Are you an author? Do you self publish dark or taboo fiction, or are you considering it in the future? If so, I’d love to invite you to my chat with Savvy Authors. Digicon is an online conference for indie and self publishing featuring workshops and chats for authors. I’m hosting the following event:
Writing on the Edge: Killers, Captivity, and Dubious Consent in Dark Romance May 30, 2014 7:30 p.m. EST
Paranormal romance has explored anti-heroes and taboo themes for decades, and we’re finally getting the same freedom in contemporary romance. Self-published authors are pushing boundaries, and readers are responding by propelling them up the sales charts.
What do you need to know if you’re considering incorporating dark themes in your work? What are the considerations in terms of reader expectations and content warnings? What do Amazon and other distributors disallow?
Skye Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of dark romantic fiction. She has been called a “true mistress of dark and twisted love stories.” (The Forbidden Bookshelf) Skye will draw on her self-publishing dark erotica and romance for the past two and a half years to arm you in publishing your own boundary-pushing books.
Please note: This chat will contain frank language of sexual and taboo subject matter.
You can see the full class listing here. I hope you’ll join me on Friday to chat!
I’ve just gotten back from the RT Book Convention which completely wiped me out. However, I am so happy to pop up out of hiding to tell you my new release is available!
ON THE WAY HOME has dark suspense elements and a hot military hero. Here’s the blurb:
Clint
For eight months I’ve been deep under cover as a special operator in the Army. On the plane ride home, all I want is a hot shower and a long sleep. But a Dear John text message leaves me stranded. I need a ride and a place to stay, and the pretty stewardess is more than willing.
Della
It’s supposed to be a simple trade—the passenger in seat 34B for my sister. But the sexy soldier is more than I can handle in all the best ways. He trusts me, but I can’t save him. No one can. Sometimes trouble has a way of following you home.
On the Way Home is a dark new adult romance intended for readers over eighteen.
“Thrilling, suspenseful, sexy as hell. Skye Warren can simply do no wrong.” – Book Bellas
Though just as sexy as ever, I think this book is less dark than my usual, so it can appeal to a wider audience. I would hugely appreciate anything you could do to help me spread the word about this book. That includes tweeting, blogging, and telling a friend about it.
Thank you so much for reading and sharing and all of your support!
Make Me: Twelve Tales of Dark Desire is out now! It’s an amazing selection of dark books from some bestselling authors like Aleatha Romig, CJ Roberts, Eliza Gayle, Annabel Joseph, Cari Silverwood, Claire Thompson, and more.
Plus, if you’ve already read Wanderlust, you’ll want to check out the exclusive epilogue I’ve put in there. More Hunter and Evie 🙂
Please note this boxed set is only up for the month of March. After that it will be taken down, permanently, and the only way you could get these books is to purchase them separately at over $40.
And you’re invited! We’re having a Facebook party to celebrate the release of Make Me. There will be a TON of giveaways and excerpts and fun stuff going on from all twelve of us over the course of the day. I hope you’ll attend the event!
A quick post today with the winners from the Valentine’s Day Gift Hop…
For my post, which had a $50 Amazon gift card, the winner was Regan Nicole from Lipstick Lesbian Reviews.
And for the grand prizes, the winner of the Kindle Paperwhite was Dovile on Harley Baker‘s post, who said Pretty Woman was her favorite romantic movie. (I love it too!) On the BookSwagger post, Sue said her favorite genre to read was contemporary and won the new adult digital gift basket. Which is cool, since they’re all contemporary! 😉
Thanks to everyone who participated in the hop. I hope everyone’s Valentine’s Day was lovely and very hot!
I’m so pleased to share with you guys Make Me: Twelve Tales of Dark Desire. There is an AMAZING line up of authors here. I have to tell you that I completely felt the love with this group of authors. Their talent and success levels are off the charts, but everyone was incredibly sweet and humble as we put this together.
I’ve also been feeling the love from bloggers, who have been enthusiastic in spreading the word of our pre-order and gracious in letting us schedule guest spots for release week.
