Raising the bar (code) for authors

All credit to Deborah Macgillivray for sharing a heads-up with me, which I am now passing on in my own words to my author friends.

Apparently, (and quite rightly in my humble opinion) bookstore buyers would appreciate a bit of fairness and equality when it comes to where authors' "Buy" links.

I used to have "BUY" gateway pages, directing would-be purchasers to bookstores in the USA, in Canada, in the UK, in Europe, in Australia.... everywhere in the world. I had so many links, I was afraid I'd look like a spam site!

So, I rationalized a bit. Rather than choose one online retailer over another, I directed my front page "BUY" links to my publishers' sites. That ought in theory to be fair to all, and put my reader en route to the best possible new book price. I still have links for Tesco and WHSmith and Blackwell and Forbidden Planet in the UK, (it seems that in the UK only Book Express or amazon.uk has Forced Mate, by the way) and to Loot in South Africa, and to Krisostomus in Continental Europe, and to my bookseller friends in Australia and New Zealand.


It looks as though I'm going to have to diversify my links to the USA stores, or in the future, my next release may not be ordered by stores to which I've neglected to link.


The recommended format is

NAMEOFYOUR PUBLISHER.COM


BN.COM


AMAZON.com


booksamillion.com


indiebound.org


borders.com





 
For those who would like handy urls to get started, here are mine

For Knight's Fork

BarnesandNoble.com
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=Knight%27s+Fork

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Knights-Fork-Spell-Futuristic-Romance/dp/0505527405/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253970411&sr=1-3

Powells
http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9780505527400-0

BOOKSAMILLION
http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9780505527400?id=4539716012475

Borders
http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=0505527405

INDIEBOUND
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780505527400
 
I'm also adding Book Finder for my readers' further convenience
 

BOOKFINDER
http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&qi=wnk84IMOGAokXNgMRXYuV4QtRgo_9805432161_1:130:1435&bq=author%3Drowena%2520cherry%26title%3Dknight%27s%2520fork%2520love%2520spell%2520futuristic%2520romance




As I think it will be helpful to me, I'm assembling the "All My Books" pages at the same time

ALL MY BOOKS ON POWELLS
http://www.powells.com/s?header=Search+Form&kw=Rowena+Cherry


ALL MY BOOKS ON BARNES AND NOBLE
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?ATH=Rowena+Cherry


ALL MY BOOKS ON BOOKSAMILLION
http://www.booksamillion.com/search?id=4539716012475&query=ROWENA+CHERRY&where=Books&search.x=65&search.y=10&search=Search

 
ALL MY BOOKS ON BORDERS
http://www.borders.com/online/store/SearchResults?keyword=Rowena+Cherry&type=1&simple=1


ALL MY BOOKS ON INDIEBOUND
http://www.indiebound.org/hybrid?filter0=ROWENA+CHERRY&x=27&y=8

 
For e-books
 
ALL MY BOOKS ON FICTIONWISE
MATING NET
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b35959/?si=0




 
NEW LINK FOR MATING NET... NOW A KINDLE
http://www.amazon.com/Mating-Net/dp/B002MQYO98/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253970411&sr=1-5
 

ALL MY BOOKS ON JEXBO.COM
E-FORCED MATE
https://www.jexbo.com/items/108 

 
USED BOOK SITES
Abe books
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=ROWENA+CHERRY&sts=t&x=47&y=9
 

BOOKFINDER (a compendium of all US book sites)
http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?author=ROWENA+CHERRY&title=&lang=en&isbn=&submit=Begin+search&new_used=*&destination=us&currency=USD&mode=basic&st=sr&ac=qr



I hope this is helpful, and makes a chore a little easier.



Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry

Mating Net, the soundtrack

Last Thursday, I drove 40 miles each way to a video recording studio and read every word --all 15,000 of them-- of Mating Net in front of a camera.

If you would like to hear me read this somewhat risque short story to you, please check whether or not these links work.

Part One:
http://lsc.audioacrobat.com/download/5469a230-094f-0354-5d6b-db5b4e884715.mp3

Part Two:
http://lsc.audioacrobat.com/download/e07f641f-cbd7-d71e-db0d-63a1c3d2bd2e.mp3


Mating Net is a prequel for my god-Princes of Tigron series (Forced Mate, Insufficient Mating Material, and Knight's Fork).

Set 70 years before the flurry of marriages and murders described in this trilogy, Mating Net shows how the ambitious young Princess Helispeta split a royal family and started a war.

