Four Weeks Till Forever hit #503 on Amazon and #214 on Barnes & Noble. I couldn't have done it without your support. Thank you so much! :)

I generally do an Ask Nadia session on Wednesdays, but I decided to talk about something else, which several people have asked me about.

Where can I buy a copy of a Nadia Lee book?

If you're buying a print copy, any store is fine. And just for the record, I don't mind if you buy new or used when it comes to print copies. Amazon, B&N and other bookstores should carry them or be able to order them for you if they're not in stock.

For ebooks, I currently distribute to the following stores only:

• Apple iBooks — All 51 international stores
• Amazon — All territories
• Barnes & Noble
• Kobo
• Google Play
• All Romance eBooks

Several people have asked me about my distribution plans at Smashwords. I think this is because I used to distribute my books via Smashwords, and I currently have one book available on Smashwords (Vengeful in Love).

I plan to pull that book down from Smashwords soon and close my account with them. I basically used Smashwords to distribute Vengeful in Love to Barnes & Noble, because Barnes & Noble does not accept books that are free. So I had no choice but to use Smashwords.

But recently, the negatives are considerably outweighing the positives.

Pro(s)

• You can make your book free on Barnes & Noble.

Con(s)

• Reporting is extremely slow. Oftentimes I have to wait for weeks for updates.
• And the reports are confusing. I have a degree in finance and minored in economics and took more accounting courses than I should have in college. I still get a headache when I look at their reports.
• Their payments are slow.
• Their ebook file vetting system is inconsistent and slow. (I'm not complaining about having to create a consistent and/or proper epub file. I've been doing that for years now, and Apple, which is one of the pickiest vendors out there, has no problem with my files. What I object to is random errors that don't make any sense.)
• Their support is slow (if you get a response at all).
• I've received my tax forms late a few times, and they were often the wrong forms.
• The biggest problem: Smashwords opts me in for new vendors without my consent or notifying me first. There are certain vendors I do not want to do business with. I understand Smashwords wants to grow its business, but it should respect my wishes as well and not send my books to places without my explicit permission.

I know many overseas readers buy from Smashwords because it's easy and convenient. But I can no longer distribute my books to a place that routinely disregards my wishes (in addition to all the other issues). I try to accommodate overseas readers by making my books available on all 51 Apple iBooks Store, localized Amazon stores and putting them on All Romance eBooks and Google Play.

Thanks for your understanding!

Forever in Love (Hearts on the Line #5)

Many of you have asked me about who’s been stealing money from The Lloyds Development. The answer is revealed in this installment! :)

Description:

Catherine Fairchild fakes being perfect by keeping everyone at arm’s length. But her billionaire CEO husband’s bigamy shatters the illusory life she’s built, and vengeful in-laws want to send her to jail for embezzling from the failing family business. Desperate, she accepts an offer from a powerful friend: help him reconcile with his illegitimate son in return for protection. How hard can it be to dazzle a small town guy?

Small town bar owner Blaine Davis has zero interest in claiming his fifty million dollar trust fund or joining the family of a father he barely knows. He can never forgive his womanizing father for seducing his mother or forget the cruelty his father’s high-society wife inflicted on them. Catherine comes from the same rich and entitled background, but he starts to fall for her anyway. Can their fragile bond survive when the true reason for her presence in his idyllic little town is revealed and Blaine’s old wounds are re-opened?

Forever in Love is 372 pages long in print. Coming up next is Mark Pryce and Hilary Rosenberg this summer!

ON SALE NOW AT THESE RETAILERS

ebook:
Amazon US :: Amazon UK :: Amazon Canada :: Amazon Australia
Apple US :: Apple UK :: Apple Canada :: Apple AU :: Apple NZ
Barnes & Noble :: All Romance eBooks :: Kobo

print edition*:
Amazon US :: Amazon UK :: CreateSpace
* Coming soon to Barnes & Noble and other book stores!

I cancelled my order from Toshiba. I won't be getting their custom made laptop due to their ridiculous phone order verification process for all orders. Even if I CALL to order, they have to do the phone verification “due to fraudulent orders.”

Firstly, why even have an online order page in that case? The whole point of buying stuff online is that I DON'T HAVE TO GO TO A PHYSICAL STORE OR TALK TO YOU ON THE PHONE.

Secondly, why have the phone order option available if you have to do the phone verification for phone orders too? I don't know anybody who wants to talk AGAIN to verify their order. It's beyond silly.

Thirdly, insisting that the phone verification system's purpose is to fight fraud is insulting. This assumes that all people who order computers from you are fraudsters. Besides, I can name several reputable online retailers who do NOT do this and still make money. (cough-Amazon-cough-Apple-cough-MegaEggs-cough-Victoria's-Secret-cough-Sephora-cough-wine.com-cough-Godiva-cough)

Finally, Toshiba's lack of customer service lost my loyalty and business forever. When I emailed their support center for the update on my order status (because it was still set to “shipping status to follow”), nobody responded for over 2 business days, despite the fact that their website CLEARLY STATES that they respond all order-related inquiries in 24 hours. When I asked the service rep why the order status wasn't set to “waiting for phone verification” she said, “I don't know.” When I said the custom-made laptop wouldn't arrive on time (since they so kindly screwed around for a week!), she said, “We can expedite the shipping IF YOU PAY EXTRA.”

Their rep insisted that their phone verification system is not only normal but standard for all orders, and that they did nothing wrong by not disclosing that on their website or explaining such an outlandish and cumbersome system (so that people who don't want to be bothered w/ such BS can go elsewhere and not waste their time), and that it was just too bad that they never responded to my email inquiry.

So I told the rep to cancel my order, and not even bother trying to sell me anything else on their website since they don't have anything I want to buy, not with their ridiculous “phone verification system.”

After hanging up with Toshiba's so-called customer support, I went to a company that truly values my business (and money) — Amazon — and bought a Samsung laptop for $120 less than what Toshiba wanted for theirs.

From “The Amazon Effect” written by Steve Wasserman:

But as Amazon's six other publishing imprints (Montlake Romance, AmazonCrossing, Thomas & Mercer, 47North, Amazon Encore, The Domino Project) have discovered, in certain genres (romance, science fiction and fantasy) formerly relegated to the moribund mass-market paperback, readers care not a whit about cover design or even good writing, and have no attachment at all to the book as object. Like addicts, they just want their fix at the lowest possible price, and Amazon is happy to be their online dealer.

As a romance writer, I find the comment offensive.

As a reader of romance, fantasy and SF, I find the assertion that I don't care about cover or writing at all doubly offensive. What am I? A drug addict desperate for the cheapest dope I can find regardless of the quality?

I really hope it reflects the personal belief of Steve Wasserman, not other publishing professionals he's interviewed for the article. Otherwise, publishing's in trouble, not because of Amazon, but because they don't respect their readers.

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.