Official Website of USA Today bestselling author Tawdra Kandle
Welcome to the 4th of July Summer of Reading Giveaway!
The authors below are offering up $150 Amazon Gift Card to you can get your read on!
Please check out the books below, some are Free, Free with KU, or Inexpensive.
Young Adult
New Adult
![LovesSecretTorment_Amazon[3]](https://i0.wp.com/www.promotionalbooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/LovesSecretTorment_Amazon3-191x300.jpg?resize=191%2C300)
Sweet Romance
Contemporary Romance
Women’s Fiction
![a1424432-000b-4721-bedc-6ba0c81db2ea[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.promotionalbooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/a1424432-000b-4721-bedc-6ba0c81db2ea1-194x300.jpg?resize=194%2C300)
Paranormal Romance / Urban Fantasy
Science Fiction
Want to win a $150 Amazon Gift Card? Follow the authors in the rafflecopter below for a chance. Open WW 18+ Ends July 20, 2016 @ 11:59 PM EST
So since it’s #TeaserTuesday, I thought I’d give you a little sneak peek.
“Babe, you awake?” Leo’s voice was low and husky, murmuring against my ear.
I snuggled a little closer to him. “Mmmmm. Kind of.” My bedroom was dark except for the faint glow of the streetlight just outside. Tonight, for the first time all week, I hadn’t dropped right off to sleep after I’d laid my head on Leo’s broad chest.
“I talked to my mom a little bit tonight before they all left.” His fingers moved in small circles on my upper arm. “She didn’t push, but she suggested I give you and your mother some space tomorrow. She said you two need to talk about some stuff and make decisions.”
Panic welled up inside me, and it was on the tip of my tongue to argue. But I knew deep down that Leo couldn’t stay glued to my side forever. We both had to figure out what was going to come next for us, just like my mom and I had to do the same.
“Yeah.” I swallowed hard. “She’s probably right.” I turned a little, resting my chin on Leo’s sternum, staring up into his face. “But don’t go far, okay? I’m not sure I’m ready to go cold turkey on my Leo addiction.”
He brushed his hand over my hair. “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll sit in the car outside, just in case you need me.”
I sniffed. “You don’t have to do that. Maybe after breakfast, you could just go home for a little bit.”
“That works.” He crunched up, bending so that his lips could reach the top of my head. “Hey, Mia? We haven’t really talked about anything serious yet. I mean, about us. But I wanted to say this now, before anything goes any further.”
Trepidation gripped my gut. “I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with this.”
“Babe, no.” Leo slid me off him, rolling to lay on his side so that our faces were close together. “Nothing bad. I just wanted to say . . . I love you, Mia. I didn’t say it to you last week. I hoped you understood it, but I thought I better be clear. I love you. I loved you before, and I never stopped.”
I traced his jaw with one finger. “I love you, too, Leo. Still. Always. Forever.”
He released a breath as though he’d been holding it. “Okay. Good.”
I frowned. “Did you doubt that I did? That I do?”
“No, not really.” He nuzzled my neck. “But I wasn’t sure if you were ready to deal with me again. I know you needed me this week, but I was afraid once things started to settle down, you’d think that maybe I wasn’t worth the effort.”
Following my finger with my lips, I kissed his chin. “You’re worth everything, Leo. And I hate that it took my dad—what happened, I mean, to get us back together, but I’m not going to have any regrets anymore. Loving you is part of me, and so are you. I wouldn’t have made it through this week without you.” I paused, enjoying the feel of the late-night scruff on his neck. “That first day, before you got here, I wanted to die, too. It hurt so bad, and I felt like nothing was ever going to be right again. But then you came to me, and I’ll never forget that you were here for me.”
“I always will be.” He tipped up my chin and kissed my lips, softly. “Nothing in my life works without you.”
Want MORE? You can read a sample chapter here . . .
And if you preorder, the full book will show up magically in your ereader next week!
If you haven’t read WHEN WE WERE US yet, grab it now so you’re ready for next week!
When We Were Us (Keeping Score Book 1) releases on April 7th! That’s in less than a month–yikes! I’m so excited for you to fall in love with Leo and Quinn and Nate.
