Aphrodisia Authors :: Blog

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

My typical Thanksgivings with family and friends go like this: cooking, eating, board games, movies.  Today we played Scategories and my team was bested by a team consisting of a 10-year-old boy and his mom.  Ten-year-olds think out of the box when it comes to board games.  During a timed contest where you have to come up with 12 answers to questions (long story), we’re all trying to think of a W-word that’s located in a classroom.  My team drew a blank, but the 10-year-old said, “wall.”  Duh.  He was the big winner on that one, besting a table full of adults.

So, then it was on to movies.  We watched The Butterfly Effect with Aston Kutcher.  Great, unusual movie. I’ve never watched That 70s Show he was in or anything else with him, but I can see what Demi sees in him.  I’m now an Aston fan.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Elizabeth Amber

Dominic, The Lords of Satyr

Lyon, The Lords of Satyr

An author I know, who is also good friend and sometimes crit partner, has an interesting philosophy about life versus career.  She has one set of clothing for her “author life” and another for her “real life,” as she calls it.  When I heard this, I was reminded of the series about London call girl Belle Piper titled Secret Diary of a Call Girl, which aired on Showtime this past summer.  I don’t know about you, but I was riveted.  More to the point, Belle has separate wardrobes for her “call girl” side and her “real life” side.

A few weeks ago, my friend and I went out and bought wigs on a lark.  Long and sultry, multi-hued.  I’d never owned a wig, so I went grocery shopping in mine, to give it a test run.  I went from mildly embarrassed to confident when the check-out clerk asked me (in an admiring tone) where I’d gotten my hair done.  I replied, “It’s a wig. Can you tell?”  She said it looked amazing and wanted to know where I’d gotten it.  How fun!  I could hardly wait to tell my author friend.  Afterward, we did a book signing together and had a hoot wearing our twin wigs.  It’s amazing what a pick-me-up such outer trappings can be.

Now my author buddy is after me to go clothes shopping at some resale shops.  Who knows what kind of trouble we’re going to get into with that?  For some reason, she really envisions me in boots.  As with the wig, I’ve never worn boots.  And I’m not really enthusiastic about them.  But that’s my “real life” side talking. If you see me in boots sometime, you’ll know my “author life” took over on a shopping jaunt.

I think I’d define my ideal “look” for both real and author lives as professional-sexy. I don’t think I achieve that, but I’m working on it.  My “author” side thinks sexy, but my inner core—the one that allows me to meet deadlines and outline books—is all professional.  When I go shopping, the two are at war.

How about you other authors?  Do you cross-dress?  How do your “author clothes” differ from your “real life” ones?  Higher heels?  Boots?  Tighter?  Lower-cut?  Higher-cut?  Corsets with jackets?  Poofy hair?  That is, are your “real life” clothes the same as your “author life” clothes?  If not, what are the differences?

Elizabeth Amber
NICHOLAS, THE LORDS OF SATYR
RAINE, THE LORDS OF SATYR
LYON, THE LORDS OF SATYR (Aug 2008)
DOMINIC, THE LORDS OF SATYR (March 2009)
erotic historical paranormal romance
Kensington Aphrodisia
www.elizabethamber.com

The first time I heard of the concept of an author tagline was in a speech by Theresa Meyers of Blue Moon Communications. She was talking about author branding. Taglines were only a very small part of creating an author brand, but I started noticing taglines here and there after that.

So, how to find that quick, catchy synopsis that captures the unique flavor of my writing style.

Is Elizabeth Amber’s writing…
“Hot?” No, I couldn’t just say “hot.” Erotic romance is hot by definition, right?

“Wild? Sexy?” Yawn.

“Satyrrific?” Yes, I write a hot series about satyr brothers, but that sounds too contemporary and I write historical.
Here are three I admire:
Delilah Devlin has one of the best romance author taglines:
“Get in bed with Delilah. Everyone else has.”

And how about Ashlyn Chase’s: “Where there’s fire, there’s Ash.”

And I ran across this one recently. Bronwyn Storm’s “Where Romance Reigns” I like the play on storm/reign.

Since I haven’t come up with anything memorable, I’m holding out for the tagline of all taglines: NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling author! Hey, aren’t we all?

What are your favorite author taglines? Authors, what are some you rejected? What are you using now?

Hi everyone!

Erotic romance is relatively new. It’s hot, just like chick lit was before it. Is it just a fad? Will it go the way of chick lit? Will there be a slump in readership? Will the economy be a factor in beheading it?

