Authors are awesome people.
Like seriously. 
And I'm not just saying that because I kind of fall into the author category now either. LoL
Anyway, I thought it would be fun for the bookworms to be able to get to know some of their favorite authors a little more candidly. 

Introducing....The Author 10. 
10 Quick Questions posed to your favorite authors about both their reading and writing. Special thanks to Author Brynette Turner for being our first participant! 

1. Favorite book of all time? The Chronicles of Narnia

2. Favorite author of all time? I don't have one. I read so many different authors that it's impossible to narrow it down.

3. Favorite book turned movie? Any of the Jason Bourne books.

4. Favorite genre to read? Suspense, closely followed by Erotic Romance 

5. Favorite genre to write? Contemporary Romantic 

6. What is your go-to writing playlist? Anything by India Arie. I have all of her CDs and simply put them on repeat.

7. What snack/drink must you have while you're writing? If any? I'm not a big snacker, but I drink either coffee, tequila, or dark beer.

8. How do you celebrate a release day? If I'm not hosting an online party, I usually go out to dinner with my family. I also randomly give away copies of my new release on Facebook throughout the day.

9. What's your favorite part about being an author? I love knowing that people enjoy stories that I create. Nothing makes me happier than the fact that overall, my ratings on every book exceed 4 stars (out of 5) both on Amazon and Goodreads.

10. Why should people read your books? Even though there are steamy sex scenes, my romance stories are about all types of love and always have happy endings. The couple must face challenges, but I don't believe in unfinished business or cliffhangers.

Brynette Turner, has primarily written contemporary and African American romances. Her most recent project is a paranormal (psychic) romantic suspense series. Premonitions, Dream Catcher Series - Book 1, was the first installment of that series. Loving Night, Dream Catcher Series - Book 2 was released on June 1, 2015. The third book, Heart Shadows, will be released in September 2015.

Brynette is the mother of two grown daughters, lives in central Ohio and is trying desperately not to become the Crazy Cat Lady although she loves the animals, has two, and can't resist feeding any strays that wind up on her doorstep. She is the author of Detour, Time for Tenderness, Monica's Healing, Premonitions, and Loving Night. With decades of ideas and half-finished novels, she's eager to share her talents with the world. Brynette writes about romance with the occasional steamy sex scene and honestly believes in love at first sight, the perfect match, and happily ever after. 

Contact her:
Website - www.brynetteturner.blogspot.com
Facebook - www.facebook.com/brynettelturnerauthor
Email - btromancewriter@gmail.com
Twitter - @btromancewriter


Buy her books HERE!

I know I can't be the only bookworm who loves when our favorite author drops a hot teaser. Teasers are like the samples in Sams Club and Costco; when they're done right, you quickly find yourself looking for the product in the aisle lol. Check out this hot teaser from Kim Golden!

Learn more about this series by clicking here. 

The sequel to Maybe Baby and Maybe Tonight is coming soon. 
What happens when the honeymoon is over and real life gets in the way? Laney & Mads are about to find out...

Maybe Forever by Kim Golden - coming 15 May 2015 in ebook and 1 June in paperback.

Sooo I'm a little late getting this posted but I thought this was pretty dope! Delphine Publications is going into overdrive with releases for the month of March. Connect with them to learn more about their authors, contests, giveaways, and much more :)

So let me just start off by saying, I never read books of this particular genre. I don't have a single science fiction bone in my body, if you know what I mean. Yet, I read the whole thing in a couple of days so that alone should tell you that this book was quite the read.

We're first introduced to Brendan Johnson, a lawyer who does good things for his community, including sponsor a girl's basketball team. When he goes to one of the team's games, he notices a girl who is simply...unlike the others in skills and strength amongst other things. After watching the girl closely, he quickly realizes that she reminds him of himself as well as a girl he use to date. Long story short, he's the pappy and hadn't known it for 11 years. 

When he finally meets the girl, Achilla, he's also given the opportunity to confront his ex-lover about Achilla's existence. He knew enough from his experiences with her that she was an unfit parent and ends up getting custody of the daughter, which I was honestly surprised went over so easily with his wife.
 
Anyway, once the family takes Achilla in, they end up on this wilder than wild ride through her teenage years, although she was already pretty grown up when they first took her in thanks to her crazy, "superior" mom. Her mom had constantly been training her for "something" (I won't say what cause ya'll gotta read it to find out lol) and the Johnson family works tirelessly to find ways to hold on to Achilla's superhuman skills as well as give her the normal life she's never had. 

