Hot Diggity ~ I'm a Bestseller!

Well, this doesn't mean too much, just as most "bestselling author!" claims don't mean diddly once you start getting to the bottom of them, but I've never before had this minor distinction. It appears that for an undoubtedly fleeting while, Bastards and Pretty Boys has been Liquid Silver's bestselling title at ARe (that's All Romance eBooks). LSB doesn't have hundreds and hundreds of books there -- somewhere between 130 and 140, I'd guess -- but at least one of mine temporarily made it to the top of the pile.

You can check on this claim if you want, but it's kind of a pain in the butt. You have to do a "publisher" search by entering Liquid Silver in the box, then, once you get to their listings, click on the "bestselling" tab. But frickin' do it FAST, because I'll probably be bumped from the spot within a day . . . or even hours.

I'm really, really grateful to the readers who gave me this birthday present. Really grateful.



But -- YO! -- what's with this shit? Somebody stole Hosea Booker and put him in a different time and a different place and . . . and . . . saddled him with a woman! No, that's not going to work.

New Day, Good Day

A lakeside summer idyll,

a budding romance . . .

and jealousy gone horribly awry.

(Available NOW at Liquid Silver Books. Click on post title to get there.)

Bastards and Pretty Boys has a publisher!

Thrilled to announce that my contemporary m/m romance, Bastards and Pretty Boys, has been accepted by Liquid Silver Books. This will be my second book with them. (InDescent was the first, but the two stories are not related.)

I'm really growing fond of this company. Its incredible staff practically radiates professionalism combined with personal warmth, and they're all so very, very helpful. LSB is a real boon to the e-publishing community . . . and that ain't no bull.

The book nobody wants is now...WANTED.

Yeehah! Third time's a charm. InDescent apparently doesn't violate the editorial standards of Liquid Silver's "Molten Silver" GLBT line, so there it shall be published. Jackson Spey and Adin Swift will once again appear on the world's stage. (Well, at least the little ebook-world stage, which is plenty good enough for me!)

This brings up some interesting aspects of the writing biz. I believe I've mentioned them before, but they bear repeating. A relationship or even story arc can't always be carried to completion at a single company. There are a number of possible reasons for this.

Sometimes companies fold. Sometimes they're horribly mismanaged and/or their owners turn out to be turdwads; as a result, writers fall out of love with them and choose to go elsewhere. Sometimes, it's simply a case of "wrong fit."

Although Jackson and Adin had their first significant encounter at Ellora's Cave, they couldn't have subsequent encounters there. The HEA or HFN ending to any EC book cannot be compromised. So, I couldn't bring these two men together without dragging Adin's girlfriend into the mix -- something I staunchly refused to do. (Loony as it sounds, the characters resisted it, too.) It was at Changeling Press, in the novella Obsessed, that Jackson and Adin got together. Securely ... if you know what I mean. ;-)

BUT Changeling couldn't take InDescent. At nearly 70k words, the novel far exceeds their length limit. And because of its unconventional plot construction, it wasn't appropriate for Loose Id, either. (Understand that I have great respect for both companies and fully appreciate their rationale. EC's, too, for that matter. Their editors make decisions, as they should, in accordance with their companies' guidelines.)

So, I toddled along with my oddball book in tow. A speed bump here, a roadblock there. It's part of the business. Not every book is appropriate for every publisher, and no writer should blame a company for adhering to its business model. Writers can, however, throw blame at snotty, self-important editors who autonomously make decisions based on personal whim rather than professional standards. Those are the true villains in any given submission drama. Thank goodness they're few and far between.