And lastly, I’ve been feeling the love from readers, who debuted the pre-order at number #19 in the overall Kindle store, which is… frankly… magical. It’s since gone down a little, though it’s still doing well–and we still have a month before release. But there’s special pre-order pricing going on, so it makes sense to order your copy now.
Here’s the blurb for the set:
Take a trip to the dark side with 12 books by some of the hottest names in edgy romance, including USA Today Bestselling authors CJ Roberts, Eliza Gayle, and Aleatha Romig!
Pam Godwin – Beneath the Burn
Skye Warren – Wanderlust
Claire Thompson – Enslaved
Cari Silverwood – Take Me Break Me
Annabel Joseph – Comfort Object
Aleatha Romig – Consequences
Shoshanna Evers – The Man Who Holds the Whip
Annika Martin – The Hostage Bargain
Jasmine Haynes – Take Your Pleasure
Eliza Gayle – Play With Me
Pepper Winters – Tears of Tess
CJ Roberts – Captive in the Dark
These e-books would cost over $40 if purchased separately. This set will only be available for a limited time, so order your copy now!
Isn’t that line-up wonderful? I could not have asked for a better group of authors to hang out with. And there’s still time for you to get the special pre-order pricing here.
Now, let’s talk about those gifts, shall we? Because the prizes for this hop are stunning. There’s a Kindle Paperwhite!! And a new adult romance bundle which includes my compilation, The Beauty Series. Every comment along the hop enters you for the grand prizes.
For my stop on the bloghop, I’m giving away a $50 gift card to Amazon! You could pre-order Make Me fifty times! No, wait, that’s now how it works. You can pre-order Make Me AND buy a lot more books.
Leave a comment below and then use the Rafflecopter to enter! Which book or author in the MAKE ME limited edition set do you most want to read?
Be sure to visit the other authors and bloggers on the hop for more prizes, more fun, and more love to go around! (And don’t forget to pre-order Make Me on Amazon or Barnes & Noble so you don’t miss the 99 cent pre-order price!)
As part of their 12 Days of Christmas bundle deal, All Romance Ebooks has the Beauty Series compilation on sale for 50% off. If you haven’t read it yet, now is the time to grab your copy. And if you have read it, you can pick up another one for a friend. All Romance has a handy gifting button. Everyone could use some sexy Professor Blake in their lives 🙂
And as of this morning, the Beauty box set is actually a bestseller on ARe, so that’s awesome!
Remember, the sale is only for one day. You can grab the deal here.
Don’t Let Go is available now on Amazon! Here is the blurb:
“Beautiful. Poignant. Complex. Haunting.” – Leila DeSint, author of the London Brown series
Junior FBI Agent Samantha Holmes is assigned the case of a lifetime, along with an enigmatic new partner, Ian Hennessy. She’s determined to prove herself to the bureau legend, but late nights and stolen moments lead to more than respect. They lead to desire, and soon she’s fallen for the one man forbidden.
Together they hunt for the FBI’s most wanted man. A criminal. A psychopath. But when they get close, Samantha may end up prey instead. She must face her dark past to stay alive—and to protect the man she loves.
Don’t Let Go is a dark erotic novel that contains dubious consent and captivity. Not intended for those under eighteen or those uncomfortable with the subject matter.
Plus some early reviews have already come in. See what people are saying:
“Perfectly dark, gritty, emotionally, fulfilling, amount in each word till the end.” – Amber’s Reading Room
“My mind is completely blown! Who knew I could feel this way about Carlos? I love this author even more for what she was able to accomplish.” – Sweet Spot Book Blog
“Skye Warren, I hope you can hear me loud and clear when I say: “BRAVO!” Thanks for your wonderful dark erotica series, I’ll never forget the whole twisted, thrilling and intense story and its amazing characters.” – Darkest Sins
You can go read it now on Amazon or start here with an excerpt…
There were lies people told you. Like when the case worker said, You’re going to love your new home, Samantha.
Then there are lies you tell other people. My father passed away. That was what I told people, even though he’d just turned fifty-two in a supermax prison. It was easier that way. Lies smoothed the way so we could go on pretending. They were the lube of life, and we all got a little messy in the process.
