Oh, brother!

Hi, kittens!

I'm in full-on writer mode right now. I have at least two stories I working on right now for Phaze Books. The first is Addicted to Love. If you read Slave to Love, you may remember the characters Lord No and Bubbles. This story will explore how those two got together and what happened to them after the show. Check out the cover below. Hot, right?

The other story I'm working on is No Ordinary Love. There was another character in Slave to Love who "spoke" to me. As I was writing Slave to Love, I knew at some point I was going to write Sweetheart's story. She, out of all of the characters, needed to get her Dom. Check out the cover for that book below. Hot, too, right? I cannot wait for both of these stories to come out through Phaze Books, which should be sometime in 2016.

Now on to other pressing items. On my "good girl" side, writing as Crystal B. Bright (real name - I swear), I have a series at Lyrical Press called the Mama's Boys series. Why Mama's Boys? I liked the idea of having men who are truly good to their mother. You know the saying. A man who is good to his mother will be just as good to the woman he's dating.

Book one of the series is The Look of Love. Right now, the book is on sale for only $0.99! Here's the blurb:

You can’t fight love…

There’s only one thing MMA fighter Gunnar Wells is more devoted to than his career, and that’s his mother, “Queen” Elizabeth. An elegant African-American woman who adopted Gunnar and his two white brothers, Elizabeth was there when they needed her, and they’ll do anything for her. For Gunnar, that means running her hair salon when she suddenly falls ill. And if that’s not awkward enough for the champion fighter, he’ll have to work alongside Eboni Danielson, the other love of his life. The one he left behind to pursue his dream. The one he’s never forgotten…

Between the salon and her volunteer work, Eboni keeps busy to keep her mind off the man who broke her heart. So when Gunnar shows up again, she does her best to stay cool—on the outside. But the more she watches Gunnar step up and help out, the less she can deny her feelings. Soon Gunnar is doing everything he can to convince Eboni to give him a fighting chance. Can she trust him again—even when old secrets and new dangers come between them once more?
 

The first book covers the struggles of the oldest brother, Gunnar Wells. Book two of the series, Forget Me Not, will detail the middle brother's career as an NFL quarterback, his struggles running his mother's flower shop, and fighting back his romantic feeling toward the woman who owns a competing flower shop. This book goes on sale tomorrow, Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016! Can you tell I'm a little excited? Check out the cover below.

Here's the blurb:

Roses are red, violets are blue.

Only one woman could make NFL star Gideon Wells walk away from the Super Bowl: His Mama, "Queen" Elizabeth, the beautiful, strong black woman who adopted him and his two white brothers when they were just kids. So when Elizabeth develops a pressing health issue, Gideon doesn’t hesitate to come home and run the flower shop she loves almost as much as her boys. But there’s an unexpected complication in Queen Elizabeth’s shop: and that complication looks really good in a gardener’s apron and pruning gloves.

This mama’s boy has a naughty side too.

Janelle Gold has always thought of herself as a geek, more into books than sports, preferring brains over brawn. So a gorgeous jock like Gideon Wells is not exactly the type she usually goes for. But there’s something about the hot quarterback that makes Janelle think sometimes opposites do attract, and it’s not just his dedication to his family, or the fact that he can hold his own in the flower shop. There’s just something irresistible about a man who stops to smell the roses.

And talked about perfect timing for the release. While your man enjoys the Super Bowl, you can be reading about your own sexy quarterback at his Super Bowl. Hope you dig Gideon Wells.

I'm so excited about the release of this book, I'm willing to give a lucky reader a copy! Well, "give" is a loose term. You are going to have to work for it. :) I'm going to ask some questions based on The Look of Love. Yes, you need to have read that book to win the 2nd book. Answer these five questions below by 5 p.m. EST on Tuesday, February 2nd and I'll send you an ebook for Forget Me Not. Post your answers in the comments box below. The first to answer all 5 answers correctly will win!

Are you ready to play? Here are the questions:

1.) What's the name of the opponent Gunnar Wells fights at the opening of the book?

2.) What's the name of the opponent Gunnar's agent wants Gunnar to fight next?

