99c Weekend Reads featuring 3 of my novels @dreamspinners #mmromance


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As part of Dreamspinner’s DreamReaders program, three of my best-selling novels are just 99 cents all weekend long at Dreamspinner Press!

Until midnight EDT Sunday, June 21, 2015

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British actor Wesley Tremayne thinks he’s close to hitting the big time—a film career—with his role as a hunky explorer on a popular American TV show. Success should be just around the corner, as long as he keeps his sexual orientation a secret. Wes’s best friend and beard, Julia Compton, forms the other half of a glamorous Hollywood couple that’s merely a façade.

Evan Taylor left his acting career behind five years ago without looking back. He’s always been more comfortable around horses than people—especially Hollywood types. His new life training racehorses is a dream come true, but increasing financial problems and an abusive boyfriend have him doubting himself and his choices.

Then Wes and his friends buy a third-rate racehorse—partially for publicity—and send him to Evan’s stable. Wes’s friendship with Evan soon develops into an overpowering attraction he can’t act on. He’s never met a man like Evan, but if there’s any chance for a future together, Wes must choose between a career he loves and the man he adores.

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Daniel “Deke” Kane is a broken man, facing the end of his career in the FBI. He’s on desk duty after a botched drug raid left the suspects and two children dead. He’s got one chance to prove himself, or the only thing he’ll be investigating is the Help Wanted ads.

Ryan Griffiths has been on the run for ten years. Forced onto the streets when his father kicked him out, Ryan earns his living in other men’s beds. Finding his john dead in a hotel room drives him under the radar until a favorite client gives him a chance at a safe, clean life. But Ryan’s relatively stable new world shatters when Deke Kane catches up with him.

When Deke’s tasked to take down a drug dealer with terrorist ties and a taste for the dark side of BDSM, his only chance to get close is the suspect’s interest in Ryan, and he convinces Ryan to become a confidential informant. In return, Deke offers Ryan immunity from his past. As Ryan falls under the drug lord’s domination, Deke finds himself falling for Ryan.

Now Deke has to choose between Ryan’s safety and his own future.

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Of all the tiny towns, in all the world, he walks into mine.

Texas native Kieran Quinn has hit the big time, working in Manhattan as a columnist for Gloss, a national literary magazine. He’s well-known for his snarky, sardonic columns, but deep down he’s more interested in exploring what makes people tick than his editor would like. He keeps his desire to find his own Mr. Right hidden under a sexy, carefree persona that favors champagne and underwear models of the male variety.

Jaxon Lang loves being the high school principal in tiny Buckwheat Springs, Texas after relocating from Austin to pursue his relationship with Danetta Archer, despite her reputation for leaving grooms at the altar. So far, he’s avoided examining the questions he has about himself, certain that marriage will put them to rest. Then Kieran arrives in town. Kieran’s charm and unique attitudes about sex and attraction soon challenge Jaxon’s concept of what—and who—he wants.

While covering the latest wedding of a real-life “runaway bride,” Kieran falls hard for the gorgeous—and supposedly straight—groom, Jaxon Lang, despite that ridiculous X. Then Kieran discovers the bride’s hiding a shocking secret.

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The Most Important 200 Words You Write: Craft Compelling Blurbs #writetip

 

Hate writing blurbs for your book? Join the club.

But, there is a magic formula for writing blurbs and I’m going to show it to you. In fact, I’ll show you several “fill in the blank” templates if you need them, as well as discuss why each element is crucial to selling your book.

Blurb cover 200x320Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, the book “blurb” or description is the second most powerful tool to sell your book. (A knockout cover is #1).

We’ve all been there. We’ve finished the book, edited it, got it ready to publish, and now we face the enormous hurdle of writing the book description. It doesn’t matter that the book might be 300 pages long, but that 100-200 word blurb suddenly feels as difficult as reaching the summit of Mount Everest.

The bad news is that those 200 words are among the most important words you will write if you want to sell your book.

The good news is that I’m going to show you how to do it, for both fiction and non-fiction books.

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As an editor I see a lot of blurbs come across my desk. As a reader I see even more. And as an author, I have written plenty of them myself and I don’t enjoy the process at all. I actively loathe dealing with blurbs for my books.

That’s why I’ve boiled the most important steps down to a system, and I’ve even got a few fill-in-the-blank formulas for you to use if you really need them.

Remember that unless you’re a household name, a reader is going to need really compelling reasons to plunk down some money for your book.

Even if your book is FREE, you need a powerful blurb. Why? How many free books are on your e-reader right now? How many have you actually read? Unless the blurb grabs someone’s attention, chances are he’ll download it and read it later (=never).

Make that reader itch to start reading so he can’t even wait for the sample to get to his Kindle.

 

The first element of crafting a compelling blurb is knowing your target audience: readers.

Blurbs are a marketing tool.

Repeat that after me: Blurbs are a marketing tool.

The intention is to get a reader to buy the book, plain and simple.

So how do you do that?

By making readers want to read the book. Yes, that’s all you need to do.

 

What influences the reader to buy?

That depends on whether it’s fiction or non-fiction.

Fiction readers are looking for these elements when they read a blurb:

—Intriguing characters with strong desires, clears obstacles to achieving their goals, and weaknesses we identify with

—A goal which must be achieved, or the character will face death (physical, emotional, or professional disaster)

—A compelling conflict between the main character(s) or between the MC and the antagonist that keeps one or both from their goal.

—A key to the setting, both time period and geographical

—(Romance) A secondary or related conflict that keeps the main characters from becoming a couple.

—Hints at unanswered questions the reader is dying to learn the answers to so he must keep reading, even if he’s late for work or skips dinner or sends the spouse to pick up the kids from school.

Notice I did not mention the plot. You don’t need to tell the reader what happens in the blurb. If she wants to know, she will buy your book. Your mission is simply to make that reader want to know what happens.

Sell the characters and conflict, not the plot.

And that’s just the start of what’s inside HOW TO BLURB.

 

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