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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.

Comments

Angelina Rain said…
Thank you so much, Jennifer, for hosting me. :-)
Maria Zannini said…
Ref: Writing the story is the easy part. Before the contract arrives, it’s all easy.

It's funny that those yet to publish don't or won't believe you. But it's absolutely true. I never realized how much free time I had before I published. LOL.

Congrats, Angelina.
Jennifer Lane said…
My pleasure, Angelina! Congratulations--this is an exciting time.

Maria, that is so true. I used to whip out a chapter every weekend. Those days are long gone after publication.
Angelina Rain said…
Maria, when I heard that before publishing, I didn’t believe it either. I guess I learned.
Kittie Howard said…
Congratulations, Angelina! And thank you for your candor. I've just become comfortable with blogging, can't imagine juggling FB and twitter. It's all so public when I'm all so private.

Thank you, Jennifer, for hosting.
Jennifer Lane said…
Thanks for stopping by, Kittie. Sometimes I forget how public social networking can be. I think the shyness wears off pretty quickly, ha ha.
Angelina Rain said…
Kittie, thanks for commenting. Social media can be hard at first, but once you get to know a few people it gets easier.
Tara said…
Who knew the hard work would be *after* revisions?!

Jennifer, it's great to meet another romantic suspense author - we seem to be the minority around the blogoshpere.
Jennifer Lane said…
Tara, I know--we're surrounded by YA paranormal blogs! I'm reading a romantic suspense right now, "Hidden Threat" by my friend Sherri Hayes and really enjoying it. I'm part of a romantic suspense reading challenge this year (on the right of my blog if the picture is loading okay). You're from Boca Raton? My college swim team used to go on training trips there every January. It's a great place.
Angelina Rain said…
Tara, thanks for stopping by.

Romantic suspense authors are scarce on blogger. It’s actually my favorite genre to read.
Anonymous said…
Awesome post!
I actually found out early that publishing will be hard work. After finishing Death’s Island, I sent out 199 queries to agents (only one of which was accepted for representation). But, I know it's totally worth it and now I’m excited for what lies ahead (editing, promoting, etc…).
Congrats, Angelina Rain! And thank you for sharing your experences!
Angelina Rain said…
Ketch1714, thank you, and congratulations to you too on your accepted query. Good luck with it.
Jennifer Lane said…
199 queries? Damn, you're persistent Kelsey. Well done. Hope the editing process goes well.
Nas said…
Thank you Angelina for letting us know how hard we have to work! I'm with you there, I also am a very shy person but the need to create an online presence made me crawl outta my cave.

Congratulations on the release of your book!
Angelina Rain said…
Nas, thanks for commenting. Sometimes, we all have to crawl out of our caves.
Unknown said…
Congrats on your publications, Angelina!

I’ve seen the transition of writers to published authors; witnessed their constant “online presence” endeavors – it astounds me that they find the time to write! You can’t ‘give up’ on your novel if you’ve gotten THAT far, though, can you?
The online support network of indie writers is a great thing to see – it helps everyone -- introducing readers to other writers; the friendships; and reading realistic posts like this one.

…But you can’t lose track of the writing! (what got you here!) Plus some of that Real Life that’s going on, just past that computer screen of yours……
Angelina Rain said…
crazyauntjemma, Thanks for commenting. You are so right; the online support for new authors and e-authors is amazing. I couldn’t believe how many wonderful people I’ve encountered over the last year. And yes, finding time to write while promoting a book is hard but getting this far, you can’t give up now.
Anonymous said…
Lovely post, lovely author. :-) Very cool Angie fun fact too!
Angelina Rain said…
Liz Fichera, thank you.
Jennifer Lane said…
Nas, way to emerge from the cave!

Aunt Jemma and Liz, thanks for visiting.
Angelina Rain said…
Hello Jennifer,

I was so busy with my release yesterday that I forgot to inform you the winner of the free copy of “Indecent Encounters”. It was Kittie Howard and she’s already been e-mailed the book.

~ Angelina
Jennifer Lane said…
Angelina,
I hope the release day went well for you (what a special, fun time!) and congratulations to Kittie Howard.