PART TWO: HOW TO BECOME A BEST-SELLING AUTHOR IN 20 YEARS OR LESS

Today’s guest is New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Olivia Cunning with part two of her special two part series on finding success as a self-publishing author. Part one, covering her early attempts at publication, is here.

 Part Two: My Own Brand of Insanity

So my first traditionally published book, a rock star erotic romance, was having a little success. I was far from quitting that day job. With my second book, I started to gain some popularity. With the third, I hit the USA Today bestseller list for the first time. Then all of a sudden, the erotic romance genre exploded with the success of Fifty Shades of Grey. People were looking for more sexy books to read. That’s when my career really took off.

It was also at this time that the self-publishing craze took hold and I decided to try my hand at it. I started with something a little different, a time travel erotic romance series (Lovers’ Leap) where the lead characters travel through time quantum-leap-style and fix the sex lives of people in the past. I love the premise. I love the characters. I love everything about that series, except that I don’t have time to write more of it. And it pretty much sells nada. Even with my best-selling-name on the series, people don’t buy it. Why? Because I wasn't being insane enough. I needed to do the same thing over again. Lovers’ Leap was just too different from my norm. (This is a good lesson for novice authors).

Since the Lovers’ Leap series flopped—and continues to flail like a fish out of water—I started writing a different rock star series with a shorter, serialized format, One Night with Sole Regret. And… that’s when it happened for me. When I could finally make a career out of writing and make good money doing what I dreamed of doing.

My first two One Night with Sole Regret books did very well because fans of my Sinners series were waiting for my traditional publisher to get its shit together—I mean, publish the next book. Because Sole Regret was less expensive than my trad pubbed books, I picked up new readers. Many of those went back to read Sinners. Then my fourth Sinners book hit the NY Times best-seller list and my third Sole Regret came out at about the same time and the two releases fed off each other. A delicious vicious cycle. After a few months of smashing success, I quit the day job and started running my own self-publishing business. This is where the late night, sleep deprived, sugar high induced rants that Sia “enjoys” come in.

Self-publishing is not as easy as I thought it would be. Especially since I’m a bit of—cough a complete cough—control freak. I need to do everything myself. If the book doesn't get done and I spell misspell “mispell” and the cover is stupid and I released it on a day when five big names in my genre also released, it all comes back on me. I’m responsible. I can’t blame anyone but me.

So what does this kind of responsibility look like?

I write the book. I edit. I rewrite. I edit. I send to beta readers. I rewrite. I send to my editor. I rewrite. I edit. I re-edit. I re-edit some more. Notice all those I’s in there? And how little writing is involved now?

Okay, the book has been edited and re-edited dozens of times, I can finally collect my cash, right? WRONG! I still have to create the cover, format, upload, distribute to various sites, and market and promote, and market, and market, and promote. I also have to answer reader questions, which come at me through social media and email and my blog and other people’s blogs and who knows how much I miss. I try to interact with fans online while avoiding the negativity that seems to slap me in the face when I least expect it. I never take a day off. I might not write every single day, but I’m doing something related to self-publishing all the time. And don’t get me started on the pain that is bookkeeping.

Traditional publishing is difficult to break into, but it does take a lot of pressure off an author. Someone else does most of those “I” tasks. So that’s why when I was offered a cushy advance for my next series, I said, “Thanks, but no thanks, I’m going to self-publish it.” Say what? You read that correctly, after spending twenty years in pursuit of traditional publishing, now that I’m in a position to get good, guaranteed advances, I turn them down.

Do I regret leaving traditional publishing behind to pursue self-publishing full time? Not at all. I like having control, but it’s a lot of work and it isn't easy.

So, have you figured out the secret yet? On how to become a best-selling self-published author? I’m here to share all my knowledge and expertise, right? So here it is:

The only one who can guarantee your success in self-publishing is… no one. It isn’t guaranteed. Some of it is working hard and producing the best book you can write. Some of it is knowing how to market and gaining reader attention and maintaining reader loyalty. And most of it is pure dumb luck. If I knew how to ensure luck, I’d share the secret, or maybe I’d charge for it, but I wouldn't keep it to myself. I’m baffled that so many authors self-publish their debut novel—without twenty years of rejection angst to back it—and not only succeed, they flourish. That’s amazing! I wish I could have done that. That’s who you should seek advice from. Not me. My method of success isn't a method at all. It’s madness.