There were lighthearted moments as well as grimy, intense moments that kept my attention throughout. I think what kept me most engaged, though, was Achilla's language. She was such a spicy little lady through the whole book with her immodest bluntness and incredible intelligence that you could either be offended or laugh; I chose the latter.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to someone who is looking to try something different literature wise and who likes action with an urban twist. 

To learn more about this book and read the first two chapters, click here!

Nights with the Nanny was a good, short read. I personally prefer longer reads where you get to learn more about the characters. But for this to have been less than fifty pages and still captivating, I would definitely recommend it as a good, erotic, before bed read. 

The story follows Quentin and Nia. Quentin is a recently widowed doctor who is in desperate need of extra care for his set of fraternal twins, Queen and QJ. In walks Nia, former model, who I instantly connected with because we both have degrees in Early Childhood Education (Holla! Lol). Anyway, she's not only the nurturer that Quentin was looking for, but the first spark of intimate electricity Quentin has felt in years (his wife's health was dwindling the majority of their marriage). So how does he handle this scorching hot, live-in nanny? Well, you'll have to read it to find out. :)

Learn more about this book and check out the first three chapters by clicking HERE!

"Slut: Someone who is having more sex than you."

I wasn't sure what to expect from this little nugget of literature but I was automatically drawn in by the title. The first few pages provided a back story on how this book came about. A few teenage girls discussing sex and playing the numbers game. Yes, the number of sex partners each had. Long story short, one of the girls' body count was WAY higher than the others. Even I was a little shocked. But then I had to question, why am I shocked? Is it because she's so young? Is it because she could be exposing herself to various STDs? Would I feel the same way if a guy had the same count? (For the record, the answer is yes to that last question.) Either way, the concept got me interested enough to keep reading. 
        Then the facts came out. The one that struck me the most was that 39% of the women surveyed said when asked, they lowered the number of sex partners they had. Their reasons all varied from shame to it's none of their business, but 39%?! What's the issue? If it's high, it's high. Get tested. Often. If it's low, that's cool too. But did you know some women actually increase the number to make themselves sound more experienced? Now if that's not wacky I don't know what is. Women are lying both ways just to normalize their relationships and sex life. But for what?
     Another little tidbit I learned from this book was that another way women regulate their number is by going back to exes because that means you technically aren't adding another body to the count. WHAT. You tolerate ain't ish folks just to avoid adding another someone in the mix? I mean I get it. Kinda. But wow. 
       And then there's the whole double standard which could be a separate blog post on it's on. Guys put up bets (someone in the book actually) for who can sleep with the most women but a woman having sex with two guys within a small time frame is automatically a slut. How does that even make sense? It doesn't. But that's how society has taught us to see it. Men can be sexually exploratory but women have to be in love and committed and all that stuff. 
      I will never forget I was watching some documentary about how sex is viewed in different countries. I can't remember what country this particular segment was from but it was about how the teenage girls carried condoms just like the boys. Surely in America her carrying condoms alone would probably deem her promiscuous, but I always viewed it as her being just as prepared as a guy would be. Better safe than sorry. 

"Sex should be enjoyed by all but, to enjoy it, taking responsibility for your actions is essential."

      That single quote pretty much sums up my own personal views, part of why I enjoyed this book so much; because it gave me a chance to really think about my own views on sex.  Who am I to judge someone just because their body count is different than mine. As long as they are being responsible and not putting others at risk, it's none of my business. And none of yours. 

To learn more about this book click here!

To purchase this book click here!

I hadn't had a dose of Street Lit in awhile, so when the opportunity to receive a copy of this book for an honest review presented itself, I said why not?

Slicker Than Most is the story of Rich and Claudette. Rich is like this super ridiculous doggish playboy who lies his way into the panties of way too many women. He met Claudette in Miami, when she was on Spring Break and changed her life forever. Claudette was actually kicking it with Rich's boy Turk, but Turk didn't have the juice like Rich had. 

2 years later, Claudette is busy being played left, right, up and down by Rich but she is in love. So even though she tries to convince herself to get away, she never gets too far. Eventually, Rich gets caught up in more women drama than he could ever imagine. 

This book could use a small update (the mention of Blackplanet made me cringe) but overall, it was a page-turner. The ending was...crazy...to put it simply. If you enjoy suspense and drama, plus a dash of romance, check it out.

