I'd like to thank everyone for your lovely words of support and encouragement, etc. after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami (and Fukushima crisis).  Hero Material and I are doing fine, and our area remains unaffected despite continuing aftershocks in the disaster area even after three weeks.  We feel blessed to have escaped the disaster, and grateful for our awesome friends.

March was a busy but fantastic month for me.  It started out with fabulous news, which I cannot share yet.  I'll let you know as soon as I can.  :)

After having formatted my manuscripts multiple times for multiple vendors (Smashwords, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook and All Romance eBooks), I've decided to update my How to Format Your Manuscript for Kindle and Nook. If you haven't downloaded the updated version from Smashwords, please do so.  It's free if you've bought a copy already.

And speaking of my formatting guide, I got fabulous reviews from three wonderful authors.

“How to Format Your Manuscript for Kindle and Nook provides simple, concise instructions on how to successfully format your manuscript for publication on both Kindle and Nook without any advanced technical knowledge of HTML or coding. Nadia Lee is a wonderful teacher and her guide lays out a clear path to creating great-looking ebooks.” — Ilona Andrews

“This is a wonderful little book. I was able to follow the clear instructions very easily and format a short story with no problems.” — Portia Da Costa

“This short guide saved me a lot of headaches. The clear and concise directions made formatting my book for the Kindle very easy and I would definitely recommend this.” — Katie Reus

I'm totally flattered that my guide was helpful.  :)  I also had a great freelance project helping the lovely Dana Mentink put her novel on Kindle, Nook and ARe.  It was interesting to see how different Word document styles can affect the conversion process.  (I basically stripped everything down to the basics to do it.)

All Romance eBooks
Amazon US :: Amazon UK
B&N Nook :: Smashwords
Sony eBook Store

March also saw some focused effort to promote Carnal Secrets on my part after the soft release last month.  I had multiple opportunities to do guest blog posts.  Here are the links in case you missed them:

• Read the Fine Print, hosted by Zoe Winters — The Importance of reading contracts carefully and why I ended up declining a publisher's offer to publish Carnal Secrets.
• Walking Away Can Be Hard, hosted by Kait Nolan — The emotional impact walking away can have on writers.
• Small Press v. Self-Publication, hosted by Love Romance Passion — The advantages and disadvantages of having a publisher versus doing it all on your own.
• Distribution, DRM and Geo Restrictions, hosted by Pearl's World of Romance — The thorny problem called distribution and how to reach as many readers as possible, no matter where they live!
• Creating a Cover Art with Non-White Characters, hosted by Monkey Bear Reviews — The nervousness I felt at creating a cover with non-white characters, given the controversies over white-washed covers, etc.
• The Ideal Reader: Is She Really Ideal? hosted by Dear Author — What the (seemingly) ideal reader is to the Big Six, and how that doesn't foster lifelong love of reading.
• Three Qualities of Effective (and Possibly Successful) Indie Writers, hosted by Babbling about Books and More — Three qualities authors need to self-publish effectively.

I've also gotten two fabulous reviews from Pearl and Lorien.

Pearl wrote: 

…a rich and layered read, subtle in the sexual scenes but intense in the romance and emotional parts.

Lorien wrote: 

A fantastic read with intriguing characters and heartfelt emotions. The flow of the story was well-written. This is a must-read book if you're a fan of steamy contemporary romance and exciting plot.

And the lovely @SarahTanner tweeted me earlier this week:

You have a new fan! A RL friend called me today to say thanks for the Carnal Secrets rec. She raved about it for a good 10 mins :D

Thank you, ladies, for your lovely reviews and all the word of mouth.  :)

A few people have asked me if I plan to write a sequel to Carnal Secrets.  I wish I had the time to do it, but this year isn't looking very good.  I'm trying very hard to finish a full-length novel WIP, plus edit another full-length novel in addition to having a baby this summer.  Hopefully when those projects are finished, I can sit down and think about a possible sequel.  (Yes, I find Ethan and Kerri rather intriguing… ;) )

Hope you all have a fantastic April!  Talk to you soon!

I got some awesome testimonials / reviews from writers who used How to Format Your Manuscript for Kindle and Nook to create ebooks. Needless to say I'm thrilled that my guide was helpful to them as that was my primary reason for writing it.

