Sunday, January 30, 2011

New Cover for Amaury's Hellion

My new cover artist, the very talented Elaina Lee, has designed a new cover for Amaury's Hellion. Hope you like it. I was able to keep the face of the original Amaury since I really liked him.

I'm in the process of uploading the new cover to Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Many changes coming

Lots of things have happened in the last two months, most of them good, some of them not so good. Well, the bad news first: my injured hand (ulnar nerve) and my shoulder and neck pain are getting worse. It's no wonder with the number of hours I spend at the computer. That's why I have decided on some changes that will reduce the time I have to spend at the computer.

Cover Artist
First of all, I think my times of designing my own covers are over. With my limited Photoshop experience, I could never get them to be that professional in the first place. Plus, it takes a lot of clicking with the mouse to fiddle around with a cover. And that just aggravates my already sore muscles and nerves. Therefore, I'll be hiring a cover artist to design my covers. Expect that some of my books will receive new covers over the next few weeks to make them more appealing.

Copy Editor
Considering that I'll never really find all the typos that are so cleverly hidden in my manuscripts and that not even my critique partners will find, I've hired a copy editor who'll go through my books and will make sure they are as error-free and grammatically correct as humanly possible. So, my Scanguards Vampires series, my Venice Vampyr series, and my Out of Olympus series, will undergo corrections. If you already have your copies and would like a clean e-copy once the corrections are done, please email me your proof of purchase and I will email you a new copy.

Audio Books
I'm also looking into turning my Scanguards Vampires series into audio books. At present, I'm having auditions prepared with a few paragraphs from Samson's Lovely Mortal to decide on the voice that's suitable for my novels. If the company allows it, I will post my choices on the blog. I'll keep you posted on this.

Foreign Translations
I am also working on finding foreign publishers who would be interested in publishing my Scanguards Vampires series in foreign languages. I expect this search to take many months and to yield many rejections.

For my health
I'm undergoing physical therapy for my hand, shoulders, and neck. I'm also getting regular massages now and have hired a personal trainer to help me strengthen my muscles to help me avoid injuries in the future. After all, I need to be able to continue writing.

Thanks for all your support!

Tina

Cover Dilemma

You all know, of course, that as a writer I'm constantly second guessing myself and wondering what I'm doing right or wrong. And that I'm totally insecure. So, here's my little dilemma right now:

All my three Scanguards Vampires romances are doing well, however, the two that are selling best are Samson's Lovely Mortal and Gabriel's Mate. Both of those novels have a couple on the cover. Amaury's Hellion which only sells about 65% of the copies that the other two sell, has only a man on the cover. So, now I'm thinking, is it the cover? Do I need to put a cover out there that shows a couple?

Here's Amaury's current cover, and next to it is the new proposed cover. What's more appealing? Also, what do you think of the blue background? It can easily be changed to something else. Any color suggestions are welcome too.



Okay, here is what the new cover would look like with a red background:





Friday, January 28, 2011

My Eclectic Bookshelf: Hurry, I Don't Have Much Time

Triton, the hero from A Touch of Greek, is blogging at My Eclectic Bookshelf today. Stop by the check out what he's got to say.

My Eclectic Bookshelf: Hurry, I Don't Have Much Time

Monday, January 24, 2011

Nook Color Contest Winner - to be announced here

The deadline for the Nook Color Contest has passed and all entries have been registered.

Shortly, Author Carolyn Jewel will announce the winner's entry number in the comment section in this blog post. So, please check the numbers I emailed you to compare to the winner's number. I will then verify on my spreadsheet who the number was assigned to and announce the winner's name here.

Good Luck!

Update: The Winner is Christina Marsee!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Possible Cover for Dionysus' story - Out of Olympus series

Had a little time and didn't have any creativity left for writing, so I tinkered around with a possible cover for Dionysus' story in the Out of Olympus series.

What do you guys think?

He is the God of Wine and Ecstasy, and the heroine owns a wine shop.

My critique partner Vina DePaul on Murder She Writes

My critique partner Virna DePaul has written a great blog post about her print and self-publishing career.