You can purchase this book by clicking here.

As a new author, one of the early decisions you have to make is whether you are going to submit your book to a publishing company or be an Indie author and self-publish. To provide advice on that topic since I have zero, I asked two authors, both of which have published a book recently (like last week recently) for their takes on the matter. 

Christina C Jones (www.beingmrsjones.com) recently self-published her 8th novel (7th of this year), Didn't Mean To Love You.

What factors did you consider in making the decision to become an indie author? I just kinda... decided to do it. I had never submitted anything to a publisher before, but I was working on my first book. I ran across an article about self-publishing, so I looked into my options. From there, everything just kinda happened.

What benefits are there to being an indie author vs. an author with a publishing group? 
Control is the most important to me.  I don't have anyone nitpicking my story, modifying my voice, etc.  I choose what I write, when to put it out, how to market, etc.  Another benefit is probably income. Royalty structures aren't the same for every publisher, but I can say with confidence that I make a larger royalty per book than a traditionally published author. BUT, I'm sure they sell more books, so that could very well be a wash.

What disadvantages are there to being an indie author? 
You do it all yourself, and that can be overwhelming. Editing, formatting, book cover, marketing, you're responsible for all of it, plus writing the book.  Sure, you can outsource, but that takes a budget that you may not have when you first start out.

As an indie author, what methods do you use to promote your book? 
I'm terrible at promotion, LMBO.  I'll post about it on my facebook page, tweet it, blog it, and send a newsletter announcement, but all of that is usually surrounding release day.  I need to do better about consistent promotion.

Any advice for those interested in going the indie route? 
Do it!  But, before you do it, read about it.  There is a wealth of information online to assist you with not only writing your book, but polishing it, so that when you put it out there for public consumption, it's the best that it can be.  And make friends who are already in the industry.  Not so that you have people to beg to buy your book, but so that you expand your network to like-minded peers.  This will serve as motivation, give you something to aspire to, and also put you in touch with people who *get* it, when you need to reach out and talk to someone.

*Special thanks to both of these ladies for providing insight on this topic of interest for new authors! You can check out both of their books by clicking the book cover! 

We all love or have loved Facebook at some point in our lives. It's a nifty tool where you can reach MASSES of people very quickly. So it makes sense to promote your book in every place available on the site; right? Wrong. I am a member of many Facebook author groups, book promotion pages, etc. and I can honestly say that ALL of those pages are heavily saturated with posts upon posts from authors but hardly any interaction from readers. Think about how you may post to a group...

You get your "press release" ready.
You copy it.
You paste it.
You move on to the next group.

Do you even look at the posts on the page? I do, for The Bookworm Lodge reasons, but sometimes even I'm overwhelmed by the amount of posts. You may catch the eye of one, maybe two readers if the post shows up on their timeline. But most of the posts to those pages are quickly replaced with others. 

So how can you use Facebook to your advantage?
Start a personal author page where your readers can reach you, engage with you, and brag about your work to others.

Accept random friend requests. Often times, it may be a reader trying to connect with you and tell you how good you are.

Ask friends to support you by making your book cover their profile picture. Now their friends can know about you too. Don't expect the friends to keep it like that forever; eventually they're gonna want to show off their face again. 

Join Book Clubs Vs. Author Pages. Book clubs for people that read the genre you write are more likely to have actual readers (which means actual customers), or people looking for a book rather than just authors trying to promote their book. Trust me, they'll be excited to have an author joining them. 

Any other Facebook tips for authors? Comment them below! :)

As the website continues to develop, I've happily received TONS of books (thank you guys!). I support all new authors as everyone has a story to tell and every reader has a story they can relate to no matter who wrote it or what it looks like. But I can honestly say it's harder, for me personally, to show love to the books with low to no budget book covers. I understand, as a new, up-and-coming author, you probably don't have a huge budget to hire models, organize photo shoots, hire a creator, etc. But please, if you're going to invest in something, invest in a good book cover. The old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover" may always ring true, but what do most people do? Yup, you guessed it; Judge a book by its cover. It's a habit. The cover alone can either intrigue a reader to at least skim a few pages or it can make a reader skip right over the book because if the cover is anything like the content..yikes. Okay, random rant over. Happy Writing Folks!

Looking for a good cover artist? Ask around for any local college students in graphic design or photography. They are usually just as good for half or less of the money!