// BLOG
New release by SBP author Laurie Sorensen
July 6, 2011
My New book, Night’s Salvation A Ravenwood Novel, has been released. You can find at Sapphire Blue Publishing – E-book only and the price is $6.50, for a full length Historical Romance.
Blurb:
Duty, love and passion take flight on the wings of destiny. Compelled by honor and duty, Night Ravenwood leaves his life on the sea to return home after his brothers death. As the new heir to Ravenwood Manor, he finds himself in an arranged marriage he doesn’t want. When tragedy strikes the newlywed couple, Nights realizes he’s in love with the beautiful and serene Satine. She vows to make Night understand his destiny is with her, meanwhile someone is willing to commit murder to keep them apart. Will love or murder shape the destiny of this union?
Why would I choose to indie publish?
July 6, 2011
I recently received an e-mail asking me why I indie publish and why I used a writing services company for my first novel length e-book, Attack of the Lushites (available now in print and e-book at Amazon and Smashwords). What follows is my response. As always comments are welcome.
My response to your question why I switched from Sapphire Blue Publishing is relatively simple and complicated at the same time.
It is true Sapphire Blue Publishing does accept all genres but truthfully they specialize in romance. Lushites is clearly not romance.
The fact is I still publish romances with Sapphire Blue Publishing (in fact I just sold one to them last week) as well as have my own imprint, 53rd Street Publishing. Lucky Bat Books is somewhere in the middle of these two forms of publishing, providing a menu of services for writers.
The traditional publishing model (which Sapphire Blue Publishing is basically built on, though they are more author friendly than New York) forces a writer to share the lions share of the royalties with the publisher and I wanted to keep a greater share for my efforts. Lucky Bat Books doesn’t keep any share of my royalties, they ask for a flat fee for service. This makes far more sense to me than the traditional publishing model.
I want to be clear about Sapphire Blue Publishing. I love those people and will always be grateful to them for giving me my first big break.
The other advantage of indie publishing over traditional publishing is the work isn’t “produce”, by this I mean the shelf life of any traditionally published work is limited. In indie publishing the work stays up until I remove it. I’m in control 100%.
The other thing that is happening in New York publishing is they are buying the rights to the e-books forever, and paying very low royalties to the writers, even though e-book sales are on the rise world wide. This is a worrisome trend and will affect the long term income of the writers. I’d rather indie publish and ride the trend alone than go to NY and lose my work for a small return forever.
Would I ever go to New York? Yes, absolutely, but not to be “famous”. Instead I see them as a marketing tool to jump start my indie sales and make me more money. Print books are still 86% of the market.
Now how to go about being an indie publisher is a very long and involved answer. I’m sending you to a link which lays out how to be an indie publisher. I’m a student of Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Katherine Rusch who have also embraced indie publishing in a big way. I know many, many writers who are doing this, both long time and beginning writers.
Here’s the link: deanwesleysmith.com
I hired Lucky Bat Books because I want my novels to be indistinguishable to the readers from New York produced novels, which I feel Lucky Bat Books has helped me to do. I recommend to everyone hire someone to edit your work before you publish it. My view is a badly constructed manuscript with a bad cover can hurt you in the long run. Hire what you’re not expert at, just as you would an accountant or a lawyer.
The new opportunities opening up for writers makes having a career you can control far easier than ever in the history of publishing and I for one am going to explore every option available to me. Why wouldn’t I?
New Story – Tikka’s Big Day
June 13, 2011
A new quirky short story available on Smashwords and Amazon. Tikka’s Big Day. Not a traditional romance, but it has romantic elements.
Fun story. Check it out.
Fellow SBP author – Jen Black new release
June 8, 2011
Amazon UK link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadows-ebook/dp/B0052O4CZ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306610637&sr=1-1
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-ebook/dp/B0052O4CZ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=A7B2F8DUJ88VZ&s=books&qid=1307489199&sr=1-1
Shadows by Jen Black
Released 24th May 2011 by Sapphire Blue:
Genre: Contemporary romance with ghosts
Blurb:
Melissa thinks she’s taking a huge risk in going on holiday with Rory Hepburn. He may be gorgeous, but she only met him three days ago. But when she sees the old watermill in rural France, she is delighted. Within ten minutes of her arrival, she sees the man in black, but thinks nothing of it. Concentrating more on keeping her secrets and sleeping alone, she is shocked when ghosts disturb her first night at the mill. Not just one ghost, but two. When Christophe arrives at the mill, the chic Frenchman regards Melissa as his soul mate, and Melissa knows she’s in real trouble.
A chilling tale, written with humour and drenched in the sights and perfumes of the rural Dordogne, this is a must-read tale for those who like a romance with a ghostly twist.
This Jen’s fifth published book, and her first contemporary tale. In many ways writing about character in this century is easier than writing about people in the sixteenth or eleventh centuries. There isn’t as much research required, though it’s important to get things like brand names, distances, food and fashion right – hairstyle or hemlines can speak volumes about a character’s personality today.
Jen lives in Northumberland, a corner of England rich in castles and history, and visits France regularly for summer holidays. You can find her at http://jenblackauthor.blogspot.com where she writes about anything that catches her interest – usually something to do with writing fiction! and shares one of her other hobbies – her photographs.
New Publisher – 53rd Street Publishing
May 27, 2011
We are excited to announce we have started our new Independent publishing company, 53rd Street Publishing.
We will only be publishing our books under our various names (sorry, but no submissions) in e-book and Print-on- Demand.
Look for our titles and future releases on Smashwords, Amazon, and other e-retailers.