Buy Highland Eclipse

Buy Highland Games

Powered by Blogger.

Buy Highlander Reborn

Buy Highland Destiny

Buy The Broken Highlander

Buy The Broken Highlander
Free! The Broken Highlander

Amethyst Heat Free

Amethyst Heat

Follow Me on Bookbub

Follow Me on Bookbub
Follow Me on Bookbub

Celtic Hearts RWA

Followers

Blog Archive

Saturday, December 31, 2016

All Romance eBooks is Closing Download Your Library Now!

I'm not sure how many of you have heard, but the vendor All Romance eBooks is closing. The CEO Lori James gave us authors about 4 days' warning to get everything in order and...wait for it...not be paid for the fourth quarter.

Right?!

Well, technically, we'll be paid $.10 on the dollar, if we agree to their terms. I haven't yet. And guess what? I magically have no sales this quarter! I've got 30 sales of my free book listed, though. I don't make a ton of money from ARe, in fact, my self published books probably bring in about $5-$10 a quarter. BUT there are always sales. Now, there are none. I'm hearing from other authors, that in the space of just days, their sales have been dropping. So when I log in, I see a table that shows me which book, how many downloads, etc. People are seeing their books that have already been sold dropping. Shady, shady, shady.

A friend had $59 two days ago. Today it shows $57. It might not be much, but she isn't even getting what she's earned, now it's dropping? That's BS. I'm getting $0 instead of my normal $5-10, or I guess, my $.50 that they want to pay me instead. Thanks a lot. The Ellora's Cave lawsuit of Dear Author really set a crappy precedent for all of us watching. We now know how expensive and time consuming it is to deal with a lawsuit, so it's definitely not worth $70K+ to sue for my $5.

As a reader, how does this affect you? If you have bought any books at ARe ever, you will lose your entire library at midnight tonight. They didn't even tell their readers, or give them any time to download hundreds of books. The site will go dark, the email links will die, and instead of giving everyone a fighting chance by leaving the site up for a few months, the entire place is going dark. I've even heard reports of readers losing books out of their library when they go to download. I repeat, shady.

Writer Beware has a really good summary of the email we were sent, if you want to read the full post.

I'll clip the part that's from the email, because I think it's important you guys see it.

On Wednesday, December 28, All Romance eBooks--a romance-specific ebook distributor and publisher that also distributes general fiction and nonfiction through its OmniLit imprint--dropped a bombshell. In mass emails to customers and authors, ARe's owner, Lori James, revealed that her company was closing, and that in lieu of full payment, authors and publishers would be offered a fraction of what they were owed.

The exact why of the ARe closing remains a mystery (the emails make generic references to losses and poor financial forecasts, but provide no specifics). As to the what, here's what we know so far.

- The ARe website is going dark at midnight on December 31, 2016. Customers were given just four days to use their credits, download their purchases, and backup their libraries. Authors were given just four days to decide whether to accept ARe's offers of "settlement".

- ARe is offering just 10 cents on the dollar to authors whose books it distributed. Per the email, "We will be unable to remit Q4 2016 commissions in full and are proposing a settlement of 10 cents on the dollar (USD) for payments received through 27 December 2016."

- ARe is offering no payment at all--zip, zero--to authors whose books it published. In a different email, published authors are offered rights reversion on condition that they consider this "a negotiated settlement of your account to be 'paid in full'.

- In order to receive these settlements, ARe is requiring authors to waive their right to pursue legal redress. They must agree that "no further legal action be taken with regards to the above referenced commissions owed."

- ARe is staying open until December 31, but is offering settlement only on payments received through December 27. Romance Writers of America, in a statement on the closing, calls this four-day no-payment zone "unconscionable."

- ARe is saying nothing--publicly at least--about reimbursing 2017 advertising purchases. Just days before the closure announcement, ARe sent out an email soliciting ad buys. Many authors took advantage, or had already bought ads.

- ARe is doing all of this because, it claims, it wants to avoid filing for bankruptcy. "It is [our] sincere hope that we will be able to settle this account and avoid filing for bankruptcy, which would undoubtedly be a prolonged and costly process." Yes, it would--and it would also make ARe accountable to its creditors.





Sunday, December 18, 2016

Some Fun Tidbits

By now, you guys know that I'm writing Hockey Romances with a slight paranormal twist as Kenzie MacLir. In D'Tale Magazine reviewed our anthology Icing the Puck and it's a great review. I'll link it here, so you can read it on the site.
In D'Tale is a free e-magazine, and I always enjoy getting it in my inbox every month. 



Next up, I was interviewed by Book List by Robin Bradford, and it was pretty fun. We talk self-publishing, libraries, Highlanders, and hockey players.
You guys should check it out!



The Romance Reviews has also given us a fab review!Click on the icon for the whole review.
 For those who love their sports romances, these stories deliver on the action, both on and off the ice. 



And some more good news! The third anthology in the New York Empires series is a go! The Kenzie MacLir story will called Against the Boards. Release date tbd. I'll keep you guys all updated. 