So you too can become a best-selling self-published author like me! But I can’t tell you how. Every journey is different. You have to find your own path. And maybe you do have to be a little insane and keep persisting at the same thing—that thing you believe in, that book you wrote, that dream—and expect amazing results. 

Because only when I fed my insanity did I finally find success.

Even Sinners need love... 

When Sinners tie the knot, things don't always go as planned.

Combining her love for romantic fiction and rock 'n roll, Olivia Cunning writes erotic romance centered around rock musicians. Her latest release, Sinners at the Altar, is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other retailers.

PART ONE: HOW TO BECOME A BEST-SELLING AUTHOR IN 20 YEARS OR LESS

Today’s guest is New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Olivia Cunning. This is the first part of a special two-part series on finding success as a self-publishing author. Part two will run on Monday, March 17^th. 

We hear so many great success stories in writing and from the outside it often looks so easy. But here’s Olivia to tell us about the truth about becoming an “overnight” sensation.

Part One: The Drawer Books

Sia asked me to talk about my experiences self-publishing. I've known her since before I was published. She’s seen all my ups and downs. Apparently, she thinks my late night, sleep deprived, sugar high induced rants are hilarious. Thanks, Sia. I’ll have you know my angst is real.

Back in the olden days—yes, the early 1990s are the olden days—I read a Silhouette Desire book by Nora Roberts. It wasn't the first romance book I’d ever read, but it was the book that made me want to write my own romance novel. Not because I thought I could write better than Nora-freakin-Roberts, but because I wanted to be like her when I grew up. This was before Nora Roberts was one of the biggest names in the romance genre, but even then I was blown away by her writing style.

I was nineteen years old, in a bad marriage, with a baby on the way, no college education, and my only job experience was in fast food. And I thought, hey, I’ll be a writer! How hard can it be? Don’t answer that. I was young and naive.

This was the “olden days.” There were no e-books. No Internet. Self-publishing consisted of paying out of your own pocket to have 1000 copies of your book printed. You would then stand in a parking lot and beg strangers to buy your book. If you were lucky, your mom bought a copy and used it as a coaster or something, pointing it out to visitors—“that’s by my kid, the writer”—which met with a lot of ceiling gazing and an occasional guilt-sale. So self-publishing never crossed my mind. I didn't have money to print copies of my book, and I’m much too shy and afraid of being punched in the face to annoy strangers in parking lots. So I went the traditional route.

I wrote my masterpiece—cough tripe cough—and when it was finished (with no editing), I saved it on my 5.25” floppy disk and took it to my second cousin’s house to use her dot matrix printer. I was too poor to buy my own printer. Hell, I was too poor to buy paper to put in the damned thing. Luckily, my cousin had a spare, yellowed ream. I looked through publisher marketplace books to find submission guidelines. I sent (via snail mail—there was no email in the olden days) a synopsis and three chapters to Harlequin and Silhouette. Those were the only romance publishers that would take unsolicited manuscripts from authors without agents. Then I waited. And waited. After ten thousand years (so it was more like ten months), Harlequin sent me a letter and requested the full manuscript. Which is good—because it gave me hope. And bad—because it gave me hope. So back to the cousin’s house to print out the entire manuscript and rip off more printer feed edges and separate each page along the bottom perforations. Oy! (Excuse me for a second. *goes to hug laser printer*) I borrowed money from my grandma for postage and sent off the book with big dreams for myself and my son. This was going to change our lives.

And…

You know this is coming, right?

It was rejected with a form letter.

Ugh. I was gutted. Devastated. Destroyed. I was never going to be an author, much less make a living at it. So I went to college. And worked my ass off. And became a science teacher. But my dream was still to be a fiction author. I never stopped writing. I wrote after I put the kid to bed. I plotted during my commute. I wrote on weekends. I plotted some more while in the shower. I wrote during vacations. But I wasn't writing romance. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, I was the opposite of insane. I tried writing every genre I could as I attempted to find my niche. I could write. I just didn't know what to write.

I tried my hand at another series romance for Silhouette. The manuscript was rejected and shoved in a drawer.

I wrote a fantasy novel five hundred pages long. Agents wouldn't touch it. TOR, who also accepted unsolicited manuscripts at the time, rejected it. Shoved in a drawer.

I wrote a medical thriller. Rejected and shoved in a drawer.

I wrote a YA science fiction novel. Rejected and shoved in a drawer. Removed from drawer and entered into a contest. Lost contest and shoved back in drawer.