But the darkest lies were the ones you told yourself. They lurked in the shadows of your subconscious, undermining you and twisting your perceptions. They hid the answers in plain sight, right when you needed them most.
Spread out on my desk were piles of surveillance photos and notes taken over the past twelve months. I found it impossible to imagine that countless field workers and researchers had managed to miss his completely. Which meant this muddled collection of reports contained the information we needed. Hiding in plain sight.
Every image, from airport security cameras to public transportation cams to satellite imagery, showed a man with his head bent, facing down or away. As if he knew exactly where the cameras were, eluding us once again. The man looking the other direction, he could have been anyone. He probably was anyone, considering the pattern of times and locations didn’t add up. Carlos Laguardia wasn’t in a Chicago eatery known for mob connections one day, and then a Paris subway the next, and then a Florida University after that. We were grasping at straws—carefully planted straws designed to misdirect.
Only one image was different. A grainy black-and-white photograph showed a man standing still with people milling about him. Blurs brushing past a dangerous criminal. A monster. They’d run screaming if they knew all the things he’d done. I had chills just reading about it in this air-conditioned cubicle at the highly-secure FBI office.
Money laundering. Extortion. Murder. If there was a law against it, he’d done it. A wave of old pain washed over me. Men like that didn’t care who they hurt, whether it was the victims of their crimes or collateral damage.
I had been collateral damage once. Twelve years ago, I’d huddled under the coffee table when my father came home late, hands crusted with blood. I should have been grateful he hadn’t ever touched me, raped me, killed me. He did that to other little girls. And boys—he was an equal opportunity creep.
Until he finally made a mistake. A boy from my street had disappeared, and even at ten years old, I knew what it meant. I still remembered the heat of that August day and the cold bite of the chair beneath my legs. Static from the plastic seat zapped my skin while I waited in the police station. Horror and pity flickered over the policeman’s face as I told him my story.
I learned an important lesson then: criminals always make a mistake. Always.
If I could figure out Laguardia’s mistake, I’d have him. If I could find the little man with blue pants and a red striped shirt in this real life Where’s Waldo, he’d be mine. Unfortunately, the heavy stack of papers on my desk wasn’t talking.
Thank you! I’ll be putting up other buy links on the Books page as they become available.
Attention authors of sexy romance and bloggers! I just opened sign ups for my next bloghop, The Valentine’s Day Gift Hop!
The way it works is that each site offers a short post about Valentine’s Day and a small giveaway (like a book or gift card). There are also grand prizes (provided by me), and every comment on every stop is entered to win those. I’ve done gift cards in the past, but this time I’m doing a Kindle Paperwhite and a digital gift basket.
If you’re ready to play, sign up here: http://skyewarren.wpengine.com/hop/
Yours,
Skye Warren
PS. And please share this on twitter and Facebook and wherever, because the more authors and bloggers we get, the more fun it will be!
The Beauty Series is available as a collection of sexy novellas in this new adult romance between a professor and his student.
Erin cleans Mr. Morris’s house twice a week to pay for college. When she interrupts him in a private moment and hears him moaning her name, she refuses to hide her feelings for him any longer.
Blake Morris is scarred both inside and out. When he receives an offer to return to teach at his alma mater, he knows this is his chance to reenter the world–and to be worthy of the woman he loves.
Except the class he’s teaching is the last one she needs for graduation, so they can finally be together. Secrets and shadows lay in wait along the path, and it will be up to Erin and Blake to forge their own happy ending.
“…an intriguing and sexy beastly hero, a vulnerable young student who coaxes him out of his shell, and a romantic and erotic storyline that is sure to satisfy readers. Another winner from Warren.” – Penelope’s Romance Reviews
“I love this “Beauty and the Beast” story that Skye Warren has crafted. She puts a twist to this classic tale that makes it different and deliciously erotic.” – Nina’s Literary Escape
I have a new project I’m working on… an anthology. If you’re a writer, listen up! If you know writers, please share this!