3.) What's the name of the community center where Eboni volunteers her time?

4.) You know in the first book, "Queen" Elizabeth Sommerville owns a hair salon. The second book will be centered on her second business at a flower shop. What's the 3rd business "Queen" Elizabeth owns?

5.) What's the name of the restaurant where Gunnar and Eboni have dinner together once she finally agrees to go out with him?

That's right, kittens. You need to have paid attention to what you read. Tick tock! Tick tock! Don't wait.

Now I need to get back to work.

Stay sexy,

BridgeT
www.BridgetMidway.com

Contributing to the delinquency of book sales

Hi, kittens!

Just four days until the "Kickin' It with Adrienne Kama and Bridget Midway" event in Williamsburg. I have the printed books in hand. The swag bags are nearly packed. Adrienne is ready. My demonstrators are ready. I know readers are ready. I see the posts on Facebook. I've even checked out the hotel layout so I'll know how to have the room set up. I cannot wait to have the registrants see the demonstrators in action. I also can't wait until they have my book, Is This Love?, in their hot, little hands.

While my mind is on the event, I've been thinking about something else, something more crucial. Book sales. At a recent event, Yvette Hines had asked me if I noticed a difference in my royalty payments lately. I hadn't really. When I scanned my royalties spreadsheet, I did notice a trend, a downward trend.

As an author, I could chalk the dip in sales to a myriad of things. I didn't promote enough. I'm not writing what readers are interested in now. I'm not publishing enough. Notice how I keep the focus on me and not the readers or my publishers or even global warming. It's because there's no one to blame but me and my actions. I can't really complain about a problem that I, myself, have contributed to in the past.

Readers have been enjoying the wave of low-cost box sets that have been so prevalent within the last few years. They're able to get nine, ten, twelve, and I think I even saw one with fifteen stories, sometimes even full-length novels, for only $0.99! Why should readers pay full price for a novel when they can get several for a tenth of the cost? Even I participated in a box set a year ago.

For authors, it's a way to get to that best-seller status. For readers, it's a great way to learn about authors they may have never heard of or read before, and a way to get cheap fiction. It's the Wal-Mart of romance. No, better yet. It's the Costco or Sam's Club of romance. Big box superstore versus a specialty store.

Authors can't compete with the bargain, but we've become so shortsighted about the immediate result that we haven't considered the big picture. Or maybe we have, but we thought we would get a different outcome. Maybe authors, like myself, thought that if we got involved in a box set and new readers discovered us on top of making a best-seller list, that those new readers would buy our backlist titles. The only thing we managed to do is make readers even more ravenous for similarly packaged works.

So what am I to do? Keep doing box sets? No. For one, it's not as lucrative as one may think. Yes, there's a great chance to garner enough sales to make it to a best-seller list like New York Times or USA Today. Ultimately, you end up feeling like you've sold yourself short. Secondly, it can stifle creativity. It did for me. I discovered very quickly that I'm the kid who plays in the sandbox alone. That's okay. Self-awareness is a great thing.

Recently I saw a video on Facebook of Lady Gaga talking about how she almost quit the music business because she was forced to do things within it that she didn't like. I love Lady Gaga and I think she's a very talented woman, but I posted all the things she'd done wrong up to that point in her career that she said she hated. As I typed the words and reread them, I realized I was talking to myself.

In order for me to be a happy, productive writer, I have to love what I write. I want to give readers great fiction. Not rushed fiction. Not stereotypical fiction. Definitely not predictable fiction. I'm going to stand by my idea that if I continue to write strong romances with great plots and engaging characters that the readers will come.

So, in order to support that claim, I need to cut this post and get to writing.

Stay sexy,

BridgeT
www.BridgetMidway.com

(Re)Introducing - ADRIENNE KAMA!

Hi Kittens,

I'm branching out this month. For my July blog entry, I'm posting an interview with interracial erotic romance author Adrienne Kama so you all can get to know her. She's the author who will be co-hosting the "Kickin' It with Adrienne Kama and Bridget Midway" event in Williamsburg on November 7th, 2015.