I wrote a paranormal romance. Rejected and shoved in drawer. Removed from drawer and entered into a contest. Lost contest and shoved back in drawer.

I wrote an erotic romance about rock stars. And…

Tada!

That manuscript and the rest of the five book Sinners on Tour series was picked up by a small publisher.

The first book was released in October 2010. Finally, after 20 years of trying, I was published. I could go to a bookstore and see my book on a shelf. I could do a book-signing and have half a dozen people show up and have a customer ask the bookstore owner when they were going to have good writers like Stephenie Meyer do a signing. True story. When the customer asked that, she was standing directly in front of me, my book in her hand and her nose turned up. But my first five fans, my family, and Sia showed up at that very first signing, which made me feel a little better about not being a good writer like Stephenie Meyer.

At first, my rock star erotic romance didn't do so well. It did okay for a first book. People discovered it slowly. Very slowly. So I was published, but I wasn't making a living at it. Not by a long shot.

• So how did I finally manage to quit my day job?

Come back on Monday for Part Two: My Own Brand of Insanity

                                                                                                                                                        

Combining her love for romantic fiction and rock 'n roll, Olivia Cunning writes erotic romance centered around rock musicians. Her latest release, Sinners at the Altar, is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other retailers.

HOT ROMANTIC READS FOR A COLD NIGHT

For those of you who like to read a good romance I have some selections to snuggle up with on a cold winter night.

Holiday Man

Marilyn Brant

A Romance Over a Year of Holidays...Shannon Quinn is the small-town girl who runs "Holiday Quinn" -- a holiday-themed inn and resort based in scenic Door County, Wisconsin.

One winter evening, wealthy Minneapolis businessman, Bram Hartwick, blows into town along with the fast-falling snow. The sparks Bram and Shannon create succeed in heating up the chilly Midwestern night, not to mention plenty of holiday weekends in the year that follows...

But is their relationship reserved only for special occasions, or might it be the elusive everyday love that neither of them thought could be found? First chapter excerpt

YOURS AT MIDNIGHT

Robin Bielman 

Lyric Whetsone only had eyes for Quinn Sobel’s brother Oliver, until a car crash took Oliver’s life on New Year’s Eve. Then, a moment of shared grief between Quinn and Lyric became something more impassioned, something that frightened Quinn so much he ran from Lyric’s bed and her life, disappearing for four long years.

Now Quinn’s back for another New Year’s Eve, struggling for closure, desperate to leave his grief in the past and make amends with the girl of his dreams.

But Lyric has a secret–one that could drive Quinn from her life forever. Will Quinn run away from the love and acceptance he’s always wanted…or will he claim his New Year’s kiss and make her his at midnight? First chapter excerpt

And for those of you who like your reads really hot and sexy, may recommend a spicy holiday anthology from some of the biggest names in erotic romance.

A VERY NAUGHTY XMAS

Share Me
by Olivia Cunning, NYT & USA Today Best-Selling Author
Lindsey longs for an amazing Christmas Eve with her favorite band, Sole Regret, and spends one snowy night with two generous rock stars who love to share their gifts.

Jingle Ball 
by Cari Quinn, USA Today Best-Selling Author
This Christmas, rocking the office holiday party has taken on a whole new meaning...

Light Me Up
by Cherrie Lynn, NYT & USA Today Best-Selling Author
She’s dreaming of a little sparkle in her stocking this year. He’s planning a night that’s anything but silent…

An Indecent Proposition 
by Stephanie Julian
Two men. One Woman. Half a million dollars. One very indecent proposition. 

Christmas is Coming 
by Raven Morris
The best gifts are all tied up with a bow…

Stay tuned, I have more hot romance coming up this month. 

Friday, January 4th, my guest will be historical author, Jennifer Hudson.

DOUBLE TIME: Interview with Trey Mills.

It's my pleasure to have Olivia Cunning and Sinner's rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist, Trey Mills as guests. Trey is one sexy guy and between him and Dare, one tends to hyperventilate in their presence. Fortunately, Olivia was kind enough to bring a nice paper bag for me to breathe into. Thanks Olivia! 

Trey, I've often wondered why you didn't join your brother’s band? Exodus End is a really good band. Why the Sinners instead? And Darren is a hot one, in my opinion.

We’re just spreading the Mills’ brother talent around a little. We didn't think the world could handle that level of awesome all at once. Heh, just kidding. 

