Giving my notice to the Day Job!

Last Wednesday night when I learned my earnings from my books had far surpassed my day job salary, I rocketed into a state of ecstasy and giddiness. Even now, I'm still flying on the news. Sure, the money is important, just ask my partner. But for me, there’s so much more to it than that.

For two years I’ve held two full-time jobs. One – a Fortune 20 corporate position. Two – writer. When I began this journey, I thought, “I’ll get a few books out. Make some money. Quit the day job.” Right? (Sarcastic tone)

Sounded so easy back then, but it’s turned out to be more difficult than I imagined. My weeks became day job / night writing & weekend writing. Then there’s the promo I did for my books, etc. Soon, I had to give up much of my very active social life. For some, that wouldn’t be a big sacrifice. For me, it was. I love parties. My partner often went to dinner with friends alone and continued to send my apologies and to say, “He’s working on a book.” I am not the only one who has sacrificed to get to this moment. So did he. Thank you, Stephen. I love you.

Even with all the time I dedicated to writing it still was hard to deliver the stories swirling in my imagination. Why? I had a split mind. I would shut off the work laptop for the day gig and then flip on the personal laptop for the night gig (writing). Very tough. My thoughts kept drifting back to the day job in the middle of scenes. Not good. Still, I forged ahead. Pushed. Kicked. Screamed. Failed. Quit. Got up. Rededicated. Pushed. Kicked. Screamed. Failed. And on and on. Thankfully, my dream is finally realized.

07-Sep-2009 - my first book, Perfection: Eternally Three, was published.
05-Sep-2011 - giving my two-week notice to the day job I’ve had for twelve years.
16-Sep-2011 - will be my last day with the day job.

17-Sep-2011 - will be my first day as a full-time writer.

I’ve learned in the last two years that the winners aren't always the most talented or lucky. Sometimes, they are the ones who just don’t stop, just don’t give up - no matter what comes.

So please, whatever your dream, keep pushing, kicking, screaming...

Authors After Dark - my first Con

I had a blast at Authors After Dark in Philly this past Thu - Sun - August 11th - 14th. So many amazing readers, bloggers, and authors.

Here are my Top 10... wait, Top 11... hold it, Top 12 - okay, there were so many but let me limit myself to

Kris Cook's TOP 13 Memorable Moments at AADPhilly

(13 is kind of appropriate, don't you think?):

#13 - The Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich at the hotel. Yes...at the hotel. It was monstrous and hot. Wait, I'm not writing a sex scene here. *clears throat* And meeting Bronwyn Green, Mia Watts, Simone Anderson, Brynn Paulin and William Cooper.

#12 - Meeting 4 of my dear Righteous Perverts Tina, Christy, Marcy, and Susan.

#11 - Meeting 2 awesome members of KindleSmut on Goodreads - Mrs. Missive & UWAttackCat - they were dressed as Vampire and Werewolf with cool scary eyes. Great costumes.

#10 - Speaking on my first panel with Melissa Schroeder (adore her) about what the revolution in digital publishing is all about. I was a nervous wreck. I was told it didn't show. I hope so.

#9 - OPEN BAR! Enough said.

Well, maybe not. Thank you Mel (Melissa Schroeder) for allowing me to host the event with you. (Really, I adore her!)

#8 - Singing happy birthday to Larissa Ione at dinner. She's so sweet.

#7 The blogger sleepover party. Larissa, Bells, Marq, Adrienne, Tigris, Joy, Ali, JoJo, Felicia ...

oh, God - all of them but I can't remember everyone's names. At that hour, I was on hour 22 without sleep - a precursor to how the whole time at AAD would go down. Someone shoot me an email and I'll update the list.

#6 (really #1, but I don't want someone to get the big head) - Getting my ass grabbed by Joy from JoyfullyReviewed. SimplyAli - you need to make her behave better in public.

#5 - Drinks in my room with Sylvia Day, Eliza Gayle, Joy, Melissa Schroeder, Lissa Matthews, Karin Tabke, Cat Johnson, SimplyAli, Felicia, and the Righteous Perverts. Yes, we had spillage, but Susan R. and I did get the Red Wine bottle opened.

#4 - Tilly Greene stalking me in the elevators. She also did an awesome job, as did the other authors on the BDSM panel, IMHO.

