Visiting Kinky Ever After Today

I know I've been soooooper quiet round these parts, but that's good news in a way, since quiet = busy. I'm wrapping up edits on Power Play: Awakening with Cat Grant (yeah, a bit uncomfortably down to the wire on that one, I know), and I've started a new project in the Belonging Verse. I'm only about 6,000 words into it so far, and I'm not quite sure what shape it's taking or where it's going, but it follows a freeman with a heavy load on his shoulders, and I'm pretty sure he'll be auctioning his virginity to pay the bills >:D

Anyway, more on that as it develops, but it may be a bit slow. In the meanwhile, Devon from Master Class is being interviewed today in the Kinky Kiss and Tell event. Wanna learn Nicky's weirdest habit? (It's pretty weird.) Go check it out! :-)

A Sexy New Boy and a Story to Go w/Him!

Happy Friday, folks! I've been tumbling way more than is probably strictly healthy lately, but in the process I came across this little gem of inspiration. (Which you may have seen, oh, eight or twelve times if you follow me on Twitter.) I named him Ben. I think you'll rather like him. (Photo linked rather than posted to respect the photographer's copyright.)

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z67/designscene/designscenealbum/ChrisMcNallybyPaulReitz03.jpg

Look at him, just braced up against that wall, waiting for his whipping like a good boy. He's nervous, but he's not gonna run. And I'll tell you why beneath the jump.

Slave Auction Recap w/Photos, and a Question/Contest for You All

At last, the promised slave auction recap is here! But, I'd like to begin with a question and contest first, if you don't mind.

You may be aware that I self-published Sublime: Collected Shorts. It was a little experiment for me in managing a title and learning what goes in to putting things out on my own. Currently, I publish the paperback through Createspace, which is convenient and requires no up-front costs but makes the per-copy costs pretty high, hence the $6.95 sale price on the paperback now. That strikes me as a lot to ask people to spend on a 14K book they can get digitally for $2.99.

So, I've been looking at moving the print book to Lightning Source. I'd be able to sell the book a lot cheaper, at maybe $4.50 or $4.99. The problem with this is that up-front costs at Lightning Source are significant for a low-volume title, which the paperback will almost certainly be (though the ebook sells quite steadily, paperback sales in this genre tend to represent no more than 10% of total sales).

What's this got to do with you, you ask? Well, I'm wondering how the pricing would affect your buying habits. If you wanted Sublime, but didn't buy it in print at $6.95, was it because of the price or because you simply prefer ebooks? Would you buy it in print at $4.99? Would you be more likely to buy it at $4.50, or does that $.49 make no real difference? Would you buy it in print even if you already have it in ebook if it's affordable enough? What if you could get an autographed copy ordered directly through my website for the same $4.50 or $4.99, shipping included? Or does the autograph not terribly matter and, for convenience's sake, you'd just as soon order it through Amazon or B&N?

I know that's a lot of questions, but I'd be most grateful if you'd answer as many as you're able in the comments. This'll be a huge help to me and may well be the deciding factor in whether or not I can bring the print copy of Sublime to you at a more affordable price. Also, to say thank you for your input, I'll be giving away an autographed print copy of Sublime to one random commenter (be sure to leave your email address!).

But enough of that. You're here for the slave auction results, right? Beneath the jump, then, complete with photos.

Slave Auction Today - Win Aleksandr Voinov & Kari Gregg!

Remember, folks, today from 3 to 4 PM on the Noble Romance Yahoo Chat, I'll be auctioning off author-slaves Aleksandr Voinov and Kari Gregg to the highest bidder(s). Come prepared with with descriptions and/or pictures of what you're willing to sell, beg, borrow, steal, or kidnap to get your hands on these two valuable prizes (well, okay, one valuable prize and Kari :-p).

All the deets are here: http://rachel-haimowitz.blogspot.com/2011/04/noble-launch-party-win-kari-gregg-and.html

Current high bid for Kari Gregg is a used minivan valued at $8,000 and offered by @_slarmstrong. Increases in increments of at least $100, please.

Current high bid for Aleksandr Vashtan is a kidnapped Paul Walker and Michael Fassbender, plus a real-life genetically engineered version of Daniel Halstrom, valued at $5 million. This one will be tough to beat, folks, but I'm sure you can get creative. Especially since the cops might come looking for Paul and Michael . . . Also I've always wanted a private island. And a yacht to take me there. Just sayin' . . .

Hope to see you all at the auction tomorrow, and remember, even if you don't win your own writer, there are lots of other prizes up for grabs!

Noble Launch Party - Win Kari Gregg and Aleks Voinov (and free books and swag!)

**Due to technical problems, Noble was forced to postpone the Launch Party until next Saturday, the 7th of May. Aleks, Kari, and I will be chatting from 3 to 4 PM eastern time on May 7. Apologies to all who'd blocked out time to bid for Aleks and Kari, but have no fear--I'll be selling them next week instead. Thank you! (If you've not yet read this post, read down to make sense of this :-p)**

Noble Romance is launching a new website this Sunday, and in celebration, they're holding a big release chat party with tons of prizes. Myself, Kari Gregg, and Aleksandr Voinov will be hosting the chat from 3 to 5 PM eastern time, right here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NobleRomancePublishing/. Signing up is easy, and I hope you'll join us.

You see, life's pretty entertaining when the three of us get together, and this Sunday will be extra special. Since we've all written books with slaves--Kari's Spoils of War, my Anchored: Belonging, and Aleks's . . . well, pretty much everything he's ever written--we decided to run with that and hold a little slave auction of our own. Since I'm the "master" of the Belonging universe, I get to be the auctioneer.

Aleks being amazing and talented and all that jazz is the prize of the weekend, and he won't go cheap, so come prepared to list (and show photos of) what you're willing to sell, beg, borrow, or steal to get your hands on him. He's guaranteed to produce at least 150,000 words a year, and I hear he makes a damn fine bed-warmer--top or bottom or both ;-) Current bid for Aleks as of the time of this posting is a house, 3 acres in the Smoky Mountains, 1 dog, 9 chickens, and 2 pre-owned children.

Kari being the GIANT PAIN THE ASS that she is will be going for bargain-basement pricing. Someone, please, take her off my hands. Current bid is a beat-up truck, valued at $8,000. This is at least $7,900 more than I thought she'd go for, but, meh, I guess it's still a bargain?

If you'd like to place a bid before the weekend, hop onto Twitter and check out the #slave4sale hashtag. Bids should be sent to me @rachelhaimowitz, hashtag included; or you can leave a bid right here in the comments (bids with links to photos included will carry more weight). But Kari and Aleks can't be won in absentia, so be sure to join us this Sunday, May 1, from 3 to 5 PM eastern at the Noble Yahoo Loop. There will be awesome swag bags for the first 25 participants, discount codes for everyone, and lots of cool Noble swag (t-shirts, mouse pad, tote bag, etc) being raffled at random. And free books too! Aleks's winner will get a print copy of one of his Noble books, and his runner up will get an ebook copy. Kari's winner will get a print copy of Spoils of War, and her runner up will get an ebook copy. And I'll be giving a print and an ebook copy of Anchored: Belonging to the two bidders who make me laugh the hardest.

Once the auctions end, some of our characters will be making an appearance to chat with you an answer your questions. Expect to see Mitch from Lovely Wicked, Daniel and Carl from Anchored, William of Kent from Deliverance, and maybe even Eli from Spoils of War. 


Be sure to join in all the fun, and who knows--you might just walk out with your own shiny new writer!