I finished it!!!

I finished my first book in the urban fantasy Strange Neighbor series. YAYYYYYYYY!!!
Okay, so it's the first draft of the first book, but any writer will tell you that's the hardest part of the whole process.

Now, I'll have a few days to judge a contest and then return to self-edit the whole mess. Still, a weight has been lifted since I know I'll make my April 30th deadline. Whew!

I already have a great idea for book #2. Stay tuned for more progress reports. And now you may return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Ash

Taking a breather

I should be writing, but I want to take a moment to talk about something very important. If you haven't heard about epiracy, there's a great deal of passionate conversation about it that may need a bit of simple explanation. I'd like to provide that in a calm, dispassionate manner (if I can.)

Contrary to popular opinion, most authors cannot live on what they make by writing. A few years ago, it was reported that only 5% of all authors fall into that category. Steven King, Norah Roberts and the rest of the top 5% made 95% of the money paid to 100% of the authors. Now, with the event of eauthors joining the ranks, the gap has grown even wider.

Did you know that epublishers pay their authors with royalties only? They get no advance money. In other words, eauthors make NO money unless someone buys their book.

I believe that some folks really don’t realize that the practice of epiracy is illegal and may think this is a great way to read books in our tough economy. If you come across anyone who believes this, you might want to let them know that there are legal avenues to read books cheaply or for free, without getting arrested, fined $250,000 and spending 5 years in jail. Libraries will be happy to order and pay for any book you want to read, then loan it out again to someone else. The big difference is that this is done one at a time. Many used book stores are in existence and are a completely legal business, selling books cheaply, again one at a time.

When a book is borrowed or bought at half price, this is considered by authors to be good promotion. But to download a book from a site giving or selling way below cost to millions of people at once deprives authors and publishers of their hard earned money. And let me tell you, it’s extremely hard to string together 100,000 cohesive words and make it entertainment worthy. It takes several months to craft a book, even if working at it full time. Many, many authors have outside jobs and cannot create more than a book a year.

Consider how you would deal with a thief making off with half of your hard earned paycheck month after month. Okay, here's where the calm, dispassionate part ends. Please help us fight epiracy!!

I posted some suggestions for authors on one of my other blogs today. Please visit www.leagueofamazingwriters.com

Thanks!
Ash

My box of paperbacks arrived from my publisher yesterday! Yay! I danced around the kitchen and kissed my husband, hard!

It still feels unreal when I open a box of books that I authored. Those books wouldn't exist if I hadn't gone out on a limb and imagined the idea, then did the work to make it happen.

Putting it that way, it feels even more momentous. LOL. Did I really write these books? The proof is in my hands now. No matter how unreal it all feels, there's nothing like that dizzying sensation of accomplishment.

If anyone would like a signed copy, please let me know by email. The books cost $12.99 and to ship them via media mail is about $2.20. Just send me an email at ash@ashlynchase.com then $15.19 and your snail mail address. I can accept PayPal.

Woo Hooooooo!!! As always, a portion of the profits go to the Arbor Day Foundation for reforestation.

Ash

LOVE CUFFS is in paperback!

TITLE: Love Cuffs by Ashlyn Chase and Dalton Diaz
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave

URL TO PURCHASE ALL OF MY ELLORA’S CAVE BOOKS:
http://www.jasminejade.com/m-278-ashlyn-chase.aspx
EXCERPT: http://www.jasminejade.com/pm-4980-278-love-cuffs.aspx
For Paperback Orders: www.jasminejade.com ISBN# 9781419958922
GENRE: BDSM Comedy
LENGTH: Novel

To celebrate, Dalton and I are holding a contest. And it's easy peasy. Look for details on my contest page soon!

By the way, we'll be signing it at the Sheraton Tara in Framingham, MA on March 28th in the afternoon. If you're a writer, you might be interested in our 2 day conference. See www.necrwa.org for details!

Time to update the vacencies for guest bloggers!

Guest Blog about Romance

League of Amazing Writers. www.leagueofamazingwriters.com
(Ask Jet) jetmykles@gmail.com

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/CoffeeThoughts/ (Ask Karenne) WebMistress@coffeetimeromance.com

http://theromancestudio.blogspot.com (Ask Tina) tina@theromancestudio.com (full)

http://www.anncory.com/blog (Ask Ann) anncory_erotica@yahoo.com

http://www.fallenangelreviews.com/blog/ (Ask Cindy) cindy@fallenangelreviews.com

www.michellepillow.com/blog (Ask Michelle) michelle_pillow@yahoo.com also ask her about Raven Paranormal Blog - http://ravenhappyhour.com/ravenblog/

www.mandyroth.com/blog(Ask Mandy)mandy@mandyroth.com She wants ‘Behind the story’ posts or posts on Marketing.