Sinners has a certain feel. Much more relaxed than Exodus End. Besides I’d rather play guitar alongside Brian. He’s willing to share the spotlight. My brother is a stage hog. A bit of a control freak. Thinks he needs to dominate every aspect of his life. Don’t tell him I said that. Besides, Dare was already establishing himself as a talented professional guitarist when I was thirteen-years-old. That will cramp any aspiring rock star’s style. Who wants to share a stage with a geeky kid? How was he supposed to know that I’d outgrow that look? Thank God, I did. Darren was always good-looking. The ass.

You’re known as quite a party animal. Men and women seem to be all over you. Rarely the same ones twice. Your dressing room door seems a bit revolving. How do you keep everything straight? Or do you?

I have a great memory. I never forget a good piece of a– I mean, I keep track in a database or something. But I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I've given that up. Don’t need it anymore.

I have to say, you’re looking a bit more relaxed, more at peace. I’m wondering if a sexy female rhythm guitarist might have something to do with it? New member of your brother’s band, isn’t she?

Reagan Elliot. She is working with Exodus End for the time being. Poor woman. I don’t think she’s realizes what a bunch of workaholics those guys are. Yeah, they play hard, but who has the energy to play when you work too much? There’s another reason to be in Sinners instead of my brother’s band. More play time.

Mind sharing a little bit about Reagan with us?

She makes me laugh. Amazing instrumentalist. You should hear her play. She’s also cute, if you like that outspoken, tom-boyish type. I totally do.

You were there during her audition, weren't you?

We couldn't see them during the audition. I thought she was Brian, lead guitarist of Sinners. I've never met anyone who could play like him, so when I did, well… it was lust at first solo.

Now, this might be a bit intrusive, but I heard her call you her boyfriend…? You, who will party anytime anywhere and with anybody, is now a boyfriend? This is going tick off some of your fans, you know.

I was just waiting for the right woman. Sure I had to try out a lot of them before I found the right fit, but I’m sure my fans will understand. Not that they have a choice.

But I've also seen her with a really hunky, yowsa, guy, Ethan. I thought he was her boyfriend? 

They used to date. He is a looker, isn't he? Now he’s her bodyguard. Every hot woman rock star needs a bodyguard.

One of the Sinners just became a father. You know there are quite a few people who think rock stars aren't supposed to be married, much less have children. That it’s not a healthy environment for families to flourish. Care to comment on that?

I’m not sure why anyone would think that. Rock stars are people, just like everyone else. It’s tough to have a family when you’re on the road a lot, but I have lots of friends in the business who have successful marriages and happy kids. I don’t plan to ever be one of them, but I know any one of my bandmates would make a great father. I mean, Sed wants eight kids. Eight kids? What in the world would you do with eight kids? I guess he aspires to be octodad and have his own reality show or something. And poor Jessica. Her lady parts will never recover from that.

Speaking of lead singer, Sed Lionheart, he mentioned that the days of “estrogen on the tour buses was just a temporary situation.”  At the time, both Myrna and Jessica were traveling on the tour bus. From what I saw recently, I’d say estrogen seems to still have a presence on the bus. In fact I caught a glimpse of a really hot woman, dressed in a pink waitress outfit with your band’s drummer Eric—she dropped her menu and I got a look at it. Wow, that’s quite a, um, unique menu selection there. Who is she?

That had to be Rebekah. She’s our front of house soundboard engineer. So she’s permanent part of the tour. She mixes the sound for our live shows. We’d keep her even if she didn't make our drummer, Eric, the happiest dude on the planet. Not sure what she’s sees in him. It can’t possibly be his lame sense of humor.

The band’s bassist, Jace, has been seen with a gorgeous, but tough looking, woman. Are they a couple? When did this happen?

Tough? Aggie’s a pussycat. It’s her darker side, who goes by Mistress V, that you have watch out for. When Mistress V is in her dungeon, she’ll drive you to your knees. Aggie was on tour with us in Canada helping Jace with his, um, little problem, but she hasn't been on tour with us since. Not that I minded having Aggie on the tour bus. She kicks ass. Literally. Don’t tick her off.

She has a dungeon? How do you know about it? Have you gone there yourself?

She and Jace give lessons to couples who want to explore the darker side of their sexuality. 

I couldn't wear these much now. Heels are too high
.

And maybe I've been there, maybe not. If you’re interested, I could give you her card. I think she’d train you to be an awesome domme, Sia. How’s your aim?

