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I’ve been getting some questions about this, so I thought the best way to answer them would be with a blog post.

About a year ago a book titled Sneaking Candy came out.

It was about a creative writing student and erotic romance author. Readers & I fell in love with CANDY.

She was hilarious, sassy, sexy and smart.

I decided I wanted to write a book AS CANDY and The Reality O was born. You don’t have to read Sneaking Candy before you read The Reality O. You actually don’t have to read Sneaking Candy at all, but it is right now if you’d like to. The Reality O is by Candy. It uses her wit and humor and was honestly TOO, TOO, TOO SEXY for me to write as me. I’m not hiding that I’m also Candy, but I did want to differentiate it for my YA and NA readers who aren’t looking for something a bit hotter in the sexy department. This book is erotic romance.

AND YOU GUYS IT IS HOLY CRAP FUNNY AND SEXY

An early ŷ������ reviewer says: “Laugh-out-loud funny, smutty, filthy good fun! Witty, comical, and well-written with some smokin�� hot sex scenes.��

EEEP. The cover reveal is Wednesday so watch this space!

You can add it to ŷ������

Many of you know I’ve been working on a book BY Candy Sloane from Sneaking Candy. It’s an erotic romance and WAS titled The Orgasm Virgin.

It isn’t anymore, because one of the retailers who will be carrying it deemed the title and or blurb as “offensive content��.

Maybe I’m naive but considering some of the stuff out there, I kind of thought that title was pretty tame. I kind of thought the original blurb was too.

The original blurb

Fifteen Contestants, Twelve Episodes & One Very Big O

When my best friend Allie posted about my need for an inaugural O on a prominent dating website it was meant to be a joke.

A joke she was supposed to delete.

But her post started an internet and media frenzy and, when I was offered fifty thousand dollars to star in my own reality competition show, I had no choice but to say yes.

The Orgasm Virgin was supposed to help me meet a carnal companion who could finally bring me to climax.

Unfortunately, the one person I want to win the undying allegiance of my, well, you know, can���t be in the running at all.

Now in an L.A. mansion with fifteen very persuasive contestants vying for my attention and one undeniably sexy Production Assistant secretly getting it all the word ACTION has a whole new meaning����

Apparently that retailer didn’t agree & when I submitted my book for pre-order it was hidden by “ADULT SEARCH��. What this means is if you searched for the title, or the author, or looked at the author listings- NOTHING would come up. It was essentially non-existent except as a link that could be shared but completely unsearchable.

So let’s say someone told you about the book and you wanted to try to find it- you couldn’t. Or it would be really, really hard to find it. If you can’t find a book, you can’t buy a book- you SEE the issue.

So I asked one of my publicists why she thought this was happening and she said the site probably thought the title and blurb was TOO OVERT-again, if you’ve seen some of the books out there �� COME ON.

But I’ve put a ton of work into this book. I paid for a cover artist, a copy editor, a couple publicists and it NEEDS to come out- so I changed the title & the blurb and it was accepted.

It therefore had to be changed EVERYWHERE and I also had to have my cover updated at my expense.

I am still feeling conflicted about this, but I really didn’t have a choice. I self published to be able to write whatever I wanted and not be censored, but when you need retailers to carry your book apparently that doesn’t matter.

The new title is The Reality O (like reality show). I like it but I had to think of it in approximately a day & the old title had been the title for six months.

Here is the new blurb:

When my best friend Allie posted that I’d never been satisfied by a man on a prominent dating website it was meant to be a joke.

A joke she was supposed to delete.

But her post started an internet and media frenzy and, when I was offered fifty thousand dollars to star in my own reality competition show, I had no choice but to say yes.

The show was supposed to help me meet a sexy companion who could finally take care of business.

Unfortunately, the one person I want to win the undying allegiance of my, well, you know, can’t be in the running at all.

Now in an L.A. mansion with fifteen very persuasive contestants vying for my attention and one undeniably hot Production Assistant secretly getting it all the word ACTION has a whole new meaning��

The cover reveal with the NEW TITLE will be next Wednesday.. if you want to help let me know and I can send you all the info.

I have kept as much as I can of the original blurb on sites that allow it.

I would also like to note I have changed NOTHING in the book itself and that at least gives me comfort, but this whole experience has made me realize that even in self publishing there is still a gate keeper.

You can add The Reality O to ŷ������

Many people describe being��published as a roller coaster. A series of ups and downs, and ups and downs, and ups and downs. This is very true. What they forget to add is that��you aren’t riding in a car during all this, you are running, or falling, or climbing, or struggling to hold on.

I’m going to admit something.

I’m tired.