How long have you been writing as Adrienne Kama?  
I published my first book back in 2004 and wrote steadily until 2007, publishing eight stories. My marriage fell apart in 2006 and I ended up taking a very long hiatus from writing. I started publishing as Adrienne Kama again this year.

What was your first work out as Adrienne Kama, and is it still available? 
The Nephilim War, a story about sexy fallen angels. No. It’s no longer available.

Where can readers find you? (URLs, FB - both accounts, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.). 
My website: www.heatherelizabethking.com 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Adriennekama  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009725581892

Why do you write interracial romance? 
I’ve always been an equal opportunist when it comes to dating so the stories I write reflect this. I’ve written stories with men of a few different ethnicities. Let’s see. I’ve covered, black, white, Indian, and Puerto Rican. Keeping it diverse makes it interesting for me, and hopefully, my readers. 

Why do you write BDSM? 
I wish I could say I had a grand plan, but honestly, it just sort of happened. I read BDSM stories; Anne Rice’s Sleepy Beauty series is one of my all-time favorites. Also, around the time that I wrote the Stella Rice series, my now ex-husband and I discovered the fetish scenes of Baltimore and DC. After reading Anne Rice’s series, I was curious, plus, they always played the best music! They had live BDSM shows at many of the clubs. We never took part. LOL But I was amazed that so many people were as interested in BDSM as I was. So writing a BDSM story seemed the next natural thing for me to do. At the same time, my author friend, Marianne LaCroix started a publishing house and asked me to submit. I’m paraphrasing, but she basically told me to go for it, as far as content. I hadn’t told her I was writing a BDSM story, but the timing was perfect. I could write the kind of BDSM story I enjoyed reading.

Why interracial BDSM romance?  
No grand reason here, either. I’m kind of ridiculous that way. I’d gone for a run around the lake at my hometown and saw this very tall, gorgeous man running that day. He was fit and looked incredibly focused on what he was doing. My imagination took it from there. 

Are you in the BDSM lifestyle in your real life? If not, how do you do your research? 
I’m single now, plus I live in a small town, so there’s not much going on for me in the way of BDSM at the moment. Back when I lived in Maryland, with Baltimore and DC so close, everything was at my fingertips. Book research was easy.

I didn’t realize when I first became interested in BDSM the varying levels of interest that exist. For instance, just because someone is into BDSM doesn’t mean they like sado-masochism. They may prefer domination. Or if they do like bondage, they may enjoy being handcuffed to a bed, whereas someone else may be down with elaborate rope bondage. Once, when my ex-husband and I were in Georgetown, we went to this high end fetish boutique. Yes, they have those. And they had this elaborate leather arm bar contraption that the sub would slip her arms into. It covers both of her arms from hands to shoulders and laces up the middle. If I remember correctly, it was made for the sub’s arms to be behind the back, but could probably be worn either way. Five hundred bucks for this bad boy and it was a good seller. But something like that would make me feel claustrophobic! So there are so many levels of interest in BDSM. That’s one of the things that makes it so interesting to write about.

Any backlash from anything you’ve written? If so, for what work and what were the comments? 
Writing in the BDSM genre is a bit different from other genres. A bad review on Amazon with a reader complaining the author went too far, generally sells more books. Overall, I find that as long as the reader knows the heroine is having a good time, they feel comfortable enough to suspend reality and go on the journey with the author. If the reader feels the heroine is being raped or forced in any way, they won’t enjoy the story.

Do you have any current books out as Adrienne Kama? If so, post the titles and blurbs for each. 
Sure. Most of my backlist is no longer available, but I’m re-publishing most of the stories. 

 
The Chronicles of Stella Rice: Book One:

After one too many bad dates, Stella Rice gives up on men. Happily-ever-after doesn’t seem to figure anywhere in her future, unless it means being single in Baltimore where her closest companions are her three best girlfriends. But a trip to the gym and an unexpected encounter with her domineering kickboxing instructor, Jake Santos, leads Stella to wonder if she should give the man/woman thing another go. With a successful business, an exclusive home on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and stunning good looks, Jake seems like the perfect man to pull Stella out of her dating rut.

