Who Loves British Bad Boys? $25 Gift Card and Swag Giveaway!

*SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE FOR THE GIVEAWAY*

A little earlier this year, myself and some other British author friends decided to put a boxed set together containing what we know best - British bad boys! That set is now up for pre-order for only $0.99! So that's seven brand new stories for only $0.99, but the price will be going up after publication, and won't be around for long, so grab it now!

Come and check out our facebook page, where we'll be keeping you updated 
about the release, post sexy teasers, and also the occasional pic of a hot 
British guy! 
You can also use the 'like' on the page as one of the entry options to the giveaway below! 

https://www.facebook.com/BritishBadBoys/

Indulge yourself with this boxed set of stories written by bestselling and award-winning British romance authors. No one knows British bad boys better than they do!

Come and spend time with a dirty-talking London tattoo artist, a Scottish bad boy, a British gangster who won’t take no for an answer, and MORE! These men are all hotter than hell and have accents to die for. Whatever your desire, you’ll find it within these pages.

Packed full of brand new standalone, steamy stories with no cliff-hangers. With happily-ever-afters guaranteed, you won’t want to miss out on this limited collection, available for a short time only!

Special pre-order price of only $0.99. What are you waiting for?

Amazon: viewBook.at/BritBadBoys

iBooks: http://ow.ly/FV9p308IhFH

Kobo: http://ow.ly/VPEL308IhME

B&N: http://ow.ly/MC5B308LQDC

*ENTER THE GIVEAWAY BELOW*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Release! Brit Babes Just Got Kinky!

Out Now—Sexy Just Got Kinky: Kinks to Make you Think by The Brit Babes (@8britbabes)

Blurb:

Tantalise your dark side with kinks to make you think. From lovers behind bars to lone ladies behind the lens—fisticuffs and feathers, lilos and lube, scissors and sticks, whips, canes and bondage, there’s sure to be a kink within these pages to whet your appetite, tickle your fancies and heat up cold nights.

Featuring stories by Lexie Bay, Victoria Blisse, Marissa Farrar, Lucy Felthouse, K D Grace, Lily Harlem, Kay Jaybee and Tabitha Rayne.

Available from:

Amazon: http://mybook.to/SJGK

All Romance eBooks: http://bit.ly/2gJnFBL

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sexy-just-got-kinky-lucy-felthouse/1125139398?ean=2940153846545

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/sexy-just-got-kinky-kinks/id1175451115?mt=11

More buy links (including print): http://www.thebritbabes.co.uk/p/sexy-just-got-kinky.html

*****

Excerpt from The Anonymous Life by Marissa Farrar

It started with a photograph.

A single, crazy, adrenaline-filled moment of madness.

I’d had enough of being ignored, of being the maid, the chef, the chauffeur to my unappreciative family. I dreamed of the days when men used to drop to their knees before me in the streets. They’d beg to buy me drinks, just to get me to spend a little time in their company, and, if they were lucky, snatch a kiss and take me home to their bed. Now, I was invisible. A mother, a wife, a housekeeper. I longed to be seen as something sexual again, and so I took the photo.

I made sure not to include my face. I didn’t want to be identified. Instead, I held the camera on my phone with one hand and cupped my breasts with the other, squeezing them together so the tops lifted and rounded in globes. My nipples peeped between my fingers, crinkled and hard. The lighting wasn’t perfect, and I had no idea what filters to use, but that didn’t matter.

I posted it online.

It was on one of the popular social media sites, known more for its raunchy posts than some of the others. I’d used the site to watch porno GIFs often enough, but I’d never had the guts to comment or post something of my own.

Until now.

I gave myself an online name—theanonymouslife. All one word.

It was only a single picture, but already my emotions surged up inside me, making me feel alive—a mixture of excitement and guilt, and horniness.

Already, I was addicted.

I stayed on the computer, checking for comments and reblogs. People liked my tits, it seemed. More than my husband, who hadn’t laid a finger on me in forever. There were a couple of negative notes, but I brushed over them in favour of the positive ones. Damn trolls were everywhere.

