Read Along with the Masters on Facebook!

Today I’m launching the first group in my Read Along with the Masters series of discussions about the Rescue Me Saga over on Facebook! Join me! (See, this is me re-reading the books so they'll be fresh in my mind for these read alongs!)

Read Along with Kallypso Masters (Masters at Arms)!

Here's how it works. Each book will have its own Closed (but not secret!) group where we will discuss it one section at a time. You can post any questions you may have, share favorite quotes, participate in lively discussions, share your thoughts, inspiration photos, or anything else about that particular section of the book during the appropriate week. Our schedule for MASTERS AT ARMS starts Saturday, March 5 (each new week starts at 12:01 a.m. Eastern US Time (New York City Time). 

Each of the five sections of the introduction to the series will be given a whole week for focused discussion and we’ll conclude this book on April 8. Here's the scheudle for our first book:

March 6-11: Section 1 (Adam)
March 12-18: Section 2 (Damian)

March 19-25: Section 3 (Marc)
March 26-April 1: Section 4 (The Unbreakable Bond Forms)
April 2-8: Section 5 (The Masters at Arms Club)

For each subsequent book (in order, of course, starting with NOBODY'S ANGEL), we’ll set up a new Facebook discussion group and divide the book into a random section of chapters according to the scenes. Be sure to check my Facebook Author Page on or after April 6 for information about the next Read Along group which will begin on April 9. (We'll start each group a couple of days before actual discussion begins to give everyone a chance to join and get ready.)

If you don’t have the latest updates of the books (make sure MASTERS AT ARMS is at least the April 2014 revision or later by checking the revision date on the copyright page!). You can download MASTERS AT ARMS & NOBODY’S ANGEL (Book 1) at any of the vendors that sell my books. It's still free! Find all of the links at http://kallypsomasters.com/master-at-arms-nobodys-angel/). 

If you’re interested in joining the first read-along, just click the link below and my assistant Charlotte or I will add you. Discussions on Section 1 (Adam!) start at 12:01 a.m. EST Saturday, March 5 and go until 12 midnight EST Friday, March 11! See you there!

Join Read Along with Kallypso Masters (Masters at Arms) now!

Publish or Perish in the Romance-Writing World, too?

(Reposted from my Facebook Author Page)

I worked 20 years in academia as an admin assistant and editor and this had a whole different meaning then. But in the past few weeks, I've had a number of conversations with my author friends about stress, poor health, and other problems arising from the publish-or-perish mentality that's pervaded publishing for the past year when Amazon introduced KU and visibility for those of us refusing to be exclusive had our sales go down the tubes as far as finding new readers.

In writing circles, the pervading wisdom is that you have to put something out every 2-3 months or readers will dump you like a hot potato and move on. This is a phenomenon found mainly in the Romance genre. Other genres allow authors a year to publish a major-length book. Twice a year at the most. In today's world, if you can "only" put out three titles a year, you're a slacker. Seeing friends practically burning out from writing because of this constant "When's the next book?" pressure or from committing to more than a human being can do with all the marketing demands to try and stay visible in this new market really upsets me for them and for the readers. We can't churn out books like a machine. We need time between releases to refill the well of creativity.

Now, you all know I've tested the limits to the max on how long a writer can go between releases (with as much as 15 months between two of my 500-page releases in 2012-2013, but I can easily go 9-12 months between two, regardless of length). Those putting out rapid-fire releases tend to write a lot shorter or are really driven to produce (more so than I am!). And I don't think the fault lies with readers. It's something we authors have done to ourselves in that effort to return to the glory days of 2013. And changes at Amazon didn't help any, either.

But I'm going to be honest here:

1) I won't write every day. I just plod along (with my new book, I'm averaging 900 words a day--including all the days I didn't write a single word--and about 1500 a day on the days I actually worked on ROAR).

2) I don't feel a need to be in anthologies, box sets with multiple authors, Kindle Worlds, and other schemes to get my name out there on a more regular basis. (Of course, you all know I can't write short anyway!)

3) I'll publish when *I* decide my book is ready, even if it means pushing back release dates (which I did in March and landed in Amazon preorder jail for a year because I made you wait 3 more weeks to get a better book). I try very hard not to announce release dates, although I sometimes *think* I can't possibly miss and then let it slip. So far, only my team knows what I'm thinking and they also know I've already pushed it back a month.

