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!

This week, Magic and Mayhem Writers is showcasing four queries that helped us land our agents.

• The Query that Landed Me an Agent and 3 Tips for Writing Yours by Sandy Williams
• Queries and Query Letters by Amanda Bonilla
• The Great Query Hunt by Shawntelle Madison
• Evolution of a Query Letter by Yours Truly

BTW — If you need help with your query letter, leave a comment on Sandy's post saying so. She's going to pick one person per ten commenters and take a look at their query.

I've been getting several questions that basically involve the same type of topics, so I've decided to update How to Format Your Manuscript for Kindle and Nook. If you've bought it already, you can just re-download the latest version from Smashwords. The new edition contains information about what to do if you have a free WordPress.com account and a sample HTML mockup so you can see what everything should look like.

Also, several members on a writing forum I belong to were discussing how to track sales, and I thought I would share my sales tracking sheet. I've created it in Excel, and it calculates almost everything automatically, though you have to put in some information (such as the book's cover price) into the parts marked yellow, plus your individual sales data, of course. Click here to download a copy. It's a free tool for everyone. :)

You can modify it to track epub sales as well. I have a huge master Excel spreadsheet that I use to track everything, including my epub and self-pubbed titles, but I didn't include the epub sales tracking sheet in this one because it really depends on your situation, contract, etc. so it's harder to create a standard template.

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!

Just want to let everyone know that I've created excerpt ebooklets for A Happily Ever After of Her Own and Carnal Secrets. Each one has the first three chapters of the book, and you don't have to sign up for anything, pay anything, or go into indentured servitude to get them, either. ;) Both are totally free!

Melinda Lightfoot, a preschool teacher with an unusual ability to flit in and out of fairy tales, never thought she would get into trouble…

…until the Fairy Tale Police arrest her while she is in Beauty and the Beast. They offer her a deal: Find Beauty, who left the story when Melinda trespassed into it, or be charged with the ultimate crime — Fairy Tale Killer. If that's not bad enough the Beast tags along in search of his true love, and Melinda starts falling for the fairy tale prince. She must choose between doing the right thing and having her own happily ever after.

Warning: This title contains the following: Fairy Godmother, the Wicked Witch, dysfunctional fairy tale families, ax-wielding executioners and a happily ever after (or two).

Excerpt eBooklets

• PDF
• ePub
• Kindle (PRC)
• Sony (LRF)

Buy eBook: All Romance EBooks :: Amazon Kindle US :: Amazon Kindle UK :: B&N Nook :: Diesel eBook Store :: Kobo Books :: Smashwords :: Sony eBook Store

After a rapid change in management, Natalie Hall is surprised to find that she's being promoted so quickly. But when it becomes obvious that the new CEO is interested in her on a more personal level, she pushes him away — she doesn't want to repeat her past mistake of giving her heart to the wrong man.

A self-made billionaire, Alex Damon has his own reasons for pursuing Natalie. Her adoptive father, a powerful U.S. senator, is using his political clout to protect his friends the Rodales, who Alex intends to destroy for ripping his own family apart when he was a child. Furthermore, he suspects that Natalie is spying for the Rodales.

What he hasn't planned on is her unflinching sense of loyalty and integrity, the sizzling attraction between them that threatens to turn into something much more, and the dark secrets that can destroy them both.

Excerpt eBooklets

• PDF
• ePub
• Kindle (PRC)
• Sony (LRF)

Buy eBook: All Romance EBooks :: Amazon Kindle US :: Amazon Kindle UK :: B&N Nook :: Smashwords :: Sony eBook Store

The excerpts are DRM-free and you're welcome to share them among your friends if you're so inclined. Hope you like 'em! :)

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

Those of you who have been following my mini-blog tour know that I paid for a professional cover for, and editing of, Carnal Secrets. One of the commenters on March 10th asked me the following question: …do you feel the money you put out will be made up in sales?

At that time, I responded: I think I'm going to recoup the cost and make some profit this year. Even if I don't make any profit this year, I still think it was money well-spent because I have a professional product…

I thought I'd post a quick update on the situation:

As of early this week (ie, a little over a month since I put the story out), I have recouped the entire production cost of Carnal Secrets. (I'm not including the number of hours I spent writing, revising and promoting the story. I'm talking purely about the actual cash layout for the book.)

Am I happy? Of course! I'm thrilled!

More importantly, I'm grateful to fantastic reviewers, book bloggers and my readers. I really wasn't sure what kind of reception I'd get with the story, especially with it being self-published and my not having a decent platform, etc.

So thank you. :)