Shame On You

A few days ago, I'm on Facebook, scrolling through my feed, when I see a book recommendation request from a m/m reader. After watching Game of Thrones, the reader was in the mood for some twin action, as in twin brothers getting it on.

I came pretty close to doing a little self-promotion. My book, Triple Play, has a set of twins who share some sexual experiences though they never actually go full anal. I ultimately decided not to throw my hat in the consideration ring. My story is actually about a woman who pursues a relationship with both men, and some m/m readers don't want any m/f intimacy in their books.

A day or so later, I'm scrolling through my Facebook feed once again, and I see a lengthy rant from a fellow m/m author. This author stood on her soap box and went on and on about how disgusting it is for readers to enjoy twincest (yep, it's popular enough to have its own trope name) and it's no wonder the m/m romance writing community can't be taken seriously. As if it wasn't enough for her to disparage other peoples' tastes, she took a screen shot of the original reader's query to further shame her.

My first reaction after reading her post was to feel shame. I didn't feel shame for her. I was ashamed of myself for having written a book with some twincest action. For a few moments, I gave serious though to rewriting the entire book and taking out all of those scenes to make it more palatable.

That feeling was short lived. Once I got over my shame, I was outraged. First of all, how dare she try to publicly shame anyone's reading pleasure? Second, how dare she try to make other authors feel lesser for writing tropes she doesn't approve of? Third, and worst of all, who does she think she is trying to make it seem as though all m/m authors share her feelings? That bitch is giving us a bad name.

Even if I hadn't written Triple Play, I would never condone shaming someone else's tastes because they don't align with mine. If I don't like something, and you do, I'm probably not going to read the book you're recommending. And I am definitely not going to make you feel like shit by publicly shaming you. That is not cool.

I made the choice to stop following the author and to remove her and her spouse from my friends list. I also decided I will no longer buy or promote her books, no matter how much I enjoyed them in the past. Satisfied with my decision, I was ready to move on, but then something amazing happened.

I learned I wasn't alone in my outrage. You know how social media is. Things spread like wildfire there, especially if they're controversial.  It started with the moderators of the m/m book reccomendations group posting an apology to the original twincest reader and reminding all group members it was never acceptable to publicly trash another member's preferences. Many group members chimed in to offer their support to the reader who'd made the original post. Even those who didn't enjoy twincest were encouraging, taking an attitude of to each his own and you do you.

And it didn't stop there. A number of m/m authors took to their social media pages to say it's not okay to publicly shame someone's reading taste. Many removed the offending author from their groups and have pledged to no longer support her.

I am thrilled to see so many people getting behind the original reader. I'm sure this author didn't realize the shit storm she was going to stir up, but it's unfortunate. With the amount of readers she's alienated, it's likely she'll see an impact to her sales. There were countless people vowing never to buy another of her books or never to buy them at all. That's going to hurt, but I have two things to say about that.

Always think before you speak, and shame on you for trying to make others feel ashamed. That's going to be an expensive lesson to learn. 

Don't Leave Me Hanging

Last week, I read a book by a new author. It was a shifter romance with an interesting take on the cultural hierarchy, and yes, before you say it, shifter culture is a thing in fiction novels. Not the point. The point is that I was happily reading this book and being drawn into the story when the unthinkable happened.

The author ended the book with a cliffhanger, leaving me to wait for the next book to wonder what’s going to happen.  And let me tell you, I was pissed.

Now, I knew going in that the book was the first in a series. That’s fine. When I’m emotionally invested in characters and the story, I’m excited by the prospect of more books. Sure, I get impatient waiting for the next book, especially when I’m quick to devour the one before, but I understand writing takes time.

As for the cliffhanger, I had no idea it was coming. Not only was I pissed off when I realized the book was over, and we were left wondering what would happen to our beloved alpha and the mate he was so desperately hoping for, but I was also left unfulfilled. I felt like I’d been cheated.

I know what the author was doing. Creating the suspense and hoping the cliffhanger would leave readers so excited to know what was going to happen that they would be sure to come back for more. The funny thing is I’ve done this before. It’s been a long time. I’ve done it before, but I don’t do it anymore.

I would never tell another author how to write her book, unless she asked for my advice. I will say that I’ve become spoiled. Very few of the authors I read these days are using cliffhangers as a means to entice readers. Most, myself included, are writing each book in their series so that it could be read as a standalone but is more enjoyable when all preceding books are read in order.

On the rare occasions that I read books that have cliffhangers, I usually do it knowingly. Most authors are kind enough to realize readers don’t like to be left in the lurch. They typically include a disclaimer at the beginning of the book that warns readers the story ends on a cliffhanger. Some even go as far as to include the release date for the next book so readers can decide if they want to take the risk.

