Category: My Books

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!)

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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.

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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. 😉

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Hulk Me Baby One More Time

Edward Norton as The Incredible Hulk

The fam-dam went to The Incredible Hulk late last week to celebrate Youngest Son writing his last ever final high school exam. I give The Incredible Hulk several thumbs up. I liked it better than Iron Man, even though the latter stars Robert Downey, Jr. and I do love me some RDJ. However, as a kid, my favorite comics were Batman, The Incredible Hulk, Sergeant Rock and Jonah Hex, in that order. I can’t recall ever reading an Iron Man comic, although I probably did. The Brother had quite an extensive comic collection, and I made full use of it (by the way, I could never figure out why Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t make a Sergeant Rock movie and why Clint Eastwood didn’t star in a movie version of Jonah Hex—both when they were a, um, tad younger. Because both actors would have perfect in those roles. If you’re familiar with the comics of which I speak, aren’t I right? Of course I am. Thank you.

Robert Downey, Jr.'s Iron Man

Anyway, while I enjoyed Iron Man (mainly because of RDJ; his acting and the quirky wit he instills into most of his characters always get me), The Incredible Hulk has my vote. If you’re an Iron Man/RDJ fan, though, Robert Downey, Jr. has a cameo in The Incredible Hulk. The cameo sets up all sorts of wonderful possibilities for a sequel to both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. I can’t wait. As the only woman in a house full of men (until Allie McBeagle, even all our pets were male), I think I’ve seen nearly every super-hero movie out there, so I’ve developed quite an affinity for them.

(P.S. Yeah, I know, both those pictures are tiny. WordPress 2.5.1 has some glitches in the Upload Images thingie, and I can’t be bothered to figure it out).

A scene in The Incredible Hulk references Bella Coola, British Columbia. If you saw Sex and The City, The Movie and read about how people were flooding bookstores looking for the book Mr. Big reads from in the movie, but the book doesn’t exist, well, Bella Coola does exist. I ain’t got a clue if The Incredible Hulk was shot in B.C. or if the scenes that say they’re in Bella Coola really are in Bella Coola, however, if you’re interested in checking out some gorgeous scenery, check out this link.

By the way, have you ever read an Incredible Hulk reference in a romance novel? Don’t you think you should? If your answer is yes, have I got a story for you! Yes, indeedy, BORROWING ALEX features an Incredible Hulk reference. For those who already have the book, consider yourselves brainiacs for being so on top of popular culture! Then flip to page 45 for the reference. It was one of my favorite scenes to write.  

Those who haven’t yet bought a copy of BORROWING ALEX, if you beg real nice, I might excerpt the scene on the blog. Of course, I’d rather you buy a copy of the book so I can keep my family in Kraft Dinner, but if you need motivation (and don’t we all?), just ask in the comments section and I’ll provide the excerpt later in the week.