Try as I might, I have just never come to like the blog setup for this site. It doesn't lend itself well to being able to make quick updates or announcements. In the end, Wordpress just suites my needs better and so I'm going to return to blogging there instead of on this site. I will link the blog in the Friends and Links section of this site, but am also posting it below for easy reference.
Memorial Day Sale
To celebrate Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial kickoff to summer I'm holding a sale on Smashwords! Below is a list of books available on Smashwords along with a coupon code and their new price. Just enter the coupon code during checkout to receive the discount. Several books are even free during this weekend. Have a safe and happy Memorial Day!
- JC Winchester
Breaking in the Pledges $1.50 VE54F
Fraternity Fluffer: Sophomore Summer $1.50 SQ47V
Shelley: First Meeting FREE JA26Z
Fraternity Fluffer FREE SP95Q
Roommates Delight $1.50 HT28N
Yoga in the Buff $1.50 WB83U
Freedom!!
Woo another semester of grad school in the bag and I'm finally free. Spent the last six weeks working every day on projects for the semester. On top of that my daughter was born two weeks ago so she's kept me extra busy. But the semester is finally over and I've already been back to work on all of the stories that have been bugging me for the last couple of months. First up, finishing off my third anthology story for Three's Company. Working on the last scene as of last night so that should be out in time for summer!
Now to go take of the latest filled diaper....
Erotica After Midnight now on Smashwords and ARE
You can now find Erotica After Midnight on Smashwords and at All Romance eBooks!
Tryst in the Trail Shelter
I have released my story, Tryst in the Trail Shelter, which was originally published in the anthology Hot Summer Reads, as a standalone story. It is available for $0.99 and available on Smashwords, Amazon, and All Romance Ebooks now!
Smashwords and ARe update
I just finished uploading the last three chapters of the Shelley series, Resort, Cabin, and Halloween, to both Smashwords and ARe. That puts almost all of my books on Amazon, Smashwords, and ARe, with the exception of Witches Brew, which is still on Kindle Unlimited until June. About then I will transfer that over to Smashwords and ARe as well.
The second anthology I did with The Cabin, Erotica After Midnight, will also be coming to Smashwords and ARe. That will most likely occur within the next two weeks.
I will also be releasing a standalone copy of my story, Tryst in the Trail Shelter, from the anthology Hot Summer Reads onto Amazon, Smashwords, and ARe, later this week. It will retail for $0.99.
Now Publishing on Smashwords and All Romance Ebooks!
First I wanted to welcome all of the new readers from Smashwords and All Romance ebooks to my website!
Some of you may have heard from other authors blogs, and some may not, but the problems with Kindle Unlimited have continued to mount for authors. Briefly, they changed the payment structure last summer from $1.30 from every time a book was read to a per page payout, which amounted to $0.0058 per page. The payout would be determined by a percentage of the amount of money that Amazon set aside each month to pay out the authors. Since then the payout has continued to decline, last I checked it was down to $0.0048 per page. Now it has come out that they aren't actually calculating pages and have left a large loophole that some are exploiting to have more pages read than actually were. This, along with a few other reasons, have led me to decide to branch out with my writing a bit.
Smashwords is the second largest ebook publisher in the US and submits the books to other outlets such as Apple and Barnes and Noble. Their system converts my books into various files, including pdf, epub, and MOBI. My profile there can be found through this link: Smashwords
All Romance ebooks is the largest publisher of only romance and erotica. Typically I have pdf and epub files on there, once I find a reliable way to convert to MOBI I'll update the files to include that. You can find me by doing a search of authors through their site: All Romance Ebooks
Thoughts on reviews and ratings
Spend enough time on indie author Facebook pages and you're bound to see a graphic like the one above. Authors live and die by reviews, they are a way to allow customers to judge whether or not the quality contained within is worth a gander. The system is subject to personal beliefs on ratings but it's the best system out there and so written reviews are an excellent way to explain why the work received its particular score. Reviews are also a way for good authors to improve in their work, to understand their flaws and correct them.
That said, it seems or really is, that the review system is a heavily abused program. A blogger I follow recently went on a rant about how they had started to read one story, disliked it for a number of reasons, and put it down. They came back to that story months later to find fifty or so five-star ratings with glowing reviews so they thought perhaps they'd made a mistake and went to read the story again, much to their regret. The story was as bad as they remembered, yet not a single review was below a 4. What gives? Well when I went to find the above image, I pulled up dozens of ads from companies offering author reviews. Some places are legit, but many more are willing to provide pleasant services for the right price.
Honest reviews are great, I like just about all of them unless you want to blame me for Amazon screwing up. I'm sorry, I just can't help you with something out of my control. Even bad reviews are helpful, they let me know what you didn't like in the work. Did I really screw something up? Please, let me know. It will make me a better writer. I really do spend the time reviewing the work and understanding where my reviewers are coming from. It's a throwback to when I spent most of my time writing on Literotica.
Authors, you can help the cause by understanding that bad reviews can be helpful. Yeah, I know, they sting the ego. Sometimes they are downright nasty. But listen to them, they are the people that took the time to read your work. You won't please everyone, that's impossible, but there are those who will take their time to let you know what you need to do better next time. In many ways that can be worth more than the latest 5 star gushing over your story while missing the major grammar mistakes.
For me, any review I write will be legitimate and I hope that any review I receive is legitimate in return.