Believe it or not, reading a book with a cliffhanger is a risk, especially when the book is written by a new author. I can’t tell you how often writers come and go. There are quite a few with staying power but just as many who stop writing. Some not only stop writing but also seem to fall off the face of the earth, never to be heard from again. It’s disappointing when an author I like stops writing, but it’s frustrating when an author I like stops writing after leaving their last book on a cliffhanger. Then I never know what happened, and that sucks.

It sounds petty, but as a reader, I’m begging all authors. Don’t leave me hanging if you can help it. If you’re going to do it, at least warn me before I open the book. Give me the ability to make an informed decision about whether or not I want to read the book yet.

A Thief Strikes Again

In a recent post, we talked about plagiarism, the act of one author stealing from another (or several others) and passing the work off as her own. I hate to say it, but a different author has committed the crime of theft, only this one is more interesting than the last.

Every author knows writing a book is only step one in the process of releasing your book. So much more goes into it, including having a cover. Anyone will tell you that a cover can make or break a book. You can have the best-written book, but a bad cover can kill your sales.

So, what do you do when your book is written and you need a cover? There are several options.

I’ll tell you what you don’t do though. You don’t search the internet for a photo, find one you like and then use it for your cover. If you do, chances are high you are committing a crime. Like books, most photographs are copyrighted. To use a photo that has a registered copyright without permission of the photographer is copyright infringement.

And guess what folks? You can’t hide behind the ‘I didn’t know’ argument. If you’ve found a photo you like during an internet search, it’s your responsibility to track down the photographer and find out if it is available for licensing. If you don’t do that, and you use the photo anyway, you are engaging in copyright infringement. What is that old saying? Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Now, let’s say you don’t heed this advice and you use a stolen photo. If the photographer finds out, and contacts you and asks you to stop using his work, you’d better comply. If not, you are not only a terrible person you are also in violation of copyright laws.

I’m equal parts disgusted and saddened that photographer Michael Stokes was the subject of one such thief last week. Even more appalling is that when Stokes reached out to two authors he found to be using his work without permission one took him for a ride on the crazy train. The author accused him of being a liar and a racist, among other things, and refused to stop illegally using his photograph on her book cover. The author in question defended her actions by saying she paid $1.50 for the picture and would continue to use it.

I don’t know about you, but the fact that the picture only cost her $1.50 raised a huge, red flag for me. Michael Stokes, Golden Czermak and Wander Aguiar are among the most prolific photographers in the industry. There is no way any of them would sell their work at such low cost, and they shouldn’t be expected to. Even if the author did pay someone for the picture, the photographer has informed her that he wasn’t paid for its use. That should be enough to get her to stop using his work, but she continues to refuse.

As if that isn’t bad enough, she’s also taking shots at anyone who defends Stokes. Not only has she made disparaging remarks about Stokes, his colleagues and his fans, but she’s failed to keep in mind some of us stepping up to stand at Stokes’ side are readers. Readers who are so outraged and disgusted by her actions that we do not intend to purchase her books. This woman has cost herself a loss of future income in addition to the financial loss she’ll face if Stokes pursues legal action.

I’m not just a reader. I’m an author. Would I love to be able to license photos from industry titans like Stokes, Czermak and Aguiar? Sure, I would, but I’m not in a position to do so now. Does that mean I’m going to use their work anyway and then have the audacity to justify my theft? Absolutely not.

The bottom line here folks is that using a photograph for any reason without the photographer’s permission is stealing. No self-respecting author, or person, would ever to such a thing. I, for one, hope Stokes takes her to the cleaners.

Give Up the Ghost

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about a scandal in the male/female romance community. An author was found to have plagiarized several other authors in the genre. As if that wasn't bad enough, because there is no excuse for plagiarism, she ripped off best selling authors, including industry titan, Nora Roberts. Instead of owning her mistake, the author blamed her ghostwriter. The ghostwriter fired back, making sure everyone knew that every word she wrote came from the author, who by the way did not pay the ghostwriter for her services, instead giving her a sob story about needing the money for a sick child.

Plagiarism is  deplorable, but this scandal sparked another debate. Is it okay to use a ghostwriter? Before we go any further, let's define what a ghostwriter is. In the simplest terms, it's having someone else take your ideas, and usually your rough draft, and polish it up until it becomes a full fledged story. The ghostwriter is not credited for the work done and consumers buy and read books assuming it was written by the author listed on the cover and title page.

Have you ever wondered how some authors can release a book a month while others are good for only a few a year? And still others only release one a year? For a few writers, they are dedicated enough to sit at their computer every day and do nothing but write. Some have a backlog of already written stories they're pulling from. The rest? They're using a ghostwriter. 

Using a ghostwriter isn't a new practice, but this scandal has raised some questions. Is it fair for authors to use ghostwriters? Are authors who use ghostwriters duping readers? When a ghostwriter is used, what is the impact to the rest of us who aren't using them?