I’ve published��Six books in��Three years and I’m tired.

I still work a full time job in addition to writing books and I’m tired.

Something has to give and I fear it will be the level at which��I produce books.

From the outside, I appear successful.��SIX��BOOKS in��THREE YEARS, come on, but I know the inside. I know that I can’t keep going at this pace, emotionally, physically and most importantly creatively.

When I first started writing my only goal was to be published, but having achieved that there is now the��added��pressure to keep producing, to stay relevant, to stay on people’s radar.

I’m tired.

I have at least two more books coming out this year, but after that I’m not sure what I’m going to do.

I’m not sure what I CAN do anymore.

As women, we are taught we should be��able to do it all- have jobs and friends and families and homes and lives- and I am starting to wonder if ALL when it comes to writing at this pace is just too much.

You guys know I’m all about truth so I’m putting this out into the universe just to see what comes back.

None of this is to��take away from the immense gratitude I have��for everything I’ve accomplished thus far and for��everyone who helped me get there.

I love you all and I love writing books but this is just to say, to admit, to not be afraid to admit:

I’m tired.

Many of you have already read Sneaking Candy, my most hilarious and sexy book yet. If you haven’t, my publisher was nice enough to put it on SALE for .99 so be sure to pick it up

The fun news is that CANDY SLOANE the main character in Sneaking Candy is writing a book. It’s called The Orgasm Virgin and will be out in late February. The even MORE FUN news is that will include an alternate ending to Sneaking Candy, never published anywhere before.

Here’s a little teaser for you guys of The Orgasm Virgin. This book makes me blush like WHOA!

Cameras were fixed on us now as we glanced up at the mansion our mouths and eyes wide, recording as we took in a Spanish style villa with a fountain out front and pool and tennis courts in back. This was the place where I’d conceivably have my very first orgasm via another person.

Luckily, it was eons hotter than the crappy one bedroom apartment I’d left back in Bangor.

“Okay, I think we got that shot.�� A guy clapped his hands together and walked out from under the portico to greet us.

“I’m the executive producer of your show Garrett Jacobs,�� he said, shaking first my hand, then Allie’s.

“Yes you are,�� Allie murmured under her breath, clearly taking in what I had: slicked back brown hair, a muscular frame in a tight black T-shirt and jeans, and a jaw so perfectly squared off it could be used to teach Geometry.

“You probably read all this in your contract Christine,�� he said; “but just to reiterate you’ve been signed on for ten episodes. If it goes well and people like the show, we may sign you on for more.��

“Double orgasm?�� Allie asked, sliding her sunglasses down her nose.

“Shut up Allie.��

“No, that’s funny,�� he glanced at Allie’s fitted, hot pink sun dress. “Keep it up. That’s exactly the kind of humor we’d love to see on camera.��

I heard the crew mumble their agreement.

“Why don’t we just worry about the ten episodes for now,�� I said, attempting to cool my face and neck, they were scorching, hotter than any sunburn.

Everyone but Allie seemed to have forgotten why we were here: to get me an orgasm, on film. Not literally on film. It was network TV, but yeah, The Orgasm Virgin was basically a show about getting me laid, well.

“Fair enough, just based on some of the notes from your trip over here,�� he eyed the production team, “I’m going to need you to be a lot more sexual. Take your usual level and increase by it a hundred percent��

Super, so instead of being a 0 in the sexy department I’d need to raise that to a 1.

I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE AS EXCITED AS I AM

I am happy to announce that AGAIN is available in Paperback! On all Amazon sites, even UK.

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Enjoy!

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I know many bloggers use Waiting On Wednesday to feature books they can’t wait for. This week I’m using it to feature a change I can’t wait for.

I’m waiting for a time when stories about authors being respectful and supportive get as much play as authors behaving like asses.

See, I actually posted a year and a half ago about some authors that were amazing to me for really no reason other than that I asked for help and or because they are generous and understand we are in a community where treating people well should be the rule.

You can read that post here:

At the time, I was a very new author who had only one other book out. These authors had no reason to do anything for me, other than the fact they are good people. Great people who know that treating others well is as important as writing amazing books.

So this Wednesday join me in waiting for something that can have a real impact on our community. Join me in trying to make that kind of change happen. I welcome you to post about a great interaction or experience you’ve had with an author. Use the #authoryes hashtag- and lets get some good behavior trending!

Hey Guys,

So I told you I would keep you in the loop during my self-publishing journey. I’ve come to the point where I have to make a pretty big decision and wanted to share the process with you.