4) I'm not going to try to chase after new readers. You all share your love of this series and those new readers find me on a slower scale than if I poured a ton of money into advertising cold to an unknown group of readers. Marketing is stressful and expensive. I don't think anything can beat word-of-mouth, though, so you all just keep talking!

I'll also admit that, since KU rolled out last summer, I bought into the notion that if I pushed myself harder, I'd get back to where I once was in rankings or sales. But I've come to realize the rankings don't matter and are so skewed now to titles in KU or Montlake or other exclusive Amazon titles that I'll never make it back into the rankings there. I'm going to try to build audiences who shop elsewhere (and just did an exclusive preorder with Apple with my box set to start).

Can I write shorter and faster? Well, while still recovering from my hysterectomy last fall, I wrote and published a 71k book in six weeks. (Possibly because I'd stopped marketing, which was a colossal waste of time and focused on writing.) And it was a book I could be proud of, too, because I'll never put out a book that isn't worth the hard-earned money you'll pay for it. Then I dove right back into finishing Nobody's Dream because you all had been waiting for Luke and Cassie's story since September 2012 and I'd put two other couples' stories ahead of them. Of course, in retrospect, those who read them can see why it had to be that way, but I took a lot of grief from upset readers during those 2.5 years demanding I drop Somebody's Angel and Nobody's Lost and get back to Dream. (I'll guess those are among the readers long gone from my reader base now. But you know what? That's fine. Hopefully they've found authors better able to give them what they want and to meet their expectations. Less stress for us all. And I'd much rather blow readers' expectations out of the water than to give them what they want or expect.

Yes, I have lost readers since 2013. Tens of thousands of them. Not even because I'm not in your face with a new release every few months, but probably more so because I chose to let my characters dictate when their story would be told and how. Different heat levels caused the erotic-only readers to drop. Even different subgenres from psychological drama/trauma to a downright Sweet Romance (well, until about page 500 when they finally exploded from all that sexual tension in DREAM). And all this in a series where the first three books are being marketed (and rightly so) as erotic romance in a box set right now. The next box set in the same series (whenever I choose to do another) will probably be eligible for steamy Contemporary Romance status.

I'd be as bored as my readers if my series had books that followed a formula and were jammed into a one-size-fits-all series box the way traditional publishers made authors write over the last 30 years. I don't plot, so if they're not talking to me, I just sit and wait. Patiently. Sometimes for days or weeks! I know the pervading wisdom for writers is to write even when you don't feel like it. Well, I may read a few chapters of a how-to-write book or do research or simply watch a movie for inspiration on those non "writing" days--but all of those activities are part of MY writing process. But to sit and force words onto the page because of an arbitrary deadline is counterproductive for me.

Despite my not dancing to the beat of the loudest drums in this business, you know what? I'm blessed with a core readership of 25k strong (based on the sales of my last two books, the least popular in a series that used to sell four times as many books).

Why the rant today? (Not ranting at you, but at this notion that we publish or perish that pervades our business right now.) I have heard from a handful of writer friends who are struggling against burning out. They're so stressed trying to keep up with writing and marketing and all the other demands that they're on the verge of making themselves sick. Seriously sick. And I know most would love to be blessed with a readership as strong as mine, even after that many readers moved on.

And you know what else? I did give it a try to push harder and I will be ahead of my past few years in the number of books I'll put out in a 12-month period starting last December and until ROAR is released with three new titles and a box set with bonus materials as well. (That set kept me from working on ROAR for two weeks, but I'm glad my readership is enjoying the bonus materials I included! So much so that I'm extending the sale until Sept. 7!)

But yesterday as I realized how much more work I have to do on ROAR to meet my self-imposed deadline, I was cranky and making myself sick. I know you're going to flood this thread with lots of support because if you're still reading my posts and books, you've definitely learned to be patient with me. <smile> Still, I put more pressure on myself than my readers ever will.