Awesome, huh? I have my own leather, thank you very much, and my aim is actually quite good, Trey. Of course, I’m not as good with my left as I am with my right. I need more practice. Are you volunteering?

Not me! But I'm sure Jace would volunteer.

As a popular band, what are some of the good things that have come your way? What would classify as a downside?

As far as I’m concerned, everything about being a part of Sinners been great. Amazing. I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I get to hang out with my best friends and make music. I meet a lot of people all over the world. The fan adulation is rather nice.

I know you suffered an injury and had some problems not long ago…?

There have been a few dark spots on my cherry life. I suffered from a head injury a couple of years ago, which I thought was going to end my career, but it doesn't bother me these days. And I might have had a bit of a run-in with a painkiller addiction soon after that, but I wrote a song about it and the guys thought it was good enough for the new album. Writing it was very healing for me. I sing part of it onstage to remind myself how low rock bottom feels. Because I’m so far from rock bottom now, it’s hard to remember how dark things can become.

Currently, things are great. I can’t imagine life getting any better.

Trey, thank you for taking the time to chat with us. I wish you and Reagan the best!

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, INDIEBOUND

DOUBLE TIME--Sinners on Tour Series

He Craves Her Music and Passion

On the rebound from the tumult of his bisexual lifestyle, notoriously sexy rock guitarist Trey Mills falls for sizzling new female guitar sensation Reagan Elliot and is swept into the hot, heady romance he never dreamed possible.

She Can't Get Enough of His Body

Ecstatic to be on tour learning the ropes with Trey's band, The Sinners, Reagan finds she craves Trey as much as she craves being in the spotlight.

They Both Need More...

When Reagan's ex, Ethan Connor, enters the scene, Trey's secret desires come back to haunt him, and pleasure and passion are taken to a whole new level of dangerous desire.

Combining her love for romantic fiction and rock ‘n roll, Olivia Cunning writes erotic romance centered around rock musicians. 
  
You can find Olivia: 
  
Website, Blog, Facebook Fan page

.

ROCK STARS—The Quintessential Bad Boys of Romance

My guest is erotic romance author, Olivia Cunning. She's here, today, to talk about bad boys and making them hero material. We all love them, or at least, we love to read about them. Olivia is also introducing her new series, One Night With Sole Regret.  

As an author (and a woman), I never really questioned the appeal of dating a bad boy. Romance with a bad boy is never dull. It’s fun. Dramatic. Hard on the heart. At first, the excitement fuels the romance—what is he going to do today?—but usually that excitement wears off and you realize he’s not a bad boy, he’s just a jerk. That’s a fine line to toe when you’re writing a romance novel. Readers love the bad boy hero—it’s fun to fantasize dating one—but no one likes a jerk.

So how do I take a man who has thoughts like this

Gabe caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and he turned his gaze on the sweet piece of ass beside him at the bar. Long, brown curls fell to the middle of her back, and her jeans clung to her curvy backside in a most distracting fashion. High-heeled sandals accentuated her long legs, which would look perfect wrapped around his hips. If the front of her looked half as spectacular as the back, he was definitely interested in hanging around a while longer. He wasn’t that exhausted. 

and turn him into someone the heroine and the reader can fall in love with?

Easy.

Introduce him to the right woman and turn his world upside down.

The ultimate bad boy fantasy is not to turn him into a good boy, but for him to show his hidden good side to one very special woman. He won’t change for her (that never works), but he will find all that’s good in himself because of her. At least, that’s my bad boy fantasy, so that’s what tends to happen in my rock star erotic romances.

It’s even more interesting when you start with a heroine who is not attracted to the bad boy type and he has to win her over. In my most recent novella, Try Me, that’s what happens when Melanie meets Gabe. She doesn’t realize that she’s talking to the drummer of a famous rock band.

Melanie relaxed into the sofa cushions, glad she’d found a normal person to talk to. She’d thought she’d have to spend the entire night pretending to be invisible. “Melanie Anderson.

Yours?”

He laughed. “You really aren’t enamored with the band, are you, Melanie?”

What did that have to do with telling her his name? “I like their music, but they’re not my favorite band or anything. A bit too heavy for my tastes. Nikki is the one obsessed with them. She dragged me here against my will.”

“ I’m Gabriel Banner.” He grinned at her and suddenly overwarm, she wondered if someone had switched off the AC. “Call me Gabe.”

