Category: My Books

Secrets Volume 26 is Shipping!

Secrets 26 is now shipping from Amazon! That’s U.S. Amazon. Canadian Amazon still has the volume showing as a pre-order, but that doesn’t mean you can’t order it now and then anticipate its arrival (even better, if you haven’t read Penny’s first novella yet, you can order Volume 21 AND Volume 26 and then wait with bated breath for them to arrive together). (Those are the Canadian Amazon links).

Why order Volume 21 AND 26? (Those are the American Amazon links). Because Penny has stories in both, naturally! Don’t you want to read EVERYTHING Penny has written?

Here’s the cover for Secrets Volume 26:

Nice and big and bee-oo-ti-ful!

So, which story is Penny’s? Honestly, if you’re a frequent visitor to the blog, you should know. If you aren’t a frequent visitor, I’ll give you a hint. If you search for Volume 21 on Amazon, you’ll note that one of the names on Volume 21 matches one of the names on Volume 26! Isn’t that amazing? The name that matches is…ta-da…Penny’s.

And if you don’t know who Penny is, really, people, try to keep up!

Note: Amazon has a habit of leaving one author’s name off the Secrets novella anthology listings. For Volume 26, Penny’s name, while on the cover and while her story, Exes & Ahhs, resides within, is missing from the American Amazon listing. It’s easiest to search the Secrets volumes on Amazon by author name, so search for Juliet Burns, one of Penny’s anthology-mates, and you’ll find Secrets 26.

(Penny is anxiously waiting for U.S. Amazon to correct the problem, but last she checked, they hadn’t).

Yesterday Penny received her RITA copies of Secrets 26. Yes, her wonderful publisher supplied the copies free of charge. Not always done, I assure you. Last year Penny provided her own copies. Maybe she’s moved up in the world.

Penny also received a ton, and I mean a TON, of glossy, bee-oo-ti-ful bookmarks. And she gave them all to me! Not sure what I’ll do with them yet. Maybe take a bath in them, they are that gorgeous.

For those who are wondering, no, I don’t sell copies of Penny’s book from this website or any other. They must be purchased from Amazon, or, if you’re American and lucky enough to find them in a store, grab ’em up. For Canadians, Chapters used to carry Secrets, but they stopped around Volume 15 or 16. So the only place I know of for Canadians to buy Secrets Volume 21 and 22 is from Amazon.ca.

Don’t be afeared. I order books on-line all the time. It’s very convenient.

In case you need a refresher, here are the links:

Volume 26, Canadian Amazon

Volume 21, Canadian Amazon

Volume 26, American Amazon

Volume 21, American Amazon

Go forth and buy! (Make Penny look good). (Seeing as she refuses to show her face in public, she apparently needs all the help she can get).

(P.S. In case you haven’t done so by now—really, what are you waiting for?—you can order MY books from Amazon, too!)

Pubbed Contest Deadlines

A mini-rant. Gee, coming on the heels of my bye-bye to Bebo post last week, I almost feel grouchy!

Okay, last year, I entered Penny’s first novella in the RITA. That was the only contest Penny entered. Penny did not final, but that’s not the source of my gripe.

This year, Penny has entered her second novella in the RITA. Now, because Penny’s novellas don’t actually release until the end of December, the January 2nd receipt date for the five copies of the book reaching RWA in Texas is impossible to meet. I can pre-order Penny’s novella anthologies on Canadian Amazon all I want, but I won’t receive them until mid-January. Argh. (P.S. for those who’d like the link to pre-ordering Penny’s second novella on American Amazon, here it is).

For the RITA, I’m willing to pester Penny’s publisher for five copies of the anthology and, like last year, perhaps even hassle her to mail them to RWA for me. I mean, it’s the RITAs—the Oscars of romance writing. Even though there’s a slim chance of an erotic novella finaling, entering is a chance Penny can’t pass up.

So, I receive the October Romance Writers’ Report (RWA’s monthly magazine, for those not in the know), and I’m thinking this year maybe I should enter Penny’s new novella in more than one contest. However, every contest listed in the October RWR has an entry receipt date of no later than January 15, 2009. Usually earlier. That’s fine and dandy if you receive copies of your books from your publisher no later than December 15th (especially when the author lives in Canada, as I do), but when you don’t get copies until mid-January for a book released the end of December, where on earth is the author supposed to find the time to enter these contests?

