Some Questions Answered
Sep
28
2010

Every once in a while I try to to a FAQ post here to answer questions I get most often via email. If I miss any, feel free to ask in the comments!

Will you be writing another de La Vega Cats book?
(if so when and who will it be about)

I absolutely will be writing another de La Vega Cats book. The next one will be for Gibson and it’ll focus more on shifter stuff than magick stuff (the magick stuff I’ll be writing about in my Bound By Magic series for Berkley Sensation). I don’t know when at this point, most likely late next year or early the year after – my schedule is so tight while I’d love to do it, I just don’t have the time at this point. But it’s coming, I promise!

Will you be writing another Chase book?

As it happens, I recently contracted Once and Again, which is Nathan Murphy’s story. It’ll be out in August. More details on it later, but I can tell you it’s a reunion story and the heroine is someone you haven’t met yet.

Will you be writing another Cherchez Pack book (I’d love to see a HEA for Skye, Ryan, Phillip, etc)

I do love that these two books are still so popular with readers. I had a great time writing them and I love that world. I’d like to and I’m always trying to find a way to do it. I want to give Phillip and Skye their HEAs. But my schedule is so tight and I’d be moving it to Samhain which means I’d have another series with books at two publishers which complicates matters. Right now I just don’t have the time to deal with what I know will be a more complicated situation and I’ve got several more books to write and turn in before I can even think about how to do it in reality.

When will your remaining books from EC come out in print?

Your guess is as good as mine. I’ve asked, they answer with “you’ll know when you get the email telling you they’re available.” I know multiple readers who’ve written Ellora’s Cave to ask directly but none has received a response. If you’d like you can give it a go – books@ellorascave.com – perhaps they’ll answer reader emails and let you know.

The nice thing is the rest of my books from my other publishers are available or will be available in print.

Will you be writing more books in the Reading Between the Lines world?

The deal is, I loved writing it, but only like 230 of you loved reading it, LOL. So I’d love to write more in that universe, but I’m not sure it would be worth the time and effort for me and the other dozen or so people who email me to ask if I’m doing more.

Melissa asked: But what is this Reading Between The Lines world? How the heck did I miss that? Where can I get it? – Reading Between the Lines is a standalone UF/fantasy novel I did with Samhain. It’s got romance, Celtic mythology, the world of the Fae, some hot sex, action, etc. You can read the blurb, etc here at the site.


Emily asked
: My question is also about the Brown family books; do you ever think you’ll do a book that details a HEA for Raven?

I love Raven. I love writing her. She is a polarizing character and that makes it a great deal of fun to write her and to have people react to her. She does have a complicated backstory. She wasn’t born the way she is at all, so I definitely have plans to tell her story…at some point…

Stacie asks: know that Captivated will be the last book in the Phantom Corps miniseries, but will it be the last book in the Federation Chronicles as well?

I hope not! After I finish up all these projects I’ll be working on some standalone ideas that will be related to, but not part of the storylines I’ve got in the books now.

April asks: Will you write more e books for Elloras Cave or are you with Samhain now…I saw that you mentioned something about EC.

No. And yes, I love Samhain. They treat me exceptionally well, I love my editor, I get great covers and they run a professional ship over there.

Rory asks: I have a question about Second Chances – the note says (this is a revised reprint of an earlier title) is the previous title different or was it also Second Chances and is this just an expanded, revised copy? I have read many of your books and don’t recognize any of the characters.

Second Chances came out in 2005 and I got the rights back in 2007. It wasn’t a hugely well known book at the time. So when it says earlier title, they mean earlier book (same title). I’ve added to the book, done a considerable amount of smoothing and gotten rid of some stuff. The overall story is the same, but hopefully I’ve made it smoother than the original, which was one of my very first books

Rory also asks: was this book originally released with Carina Press or just the new version and how, or under what circumstances do/did you get the rights back? Is that a contractual thing for you or was is just something that happened?

In a contract, when an author sells a book she gives the rights to publish to the publisher for a certain period of time. 1 year to 10 years usually for digital books, lifetime of copyright for many NY books. There are also provisions in contracts for how an author can get her rights back after X period of time or if the book either goes out of print or sells below a certain number of copies a year. Originally it was with another publisher so when the time period ended, I got my rights back (which means it’s no longer sold by that publisher, etc)

After a few years of working on other stuff, I was able to get back to it, revise it and contract it with Carina.

Beth C asks: I’m planning on going to the Book Fair(signing)at the Emerald City Writers Conference. Do you know which books you will have available there for us? And can I bring my print copy of Triad for you to sign?