Free this holiday weekend!
Free for Thanksgiving (US) weekend through Cyber Monday! Take a well deserved break from the holiday shopping and cooking to join Mel in her initial Santa Shift at the hospital! Available at Amazon!
21 November Update
So my apologies for being quiet, my wife and I were at the doctors yesterday for the second-trimester scan. For those of you have had kids you know the nerves that come, hoping that your child is developing just fine and dandy and of course, the debate of wanting to know or not. Looks like we'll be welcoming a baby girl come springtime. :)
Speak of girls I am still slowly but steadily working on the next Shelley book. Poor Shelley, this book has been coming oh so slowly, but it will be worth it. As I write this book I'm beginning to think that Shelley really only has one more story after this that she'd like to tell. As much as there is more to go with it, she seems to be wanting to relish the idea of some privacy after having offered this peek into her life. We shall see but I figured fair forewarning would be appreciated.
Shelley on Sale!
The Shelley 4 story collection is on sale at Amazon for a limited time! It is currently $0.99 and will rise in price over the week before returning to it's normal retail price of $3.99. Get your copy now!
Saturday Update 7 November
So yesterday was spent running errands and taking care of vehicle repairs so this weeks update is a little on the late side.
Shelley: Halloween is slowly coming along, currently at about 2,500 words. The sequel books take a little longer as I have to check and recheck the previous stories to be sure of what happened, and sometimes pause to fix mistakes and upload the edits to Amazon.
Next week I plan to keep writing on Shelley, which will depend in part how homework goes for the week. I also have a Christmas novella that I wrote last year that will be posted to Amazon by next weekend. It's tentatively titled "Christmas Redemption", a story about a businesswoman who is in desperate need of learning what Christmas is really all about.
Friday Update 30 October
So I missed last week's update, but I was a little busy trying to finish up Bloody Webcams, and when the muse strikes, it's best to get writing.
First thing is first, Erotica After Midnight is free for the rest of this weekend. Grab yourself a copy and enjoy some supernatural erotica for this spooky holiday!
Bloody Webcams was finished last week and hit #8 for Erotica Horror on Amazon.
Next up is Shelley: Halloween, which will be much like the Simpsons Halloween episodes of my youth, appearing sometime after Halloween. Alas the timing didn't workout the way I'd hoped, but the story is rolling along at the moment. About 1500 words in and with a little luck and time, it might be released this upcoming week or the week afterward.
After that I'm starting to look into the holidays, The Santa Shift is coming to Kindle Unlimited and I'll have a Christmas themed novella to release later on in November
So lots on the schedule, my fingers will certainly be typing away and I hope you enjoy everything they put down on screen!.
Erotica After Midnight Free for Halloween Weekend
Free October 30 to November 1st. Enjoy a few chills and thrills on us!
New Release - Bloody Webcams
Debuting as #8 in the Hot New Erotica Horror releases and in the Top 25 Bestsellers for Erotica Horror and Erotica Lesbian categories is my latest ebook, Bloody Webcams. The story follows Detective Karen Spaulding as she tracks down a killer whose calling cards are a cupcake and a dildo left at every crime scene. The case takes her into the seedy world of amateur webcam porn, drawing out the skeletons in her closet.
2nd Anthology - Erotica After Midnight released
After a number of delays due to life schedules, life events, and the like, we have finally released Erotica After Midnight on Amazon! It is currently the #12 book in Erotic Horror New Releases! #35 for Erotic Horror overall! Get your copy here
Friday Update 16 October
So here I am on another Friday just wondering where the time went. Well, not really, I'm actually getting the chance to sit and write for a bit. Just crossed 5K words on the story that I'm calling Bloody Webcams. It's finally starting to flesh itself out despite the best efforts of professors to swamp me with homework.
Bit of a chill in the air tonight mixed with the smell of wood smoke. Just lit the first fire of the season, sure makes the aching muscles from splitting firewood feel worth it! Hope everyone dealing with this cold front has a warm place to curl up and enjoy a good read this weekend!
Friday Update 9 October
So I think this qualifies as one of those "Where did you go?" weeks. In this case homework kind of drowned out much of the week, along with dealing with getting my car repaired. Damned deer jumped over the hood, causing no damage, then kicked the side of the car before it ran away. Just under $1800 later I'm getting it back, sheesh.
So anyways, only about a 1,000 words written this week, all going to my entry for the Lit Halloween Contest. I did work out a few scenes that I just need to get the time to type down, hopefully this weekend or early next week.
Friday Update 2Oct
So I'm going to try to keep a weekly update of how projects are coming along. May not always make it on Friday, but I'll try. For the week ending October 2nd here's what has come along this week:
1) Work done to update the website, organized several of the stories into better categories.
2) Started to work on a contest entry for the Literotica Halloween contest, currently about 3,000 words into it. It will be an erotic horror story featuring a webcam girl tentatively titled Bloody Webcams.
3) I'm up to about 1,000 words with Shelley: Halloween.
4) So far so good, haven't managed to get swept away by all of this rain but I could use a few sunny days right about now.
Shelley Box Set 1
Well I had intended to try for a 3D cover but it appears I need some more work with GIMP before I'll be ready to publish with a cover. I didn't want to delay too long in putting out the box set so that the readers have a chance to catch up to where the series is current at. So without further ado, I present to you the first Shelley box set.