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Friday confession

August 27, 2010 – 3:03 PM | Comments (27)

Okay so I have a confession to make. And I feel pretty silly saying it’s a confession, like it’s some tawdry secret I should be whispering or something, but I feel like I’m breaking some kind of unwritten author’s code by saying what I’m about to say.

I love my books.

Okay. There. I said it!

It’s really interesting because I never see authors expressing pride in their work. I’m not saying they don’t. I’m just saying I don’t see it. In fact I see the opposite. I see a lot of “this is a piece of crap.” Or “I NEVER read my book ever ever ever again after final galleys.” or “I never want to see this again. EVER EVER EVER”

I’m not ragging on these authors whatsoever. This is a stressful enough business without me giving people grief or telling them how they should or shouldn’t act (okay so that’s a whole other topic I’ll never get into ;) I’m merely saying that the mindset seems to be it’s not okay to love your book. Or at least ADMIT to liking your own book publicly. (I imagine that’s more the case than really not loving your book)

But I’ll say it again. I love my stories. It wouldn’t make sense if I didn’t! If I didn’t love what I wrote, I wouldn’t sell them so that other people could read them. I simply couldn’t write a story that I didn’t love and have an emotional investment in.

Here’s another deep dark secret for you. I reread my books from time to time. To me, there’s nothing quite like reading a finished book. It feels completely different than reading a word file a million times and then reading a PDF galley. I like holding it in my hands and revisiting characters that I put my heart and soul into. I mean hell, I lived with them while writing them. It’s not like I can just turn off my emotions for them.

Yesterday I was in a bit of a funk so I picked up my first Desire trilogy and read all three books. Know what? I love those stories! :) Book two, The Tycoon’s Rebel Bride, is still my favorite, but I love all three.

There you have it. My deep, dark, shameful secret. *snort*

By Maya •• Posted in Books, Maya's Life •• Comments (27)

Visiting old characters

August 26, 2010 – 9:44 PM | Comments (87)

So here is my question for readers. How do you feel about scenes revisiting characters from previous books in a series? Particularly if their story may not be completely finished. Or do you resent any time spent away from the main characters of the current book?

The Sweet Series, for me, has been a continuing story of a group of friends. All of them, even though each story features a new hero and heroine. In these books while each set of characters achieve their happily ever after, things are not always perfect. That’s not the point of this series. It’s about two people who love each other and are committed to working out their issues and problems because they want to stay together and have a life together. The series isn’t about perfect people who once they make their declaration of love, they have perfect lives forevermore and ride off into the sunset.

Faith and Gray, who kicked off the series, have been featured in each of the subsequent books and they still have obstacles to overcome, but they love each other and so they work it out. Damon and Serena had a tumultous relationship and their happily ever after wasn’t quite complete at the end of their book although they loved each other and were very committed to doing whatever it took to make their relationship work.

With each book, the relationships progress and I’ve had a lot of fun showing that progression. But how do readers feel about it?

I’ve been thinking about this because I’m currently working on Sweet Possession, and last night I wrote an emotional scene between Micah and Angelina, the hero and heroine from Sweet Temptation. For those of you who’ve read Sweet Temptation, you know that these two had a very volatile, passionate relationship and that it got off to a rocky start.

So I’m wondering if you as a reader are interested in seeing scenes that further Micah and Angelina’s relationship in a book that isn’t their own. They certainly aren’t the focus of Sweet Possession, but as this is a series about a very tight knit group of friends, it only makes sense that you see them in each of the books.

By Maya •• Posted in Books, Sweet Series •• Comments (87)

Back to School

August 23, 2010 – 8:17 AM | Comments (7)

I was a little adrift this morning because back to school was so…over with so quickly. It was the first year I didn’t have to walk anyone into their class. I just dropped and drove away and then pondered how big my babies have gotten *sigh*

The youngest two were dragging. They were up late last night because they couldn’t sleep. I figure I’ll be picking up little zombies this afternoon, but at least they’ll sleep tonight!

Hubby cooks them breakfast every year for the first day of school. (Okay he cooks lots of other mornings too but the first day of school breakfast is tradition)

I expect in pretty short order, I’ll be facing the END of yet another school year and I’ll be complaining because I have no idea where time goes. I’ll stop there before I further depress myself…

By Maya •• Posted in Maya's Life •• Comments (7)

Four Play ARCs

August 16, 2010 – 10:18 AM | Comments (4)

All the available ARCs have been spoken for. Thanks to everyone for such a fantastic response! I wish I could give an ARC to everyone who requested one.

