Wednesday 25 September 2013

Smashwords or Draft2Digital?

In my experience I'd say both. I joined Smashwords in 2011. After struggling with their formatting I finally got the hang of it and loaded the majority of my books there. 

Earlier this year I was on Kindleboards and I heard about Draft2Digtal. I was unsure at the time,I didn't want to move all my books over there without really thinking about it. I did a little research and found out that quite a few people were raving about it. So I decided that with my next release I would try it out. I joined Draft2Digital in May and I haven't been disappointed. 

Why both?

Smashwords has a lot more sale venues than Draft2Digital. It's always important to have your books in as many places as possible. If you want your book to go free at Barnes & Noble you can only do this through Smashwords so before loading a book, think about whether or not you'd like to promo it by making it free. Smashwords Mark Coker is great! He really does have the authors best interests at heart. Every time I sent him an email he always answered. That for me has been a very important thing for me. Yes there are some glitches with Smashwords but with everything it's a learning process. So for now, for books I want to go free go off to Smashwords. Every book tittle is often loaded to Smashwords, I just decide which vendors I'm going to send them to. 

What about Draft2Digital? I love Draft2Digital, it's like the new speed train that takes you from one destination to another in half the time. My books are uploaded and appear the very same day at Barnes & Noble and Kobo but apple not so. But this isn't their fault. At the moment Apple is dragging their feet when it comes to reviewing erotica, it can now take up to 25weeks so I'm told but that's another story for a different time. Yes Draft2Digital are the best when it comes to speed. They update sales figures as close to real time as you can get, this is great because you can get to see how each book is performing and make adjustments accordingly.  Just today they released a new reporting system which I'm loving. Smashwords is a little slow on the reporting which I find a little annoying. 

With Draft2Digital you can create multiple pen names which works to my advantage, unfortunately Smashwords looses marks on this one. With Smashwords you either have to create a publisher account or create a new account under a new pen name. This is a hassle for me seeing that I have a tax treaty with the US. That means I don't pay tax, it took ages for me to get this sorted out with Smashwords. When I finally sent my W-8BEN I had to wait a long time before it was finally sorted. The forms are done in batches. I don't think I have the patience to go through this again. With Draft2Digital this was as easy as pie, I sent my form via email and every thing was sorted quickly, like I said, speed train! 

The last thing I want to mention is the payment options. Draft2Digital offer direct deposits which work out better for me. I don't have to endure the paypal fees and the exchange rate is a lot better. I find that with my Kindle sales. Every penny I make is important and to loose some of it to a fees is annoying. But hey things could be worse.  

So in conclusion I would say use both. I never pulled any of my books that were at Smashwords and I still load every book to both. I think that having them both is the benefit to authors in different ways. We now have more choices and we can do so much more. It helps me to focus more on my writing and not having to worry about where to load my books.  

I hope you found this helpful 

Wednesday 11 September 2013

FORBIDDEN FRUIT - Selena Kitt

FORBIDDEN FRUIT BLURB
Leah and Erica have been best friends and have gone to the same Catholic school since just about forever. Leah spends so much time with the Nolans--just Erica and her handsome father now, since Erica's mother died--that she's practically part of the family. When the girls find something naughty under Mr. Nolan's bed, their strict, repressive upbringing makes it all the more exciting as they begin their sexual experimentation. Leah's exploration presses deeper, and eventually she finds herself in love for the first time, torn between her best friend and her best friend's father.
NOTE TO READERS: This story appeared in another, now rather infamous book of mine (UNDER MR. NOLAN'S BED). This tale, previously titled Plaid Skirt Confessions, is a slightly less naughty, but no less sexy re-telling of those events--updated and redressed for your reading pleasure with an ending that may leave you a little more satisfied.
Warnings: This title contains erotic situations, lesbian sex, sex toys, and also makes mention of pornography, salmon, amusement parks, chocolate covered strawberries, brownies (as well as girl scouts), plaid skirts, naughty uses for confessionals and some sacrilegious humor.
BUY LINK (Just Kindle)
EXCERPT
“Did she go home?” I whispered, conscious of Erica sleeping in the other room.
He swallowed and shook his head. His eyes were pleading with me, trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t understand. “No. She’s sleeping in my bed.”
“Why?” I felt tears stinging my eyes and I willed them not to fall. “What did I do?”
He sighed, closing his eyes and running a hand through his hair. “Oh Leah. Nothing. Everything. I don’t know.”
“Do you really like her?” I whispered, blinking fast and taking a step toward him. He didn’t move back, and we were almost belly to belly. “Is she…is she what you want?”
He opened his eyes and looked down at me, arms hanging at his sides, head down. He looked defeated. “No.”
“Then why?” I hissed, shoving at his chest with the flat of my palm. “You asked her out again! You cooked her dinner! You slept with her! Why?”
“I don’t know!” He shook his head. “Why did you do what you did? Putting the magazines and videos on my bed? Was it supposed to scare her off?”
I sighed, crossing my arms. “That was Erica’s idea, not mine.“Erica?” He frowned. 
I shrugged, acting like I didn’t care if he believed me. “This isn’t fair.”
“No,” he admitted, moving forward a little, lifting my chin. “It’s really not.”
“I just want to know why.” I met his eyes. I felt my chin quivering in his hand and tried to stop it, but I couldn’t. “Please just tell me why.”
“You want to know why?” His eyes flashed in the dimness, moving over my face. “Fine, I’ll tell you why. For the same reason I was sitting here at one in the morning, waiting for you.”
I stared up at him, eyes wide. 
He shook his head, looking pained. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Leah. Everywhere I go, everything I do, there you are. I can’t get you out of my head.”
My throat and chest tightened at his words and I nodded. I knew exactly how he felt.
“I thought…” He swallowed, his hand moving down my neck, over my shoulder, his gaze following the curve there. “I thought that if I moved on, I could stop this crazy thinking. This feeling I have for you…”
“What feeling?” I pressed against him. “Tell me.”
“Leah…” He whispered my name, using his thumb to rub over my lips. “I took her to bed tonight, yes, I did. I fucked her senseless, until I couldn’t see straight—” His words shot arrows into my heart and I felt the sting of them in my chest. “And every time I closed my eyes, I saw your face.” He pressed me back toward the counter with the weight of his body. “It wasn’t her I was touching or kissing or fucking—it was you, Leah. Every minute I was with her, I was wishing it was you.”
“Oh god.” I reached up and put my arms around his neck and pulled his mouth down to mine. 
It was like sinking into something dark and warm and soft, the safest place I’d ever been. 
AUTHOR BIO
Selena Kitt is a bestselling and award-winning author of erotic romance fiction and erotica. OVER A MILLION BOOKS SOLD! Her writing embodies everything from the spicy to the scandalous.
When she's not pawing away at her keyboard, Selena runs an innovative publishing company (excessica.com). She does bellydancing and photography, and she loves four poster beds, tattoos, voyeurism, blindfolds, velvet, baby oil, the smell of leather, and playing kitty cat.
Her books EcoErotica (2009), The Real Mother Goose (2010) and Heidi and the Kaiser (2011) were all Epic Award Finalists. Her gay male romance, Second Chance, won the Epic Award in Erotica in 2011. Her FREE story, Connections, was one of the runners-up for the 2006 Rauxa Prize, given annually to an erotic short story of "exceptional literary quality," out of over 1,000 nominees, where awards are judged by a select jury and all entries are read "blind" (without author's name available.)
She can be reached on her website at selenakitt.com

LINKS
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