New Cover, Old Book

In an effort to spur sales on a title that is (in my humble opinion) grossly under appreciated, I sexied up its cover:

Uploading it to all the ebook sites now. :)

Hate Male

This gem appeared in my inbox this morning, and I just couldn't keep it to myself. Apparently this individual is unable to distinguish between narrative nonfiction and 1st person POV fiction. He is also quite defensive, isn't he? Enjoy...

* * *

Dear 'Whomever has the guts to read my comment in its entirety' (I'm not holding my breath):

In the posted excerpt from DOUBLE DECKER PP-034, PURPLE PROSAIC, JANUARY 2010, I was ASTOUNDED to read the following:

"Now, I’m not one of those dykes who won’t touch a woman who’s touched a dick, but there’s quite enough drama in lesbian circles without bringing Buffy and her angry ex-boyfriend—the one with the Chevy Silverado sporting a Confederate flag and a loaded gun rack—into the mix. The last time I dabbled in that kind of pussy, I wound up having to send a linebacker to the E.R. with a busted tibia. Those steel-toed boots do come in handy on occasion."

Drama? HOLY SHIT, ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Please forgive me for HURLING in disgust, but I find that the author's claim of hospitalizing an ex-high school football star/local-yokel-hick by breaking his leg with a single, powerhouse kick of her steel-toed boot to be A HUGE, STEAMING PILE OF SHIT!!!

Why do so many lesbians insist on espousing their IMAGINARY propensity for physical violence against males, to the point where they will LIE LIKE HELL in an attempt to glorify themselves into somebody they are not? It's just so fucking lame! You aren't fooling anyone with that crap, and you certainly aren't endearing yourself to anyone except other mega-angry lesbians with similar bullshit fantasies. All you have accomplished is to tell me that you have have deep-seated emotional problems and need a fucking shrink (what a shocker).

Why can't you just write about seducing and fucking one another without LYING YOUR ASS OFF about how street-tough and animalistic you IMAGINE yourself to be? I don't think you can - because you and your ilk apparently come (cum) as 'package deals' - super-butch and pretentiously bad/tough/cool. Try as you might, you will NEVER be James Dean…or Marlon Brando…or any other street-tough!

Think about it for a minute: In just a few sentences, the author comes across as immensely dumber and even more testosterone-soaked than the idiot redneck she ALLEGEDLY dropped with her Herman's Survivors super-kick to his shin! IT'S SUCH BULLSHIT...AND SHE KNOWS IT!

If you angry dykes insist upon BLAH-BLAHING about how important it is to 'be yourself' (as the author notes a few sentences earlier in the excerpt), then fucking be yourself, instead of pretending to be some fantastic super dyke hero with both the mindful vengeance and ovaries to pull-off such an idiotic, 'Barbie Bad-Ass' wet dream!

Get bent,

Big Al
Reston, VA

Artistically Bound review

A new-to-me review (thanks to Google alerts) from Seanachie at iReadRomance:

I don’t know how Alessia Brio and Will Belegon managed to pack so many sexual fantasies into one short novella. But who cares? It’s a naughty peek into the sex life of a deliciously open-minded couple who seem to have a never-ending supply of equally open-minded friends to indulge their fantasies with. What’s your fancy? Three-ways? Phone sex? Three-way phone sex? Eating out [cough] in public places? A little tie-me-down-and-spank-me action? Then Artistically Bound is your tour-de-force.

Grab some fresh batteries, and enjoy!

What a lovely discovery on a cold, winter morning. (This title will soon be re-released via our self-publishing label, Purple Prosaic. One of its two novellas, Artistically Inclined, is already available as an ebook.)
 

Second Verse, Double the First

If you recall, I posted that my first month's self-publishing earnings SEXtupled the last author royalties reported by my primary publisher, Phaze Books. Well, I am delighted to report that my second month doubled the first!

I re-released several new titles in November, but it was October releases that carried sales -- with the lesbian fiction again leading the way. One title (Boiling Point, a $1.99 short story) accounted for  half of my revenue through ARe, and it has become the #1 bestselling lesbian title on that site. Two other of my lesbian fiction titles are in the Top 5, as well. :-)

As with October, Kindle sales were again led by a heterosexual romantic comedy short entitled Legally Binding. It's erotic but not explicit, and it's so short (1750 words) that I was embarrassed to price it at 99 cents. (That's the lowest Amazon's Digital Text Platform allows.) The lesbian erotica does well on Kindle, but nowhere near as well as on ARe.