I don’t know why I got such a thrill from posting my picture online, or why I’d even felt the need to do it at all. Maybe there was anger in me, a resentfulness I couldn’t shift, and posting the photo felt a little bit like revenge. Or rebellion. I resented my husband for plunging me into a life of celibacy that I’d never asked for. I’d always been a sexual person, and still was, but now sex was denied to me. My children stole my body away, though they never asked to do that, and I would never hold them responsible. I love my kids. They are the one thing that keeps me walking the straight and narrow when all I want to do is run, screaming, throwing off my clothes and frustrations as I do so. I dream of a future alone, where I can pick and choose men as I please, allow them in my life for a short while, only to continue alone once more. Sometimes now, I feel like I barely have enough time to have a thought to myself without being interrupted. I can feel the years slipping away, knowing I’ll never get them back. I’m only in my early thirties—too young to be this dried up person already—and the thought of the rest of my life as a sexless woman terrifies me. I love my husband, I do, but he doesn’t seem to have any interest in me anymore. He’s always too tired from a long day at work. I don’t know if he has no interest in sex in general or if it’s just me that no longer excites him. I can’t say I blame him. After seeing the births of two babies, I’m not sure I’d excite me either. But I can’t bring myself to break up our home, can’t stand the thought of the hurt in our children’s eyes if we separated. Plus, he’s a good guy. I like his company, most of the time. We’re just missing that important element.

So, instead of dealing with the real problem at hand, I took the photograph.

It was harmless. I wasn’t hurting anyone. But quickly I discovered one picture was not enough.

*****

About The Brit Babes:

So who are the Brit Babes? We are eight UK based authors who spend our days writing steamy tales of love and lust. Ranging from sweetly vanilla to so-hot-it-will-blow-your-mind, we aim to please in every literary fantasy department. Our heroes are strong, determined and soul-achingly divine and our heroines sassy, sexy and not afraid to grab what they want. Passion and pleasure are the name of the game, romance and raunch a top priority and it all comes with a delightful sprinkle of kink.

With a whole host of awards, bestsellers and accolades between us, we just know you’ll find something to keep you turning the pages and squirming on your seat. Visit the Brit Babes’ home on the web which acts as a library for the hundreds of books published by us and hosts special guests every Monday. You’ll find links there to our FREE anthology too. Tell your friends, spread the word, because one thing you can be sure of, is when the Brit Babes arrive, sexy has arrived!

Website: http://www.thebritbabes.co.uk

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/8britbabes

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/8britbabes

FREE! Twisted Dreams!

My new adult, paranormal novel is free on Amazon for the next couple of days (17th - 19th May), so grab it while you can. The book is a spin off of my Serenity series, featuring a certain girl from the book, all grown up and off to college!

Here's a bit about the book:

Born of a vampire father to a human mother, Elizabeth Bandores' life was never going to be normal, so she can't imagine why she thinks starting college will be any different.

Having grown up in the affluent Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles and desperate to escape, she decides on the small college town of Sage Springs. With dreams of being a writer, she joins the college newspaper and is introduced to blond, confident Flynn Matthews, Sage Springs' rising swim star.

But a carnival has set up in the small town, and the boy running the Waltzer catches her eye. Dark-haired, leather-jacketed Riley is rude, with an air of danger. Elizabeth can't help but notice him. And when an accident thrusts them together, she discovers he's noticed her, too.

Sage Springs isn't the quiet little town Elizabeth had hoped for. The forests bordering the town harbour a dark secret--one some of the residents have been trying to protect, and the leaders of the carnival have set in their sights...

Excerpt:

I yanked myself out of his grip, tears blurring my vision. It was happening again, the thing I’d tried so hard to deny to myself.

The person people saw on the outside wasn’t the same as the person who lurked within the slightly scruffy, try-too-hard exterior. I had darkness inside me. Writhing, coiling, scary darkness. I had been fighting it my whole life, but recently the darkness felt so much closer to the surface. My jaw ached, my throat running so dry I could barely swallow.