This is the last week before school starts, and I’ll be frantically trying to get everything done, so I’ll be scarce for a bit. Hope to catch up with everyone when my house is quiet again!

By Maya •• Posted in Books, Upcoming Releases •• Comments (4)

Four Play ARC giveaway

August 11, 2010 – 1:38 PM | Comments (12)

My publicist at Berkley and I are going to give away ARCs of Four Play to bloggers and readers who are willing to read/review an erotic contemporary romance.

You can find information on the story here and if it’s something that interests you, drop me an email to mayaATmayabanks.com with the subject header FOUR PLAY ARC and please do use the subject line otherwise the email will get lost in the hundreds of others that filter in throughout the day. Please do also introduce yourself to me and let me know what your blog or messageboard of choice is :)

The only condition of this particular giveaway is that you read the book and offer commentary, review, blog about it, review it at Amazon or BN or your favorite messageboard. Liking it is entirely optional ;)

These are paper ARCs and will be mailed to the recipient. You will be asked to provide a mailing address. Unfortunately, we do have a limited number of ARCs and as much as I’d love to accommodate everyone, it just isn’t possible.

Thanks,

Maya

By Maya •• Posted in Books, Giveaways, Upcoming Releases •• Comments (12)

Corralled winner!

August 9, 2010 – 4:54 PM | Comments (2)

is Alycia J, comment #45

Congrats! Alycia, if you’ll drop me an email with your address, I’ll make sure your book is mailed out to you.

By Maya •• Posted in Giveaways •• Comments (2)

Borders True Romance Blog and giveaways!

August 7, 2010 – 11:02 AM | Comments (0)

I’m over at the Borders True Romance Blog with the other RomCon finalists. It’s your chance to ask whatever question is burning your brain ;) I’ll answer, promise! They’re also giving away prizes and Borders Gift Cards. (Books! Who doesn’t need more books!) Come visit and say hi!

And don’t forget to scroll down here for the Lorelei James giveaway.

By Maya •• Posted in WTF, OMG, & Misc •• Comments (0)

Corralled giveaway!

August 6, 2010 – 12:39 PM | Comments (106)

My very good friend, Lorelei James, has a new release and to celebrate, I’m giving away a signed copy here on my blog!

Sports therapist Lainie Capshaw has been rehabilitating injured cowboys long enough to know that a charming western drawl combined with a fine physical form doesn’t mean you fall for the man.

So no one is more surprised than Lainie when she finds herself involved with not one, but two different men: Hank Lawson, a bullfighter, and Kyle Gilchrist, a bull rider. Lainie feels guilty about her two-timing, but it doesn’t keep her from doubling her fun-that is until Hank catches her with Kyle.

She’s shocked that Hank isn’t mad. But she’s more shocked to learn Hank and Kyle are hometown buddies. But when the men offer to share her-in every way-she knows that she’s going to have to choose the one man who can give her the ride of her life…

Okay if you’ve never tried Lorelei James, you’re missing out on some yummy goodness! To enter to win a signed copy of this book, just drop me a comment and tell me what coming soon release you’re really really looking forward to.

By Maya •• Posted in Giveaways •• Comments (106)

All about ebooks, print, format and availability

August 5, 2010 – 10:43 AM | Comments (5)

Today I’m going to try to explain an issue that seems most frustrating and confusing to the most readers. Perhaps my most asked question revolves around why are some of my print books not available as soon as the ebook. Or why wasn’t the ebook available on the same day as the print release.

I write for multiple publishers. To date, I have books contracted with Samhain Publishing, Silhouette, Penguin Group and Random House.

Now, for books published with the latter three, it’s pretty easy and straightforward. My books are always released in print on the release day. They are almost always released as an ebook on the same day as well. Note I said almost. There have been a few instances where the ebook release has been delayed but this is not the norm. You can pretty much count on my books with these publishers being available on release day in whatever format you so choose. This includes any of my erotic contemporaries for HEAT, my KGI series, any of my Silhouette Desires and my upcoming Scottish Historicals.

For books released with Samhain, it’s a little more confusing, and this tends to be where I get the most questions and irritation from readers. I’ve published a number of stories with Samhain. Most are shorter than my books for other publishers. They range anywhere from a short story at just over 15k words up to 80k words and all lengths in between.

When a book releases with Samhain, it always releases in ebook first. Samhain is primarily a digital publisher so it makes sense they’d release it as an ebook. They also have a print program, and so, typically a year after the release of the ebook, they publish the story in trade paperback.

