When I received my first publishing contract from Linden Bay Romance, back in 2005, for a little novella titled, A Touch of Heaven, I never took the time to imagine where I’d be in the future. Like most new authors, I had no idea what I was doing and spent the first year of my publishing venture in a daze. I spent countless hours ‘studying’ the art of promotion and failed miserable most of the time.

I didn’t even have a glimmer of what my future would hold the following year when I sold a short story to Whiskey Creek Press. I still didn’t have a clue how to promote my books and even less of a clue how to meet other readers. I did meet some great authors though, and most of those friendships are still strong today.

It wasn’t until two years later when I heard my writer friends were going to test the waters of self publishing that I sat back and tried to see my future.

My time with those first two publishers was standard fare. Nothing extraordinary happened, for good or bad, but I wasn’t 100% happy. I’ll be the first to admit I’m a control freak and not having the ability to do things my way was what drew me to Alinar Publishing, a co-op publisher my writer friends were creating. The idea that I could have full control over my stories, from concept to cover art to editing was very appealing to me and so, I took the plunge and joined Alinar with hopes of great things to come.

And great things did happen.

I was able to write and publish the stories I wanted to tell and present them the way I felt they needed to be presented and I have to say, I’ve not regretted a moment of it. I’ve held the #1 best sellers ‘site-wide’ position at Fictionwise.Com and was finally toppled by the great Stephen King. I currently have TWO titles on the Best Selling Western Romance chart at Amazon.Com, one of which has been at #2 for two weeks now. I’ve told the stories I want to tell and I’ve met some fantastic readers along the way.

But all things come to an end and today, the announcement was made that Alinar Publishing would be closing. When the site first opened, it was a way to gain entry into online bookstores as then, 2006, an individual author couldn’t submit books for purchase alone. They had to be under a ‘publisher’ and Alinar made it possible for us to do that. Now, with the creation of B&N’s PubIt, Kindle Direct Publishing and Smashwords, anyone can publish…which makes Alinar a bit redundant. It isn’t needed now as I can publish at all major online retailers without any major roadblocks.

Come October, Alinar Publishing will cease operation and disappear from the web. I’ve met some truly gifted authors during my writing venture and the readers who introduced themselves to me have made it possible for me to continue doing what I love. Write stories others want to read.

I do hope everyone will continue on this journey with me and thank you for your many years of support and friendship. Without you, I would have never been able to make my ‘dreams’ a reality. I see nothing but great things for the future and I hope you’ll be there with me as the next stage of my writing evolution begins.

Lily

Find Lily around the web at the following locations.


LilyGraison.Com https://lilygraison.com/
FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/authorLilyGraison
Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/LilyGraison
Goodreads  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1879747.Lily_Graison/
Yahoo!Groups http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lily_graison/

This week’s 56 come from Ride the Fire by Pamela Clare (I’ll be doing this a bit different as 1 line just isn’t enough. The 5th line will be in bold, all the rest in regular fonts.)

Nicolas was suddenly irritated to find himself so caught up in her plight. This wasn’t his baby. He hadn’t put her husband in the ground. She wasn’t his wife. He had promised to protect her only so long as he sheltered beneath her roof, and he was strong enough now to pack his things, saddle Zues and ride west along the Ohio River as he’d planned.

So why didn’t he leave?”

About the Friday 56

• Grab the book nearest you. Right now
• Turn to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
• Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Now its your turn! Grab a book and post your 56. If you don’t have a blog, just post yours in the comments.

(I saw the Friday 56 over at Shiloh Walker’s blog. Be sure to visit and read her 56.)

After weeks of work getting The Outlaw released and promoted, I was finally able to get back to writing yesterday! I complain a lot when I write (who doesn’t complain about some aspect of their job?) but I honestly would rather be writing than editing/promoting. For some reason, getting a book ‘ready’ to be read is mentally draining. Writing isn’t.

When I stopped working on The Gambler, I had 23K written so most of yesterday was spent re-reading what I’d already written. I wasn’t able to get many ‘new’ words down, though. Just 5 pages. My internal editor won’t let me just give it a fast read through. I have to stop and tweak. Which is fine. Everything must flow in a linear fashion or I can’t move forward. Always been that way and I don’t see it changing. I just can’t write out of order.

I’ll manage to get to the end of where I stopped today so hopefully tomorrow I’ll be motoring along again. I’ve been trying to keep spoilers to a minimum for those who don’t like them but I can tell you, this book will have more sex than the previous books. My heroine isn’t shy, nor is she virginal. So by chapter 3, they were already at it! That should please those of you who complained about the lack of ‘hot sex’ in the other books. Which, I won’t apologize for. I’m not the type of writer who throws sex in for the sake of sex…if it doesn’t fit the story/characters, it isn’t in there. Plain as that. Besides, the time period I’m writing (1860’s) women were a little more reserved. They didn’t just lay down with the first man they saw. Most waited for marriage and my heroines have been very true to character. And so is Emmaline, the heroine in The Gambler. She’s basically a street urchin, more worldly than the previous heroine so she isn’t shy nor does she balk at the thought of sex, so her coming on to the hero early on fits her character.