So, I'm very stressed right now because I'm further behind than I want to be on ROAR. But since I haven't given you any clue when I intended to release it, I'm just doing that to myself. I have 7 intense weeks of travel coming up and rarely do well writing/editing while on the road. But I'm hoping to change that. I have a lot of appearances planned, too, thinking I'd be done with the book by then. But meeting readers energizes me so I won't back down on any of those. But I will stick to my guns and carve out writing time and not be as accessible as I've been at previous cons. I'll say good-night promptly at the end of a planned dinner and go write or edit.

And over the next three weeks before I hit the road, I'm going to bust my ass to get this story whipped into shape so that my editorial and beta teams can be working on them when I can't!

Now I'm off to hit 100k today. (I'm 5,838 words short of this arbitrary deadline.) So if I don't make it, at least I hope the story will be that much closer to a cohesive one, since it's still got a lot of holes to fill and bridges to be built (written).

But I hope my rant will give other stressed-out authors a little solidarity in making healthier choices for both their careers and their lives. I have a lot of books I want to write, but if I have a stroke or heart attack making myself sick in the process, well, where would we all be then? Thanks for your continued support and patience over these past four years! I hope I have another 24 good years to bring you more stories! And I'll do my best to stay healthy and energized to give them to you!

Two Up Close and Personal Gatherings for Readers!

Two Opportunities to Get 

Up Close and Personal with Kally This Year!

You know how much I love to hang out with readers. Yes, I'll be doing some of the big conferences (including Lori Foster's Reader And Author Get-Together in June, which is sold out, but there are two public signings, including one Friday afternoon, June 5, which I'll be at, and one Saturday afternoon with other authors) and RomCon (not to late to register for this one in September!).

But I want MORE! More what? More face time with my readers where we can just hang out and enjoy each other's company without too many distractions and overbooked programs.

So I have two events planned this year where we can do just that!

First Up:

the Rescue Me Saga
Sightseeing Tour of Colorado!

From Sept. 21-24, I'm taking a very small group of readers (limit 25, including Charlotte and me!) on a tour of the places in Colorado that will have you feeling as if you walked into the pages of my books. This tour will take place in the days leading up to RomCon (a reader-author conference in Denver Sept. 25-27). We won't spend a lot of time in Denver, but will take a bus to the Breckenridge, Park County, and Beaver Creek areas so I can show you some of my inspiration sights, talk with you about the books and characters, and just hang out for a few days in an amazing place. Of course, I'll have a few places to show you in Denver, too!

We're still planning the trip's itinerary and, honestly, when we created our Google interest form, we didn't quite know what the plan would be. We'll know more after we find out just how many readers are interested in hopping on the bus and what type of lodging we can book! (We could go with hotels or rent a huge vacation house to accommodate one helluva slumber party!) Soon, we'll be asking for a non-refundable $100 deposit at which point we can gauge who is seriously planning to join us. The cut-off to register will be in the next month or so so that we can book the bus and make lodging arrangements. If you'd like to be in on the planning discussions (no need to pay anything at this point), express your interest level for the Rescue Me Saga 2015 Sightseeing Tour of Colorado here. Most likely we'll set up a Facebook group, but if anyone can't be on Facebook, then we can attempt another way of discussing the trip!

Among some of the places we'll visit on the tour are The Pines resort in Beaver Creek (inspiration for the D'Alessio family's lodge/resort), Hoosier Pass (inspiration for Iron Horse Pass, where Cassie's cabin is located), and Alma and Fairplay in Park County (inspiration for Aspen Corners and Fairchance, respectively, in my saga). We'll also visit Mount Evans AND the house in Denver that inspired me as the location for the Masters at Arms Club. (No, you can't go to the door and ask if you can play with Adam, Marc, or Damian! The owners have NO idea how their house was immortalized in the pages of my books!)

I'm so looking forward to sharing these special places with you and just spending a few days hanging out in gorgeous Colorado! This trip will be one-of-a-kind! Do NOT miss the bus! Here are a couple pics of some of the readers who took the first sightseeing tour (in Southern California back in 2013). I promise we'll explore some exciting places, then relax over dinners and other meals as we talk about the books! Cost is all-inclusive (meals, lodging, transportation) but we're still calculating costs until we know how many days we need the bus, how many nights lodging (we counted on two so far in our $400 estimate with double occupancy, but single occupancy would be more, adding Monday night more, or we could make out better by renting a big vacation home--so until I know who wants to go and what we're going to do, I can't set the final price. Hoping to do that by later this month, tho! Definitely before asking anyone to sign up and put down a deposit!)