Half Puerto Rican and half Native American, with a mane of long sable hair, Jake Santos has the kind of dark good looks that make him impossible to ignore. What Stella doesn't know is Jake has secrets that will make every other man from her past look like a saint.

Now available on Amazon.

 
Again:

Can wishes come true? A simple wish to erase a particularly annoying man from her past brings Peyton Pendagrass face to face with the very man she was hoping to expunge. Peyton finds out just how confusing life can get when lust, time travel and a little white magic get entangled. For Christopher Grant, learning his one-time lover Peyton is engaged to marry someone else shatters his world. Six months ago his longing for Peyton left him too terrified to face the fact that he was falling in love with her, so he fled. But fear isn't an issue anymore. Alone with Peyton for the weekend, Chris is prepared to use everything in his arsenal to win her back. Even if he has to hold her captive, tie her down and use all of his sexual prowess to do it.

Now available on Amazon.

How did you and Bridget Midway come up with your “Kickin’ It with Adrienne Kama and Bridget Midway” event coming November 7^th? 
This is an event Bridget has done before. I think if it has to do with selling books, Bridget has done it! For this one, she was kind enough to ask me if I wanted to take part. I jumped at it!

Will you have a new release for that event? If so, what is it (title and blurb)?  
I will. The Chronicles of Stella Rice: Book Three. I don’t have the blurb yet, since I’m still making changes to the story, but the book promises to be as fun as Book One and Book Two! Book Two, by the way, is coming out on June 26^th!

 
Now available on Amazon!

Bridget Midway has been very open in saying that you inspired her to write interracial BDSM erotic romance. Do you have any inspirations - BDSM or otherwise?  
There are two authors who write fantastic BDSM. Anne Rice, who everyone knows. And Morgan Hawke. If you’ve never read a Morgan Hawke erotic romance, you need to. Today. Right now. She’s incredible.


What inspires you to write BDSM?  
It’s fun, exciting, and pretty much no holds barred. I have two additional BDSM books I’m considering writing. One is a fantasy, the other, a contemporary. 

What inspires you to write? 
I’ve always told stories. I’m only fully happy when I’m writing.

 Where do you see Adrienne Kama in the next five years?  
Honestly, I don’t know. I had retired ‘her,’ but there was so much reader demand for me to finish out the Stella Rice trilogy that I brought her back just to do that. But the response has been so positive, it’s hard to pack her away again. And like I said, I have so many other BDSM tales I’d like to tell.

BDSM is hot right now. Where do you see that genre going in the next five years?  
I paranormal stories under my real name, Heather Elizabeth King. One series could have been classified as an urban fantasy, but the urban fantasy genre doesn’t sell as well as it used to. I don’t see the same thing happening with BDSM. It’s such a specialized area of fiction. The readers will always read BDSM. I’m an old heavy metal girl. One thing I love about metal is that the fans are devoted. Same goes for BDSM.

Besides BDSM, is there anything else Adrienne Kama writes?  
I write paranormal romance and paranormal mysteries under my name, Heather Elizabeth King.

What is your writing process? 
I work outside the home full-time as a business analyst in corporate America, so I don’t have as much time as I’d like. Typically, I get home from work and sort of meditate for about 30 minutes. It’s like I’m letting the business analyst go and becoming the author. Don’t laugh! It works for me. Then I make dinner, eat, watch a little TV, then I slide behind the laptop and write. My goal is 2,000 words a day. I don’t always get there. As long as I get over 1,000, I feel productive.

Any rituals you perform before you sit down to write? 
Not really, other than my 30 minute quiet period. I look out the window, lay with the cats, and try not to think.

Pants-er or Plotter? 
Total planner. But my outlines are what I call, living documents. I always feel free to make whatever changes the characters want me to make.

What was the best advice given to you before you got published, as a published author, and/or now?  
Write. All the promo in the world doesn’t help if you don’t have anything to promote.

