Newsletter ~ April - May 2010

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Once again, I procrastinated the drafting of this newsletter 'til the last minute. And, once again, I am rushing in order to get it off my "desk" before an event. (I hate to rush. It stresses me, and I really don't need any more wrinkles or grey hair.) This time, the event in question is BaltiCon. Last year was my first year as a guest, and I thoroughly enjoyed the convention. It's "small" (compared to RT or Dragon*Con or Comic-Con) but robust. I feel honored to be invited back!

According to the Pocket Program, I am scheduled for an autograph session at 11am Saturday in the Maryland Ballroom Foyer, a reading at 6pm Saturday in the Pimlico Room, and a Coming Together session/reading at 11pm Sunday in the Derby Room. If you live in the Baltimore area, I hope you'll stop by & see me!

At the end of April & beginning of May, I attended my fourth Romantic Times BookLovers Convention. This year, it was held in Columbus, Ohio, which meant that I didn't have to try to cram my fairy wings into a suitcase for air travel. I've gotten spoiled by being able to drive to three of the four RT conventions (Houston being the exception), so I'm not looking forward to next year's event in Los Angeles. In fact, I haven't even decided for sure if I'm attending. I suppose it depends on whether I'm invited to sit on any panels (as I did for the first time this year). While it's great to see friends, dress in costumes, dance, and party...

I've been taking a long, hard look at my expenditures of time & money with regard to promotion, and if I haven't seen a noticeable return on investment, I'm going to nix the expense. That includes entry fees for awards. While receiving Next Generation Indie Book Awards and EPIC eBook Awards (formerly known as the EPPIEs) and cover art awards, I've not been able to discern a bump in sales as a result. Not yet, anyway. Now that I'm self-publishing, I can keep a closer eye on sales reports to gage the impact.

Purple Prosaic continues to flourish, much to my delight. I released my first new material at the end of April, an interracial erotic romance entitled Ripe, and it's selling quite well. Well enough to have earned me a high spot on my former publisher's monthly bestseller list if I'd've experienced those same sales numbers there, that's for sure.

And Coming Together continues to feed my altruistic appetites. We've branched into ebook short stories taken from the anthologies as well as podcasts. We have been shifting our focus toward individual stories as we attempt to take greater advantage of the brisk sales of very low-priced ebooks. Never fear, though, the anthologies will always be a part of Coming Together's catalog.

For those who recall the reason for the brevity of my last newsletter, I'm happy to report that Enigma's surgery was successful. He is fully recovered and now poised for the next phase of the process: a spinal fusion. *eek* Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to the next few months. As if that weren't enough, in addition to the supervision & feeding of my 3 spawn (one of whom will be medically intense for weeks, if not months), and doing the work that earns the income that supports the entire household, I'll have the responsibility for 2 stepish spawn while their father is working a full-time outside-the-home job. Color me thrilled.

Hopefully, by the end of the summer, Enigma will be ready to return to school sitting much more comfortably (and much straighter), and I will not be in a locked ward drawing on the walls with my feces.

Enjoy your summer! Until next time...

peace & passion,

~ Alessia

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New Releases & Coming Soon [TOP]

AVAILABLE NOW in ebook from Purple Prosaic, LLC:
Ripe
When Josephine "Joey" Gray is yanked from her police academy class, she fears she's going to be expelled for a nightclub indiscretion. Instead, she's given a crash course in covert work and delivered to a small town at the other end of the state to help bust a vicious pedophile who's preying on a rural area's young women. In the process, she learns that love can blossom in the most vile situations.

[ $1.49 ][ 10,500 words ][ CONTEMPORARY, INTERRACIAL EROTIC ROMANCE]

So, You Want to Self-Publish
In the rapidly changing environment of digital publishing, many authors are asking themselves whether they truly need the services of a traditional publisher. Is it really necessary to have a large chunk of their sales revenue withheld by a distributor and a publisher? This book will provide valuable lessons learned regarding one author's journey through the waters of self-epublishing.

Discovered via trial-and-error, these nuggets will enable authors to determine whether they have what it takes to go it alone on Amazon Kindle and beyond. Whether you want to self-publish one short story or your entire backlist, this book will get you started.