It can get even more confusing, because a story has to meet a certain word count criteria before it will be released in paperback. If it’s too short, it either won’t be printed in paperback at all OR it will have to be paired with another shorter story. Such as was the case with Stay With Me and Songbird. Those two stories were published together in print as the anthology “Linger”. It was two years before Stay With Me made the move from being ebook only to an in print title.

Since I typically only have one release from Samhain a year now, the majority of all my published books are available in print definitely. On release day. Always. And usually as an ebook as well, but we’re at the mercy of places like BN who usually don’t get around to putting up a new ebook for a few days.

So a book not being available in both print and ebook on release day is the exception, NOT the norm for my titles. I will always post this information on my website. If I have different release dates for the individual formats, I will most certainly make it clear on books page. I try to always put links to print and ebook purchase sites so readers have a variety.

So for this year? My ONE exception is Colters’ Lady. It released in June in ebook. It won’t release until June 2011 in print. All my other books? Absolutely normal.

Next year it’s likely I’ll only have one exception again in Colters’ Daughter. If it releases in 2011 in ebook, it won’t release until 2012 in print.

I hope this clears up any misunderstandings or confusion. If not, pop in with a question and I’ll do my best to clear it all up for you.

Edited to add: Stacey had a really good question about not being able to find some of my Samhain titles in places like the SONY store. She has a SONY reader so of course she’d like to buy the format for her reader. The problem with third party vendors is we never know when or if they’ll put our titles up for sale. It’s random and frustrating. However, for ANY of my Samhain ebook titles, you can always buy the book in ANY format at www.mybookstoreandmore.com. Even for Sony. They sell the same formatted file that they SEND to Sony and the other vendors directly from that site. So if all else fails, go buy it and download it from MBaM :)

By Maya •• Posted in Books, WTF, OMG, & Misc •• Comments (5)

All about Email

August 3, 2010 – 11:40 PM | Comments (9)

Over the next little while, I’ll occasionally (as I have time) be posting informational type blogs on issues that arise with my readers, websites, book info, reader email etc. These blogs will then be pointed to at intervals from the website for people who are looking for just such information.

Today it’s going to be all about email. I love email. Really, I do. See, I hate to talk on the phone. I’d much rather email someone then spend an absurd amount of time on the phone pussy footing around a subject and filling awkward silences with uh…uhm…yeah…well….and (you get the picture)

At any rate, I answer all my email. Really. If you’ve ever email me and haven’t gotten an answer, it’s because I never got it. There are a few minor exceptions. I mean if you email me to say I’m going to hell, I probably won’t respond with thank you, but I might send you my prayer request list. (It’s kind of long) And any email which begins “shame on you” is instantly relegated to the trash bin, because really, it can only go down hill after that.

Now I say all this only to bring up the point that while I DO answer all my email, there are simply times when I’m not able to answer it as quickly as I’d like to. Sometimes it might just be a few days. Sometimes I answer within minutes. Other times it might literally be weeks. When I’m on a tight deadline, email is the first sacrifice to the God’s. I could literally get lost in emails for an entire day and I can’t afford that kind of distraction when I have to finish a book like yesterday.

I’m working with my web designer to try and ease a lot of the questions I receive via email. I know it’s frustrating for readers not to have the answer they want, and it’s frustrating to me when I have the answer on my website but still get asked those questions. This is where I need help asking what can we do different? How can we make it clearer and absolute that the information on my website constitutes every thing I know to date about my books, blurbs, covers and release dates? And how can I make the information more accessible?

We’re working more and more on my FAQ section to try to answer as many frequently asked questions as we can. As soon as I get them, I have them posted with detailed answers.

But back to my point. I read and enjoy every single email I receive from readers. I know that readers like and want a personal response. I’d want one too. I just ask that you bear with me at times when my inbox starts overflowing to the tune of 15k emails. When I’m writing and email gets busy, I sorta just shut down and stop looking at the email all together because it stresses me to have unanswered emails. I like to give my readers what they expect.

So my promise still remains. I always read and respond to all email (within reason because if you’re screaming at me about hell and damnation, I’ll direct you to my sister who’s a pastor’s wife and have her teach you a few things about casting stones and what not) It’s just that sometimes I’ll answer more quickly than others and in those times when I haven’t responded in a bit, don’t think I’ve decided to no longer be gracious. It’s just that I’m probably losing my mind and no one really wants to see all that ;)

Lots of love!

Maya

By Maya •• Posted in WTF, OMG, & Misc •• Comments (9)