Thursday, January 20, 2011

Sugarbeat's Books loves A Touch of Greek!

Check our this 5-star review Sugarbeat's Book just gave my humorous and sexy novel A Touch of Greek about the Greek God Triton who's exiled to modern day America for being naughty.


Friday, January 14, 2011

Fangtastic Books: Guest Blog and Giveaway with Tina Folsom

FANGTASTIC BOOKS: Darker, more sensual vampire rakes: Venice Vampyr
"Some readers will know me for my Scanguards Vampires series, an erotic vampire romance series set in contemporary San Francisco. While my Scanguards Vampires are more on the lighter side, I decided I wanted to do something a little darker and steamier ..."

My Eclectic Bookshelf: Author Guest Post and Giveaway with Tina Folsom

My Eclectic Bookshelf: Author Guest Post and Giveaway with Tina Folsom: "Good morning all. Today I welcome the wonderful Miss Tina Folsom to my blog. As you know this week I have had her book Gabriel's Mate on to..."

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Warning Labels on my Books

Dear Readers,

when I put warning labels on my books, I really do mean what I say.

Venice Vampyr carries the following warning label: This vampire novella is sexually more explicit than my other books. So, if you're a little squeamish about things like voyeurism and other sexual taboos, it's safe to assume you won't like this one.

It appears that a reader on B&N did not heed my warning and read the book anyway, and then promptly gave me a 1-star review because she couldn't take it. That's why the warning is there in the first place: I know that not everybody likes their sex quite as steamy and uninhibited as my characters do. So I try to warn people when things might be beyond what some readers can tolerate.

By the way, I do wear this 1-star review like a badge of honor. It's almost as good as being banned by the Catholic Church!

Happy reading!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Author Carolyn Jewel will draw Nook Color winner

Quick update: fabulous historical romance and paranormal romance author Carolyn Jewel will be the person drawing the winner for my Nook Color Contest.

Carolyn will draw a random number on January 24 after 9pm PST and announce the number on my blog. She will have no access to my spreadsheet containing the list of entrants and their contact information.

While you're all waiting for the draw, please check out Carolyn's Website and her great books.

Nook Color Giveaway --- we're half-way there

Just a little over 2 weeks left, and we'll be drawing the winner of the Nook Color. So, here are a few statistics so far:

Total number of valid entries: 189
Total number of individual entrants: 42
Number of individuals with multiple entries (ie. one or more bonus questions answered): 19
Number of individuals with one entry: 23

All entrants so far should have received an email from me with their entry number(s). If you haven't, then I didn't receive your email, so please resubmit.

If you haven't entered yet, you still have plenty of time. Here are the contest rules.

Good Luck!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Bella Andre is giving away a Nook Color!

My friend and fellow author Bella Andre has decided to kick of the new year with a wonderful giveaway. She'll be raffling off a NOOK COLOR!

Go to her website and check for the rules!


And remember, my own Nook Color giveaway is still open till January 24.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Venice Vampyr: Final Affair now available!!!

Venice Vampyr: Final Affair, the second installment in my new historical erotic vampire novella series, is now available for purchase at:


Synopsis:

Venice, Italy - early 1800s

Viola has been given three months to live but she refuses to die a virgin. She travels to Venice where she wants to experience physical pleasure with a man without causing a scandal for her family. Afterwards, she plans to take her own life to ensure she exits the world painlessly and with dignity. Unfortunately, the man she meets in a disreputable club couldn’t be a worse choice for her plans.

Dante, a hedonistic vampire, saves Viola from a violent rake. To stop her from seeking out even more dangerous men to find carnal pleasures, he offers her a night of passion in his arms, only to discover she’s a virgin.

Viola flees, disdainful of the sex act and determined to end her life. Horrified, Dante stops Viola from harming herself and proceeds to deliver the pleasure he promised – one kiss and one touch at a time until she’s ready to take all of him, over and over again. Until events force Dante’s hand ...

Erotic vampire novella - approx. 124 pages / 28,000 words. The book is illustrated with pictures of Venice from the author's personal collection. Again, this novella is sexually explicit.