be right now?

There are a lot of places I’d like to visit temporarily, b ut you couldn’t pay me to move out of New Hampshire. (Well, you probably could, but there would be multiple commas on the check.)

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

I’ve always wanted to be a singer or a watercolor artist. As for actually attempting them, I can n either sing nor paint, so nobody wants that.

What profession would you not like to do?

Math tea cher. Trust me, nobody wants that, either.

What was the last thing you had to eat and drink?

No matter when this is read, there’s a 99.5% chance th e correct answer is M&Ms and iced coffee.

If you died, and came back as a person or thing, who or what would you be?

Hopefully, I’ll come back as a honey badger. I’m cursed with a need to please people in this life (which I suck at), so I’d like to not care in the next.

What is your favourite curse word?

That would be the F-bomb. I try to channel Battlestar Galactica and replace it with frak or frakking so m y husband can take me out in public, but it never fucking sticks.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shannon Stacey lives with her husband and two sons in New England, where her favorite activities are writing romance and really random tweets when she’s not riding her ATV. She loves mud, books, knitting, football & watching way too much TV. She keeps an (almost) daily blog on her website, shannonstacey.com, and can be found on Facebook, but she’s most often spotted running amok on Twitter @shannonstacey. The next book in her Kowalski series, Taken With You, releases on March 25 th.

Next week in the Zoe Q spotlight: Inez Kelley!

And have you checked out the Fall 2013 series of Zoe Qs, with Victoria Dahl, Noelle Adams, Pamela Clare and Rosanna Leo?

The post The Proust Questionnaire – Winter 2014 Series, Week 1 – Shannon Stacey appeared first on Zoe York.