A totally normal name for a totally normal guy. She would have felt uncomfortable talking to any of the other men in the room—tattooed, pierced, strange haircuts, chains and leather—but Gabe looked as normal as she did. She smiled and offered her free hand in greeting. His hand slid into hers. Though he clasped her hand with a gentle grip, she could feel the strength in those long fingers. Her heart fluttered when his fingers brushed the back of her hand. “Nice to meet you, Gabe. How did a normal-looking guy like you end up backstage with all these, erm, interesting folks?”

He hesitated and then laughed as if he thought she was joking. “They’re great, aren’t they? Are you from Tulsa?”

She shook her head. “Kansas. Nikki wanted to meet Shade so badly that she made me drive here with her. She couldn’t get backstage last night. I guess she got what she wanted tonight though. Where are you from?”

“Austin.”

She did recognize a hint of a drawl in his speech, but she wouldn’t have pegged him as a Texan—his jeans weren't tight enough to cut off the circulation to his balls. She supposed the Rangers ball cap should have given her a clue. “Did you drive all the way from Austin just to see Sole Regret?”

He laughed again and tugged on one earlobe. He was certainly easy to amuse. And the deep, rich sound of his amusement had her considering clown school to keep him laughing regularly.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” he said.

Gabe took the final draw of his beer, extended the empty bottle, and gave it a little shake. Within twenty seconds it had been replaced with a fresh brew.

Sipping her water, she wondered why the bartender was so eager to do Gabe’s bidding.

“So, do you know the band?”

He smiled again and Melanie feared she’d melt. She was very interested in putting a permanent smile on his handsome face.

“We’ve met…

When she does figure it out, that’s not what attracts her to him. What attracts her is all of those parts of him that he hides from the world because they don’t fit his bad boy image.

“Tell me something else that makes you less cool,” Melanie said.

“Gee, Mel, do you have all night? Don’t you know that most rock stars began life as outcasts who didn’t want to be weird but found a bunch of kindred outcasts to make music with? A few of us somehow manage to make a living off it. Most of us have to supplement our music habit by delivering pizzas.” 

"But being an outcast makes you normal."

He shook his head in confusion. “If you say so.”

“What were you like in high school?”

He groaned inwardly and considered making shit up. He’d been a walking disaster. “Braces.”

“That explains your perfect smile.”

She thought his smile was perfect? Maybe all those painful visits to the orthodontist had been worth it.

“What else?” she pressed.

“Tall and skinny.” Was she trying to talk herself out of sleeping with him or what?

She lifted the hem of his shirt to flash his belly. “Not an ounce of fat on those abs, but not skinny. Fit. And you are tall. I suppose that’s a benefit for a drummer.”

“I was so not attractive, Mel, I didn’t touch my first boob until I was twenty.”

“And how many boobs have you touched since?”

He grinned. “I don’t grope and tell.”

I love to dig deep into my rock star characters’ pasts and show that there is more to them than what the public is exposed to. Take a rock god and make him human. Take a bad boy and let him be bad, but have him treat his woman oh-so good.

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, SMASHWORDS

TRY ME by Olivia Cunning

For the five sexy rock gods of Sole Regret, finding love is easy, keeping it is hard.

Melanie has no desire to meet the members of the rock band, Sole Regret, but her groupie of a best friend gets them both backstage and then rushes off with the band’s lead singer. Left alone at an after party with a bunch of scary tattooed and pierced metal-heads, sheltered Melanie is relieved when the only normal-looking guy in the room insists on keeping her company.

By the time Melanie discovers that Gabe is the band’s drummer and not as normal as she assumed, she has already made a complete fool of herself. She can’t help but be interested in him, not as a rock star, but as the sexiest man she’s ever encountered. Strangely attracted to his hidden tattoos and body piercing, she wonders what it would be like to spend a night with a bad boy.

Gabe is more than willing to show sweet Melanie there’s more to him than meets the eye. All she has to do is try him. Will they only share a single night of passion? Or will their hearts entangle as quickly as their bodies?

Try Me is the first erotic novella in Olivia Cunning’s One Night with Sole Regret series.

Contains explicit sex, graphic language, and a hot rock star with a naughty and inventive mind. 

Available in ebook format only

Combining her love for romantic fiction and rock 'n roll, Olivia Cunning writes erotic romance centered around rock musicians. She also writes romantic fantasy under the pen name Olivia Downing.

