The Key To Annie's Heart (Hint - It's Not A Naked Selfie! )

Today I'm hosting an author who is new to me.  Welcome, Keriann McKenna and congratulations on your new release The Key to Annie's Heart, written with Stevie MacFarlane.  Before we get into your book, tell us a little about yourself.  How did you get started as a writer?

Keriann: I’ve been writing for most of my life.  My first love was music and lyrics and my first song was a dreadfully simple little tune about a boy I was madly in love with at fourteen.  I’m certain I drove my grandmother to distraction as I wailed this boy’s name from the piano in the living room at every opportunity…romance was in my heart even at a young age.

Later in life I developed my craft as a poet and published work in anthologies.  I still write poetry but am dipping my toes in the waters of romance, both sweet and steamy.

Kallista: I admire poets. I can't even come up with the words for a dirty limerick! Your book is set on a ranch. Are you a country girl?

Keriann: I was born in a small community in Upstate New York, but left as soon as I bought a decent car that didn’t require more oil than gas…I’m not kidding.  I used to pull into a service station, hand the attendant five bucks for gas and tell him to fill it up with drain oil.

I lived in Canada and the Midwest for several years before settling in the Seattle area with the love of my life. I now live in the foothills of the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

Kallista: What did you do before you started writing steamy romances?  

Keriann: I’m retired from the counseling field although I still work crisis intervention two nights a week.  I consult with and edit for other authors into the wee hours of the night, and I rescue senior dogs and give them a forever home.

Kallista: Senior dogs?  It's nice to know someone is looking out for them. We recently lost our black Lab rescue dog to old age after ten years with us and I still find myself saving treats from my dinner for her. 

And now for a peek at The Key to Annie's Heart -

"Oh my God!” Annie gasped, her mouth falling open as she glanced at the pictures in her email. She quickly slammed the lid of her laptop down until curiosity got the better of her and she had to look again.

Internet dating was new to Annie Campbell. Only a couple of men caught her eye; the first never responded to her message. The second man responded immediately asking for her private email address. Novice that she was, she gave it to him. She was shocked when, within ten minutes, he began sending her photos of himself standing in front of what appeared to be an enormous marble fireplace. He was totally naked from the waist down and holding his huge cock. 

Some of his captions were “You’re so hot, baby! I want you to lick me all over” and “This would feel great deep inside you, call me.” The freak even included his phone number.

She wasn’t a prude; she was looking for a gentleman, not a one night stand with a man overly-impressed with his own rod. Embarrassed that she looked at all five pictures, she had to admit he had some nice equipment—too bad his ego was bigger than his dick and possibly his brain. Perhaps, under the different circumstances, she would have considered meeting him without ever knowing he was inclined to send such pictures; the thought was scary. 

Shaking her head, she deleted the photos and resigned herself to the fact that he was a low-life with nothing better to do. They can’t possibly all be like this, she thought, as she blocked future emails from him.

Annie began to think this internet dating thing was truly a waste of her time, possibly even dangerous.

About the book:
To live a rancher's life in the Rocky Mountains had always been Mac's dream.  He loved his place on Fall River.  He was a success by anyone's measure, except his own.  He failed to keep his wife content to be at home, although "home" was a dream put to architectural drawings.  Too many nights she preferred to stay in town with friends rather than make the trip up the mountain.  She liked to party, and winding mountain roads coupled with too much to drink ended her life.  Could Mac ever forgive himself for his wife’s death?

In all his ways Mac was basic, even when it came to sex. He was a standard missionary position kind of guy with an occasional variation. That would have to change; he wanted a wife and a family—a second chance.
Annie Campbell was a busy event planner at a five star hotel in the city. Fiercely independent, she wouldn't consider herself sexually savvy; she certainly was open to new experiences. It had been six lonely years since her husband died. It was time to move on and setting her fears aside, she joined an Internet dating site. After reading what she considered to be a damn near perfect profile, she sent Mac a brief note and waited. He had no idea just how independent she was. She had no idea how over-protective he was—but they were about to find out.
Could Mac pull it off? Could a country guy woo a city gal, stop researching how to please a woman, and put it into practice…and what about Annie? Could she surrender some of her independence and learn to submit to him? Read their story!
A contemporary western romance, The Key to Annie’s Heart is the first novel in the Fall River Ranch series. MacDermot’s Bride, Book 2, is scheduled to be released by March, 2015, and will be followed by a prequel, The MacDermot’s of Scotland. Each is a stand-alone novel intended for mature readers.

