I Heart Simon & Schuster/Pocket Star

Last spring an editor from Simon & Schuster contacted me and asked if I would be interested writing erotic fiction for their imprint Pocket Star. I was, in fact I had been considering it for quite some time, even before the whole Fifty Shades Of Grey thing.

So the question was not would I write erotica, it was would I write it for Simon & Schuster.

After talking/emailing back and forth with the editor for a little while I decided that no, I didn't want to do that. My last experience with traditional publishing had left a really bad taste in my mouth. My old publishing house hadn't promoted or marketed the last four books they published for me books and even when I asked them to support my own marketing efforts the response was lukewarm at best. They stopped their promotion efforts back when my sales were steady (not surprisingly, they didn't stay steady after that). Even then I knew it wasn't fair to completely blame my publisher. The market was changing. Chick Lit, that had been so big after Bridget Jones was no longer the hot trend. The market had been over-saturated and publishers wanted to direct their meager resources elsewhere. And like it or not, I had been branded a chick-lit author. No matter what I submitted to my old publisher it would have been seen through that lens. To me it felt like they were throwing out the baby with the bathwater. But maybe not, maybe it was just a good business decision on their part. Either way, I was screwed. It was a shock to me when they didn't offer me a contract for the next Sophie book.  But in retrospect, it shouldn't have been.

So I turned to self-publshing. It was an experiment on my part. Plus I had ended my last traditionally published book, Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress with a cliffhanger. I felt I owed it to my readers to at least write one more book so they could find out what happened. A reader even volunteered to do the graphics for cover for me.

What I discovered is that when your publisher isn't investing in you, self-publishing is DEFINITELY the way to go. I've sold more copies of  Vanity, Vengeance & A Weekend In Vegas though self-publishing than my publisher sold of the last book I wrote for them within the same time period. But now, instead of getting somewhere between 6-10% royalties I'm getting 25-70% royalties.

So why go back to traditional publishing? The royalty percentage Simon & Schuster/Pocket was offering me was good but not 70% good. No publisher can offer that.

But this editor was persistent, even after I initially turned him down. He kept coming back to me, sweetening the pot a little, charming me a lot (my editor is quite the charmer) and I do so HATE trying to format my books to all the different ereaders, it's a serious chore. If I let Simon & Schuster publish my next work they would take care of all that. So eventually I said yes, even though I had definite reservations.

It was a good decision. My editor has been fantastic (although I've worked with him before so that wasn't a surprise). The art department has also been amazing! I mean, look at this cover!

But what has really impressed and surprised me is the publicity department. Pocket has gotten this book into the hands of some amazing bloggers with passionate followings. Today I actually had a phone meeting with one of Simon & Schuster's publicity managers. That's not a phone call most authors get to have anymore. This woman is totally fun to work with and most importantly things are being planned, media outlets are being contacted, this is good.

I have no idea how Just One Night: The Stranger will end up selling (although I hear that excitement has really been building after the review from Sinfully Sexy Books) but no matter what happens I'm grateful for the genuine effort and dedication of the people over at Pocket/Simon & Schuster).

I wasn't sure if I would ever go back to traditional publishing again but Pocket has washed the sour taste out of my mouth. This time around everything's sweet.

To read some of the early reviews check out:
Sinfully Sexy Books
Boekie's Book Reviews
New Books On My Shelves

Kyra Davis Bestselling Author of: The Sophie Katz Murder Mystery Series, 
SO MUCH FOR MY HAPPY ENDING
And the upcoming
JUST ONE NIGHT erotic fiction trilogy!
Read the first few pages here!