No, no, no, no. I closed my eyes, trying to focus in on my reaction, trying to will it away. I wanted to tell the boy standing in front of me to run, to get away, but the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.

Movement and a yell, not one caused by me, made my eyes ping open, the driving darkness at my soul retreating at the distraction.

“Leave her alone!”

Flynn stood between me and the new guy, his broad shoulders completely blocking my view of the dark hair and brooding eyes.

“You don’t frighten me, jock-boy,” the carny said. “And I was only talking to the girl.”

“I don’t want you even looking at her, never mind talking to her. Your kind is dangerous.”

“Ay, don’t I know it? Maybe you should think about that next time you take one of my kind on.”

I moved around the side in time to see the dark haired boy start to push up the sleeves of his leather jacket.

“Hey! Quit it, both of you! I don’t even know what you’re fighting about.”

Flynn looked to me. “He was bothering you, Beth.”

“So what if he was?” I said, suddenly angered for a different reason. “Since when has it been your business to protect me? We barely know each other!”

“Exactly. This is none of your business,” the carny guy said, picking up on my words.

I turned to him. “And I told you to leave me the hell alone. You don’t want to get on my bad side, or being confronted by a six foot something jock will be the least of your worries.”

“Ouch. You’re a spiky one.”

I could see him repressing a smirk, which only served to make me angrier. The aching in my jaw increased, my throat tightening. Both men were watching me, Flynn with a confused, hurt expression on his face, the carny guy with an amused smirk. I didn’t even know his name, I realized.

I don’t want to know his name, I tried to convince myself. But I did. Even with an annoying smirk that I wanted to slap off his striking face, I longed to know his name with every fiber of my soul.

But right now, the darkness was creeping over me. I was seeing red, literally. The veins on both of the men’s throats, the spreading network across their inner wrists, all shone like a beacon to me. Threads of glowing red rivers of blood.

“Just leave me alone!” I finished, needing to get away from them both.

I turned and started to run, leaving the sounds and smells of the carnival behind me.

You can download Twisted Dreams for free from Amazon! 

Kinking Up Christmas with Kay JayBee!

Today I'd like to welcome award winning erotica author, Kay Jaybee to my blog for a little festive kink! Take it away, Kay!

Kay Jaybee

I just love writing Christmas stories- not only because I adore the festive season, but because Christmas gives an added dimension to the world of kinky writing. Not only do we writers have all of the everyday things around us to sex-up and twist into the erotic- but all those delicious bits and bobs that only come out to play at Christmas.

Blurb

What’s your favourite part of the Christmas celebration? Decorating the tree with tinsel, the heavenly aroma of cinnamon and fruit from Christmas cakes and puddings, the office Christmas party, a visit to Santa’s grotto, the expected presents?
Complete with a brand new story for 2015, Christmas Kink twists all of these festive traditions into six individual episodes of hot erotica that will leave you fanning yourself with the nearest Christmas card...

***

The things my imagination does with tinsel, wrapping paper, even a Christmas stable....it’s enough to make a good fairy blush! Although, perhaps not a naughty fairy!

Extract – Santa’s Little Helper

Jay gazed approvingly at her reflection in the tinsel-decorated mirror. The gold material shimmered as she turned from side-to-side. Cut to fit tightly against her chest, the bodice section gave way to an extremely short, almost tutu-style skirt, of the finest silvery gauze.

Her fingers trailed through the soft folds before she reached around to stroke the feather like wings that protruded from her back.

The fabric curtain was drawn back and the sales assistant drew a breath. ‘You are possibly the most beautiful fairy ever destined to top a Christmas tree.’ He pulled the ties tighter at the back of the bodice, forcing Jay to stand up taller. ‘You are also the sexiest.’ He pushed two exquisite high-heeled shoes towards her white-stocking-clad feet, enjoying the view as her tiny gold thong flashed in front of his eyes when she bent slightly to slip them on.

As a final touch he slid a delicate glittering tiara onto her short curled hair, and put a wand in her hand. ‘Now, all that’s missing is a smile.’

‘I am smiling.’