There were a few sales on Smashwords, and 1 Romance eBooks nudged onto the charts with the sale of two titles (which is enough to warrant my uploading more titles). Nothing on Lulu or Scribd, and no direct sales. Although all my titles have been approved by Smashwords for "premium distribution" (via Barnes & Noble, Fictionwise, Shortcovers, and Sony), very few of them have actually appeared on those sites. I look for a spike in Smashwords revenue once that distribution occurs. Reporting of such revenue, however, I expect to be... um... delayed.

December will bring a new distribution channel: My Bookstore and More. I signed the contract late last month and just received the upload instructions yesterday. I'll begin uploading titles this week. MBaM is Samhain Publishing's shopping cart, so I'm hoping for a sales boost there!

Oh, last thing: Print sales are not included in these figures (because sales are negligible).
It's all about the e, baby! Until next time...

peace and PURPLE passion,

~ Alessia

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

I left a comment on Allison Brennan's post about Harlequin Horizons over at Murder She Writes. Several comments have appeared after mine, yet mine is still awaiting moderation. Well, I don't feel like waiting to chime in, so I'm *ahem* self-publishing it. (And, because I can whore my work on my own blog, I've added links.) Here 'tis:

Thanks, Allison, for an insightful post.

It absolutely baffles me to think that an intelligent being would opt for HH’s platform when there are several established and reputable digital publishing platforms that ask NOTHING to host a self-published book. They take a percentage of each sale, but that’s true of HH and its distribution channels as well.

I started self-publishing last month (and, Shiloh, I’m happy to report that that 100 copy sales benchmark definitely does not apply even to re-released work) and places like Smashwords (with its "premium" -- and FREE -- distribution to Barnes & Noble, Sony, Fictionwise, and Shortcovers) make it easy to succeed. Amazon’s Digital Text Platform is free and will get your book on the Kindle rolls. And the folks at All Romance eBooks, where my sales are greatest, are absolutely wonderful to work with.

An author doesn’t have to use self-publishing as a last resort. For some, it’s a lucrative and viable alternative to jumping through the “traditional” publishing hoops.

by Alessia Brio November 19th, 2009 at 8:34 am Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Survey says: SEXtupled

...with change (and a few hours remaining in the month). That's my revenue report for the first month of self-publishing via Purple Prosaic. That's right. In just one month, with just a fraction of my backlist, I earned more than SIX times my last author royalties check. I think that data more than supports a continuation of this little endeavor, don't you?

Here are a few more stats:

The entire revenue is from ebook sales (and most of it previously published material, at that). No print sales are included (although I did re-release fine flickering hungers in both paperback and commemorative hardcover).

The majority of sales (67%) came through All Romance eBooks *blows a kiss to Lori & Barb* with Amazon Kindle in a distant second (27%) and Smashwords finishing third (6%). (Of note, the Smashwords titles have not yet been distributed via Fictionwise, Barnes and Noble, and Sony. Thus, Smashwords figures will *crosses fingers* be growing.)

There is no revenue to report via direct sales or on the titles available on Lulu, Scribd, or 1 Romance Ebooks. I'll keep plugging away at Lulu because it feeds into the weRead app on Facebook and Scribd because I'm getting plenty of hits there that will hopefully someday translate into sales.  I'm not going to invest more time/effort into 1 Romance Ebooks until I see at least a sale or two of what's already available there.

Three titles (Boiling Point, Say It with a Strap-On, and Hallowing Eve) account for 48% of the titles sold.  THEY ARE ALL LESBIAN FICTION.  I find this very interesting given that I've heard two of my publishers (Phaze Books & Torquere Press) report that the lesbian fiction in their catalogs doesn't sell well. Now, my stats may be skewed by the fact that these were the first three titles I released -- and thus, they've had all month to accumulate sales -- but I don't think that explains it all.  I'm both puzzled and pleased by the success of these titles -- and I'll definitely be writing more in the genre.

Thanks to all the readers for their support!

Until next time...

peace and purple passion,

~ Alessia