Since today is Tuesday, let’s do a little teaser. And since it’s the Ides of March, this one is probably a good one. {WARNING: this teaser contains adult language. Proceed with caution! 😉 }
Remember, if you want to read a full chapter of the book, you can download it for free here!
~~~***~~~
I should’ve kept my mouth shut, but I was so fucking fed up with him. So angry for reasons that he probably wouldn’t begin to understand. “Oh, yeah? Last I heard, all our classes require attendance. That’s not optional in high school. At least, it isn’t for most of us. Maybe for the great Leo the Lion, the teachers make exceptions.” I couldn’t keep the snarl from creeping into my tone.
“What’s wrong with you? Who pissed in your cereal?” He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at me. “Did I do something that I don’t remember? Did I miss someone’s birthday or something? Because you and Quinn have both had bugs up your asses.”
“Nice of you to notice, Leo. You must’ve been a real dick to her yesterday, you know? Quinn was pretty upset after school when I walked her home.”
He pulled off the sunglasses, and I could see his bloodshot eyes were narrowed. “I didn’t do anything. She’s the one who’s causing all the shit with my friends, and then I stand up for her, and she ends up yelling at me. Saying I don’t even know her anymore. I don’t know what she expects from me. God, I don’t know what either of you want. It’s like you want to punish me for having other friends. For playing football. For having a goddamn life.”
“You know what, Leo? Keep your fucking friends, your football and your life. Quinn and I don’t need you. We have each other.”
Leo’s lips thinned into a tight line. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Come to think of it, Nate, maybe you should be thanking me instead of giving me hell. If Quinn’s so mad at me, that just makes more room for you, doesn’t it? You’ll finally have her all to herself, which is what you’ve always wanted.”
He was so close to the truth, so dangerously near to saying exactly what I was feeling, that my palms began to sweat with both fury and nerves. “At least I’d be smart enough to hold onto her if—if I ever got that chance. I’d never throw away her friendship.”
The Keeping Score Trilogy is a New Adult contemporary romance. The first two books may not give you
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!
(Full disclosure: I’m at a crucial point in finishing a book under deadline. I’ve hardly moved from my computer all day, and every creative impulse has been sapped out of me. So I dug into my old post pile and found this one from April 2012. Guess what? It still applies today. Enjoy, and I’ll be back next Thursday with a fresh and shiny This Author’s Life.)
For the last several months, most of my posts here have been about book promotion–and that is how it should be, since for the last several months, my life has been about book promotion.
Today we’re going to veer off that topic just a little. I’d like to talk about Amazon.
I’ve spoken with quite a few people who work in different parts of the publishing world. There are some who believe that Amazon’s very existence is threatening small business, state governments, the future of publishing and the very fabric of life itself. There are others who see Amazon as the wave of the future, the only possible solution to the challenges that have confronted the ever-changing world of business in general and book publishing specifically.
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll remind you that my books are epublished and sold through Amazon. I clearly have a business relationship with them.
I am grateful that Amazon exists. The company has not only opened wide the doors of publishing for the independent author, it has for all intents and purposes held our hands as we walked through. Indie publishing is that easy through Amazon.
But I see the bigger picture as well. I know that Amazon’s existence and ease of use has made us lazy and demanding consumers. When we want something, we simply go to the Amazon page, search for it. . .order it. . .and usually it arrives within a few days, at a price that it is at least competitive if not better than that of our local source.
I know too that many consider Amazon’s open door to publishing to be a death knoll of quality books, that without the traditional gatekeepers of agents and editors fighting off the specter of bad writing and poor stories, we’re all doomed.
I don’t agree. Visit your local bookstore, pick up about ten books randomly. Some of them will be great; well-edited, well-written stories that deserve their spot on the shelf. But some of them are the equivalent of literary garbage, poorly written drivel that slips through because of the perceived demands of the reading public. (“We need MORE VAMPIRE BOOKS!! I don’t care if there’s a story. . just GIVE ME VAMPIRES!!”)
Here’s the truth, folks: Amazon isn’t the devil. It’s not going to usher in the end of days. But it’s not the savior either; it’s merely a vehicle that’s helping to take us from point A–our old way of doing things–to point B, whatever the future might hold. Change is never easy, but it’s constant. Let’s hold on and see where we end up.
In the meantime, I’m happy to marching right through that door.
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://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