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Icing the Puck

So for a little while now, Heather Lire and I have been working on a super secret thing, and together we are Kenzie MacLir...

And now, I can tell you, we have a novella in the Hockey Anthology Icing the Puck! Our story follows the further adventures of the New York Empires. The first book is called Going All In. We've joined the wonderful authors Isabo Kelly and Stacey Agdern who have created some fantastic hockey players!

 As of now, both books are $.99 for a limited time. 

Pre-orders for Icing the Puck are set at all major ebook retailers, and I can't tell you how excited I am about this. 

I love my Highlanders, and I've got some news coming on that front too, but right now, I'm enjoying the sexy Norse hockey god we've written. Hopefully you will too!

I played hockey for my university for a few years, so hopefully all you hockey fans won't feel like the authors have never watched a game in their lives! 

Pre-Order links here:


Amazon         Kobo        iBooks        Smashwords        Barnes and Noble 
                                             All Romance eBooks



And now, the amazing cover...






The New York Empires are back…this time three new players will find their HEA and maybe a little more.
Light the Lamp by Isabo Kelly
Geneticist Dr. Ann Bell never thought she’d have a normal life or a normal relationship. She moves to New York hoping her “Devil’s spawn” half sister can help her control the fire curse that’s haunted her her whole life. Without help, Ann fears she’ll kill someone. Finding a confusing, handsome, overwhelming hockey player was never part of the plan. But when that man proves to be someone she could love, things get a lot more complicated for Ann.

New York Empires defenseman Brody Evans never expects to find the woman of his dreams wandering the physical therapy center. He’s never met anyone like Ann Bell, and he wants more from her than any other woman before. But Ann’s keeping a secret that could tear them apart. For the first time in his life, Brody feels helpless. He’s a fighter, though, and Ann is a woman he’ll fight for, no matter what it takes.


Crossing the Lines by Stacey Agdern
Kayleigh Emerson knows that she shouldn’t get involved with a teammate of her brother’s. But the chemistry between her and rookie sensation Max St. Laurent is unmistakable.

Max St. Laurent is captivated by the talented violinist who happens to be his captain’s sister. Unfortunately, he doesn’t need his unique combination of empathy and telepathy to realize there’ll be problems if he pursues her.

But when mandatory English conversational sessions lead to a fake date that feels all too real, Max and Kayleigh must decide whether to cross the line between friendship and love.

Change It Up by Kenzie MacLir

Reiner Jahr is in his second year of playing for the New York Empires. As a boy from SetsÃ¥, Norway, he dreamed of nothing but winning the Stanley Cup, and with his stick-handling skills, it’s close to becoming real. But finding out he’s the son of a god isn’t something he’s equipped to handle, and when he runs into his sister’s best friend at an event for his team, he can’t keep his eyes off her. Suddenly hockey is no longer the only thing on his mind.

Emma Chase loves her job with the local Special Olympics organization. Coordinating an event with the New York Empires has been a dream come true. Until she sees Reiner Jahr, her best friend’s big brother. Her teenage crush has developed into so much more. Seeing him again brings all her youthful feelings racing back. Their meeting sets in motion a chain of events that will forever change her.

What can they do when changes happen both on and off the ice?






Friday, January 15, 2016

Highland Destiny and Kobo

Hi guys! In November I was tweeting a Kobo discount code and the links to my books when I realized I couldn't find Highland Destiny there. Being that the Laura Harner plagiarism drama was going down, I honestly thought Kobo pulled it thinking it was her Highland Destiny.

 (if you want to know more about her plagiarism, Jenny Trout has a good summary here and here Quick and dirty is I can't prove she plagiarized me, and my publisher can't do anything, but other authors are taking legal action. I've kept silent on the whole thing, because I was very hurt-she was a friend! Perhaps it's just coincidence she used my children's and my names in her books? and my plots, and other similarities?- and I was waiting to hear back from New Concepts Publishing. As of now, her apology was crap, and the RWA has banned her  for life).

But no, it was my Highland Destiny that was missing, and no one at Kobo seems to want to help. My publisher and I have been working since November to get it back up. Smashwords has said that Kobo needed a different size cover image. We re-sized and re-sent. Don't ask me why a book that's been available at Kobo for 5 or 6 years is suddenly not there anymore. 

But the short version is that I'm working hard to get someone at Kobo to answer me and to fix this. In the meantime, Highland Destiny is still up everywhere else! So if you use a Kobo, I think you can side-load an epub so you can grab it at All Romance eBooks and they have rebates and sales quite a bit, so you'll probably get it for cheap. 

I want to apologize again, but unfortunately since it's not self-published, I don't have much control. My publisher and I are working hard to figure out why all the "fixes" we've been told to do haven't fixed the problem. Especially when this isn't a new book! So, bear with us, and fingers crossed we can get Highland Destiny back up at Kobo.

Thanks for understanding, guys, and once more, I'm sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.