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Take the Heat – Hardened criminals on their sexiest behavior
Editor: Skye Warren
Deadline: December 31, 2013
Theme: Criminals, illegal activity
Word Count: 4,000 – 6,000
Payment: $100
The ultimate bad boys, criminals have the power to capture our attention and waken our darkest desires. Celebrate the illicit in short story format for this taboo contemporary anthology. Put your own spin on the following scenarios or surprise readers with a new one:
– A jaded cop arrests a street walker only to find himself seduced
– A CEO catches a thief in the act—and exacts his own punishment
– A cold assassin finds one target he can’t bring himself to terminate
– An escaped fugitive takes a hostage who just might save him
– A new arrival at the prison stirs up lust in a long-term inmate
Make it sexy and shocking, erotic and thoughtful. A strong plot and well-crafted writing are musts. Twists and mindfucks appreciated. Angst welcome. Romantic elements nice to have. Any variation of genders, pairings, and sex practices accepted, but please refrain from submitting incest, bestiality, or rape as titillation, and all characters should be over eighteen.
The anthology will receive marketing support, including print advertising, review exposure, and event placement. A one-time payment of $100 will be made for each accepted story. Preferred word count 4,000 to 6,000 words. Contract is for 3 years exclusive rights and non-exclusive rights thereafter.
Accepted stories will be professionally edited, but please ensure that your submission is complete and polished. Include the title, your name, pen name, mailing address, email address, and bio on the first page of your manuscript. Format the document in Times New Roman font, 12 point, double spaced, black font, in doc or rtf format.
Submissions are due December 31, 2013. Send your story to [email protected] with subject line TAKE THE HEAT.
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Permission to forward granted (and please do share with writers you know!) If you have any questions, please direct them to [email protected]. Thank you!
Sweetest Mistress, my BDSM novella, gets a brand new sexy cover:
And the even cooler news is there’s a sequel in the works, a new set of characters, another book of fem dom BDSM and told from the hero’s POV. That book will be titled Cherry On Top. I’m still working out the release date, but it will either be late this year or early 2014–it just depends on how my editors and everyone is booked for the holidays.
You can get Sweetest Mistress now with the pretty new cover from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
With the end of semester approaching, Erin and Blake decide to lay low. After all, they have all the time in the world after that. Except Blake’s future at the university is up in the air and trouble is brewing back in Erin’s hometown. When the couple is tested, they will have to trust each other to forge their own sexy ending.
“…an intriguing and sexy beastly hero, a vulnerable young student who coaxes him out of his shell, and a romantic and erotic storyline that is sure to satisfy readers. Another winner from Warren.” – Penelope’s Romance Reviews
Read Beauty Becomes You now:
I’m keeping the novellas at $0.99 through the end of August, which combined with the free prequel short story, means you can get the full series for only $2.98. That is a full length novel, longer than Wanderlust and cheaper too! You’ll definitely want to pick them all up at this special pricing. After that they’ll go up to a rate closer to other novellas and serials.
Here’s the full listing so you can grab them if you missed one:
I loved writing Blake and Erin’s story. Sexy and poignant, they really worked for their happy ever after, and I was honored to take them there.
If you’ve enjoyed the Beauty series, it would be a huge help to me if you would tell a friend about them–in person, on Facebook, or leave a review. I would very much appreciate anything you could do <3
Wanderlust is on sale for 99 cents on Amazon for this week only. Wanderlust has never before cost less than its retail price of $3.99, and I don’t have many sales, so if you’ve been thinking of reading this, grab it now!
Evie always dreamed of seeing the world, but her first night at a motel turns into a nightmare. Hunter is a rugged trucker willing to do anything to keep her–including kidnapping. As they cross the country in his rig, Evie plots her escape, but she may find what she’s been looking for right beside her.
Wanderlust is a dark erotic novel that explores dubious consent, captivity, and power play. Not intended for those uncomfortable with the subject matter or those under 18 years of age.
“Brace yourself for an unlikely and intense love story. There are no heroes in this tale, only disturbingly beautiful monsters.” – Romantic Book Affairs
So I’ve been getting a few questions about the last Beauty installment, which is totally fair. I had two release dates floating around, the 8th and the 15th (today) and now I’ll miss both of them. I’m so sorry about that! First my kid got sick and then I caught it–nothing serious, but I wasn’t even upright enough to finish edits. Now I’ve lost my voice, but at least I’m sitting at my computer and ready to work. I’m going to work like crazy to get the edits completed, get it proofread and formatted, and upload it as soon as humanly possible. Or by this weekend, ideally, though some of it depends on how prettily I can beg my proofreader to help me quickly. I’m aiming for a week, and I’m so, so sorry about the delay.
