When I saw the announcement that Amazon is opening Kindle store in Germany, I never thought my books would be available on Amazon DE as well. But then a few people said, “Hey, our books are showing up!” so I hopped on over to look myself up.

All four of my books are on Amazon DE! W00t! I signed up for their author central program, so my information, etc. is there (though in English…I have no idea how to speak or write German).

So cool. I love it that people can buy ebooks easily in countries served by Amazon DE.

I really didn't want to do this, but I no longer have any choice.

I distribute some of my self-published titles to Diesel, Kobo, Sony and Apple via Smashwords. It came to my attention last week that Kobo discounted books uploaded by Smashwords. I thought maybe it was a one time glitch or something, but it looks like it is not. Furthermore this random and unauthorized discount has a huge financial impact on writers.

Mark Coker responded to the situation:

April 12, 2011 – Bugs of a different variety. Kobo has experienced a glitch that in the last two days that has caused an automatic repricing of some number of Smashwords titles. We don't know how many are affected yet, but I've personally confirmed about 20 books affected in the last two days. I have noticed an initial pattern that in some cases, the prices reverted back to a previous list price, so it might only be affecting authors who raised their prices after first landing at Kobo. Kobo is aware of the problem, and they've escalated it to the highest priority. If you discover your books are affected, click the comments/questions link and send us a direct hyperlink to your book at Kobo, along with a notation of the proper price, and we'll forward the information to Kobo in case they're not aware of it already. Whatever you do, DO NOT opt out. I expect this to be resolved shortly because Kobo doesn't want this error taking place any more than we do.

Here's the thing — I don't trust that Kobo's glitch was a two-day problem because I know it's been going on longer than that. I'm not confident that Kobo can fix it anytime soon. Given that this can impact my pricing at other vendors, including Amazon and Nook, I'm pulling all my titles from Kobo.

In addition, Mark Coker's comments on Kindleboards give me no confidence that Smashwords or Kobo is going to take responsibility for what went wrong, as they seem too busy blaming Amazon for daring to price match. :?

I'm sorry if you happen to like shopping at Kobo. But all my books are priced below $4.00, and I cannot afford to have Kobo's “glitch” mess things up for me at other vendors, especially given that my sales numbers from Kobo are so much smaller than what I get elsewhere (such as Kindle, Nook and Sony).

So here are the updated vendor links for all my titles:

I've been sort of teasing some of you with it. But now it's official. I recently signed a contract with Carina Press to publish The Last Slayer, an urban fantasy with romantic elements.

Unofficial blurb:

Ashera del Cid is a demon hunter who takes great pride in her work, but when she kills a demigod's pet dragon, the hunter becomes the hunted. Her only potential ally is Ramiel, an untrustworthy, sexy-as-hell demon who destroyed her home. Now the two must work together to battle dragons and demigods…and the chemistry sizzling between them.

I'm super psyched since I really love this story. It has a smart-mouthed heroine and lots of immortal hotties with secret agendas. Oh and a hilariously subservient dragon. My agent pitched it as a “fun, fast read — think cotton candy and roller coaster rides, but with swords, magic, and supernaturally hot sex”. It's tentatively scheduled to be released sometime in fall or winter of 2011.

Still stinging from a stringent management review at her workplace, office girl Susie encounters the very last man she wants to meet when she hits her favorite bar to relax and unwind. Gorgeous Noah Stevens is the ruthless company troubleshooter who's been making her life hell for the past three weeks, but after hours, he soon proves that his dedication to “efficiency” can work wonders in the bedroom.

2,900 words = approx 8 pages

N.B. Please be aware that this title contains sensual content that is only suitable for adult readers who are comfortable with frank language and descriptions of erotic scenarios

Author's note: This short story originally appeared in the anthology Passion: Erotic Romance for Women, published by Cleis Press.

Buy eBook: All Romance eBooks :: Amazon Kindle US :: Amazon Kindle UK :: Smashwords

This is Portia's first self-published title. She used my How to Format Your Manuscript for Kindle and Nook to create ebook files to upload to Kindle and All Romance eBooks. Isn't that awesome? :)

Portia is a fabulous writer and one of the sweetest people I know, and I hope you give this story a try!

Given the demand for the guide in Kindle and Nook formats, I've finally decided to put it on Amazon and BN. I have no idea if you can just copy/paste the snippets of code I provide in the book, as you can with the Smashwords edition. Nor do I know if you can just re-download updated editions should there be any. (I have, however, updated the book several times already, and probably will doing so if the process doesn't get too onerous.)

So please buy it from Amazon and BN only if you don't mind the possibility of having to type code yourself and/or the possibility of not having access to the latest updates for free.

• Amazon Kindle US
• BN Nook
• Amazon Kindle UK
• Smashwords

And next week, I'll finally share my secret good news. :)

On Wednesday, Hero Material and I got a chance to visit the Mt. Bandit Chicken Shack. It's some hours away from where we are, but it's fun to go there to chill and eat delicious food.

The main entrance had koinobori (carp streamer).

Sakura were in full bloom.

And our food! The roasted chicken is their specialty, and it's totally worth the long trip. And their gyoza is excellent: not at all greasy but crispy outside and moist inside.

Their udon, BTW, is divine. Something about their broth and noodle go very well together. Actually they're more famous for their giant onigiri (rice ball) with three different types of filling inside. Each onigiri is about the size of Hero Material's fist, but I don't like one of the fillings they use, so I don't eat it.

That's me on the right. Look how huge my tummy is. That's how it looks after half a chicken, two plates of gyoza, udon, rice, half a grilled sausage…plus, a 3.3+ lb baby!