Mating Net can be purchased as an e-book at http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/matingnet.htm


By the way, please vote for Insufficient Mating Material's cover art, title, and blurb here: Award-5-Stars

National Humor Month

http://www.longandshortreviews.com/humormonth.htm

Celebrate "National Humor Month" with LASR/WC and 30 romantic comedy authors!

WC, for those whose minds are boggling, stands for Whipped Cream, the erotic side of the Long and Short of it review site. I know, I wondered about water closet humor for an instant, too!

Every day a different author will be giving away a prize, which might be a download, or a gift token, or chocolates, or a book. This is a structured scavenger hunt, and those who join in must be sure to write "Scavenger Hunt" in the subject line when they write in with their answer to the question of the day.

Here's the roster of Romantic Comedy authors

4/1 Victoria Blisse http://www.victoriablisse.co.uk/

4/2 Christy Tillery French http://www.christytilleryfrench.com/

4/3 Catherine Wade http://www.catherinewade.com/

4/4 Vivi Andrews http://www.viviandrews.com/

4/5 Robin Glasser http://www.myspace.com/robinglasser

4/6 Phyllis Marie Campbell http://www.phyllismariecampbell.com/

4/7 B. H. Dark http://bhdark.blogspot.com/

4/8 Ann Lory http://www.annlory.com/

4/9 Sylvia Shults http://www.sylviashults.com/

4/10 Jami Davenport http://jamidavenport.home.att.net/

4/11 Lena Austin http://www.lenaaustin.com/

4/12 Robin Kaye http://www.robinkayewrites.com/

4/13 Linda Wisdom http://www.myspace.com/lindawisdombooks

4/14 Jennifer Johnson http://booksbyjenniferjohnson.com/default.aspx

4/15 Judi Fennell http://www.judyfennell.com/

4/16 Patrice Wilton http://www.patricewilton.com/

4/17 Michele Hart http://www.iloveshapeshifters.com/

4/18 Jennifer Shirk http://www.jennifershirk.com/

4/19 Charlotte Chalmers http://www.charlottechalmers.com/

4/20 Elizabeth Rose

4/21 Marianne Arkins http://www.mariannearkins.com/

4/22 M. K. Trent http://www.mktrent.com/

4/23 Michelle Moncou http://www.michellemonkou.com/

4/24 Kari Thomas http://www.authorkari.com/

4/25 Bryl Tyne http://bryltyne.com/

4/26 Rowena Cherry http://www.rowenacherry.com/

4/27 Amber Polo http://www.amberpolo.com/

4/28 TBA
4/29 TBA

4/30 Libby Malin http://www.libbysbooks.com/

I will be giving away a box of Godiva chocolates, and I will be asking a question about the Cerne Giant's dimensions. The Cerne Giant features large in my first book FORCED MATE.

Beware.... this excerpt is decorated with a rude photograph.

The perfect compliment to my mission statement

For anyone who was following the promised countdown, I will do a retrospective on what I should have done. In the meantime, here's a bit of fun. I'm trying out what I call "Contrarian Marketing". I've been on a blog tour (I'll report back on the success of that, too) and I noticed that Savannah had a list, and she said she'd got the idea from someone else.

Those of us who are trying what might be a new trend of truth in advertising are tweaking the idea of a list in different ways. I find it the perfect compliment to my mission statement.

My goal as an author is to give good value. I expect to provide my readers with six to eight hours of amusement, a couple of really good laughs, a romantic frisson or two from the sensual scenes, a thoroughly satisfying Happy Ever After, and something to think--or talk-- about when the book is finished. And possibly some useful information

ELEVEN REASONS NOT TO READ KNIGHT'S FORK

11. Disrespectful words such as tallywacker and joystick are used with reference to male body parts

10. It's long. (Not the tallywacker... well, it is, but I meant the book). Knight's Fork has 340 pages, and most new Chapters do not begin on a fresh page.