Yes definitely you can bring Triad. Just show it at the door so they know you brought it yourself. I’m always happy to sign books people bring along to signings :). As far as I know, I’ll be signing TRINITY and INSATIABLE (and I’ll have my brand new bookmarks for INSIDE OUT too)

Rory asks: You mentioned a couple of times about books not selling very many copies and I was wondering, as a writer, do you take that kind of thing personally? I guess it might be hard not to if you view each story as an extension of you. If so, how do you deal with that and keep writing wonderful stories for us?

It’s a simple fact that not everyone is going to like every book. It sucks of course to write something I feel is really awesome and just have the book fizzle, but it happens. All I can do is write the books I’m driven to write. I try not to let outside voices interfere with my work, it is far too easy to get caught up in numbers and what people say both good and bad and it can affect your writing – it’s very easy to second guess yourself.

But, this is my career, my business and so over the years I’ve found ways to deal with what is necessary and important and ignore what isn’t.

Kimberly asks: My question is based on the premise that you are a big supporter of digital books. Do you think you have more freedom writing with online vs. traditional publishers? Where do you see publishing in 10yrs and 20yrs?

I do love and support digital publishing! I think it’s not so much more freedom, but different sets of positives and negatives. Digital publishing and print publishing have different pressures and bottom lines. While digital publishing still has costs and overhead, it can afford to take more risks on new or different voices – there is no advance to earn out, the issue of returns is not there – so editors can give way to work that print may not want to risk. At the same time, my print runs and exposure via digital first publishing is far smaller than I experience via NY publishing houses.

Publishing is far more dynamic than people often think. It’s changed incredibly just in the last six years I’ve been writing. When I started there were a few very small digital houses, one large one that focused on erotic romance and some science fiction. Not very many people looked at epublishing then and gave it much consideration. Selling erotic romances to NY was a very rare thing. Most authors writing for digital publishing were considered “not good enough” for “real” publishing. Today I’ve seen my numbers explode – both digital sales of my NY books and with the sales of my Samhain books. It’s the Kindle, IMO. More and more people are turning to digital book readers and finding it far easier to read books with than they’d imagined.

I think this will only continue to change and diversify in ways I can’t imagine. I do not believe print books are going anywhere. Digital books will not replace paper books, they will merely be another format, just like trade, hardback, mass market, etc. I think we’ll see more “enhanced” digital books with extra chapters and bonus content. I do very much hope the prices come to a place that is reasonable for the rights conveyed to readers.

Generally, I’m just excited to see where it’s all going!

And because I haven’t run a contest here in forever it seems like, how about one now? Want to win a digital ARC of Second Chances or Inside Out? Reply with either a question or a book you’ve recently read and loved and you’ll be entered. If you have a preference for which book you’d like to win, you can add that too. I’ll choose a winner tomorrow morning at 9 am pacific time!

53 comments to “Some Questions Answered”

  1. michellekCanada
    September 29th, 2010 at 9:28 am · Link

    I have just been absorbed into anything Judith McNaught this past few weeks. I think I’ve checked out everything my library had.

    I would love a digital of Second Chances!

    I am glad you are a big supporter of ebooks. That is all I buy. If it doesn’t come ebook (Kindle) I am no longer buying it. The only way I will read a heavy book or a mass market pb with tiny font is if it’s available at the library. If not at the library then I am no longer reading it. That’s why I had to check out all of the Judith McNaught books from library. For some reason, none of her books are digital. If she had them digital, I would have bought them ALL. Sad that the author has to loose out on a payment or commission (however you guys get paid) but that is how I am now moving.



  2. JP
    September 29th, 2010 at 9:38 am · Link

    I just read and thoroughly enjoyed Susan Andersen’s BURNING UP, which I thought was a delightful and hot straightforward contemporary.

    And I’m actually being quite pleasantly surprised right now by Erin McCarthy’s FLAT-OUT SEXY. I’d shied away from it for ages b/c I’m not a fan of car racing, and I thought “I love contemporaries, but a car racing book?” But OMG, has McCarthy proven me wrong — it’s so hot it’s burning my fingers as I turn the pages, and my not being a car racing fan isn’t figuring into it at all. :mrgreen:



  3. Donald Urquhart
    September 29th, 2010 at 5:04 pm · Link

    I honestly don’t think that Kindle is ever going to completely replace the print book, though I know a lot of people who are bound and convinced that the paper book is going the way of the dinosaur. I know that Kindle is supposed to have a glare free screen surface that’s as close to the texture and light reflection of paper as possible, but it’s still not a hold it in your hand book. That being said, it’s really encouraging to hear that the Kindle and other digital media are causing an upturn for digital publishing. It can be flatly impossible for a new author to break in to traditional publishing if his or her message isn’t mainstream enough, regardless of skill.

    Donald