‘That’s not a smile, that’s the evil grin of a wicked slut who knows that every guy that claps eyes on you is going to be asking Santa Claus if he can screw you for Christmas.’ ...

***

Hope that whetted the appetite a little! If you want to find out what happened next, or you fancy dipping into the other stories; Decorations, Candy at Christmas, The Little Red Dress, If You Go Down to the Woods Tonight, or Cake Mix.... you can buy Christmas Kink from-

Amazon.com-

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GI2DDQM

Amazon UK-

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Kink-Five-Festive-Fantasies-ebook/dp/B00GI2DDQM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383810527&sr=8-1&keywords=Christmas+kink+five+festive+fantasies

Many thanks for letting me pop by today!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Kay xx

Bio

Kay Jaybee was named Best Erotica Writer of 2015 by the ETO. Kay also received an honouree mention at the NLA Awards 2015 for excellence in BDSM writing.

Kay Jaybee wrote The Perfect Submissive Trilogy, (The Perfect Submissive, The Retreat, Knowing Her Place, Xcite 2011-14), The Voyeur, (Xcite 2012), Making Him Wait (Sweetmeats, 2012), A Sticky Situation (Xcite, 2013), Digging Deep, (Xcite 2013), Not Her Type (1001 NightsPress, 2013), and The Collector (Austin & Macauley, 2012).

Details of all her other work can be found at www.kayjaybee.me.uk 

You can follow Kay on -

Twitter- https://twitter.com/kay_jaybee

Facebook -http://www.facebook.com/KayJaybeeAuthor

Goodreads- http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3541958-kay-jaybee

Pinterest- http://pinterest.com/kjberotica/

Tease to Please is Now Free! Fifty Sexy Excerpts from Fifty Sexy Authors!

Tease to Please has been RELEASED and is now FREE on Amazon, as well as Barnes and Noble, and Kobo, to name but a few. 50 authors, 50 naughty stories, and 50 hours of FUN! Depending on how slowly you read ;)

We're about to hold a MEGA BLOCKBUSTER release party on Facebook where we will be giving away AMAZON GIFT CARDS, SWAG, SIGNED PAPERBACKS and goodies galore (From 50 Authors!) - EVERYONE IS INVITED - so check in here for details: https://www.facebook.com/events/531020723712453/

If you'd like to get in on the action right now, we also have a Rafflecopter running with $10 to won in Amazon Gift Cards, lots of ebooks and custom swag.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So, GRAB YOUR FREE NAUGHTY EBOOK HERE, find a quiet place to snuggle up for the rest of the day (Oh, wouldn't that be nice?) and start dribbling over these awesome, tantalising tales!

More About Tease To Please

Need to do your good deed for the day? No problem!

If you're feeling really nice, we'd love it if you'd support our THUNDERCLAP campaign :)

Alternatively you could pop along to our FACEBOOK page and give us a 'like' or how about a follow on TWITTER? @TeasetoPlease50      

New Release! Twisted Magic - Book Two in the Dhampyre Chronicles!

The next book in The Dhampyre Chronicles, Twisted Magic is out now! This series is a YA/NA (I haven't quite figured out which category it should fall into yet!) spin-off series of my completed 'Serenity' series, but you don't need to have read Serenity's books to get started. They'll stand on their own.

Here's a bit about the new book...

Book Two in the Dhampyre Chronicles:

After almost dying at the hands of the carnival people, Elizabeth is settling in at Sage Springs. Dealing with the difficulties of juggling college and being half-vampire doesn’t seem so bad now her new life involves sexy, Irish biker Riley.

When a girl is found murdered on the beach, Elizabeth realizes she has dreamed about the killer, and she is thrown into a whole new situation. Someone appears to be picking off her friends, one by one, and she thinks she may be next.

But there are too many things she can’t explain, from the sudden fog that appears to have taken over Sage Springs, to the thing she believes may be hidden within it.

Is a person trying to kill off the witches of Sage Springs, or is something far more sinister in play?