“How to Format Your Manuscript for Kindle and Nook provides simple, concise instructions on how to successfully format your manuscript for publication on both Kindle and Nook without any advanced technical knowledge of HTML or coding. Nadia Lee is a wonderful teacher and her guide lays out a clear path to creating great-looking ebooks.” — Ilona Andrews

“This is a wonderful little book. I was able to follow the clear instructions very easily and format a short story with no problems.” — Portia Da Costa

“This short guide saved me a lot of headaches. The clear and concise directions made formatting my book for the Kindle very easy and I would definitely recommend this.” — Katie Reus

Click here to learn more about How to Format Your Manuscript for Kindle and Nook.
Buy: Smashwords

Pearl of Pearl's World of Romance has written a lovely review of Carnal Secrets:

I really enjoyed reading CARNAL SECRETS. The start (first chapter) felt a lot like a category romance (Presents/Blaze-like), complete with the corporate setting and the revenge trope. As I went into this read fairly blank I was pleasantly surprised by this and was immediately curious about the rest.

And the rest absolutely did not disappoint. It was the perfect combination of pace, story and details/descriptions. Normally I'm not a fan of descriptive writing but the balance with the dialogues in CARNAL SECRETS was so good I really enjoyed it. Throughout the book, the back-stories of the main characters come across loud and clear without being intrusive with the romance and this is something not all authors that I read achieve easily.

The secondary characters were subtly portrayed and they all contributed to the story and the back-stories. Some I really liked as characters, others I disliked with gusto. There were a few very intriguing secondary characters of which I hope Nadia Lee will have the opportunity to write their story.

In conclusion, CARNAL SECRETS is a rich and layered read, subtle in the sexual scenes but intense in the romance and emotional parts.

(emphasis mine)

Read Excerpt »
Buy eBook: All Romance EBooks :: Kindle US :: Kindle UK :: Nook :: Smashwords :: Sony eBook Store

Soleil Noir of Black Sun Reviews has written a lovely review of A Happily Ever After of Her Own:

I'm quite impressed by how well the author developed Melinda and the Beast’s chemistry in the limited amount of time they had together without it giving off a “rushed” feel. The novella has a very wistful feel about, very much an escapist read… For any lover of Fairy Tales and those of us who always wonder “What Happens after Happily Ever After?”

Read A Happily Ever After of Her Own Excerpt
Buy: All Romance EBooks :: Kindle US :: Kindle UK :: Nook :: Smashwords

As you know I'm totally excited about the Winter Olympic Games, and I love connecting with other people via Twitter. Not too long ago, I met A Buckeye Girl Reads (a.k.a. Colette / @buckeyegirl31) while discussing figure skating, esp. Sasha Cohen's “comeback”, with Heather (@BookObsessedGrl). This is an Olympic year, so of course we got talking. ;)

So color me surprised when Colette Twittered me on Monday and told me how much she loved A Happily Ever After of Her Own. I hadn't even realized she'd subscribed to my newsletter to access the novella. So of course, when she asked me if she could review it, I said, “Sure!”

Without further ado, here is the main part of her fabulous review of A Happily Ever After of Her Own:

I was glad I waited until all 9 chapters were out to read the whole thing, because I couldn't get enough of Melinda's story. It's a delightful story & it's for those of us who have always wondered what happened after the words “happily ever after” were written in the fairy tales we read. The problem I normally have with novellas that are this short is that I have a really hard time getting into the storyline & characters because they are just over too fast. Not so with this one. I loved Melinda's spirit, and the Beast is so swoon-worthy. I might be a little bit biased because I've gotten to know Nadia over the last month or so through twitter, but I think I would have loved the story even if I didn't know her. While this book doesn't have a Christmas theme, the storyline of doing what's right, and thinking of others first, definitely fits in with what Christmas is all about. The chapters are fairly short, and it's a perfect read for during the week.

The first two chapters from Nadia Lee‘s A Happily Ever After of Her Own are available here and here. The rest of the novella is for newsletter subscribers only. You can sign up here. It's free to join. I just can't say how much I loved this novella — but I'm not biased or anything. :)

Sigh Meter: High
Swoon Meter: High
Sweetness Meter: High
Cheesy Line Meter: A few here and there (A romance wouldn't be a romance without them!)

Thank you, Colette! :wub:

P.S. Colette reviews lots of books. You should totally check out her blog when you aren't sure about what to read next, etc.