Many of you know about Kindle Unlimited- this is the new Amazon service that allows you to read as many Kindle books as you want for $9.99 a month. As an author you are paid a percentage for each download your book receives. If I had chosen to publish AGAIN exclusively with AMAZON it would be permitted in Kindle Unlimited; which would have given me access to a bunch of Kindle Customers.

Instead I wanted to make AGAIN available to everyone, not just AMAZON customers so I published it to B&N, Kobo and I-Books too using Smashwords. After 3-weeks of sales here is how the percentage of sales per site is working out:

This means if I sold 100 books over 3 weeks 93(!) of them would have been at Amazon, 4 at B&N and so on��

(This was all at the same price .99 when on sale, $1.99 now. I have switched the price just today to $2.99 because B&N takes a LONG time to make pricing changes and I cannot change Amazon’s price until B&N is up to date.)

Smashwords is a great distribution service and I have nothing against them, they have been easy to work with and extremely professional but that is not what I am talking about. I am specifically talking about sales by website.

A business looking at the chart above would say Amazon is where we should be putting all our focus.

As a self-publisher this is my business.

See, not only does publishing exclusively with AMAZON allow you to be a Kindle Unlimited Book, but a lot more marketing perks are also available.

All this is to say that I am thinking of taking AGAIN off of the other sites and trying it exclusively through AMAZON for their 90 requirement period.

I hate drinking AMAZON’s Kool-Aid, but numbers don’t lie.

I’d love to hear your comments about this. And if you are a Nook, I-books or Kobo customer AGAIN may be going away soon :(

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AMZ:

B&N:

I-books:

Kobo:

ŷ������: /book/show/20882839-again

It’s the LAST DAY to purchase AGAIN at .99. If you haven’t picked it up, make sure you do before it goes up to 2.99 tomorrow. You’ll find links to all the sites at the bottom of the page.

How far would you go for a second chance?

Eleven years after flunking out of college, Kate has finally hit rock-bottom. Losing her job and boyfriend in one drunken night, she’s determined to fix her life by going back to the moment when she let partying and sex take over. And do things right this time. At twenty-nine, she heads back to freshman year of college, with a catch.

Pretending she’s nineteen with a new roommate and full class schedule is easy. When she meets her shy, sexy and seven-years-younger RA, Carter, following her self-imposed sobriety and celibacy rules is proving to be anything but.

A senior enduring years of regret, Carter is more than ready to graduate. He’s anxious to move on from the party his freshman year where he witnessed his frat brothers about to commit a sexual assault. Instead of doing the right thing and stepping in, he looked the other way and left. His guilt has made for a lonely four years.

When he meets the new freshman on his floor, spunky and confident Kate, he wonders if his time as an outcast has finally come to an end.

Kate and Carter’s growing friendship and undeniable attraction make it harder to hide the demons from their respective pasts. But when their secrets are finally revealed, will their chance at starting over together still be there?

Here’s a little excerpt in case you’re on the fence:

The only noise was our breath, in and out, in and out in the same rhythm, a song our bodies made together in the half-light.

“Do we have to wake up?�� Kate stretched out lazily like a cat.

“No,�� I kissed her forehead. She smelled a little like me from having slept in the crook of my arm all night.

Axe body spray was lot sexier on a girl than you might think.

“Good,�� she said lying back and closing her eyes. Her mouth twitched. “You can keep kissing me though.��

“I can, can I?�� I laughed.

“I mean if you’re bored or something.��

“I thought you wanted to go back to sleep.��

“Unless something better wakes me,�� she explained.

“Okay, Sleeping Beauty,�� I said, kissing first her top lip, then the bottom, running my tongue against the inside of her mouth.

She started fake-snoring, loud, her nose a buzz saw.

I laughed. “Are you claiming my kisses don’t have the power to break a spell?��

“So far, Carter,�� she said, yawning heavily. “I’m not impressed.��

I tickled her and she yelped, which was good because if her outburst didn’t make me stop touching her around her soft, curved abdomen, I wouldn’t be able to control myself from making her yelp about something else.

“Close your eyes again,�� I said.

She obliged with a calculating smile.

I tasted her temple, my lips landing quieter than a sigh. I explored along her hairline, my kisses a crown of daisies on her forehead. My mouth grazed her earlobe. I kissed the bridge of her nose, and her breathing quickened beneath me. I kissed each cheek, one side of her neck and the other, my kisses more hungry, insistent, like I was gasping air.

My lips connected with her pulse as I slid down the length of her neck. I sucked on the base of her throat, the skin there as soft as a peach.

I scanned her face, her lips.

Her tongue darted out and she pouted like a flower waiting for my kiss to sting her, to send her reeling.

I would make her wait.

“Still nothing?�� I asked.

“Getting warmer.��

I teased the area below her right jawline.

