USA Today Love and Lust Recommendation

“read this highly recommended re-issue of a tale with classic elements that turn a predictable story on its head.” – Becky Condit/USA Today

The year is 2009…

Sex, Lies & Wedding Bells was my first published novel. It came out in February of that year. I had just gotten laid off from my job as a wine buyer for a large retail chain, and having this book start selling was really important validation for me.

If you’ve ever been part of a big layoff (1/3 of our company) you know how demoralizing that can be. They say “it’s not you…” but it is, or they would have kept you. About half of my department got laid off, the rest had been there over 10 years, but it still felt really personal.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for writing and the wonderful response I got to Sex, Lies & Wedding Bells, I would have been even more depressed.

It’s the great readers and other wonderful authors who helped me through a really tough time and helped me realize I had a way to make a living (thanks to some severance and unemployment). It was pretty meager, but it was something.

First novels are usually imperfect. Often there’s a good story, but the author isn’t skilled at the mechanics of writing. Other writers are excellent with words, but their story isn’t great. It’s probably a right-brain/left-brain thing. I was probably somewhere in the middle.

So, Sex, Lies & Wedding Bells wasn’t all it could have been, or all it should be.

Fast-forward to 2014. I asked Elizabeth North of Dreamspinner if she was interested in taking a rewritten second edition of this book, and thankfully she did!

It was such a pleasure to revisit the characters in this book—Kieran and Jaxon, the town of Buckwheat Springs and its colorful inhabitants and build on the chemistry the characters (and the book) had.

If you’ve already read the first edition, please give the new version a try. There’s a lot of new scenes, more backstory and Jaxon POV scenes, and even more chemistry and banter between Jaxon and Kieran.

And you could have knocked me other with a feather boa when I found it was a USA Today recommendation, this time around.

If you’ve read both versions, please leave a comment and let me know what you think of the new one.

Pick up your own copy of the new and very  much improved edition:

Dreamspinner Press | Amazon | B&N | All Romance

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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.

Whether 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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One of the most joyful experiences as an author (for me, at least) is knowing my book has the perfect cover. It’s not as easy as you might think. I’m not an artist and I generally have a difficult time conveying my vision to the cover artist. So I was absolutely delighted to discover this gorgeous photograph on Deviant Art. It perfectly illustrates my main character Jeremy Linden (my deceptively attractive geek) and the precise tone of Dirty Dining. In fact, Jeremy spends a lot of time in those little white shorts, until he takes them off. Check out the excerpt below to find out just what I’m talking about.

Pre-order and be entered to win $50 Amazon Gift Certificate
(email your purchase receipt to em@emlynley.com)

25% off until December 25

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Release Date ~ January 19

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Cover Photo: Ronaldo Gutierrez

Blurb

Jeremy Linden’s a PhD student researching an HIV vaccine. He’s always short of money, and when biotech startup PharmaTek reduces funding for his fellowship, he’s tempted to take a job at a men’s dining club as a serving boy. The uniforms are skimpy, and he’s expected to remove an item of clothing after each course. He can handle that, but he soon discovers there’s more on the menu here than fine cuisine. How far will he go to pay his tuition, and will money get in the way when he realizes he’s interested in more from one of his gentlemen?

Brice Martin is an attorney for a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. When he’s asked to take a client to the infamous Dinner Club, he finds himself unexpectedly turned on by the atmosphere and especially by his server, Remy. He senses there’s more to the sexy young man than meets the eye. The paradox fascinates him, and he can’t get enough of Remy.

Their relationship quickly extends beyond the club and sex. But the trust and affection they’ve worked to achieve may crumble when Jeremy discovers Brice’s VC firm is the one that pulled the plug on PharmaTek—and Jeremy’s research grant.

Excerpt

“Everyone, this is Jeremy.” Thomas introduced him to the other guys who would be working as serving boys at the Dinner Club that night, including one Jeremy recognized from the gym.

“Hi, Jeremy,” they said in chorus.

One slim blond guy with long bangs came up and gave him a not-very-subtle once-over and, before Jeremy could stop him, pulled his shirt out of his jeans far enough to get a good look at Jeremy’s abs. “Very nice.”

“Just chill, Kit.” Another guy shook his head and tugged Kit away. “You’ll scare him off before dinner even starts.”

Jeremy wasn’t thrilled with the grabby hands and hoped his client—whoever it might be—wouldn’t take liberties the way his fellow serving boys did.

“Let me give you tonight’s assignments.” Thomas spoke up to get their attention over the ensuing chatter. Jeremy was glad since he noticed some of it was speculation about him.

“Please let me have Mr. Gray.” Kit sashayed up to Thomas and tried to pull the clipboard out of his hand. The same law-abiding guy pulled him back.

“Sorry, Kit. You’ve got Mr. Yellow.”

