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When We Were Us Teaser Tuesday #1

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When We Were Us (Keeping Score Book 1) releases on April 7th! I can’t wait. I think you’re going to love Leo and Nate and Quinn as much as I do.

But it’s Tuesday, so let’s have a little teaser, shall we?

Remember, if you want to read a full chapter of the book, you can download it for free here!

~~~***~~~

“Quinn, what was that all about?” He repeated himself, frowning, and let go of my hand. I felt immediately bereft.

“Um, it was nothing.” I took a step back away from Leo. “Stupid cheerleaders.”

His forehead creased, and I realized I was talking crap about girls who were probably his friends now. Maybe more than friends. God only knew what he’d done with some of them; I’d heard stories about football parties. I only hoped he hadn’t hooked up with Trish. I could handle anything but that.

“What were they talking about?  What did you write to set them off?”

Now annoyance flared, almost overshadowing the want surging through my veins. It was typical Leo these days; he’d never assume I was blameless. It had to be me who’d written something wrong.

Plus, this confirmed something I’d suspected—that Leo didn’t read my articles. He gave my work at the school paper great lip-service, but now I knew the truth.  “Maybe if you read the newspaper now and then, you’d know.”

“I don’t read anything but school stuff during football season.” He shook his head.  “No time.  So what did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.” I hissed out the words. Of course, it was my fault that those bitches were threatened me. Leo would see it that way. Once upon a time he would’ve stuck up for me no matter what, but those days were in the past.  “I wrote an opinion piece about the special treatment the cheerleaders get. It’s nothing that everyone else in the school isn’t thinking.  Guess some of them obviously didn’t like it.  No biggie.”

Leo ran a hand through his hair, his go-to gesture when he was exasperated.  “Mia, are you crazy?  That’s not exactly the way to make friends.”

Pain sliced through me. Leo rarely used his special nickname for me anymore, and hearing him say it—his voice husky—reminded me of how far apart we’d drifted. And now he was giving me advice on finding friends? What kind of loser did he think I was?

“Thanks.  I didn’t know I needed help making friends.  I used to have some really good ones.” The words were laced with sarcasm.

Leo winced. “I’m still your friend, Quinn, you know that.  But couldn’t you try a little harder?  I mean, with other people?”

The truth was right there in his voice. I was an embarrassment to him. Poor Quinn, the too-tall girl who just couldn’t seem to find her own circle. The girl who reminded Leo of a part of him he’d turned his back on when football and popularity became more important. The impact of what he was saying hurt, and I lashed out in response.

“The people I’d want for my friends wouldn’t expect me to be a phony.  They would accept me for who I am.” I leaned forward a little, just to make sure he heard me.

“You don’t think I do?”  Leo looked stricken, as though what I’d said was some huge revelation.

Anger bubbled up inside me. I was sick of the whole thing. Sick of mooning after this boy, sick of the pain of losing my best friend. Sick of him pretending nothing had changed, when everyone else in the world knew that it had. I took another step back and spoke in a low voice.

“I don’t know, Leo.  Do you even know who I am anymore?”

~~~***~~~

The Keeping Score Trilogy is a New Adult contemporary romance. The first two books may not give youWhen We Were Us Sml complete closure, but hang in there for Book 3; I promise the pay-off is worth it.

You can preorder When We Were Us now at all major retailers.

iBooks/Amazon/Nook/Kobo/Google Play

Read an exclusive excerpt right here!

Get Your Ereader Beach Ready!

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The Opposite of Wild by Kylie Gilmore

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More Than a Kiss by Stacey Joy Netzel

When a kiss is more than a kiss…
 
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The Posse by Tawdra Kandle

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The Love I Want to Be In by MJ Fredrick
Love and Rumors by Jean Oram

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Miami Dreams by Layla Wilcox

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Pros & Cons by Sydney Logan

Con artists Jenna York and Ethan Summers always seem to cross paths during their travels around the world. With their partners in tow, the cunning criminals wreak havoc across the globe, stealing from the rich and giving to the richer. While Jenna tries to convince herself that she sees him as nothing more than a professional rival, Ethan finds it a little harder to fight his attraction to the beautiful thief.

