In honor of Veteran’s Day, I’ve offered Kismet’s Kiss to Operation eBook Drop, a wonderful resource that allows troops deployed overseas to read ebooks for free. Author friends, please consider doing the same with your books to help those who serve: http://bit.ly/c4gOTJ. If you don’t have a book at Smashwords, talk to your publisher about alternatives for donation.
Today the founder of OeBD, a veteran himself, lost his father, who had served in WWII. My husband, father, and father-in-law all served. I mourn some of the decisions made by politicians in the last decade, but I still offer profound thanks to all those over the years who have risked their lives for the rest of us.
Another fabulous review for Kismet’s Kiss! 5 Hearts from The Romance Studio:
http://theromancestudio.com/reviews/reviews/kismetskissrowan.htm.
W00T!
.
How could it not be, when Kismet’s Kiss gets a review like this?
http://www.smexybooks.com/2010/10/review-kismets-kiss-by-cate-rowan.html
It’s so awesome I might as well have a Blow Pop® in my mouth. Oh, wait…
Psst…want to win a copy of Kismet’s Kiss, or just check out a fun and newly redesigned romance site for readers and authors? The Romance Reviews is having a “redesign reopening” and is hosting a giveaway for Kismet’s Kiss. Entries close on October 20. Check it out!
http://www.theromancereviews.com/contest.php
Kismet’s Kiss is now available at the Barnes and Noble online store. Hooray! Here’s the link:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/e/9781452465739/
It’s averaging almost 5 stars at Amazon out of 11 reviews (nine 5-star reviews and two 4-star ones). W00T! Now that it’s at B&N, I hope it will find a readership and some reviews there, too.
Also, it just received an unusual review: 2.5 stars from a paranormal romance blogging site. The funny thing is that after reading this review, I can’t really muster anything to fuss about…and it even made me grin! Check it out and I think you’ll see why:
http://vampirebookclub.net/review-kismets-kiss-by-cate-rowan/
Have a B&N nook, a Sony Reader, a Kobo, or a Palm? Now there’s a version for that. :) Kismet’s Kiss is available at Smashwords.com in EPUB, LRF, MOBI, PDB and PDF as well as for online reading.
And of course it’s still available for the Amazon Kindle (including for PCs, Macs, iPhones, Android/Droids, Blackberries, and iPads).
Enjoy!
My new post is up at the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood: This post will either scare the bubbles out of you or give you hope. It’s a cage match between the apocalyptic naysayers and the rabid technophiles–come join the fun, er, fray! ;-)
It’s alive…it’s aliiiive! And beautiful, too, if I may say so myself. (g) The description isn’t up yet–it takes Amazon a few days, apparently, so I shall do my best to be patient. *twiddles thumbs*
To learn more about KISMET’S KISS, see http://caterowan.com/novels/. Or just go download a sample (or buy it) at Amazon. :-) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0040SXS9S/
In short, it’s a pain–at least if you want to do it right. Sloppy is easy, right is hard. (From ebooks I’ve purchased in the past, even some of the major presses are occasionally content with sloppy. Why???)
Cleaning up the mess Word’s HTML makes…yeah, not my usual idea of a great time. Plus, I wanted to add some nice touches to the ebook, such as including the pretty cover (especially since the Kindle for Mac/PC/smartphone apps can see it in color), having the book open at the right place, and giving some polish to the design so the reader’s eyes will be happy.
I’m stubborn (and a perfectionist), and I think the finished version of Kismet’s Kiss is beautiful. With luck, readers will agree. My next formatting job should be much faster since I kept notes on what worked and what didn’t.
I’m uploading it to my Kindle to make sure every page is right, and I’ve been checking it within the Kindle for Mac and PC applications, too. The Kindle for iPhone and Android apps can only read actual Amazon purchases, so I can’t check Kiss on them until it’s for sale, but I will. (Did I mention my perfectionism?) There’s no iPad near me, alas, but after checking everything else, I’ll be feeling pretty solid about that, too.
I’m on target for an official release of Kismet’s Kiss in six days, on August 27!
I sent KISMET’S KISS to a friend who reads fantasy and asked her to check for typos before I plunge into my final formatting for the Kindle platform. This morning she sent me a note: “Just finished! I loved it! I couldn’t wait to find out how it was going to end. And I have to say… the accounts of their lovemaking were very… evocative. I’m very impressed with your descriptive abilities ;)”
Heh heh. This is the beauty of combining fantasy and romance–getting to create an otherworld story with magic and adventure…AND great sex. :-D
Several NY publishers had a tough time with KISMET’S KISS because it didn’t fit neatly into the marketing boxes for either fantasy or romance. That’s important to them because bookstores need to know where to shelve the book, and usually it will only be shelved in one place. So bookstores need to know where it goes and the publisher’s marketing department needs to know where it will fit so they can tailor the marketing plan.
But online selling is different. Instead of a book needing to fit into one compartment, it can fit into many simultaneously. At Amazon.com, for example, books can be placed in more than one category (fantasy and romance, for example) and readers can also “tag” books with more specific descriptions (such as these for Kristen Painter’s HEART OF FIRE: fantasy adventure, elves, magic, fire magic, golden heart finalist, etc.).
Selling books online will allow me the freedom to write cross-genre and not worry about those marketing boxes, and I’m grateful for that.
Don’t get me wrong, I hope we’ll have local bookstores and libraries far into the future, since they’re some of my favorite places and have given me many wonderful memories. To do that, they’ll only need to adjust to readers’ changing needs. (Espresso Book Machines, for example?)
On the KISMET’S KISS schedule for today: polishing up the front and back matter–the bio, quotes/reviews page, acknowledgments, author’s note, etc. Wheeee!
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