In the wake of the latest plagiarism scandal, many authors decried using ghostwriters. Several authors made sure to use their social media platforms to inform their readers if their name was on a book, they alone wrote it. There was even a few Facebook threads of authors posting pictures of their pets and cheekily proclaiming those were their ghostwriters. Given how passionately so many authors are speaking against it, I'm sure you can guess how most of us feel about ghostwriters, but why?

Like it or not, using a ghostwriter is a misrepresentation to your readers. Your cover and title page boasts you as the author, but you're simply the creator of the idea. You're not earning your fans or your money honestly, and that is not fair to the people purchasing your books.

Then there is the fact that ghostwriters are usually able to crank out these stories in thirty days or less. How? Because it's their job. They earn their living by writing one story after another. The more they can produce, the more money they make. Sure, the quality of the storytelling suffers, but many readers who are fans of the "author" will snap every one of those books up.

For those of us who write our own stories, we suffer. Fans want to know why we can't write a book a month. If we take a few months in between, there's a risk our fans are going to move on and find writers they know are producing. Part of this is because readers worry the author is going to abandon the series and they don't want to get invested. I hate to say it, but it happens for a variety of reasons.

So far, I've never abandoned a series, but I do take several months in between releases. I'm not the only author in my genre who does, and it's my hope that true fans will understand. I'm taking my time so I can give them the best product. I would rather take longer to give you the most polished product than give you something every month that isn't up to snuff.

As long as the practice of using ghostwriters is legal, there are people who will take advantage of it. I submit to you those people aren't real authors and they aren't truly invested in their craft.

My Annual Birthday Wish List

My birthday is this Friday. About a month before, my family starts asking what I want. From a personal perspective, I struggle to answer this question because there's not a lot I want. If I do want something, I usually buy it, which doesn't leave a lot of choices this time of year.

As a writer, I can easily answer this question. If you're one of my longtime readers, you already know the answer, but there's one thing this year that I think it will surprise you.

Okay, so what do I want?

Reviews, I always want reviews of my books. Reviews on Amazon have a direct relationship to how much promotion effort the online retailer does for the book. The more reviews a book has, the more likely it's promoted. I also like seeing reviews. If they're good, they make me happy, make me want to write more. If they're bad, they give me a means to improve my craft.

 Book sales are another great gift idea. Last year, I finally achieved a longtime goal. I became an Amazon best selling author with my m/m romance novel, Going Inksane. Now, I would like to become a NY Times and USA Today best selling author. The only way that happens is through book sales. All of my novels are $3.99 or less. Hopefully, the low price point motivates people to buy.

People taking a moment to promote one of my books on Friday would be a great present. Word of mouth is an effective sales tool. The more people that say they like my books, the more likely it will attract new readers.

Join my Facebook group. That's a new thing I'm trying in my promotion efforts. So far, it's slow going. There are around thirty members. I'm hoping that as I release more books, books that people hopefully like, that more readers will join. I would love to have the level of engagement some of my peers and idols have.

This year, you'll be surprised to hear that I want to be a finalist in the Lambda Literary Awards. For those of you who don't know, the Lammy is an award given to authors of LGBTQ books. Finalists are being announced tomorrow with the winners awarded in June. I entered my novel, The Truth Inside, for consideration in the transgender romance category. This new adult novel tells the story of an up and coming MMA fighter in his first relationship with a woman since his transition. The cover also features transgender activist and model Jeffrey Rubel. Since my birthday is Friday, and finalists are being announced tomorrow, being a finalist would be the best present ever.

There you have it, my annual birthday wish list. It doesn't change much, does it?

A Thief Strikes Again

Last week, the romance community was rocked with yet another scandal, and it’s an ugly one. Much uglier than one misguided author trying to copyright a commonly used word to prevent other authors from using it in their titles. It was a case of one author stealing from another, more commonly known as plagiarism.

The theft was discovered by an astute reader. While reading a best-selling novel, that’s right, it was a best-seller, the reader was certain she’d read this novel already. The problem was it had been written by another author, who also happens to be a best-selling author. The reader alerted the author to the theft, beginning our trip down the rabbit hole.

The author who had been plagiarized was incensed, rightfully so. She reached out to the other author and demanded she take action to remove her stolen story. The victim also demanded a public apology and suggested the thief keep a thorough accounting of any money she’d earned through the sale of her stolen property, as she would need to compensate our victim. Wisely, our victim also suggested the thief come clean about any other authors she had plagiarized. Better to own up to it rather than have it discovered after the fact because you’d better believe everyone was going to take a closer look at every work our thief had published.

And do you know what our thief did?

