That eternal question, Print or Digital

There is a very clever article on The Huffington Post about the demise of the print industry, written by J.A. Konrath.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ja-konrath/is-print-dead_b_583959.html


As a primarily electronically published author, I’m a big fan of digital publishing. No trees destroyed, no remaindered books pulped and adding to the mountain of garbage we produce each day, no transportation costs adding to our carbon footprint.

Then there is the speed and ease of purchase. Anywhere I am in the world, no matter what time of day or night, I can go to a publisher’s website, and download the book of my choice and be reading inside a few minutes. For considerably less than I would pay in a traditional, brick-and-mortar store. Or I can go to one of the big multi-publisher sites and scroll around through the genres to find half a dozen new books or new-to-me authors, just like in a bookstore, only I can be reading them in moments without ever leaving my comfy chair.

As an author I acknowledge there’s something special about holding my book in my hands, and autographing it for a fan. Quite a few of my books are out in print and I love having copies of them. I also hate the downside of e-publishing where people pirate my book and “share” it with their one thousand closest friends, without giving thought to the fact that if they don’t pay me for my work, I’m not going to be able to pay my bills. Another factor is one of the saddest things I’ve seen is a book lover sitting surrounded by her books, crying because she has to get rid of many of them due to lack of space in her home. For her, the trauma was similar to farewelling old friends. At least with digital books, thousands can be stored safely on a single external hard drive.

Overall I see digital publishing as the way of the future, although print books will probably be around for many years yet. So my answer to that eternal question, Print or Digital, is both for now.

Fortunately for readers, all the Naughty Literati boxed sets are available in digital and in print forms, so you can choose your favorite format.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=naughty+literati

Berengaria Brown
Blog: http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berengaria.brown?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BerengariaBrown

I Met My Cover Model by Regina Kammer

In July, I went to San Diego for the annual conference of the Romance Writers of America. I attended sessions on the craft of writing, the business of promotion, and opportunities in publishing. I hung out with friends at the pool bar, watched a 19th-century fashion show, and attended the Hamilton sing-a-long.

I also watched a faux cover model shoot. With the guy who's been on three of my covers:


His name is Julian Christian. I had suspected he might be the model in attendance since the session presenters were Kim Killion and Jennifer Jakes of The Killion Group, Inc. -- the company which supplied all of the photos in the above covers (and created the cover for The General's Wife). Plus I happen to know Julian is San Diego-based.

I got to the conference room early, wanting to get a seat in the front. The room slowly filled with tittering, excited authors. And then the presenters arrived. With Julian:

He got up on the stage to begin the mock photo shoot:

Then he took his shirt off:

And when Julian took his shirt off, there was swooning, gasps, and sighs.

He posed as he would during a real cover shoot: Brooding,

shooting,

crouching (this drew breathy exclamations from the audience and a bemused look from Julian)

And then Jennifer Jakes walked around the room looking for a willing participant for a romantic suspense shot. As if we all weren't willing...
The young woman was chosen -- it happened to be her birthday! They did a romantic suspense pose:

Then Kim and Jennifer explained how they get male and female models to feel comfortable around each other so they can enact a romantic clinch like this

Another willing participant was sought from the audience for a historical or Amish romance cover. The volunteer author donned historical garb. Julian put a shirt on and played the dashing hero:

Then there was a costume change:

for a Scottish historical cover:

Another volunteer got to participate in a rather intimate historical pose:

After all the posing and the question and answer session, the authors lined up to get their pictures taken with Julian. Of course, I had to get mine taken

(thank you to Tricia Linden for taking my photo!)
Then historical romance author Sherry Ewing joined us for a threesome

I mean, we all just posed together!

It was fun, and Julian was a good sport with all the fawning, swooning female authors. He's super nice. I'm really glad I got the chance to meet the man on my covers!

p.s. if anyone knows who any of the author volunteers were, please let me know in the comments!

About the Author

Regina Kammer is a librarian, an art historian, and an award-nominated, best-selling, multi-published writer of erotica and historical erotic romance. Her short stories and novels make history sexier, whether the era is Roman, Byzantine, Viking, American Revolution, or Victorian. She’s even sexed up contemporary settings, Steampunk, and Greco-Roman mythology. She has been published by Cleis Press, Go Deeper Press, Ellora’s Cave, House of Erotica, Story Ink, The Naughty Literati, and her own imprint, Viridium Press. She began writing historical fiction with romantic elements during National Novel Writing Month 2006, switching to erotica when all her characters suddenly demanded to have sex.

Keep up with Regina on her website

Subscribe to her newsletter Kammerotica News

Read her blog

Follow her on Twitter @Kammerotica

Or Google+

Like her on Facebook

Connect with her on Goodreads

See what’s new on her Amazon Author Page

Ch..Ch..Changes

A few months ago I pulled all but one of my novels from Ellora’s Cave. It was a bittersweet move for me. They weren’t my first publisher, but at first they were one of the best of several I’ve dealt with.

Sometime back in 2000, I was invited to submit to this very new epublisher. An author friend had just signed with them, so I asked about her experience with them. She told me about a small, friendly publisher that was open to a variety of stories, but mostly interested in erotic romance. That worked well for me, so I sent them a novel I’d been working on for a while. To my shock, I got a positive response just twelve hours later.

Over the next twelve to fourteen years, I published eight novels, eight novellas, and three shorter pieces with Ellora’s Cave. It was good for both the company and myself.

But times change, and the publishing world changes even faster. Authors who want to continue to thrive have to be prepared to adapt.

So with some sadness and more than a little trepidation, I decided it was time to take my books back and venture out on my own. Over the next few months, I’ll start re-releasing some of my older books, re-edited and in some cases re-written, with new covers and blurbs.

But in the meantime, I’m also doing these wonderful anthologies with the Naughty Literati group and it’s being great fun!