(Touring the Thousand Steps Beach, site of two hot beach cave scenes)

(Touring La Valencia in La Jolla, inspiration for where Damian and Savannah met)

But that's not all! 

I've invited six special author friends who all write Military Romance (and sometimes in other subgenres) to the second annual KallypsoCon! Joining me this year are New York Times and/or USA Today bestselling authors Sharon Hamilton, Cristin Harber, Elle James, Kennedy Layne, J.M. Madden, and Teresa Reasor. These award-winning authors and I will be gathering for one very special Halloween weekend in New England at Nashua, N.H. Join us, too! The $200 registration fee includes two buffet dinners with drinks, open bar at the Halloween Party, Saturday breakfast, Sunday champagne brunch, presentation and ad-lib sessions with the authors, plus Top Griz (who has helped a number of us with our military and weapons facts!), a two-hour Q&A session with all 7 authors where you can ask anything (and will be surprised at how honest we'll be in our responses!), fun and games, a chance to have a meal with a different author each time, a bag filled with premium swag goodies from each of the authors, and lots of opportunities to hang out in between programmed events for some awesome Military Romance authors.

Here's what readers from all over the United States, Canada, and the world (we had readers from the UK and Australia there!) said about the first KallypsoCon:

“The  whole  weekend  was so much  fun and meeting  you  all was so great.  Often times  you meet celebrities (please know I am a  dork and authors are  celebrity in my  little  world )  and they aren't  as  great as you  thought they  would  be  but you guys  were all so  lovely and flipping hysterical.” (Deana)

“A HUGE shout out to Kallypso Masters for bringing together some of the loveliest ladies, readers, and like-minded thinkers for a more than memorable weekend at Kallypsocon 2014!! We laughed til we cried, and we have stories to tell! (Boy oh boy...!) And a special thanks to each of the amazing authors who made this weekend ROCK!” (Annalise)

“I loved the whole weekend and it was well worth the long flights thank you, Kallypso and Charlotte, for organising it all!” (Ruth)

“I was lucky to be able to attend. All of you who wished you could have been there missed getting to really know all these great ladies. Keep watching for announcement when the next one will be so you have more time to make your dream come true.” (Sabrina)

Don't miss out on the 2015 KallypsoCon (click this link to learn more)! Register TODAY before we fill up the 100 reader spots! I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones at this year's events!

Here are some photos from last year's event:


Readers playing Cards Against Humanity with Annabel Joseph

 Discussion during the panel session.

Kennedy Layne will be returning for KallypsoCon 2015 and bringing Hubby Griz (Top Griz to me!) with her this time!

Read a long excerpt of NOBODY'S DREAM (releasing March 31!)

I know some of you did not get the announcements via social media last month that the release date of NOBODY'S DREAM has been moved to March 31. As you know, I will not release a book to you before I know it's the best it can be. It simply was not ready. However, it's very close to being ready now and WILL be released March 31. Anyone who preordered it at Amazon, Kobo, Apple iBooks, or Barnes & Noble, you WILL receive it on that date without doing anything further. 

So who wants an excerpt? If you missed it via my newsletter or social media, I shared the Prologue and Chapter One via my newsletter two days ago. DISCLAIMER: My editors, betas, and proofreaders are still going over it for the final time, so there might still be some typos or things that will change in the final.

Of course, if you have read SOMEBODY'S ANGEL and the post-avalanche scene with Cassie and Luke in it, there are no spoilers in this excerpt. This is the very opening of NOBODY'S DREAM as you will read it when the book is released later this month. (Parts of NOBODY'S LOST will be important in DREAM later, too, so if you haven't had a chance to read that one, do so. Ryder and Megan's journey will continue in NOBODY'S DREAM and there will be spoilers if you don't read LOST first.) 

Enjoy!

Click here to read the excerpt 
in my newsletter (web version)! 

