Bad Blogger! Bad!

Hello Fellow Writers!

I've been a very naughty blogger. I haven't been blogging nearly as much as I used to and/or should. Real life has gotten in the way, I suppose. I moved to Florida, and almost three weeks later I'm still surrounded by boxes. When I have a spare moment I want to write or edit... and the blog posts have fallen by the wayside.

I'm not sure how much of an effect blogging has on my book sales, to be honest. Actually, I am sure. There's been very little correlation between how much I blog and how many book I sell. I couldn't be sure of that before when I was only publishing through publishers, but now that I've added self-publishing to the mix I'm able to view my sales in real time, and I can see if I get a spike in sales or not based on my online efforts.

I've found, (and you may find something different, perhaps) that I'll sell books based on Tweeting a tagline and link on Twitter, but not if the same thing is on Facebook, and not if the same thing is in a blog post. Posting excerpts might result in a few sales, but it's hard to tell. Every sale counts, yes, and more importantly every reader counts.

Don't worry - I'm not giving up on blogging  - because I enjoy having a long-form communication with other writers and readers (and I'm definitely not giving up on Facebook because I love seeing you guys on there!) But I'm no longer frantic that if I forget to update my blog for a month (or *cough* longer, oops!) that everything I've worked for will go to waste. It's kind of a nice feeling! :)

Speaking of blog posts, I'm still posting once a month over at Flirty Author Bitches. This month I shared all four of my new book covers for my upcoming Dominatrix Fantasy Series! What do you think?

http://flirtyauthorbitches.com/2012/01/dominatrix-fantasy-covers/

I'm Moving!

Hello Fellow Writers!

Well, to my great dismay, NaNoWriMo didn't exactly work out for me this month. That's because life happened - we put our house on the market, which turned my writing time into decluttering and packing time. And my husband got a job in Port St Lucie, Florida - which means we are moving out of New York!

I'm going to miss all of my friends, and my son's wonderful school, and my RWA chaptermates. I'm also going to miss being near my parents, but when we move to Port St Lucie we'll be near DH's parents and more family as well, so it evens out :)

The best part is, we'll be leaving this:

 For this!

BEDHEAD is here!!

Hello Fellow Writers!

My erotic romance BEDHEAD is available now from Ellora's Cave! If you follow me on Twitter, you know of Bedhead as my "bald virgin heroine book" :)

Here's the blurb:

A book in the Skin Deep series.

Michele Peterson is young, pretty, healthy…and bald. Being a woman with alopecia isn’t easy—not only do strangers treat her as if she’s a cancer patient, but hiding her bald head under a wig is hard on her sex life. Michele can’t shower with a lover or feel his hands tangled in her hair in the throes of passion. So at the age of twenty-six, she remains a virgin. Then a generous benefactor agrees to finance hair transplant surgery. Just in time too, because Michele thinks she’s met The One.

Andrew Calhoun doesn’t understand why the incredible woman he’s falling for is so distant—pulling away just as he thinks they’re making a connection. When he discovers her secret, he’ll have to make her realize that bald really is beautiful—before she goes through a potentially dangerous cosmetic surgery just for his sake. And the best way to make her feel desirable…is in bed.

***

The excerpt is a bit too adults-only for this blog, so I'll just link to it here.

Buy Bedhead in any ebook format at Ellora's Cave here. It will also be available wherever ebooks are sold soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello Fellow Writers!

I love NaNoWriMo. I've been known to go word count crazy and write over 80k in a month. But this month life happened and my word count took the hit. This doesn't upset me because I'm so super excited about what's going on (can't share yet, sorry! But it's not book related - it's life related, and no I'm not pregnant).

My new goal for NaNoWriMo is to write the second and third novellas (about 10-15k words each) in the Dominatrix Fantasy Series. If I can do that I'm a happy camper. If I can't, then I have a really really really good excuse ....which I can't tell you about at the moment.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and my bald virgin heroine book BEDHEAD releases on Black Friday from Ellora's Cave. (Oh, what's that you say? You want to read the excerpt? Okay. Click here.)