Anyway, I did want to take a moment to THANK everyone who have bought the books. They’re doing extremely well. My biggest seller – ever, which is a bit shocking as I didn’t think anything would top my Wicked Series. The Lawman and The Outlaw are both on the best selling Western Romance chart at amazon.com and seeing them there tickles me pink. I also know they wouldn’t be there if people weren’t buying the books, so again, Thank You!

Books, so far, in the Willow Creek Series

Book 1: The Lawman – Historical Western Romance – 99cent
https://lilygraison.com/bookshelf/historical-romance/willow-creek-series/the-lawman/

Book 2: The Outlaw – Historical Western Romance – $2.99

Royce me this news with a mixture of relief and anger. It was the anger to which he reacted. “Out!” he bellowed at the noisy women. “Save your weeping until ’tis needed!”

Darrelle swung around to him, her face as blotchy red as her eyes, her small breasts heaving indignantly at what she considered an outrage. “He is my brother!”

“Yes, but what good do you do him with your screaming? How can he sleep to conserve his strength with such noise as you make? He does not need your tears to know you care, Darrelle.”

The Outlaw
Willow Creek, Book 2

Sarah Hartford always dreamed of a grand adventure. She just never expected to find   it in the arms of an outlaw.

When her father’s bank is robbed, Sarah doesn’t make the gunslingers’ escape easy. Putting her own safety behind those she hopes to protect backfires when she’s kidnapped by one of the escaping men. Now her only hope for survival lies with the same arrogant man who laughed at her while staring down the barrel of her gun.

Colton Avery spent months planning the perfect heist, every detail fine tuned and executed with precise timing. Nothing could go wrong. That is until he comes face to face with a determined woman holding a shotgun. She aimed at his head and never flinched when she took a shot at him. He wanted her the moment the smoke cleared and he saw her face.

Robbing the bank, and handing over the gang of notorious outlaws to US Marshals, would be routine and boring. Sarah Hartford made it anything but. Taming the woman who stole his heart the instant he saw her was a challenge he was more than willing to take on. All he has to do now is escape the gang of outlaws he just double-crossed, hideout from an Indian raiding party and elude the town marshal who just happens to be his little hellion’s new fiancé.

Price: $2.99

Buy Now or Read and Excerpt at LilyGraison.Com

Amazon.Com US | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES

Smashwords

This week’s 56 come from Ravished by a Highlander by Paula Quinn. (I’ll be doing this a bit different as 1 line just isn’t enough. The 5th line will be in bold, all the rest in regular fonts.)

She needed to eat something besides berries, but there was no time to hunt. He prayed they were not followed. “If we ride hard,” he told them all, stepping out from behind the tree, “we can reach Ayrshire in a few hours.”

“Ride hard?” The lass turned to him, her eyes round with dread.

“Are ye sore?” he asked her, noting her hand slipping behind her to give her upper thighs a rub.

“I will be fine.” She offered him a quick smile then turned away.

Rob stared after her for another moment, cursing the effect her most casual smile had on him.

About the Friday 56

• Grab the book nearest you. Right now
• Turn to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
• Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Now its your turn! Grab a book and post your 56. If you don’t have a blog, just post yours in the comments.

(I saw the Friday 56 over at Shiloh Walker’s blog. Be sure to visit and read her 56.)

One of the more draining aspects of writing, to me, isn’t the actual writing of books. It’s all the other things that come with it.

When I finished my final read-through of THE OUTLAW last week my feeling of accomplishment was very short lived. The real work had just begun. I had a virtual book tour to finalize, creating blog posts to go with each stop, and get the book formatted into its various forms – which is five different formats, for anyone counting.

I managed to get four of my five formats created and only ‘messed up’ once while creating the mobi file…which was a bit distressing as it took me nearly 2 hours to make it the first time. My Hubby listened to me complain and rant about stupid mistakes and nodded his head in sympathy. Bless him! lol

The blog tour is my first such venture into online promotion and I started small. Good thing too as I’m only four days away from the first post going live and I’ve yet to complete all the required posts. I’ve sent 2 on their way with another 3 chasing at my heels, one of which is a very lengthy, but fun, interview and a character interview with my cowboy hero, Colton Avery. I’ll be up late every night until they’re all complete and luckily the Hubby is off work for a few days and can find his own food…and maybe fix up a plate for me as well. *wink*

The blog tour schedule is posted below and I’ll be hosting a few giveaways at some of those stops, so be sure to bookmark those blogs and get in on all the fun!

March 14th: Candy Nicks/Alexandra Marell Blog >> Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway

March 16th: Tea and Books >> Interview/All Day Q&A and Giveaway

March 16th: Riverina Romantics >> Writing The Outlaw and Excerpt

March 20th: Satin’s Bookish Corner >> Character Interview with Colton Avery and Giveaway

The Outlaw is already available on Amazon.Com for you kindle owners. It should be up on B&N in a few days and the ‘official’ release date is this coming Monday, where it will be available at most online retailers.