[ $0.69 ][ ~10,000 words ][ NON-FICTION, HOW-TO, DO-IT-YOURSELF ]
 

COMING SOON in ebook from Purple Prosaic, LLC:

Beach Magic
Sarah Douglas spent the bulk of her days—and all of her nights, of late—alone. She worked from a small office tucked in the corner of the cozy tropical beach house purchased with an inheritance from an obscenely wealthy uncle who she'd never met. It would be an idyllic life in an idyllic location if she had someone idyllic with whom to share it.

[ $0.69 ][ ~5,000 words ][ CONTEMPORARY, LESBIAN, EROTIC ROMANCE ]

ArtiFactual
ISBN (pending)

Watch for the expanded re-release of this critically-acclaimed print collection containing all five ebooks:  Erotique, Switch, Amichu, Closing Arguments, and the prequel At First.

COMING SOON in ebook & print from Coming Together:
The Six Swans
(EBOOK ONLY)

Next in the Coming Together Neat line of single-title novellas is a fantasy tale from Annabeth Leong, who made her Coming Together debut in As One (the ménage volume).

Proceeds from Neat sales benefit microlender Kiva.
 

Coming Together: By Hand
ISBN 978-1- (PAPERBACK)

Masturbation is the safest form of sex, and we want to celebrate it in this collection! Coming Together: By Hand is a multi-author anthology of auto-erotic fiction and poetry edited by Alessia Brio.

Stories up to 10K words & poetry with a masturbatory theme. (Remember: Masturbation is not always a solo event! Sharing it with a partner is HOT!) Exclusivity is not required as long as the author owns the rights. No simultaneous submissions, please.

ALL proceeds from the sale of this volume will benefit the Coalition for Positive Sexuality, a grassroots, not-for-profit, activist organization providing teens with candid sex education materials.

* Submissions close June 30, 2010

AVAILABLE NOW from Coming Together:
Leget's Despair
(EBOOK ONLY)

In pursuit of dreams, men venture beyond the world of their experience. Leget is such a man. Powerful and talented, he is also an innocent. Not sexually, but morally. He believes in simple answers to complex questions. Luckily, he has a guide and a protector.

Lancelot, hero of legend, is less naïve. Yet he finds his world view challenged by the honesty and beauty of young Leget and determines to bring the boy to Camelot. On their journey, Lancelot will remember things he had forgotten and discover that he is still capable of love.

Leget's Despair is a homoerotic tale of a knight and a hopeful squire who share more than a campsite; in which the simple honor of a country lad is tested to its breaking point. Leget will discover both the good and the evil in the world. On the road to Camelot, he will find companionship and the hope of a life more exciting than farming. He will also find that even a hero cannot protect him from everything, and that politics is quite literally a deadly business.

Coming Together Hors d'Ouvres
EXCLUSIVELY AT ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS

Coming Together's line of finger food for the libido. These appetizers provide an enticing sample of the erotic fare available in the various collections. Proceeds from the sales of these 69¢ short stories benefit the same charity as the volume from which they originated.

Check out stories from Mychael Black, Aliyah Burke, Helen E.H. Madden, Lily Harlem, Saskia Walker, Elliot Mabeuse, Brenna Lyons, Robert Buckley, Jenna Byrnes, Jude Mason, and many more stellar Coming Together contributors!


 

Coming Together: As One
ISBN 978-1-45153-504-4 (PAPERBACK)

A multi-author anthology of erotic fiction and poetry with a ménage theme, edited by Alessia Brio and with an introduction by the one and only Samantha Kane, mistress of ménage. ALL proceeds from the sale of this volume will benefit ONE, the campaign to end global poverty.

Available in both ebook & print.




 

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Interviews & Appearances [TOP]

As noted above, I'll be at BaltiCon in Baltimore at the end of May. I'm hoping to hit the Pride events in DC and Baltimore as well, but there's (still) nothing definite there, yet. And, of course, I'll be attending Dragon*Con in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend.

Here are the many places I can be found online. I appreciate all friends-fans-followers, especially for Coming Together projects. Currently, I'm most active on Twitter and Facebook... but I swim with the tides of social networking.