“Oh, not so bad. I didn’t know he was coming tonight.” Kit grinned. “Or at least he will be,” he added in a singsong that had the others laughing.

“We’ve one new client, Mr. Green.”

“Let me have him!” It was another guy.

“Sorry, Rand, I think you’re a bit too much for him. I can’t have any of you scaring him off either. I think Jeremy will serve Mr. Green.” Thomas nodded at Jeremy. “He seems a little shy, so maybe you two will be a good match.”

“Okay.” Jeremy wasn’t sure if he’d been insulted or given an easy task. So far no one here seemed shy. But he needed to learn the ropes and figure out precisely what was expected of him as a serving boy.

Thomas gave out the rest of the assignments. Each client had a color-coded name, reminding Jeremy of the Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs. He hoped like hell tonight wouldn’t end up the same way, with everyone dead or wishing they were.

Once Thomas left, one of the guys came up to Jeremy. “I’m Rand. Been here the longest, so I’ll walk you through your duties. And if you’re not sure what to do, just ask me.”

“Okay.”

“First here’s your costume.” Rand handed Jeremy a box. “Open it up.”

Jeremy opened up the flaps and pulled out the flimsy pieces. Some thin filmy fabric, gold cord and not much else. “This is a costume?”

“Yeah. Every dinner has a theme. We’re Greek slave boys tonight. Tonight’s dinner has six courses, and there are six items in each costume. You take one off after you serve each course.”

Jeremy swallowed. Well, Thomas had told him he’d be taking his clothes off. He hadn’t realized quite how this would work, but it seemed easy enough. “That’s it?”

“You let your gentleman choose which piece you remove.”

“Then I take it off, right?”

“Yeah. Or if you let the gentleman do it, you get paid more.”

“Just taking clothes off? No one’s going to put their hands on me or request a lap dance or expect me to suck them off?”

Kit giggled in the background. “Only if you want to, pecan pie. And you may want to.”

Rand shook his head. “You only do what you want. If your guy asks for something, you can say no. You aren’t allowed to offer anything, or we can get in trouble for soliciting sex. There’s a menu—coded of course—and the gentlemen can ‘order’ something extra. You just let yours know which menu items are available.”

[Read the NSFW preview]

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About the Author

EM Lynley writes gay erotic romance. She loves books where the hero gets the guy and the loving is 11 on a scale of 10. A Rainbow Award winner and EPIC finalist, EM has worked in high finance, high tech, and in the wine industry, though she’d rather be writing hot, romantic man-on-man action. She spent 10 years as an economist and financial analyst, including a year as a White House Staff Economist, but only because all the intern positions were filled. Tired of boring herself and others with dry business reports and articles, her creative muse is back and naughtier than ever. She has lived and worked in London, Tokyo and Washington, D.C., but the San Francisco Bay Area is home for now.

She is the author of Sex, Lies & Wedding Bells, the Precious Gems series from Dreamspinner Press, and the Rewriting History series starring a sexy jewel thief, among others.

Visit her online Website – Blog – Free Reads – Facebook – Twitter – Newsletter – Pinterest

Email: em@emlynley.com

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It’s amazing to realize the Delectable Series has eight stories, including the two bonus editions. Though each one is a standalone, there are a few characters who cross into other stories briefly. I’m thinking it might be time for more interaction between the couples. What characters would you like to see meet in a future story? Who would you like to know more about?

Don’t forget, the royalties from An Extra Helping of Gingerbread go to Family Builders, an organization that helps LGBTQ foster kids find safe loving homes. It was inspired by the issues I learned about while researching the foster care system during the writing of Gingerbread Palace.

POLLS

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END POLL

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It’s the end of September. You’ve got about a month until NaNoWriMo starts. Seems like plenty of time, right? Some of you are wondering why I’m already talking about NaNo when it doesn’t even start until November 1.

Because writing and finishing a book takes more than just the 30 days you’re planning to spend working on it during November. If this is your first time considering doing NaNoWriMo, or you’ve tried before and didn’t quite make your 50k, stay tuned because I’ll be sharing with you my tips, advice and some tricks to help you be ready to start writing on November 1, and to get 50k (or a finished story) by November 30.

Take the quick poll below so I can see what your biggest concerns are about participating. I’ll be addressing as many of these as I can before and during November, to help you hit 50k.

What makes me an expert, you may be asking. And that’s a great question. I’ve been doing NaNo for about ten years now, and have hit the 50k goal every year. Most years I’ve finished an even longer novel by November 30. And these novels have been contracted and released by a publisher—not self-published. (Bound for Trouble was my 2013 NaNo project.)

I’ve collected the worksheets and techniques I use for developing a novel into an easy-to-use novel planning kit, How to Be a NaNoWriMo Winner.

Giveaway: Leave a comment for the chance to win a copy of my book How to Be a NaNoWriMo Winner

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