#3 - (Warning - my sick way of looking at things to follow) When Joy held up her hand when the Tweets started blasting and said - Goldfish and Worms! I was really needing a snack and wondered if I could get room service to bring some up. LOL!

#2 - Breakfast at the Chocolate place with the delicious waffles and waiters. Yummy!

#1 - Bells (a terrific blogger) who came up to me and said she really was impressed with me and couldn't wait to read my books.

There are so many other moments. Meeting the amazing Stella Price, who put the whole thing together. Others who knocked my socks off were Melissa Ecker, Theresa Meyers, Tilly Greene, Rita Sawyer, and on and on...

New Orleans can't come soon enough. Wait. Let me have a couple more nights of sleep, then it can come.

Countdown 362 days to go!

A Look at Amazon Kindle rankings

Many motivational writers recommend that whatever kind of person you want to become... find those kind of people and spend time with them. I've been very lucky in that respect. I'm part of an amazing group of authors and readers who call ourselves the Righteous Perverts. This year alone I've seen the RP authors reach amazing heights. Curious to find a way to measure our successes, I decided to do a little research about Amazon Kindle sales rankings. I can be a bit of a geek from time to time.

This morning my geekiness was full throttle.

Reported in a Jan 27, 2011 CNN article by Julianne Pepitone, eBooks have surpassed paperback sales on Amazon.

"...for every 100 paperback books sold, Amazon has sold 115 Kindle books since the beginning of the year, the company said."

Pepitone's article noted that the online retailer posted quarterly sales of $13 billion for the last quarter of 2010.

I realize Amazon sells other things besides books (the Kindle device is one example, and there are many more), still a big percentage of its sales comes from book sales, both print and digital. With the shift from print to eBooks coming faster than anticipated, I am even more interested in sales rankings at Amazon.

It's my understanding that Amazon sales rankings for books are updated once each hour. The lower the number means the better the sales. It's like each download constitutes a vote. The more votes, the better ranking. The fewer votes, the lower the ranking. Beyond that, I don't know much. How long do previous sales remain counted? I don't know. How do free books vs. purchased books rankings differ? Again, I don't know. There are numerous questions that swirl in my head, but for now I have enough to go on for this exercise.

As of this writing Amazon states it has 943,802 eBooks.
So to be in the top 10% of all eBooks on Amazon a book needs a sales ranking of 94,802.
10% - 94,380 / 5% - 47,190 / 2% - 18,876 / 1% - 9,438
1/2 of 1% - 4,719 / 1/4th of 1% - 2,360 / 1/10th of 1% - 948
...and so on.

My buddy Melissa Schroeder's book A LITTLE HARMLESS PLEASURE sits at #795 as of this writing, and her book which is available for pre-order and release June 7th A LITTLE HARMLESS ADDICTION has made the top 1% and is moving up every day. No doubt it will be her best seller of all time, and that's saying a lot for an author who has 30+ titles available.

The person who urged me to write romance in the first place in 2009 has had a wonderful year already. Shayla Black's book SURRENDER TO ME made the New York Times. The Kindle version stayed under 500 out of all eBook titles at Amazon for quite some time after it released.

My dear friend Sophie Oak's debut book SMALL TOWN SIREN came out on Amazon in August last year and got under 200 in the sales rankings. As of this morning, it is in the 1/4th of 1% range. Wow! Every one of her titles since then have sold like mad, each reaching the coveted 1/10th of 1% level. Her latest ONE TO KEEP just went up on Amazon yesterday and currently sits at #1,621 while continuing to zoom up the rankings.

Other buddies who are killing on Kindle sales rankings this morning:

• Chloe Lang has two titles in her serialized erotic romance GOING WILDE #839 & WILDE FIRE #1034
• Kiera West's paranormal shifter series also has two books in the top tier. SEDUCING THEIR MATE #1249 and THE ALPHA'S FALL #1129
• Heather Rainier's ROSEMARY'S DOUBLE DELIGHT at #1784
• Corinne Davies's CARESS OF FUR #3816

My own book, SECRET CRAVINGS did amazing this year on Amazon, staying under 1k for over 6 weeks and still remains in the top 1%.