Find Keriann at -

Webpage: http://keriannmckenna.com Blog: http://keriannmckenna.weebly.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keriann.mckenna Twitter: https://twitter.com/KeriannMcKenna

Deduct Your Dildo - Sex Sells Tax Tips for Erotic Authors

Today's topic always gets me hot.  MONEY!
                                    
This month we'll all be getting 1099's from our publishers.  If you're a brand new author - Congratulations!  You now fall into the category of a small business for tax purposes.

If you're new to earning 1099 income, you're also going to get a nasty shock.  Every dime you earn isn't just subject to income tax. If you made over $400 as an author, you're also facing a bill for self-employment tax - 15.3% of your net income.

That means if you were successful enough to make it into the top 5% of all authors and earned $10,000 or more, you owe Uncle Sam at least $1,530 extra!

But if you've kept good records, every dime you spent on a deductible expense will lower that amount.  That means if you treated yourself to a new Kindle for about a hundred bucks in 2014, you can probably deduct it. It may not sound like much but the $15.30 you save pays for takeout pizza next time you're trying to meet a deadline and don't have time to cook.

Besides being a self-employed author, I've owned four other small businesses, from a real estate company to a food concession at Miami Arena.  Over the years, I've learned a lot about how to take advantage of every single deduction available.

Here's where I issue my disclaimer:  I am NOT an accountant or a tax attorney.  The following information is gleaned from years of personal experience.  If you have any questions about specific deductions, talk to an accountant.  If you don't have one, feel free to use my personal rule of thumb for picking a good accountant.  He or she has to save me MORE than I'm paying to have the return prepared!

Here's a list of basic deductions a small business can claim:

1.  Business Equipment
This includes computers, printers, copy machines and printers.  Here's a useful quote on what constitutes business equipment from Jeremy Slaughter at Demand Media:

"Businesses may also require specialized equipment such as tools, manufacturing equipment or heavy machinery. For tax purposes, you can deduct all of this equipment along with any other equipment used in the operation of a business. They key is determining how to deduct each type of equipment.
Small businesses can expense any equipment with a useful life of less than one year. Common examples include electronics not considered to last more than a year and hand tools such as shovels and rakes. Business owners typically deduct equipment like this as “small tools and equipment” on an income tax return."

Okay - specialized equipment, electronics not considered to last more than a year and HAND TOOLS? Sounds like vibrators and dildos to me!  ( Assuming you find a way to use said equipment in a scene in one of your books)

2.  Travel Expenses
Did you attend a writer's conference workshop, convention?  Did you visit a new location for one of your books? Airfare, gas, tolls, hotels, meals, cab fare - all of those can be deductible expenses.  Keep receipts from everything.

3.  Supplies
Here are a few examples - yellow pads, ink cartridges, printer paper, business cards

4.  Other deductions
Advertising, including giveaway prizes and ads in on-line trade publications
Books
Internet access
And if you're doing really well, you can set up a self-employed retirement account and deduct every dime you're saving so you don't have to write porn when you get old!

Don't miss my other posts in this series:
     Why Write Erotica - Here Are 10,000 Reasons
   

 

Sex Sells - Five Tips For Writing Erotica - And One Big No-No

Sex sells.  And it seems like hundreds of new writers of erotica are popping up every day, especially now that self-publishing has taken off.  Ebook readers are faced with thousands of choices in erotic fiction.  Unfortunately, many of them in my opinion are pure crap.

People may buy your 10,000 word book for just under a buck based solely on the title or the cover.  But if there's nothing inside but a mish-mash of poorly written sex scenes, they probably won't buy a second book from you.  There are too many genuinely good writers out there competing for that same dollar.

Recently I skimmed through a "how to write sex" book by a male author.  The guy started out bragging about how he just got started, he knows nothing about writing, never read much himself - but he's already making enough writing erotic books to buy all the booze he can drink.  He refused to divulge the pen name he uses so it was impossible to check out his story.  But judging from the quality of his self-published Ebook, I believe the part where he says he knows nothing about writing.

