Friday Fun Facts: Audio Books!

"Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force..." ~Anonymous

Happy Friday! I'm happy to share the news that I recently signed contracts to put 2 of my books, Lost in Paradise and One Night in Memphis, into audio book format!

This will be a new venture for me -- and it's a new company, AudioLark, so I am approachinhg it with caution. However, I'm interested in seeing how making the books available in audio format might help sales (or not). I've had a few friends say to me in the past, "Oh, I'm too busy to sit down and read your book. Now if it was in audio and I could take it on the run, then..." Of course, they might just be making excuses (!), but I do think that with the rise of iPods, along with people's inability to sit down for any length of time, having books available in audio can't hurt. And I have friends who borrow books on tape from the library all the time, to listen to in the car.

Anyway, a fellow author I had done signings with before emailed me about AudioLarkto let me know they were looking for all romance genres, but especially sweet/sensual as opposed to erotic, which was awfully nice of her (you never know how those contacts are going to pay off!). I believe they're still looking for ebooks to put into audio, so if you're interested, follow the submission guidelines at their website.

The publisher is quite professional and agreed to a couple of changes in the contracts I requested. She was also VERY fast in responding to my inital query.

So, the release date for both my audio books will be March 1, 2010. I'm excited and will keep you posted!

Question: Do any of you listen to audio books now?

Writers' Wednesday: Announcing the Release of Summer's Song!

"What if everything you knew about the past turned out to be...wrong?" ~Summer's Song by Allie Boniface

My latest contemporary romance novel, Summer's Song, released in ebook yesterday over at Samhain's My Bookstore and More! Very exciting. This means it will be in print roughly ten months from now, or September 2010. Mark your calendars!

Today, there's a character interview with my heroine over at Emma Lai's blog today, so please stop by and take a look!

Monday Mentionables: An Author to Watch For

"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn." ~Harriet Beecher Stowe

I'm thrilled to share the news that fellow Samhain author, Rebecca James, has hit it big in the publishing world, in her home country of Australia. Rebecca released her debut book, Nightswimming, with Samhain Publishing back in 2007. Now she's being called "the next Stephenie Meyer" [of Twilight fame] and has enjoyed a million-dollar advance for her upcoming novel, Beautiful Malice, a YA thriller. Here's a link to an article that tells more, including the fact that the book was first rejected by "pretty much every literary agency in America" for being unmarketable.

I got to know Rebecca a little bit in cyber-world when we were both newbies at Samhain, and as another non-erotic contemporary author, I'm so excited to see that she didn't give up on her dream to break into the mainstream market.

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Now, in other exciting news, my newest novel, Summer's Song, releases in ebook TOMORROW! And guess what? I and 4 other authors are having a very cool release-eve party in the Samhain Cafe this evening, beginning at 8:00 pm (EST). We're featuring character interviews and a scavenger hunt, with the prize being...of course...free ebooks! Come on over and play, will you?