“Little higher and to the left,�� she instructed.

“That’s pretty specific,�� I said, my words echoing against her chin.

“Warmer,�� she said.

My cheek smoothed against her left jawline.

“Colder, freezing,�� she laughed.

I hovered above her lips, not touching them, not touching her, waiting, flooded in her pull, letting her bathe in mine.

She tipped her head back. My lips grazed hers like a rain just starting and then thundered against her with the force of a downpour.

“Hot enough?�� I whispered.

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AMZ:

B&N:

I-books:

Kobo:

Again my self-publishing debut has been out since Monday and it’s been a blast so far. An insanely insane blast actually- because this happened on Amazon:

Again is by far my best selling book yet! And all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you . If you haven’t picked it up, make sure you do while it’s at the sale price of .99, it’s regularly 3.99. You’ll find links to all the sites at the bottom of the page.

How far would you go for a second chance?

Eleven years after flunking out of college, Kate has finally hit rock-bottom. Losing her job and boyfriend in one drunken night, she’s determined to fix her life by going back to the moment when she let partying and sex take over. And do things right this time. At twenty-nine, she heads back to freshman year of college, with a catch.

Pretending she’s nineteen with a new roommate and full class schedule is easy. When she meets her shy, sexy and seven-years-younger RA, Carter, following her self-imposed sobriety and celibacy rules is proving to be anything but.

A senior enduring years of regret, Carter is more than ready to graduate. He’s anxious to move on from the party his freshman year where he witnessed his frat brothers about to commit a sexual assault. Instead of doing the right thing and stepping in, he looked the other way and left. His guilt has made for a lonely four years.

When he meets the new freshman on his floor, spunky and confident Kate, he wonders if his time as an outcast has finally come to an end.

Kate and Carter’s growing friendship and undeniable attraction make it harder to hide the demons from their respective pasts. But when their secrets are finally revealed, will their chance at starting over together still be there?

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AMZ:

B&N:

I-books:

Kobo:

ŷ������: /book/show/20882839-again

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My debut self-published novel AGAIN will be out on Monday. YES THIS MONDAY! The question I get asked most about this book is why I chose to self-publish it. I have a publisher. I will be publishing books with them in the future (hope for an announcement on that soon), so why self-publish?

The main reason: I wanted to try it. Nothing earth shattering there, but I was curious. Interested to see what I could create on my own, with help from hired hands, but yeah- this book is ALL ME. It is funny, heartbreaking, truthful and real and no editor was there to tell me NO.

Additionally, it is extremely hard to categorize what kind of book it is. We all know how that goes when it comes to publishing. It’s from the POV of a 29 year old woman & a 22 year old man. Is it New Adult? Adult? Coming of Age? Over the Hill? I can’t say, and when I had the idea, I didn’t think publishers would be able to either.

It’s also tackles some really heavy topics: alcoholism, adultery, and sexual assault.

I didn’t try to sell AGAIN. I didn’t pitch it to my agent. I wrote it and edited it with the sole purpose of giving readers my truest most uncensored writing and if the early reviews are any indication- I made the right decision.

OKAY enough about me- on to the TIPS:

1. Get your book edited! This is critical. You need an editor, they will help you turn your book into something that is reader ready. I used and I can’t recommend her highly enough.

2. Get an AMAZING cover artist. Good writing sells books, but you know what REALLY does-�� a striking cover. I used ��and I can’t recommend her highly enough!

3. Get your book COPY EDITED! Think of your readers�� experience. If you want it to be the best it can be please, please let someone make sure your book flows okay and is grammatically correct. I used Nancy Cantor and I can’t recommend her highly enough!

4.Give yourself enough time to format and upload. I made sure I had the book to my formatter more than a month ahead of release date and I am glad I did. We had issues. He was amazing and we worked through them all, but we had issues with uploading, etc. Do yourself a favor and give yourself time so you don’t have a heart attack. I used Wyrding Ways Press and I can’t recommend them highly enough!

5. Get your book out there! You need a blog tour. You need a team to help you gather reviews. I am using and They are both amazing and I can’t recommend them highly enough!

6. Make sure you LOVE your book. I mean LOVE it. Because you are self-publishing you are doing it ALL. So you better believe the hell out of the book you are putting out there. I had to read AGAIN a total of ten times. More than any book I’ve released.

7. Call on your friends. If you have author friends ask for their help promoting and getting the word out. They are invaluable. Just don’t be a pest.

I will be sure to keep you all in the loop as this journey continues. Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive thus far. Here we go��

AMZ:

B&N:

I-books:

Kobo:

ŷ������: /book/show/20882839-again

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