http://www.myspace.com/romanceauthorblog/ (Ask Jane) neiljane@ihug.co.nz

http://www.romancingtheblog.com/ Open blog night. Send finished article to: invite@romancingtheblog.com

http://www.romanceroundtable.com/ (Ask Sindee) sindee@wmis.net

http://melissaalvarez.blogspot.com (Ask Ariana Dupré) melissaalvarez@comcast.net

http://blog.heatherhiestand.com/ (Ask Heather) halala@comcast.net

http://sandracox.blogspot.com/ (Ask Sandra) cast5away@yahoo.com

http://readingissomuchfun.blogspot.com/ (Ask Linda) readingissomuchfun@yahoo.com

http://www.elizabethdelisi.blogspot.com/ For G or PG books
http://liladupres.blogspot.com/ for R or X. (Ask Liz) edelisi@verizon.net

www.adeledubois.com/blog (Ask Adele) adele.dubois@verizon.net PG-13 articles

http://thehussiesblog.blogspot.com/ (Ask one of the Hussies)

http://nenscl.blogspot.com (Ask Danette) danetteb@sunvillas.no-ip.com

www.selenaillyriasthoughts.blogspot.com (Ask Selena) selenaillyria826@gmail.com

http://vickyburkholder.blogspot.com (Ask Vicky) vickyb@dejazzed.com

http://ashleyladd.blogspot.com/ (Ask Ashley) chinara@aol.com

www.chrisreddingauthor.blogspot.com (Ask Chris) chrisreddingauthor@yahoo.com

http://bellesobligatoryblog.blogspot.com/ (Ask Bella) belle_scarlett@sbcglobal.net

http://ndhansen-hill.tripod.com/books/ (Ask ND) ND@sfnovels@gmail.com

http://www.shelleymunro.com/blog/ (Ask Shelley) shelleymunro@gmail.com

http://www.mybonnierose.net/blog/index.php (Ask Bonnie) bonnie@mybonnierose.net

http://ellenashe.blogspot.com (Ask Ellen) ellenashe@hotmail.com

http://RomanceBooksRUs.blogspot.com (Ask April) April@AprilAsh.net

http://talesofthetrade.blogspot.com (Ask Marianne) marianne@mariannestephens.net

http://www.myspace.com/judithdesiree.com Contact Judith from this url: http://www.judithrochelle.com/contact.htm

http://anita-birt.blogspot.com/ (Ask Anita) anitabirt@shaw.ca

http://rainedelight.wordpress.com/ (Ask Raine) rainedelight@yahoo.com

http://www.mariannelacroix.com/?p=94 (Ask Marianne) marilacroix@yahoo.com

http://www.jupitergardens.com/wordpress (Ask Mary) marywinter.lists@gmail.com

http://www.anchoredauthors.wordpress.com/ For all fiction writers. (Ask Tracy) Tracy@TracyCooperPosey.com

http://www.selenaillyriasthought.blogspot.com/ (Ask Selena) selenaillyria826@gmail.com

http://www.ninapierce.com/romanceblog (Ask Nina) nina@ninapierce.com

http://www.wickedwhispersauthors.blogspot.com (Ask PG) pgforte@pgforte.com
http://depravedduchess.blogspot.com (Ask Lena) voiceomt2002@yahoo.com

http://kzsnow.blogspot.com (Ask KZ) ksnowschu@yahoo.com

http://pbdiva.blogspot.com/ (Ask Andrea) pbdiva99@yahoo.com

http://jeanneworldsnewsletter.blogspot.com/
http://jeannebarrack1.wordpress.com
http://jeanneworldsnewsletter.blogspot.com/ (For all of these ask Jeanne) silverfire@jeannebarrack.com

http://www.reading-writing.blogspot.com And the availbility for guest blogging here:
http://www.mariannearkins.com/guestblog.htm PG-13 only

http://barbaraedwards.net/blog/blog.asp (Ask Barbara) barbara.edwards2@yahoo.com

http://annewhitfield.blogspot.com/
Contact Anne whitfield.anne@gmail.com

Progress!

I'll bet you're wondering why I've been so quiet. (Hey, Ash...that's not like you. What's up?) I just asked the obvious question for you. And the obvious answer is--I've been busy!

I went to Ft. Lauderdale and had loads of much needed fun. The sun thawed my brain. And ever since I got that multi-book mass market paperback deal, I've been typing my little fingers raw. I've never had a "real" deadline before. Oh sure. Contest deadlines and self-imposed deadlines...but never a "do or die, don't let your editor down or she won't love you anymore" deadline.

I'm here to report that the book is progressing nicely. Every morning I sit at the keyboard and ask my characters what they're up to that day. And they tell me! It sometimes feels like taking dictation. Okay--there are occasional days that it feels like being dragged behind a 4X4. But that's writing. Ask any author.

Still, on the whole, I'm having fun. My characters are quirky, my setting familiar, and I love seeing the story unfold each day. I can't wait to share it with you. I think you're going to like it.

Ash

I'm going to be on Internet radio tomorrow!

Listen to my oversharing with the indomitable Sascha, male erotic
romance author and radio host extrordinare--simply use the link below
Saturday, Jan 17th at 4 PM Eastern:

http://www.radiodentata.com Radio Dentata
More information at http://sascha.radiodentata.com

>> >> He airs all of his shows on:
>> >> Monday 4 PM Saturday 4 PM all times Eastern Standard Time
Hope you can take a few minutes and have a listen!

We'll be talking (in part) about Nectar of the Gods...an anthology with the aforementioned Sascha, Marianne Lacroix, Isabelle Drake and Ann Marie Ortega.

This anthology has been nominated for Best Anthology of 2008 by Love Romances Cafe.
My story within Nectar of the Gods, called Oh My God, has been nominated for an Eppie!