How does all that correlate into book sales and royalties? I just don't know. Still 13 billion in sales at Amazon is quite a proverbial money pie. Congrats RP authors. May this year continue to bring you big slices from Amazon and other retailers.

Whew! I think I've geeked out enough for one day.

Dream Big!

Kris

New Blog - you should follow

I know. Shame on you - Kris. You're a horrible blogger. How would you know a good one when you saw it?

Well, this new blog is from a wonderful person that is such a treasure. Unlike me, who is less than sporadic with postings, she'll do great. Also, you'll learn a lot about romance fiction and more. Check her out:

http://theromanceofwords.blogspot.com/2011/04/hello-world.html?zx=a90e61475232df9c

Dream Big!

Kris

The Righteous Perverts

Strange name, yes? Agreed. Still, it's catchy. What is it? A group of voracious readers that love romance, and in particular erotic romance. They are wonderfully supportive and work hard to post reader reviews on retail sites as well as places like GoodReads and blogs.

I've moved the weekly chat with authors to the site http://www.righteousperverts.com

If you get a chance, check us out. This week's guest is Cathryn Fox. The author chat is always 8pm CT.

Dream Big!

Kris

St. Patrick's Day Hide & Seek Contest

Welcome to our St. Patrick's Day Hide & Seek

In an attempt to fill his love’s new e-reader, Paddy the leprechaun has been visiting lots of author’s websites. Unbeknownst to him there was a hole in his pocket and he has lost his gold. He needs your help to refill his pot and ensure a Happy St Patrick’s Day for everyone going to the party at the Rainbow’s end. What you need to do is visit the author’s sites and find where the gold fell out of Paddy’s pocket.

(Note: The image on this page doesn't count.)

Keep a list of who and where you found it and in one (1) email send your answers to corinnedavies @ rocketmail.com. (no spaces)

Be certain to type: St Patrick’s Contest in the subject box.

The contest is open from 12:01am, March 7^st to 11:59pm on March 17^th . Entries with all the correct answers will be entered into a drawing.

One (1) prize will be awarded per winner.

The names of the winners will be listed on the site of all participating authors. Each winner will be contacted by the individual author of the given prize.

Participating authors & prizes:

Mechele Armstrong ~ A green candle set

Drea Becraft ~ A surprise of Irish goodies

Savannah Chase ~ An electronic copy of her novel, Pleasure After The Pain

Kris Cook ~ An electronic copy of Perfection

Corinne Davies ~ A one of a kind pendant made by Shameless Fashions

Stacey Espino ~ A $10 gift certificate to either Siren or Evernight Publishing

Erin M. Leaf ~ An electronic copy and autographed print copy of Appassionato

Chloe Lang ~ a $10 Strandbucks gift certificate

Aubrey Leatherwood ~ An electronic copy of her novel, Model Lover

Missy Martine ~ An electronic version of any book on her site, along with a printed t-shirt,

hat, cloth tote bag and some swag (pens, magnets, etc)

Sophie Oak ~ An autographed copy of Two to Love and Three to Ride

& $25.00 Strandbucks gift certificate

Heather Rainier ~ $20.00 gift card for Hips and Curves

Zenobia Renquist ~ 2 copies of Harley on the Rocks (**2 winners**)

Jenika Snow ~ Readers choice, an electronic copy of any of her books

Regan Taylor ~ A shamrock necklace

Kiera West ~ A $10 Strandbucks gift certificate

May the Luck of the

Irish be with you!!!

Here's a list of some authors - both buddies & faves

Some of the authors below are friends of mine and some are just authors I enjoy reading. Think about trying them out if you haven't. If you have but it has been awhile, check out their latest.

• Melissa Schroeder
• Shayla Black
• Sophie Oak
• Eden Bradley
• R.G. Alexander
• Corinne Davies
• Heather Rainier
• Joyee Flynn
• Stormy Glenn
• Cherise Sinclair
• Moira Rogers
  
• Kiera West
• Chloe Lang
• J.R. Ward
• Lauren Dane
• Vivien Arend
• Lissa Matthews

On a personal note - hope to have the 2nd book of TEXAS WOLF PACK to publisher next Monday. It's an m/f paranormal erotic romance - Luke and Megan's PRIMAL HEAT.

Dream Big!

Kris