As a consolation prize, I do have a new, free story out with the M/M Romance group as part of their Love Has No Boundaries event. You can read CAGED in the Goodreads group here or download the files to read it here. It’s dirty, sexy, dystopian romance, so hopefully it can tide you over for a week until BEAUTY BECOMES YOU comes out.
And again, I’m so sorry! Getting sick kicked my butt, but it wouldn’t have affected the release if I hadn’t already been running behind. I usually have my releases formatted and polished and ready for upload a week or two in advance of the release date, but that didn’t happen here. I am going to work my ass off to the final Beauty installment out ASAP and also to plan more padding in future releases so this won’t happen again.
Whew, I’ve had a BUNCH of giveaways recently, so I’m rolling them all into one big post. For our Wet & Wild bloghop, the grand prizes winners were…
The winner of the $100 gift card to Victoria’s Secret is:
From Paloma Beck’s stop, Wendy Hoffman who said, “Anything as long as its Hot!!”
And the winner of the digital gift basket is:
From Laura Kaye’s stop, Sophie Rose who said, “Dangerous Submission by Lori Toland because I’m still dipping my pinky toe into the BDSM world.”
The winner of my stop’s $15 gift card to Amazon was Denice!
I also had a guest post on Novel Reflections of my Top Five Favorite Traits in a Romance Hero. The winner of that $10 Amazon gift card was Adnana. (But still go read the post, it’s fun!)
I gave away a copy of Wanderlust at Amber’s Reading Room that went to Dawn.
AND I had a big release blast for Beneath the Beauty with Goddess Fish tours. The winner of that $25 gift card was bn100. The host who wont the random $25 gift card was Melissa from the Snarkology.
That’s all, folks! It’s been a super busy month here at Casa Warren and will probably remain so until the Beauty serial is finished. Then I’m looking forward to a little R&R before Don’t Let Go comes out toward the later part of the year.
Many thanks to the lovely hosts of my release day blast and giveaway for Beneath the Beauty. There are brand new excerpts from the book as well as reviews on some of the sites. Plus each comment enters you to win a $25 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble!
“…an intriguing and sexy beastly hero, a vulnerable young student who coaxes him out of his shell, and a romantic and erotic storyline that is sure to satisfy readers. Another winner from Warren.” – Penelope’s Romance Reviews
You can pick up Beneath the Beauty for only 99 cents from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. And if you haven’t started the series yet, the first installment, Beauty Touched the Beast, is also available for free from those places!
This is the Wet & Wild bloghop, where we have super fun grand prizes for your entering pleasure, including a $100 gift card to Victoria’s Secret AND a digital gift basket featuring my book, Wanderlust, as well as Fever by Maya Banks, Knight & Stay by Kitty French, Dirty Distractions by Cari Quinn, and The Girl in 6E by Alessandra Torre. PLUS I have a $15 gift card that you can win right here.
I’m thrilled to share with you my brand new release, Beneath the Beauty. This sexy serial kicks off in Beauty Touched the Beast with a scarred hero who doesn’t think he’s good enough for the sexy college student who cleans his house.
The best part is that Beauty Touched the Beast is FREE and the sequel novella, Beneath the Beauty, is only 99 cents. That’s damn cheap for a sexy, angsty story that reviewers are calling “heartbreaking” and “panty scorching.” Free and 99 cents is as accessible as I can make this!!
“…an intriguing and sexy beastly hero, a vulnerable young student who coaxes him out of his shell, and a romantic and erotic storyline that is sure to satisfy readers. Another winner from Warren.” – Penelope’s Romance Reviews
Now let’s talk about prizes!!! These are the grand prizes…
AND you can win a $15 gift card from me by commenting below. The Beauty serial has a) a tortured hero, and b) a professor hero, and c) an older-man-younger-man trope. What I’d love to know is, which of these themes is your personal favorite and if you can think of a book you loved with that trope, even better!~
I’m going to keep this post short and sweet. Beneath the Beauty, the sequel that began in the hearts of my readers and worked its way into my own heart, is now available. If you have not read Beauty Touched the Beast or just want to do a refresher read, you can still get it for free from Amazon or B&N.
