Raine Balkera - Romance Author

I've been playing around with and creating my own ads, banners, Facebook profile covers, etc. It's fun! And, a lot of time-consuming work, too. But, it's still fun!

Recently, we've been hearing more horror stories about changes to self-published works that are submitted/uploaded to Amazon for their Kindle. The latest issue is attached to their Unlimited program, where they've taken it upon themselves to pay the AUTHOR based on the number of pages read. Under the new payment method, the amount an author earns will be determined by their share of total pages read instead of their share of total qualified borrows. The author of a 200 page book that was borrowed 100 times but only read halfway through on average would earn $1,000 ($10 million multiplied by 10,000 pages for this author divided by 100,000,000 total pages). We will similarly change the way we pay KDP Select All-Star bonuses which will be awarded to authors and titles based on total KU and KOLL pages read. Not being a member of this Unlimited program, I might not have a right to voice an opinion on the topic, but these types of issues usually include a trickle-down...

I hope you hopped over here after visiting with J.J. Devine . T his time I'd like to plug an anthology she's involved with through her publisher, SoulMate.  The title is A Soulmate for Christmas , and by clicking on the title, you'll be taken to the author support page. J.J.'s story, A VAMPIRE FOR YULE, is about " . . . Two lonely hearts come together during the holidays and discover their destiny." Sounds sweet! Brenda Margriet is back just in time to set the task of asking: How do you choose the setting for your book? Does where you live inspire you? This can apply even to books set in paranormal worlds - what do you use from "real life"? You can find one of her novels, Mountain Fire , up for review on Goodreads , with links to buy. " A mountaintop mystery leads two conservationists to dangerous obsessions and violent passions " Both featured novels are in my TBR pile :D Now to answer Brenda's questions....

Thank you for hopping over from J.J. Devine's post. Her novel, Into the Darkness , is available at Amazon. Vampires and Witches: Are they mythical creatures or something that walks amongst us every day without our knowledge?  To Raven, a twenty-five-year-old, extremely sheltered woman, they are nothing more than something to be read about in a book. To Dragon, an eight hundred-year-old vampire, they are a way of life.  Raven truly believes she is going mad. Erotic dreams fill her nights, causing her to question her sanity by the light of day. They lead her into a world she never knew existed and a heritage that can only be found in nightmares.  Dragon wants nothing more than to own the mortal soul of the beautiful Raven, a woman who can make his ancient scars disappear, proof that she is far from mortal.  Together they seek out the dark heritage of her past. What they find is much more than either of them bargained for. A destiny lies at her doors...

For more than a decade I devoured romance novels the way I still devour potato chips. T hroughout the mid 80's and 90's,   my favorite author was Johanna Lindsey, who might be labeled by some as the undisputed queen of romance. This was my introduction to her writing, and this book was all it took to get me hooked and want more. Even if money was tight, there still seemed to be a way to hit a bookstore, browse her selection, find something I hadn't yet read, and buy it. But, then she did something I still equate to as having stabbed me right through the heart. The paperbacks were replaced with hard cover novels, and at a cost of more than double the paperback version -- which weren't being offered btw. Suddenly it wasn't even an option to buy any of her works. A hard cover the size of coffee-table books I still believe should be relegated to photography and nothing else started at $14.99 and went up to unholy sums, pricing me right out of the marke...