Gather round, my children, for I’ve a tale of horror to tell you.
*pats the tree stumps all around the roaring autumn fire and passes out the hot cocoa*
*sighs*
Fine. That rowdy group over there can have the mulled wine. Now, sit down, and hush. It’s story time.
Once upon a time, there was a huge giant. It welcomed romance writers one and all into its kingdom. It made sure that the romance writers were thoroughly invested in and enamored with the lands and the people. It even offered special treasure to the authors who swore allegiance only to the giant.
But darkness began creeping over the kingdom, and the giant began to change. It no longer answered questions. It ignored authors’ concerns. It even locked a huge number of its authors and their books in the dungeon and refused to let them out. This made it very difficult for the authors to make a living, but the giant did not care.
The authors began to lose hope.
But one day, in the distance, they heard whisperings of a hero. A hero who would free the imprisoned authors. A hero who would welcome them into her kingdom. A kingdom that was full of light and apples (no one wants authors with scurvy) and a kingdom where questions were answered instead of ignored. A kingdom where all authors and their stories were welcome. A kingdom that didn’t believe in dungeons.
The authors were afraid to hope, afraid to take a chance, for they’d been fooled before. But the hero calmed their worries and reassured them with her maps and business plans, her openness and spreadsheets, and most of all, her refusal to keep secrets.
The hero gave each author their own key to the dungeon, and one by one, they followed her out into the light, to the Kingdom of Eden Books.
~fin~
Okay, so I’m guessing you’re all wondering what’s going on here. And I’m hoping you’re wondering about Eden Books. Don’t give me the side-eye. Just sit down already. We need to have a chat.
*pats the cushion next to me and hands you a cup of coffee*
Now, I try not to drag readers into any issues I might have with a vendor. I know that you’re here for the books not the whining. You’re here for the kinky sexytimes, not the industry drama. And that, to me, is the best thing in the world.
I want to write stories for you to read. I want you to be able to find the stories without jumping through flaming hoops of doom like Fifi the Wonder Poodle. I want to publish them without doing the same. And that brings us to Eden Books.
I am so excited about this project, I can’t even, you guys! But, before I squee all over, let me back up and tell you what Eden Books is.
Eden Books is about to become the place to go for romance and women’s fiction. It’s an online, genre-specific ebook retailer that’s a welcome alternative to Amazon.
I know what you’re thinking–but, Bron…I finally know what my kindle address is now. And you want me to buy another device and–
*passes you some cookies to go with your coffee*
Don’t panic. You don’t need another device, hell, you can still shop at the ‘Zon if you want. And if you’re an author, you can still list books there and at every other vendor. But I’d be an asshole if I didn’t share my excitement over Eden Books
A lot of authors, particularly those of us who write erotic romance, have found ourselves facing issue after issue with the ‘Zon during the past year. Many of us have been placed in the erotica dungeon, meaning our books don’t come up on general category searches. Because our books can only be found by searching the exact title or author name, organic discoverability by readers unfamiliar with our work has been destroyed. This has been problematic to say the least.
There have been a host of other related issues, but I don’t want to bore you with those or really even rag on the aforementioned vendor. It’s their business, and they can do what they deem is best for them.
However, what I do want to talk about is Eden Books. In addition to being an alternative shopping platform, Eden will also be creating a diverse, supportive, and interactive community for romance readers and authors.
Each author will have their own storefront to sell not only their books, but other merchandise, as well. And I’m super excited about the combined social media aspects, too!
I could go on and on about this, but I’m not going to. I’ve got books I’m working on that I want to get back to, and besides, Robyn Crawford, the founder of Eden Books can explain it far more thoroughly and eloquently than I can. Probably with less swearing, too.
I’m going to share some links because I’m hoping you’ll be as excited about Eden Books as I am! There are links to FAQs for authors and readers. There’s also a link to the Eden Books website and the kickstarter. It’s over halfway funded! And I’m hoping you’ll check it out and join me in supporting this amazing new venture! There are only 15 days left, to make the Kingdom of Eden Books a glorious reality. Also, there are some fantastic perks and more being added all the time, so please come help make an amazing difference to romance authors and readers everywhere.
Reader FAQs * Author FAQs * Eden Books * Eden Books Kickstarter
