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All About Cate Rowan
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Ruby Nickname:Ruby Fantasy GH Year(s) 2007, 2009 Genre(s): Fantasy romance |
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The Ruby Slippered Sisterhood
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Blog Posts from Cate
Experimentation and a Ruby Release: “Swords and Scimitars” by Cate RowanPosted by Cate Rowan Feb 17 2012, 1:01 am in fantasy, fantasy romance, indie, new release, publishing industry, self-publishing I have a new release to tell you about, but first, let me get this out of the way: I used to write to please others. It’s not that I don’t take other people into account anymore—not at all. I have a readership, and their opinions of my work matter to me. But I no longer write to please the traditional publishing industry. I’ve learned a fine lesson about that. A panel of editors and agents once shot down my query letter at the RWA conference. It was a query letter workshop for Golden Heart finalists, and the panelists were to say “stop” when they reached the point in a query where they wanted to quit reading. The entire panel yelled stop as soon as they learned that my book’s hero, a sultan, already had six wives. The industry consensus was that a book like that wouldn’t succeed. Under the paradigm of that time, they were likely right to shoot it down. I hired several agents over the years who did their best, but Kismet’s Kiss was a tough sell. Despite two Golden Heart finals, it clearly didn’t fit the New York marketing boxes, and editors were afraid it wouldn’t make the publishing house enough money. That’s understandable; it was a risk. I was pushing boundaries. But I knew romance, and understood my contract with the romance reader. I felt my book could flourish, and I was crazy (= stubborn) enough to try. After two small presses made offers, I decided to self-publish Kismet’s Kiss. Instead of selling it to a publisher, I sold it to readers—more than 2600 of them to date, at prices from $2.99-5.99. And another 3600+ readers have bought my second book, The Source of Magic. While the number of copies sold is lower than what many trad-pubbed authors can expect, I earn much more per copy. I’ve made nearly $13,000 already. This is far beyond the average advance for two books from a debut author, and Kiss and Source are still in the marketplace earning more each day. They’ll never go out of print. It’s funny to look back on my journey and realize what’s happened. It was not quite a year and a half ago that I published Kismet’s Kiss. I was the first Ruby Sister to self-pub, and alas, it wasn’t because I’m a visionary or a psychic. (I only wish.) I’d just realized going indie was my best chance to succeed and find readers for stories I loved. Ten Rubies have now tested the indie path, and there are more Rubies planning to try it. Some of our agent-approved, contest-winning, misfit books that would otherwise be lying abandoned in darkness have found life—and readers—and in many cases, have revived their authors’ enjoyment in writing. I LOVE THE NEW WORLD OF PUBLISHING. This world also lets authors experiment with prices, covers, descriptions, book length, and subject matter. That’s part of the fun for me with my latest release. It’s a short story of 7,000 words, a length that has very few traditional markets. I’m pricing it at a mere 99 cents to see if that will entice readers. And although it’s a prequel to Kismet’s Kiss, which is a fantasy romance, I consider “Swords and Scimitars” to be a historical fantasy. It brims with emotion and love, but it’s far more a hero’s journey through an exotic culture (think “Arabian Nights” or “The King and I”) than a traditional romance. A few months ago, Amazon offered indies another way to experiment: the Amazon Select program for Kindle books. Select allows the author/publisher to set the book’s price to free for up to five days out of every 90. Free books get lots of downloads and greater exposure, which helps generate paid sales afterward. The author/publisher has control over when the free days are scheduled, making it easier to arrange promotions. The downside is that the Select program requires Amazon exclusivity for the full 90 days. I’ve been reluctant to add Kismet’s Kiss or The Source of Magic to the Select program for that reason. I’ve made about a quarter of all my sales through Barnes and Noble. Still, now that I have a new release, I thought I’d try Select for “Swords and Scimitars” and see what happens. Hmm… have I mentioned my dislike for that exclusivity thing? Yeah. So before I sign up for Select, I’m making “Swords and Scimitars” available for the next five days at Barnes and Noble (nook) and Smashwords (all formats), as well as at Amazon, and all for just 99 cents. This way non-Kindle readers can get their hands on “Swords and Scimitars,” too.
Swords and Scimitars: A Fantasy Short Story Immortal twin brothers. One enchanted sword. A tragedy that propels them into legend. The lives of well-born twins Kismet and Taso are easy and carefree—endless days of bedding women and fighting battles among the gods—until sorcery drives a wedge between them that slices deeper than flesh. Kismet has striven to be the ultimate warrior, but a mistake costs him his brother, his family, and his homeland. He carves out a new life in the desert, rising to the command of a realm and an army, yet can’t escape his past. When two women beg for his aid against tyranny, he must sacrifice his freedom and his long-scarred heart to help them. “Swords and Scimitars” is a short story of the immortal founders of verdant Teganne and desert Kad, two rival realms divided by magic—yet bound by blood, mistrust, and love. The chronicle continues in the award-winning fantasy romance novels Kismet’s Kiss and The Source of Magic.
I used to write to please others… but I wrote “Swords and Scimitars” to please myself and my readership, and with luck, to attract new readers from a different genre. It’s an experiment for sure, and one of which I’m proud. As a writer, that’s the best feeling of all. Thank you for stopping by to celebrate the release of “Swords and Scimitars.” To add to the festive mood, I’m giving away three copies to non-Ruby visitors. Leave a comment to enter, and good luck! What a Year It’s Been!Posted by Cate Rowan Dec 22 2011, 1:28 am in inspiration, muse, perseverance, taking risks, writer's life I don’t know about you, but for me, 2011 was quite a doozie. In January I was diagnosed with a parathyroid tumor. It turns out that it had been doing crazy things to my body for years. In April, just before I underwent a surgery that yanked it out and cured me (thank goodness!), I self-published [...] Goin’ Indie: My Sales During Year One of Self-PublishingPosted by Cate Rowan Aug 26 2011, 2:05 am in book pricing, indie, sales, self-publishing It’s hard for me to believe it’s been almost a year since I flew the coop and launched into self-publishing. I had no idea I would be this successful. Just goes to show what’s possible in indie-land. A year ago this coming Saturday, I had my first book release for Kismet’s Kiss, a fantasy romance. It [...] Free-For-All Friday: Reading EditionPosted by Cate Rowan Dec 10 2010, 12:01 am in Free-For-All Friday It’s Friday (hooray!) and once again, the Rubies are here to answer your questions about writing. Or life. Whichever is more fun. I thought I’d mention something that for me has been a drawback to being a writer. (What? Negativity? How dare I!) Okay, hold on to your tomatoes and hear me out. Maybe it’ll [...] This post will either scare the bubbles out of you or give you hope…Posted by Cate Rowan Sep 7 2010, 12:40 am in ebooks, ereaders, poll, publishing industry As you may know, Medallion announced in April that it would stop printing mass-market paperbacks and instead focus on ebooks. Dorchester, which has been on rocky financial ground, recently did the same and now bookstores may be in the process of returning all their unsold Dorchester stock. Five Star has closed its doors to romance. Barnes [...]
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books from Cate
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Cate Rowan has washed laundry in a crocodile-infested African lake, parasailed over Cabo, had monkeys poop in her hair, and swum with dolphins, but her best adventures are her story worlds. Her lush fantasy romances about magic, danger and passion in faraway realms have won more than thirty awards. Her debut novel, KISMET'S KISS, was a two-time Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® finalist. Visit her at http://CateRowan.com.