What advice would you give to a yet-to-be-published author?  
Allow yourself a first draft that nobody will see except you. It doesn’t have to be pretty, you just have to get the story out. Making it pretty is what the 2^nd and 3^rd drafts are for. I typically do about 4 drafts of a book before I send it to my beta readers.

Chocolate or vanilla? 
Both!

Any guilty pleasures?  
As Tom Hiddleston once said, “The thing is, I never feel guilty about pleasures.”

Last book you read? 
Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s The Fall. It’s the sequel to The Strain. Yep, I’m getting ready for season two of the TV show.

Last movie you watched? 
"Out of the Dark", starring Julia Stiles and Scott Speedman. I’m a horror movie junkie! 

One surprising fact that readers would be shocked to know?  
I used to play lead guitar in a funk/rock group.

Dogs or cats?  
Both are irresistible!

Boxers or briefs?  
Boxers for sure.

Stay sexy,

BridgeT
www.BridgetMidway.com  

And now for my next trick...

Hello, kittens,

So in last-month's post, I alluded to being too busy right now with the writing. So what I was talking about is me writing as myself again. I know. That's a confusing sentence. Let me explain.

My pen name is Bridget Midway. I've been writing under that name for ten years now. However, my real name, and the name I used when I first got published, even before I started writing as Bridget Midway, is Crystal B. Bright. Yep, that is a real name. Under that name, I wrote contemporary interracial romances. Almost Harlequin like. Definitely no spanking or whipping. No one gets tied down to a bed or anything. Still some hot sex. But that happens later.

I started writing under that name in the early 2000s. I published three stories under my real name before I switched over to the naughty stuff. A couple of years ago, I started feeling restless. I wanted to get back to writing what I originally started to write, which was hot romances. I had this idea of these three men, all brothers, and all athletes.

I've always loved seeing a buff guy doing girly stuff for a good reason. Like I dig movies like "The Game Plan" or "The Tooth Fairy" or "The Pacifier." Nothing makes me go awww faster than to see a guy like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at a tea party with little girls for his daughter's sake.

So I wanted that same feel in what I called my Mama's Boys series. The other thing I find sexy in men is how well they treat their mothers. The concept of the series would be this: the three brothers, an MMA fighter, a NFL quarterback and a MLB pitcher, are adopted by an African-American woman who owns three businesses, a hair salon, a flower shop and a clothing boutique. When the mother falls ill, the three brothers have to come home to not only take care of her, but also her businesses.

The first book in the series is The Look of Love. It's available on Amazon right now for pre-order, and will be released on June 23, 2015. I can't wait!

Here's the blurb:

You can’t fight love…

 There’s only one thing MMA fighter Gunnar Wells is more devoted to than his career, and that’s his mother, “Queen” Elizabeth. An elegant African American woman who adopted Gunnar and his two white brothers, Elizabeth was there when they needed her, and they’ll do anything for her. For Gunnar, that means running her hair salon when she suddenly falls ill. And if that’s not awkward enough for the champion fighter, he’ll have to work alongside Eboni Danielson, the other love of his life. The one he left behind to pursue his dream. The one he’s never forgotten…

Between the salon and her volunteer work, Eboni keeps busy to keep her mind off the man who broke her heart. So when Gunnar shows up again, she does her best to stay cool—on the outside. But the more she watches Gunnar step up and help out, the less she can deny her feelings. Soon Gunnar is doing everything he can to convince Eboni to give him a fighting chance. Can she trust him again—even when old secrets and new dangers come between them once more?

The second book in the series will be Forget Me Not.  This story will be about the middle brother, Gideon Wells, and his struggles on the football field, with running his mother's flower shop, and with a sexy competing flower shop owner, Janelle Gold. That book will be out February 2016.

The third book in the series is Head Over Heels. The final book is about the baby of the family, Thane Wells. He's dealing with his baseball career, attempting to run the clothing boutique, which he doesn't want to do, and trying to reconnect with his brothers.

I hope you all like the series as much as I loved writing it. And speaking of writing, I need to go and do some of that now.

Stay sexy,

BridgeT
www.BridgetMidway.com

Keep reading,

Crystal***
www.CrystalBrightWriter.com