If you guessed that she denied her crimes, you would be partially right. Our thief took her denial a step further and added a hearty helping of good old pass the buck. In other words, she blamed someone else. According to the thief, it wasn’t her fault. The ghostwriter she employed was actually the thief. That right there is an entirely different can of worms she opened, but we’ll talk about that later, and when I say later, I mean in another blog post. If we talk about it today, we’ll never get through this topic.

My initial thought was there was no ghostwriter. This was just a case of a desperate thief trying to keep from incurring any penalties that came from being guilty of the crime. Imagine my surprise when I learned there was a ghostwriter. The ghostwriter adamantly denied plagiarizing anyone and instead insisted she took several piece meal scenes given to her by the writer and turned them into a readable novel. If our ghostwriter is to be believed, she wasn’t compensated for her work because the author gave her a sob story about not having the money to pay her due to an unexpected illness of her daughter.

I’m inclined to believe the ghostwriter and not our thief. Anyone who steals from another writer has already proven she has a compromised moral compass. It’s no stretch of the imagination to think she would lie about her culpability and refuse to pay for services rendered.

To add another log on this steaming pile of dung, it turns out our thief did indeed plagiarize other romance authors, including Nora Roberts. In the wake of this scandal, the thief deleted her social media accounts. While she may be doing her best to hide from what she’s done, I have no doubt we haven’t heard the end of it. Don’t be surprised if multiple copyright infringement lawsuits are brought.

There have been times when I’ve read something another author has written and wished I’d written it, but it’s never crossed my mind to steal it and claim it as my own. As an author who’s been plagiarized, I know how gut wrenching this crime can be. It’s like having someone reach inside of you and rip out a piece of your soul.

Writing a book is more than just putting words on paper. It’s pouring your heart and soul into something and hoping enough people like it that you can at the very least break even on the cost of production and promotion. For someone to take your work and try to pass it off as their own is not just a slap in the face. It’s a hit to your bottom line, which can be devastating to those who make their living as authors.

As much as I hate to say it, this isn’t the first plagiarism scandal to rock the writing world, and it won’t be the last. All we can do as authors is continue to fight back, but it’s sad that we have to.  

Here Comes 2019

Is it too late for me to say happy New Year? I’ll be the first to admit I’m on the slow train here. This is usually the time where I’ve already recapped what happened last year and am telling you what’s on tap for the upcoming year. Normally, I have one post devoted to each, and I thought about doing it this year. Then I realized it might make more sense to combine both.

So, here we go.

I started a new book series in 2018. The New Beginnings series is a six book contemporary romance series. Each book is a standalone new adult novel, though the characters do crossover into each other’s books. Last year saw the release of The Truth Inside, which features a transgender character. 

The second book, Standing on His Own, came out a few months later and told the story of an amputee war veteran finding a new love.

In addition to release the first two New Beginnings books, I re-released my two Sapphire Falls novellas; Going for Wilder and Going Even Wilder. These books were part of the now defunct Kindle Worlds. When KW fell by the wayside, Sapphire Falls author Erin Nicholas was kind enough to offer all KW authors the option to re-release our books. With as much fun as those books were to write, there was no way I was going to pass that up. These novellas are back and still available for the low price of $1.99 each.

New Beginnings wasn’t the only series I started last year. I also released the first book in the Nice Ink series entitled Going Inksane. Nice Ink is a five book male/male romance series featuring five tattoo artists and the brothers they fall for. While Going Inksane isn’t my first foray into the world of m/m romance, it’s my most successful. Thanks to some generous promotion from peer authors, Going Inskane became an Amazon best seller in the m/m romance category. I can tell you that I about fell out of my chair when I saw that. I’m still smiling about it three months later.

Last year, I submitted The Truth Inside for consideration in the Lambda Literary Awards. Results won’t be announced until March 2019, so I’ll keep you posted.

Now that 2018 is out of the way, what’s in store for 2019?

More writing of course and more books being released. I’ve already finished, Coming Back Broken, the third book in the New Beginnings series. It’s with the proofreader now. Once I have it back, I’ll make the corrections and send it off for formatting. I’m shooting for a 1/29/18 release date.

After that, I’ll be working on Never Again, the second book in the Nice Ink series. For those of you Nice Ink fans, Never Again will tell Derek and Flynn’s story and I can’t wait. Flynn has several secrets to share.

In the coming year, I’ve committed to alternating the books released in each series. Normally, I’m not a fan of authors having multiple series at once, but the Nice Ink guys did not want to wait to be heard.

In addition to writing, I’m hoping I can do at least one author event. While I’d love to do GRL or Coastal Magic, I may have to think smaller. I’m still not as well known, so I have to consider the cost. I want to meet everyone though, readers and fellow authors alike.

So, there you have it. 2018 is behind me. Bring on 2019 and let’s see what happens!