You can get the book at these following links:

Amazon.com: http://ow.ly/Mde40

Amazon.co.uk: http://ow.ly/MdejY

B&N: http://ow.ly/MddOi

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id989856208

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/twisted-magic

Also, To celebrate the release of Twisted Magic, I've also reduced the price of Twisted Dreams from $3.99 to only $0.99, so if you haven't already started the series, now would be a great time to do so.

 You can pick up the book at sale price from any of these links!

Amazon.com http://ow.ly/N8B1b

Amazon.co.uk http://ow.ly/N8Avx

Barnes & Noble http://ow.ly/N8ByZ

Apple: http://ow.ly/N8C9n

Kobo http://ow.ly/N8Cr6

In other news, I'm currently working on the next Spirit Shifters book, Avenging Autumn, for a July release. Have you seen the extremely hot cover yet? If not, I've included it below. I hope you like it. I'm really enjoying writing about Autumn and the gang again, though of course there is plenty of conflict going on! It will be out in the middle of July, and will be up for preorder before then!

Is Facebook Over? Sharing my Advertising Stats!

Every author is told that they need to build an author platform, and they need to have done so yesterday! Platforms can be built via blogging (just like this!), or using social network sites such as Facebook, twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, and any number of others. It's impossible for an author to successfully manage all of these and still find time to write, so it's best to select a couple and be as present on those as possible.

For me, Facebook has been the platform of choice. I spend a lot of time of Facebook, not just working, but staying up to date with the lives of my family and friends.

There have been a lot of mutterings lately about how Facebook has changed the reach of posts to people who have liked pages. The idea is that Facebook reduces the reach in order to get the owners of the page to pay to get the post out to those who have already liked the page. This can be done via 'boosting' a post, which can cost anywhere from £1 to £90, depending on how many people you want to reach! The trouble is that the 'reach' Facebook promises you is only an estimate and can be wildly out in its numbers. I am a fairly regular user of Facebook. It's been my method of choice to communicate with friends and readers alike. because of this, I have used both their advert option, together with 'boosting' a post, and then simply posting as normal. Last week, I launched my new novel, The Sound of Crickets, and so ran an advert, together with boosting a post. But something I noticed was that when I went to write my normal posts, all of a sudden, no one was seeing them. When I say no one, I'm talking about 80 people from my approximately 3500 likers! My first instinct was that Facebook wasn't showing my posts to people because they already had my money! So I cancelled my boosted post, and numbers of my regular post went up slightly, to around 300 likers.

One thing I have noticed is that if you can post something your readers can get involved with, naturally, more people will see it. One of my biggest reach posts lately have been about naming a character in one of my books. That reached 1,150 likers, and that was with a single penny being spent.

So I thought it would be interesting to put together a bit of a study about my latest posts and check out the reach. This will include boosted posts, and what the payment was, and how many additional likes or comments it gains. Here are the results!

Boosted post, cover reveal: £3.00 spent. 2373 people reached, 49 likes, 17 comments, 8 shares.
Boosted post, giveaway: £12 spent. 3178 reached, 59 likes, 48 comments, 8 shares.
Boosted post, book launch £0.59 spent. 19 likes, 0 comments, 8 shares
Image post, 684 reached, 0 comments, 45 likes 0 shares
Image post, 313 reached, 11 likes, 10 comments, 3 shares
Image post, 366 reached. 18 likes, 5 comments, 0 share
Engaging post*: 1150 reached, 14 likes, 50 comments, 0 shares
Engaging post: 721, 17 likes, 32 comments 0 shares
Engaging post: 802 reached, 12 likes,30 comments, 0 shares
Shared link: 182 reached, 3 likes, 1 comment, 1 share.
Shared link: 146 reached, 8 likes, 2 comments, 1 shares
Shared link: 80 reached, 3 likes, 0 comments, 0 shares.