Hopefully the November RWR will list published contests with more reasonable entry receipt dates—like February 1st. Because I would love the chance to enter a couple of contests other than the RITA and see how Penny’s work stacks up (assuming the contests have novella categories—many don’t). However, I still feel like my freedom of choice of which contests to enter is sorely lacking. Not to mention ironic. My book is copyrighted and published in 2008, but because the release date is the end of December and I don’t physically have copies in my grubby little hands until mid-January, I can’t enter contests with an early January deadline. Yet I can’t enter Penny’s 2008-published novella in next year’s contests, either. Because then I’d need a 2009 copyright/publish date. I dunno, I think that’s wonky.

Amber Quill Press Anniversary Sale

In celebration of its 6th anniversary, Amber Quill Press is holding a month-long, storewide sale of its downloaded (ebook) novels, novellas, and Amber Kisses—25% off the retail price. That includes the ebook versions of Borrowing Alex and Head Over Heels. Tell your friends, tell your puppies, tell your fellow mutants! (Or anyone else you know who enjoys ebooks).

(They don’t have to be friends, puppies OR mutants). (But if they are mutants, and they know Wolverine or even Hugh Jackman in a pinch, send ’em my way).

(Okay, just send Wolverine my way).

(All right, all right, I’ll settle for Hugh Jackman!)

Published
Categorized as My Books

Can You Kindle?

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that Borrowing Alex is now available in a Kindle edition. And, if I have, I should mention it again.

Do you Kindle? If you do, what do you think of the Amazon e-reader? Care to rave, rant, pout?

I don’t have a Kindle. But then why would I? Last I checked (as of this typing), Canadian Amazon doesn’t even sell the Kindle. I wonder why not?

If you’re Canadian and if you had the option to buy a Kindle, would you?

If you’re American and you have a Kindle and you love it, tell me why. Is the Kindle your first e-reader? If you’ve owned other e-readers, how is the Kindle better/worse/different? Should Canadians feel jealous that we can’t Kindle?

If you’re American and you don’t have a Kindle, do you want one? Why or why not? Wonder if Oprah gave them to all my blog readers for free, then would you want one? (Note, Oprah has no plans that I know of to supply my blog readers with Kindles, it’s just a theoretical question—sheesh, relax!)

Alas, Head Over Heels does not yet boast a Kindle edition. The Amber Quill Press website lists five—count ’em five!—other electronic editions and Amazon of course (of course!!) sells the trade paperback edition, but no :::sob::: Kindle. Should I worry? What, me?

Nah, I won’t worry. But I can dream.

Published
Categorized as My Books

Nice Review for BORROWING ALEX

Received a new review for Borrowing Alex the other day. Joyfully Reviewed says:

I really enjoyed Borrowing Alex, it was smart and funny without being overdone. The characters do some pretty funny things in the name of love. I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book I find by Cindy Procter-King.

Pretty nifty, huh? Click here to read the full review. Note, the slimeball character referred to in the review is named Royce, not Roy. Royce, in my mind, is the high society equivalent of Roy, so in the end, it’s all the same. He’s a turd.

(I apologize in advance to all the real Roys and Royces out there. The naming of my characters has nothing to do with you, but, rather, has everything to do with how my brain “sees” certain combinations of letters and decides whether those combinations = hero or jerk material for fictional purposes only. My dad’s cousin is a Roy, and he’s very nice!)

Bit of Good News

I’ve received an offer from an epublisher to re-issue my romantic comedy short story, DECEIVING DEREK. I’m very happy about this, as the story was only with its former publisher for a few months before that pub closed. Kind of ironic, really. There aren’t too many short story markets for re-issues, and when I was looking the first time I could have submitted to either Pub A (the one I did submit to) or Pub B (the pub who just offered). I chose to submit to Pub A because Pub B was very, very new, and you all know (or you should) how leery I am about trying untested epub waters—I’ve been burned (drowned?) too many times. So I submitted to Pub A and received a contract. I totally loved the cover art and had a good editing experience, so I was happy. Obviously, however, I made the wrong submission choice, because Pub A closed in November and Pub B is, by all accounts, going strong.

Yes, sometimes I am wise in the world of publishing, and sometimes I have really, really bad luck.

I still need to go over the contract and make sure everything is  in order, which is why I haven’t announced which epublisher has made the offer yet. You’ll earn two points if you guess correctly, though. 😉

Published
Categorized as My Books