August is probably the hottest month where I am. It's muggy and scorching. That doesn't mean I get to rest. :-)

I turned in edits on The Last Slayer on July 28th. I need to wait on my editor's feedback. I'm really hoping we get done w/ the final round (copyediting) by the end of August.

On a somewhat related note — on July 23rd I started the 500 Words a Day challenge. I have over 4,500 words written on the sequel to The Last Slayer, even though I've been writing no more than 650 words a day. As a matter of fact, my daily word count ranges between 509 and 636. Something I realized through the process is that I don't have to write a lot. I just have to write some to get the momentum going.

I plan to continue with it in August. If all goes as planned, I'll be done with the sequel by the end of the year, if not sooner.

Here's a non-Slayer related news item: Bettie Sharpe and Stella from Ex Libris gave five-star reviews to Carnal Secrets and A Happily Ever After of Her Own, respectively. Bettie's review is found here and Stella's is on her blog. :)

I also signed up for Kindlegraph. You can view my profile here and request digital inscriptions for any Nadia Lee titles you have on Kindle.

Finally, I'll leave you with the latest picture of the Boy. So many people have asked about a new picture, so here it is. (He's over 12 pounds now…!)

Hope you all have a fabulous August!

I've been somewhat quiet on my blog, etc. for a while. I'm still alive, just busy with the Boy and edits on The Last Slayer. Since the birth of the Boy, there have been two reviews, one of Carnal Secrets and the other of A Happily Ever After of Her Own.

The Lovely Bettie Sharpe gave Carnal Secrets five stars:

I've never been too enthusiastic about categories or contemps, but I am a Nadia Lee fan, and didn't want to pass up one of her books just because it wasn't quite my thing. So I read [Carnal Secrets]. It pulled me in, made me care, and made me cry. Which just goes to show that no matter your expectations or sub-genre preferences, the right writer can make all the difference. A good story is a good story; Carnal Secrets is a good story.

I was flattered to read her review as I consider Bettie to be one of the most talented writers out there. Her work is amazing, and I highly recommend all her books. :)

Stella from Ex Libris, one of the sweetest reviewers and book bloggers I know, gave five stars to A Happily Ever After of Her Own:

…a delightful and entertaining, original and laugh out loud funny, modern fairy tale retelling… A definite keeper…

Thank you so much, Bettie and Stella! :)

Bonnie of A Backwards Story has written a lovely review of A Happily Ever After of Her Own:

If you're looking for a light, funny novella, look no further than A Happily Ever After of Her Own by Nadia Lee. Lee takes the term “fractured fairy tale” to new heights, creating a story in the same vein as the Shrek movies. Upon reading this e-book, who wouldn't covet Melinda's ability to pop in and out of various fairy tales? I know I'd love to take a first-hand look at my favorite tales.

…

At first, I was surprised by the way the romance shapes up because I wasn't expecting it to come in the form it did. Lee does it in such a way, however, that it makes sense. There's a startling revelation about fairy tales that I won't spoil for you here. Overall, A Happily Ever After of Her Own is a fast, entertaining read that will give you food for thought, especially if you're a fairy tale lover!

Read Excerpt »
Buy eBook: All Romance EBooks :: Amazon Kindle US :: Amazon Kindle DE :: Amazon Kindle UK :: B&N Nook :: Diesel eBook Store :: Smashwords :: Sony eBook Store

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'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!