NOBODY'S DREAM Order Links

You can preorder (or order if you are reading this March 31 or later) NOBODY'S DREAM at the following book retailers:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Mb2945
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/16PblKp
Amazon Australia: http://bit.ly/1KKvZc1
Apple iBooks: http://bit.ly/1AbGofd
Barnes & Noble NOOK: http://bit.ly/1LjoevV
Kobo: http://bit.ly/17yj7ZF

Coming to other retailers (including Google Play and All Romance eBooks) after March 31!

Not caught up with the First "Five" Books?

And if you need to catch up on the earlier books in the series, you will find ALL buy links and the reading order (as listed on this page) on my web site's Rescue Me Saga page! Please read all in order! (Yes, NOBODY'S LOST provided a new entry point for NEW readers and can stand alone, but the hope is they then go back to the beginning and read through. You definitely wouldn't want to read DREAM until after reading LOST, though, or you are going to have chapters and scenes with characters you haven't met yet--Ryder and Megan! (Ryder has even replaced some of the other guys as readers' all-time favorite book boyfriend. Find out why in NOBODY'S LOST. While it's a short novel, it's longer than MASTERS AT ARMS, so only short by MY standards!)

NOBODY'S LOST is LIVE!!!

Purchase NOBODY'S LOST (Rescue Me Saga #5) NOW via Amazon, Apple iBOOKS, Barnes & Noble NOOK, or Kobo at the buy links below. (Coming on Dec. 15 to All Romance eBooks and Google Play. Print version will be published in a couple of months.)

URGENT! If you preordered or downloaded NOBODY'S LOST from Amazon and opened it to find only the cover for LOST and then the entire content of NOBODY'S HERO, this obviously was an error. Please follow these instructions to update to the correct book! My apologies for the mixup!

UPDATE: PROBLEM HAS BEEN CORRECTED, but the fix isn't automatic.

THIS IS FOR AMAZON SHOPPERS ONLY--both those who pre-ordered and anyone who bought the book when it goes live.

If your e-copy of NOBODY’S LOST was actually filled with NOBODY’S HERO content, the UPDATE IS NOW AVAILABLE! Please contact Amazon athttps://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/contact-us via Live Chat or Phone and let them know you want the updated version. Thanks so much for your patience!

A standalone novel about two characters with very minor mentions in the earlier books. 
Ryder Wilson returned from serving multiple deployments but can't leave the hell of combat behind him. Frustrated and ashamed of his inability to function in the world as well as the veterans he served with, he retreated, choosing to engage only with those he trusted. When retired Master Sergeant Adam Montague sends him on a mission to protect his sister from some unknown danger, Ryder's days of hiding out may be over. Can he fulfill his mission without failing again? 

Megan Gallagher has two big-brother Marines bent on protecting her from the evils of the world, but she's tougher than they think. When her older brother sends Ryder, one of his recon Marines, to her doorstep in the wee hours one night following a break-in, she realizes he needs rescuing more than she does. A friendship forms quickly, but unexpected passions run hot and complicate her resolve never to have a romantic relationship, much less marriage. So why are her body and her heart betraying her every time he comes near? 

Can these two wounded people lower their defenses long enough to allow love to grow?

Buy today at:

Apple iBOOKS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/nobodys-lost/id940259903

NOOK: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nobodys-lost-kal…/1120730866

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/nobody-s-lost

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PHUL0WK
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00PHUL0WK
Amazon Australia: http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00PHUL0WK

Kally is Cancer Free and Charging Full Steam Ahead!

I know my diehard fans have been keeping up with my postings on my Facebook timeline during this whirlwind last four weeks. For those who aren't on Facebook (and for those reading this via Goodreads), it's been two weeks since my surgery and I just wanted to report that I am cancer free and recovering slowly. 

To update those not aware of the situation, over the summer, I noticed some irregular spotting. I've been in menopause for several years and learned there is NO reason to be spotting at this point in life, so I hightailed it to my gynecologist in August. She ordered an ultrasound the same day which showed abnormalities in the size of the lining of my uterus and scheduled me for the D&C, which was done Sept. 4. On Sept. 13, I got the news that it was uterine cancer and I was sent to the state's research hospital to meet my gynecological oncologist Sept. 17.

