Guest Blogger: Angelina Rain

Today I'm excited to host fellow author and blogger Angelina Rain.

She has a sultry short story "The Problem With Love Spells" coming out in the anthology Indecent Encounters in two short days, 2-9-11! Angelina also has a contemporary romance under contract.

Here's what Angelina has to say about the windy road to publication:

You Sold a Book. Now What?

You’ve worked over it, stressed over it, probably even found a few grey hairs because of it. So what is this “it”? The book you worked so hard to write, edit, and submit. And what do you get for all that hard work? A “Thanks, but no thanks,” letter. It’s devastating, heart crushing, and it makes you wonder will you ever get there.

I’ve been very lucky as I haven’t had to deal with rejection upon rejection. My very first two submissions led to contracts. Here, I will be talking about my short story “The Problem with Love Spells” which is included in the “Indecent Encounters” ménage anthology.

When I opened “The Call” e-mail, I thought I was dreaming. Could my silly short story really be good enough for publishing? I found it hard to believe considering it took all of three days from starting to write it to ending the editing. Woo Hoo! All the hard work is over, I thought while doing my happy dance. Boy, was I wrong!

The first round of edits arrived just days after I signed the contract. They wanted me to be done with the edits in about a week. Although the edits looked scary, all they really contained were sentences that could be fixed to sound better. My second round of edits was nothing compared to the first and it only took me five minutes to fix that. Then the cover came. All that editing was the easy work.

I learned that being an author is not just writing the book. You have to promote it too. The publisher does their share by sending your book out for reviews, but what about the people who don’t read reviews? How can you sell the book to them?

A fellow author informed me of social media. It’s a great way to attract readers. I would need to blog more, and facebook, twitter, goodreads. The list of social media sites is large and you have to make yourself visible. Yicks! Me, visible! But I have severe social anxiety. I was already accustomed to blogger, and I even had a few followers who didn’t think my posts were boring. Couldn’t I just leave it at that? No. I had to be visible so I created that dreaded facebook page and that twitter account I barely use.

Besides the dreaded social media, I had to create a website. That turned out to be scarier than social media sites. All web hosts offer free templates. Boring templates that just didn’t fit my needs. And my knowledge of web design and HTML is limited to changing colors and adding the occasional picture. I had the option of paying somebody to design it, but I’m so broke I could only afford dinner at McDonalds’. So I finally designed the website, although it’s simple and boring looking.

So I’m done, right? NOPE! Now, the actual promoting of the book. The giveaways, the blog tours, the guest appearances at other blogs. *Fainting* Coming up with interesting things to share about myself and my road to publication. And the ticker . . . I only have two weeks to pull it off. But. . . But I’m boring. I don’t have a cool life. I don’t have fun things to share.

That social anxiety found a way to creep in. What if people don’t like me? What if I write something stupid and embarrass myself? Worse, what if people actually buy the book and read my short story . . . And hate it? Or is it worse if people love it, but everything else I write after is horrible that could never be published? What if I’m a one book wonder? Yicks! Is it too late to crawl under a rock and live there for the next ten or twenty years?

So what did I learn from my first publication? Writing the story is the easy part. Before the contract arrives, it’s all easy. It’s writing, editing, having creative freedom. So to all the unpublished writers out there. Enjoy it. Enjoy every story you write, all the characters you create, all of the writing decisions you make. It’s the fun part of the job, the actual writing.
Angie’s Fun Facts: According to my grandma, I’m related to Honore de Balzac (1799-1850), a French novelist.

Indecent Encounters (Out February 9th)

A Ménage Anthology, including “The Problem with Love Spells” by Angelina Rain

Sometimes a woman needs more than a lover…

Independent, lustful ladies find pleasure and intrigue with more than one man, from a scandalous vacation in Australia, to a forced seduction at a cabin in the woods. A witch needs to break a shameful spell, and an older woman slakes her sexual needs with two younger men. Cougars purr with unrequited desire and werewolves compete for the love of their mate. Satisfaction is just a sigh away as a surgeon bends the rules for her patient, and an over-stressed boss finds more than a little peace with secret admirers.

Find out what wicked delights await you with Indecent Encounters.

The Problem with Love Spells

When you’re cursed to live your whole life unloved, can you really be held responsible for casting a love spell? When Gretchen realizes that her love spell went wrong, her only option is to reverse it before too much damage is done. However, when she wakes with a werewolf and a vampire in her bed, she learns that even reversing a love spell could have its consequences.

~*~ GIVEAWAY ~*~

Angelina Rain is giving away one free copy of “Indecent Encounters” and it could be yours. All you have to do is comment or ask a question on her blog (she will answer it in the comments). One lucky winner will be announced on Feb 9th on Angelina’s blog. Leave your e-mail address so Angelina can e-mail you if you win.

Thanks, Angelina! Visit her website and enter to win a copy of Indecent Encounters on her blog.

Time for Meet An Author Monday, hosted by Lisa Sanchez.