And now Beneath the Beauty is also available for the low price of 99 cents on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It’s sexy, emotional, and I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.
In late 2011, I put out a sexy story, Beauty Touched the Beast. It was short, around 6K words, but it was also free, intended as an introduction to my writing.
Reader response to Beauty was amazing. People really connected to Erin and Blake, but they wanted more of that story, not just my other books. I got the most amount of fanmail for that small story as for any of my other, longer works. Even now it keeps coming, which is so humbling for me.
Despite the requests, I wasn’t ready to write the sequel. It would have felt forced and that would’ve been a disservice to the characters… and to my readers. But it was always there, in the back of mind, formulating.
As I considered it, I realized the story (or stories) I had in mind didn’t fit into a regular book structure but were more episodic. And then the serial format came along and I thought hmm, yes. This could work.
So I began to write…
On May 20th, the second installment of the Beauty series, Beneath the Beauty, will be released. The last two will come out in mid-June and early July.
The first installment, the one that’s already out, Beauty Touched the Beast, will remain the same as it’s always been–6K words, and as long as Amazon price matches, it’ll be free. The upcoming three installments will be much longer, more like a short novella.
As for the rest, I researched serials coming out both traditionally and self pubbed and found that this length most often sells at $1.99 or $2.99. I found one at $3.99 per installment. I don’t think $1.99 is a bad price, because then the total is still under six bucks. Plus, a reader can choose to abandon ship at any point, meaning I’m assuming more of the risk (which is why serials tend to be priced higher).
At least over the summer, I’ve decided to price each installments at 99 cents. I reserve the right to raise them after that, but if you follow along as they are released, you’ll get the 99 cent price. In terms of length, the sum of the four parts is regular novel length. You’d be getting the whole thing for $2.98 which is actually cheaper than my standard pricing. For example, Wanderlust is a full length novel and it’s $3.99.
I feel good about this because I’m trying something new and I want my readers to be able to try it with me without breaking the bank. I’m actually writing the last installment now but so far they’ve been super sexy and emotional, so I hope you guys love them as much as I do!
Oh, and if you haven’t read the story that started it all yet, read Beauty Touched the Beast for free now!
My martial arts fighter romance Below the Belt is on sale for only 99 cents from May 1 to May 3rd, so if you haven’t read it yet, grab a copy now. The important thing about this book is that it has hot sex, but here’s the blurb to round it out:
“…what an absolutely dynamite heroine” – Rage, Sex & Teddy Bears
Martial arts champion Abe Montgomery is dead-set on winning gold at Nationals. Paris Rivera has sworn off men and martial arts. When these two meet, the chemistry is explosive.
Abe may dominate on the mats, but he’s fallen hard for Paris. The fight of his life looms ahead, not only for his dreams but for the sexy woman he soon can’t live without.
“This book is sweet and spicy! Romance written in a realistic way. No fairy tale endings. No promises that can’t be kept. Just straight up emotion and honesty.” – Have You Heard Book Reviews
The temporary price reduction is actually part of a group sale of indie authors in a variety of romance-related genres. Here are a few that I’m buying myself:
And you can browse the sale website for more books temporarily on sale for 99 cents here! Happy reading, everyone 🙂
Clint
Welcome, lovely hoppers!
Make it sexy and shocking, erotic and thoughtful. A strong plot and well-crafted writing are musts. Twists and mindfucks appreciated. Angst welcome. Romantic elements nice to have. Any variation of genders, pairings, and sex practices accepted, but please refrain from submitting incest, bestiality, or rape as titillation, and all characters should be over eighteen.
Welcome, naughty readers!
In late 2011, I put out a sexy story, Beauty Touched the Beast. It was short, around 6K words, but it was also free, intended as an introduction to my writing.