Now I know this is a small handful of statistics, and wouldn't win any study awards, but I think from this small handful that the results are pretty clear. Shared links don't seem to have much impact on facebook at all (at least, not for me!). Images posted will be seen by about 10% of my likers, sometimes more. Engaging posts have the biggest reach at about 20% of my likers, with the most comments, but they tend not to be shared. Boosted posts obviously have the biggest reach, and they also tend to have the most shares, but whether this is because I tend to only boots posts that are 'newsworthy' ie. book sales, new releases or book covers, this may be purely down to the nature of the posts I choose to boost.

I still think facebook is the best way to reach readers via a social network. I have about the same number of followers on twitter as Facebook, yet when I post something on twitter, I'm lucky if I get one or two responses. So, even though Facebook are being money grubbing b****ds, in my opinion, Facebook is still the best way to engage with readers. Even better is if you post things that get your readers involved - asking them opinions about character names, book covers, even plot directions.

Facebook may want your money, but you don't have to give it to them. By asking the right questions, and being engaging, you can still reach the people who like your author page.

What about you? How have you found Facebook's new regime? Do you have any tips for engaging readers on your page? I'd love to hear them!

*a post where I've asked for opinions or ideas

Low Priced Indie Books... Did they Ruin Things for the Rest of Us?

The other night, I managed to get into a debate over the same thing twice - the price of ebooks!

In the early indie days, the $0.99 price tag was a jumping point for several now indie publishing rock stars, most of which have now signed up with one of the New York big boy publishing houses. But while they've all jumped off the indie bandwagon, they've left the rest of us floundering around in a market place saturated with low price (and often low quality) indie books. That in itself is fine - everyone has an equal right to publish in this day and age - but the affect it has had on the readers is more important. Readers now expect to pay no more than a couple of dollars for an indie novel, yet will happily compare that indie novel to one of the New York published novels which would set them back $10 and more!

I read a post on Amanda Hocking's blog that one of the reasons she took a big publishing contract was because she knew, however hard she worked, the editing would never be good enough unless she had someone who was at the top of their game working on her books. I can understand this thinking, especially when readers pick up an indie book and read it expecting the same sort of editing that the book would have received if published by a big house.

I am a big believer (now) that a book shouldn't be published unless it's been edited professionally. An author should try to save every penny to pay for the editing. However, I didn't always have this opinion. When I first got on the indie train I thought just having another author edit my work would be perfectly fine. It wasn't.

So what is the right price to charge for an ebook? Let's look at the costs. (The following are an approximation and obviously do vary!)

Editing - $300 - $500
Proofreading $75- $150
Cover design $120
Isbns $30 (for two - one for ebook, another for paperback)
Paperback upload (Lightning Source) - $60
Advertising/email subs/website/hootsuite etc. (optional, but neccessary!) $100 per month approx.

Before the book is even published an author is looking at an outlay of up to $760, and then another $100 a month going forward. If an author prices their book at $0.99, they would need to sell well over 2000 copies just to break even. In the indie world, with so much competition, most indie authors don't even earn $500 a month!

So what is the right price for an indie novel and did those early pricing strategies set the rest of us up for failure?

Yes, and no. Unfortunately pricing is still the biggest tool indies have against the mighty power of the big six. I price my novels at $4.99, but I don't think I would put them much higher, even though traditionally published indie books charge more. Is this because I think my books are worth less? In a word, yes, I do. I'm not saying that my story or writing is worth less, but I'm not dividing my profit between a number of people. Once my costs have been paid off, the profit goes in my pocket, unlike a traditional publisher who have on-going costs including paying staff and royalties to the author.

So do I think $0.99 is too low a price for a novel? Yes, definitely. $0.99 should be a price reserved for short stories. I even think $2.99 is too little, but I can understand authors using that pricing in the hope people might try out the novel of an author they've never heard of.

Pricing will continue to be an issue, with some readers steering clear of low priced ebooks because they automatically think the books will be poor quality, and some readers even refusing to pay for an ebook because there are so many free ones out there. (This actually happened to me - someone read one of my books, loved it, and then actually laughed at the idea of paying for another one... like authors don't deserve to be paid for their work, unlike any other industry out there!).

What do you think is a reasonable price for an ebook? If you're a reader, do you tend to try out the cheaper books, or try to steer clear?