Here are five tips for writing erotica that I've picked up along the way from some very good writers - and one no-no I learned from the booze-swilling braggart:

1.  Come up with a good story.  Most readers of erotic romance are women.  And most women want the romance part as much as they want the erotic part.  

2.  Remember show and tell.  Bring all the senses into your writing.  Let them hear the harsh smack of the Dom's paddle echoing off the stone walls of the dungeon, shiver at the chill of the whipped cream that the hunky pastry chef smears on her nipples, catch the scent of the leather blindfold.

3.  Use real words, not tacky cliches.   Unless you're writing a story set in Victorian times, try to refrain from having the hero's throbbing manhood brazenly invade the heroine's nether regions.

4. Create characters we can like.  I want to imagine myself as the heroine, not hate her for being a whiny, spoiled brat or a slut with no redeeming social value.  Same goes for the hero.  No one wants to be romanced by a man with all the depth of a stick figure.

5. Go ahead and break the rules - AFTER you learn them   Good writers of erotic fiction know the basics.  They grab the reader's attention right off the bat and tell a compelling tale.  The sex is woven into the fabric of the story.  We all know famous authors who break rules, switching POV ( that's point of view), popping in and out of their characters' heads from one paragraph to the next.  But they can get away with it because they've learned how to make it work.  If you start out ignoring basic rules, don't be surprised if your readers become confused or annoyed.

And the One No-No I learned from the booze-swilling braggart:

Don't Treat Your Readers Like They're Stupid.  You may think people will buy anything if it has enough raunchy sex in it, but trust me - things like grammar, spelling, punctuation and the ability to put words together and form a cohesive thought really are important.  If you've never been an avid reader, you probably don't have any business trying to be a writer.

Don't miss these recent posts:
Renee Rose's Four Tips That Guarantee You'll Make Money Writing Erotica
Deduct Your Dildo - Tax Tips for Erotic Authors  
Why Write Erotica - Here are 10,000 Reasons
Sex Sells - A Sneak Peek At the Last Taboo

         

Sex Sells - A Sneak Peek At The Last Taboo

We’ve written about hot Doms in their dungeons, double penetration by well-endowed aliens, menages with twin cowboys, rectal exams by stern doctors, dressing up as little girls and getting our bare bottoms spanked - in short, doing kinky sexual things to every conceivable bodily part with a variety of partners and playthings. But there's one topic that up till now has been off-limits in most blogs about erotic romance.

                              Money.  There.  I've said it and I feel so much better.

This year I'm kicking off a new weekly series about the business we're all in - the business of writing erotic romance novels.  If you don't consider the hours you spend hunched over a keyboard as running your own business, it's time to rethink what you're doing.

You may say you write for fun, or for self-gratification, or because you just "have to put all those stories in your head on paper."  Okay.  Then send me your royalties and advance checks and I'll believe you.  Otherwise admit that the money you make is important.  Even if it's only a pittance, it's YOUR pittance. That first check for a new book is a cause for celebration, whether it buys you a Porche or a pizza.

But as someone who has owned and operated five small businesses before I began writing full time, I'm going to tell you one simple secret  - it's not just how much you make, it's how much you keep.

Of course, if you don't make much right now, that may not sound like a shocking revelation.  We're all financial virgins when we start out.  But I got very good at figuring out how to keep as much as possible of what I earned when I married a successful salesman and we started our first business together.  We had an accountant who took care of us.  At least that's what I thought.  When he presented me with a tax bill bigger than my total income the year before I got married, well...that's when Uncle Sam popped my fiscal cherry!

Every Wednesday we'll explore a new topic.  Together with guest bloggers I'll share ideas that will drive your sales higher, hot new trends in the market, which social media platforms REALLY work - and how to keep more of those Benjamins in your pocket.  He may not look very hot in that picture, but he sure can bring you a lot of satisfaction!  

Here are some upcoming posts:

Longer Isn’t Always Better  - Get your mind out of the gutter!  It's about book length 

Have You Hit the Dirty Thirty Yet? - Is there a "secret formula" for success? 

It’s All About That Base - How to build a team of super fans

            

Self-Gratification – Is it time to consider indie publishing?

Never Kill A Puppy - Writing rules and when to break them

       

How Much Money Do Romance Writers REALLY Make -Oooh, this one gets me hot!

I hope you'll join me January 7th for the kickoff.