9. It has a Prologue and an Epilogue. That's two beginnings, and two endings!

8. It's going to take about eight hours to read.

7. The hero is a 28 year old virgin and proud of it. (He's also ruthless with a weapon of a different sort).

6. The heroine is locked in a chastity belt, and she doesn't have a key.

5. The family tree is so complicated they needed to spread it over two pages.

4. If you read in bed, your significant other might be disturbed by your giggles and snorts.

3. The F- word is used, but only by villains, and only in conversation.

2. If you read it in public, someone may ask why the naked man on the cover is lying in a puddle

1. If you don't read every paragraph, you may ask yourself why the naked man is lying in a puddle


If the above list has not deterred you, please look for Knight's Fork at this convenient location
http://tinyurl.com/KnightsFork

Knight's Fork was awarded a PNR Reviewer's "Top Pick"
also a LASR readers' choice for Best Book of the Week

It's predecessor, Insufficient Mating Material recently won the 2008 Hollywood Book Festival's Romance category.

http://tinyurl.com/Backlist-reviews
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=Rowena+Cherry


TEN (AND A HALF) REASONS NOT TO READ INSUFFICIENT MATING MATERIAL


10. Insufficient Mating Material are not words I feel comfortable waving about in front of gentlemen on the bus or train, for instance.

9. If it's about a man with a small penis, I don't want to read that... I see enough of that at home/at the office/on TV.

8. It's going to take about eight hours to read.

7b. I find it totally implausible that a male could have a tattoo on his male body parts... and as for one that flashes in the dark, I'm not interested in the slightest.

7. The hero is a loser. I don't like books that take the antagonist from a previous book and give him a happy ending.

6. I don't identify with a heroine who is a little bit overweight, and who wears a corset (or any other tummy taming garment).

5. The family tree is at the back of the book. I'll be furious when I find that I wasted all that energy trying to memorize the characters' names and relationships.

4. I've heard that if I read Insufficient Mating Material in bed, my giggles and guffaws will annoy my significant other.

3. The F- word is used by the hero both as an expletive and as a verb.

2. If "Survivorman" Les Stroud loved it, there's probably too much information about hunting, fishing, camping, and surviving in the wilderness.

1. Apparently, it contains "a sizzling passion hot enough to singe" my "fingers as I turn the pages".... That sounds uncomfortable.



TEN REASONS NOT TO BUY FORCED MATE

10. I'm told that it's not a bodice ripper, but it sounds like one.

9. PS. I like bodice rippers.

8. It's going to take about eight hours to read.

7. The hero is an alpha male. I don't like books that give male chauvinist pigs a happy ending.

6. I don't identify with beautiful, spirited, young, virginal heroines who have some funny ideas about sex.

5. I can't get my tongue around the Dj- names. I know that I simply pronouce them as if the D isn't there, but all the Ds bother me.

4. I've heard that if I read Forced Mate in bed, my giggles and guffaws will annoy my significant other.

3. The alien hero uses alien swear words. Moreover, his command of English grammar isn't perfect. He says unsense instead of nonsense. I hate that!

2. The spirited heroine uses her wits and her tongue. I can never have enough of heroines who kick the heroes in the goolies.

1. I don't like fantasy books set in England. Or in outer space.



Rowena Cherry
http://www.rowenacherry.com


http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=Rowena+Cherry


I think Rowena's true skill is that she weaves this intricate world of aliens and sex just the same way J.K. Rowling weaves the world of Wizards.
~Des DiFabio, bookclubqueen

Interview: Of skeletons in closets, unmentionables in Romance, to be or not to be nasty

In a recent interview, the Book Club Queen asked me about my alien Djinn family tree

"....with my family tree. My two biggest mistakes were getting my arithmetic wrong, and in giving every character at least one (out of seven) royal "Djinn" name beginning with Dj---.

The D is silent.

In my ignorance, I thought that a Dj- would be a convenient signal to my reader that this was another Djinn Prince or Princess. Not everyone agrees with me.

As for the arithmetic, that left me with the choice of being nasty or inconsistent. I chose to be consistent, and rely on Egyptian and European history where royal marriages --even between infants-- was accepted, puberty was earlier, and fifteen year old Princes led armies into battle.

Thus, my family tree has given me intellectual challenges, but has also supplied a structure... and plenty of skeletons in the Royal closet."


To find out what Des DiFabio asked about bodily functions, curses, and the use of toilets in Romance, and what Rowena Cherry said, check out the interview:


Interview: http://www.book-club-queen.com/book-club-questions-6.html


Review of FORCED MATE: http://www.book-club-queen.com/free-book-review-6.html

"...I found Forced Mate a breath of fresh air in the romance arena. Sure it had it's love scenes (which actually were written with surprising intimacy and class), and definitely more than one allusion to various phallic symbols, but it was also unique, witty, and very clever."

~ Des DiFabio, bookclubqueen

"...I think Rowena's true skill is that she weaves this intricate world of aliens and sex just the same way J.K. Rowling weaves the world of Wizards."

~Des DiFabio, bookclubqueen