Thursday, May 5, 2011

Making a Play for E-Books with Guest Blogger: Jaydyn Chelcee

Win a copy of Playing for Keeps and meet author Jaydyn Chelcee today at the Book Boost!



Here's what she had to say about the future of e-books in publishing...


How many of you can honestly say that up until about five or six years ago, you’d never even heard the term, E-publishing, let alone know what it meant?

Maybe your memory goes back a little further than mine or you got more seriously involved in becoming an author before I did, but my first memories of the term E-publishing is about five years old.

I remember well the first time I heard the term. I was attending my very first writer’s convention in Oklahoma City. Excitement buzzed everywhere. I was getting an opportunity to meet editors, agents and fellow authors, but the main thing that was on my mind was getting my work accepted by a publishing house in New York that did print. I didn’t know anything else.

Then one of the speakers, who’d just been recently published by one of the Harlequin branches got up to speak and I was all ears…because she was using terms like E-pub, more money for her E-pubbed books than her printed ones, New York sticking its nose in the air, refusing to believe E-pub was serious or had a future, and her insisting that E-pub was the future…and I’m like, what the heck is she talking about?

Now this author was super nice. She invited those of us who were interested in learning more back to her room to discuss the E-publishing world.

No way, I thought. Nothing will ever replace a printed book, that feel of a book in one’s hands and the sheer pleasure of flipping to the next page. But I was curious enough to follow her to her room, me and about seven other ladies. It was about ten p.m. when we entered her domain, and after midnight when I left. My head was buzzing with all the information this author shared, and it changed my life.

She opened my mind to the endless possibilities, pointed me in a new direction, and gave me pause to think not only E-pub promising for new authors, but it was also good for the environment.

I don’t know how the other ladies felt when they left that room that night, but I know I gave up all intentions of submitting to a big house in New York or ever seeing my books in print. Yes, as I said, my dreams were pointed in a brand new direction…toward E-publishing. Of course, I had to find one first and I had no idea where to begin.

The thing is, I eventually found my way to an E-publisher and I’m very thankful I did. I know now I would never have had a book accepted by a New York publisher, not then, and maybe not even now, but that’s okay, I’ve done just fine with the route I chose instead.

Do I believe E-books are the true future for publishing? Absolutely. Don’t you? We’re seeing more and more online publishing every day…and I think they haven’t even stopped to catch their second breath yet.

Do I believe print books are a thing of the past soon to become relics? Yes and no.

I think we’ll always have print, but I believe we’ll see less and less of it. Please share with me your thoughts on this subject…

A Note from the Book Boost: I hear you, Jaydyn. Seems that e-publishing is here to stay. The only question that remains is if and when the brick and mortar stores will ultimately become obsolete? Thanks for joining us today and please tell us more about your latest release.

Blurb:

A touch of fire ignites a shocking murder…

From the moment Flayme Jansen looked into the slumberous green eyes of the sexy cowboy from Rimrock, Montana, she knew she was in trouble. But she’d never been in his kind of trouble: being taken into custody and placed in a witness protection program for national security.

Duel Remington has a job to do and no matter how difficult the feisty redhead makes it, he’s determined to protect her. Even if it means facing long cold nights handcuffed to the woman whose life he’s trying to save.

In the dead of winter…one man. One woman. One assassin. All are Playing For Keeps!


Excerpt:

“Look, if you wanna shower, it’s now or never. Once I hit the bed, I’m not budging, and neither are you.”


“Let go,” she ordered, and jerked away from his grasp. “Keep your hands off me.”


“Don’t flatter yourself, honey. Women like you grow on trees in the D.C. area.”


“Women like me?”


“Senator’s playthings? You know, bouncing the old mattress? Rocking the old headboards? Putting out?”


She clenched her fists at her sides. “I am not some Senator’s toy.”


“Special agent’s toy, then. Same difference. You’re a political plaything.”


“Ooh, more than you can ever imagine, cowboy, but I’m?”


“What,” he growled, fury etching his face.


She shook her head. “I don’t understand. What are you so pissed off about?”


“Are you denying you’re in Mac’s stable?”


“I’m a mare, now? This just gets better and better.”


“Deny it. Give me a reason not to be pissed.”


Flayme opened her mouth, then closed it with a snap. “I’m not going to deny anything to you. I don’t owe you an explanation.”


“No, you don’t. But, doll baby, don’t play coy and innocent with me, I know better.”


“What gets your goat the most, Mr. Hot Shot Agent, the fact that Mac beat you to me or because I belong to him, so you can’t or won’t touch me?”