I had hoped to postpone surgery until after KallypsoCon (Oct. 10-12 in the Seattle area), but my surgeon and my hubby decided that was too long a wait. When the poor surgeon came back in the examination room to find me in tears, he offered to do the surgery the next day if he could get an operating room, then I would have three full weeks to recover before KallypsoCon. He told me I'd be sore, but that it was do-able as long as I followed his orders (basically walking up and down the aisle of the plane and taking my nightly anti-blood-clotting shots.) I think he also could see my healing would be faster if I wasn't depressed about missing my first KallypsoCon! 

Tomorrow (Oct. 3), we will give final counts to the hotel for the meals. If you want to join us in Everett (it's about 45 minutes from downtown Seattle) for this special weekend, here's the info page: KallypsoCon 2014. (NOTE: We are now serving two dinners and two breakfasts instead of what was listed as meals on the Web site originally. I figured I'm already in the hole, so why pay the hotel for ballroom/meeting fees when we can get some nice meals for that money instead <g>).

Today it has been two full weeks since my total abdominal hysterectomy. Still sore. Still tired. Situation normal, I am told. I'm thrilled to know that all of the cancer that attacked my body is now gone. I truly am blessed and urge you all to PAY ATTENTION to your body's signs and to your intuition. It was a combination of those factors that saved me from having to undergo more extensive treatments than having a hysterectomy. My cancer was contained in my uterus and the surgeon said it hadn't traveled from anywhere else. (Oncologists have ways of determining that. I just trust them.) So, I can truly say I am a Uterine Cancer Survivor!

Tonight I'm going to book flights for my hubby and me so that we will be in Everett, Wash., a couple days before the conference is scheduled to begin. I'm so fortunate to have an awesome personal assistant, Charlotte Oliver, handling almost everything for me regarding this conference (among other things). I also chose some really awesome authors to be there with me (Lexi Blake / Sophie Oak, Eliza Gayle, Annabel Joseph, Kennedy Layne, Red Phoenix, and Cherise Sinclair). They and their entourages will also be a great help to make sure all goes smoothly so that I can disappear for naps when needed and to make sure I don't life more than 10 pounds, per surgeon's orders. 

Even if you don't want to do the full weekend, consider coming to the public signing 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at the Holiday Inn Downtown Everett. Lots of cool swag to give away, as well as some door prizes. If you're on Facebook, you can RSVP at this event site. Otherwise, just comment below and we'll be watching for you!

My husband, who will accompany me at KallypsoCon--only to be there for me. He REALLY doesn't want to be around for BDSM demos and such. But I think the Dom who will be doing the demos will do such a fabulous job. Luckily, that's only one evening out of the whole weekend, so mostly it will be book talk, games, a book signing, and just readers and authors hanging out and enjoying each other's company. 

I've been home about 9 days now and have just been lazing around, popping pain killers, watching TV (I discovered Once Upon a Time!), and reading both for fun and to learn some new tricks for marketing.

Now for an update on Nobody's Dream (Luke & Cassie's story). Book five in the Rescue Me Saga was in the hands of beta readers and five of my editors these past two weeks (while I was incapacitated physically and mentally) but the files have been coming back and Charlotte has been putting beta suggestions into a master file for me that I plan to open up tomorrow. Then I'll start going through my editor's files. Not sure how this will go. I get tired very easily still, but I'm anxious to get back to work. As long as I don't overdo it, I think it can't hurt anything. 

I still have some unwritten chapters and scenes to do, too. That will be harder than incorporating minor changes. While I had a target publication date in mind before all of this cancer stuff, that date seems daunting right now. So I am just going to take it one day at a time and see how quickly I can get the book into line edits and then proofreading. I still want to do a preorder for it, as well. I am still expecting a fall release date, just not as early as once anticipated maybe. To make sure you don't miss out on announcements, you can sign up for my newsletter OR my phone text alert (US cell phones only):

NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION

TEXT ALERT SUBSCRIPTION

Newsletters will be used to impart much more news than the text alerts. The latter will be used to announce preorder status, then the actual release when it goes live, but nothing else. 

Before I go take a nap, I just want to thank everyone who sent prayers, healing thoughts/energy, and virtual hugs to me while I went through this unexpected ordeal. I know I had it easier than most cancer survivors (surgery alone and my fucking cancer was gone). My thoughts and prayers are with all who are still in the trenches kicking their own cancer's ass.