Christie Kelley - romance writer

From Christie Kelley's website:

Christie Kelley was born and raised in upstate New York. As a child, she always had a vivid imagination and the bad dreams that go along with it, or perhaps the dreams were caused by the five brothers and three sisters she lived with. After seventeen years working for financial institutions in software development, she took a leap of faith and started her first book. Seven years later, her first book EVERY NIGHT I’M YOURS was bought by Zebra books. She now lives in Maryland with her husband and two future romance heroes.

Visit Christie Kelley online.

Christie Kelley's book list.

Author Mary Wine is "In Bed With A Stranger"

Mary Wine has written over twenty novels that take her readers from the pages of history to the far reaches of space.

A deception brought them together . . . but nothing can tear them apart


AN IMPERFECT MATCH

Brodick McJames is an earl in name only. To secure his clan’s future he needs an English wife. Mary Stanford, daughter of the Earl of Warwickshire, will suit perfectly. He’s never met her, but what matter? She’ll grace his bed eventually, and once she bears his child he need see her no more.

Anne Copper resembles her noble half-sister, but she was born illegitimate, and can never forget it. The best she can hope for is to stay a serving girl in her own father’s house. But when Lady Mary finds herself betrothed to a Scot, it seems there’s a use for Anne after all . . .

The woman who arrives in Alcaon is not what Brodick expects, and the passion that grows between them promises far more than a marriage of convenience. When fate draws two together, it may take more than a noblewoman’s plot to part them . . .

Read an excerpt.

Purchase at Amazon.com and save 28% off retail price.

Open Letter To Clean House

Dear Clean House,

First off, I would like to commend you for helping the messy, hoarding, dirty-dish-leaving, non-clothes-folding masses lead neater, more sanitary lives. It is a very good deed you are doing.

That being said, I would like to make one thing clear:

Romance Novels Are Not Trash

Really, I promise. See, Romance Novels are things we like to call "books." You may have heard of them?

And, last time I checked, "books" are generally considered to be possessions--even prized ones on occasion. Just like those vinyl records that you not only let the other person keep but even built shelves for!


Read the complete article at Avon Romance Blog.

Amazon.com rankings - does anyone understand the system?

I have never understood the sales rankings that Amazon.com posts for books. I know that the lower the number the higher the ranking. I use to think it was the other way around, the higher the number the better the ranking but that is not the case. I don't know what it means when there is no ranking at all posted by a book. Does this mean that the book hasn't even sold 1 copy on Amazon?

I have also never understood how Amazon comes up with their list of best-selling books under genres and even sub-genres (i.e. romance, then with the sub-genre of sensual romance which is the category that I write).

Just today I did a search under Amazon Kindle books (I have 4 of my titles released in the Kindle version) for sensual romance. My novel Desert Heat is listed as Number 15 and my novel Cabin Fever is listed as Number 21 out of 119 books on the BEST SELLING sensual romance books list.

This is copied and pasted from the Amazon site:

Kindle Store › Kindle Books › "sensual romance"
Showing 13 - 24 of 119 Results Sort by Bestselling

15. Desert Heat (Affairs of the Heart) by Kristie Leigh Maguire (Kindle Edition - Jan 15, 2009) - Kindle Book
Buy: $3.19
Auto-delivered wirelessly
(10)
Other Editions: Paperback

-------------------

21. Cabin Fever (Affairs of the Heart) by Kristie Leigh Maguire (Kindle Edition - Jan 15, 2009) - Kindle Book
Buy: $3.19
Auto-delivered wirelessly

However when I go to the Amazon Kindle pages for Desert Heat and Cabin Fever, there are no sales rankings listed. Does this mean that NO copies of those books have been sold? If that is the case how are they Number 15 and Number 21 on the Best-Selling Sensual Romance Books at the Amazon Kindle Store?

When I did the same search but had it sorted by RELEVANCE instead of BEST SELLING, my Cabin Fever book came up as Number 1 and my Desert Heat book came up as Number 6.

This is copied and pasted from Amazon:

Kindle Store › Kindle Books › "sensual romance"
Showing 1 - 12 of 119 Results Sort by Relevance

1. Cabin Fever (Affairs of the Heart) by Kristie Leigh Maguire (Kindle Edition - Jan 15, 2009) - Kindle Book
Buy: $3.19
Auto-delivered wirelessly

-----------

6. Desert Heat (Affairs of the Heart) by Kristie Leigh Maguire (Kindle Edition - Jan 15, 2009) - Kindle Book
Buy: $3.19
Auto-delivered wirelessly
(10)
Other Editions: Paperback

As I said, it is all a mystery to me. I have never found anyone who understands the system. I have an author friend who knows someone who works for Amazon. According to the friend of my friend, even Amazon doesn't understand how their system works. Do YOU?

Romance novels thrive in tough economic times ...

According to the Associated Press (and this is a direct quote from AP), "Love may not conquer all in real life, but its power in relatively inexpensive books is quite a comfort in this economy. Publishers are seeing strong sales in the romance genre as other categories decline and consumers cut back on spending."

This is excellent news for both authors and readers of the romance genre! We all need an escape from the gloom and doom of real life and what better way to do this than reading a good love story!

Laurie Parkin (Vice President and Publisher for Kensington Publishing Corp.) agrees with this. In the article she said, "....when business is bad or business is down, people want to escape a little bit. I think romance offers that in a wonderful, wonderful way."

According to the article , "For the week of May 10, romance book sales were up nearly 2.4 % compared to the same week last year, according to Neilson BookScan, which covers 75% of retail sales. "

What better time to be a romance author! I am so glad I am one! If you like to read romance, then check out MY titles. If you want to save even more money ... and help save the planet by going GREEN ... then purchase them in either ebook (at Fictionwise) or Kindle format (at Amazon.com). You can download FREE SAMPLERS of my books so you can try before you buy.