“Wouldn’t count on the ‘won’t,’” he said absently, parting the drapes a mere inch and peeking outside.


“What?


“Nothing.” He fiddled with the curtains, making sure they closed tightly. “What gave you the idea I want to touch you?”


It dawned on Flayme that he wasn’t really absorbing the conversation. He was saying the words, but that’s exactly what he was doing, saying the words. He wasn’t into the conversation. He was immersed in checking their surroundings, but giving her his watered-down version of lip service. For some reason, it made her angrier to know he wasn’t really tuned in to their conversation. “Oh, you know, there’s a certain little pointy part of your body that just gives you away, cowboy.”


“Huh.” Suddenly he whipped around eyeing her.


It struck her that although he’d given the impression he was only half listening to her, he’d been paying closer attention than she’d thought.


“Don’t flatter yourself, honey. I haven’t had a woman in a?let’s just say it’s been a long, dry spell. If a mosquito bumped against my zipper I’d get a hard-on right now.”


Flayme lifted a brow. “A long, dry spell, huh?”


“Don’t let it trouble your pretty little head, sweetheart. I told you, you aren’t my type.” He tore off his denim coat and draped it across the back of the only chair in the room. With just that small movement, he groaned and what little color he had left drained away, leaving his face pale as the snow outside on the ground.


Flayme bit her lower lip and sent up another silent prayer that he didn’t die on her. Her eyes widened as she slowly scanned his body. Good grief, the man was armed to the gills. A shoulder holster fit snug against his side. When he turned to lock the door, she saw a second weapon at the small of his back. “You have one of those tucked in your boot, too?”


“What?” He frowned, dragging the chair across the room and jamming it beneath the doorknob, making the room as secure as possible.


“You expecting an invasion?” she asked, half joking. The other half of her mind darkened with fear. If he was this concerned, she thought maybe she should be too, or at the least, a bit more alert of what was going on around her. His unease worried her, because it meant there was something more than someone taking potshots at a little nobody CIA secretary.



Want More Jaydyn?

Jaydyn Chelcee has spent most of her life in Oklahoma, her home state, but at the same time, she’s traveled extensively, at least in the western half of the United States. One of her favorite settings in her contemporary western romances is Montana. She’s the author of the best selling Montana Men series, In the Arms of Danger, No Holds Barred, Too Close to the Fire, and Playing For Keeps.


Visit her website here: http://www.jaydynchelcee.com


Pick up your copy of her book today! Click here.


Contest Time:

Leave a question or comment for Jaydyn to be entered to win a copy of Playing For Keeps.


**Winners for Book Boost prizes are drawn the first week of the following month and posted in the Recent Winners box in the right hand side of the blog. Check back to see if you are a winner and to claim your prize! Please leave your contact information in your blog post!**

8 comments:

Tabitha Shay said...

Thanks so much for having me as your guest today...Jaydyn

Unknown said...

Hi Tabs,

So, you were enlightened about five years ago. I believe E-books are the wave of the future and the future has already started.
Personally, I will miss the printed book and I hope we will see, along with the E-books, that we wil be able to get a print on demand copy if we so choose.
With the technology available today, I don't see why both would not be possible to readers.

Great post as usual.
Good luck with the sales, this looks like another winner in your string of winners.

Tabitha Shay said...

Hi Lorrie,
Thanks for dropping by...and you make some very valid points...I think it's this technology though that will make the printed book obsolete one day...for one, it'll come down to space, the lack of wood and the ability to better preserve where printed copies eventually fall apart. It won't happen in our lifetime, I see this many years down the road and of course, is just MHO....lol...Tabs

paulab said...

Hi, Tabs: I agree that epublishing is the future. I first heard about it a few years earlier than you, but like you, I believe it's here to stay. NY is slowly and painfully coming aboard the epub wagon, but they're dragging their heels all the way. I predict that print books won't go away, not with the POD model here, but more and more readers "get their fix" electronically. We can resist, but we can't stop progress.

Paula Blais Gorgas
www.pbgorgas.com

Tabitha Shay said...

Hi Paula,
Thanks so much for coming by...Ur right, one can't stop progress and nothing stays the same...too bad NY didn't realize that right away...Tabs

Maggie Dove said...

Hi Tabs,

Great post. I agree with everything you said. E-books are here to stay!

Maggie

Tabitha Shay said...

Hey magpie,
Glad u came by and thanks...Yep, they're definitely here to stay...Tabs

apollyimi said...

Hi! I just wanted to drop by and say thank you for all your hard work. I love your books!