After Christmas Sale!

12 Nights of Christmas, my collection of dark takes on the traditional holiday song, is now available FREE on Smashwords. And coming soon--free on Amazon as well. Now that the holidays are over and it's a new year, why not pick up some free reading?

Self-Promotion Sunday--The Poisoned Teat

The Poisoned Teat, my latest collection of short fiction is now up at smashwords and available at all their distribution channels. Whenever KDP gets around to it, the book will also be up at Amazon.com. This new 100-page collection features more than 30 stories, a mix of micro, flash and longer pieces. Most of the stories fall into the noir category, a few are straight up horror, but there are some that really don't have a category.  Check out the samples here.

Feminist Fiction Friday--the Freebie

As a promotion for the upcoming release of my latest short story collection (The Poisoned Teat), you can snag my first collection, Just Another Day in Paradise absolutely free at Smashwords. (Amazon still hasn't lowered the price.) Go here to claim your copy in whatever format you choose.

Judging a book by its cover--Toxic Reality

Sometimes you can just be a little too subtle. I was happy with the cover of my book Toxic Reality, but despite great reviews, it just wasn't selling. Over the weekend, Joy Sillesen at Indie Author Services whipped up a new cover for me and within minutes of it going up on Smashwords and Amazon.com, I'd sold more copies than I had since I first published it. 
Being able to swap out a cover in minutes is one of the reasons I love indie publishing. You can do A/B cover tests. You can goose sales with a new cover. You can play around with multiple covers the way magazines sometimes do. (I remember TV Guide testing covers with Star Trek captain covers--clearly meant to entice collectors.)
I admit it--I'll pick up a book because I'm intrigued by the cover. (But I'll also buy a book that intrigues me even if the cover is awful. And if you were an early reader of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels, you know just the ugly covers I mean.)
I like this new cover. There's nothing subtle about it. But then, the stories aren't subtle either.

A Publishing Milestone!!

Today I received my first royalty payment from Smashwords. Very exciting. I'm about to go spend it. (Yes, it's not exactly six figures. More like four--if you include the cents.) It was really exciting though.
I've become addicted to my checking my stats. L.A. Nocturne is my best seller, followed by Fairy Story. That's true of the kindle editions as well, although Fairy Story, for some reason, is selling better on amazon.uk than the other books.
I've put L.A. Nocturne and Just Another Day in Paradise up for a member giveaway at Library Thing, and that give-away ends next Saturday. I'm thrilled that more people asked for the titles than there are copies available. Now if they'll just do reviews.
My offer to readers still stands. If you want a copy of either L.A. Nocturne or Fairy Story, I'll be happy to furnish the Smashwords coupon code. And if you like it, would love for you to say a few kind words. If you don't like it, well, don't feel you have to spread your opinion around. :-)