Raised on hard rock music from the cradle, she attended her first Styx concert at age six and fell instantly in love with live music. She's been known to travel over a thousand miles just to see a favorite band in concert. As a teen, she discovered her second love, romantic fiction—first, voraciously reading steamy romance novels and then penning her own. For more information visit http://www.oliviacunning.com.

KAT SHERIDAN: Friday The13th My Lucky Day

In celebration, I have homemade Lemon Drizzle Coffee Cake! 

It is my great pleasure to welcome historical romance author, Kat Sheridan, to Over Coffee. Kat is a regular reader/commenter, sometimes book review contributor, and a personal friend whom I dearly love and respect. It’s wonderful to see one of her stories published.

Friday the 13^th is my lucky day! Well, it never was before, but it is now because today marks my debut as an author, as a contributor to the anthology, Demon Lovers, from Ravenous Romance.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m one of the most superstitious people I know. I come from a family of mostly sensible, level-headed, practical people, but was influenced early by a grandmother who devoured astrology magazines and believed in all sorts of signs and portents.

I had no idea I was so superstitious about so many things until Hubs (my real-life hero) pointed it out to me. If I spill salt, I throw some over my shoulder. I knock on wood to counteract negative words. When I make a wish (and who among us doesn’t make wishes?) I always find something blue and add the words “touch blue, wish come true”.

I’ll refuse to take a knife, pair of scissors, or anything else sharp from your hand, but will make you lay it on the table (so our friendship isn’t “cut”). When Hubs (that patient man) gave me a lovely set of kitchen knives as a gift he was unsurprised when I immediately came back with bread and salt as a “gift” to him.

I don’t allow hats on the bed. I don’t allow umbrellas to be opened indoors. If I’m walking with someone and we have to separate to go around an obstacle (light post, hydrant, etc.) I always say “bread and butter”. The correct response should be “salt and pepper”, but Hubs (who’s always willing to humor me) says “peanut butter and jelly”. It works. We’re still together. In spite of my superstitions (that’s partly because I insisted on getting married when the clock was on the upswing, at 1:30, instead of a downswing, such as 1:00). And of course, I had something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue!

But from now on, I’m going to look on Friday the 13^th as a lucky day. You’ll think you lucked out as well when you pick up Demon Lovers, which just so happens to have 13 tales of erotic romance. Each one is about either a succubus or an incubus (or in Inara LaVey’s entry, one of each!) and the lucky folks who get entangled with these sexy demons.

There’s something for everyone here. The anthology opens and closes with carnivals and cotton candy (Inara LaVey and Kilt Kilpatrick) although each is as different as can be. Some of the stories are contemporary, some are humorous, and some have a delicious horror thrill. And three are Victorian pieces (my favorite era!). Mine, La Petite Mort, is Victorian, as is “Original Cyn” by the uber-sexy Olivia Cunning (best known for her rock star erotica; yes, this one has a musical component as well. And a vampire!), and the third historical set piece, Demon’s Grace by Elena Derring, who is also making her debut (glad I’m not the only one!)

So, here are my questions for you: Are you superstitious about Friday the 13^th? Do you have other superstitions?


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Demon Lovers Anthology

A Succubus and Incubus Anthology

La Petite Mort: Blurb

La petite mort. “The little death”. To the French, it is a euphemism for “orgasm”.

For Robert, seventh Viscount Weybridge, it might be more literal.

For six generations the firstborn sons of the Weybridge viscounts have died in the prime of their lives, wasted away by some mysterious force. Robert is the seventh, and last, of the Weybridge lords. He is determined the curse will die with him. But he never expected his killer to be such sweet temptation…

Ajalon. Temptress. Lover.

Succubus.

For hundreds of years she has yearned. Ached. Hungered for just one thing. Something only a Weybridge lord can give her. Robert is her last hope of rescue from an eternity of howling emptiness. Now she must convince him that life in her arms is worth a little death…

BUY: RAVENOUS ROMANCE 


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Kat Sheridan is a recovering project manager and business analyst whose hard-bitten persona has always hidden a secret romantic. She likes her stories with a dark and dangerous flavor, so long as the villains are vanquished and true love triumphs in the end. She is inordinately fond of glitter nail polish, shiny things, bourbon, and any comestibles on which frosting can be placed. Kat splits her time between the Midwest in the summer and the South in the winter. Her peripatetic life is shared with her own real-life hero who shows her every day what happily ever after means. Connect to her on Facebook or visit her website