When chick lit became hot, publishers wanted it. Readers wanted it. More authors began writing it. There was an understandable rush to catch the wave. A lot of great chick lit was written, but there was also “me, too” chick lit and “not that great” chick lit. There was a glut. Sales slumped.

Is that going to happen to erotic romance? Maybe. I know I’ll never stop reading it, but I’m being more selective now that there are so many choices. I’m always looking for 3 things if I’m going to buy: great non-boring sex, believable romance and sexual tension between a believable hero and heroine, and an intriguing storyline. (And setting and character development and an overarching storyline… the list goes on.)

At my first RWA national convention last year, a NYT best-selling author said she thinks erotic romance will stick around as a sub-genre of the romance category. I agree. Chick lit did not go away. The great and the good chick lit novels are still being published and read. I think the same will be true of erotic romance.

What 3 things top your list of “gotta be in the book” before you’ll take an erotic romance home with you?

Elizabeth Amber
LYON, THE LORDS OF SATYR (August 2008!)
www.elizabethamber.com/excerptLyon.html

A common writers’ mantra is “Butt in Chair”, meaning that sitting down and actually writing is the only way to complete a book.

To my surprise, I recently sat my way to a weight gain of five (okay—eight) pounds during the writing of book 3, LYON, THE LORDS OF SATYR. The inactivity of sitting before a computer for the long hours necessary to fulfill my vision really packed it on. The fridge breaks didn’t help. Once I realized I could not fit comfortably into my favorite jeans, a visit to the scales was in order. What a shocker that was. I reset the button twice thinking what I was seeing wasn’t possible.

I’m calling it my “book weight” because it’s similar to the “baby weight” new moms often work at shedding after giving birth. I figure books and babies are both acts of creation, though authors visit Fed Ex for their deliveries rather than hospitals.

The good news is I’ve lost most of my “book weight” by telling myself I can have that cookie any time–I don’t have to eat it now when I’m trying to fit into my jeans. Still, I surprises me how easy it was to gain without even realizing what was happening. Just imagine if we gained five or ten pounds with every book we wrote. Yikes.

Elizabeth Amber
NICHOLAS, THE LORDS OF SATYR (available now)
RAINE, THE LORDS OF SATYR (March 08)
erotic historical paranormal romance
Kensington Aphrodisia
for excerpts: www.elizabethamber.com

As I begin thinking about how to get the word out about my second book, I’ve been pondering the question of which promo freebies readers prefer.

As a reader, I am always looking for new authors and new books from authors I already enjoy. I picked up some free items provided by authors from the goodie room at the last national RWA conference. I was selective because I only had one suitcase and I didn’t want to waste authors’ money by taking things I would toss. My top 3 preferred items were chocolate, books, and pens, in that order. I also went for calendars, playing cards, bookmarks, and cat food can lids. But, honestly, I can’t tell you which authors or what books were being promoted on most of these (except for the playing cards which were Ellora’s Cave). And I didn’t buy any books based on these goodies. So are they really a good use of an author’s limited promotional budget?

We’re all readers here, so I thought I’d ask what your top 3 preferred goodies are. Have any goodies you’ve picked up ever led you to a new author or to a book you might not have tried otherwise?

Elizabeth Amber
NICHOLAS, THE LORDS OF SATYR
RAINE, THE LORDS OF SATYR (March 08)
erotic historical paranormal romance
Kensington Aphrodisia
www.elizabethamber.com

Could you write it on a train?
In a Starbucks? On a plane?
Would you, could you, in a car?
On a napkin, in a bar?

I always envied Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw for her ability to write her column wherever she happened to be at a given moment. J.K. Rowling wrote much of the first Harry Potter in the local coffee shop. In Cassie’s blog, she mentioned writing in Starbucks.

No way I could do that. At least that’s what I used to think before my husband and I sold our house, drove across the country visiting three sets of relatives for six weeks at a time, went to Europe, and then moved to a new state. All in the space of one year.

During that year, I set up my computer in more places than I care to count. I learned I could write in a London hotel room sitting in a chair that had a broken leg, while I had a horrible cold, and while my husband was out sightseeing without me. I learned I could write in my sister’s crowded spare bedroom on a makeshift plastic table from Office Max while sitting in a chair that doubled as her cats’ scratchpost. And though I’d rather write in an office, it was nice to learn that I didn’t need one in order to write.

Elizabeth, I am.

Elizabeth Amber
Nicholas, The Lords of Satyr
erotic historical paranormal romance
(Kensington Aphrodisia, August 2007)
www.elizabethamber.com