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Kindle Unlimited, Book Pricing and The Worth of an Author

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I started this post a few moments ago at 11:10 PM, the night before it’s scheduled to go up. Working past midnight is not unusual for me. As I type this, the room is dark, and my husband is long asleep in the bed by my desk. Poor guy, he’s learned to sleep to the accompaniment of the taps of my keyboard and ignore the bright light of my monitor (and it’s a big one, too).

I’ve spent today writing. . .some. And I took some unusual time to spend with my two younger kids, one of whom is on spring break from college. Other than that, I worked on writer-related stuff. I responded to emails and messages. I commented on posts from readers. I corresponded with the wonderful people who keep my business life moving along, setting up tasks and goals for the next few weeks. I chatted with some fellow authors about some business issues and how to best address them. I worked with some other fellow authors on setting up an event we’re doing this Sunday to promote our books. I boxed up prizes and signed books to send to readers. I worked with my business partner on some details for the book event we’re hosting in July this year, here in Orlando.

So, yeah. Really a pretty light day.

I don’t think I know a single author who doesn’t work hard. Most of us have hours that would make the most hard-core stock broker or dedicated doctor cringe. We’re up late, we’re up early, and we never stop. We do it, as the lovely meme above reminds us, because we love it. We love the characters we create, we love the readers who love those characters along with us, we love our fellow writers (well, mostly) and we love the idea that on a daily basis we are peopling the world with more fabulous fictional folk.

But even when you do something for love, it’s nice to see a paycheck.

Last year, Amazon introduced a program called Kindle Unlimited. It’s basically Netflix for books: by the company’s own description: Enjoy unlimited access to over 700,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks on any device for just $9.99 a month.

Sounds awesome, huh? Great idea. 700,000 books for about the price of a cup and a half of coffee at Starbucks. What a bargain.

And of course it is. For some readers, this works out well. Even some authors have benefitted from the program.

Most have not.

I’m not going to get into the whys and wherefores here. Others have done it far better than I could, and I’ll share some of the links below. I strongly encourage you to read these posts and articles before you make up your mind about KU.

What I will address is the idea of an author’s worth. When ebooks were introduced, we weren’t really sure how to price them, to be honest. I remember sitting in front of my computer, uploading Fearless and trying to decide what to choose. (For the record, I believe Fearless began life at $2.99.)

But as time went on, authors began to realize that we can’t keep underpricing our books and continue producing them. It may seem that creating an ebook should be cheap and easy, but let me assure you, it is neither. Delivery is less expensive; other than that, it’s the same basic premise as any hardback or paperback you might buy at Barnes and Noble for $16.99. It must be edited, proofread and formatted. A cover must be created and produced. Often, artwork for that cover must be created. Nothing is cheap and nothing is free.

And yet. . .it seems some readers expect that our books should be.

Today, in March 2015, all of my ebooks are priced at $3.99 and under, with the exception of The King Series Boxset which is FOUR full-length books plus a short for $6.99. Two of my books are free (Fearless and Best Served Cold). Do I feel my books are fairly priced for a reader? Absolutely. Do I think they’re fairly priced for me? Not really.

I’m not complaining. I love my job, and I would do it for free. That’s the truth. I’d write even if you charged me to do it. But I don’t want to write for free, and like any other professional, I hope I’ve earned the right not to do so.

Happily, I am surrounded by fabulous readers who never, ever question the value of my books. They make me happy on a daily basis, and I’d pay for that luxury, too.

It’s business practices like KU and others going on in other book sellers that make us feel undervalued, under-respected and just plain tired.

So before you sign on for Kindle Unlimited, or for any program that affects how authors earn, do some research. Think about how much you value the work of your favorite authors.

We’re worth at least the same as a cup of designer coffee, right?

 

 

Articles on Kindle Unlimited that I recommend:

 

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/kindle-unlimiteds-two-tier-system-makes-some-authors-second-class-citizens/

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/01/writers-are-mixed-over-amazon-unlimited/?_r=0

http://blog.smashwords.com/2014/07/is-kindle-unlimited-bad-for-authors.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/technology/amazon-offers-all-you-can-eat-books-authors-turn-up-noses.html

Free And Bargain Kindle eBooks