Here's what... or rather *who* I'm grateful for:

• My readers. You are the reason I write. Without you, I am writing into the abyss.
• My Darling Husband, my real life HEA.
• My son. *smooches*
• You. My friends and Tweeps and fellow writers, for totally understanding the urge to sit at a computer and spend countless hours working with no guarantee of financial reward or even of finding an audience. When you gotta write, you gotta write.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, guys. I love you all!

Yours Truly,
Shoshanna

My Bald Virgin Heroine book

I'm over at Flirty Author Bitches with an adults-only excerpt from my upcoming Ellora's Cave novella, BEDHEAD. Come say hi!

http://flirtyauthorbitches.com/2011/11/bedhead/

Tips for Writing Steampunk

Hello Fellow Writers!
Please welcome an incredible author, here to tell us about writing Steampunk, one of the hottest new genres right now. Heather knows what she's talking about - I've read her Steampunk, and damn it is *good*.

Tips for Writing Steampunk
By Heather Hiestand


Thanks for allowing me to visit today, Shoshanna, and discuss one of my favorite topics!

Steampunk is an exciting buzzword in the writing field right now, but what is it? From my point of view, it is a form of alternative history literature which involves gadgets, often based on Victorian steam technology. That’s the steam part. The other part, the “punk,” is some level of rebellious attitude. While my steampunk has been based in Victorian London, writers have taken it all over the universe and all through time. It’s the gadgets and attitude that really make steampunk.

Here are starting points that a writer needs to consider:

1. What time period are you going to choose? If it is historical, what caused your timeline to veer off established tracks? Some kind of invention, crisis, what? If your setting is completely imagined, what makes this a fruitful steampunk environment?

2. Gadgets! Common are airships, ray guns, computers and automatons (robots). Make up your own! In Captain Andrew’s Flying Christmas, I have the three of the four listed above, as well as advanced spyglasses and metal-eating beetles.

3. Clothing! Character style is very important in most steampunk tales. Usually, historical Victorian clothing is the departure point, from whatever country you are focusing on. Corsets, frock coats, hats and boots. Body jewelry or upgrades? Don’t forget the goggles!

4. Social mores. Once again, the formality of Victorian times is usually the starting point. Are you going to concern yourself with the plight of the poor and social inequalities? Are your characters upper crust, villains or working class? Or any variation in between?

5. Paranormal elements? When steampunk first hit the genre fiction mainstream over the past couple years, vampires in particular had found a new home. I’ve also seen werewolves, wizards and Native American magic. Will you include elements of magic or is it all about the science for you?

6. Attitude? What are your characters struggling against? Are they outcasts from society norms?

7. Society? Open, regressive, dangerous?

Some authors I have enjoyed reading recently that might help you to obtain additional insight to my comments are Meljean Brook, Scott Westerfeld, Gail Carringer, Lindsay Buroker and Crista McHugh. Anthologies of steampunk tales are beginning to proliferate, such as Steampunk! Edited by Kelly Link and Gavin Grant.

Heather Hiestand’s latest release is steampunk romance novella Captain Andrew’s Flying Christmas.

Blurb:
Housemaid Linet Fenna would rather be an air pirate than a servant. When she finds the ladder to an airship dangling outside her garret window on Christmas Eve, 1892, she ascends to the skies above London on her late father’s flagship dirigible, the Christmas. The new captain is someone she never expected to see again, a dangerous, sexy foe. Is the Fenna family nemesis offering Linet her heart’s desire or a dastardly trap?

Captain Andrew’s motivations are as foggy as the coal-soaked sky. Prime Minister Gladstone’s Blockaders, a horde of automen and a teenage girl named Hatchet want Linet to fail in her quest to discover what happened to her missing family, but she is determined to have a happy Christmas.

Captain Andrew’s Flying Christmas is a 16,000-word steampunk romance novella.

Captain Andrew’s Flying Christmas links:

Amazon

Smashwords

Barnes & Noble


All Romance eBooks

Win an copy of Snowed in With the Tycoon!

Hello Fellow Writers!

I'm over at the Goddess Fish Blog, where I'll be posting a few blog posts and excerpts throughout the day. One commenter will win a $10 Amazon or B&N gift card, and I'll be giving away an e-copy of Snowed in With the Tycoon, a sexy contemporary romance - so please head over and say hi!
http://goddessfishparty.blogspot.com/