Friday, March 20, 2015

So long Blogger! I've moved to a new site #HostGator


I've hit the road and found a new home on HostGator. I've been thinking about changing to a self hosted site for a while now. Google and Blogger's decision to move adult blogs to private (they've since changed their minds), pushed me to jump ship with two of my alter egos. The first to go was Tawny. I learned a lot about importing blogs by working with hers. Next up was Lia's and that was super easy to do. I decided not to move the .com domains over with Lia's and mine. Instead I used our .net domains. 

Taking the new domains to HostGator and setting up the Wordpress.org blogs first and THEN importing the posts from Blogger was the way to go. There are so many more templates to choose from, both free and paid for versions. It's been a great experience and one I'm happy to have gone through.

I hope you will all join me here http://stephanieryanauthor.net and sign up to subscribe. I don't want you to miss any of my future posts and updates about DANGEROUS MEDICINE and all of my new releases coming up this year.

Thank you for supporting me!

~Steph


Friday, January 9, 2015

What Do You Do When Real Life Mimics Reality TV? #MyWANA #ARTG

Real life has sidelined me from my writing schedule as the flu has hit the Ryan household and knocked all of us down for the count. Today I'm finally feeling more human and able to focus so here I am to catch up and say welcome to everyone to my blog.

While in my sick bed, I've had a chance to catch up on some mindless entertainment. As most of you know, I love the Real Housewives shows. The craziness they put in front of the cameras makes me laugh and gives me an escape from some of the stresses in my own life.


Unfortunately, I've been living through and witnessing the Real Housewives behavior. Let me rephrase that—I've been the recipient of this behavior and have witnessed it being dished out on fellow authors. The backstabbing and manipulative behavior we see each week on these "reality" shows is over the top but nothing like experiencing it first hand.



In Real Housewives of New York, Carol is the journalist of the group. She's also published one best seller and in the last season was in the editing process of her next one. Cut to Aviva. This one is writing her memoir and feels she is on equal level with someone who writes for a living. While it's true Aviva lost a leg as a child and is dealing with many phobias and ailments, it in no way makes her best selling author material and yet she feels she can belittle Carol's entire career.


While Aviva has an entire writing "team" read ghost writers to get her story ready for publication, Carol does not. Editing is not the same as ghost writing. This is a fact that Aviva can't quite grasp. Instead of enjoying her own process, she has to belittle Carol's success. Why? Who knows but my suspicion is jealousy. Aviva can't write her way out of a paper bag so needs a "village" to get her book ready. To convince herself that's the way things are done, she tosses out barbs and repeats gossip as truth about Carol.

Have I witnessed this same behavior in the author circles I'm a part of now? Yes. One of my friends is multi-published. She has degrees in journalism, written for magazine, edited for magazines, published with not one but THREE publishers and on her own. Unfortunately she lives in a community where money can buy you anything, including a deal with an unknown publisher for a memoir. This person takes every opportunity to brag about the supposed advance she's received for this memoir and belittles anyone who self publishes.


This new "Aviva" now feels she's an expert in the world of publishing and presents herself as one. Unfortunately for her, she's burning a lot of bridges before her book is even written. My friend, the new "Carol" has been nothing but gracious but I'm fuming for her. I don't think I could have kept my cool. I would have told "Aviva" off and called her out from the start.


Does that make me just as bad as the Real Housewives I watch each week? Probably. I'm only human. I don't like backstabbing, two faced people. I'm not talking about confiding in a friend when you're frustrated with the actions of another. I'm referring to malicious, intentional lies told about another to make yourself look good or to be included in a group of Mean Girls.


Over a year ago, I'd gone through a massive break up of  a partnership with three other authors. We were definitely going in different directions and it was better we ended the relationship but unfortunately we didn't do it soon enough. It got ugly in the end with another party getting in the middle of it and playing all sides against each other. 



Fast forward to present day and the same thing has happened to these individuals. After all this time, others are now seeing the truth. While I feel vindicated, I'm also very sad because another person had to go through what had happened to me. Many had believed the lies and drank the Kool-Aid without gathering all the facts. Now they're experiencing the madness themselves.

All the behind the scenes nonsense is something I never thought I would experience when I entered into the publishing world. I've come a long way since that naive newbie author. I've become guarded and let very few people into my inner circle now. I've witnessed authors stealing each others ideas, creating sock puppet accounts in order to slam their competition, and demand exclusivity in groups.


All of this nonsense is leaving out the most important thing in this business...


WRITING!!!!


With all the drama, stacking of lists on Goodreads, "like my page" groups, review swaps and paying for reviews, there is very little time left for these people to write or socialize with the people they need to get their books in front of...


READERS.


Real, live readers who give real, honest reviews and not the dozens to hundreds of "fake" 5 star reviews listed by members of author support groups. These are what we should be seeking out and not pimping our work to each other. Fellow authors are NOT our target audience.




What do you do when real life mimics the Real Housewives? 




Laugh it off and get back to what is really important. Take care of your health, your family, and write, write, write! Don't fall into the trap of doing all promotions and no writing. Don't fall into the quagmire of obsessing over the damn lists on Goodreads. In the end, they mean NOTHING. 

Readers mean everything. Through them you have sales. The more sales you have, the higher in the ranks you'll find your books. The more sales you have the better chance you will see your books on the best sellers lists...and not just Amazon.


While I finish up DANGEROUS MEDICINE, I'll be working on winning with the Mean Girls and avoiding the drama. What about you?

Until next time,
~Steph

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

How to Send #Ebooks to Your Kindle or Kindle App Without Going through Amazon #MyWANA #amwriting

Welcome back to Through Stephanie's Eyes. I've been hard at work finishing DANGEROUS MEDICINE and turn it over to my editor. With luck and more hard work, it should be ready for release in the beginning of the New Year. I know. I know. I had hoped it would be done in time for a Christmas release, but the latest from the vendors is that unless we have a finished product to them within the next two weeks, there is no way they could guarantee a release date before the end of the year. In fact, many of them are CLOSED from Christmas Eve through January 1st. 

If we hadn't had to spend the last three months getting ready for and then moving to the Seattle area, I would have had everything ready in time. No worries! Now I can be sure I'll have the best story I can give these characters. My editor, Amber Lea Easton will see to it. She ROCKS!

Now for the other reason for today's post. This week I decided to revisit a subject that many Kindle users need a lesson on...

How to send ebook files to their Kindle or Kindle app without the "one click" purchase from the Amazon site.

I know some of you are staring at the screen and shaking your head. "How the hell can you do that? I thought I could only get books from Amazon because my Kindle can't open files from any other source."

You all have been misinformed. Amazon is NOT the only place to find books for your Kindles. Same goes for NOOK, KOBO and any other device. Once you know the process, you can get your books from any other REPUTABLE and LEGAL retail site and publisher's site. (I'm in no way talking about the pirate sites and file sharing sites. Those are illegally sharing files. Don't use those. Support your favorite authors and publishers through legitimate venues.)

It's a really easy process and it will enable you to purchase your ebooks from sites other than Amazon if you wish. Yes, there are more sites out there that sell mobi format ebooks. Here are a few:

and coming soon...Sassy Vixen Publishing

Not only can you get ebooks at fabulous prices from these sites, you can also win them during blog hops and other giveaways. Authors and other groups routinely giveaway free copies of their work to promote themselves and to introduce new readers to their stories. You can even take one file type and convert it to a Mobi file for your Kindle...that's a topic for another post, but you get my point.

If you know how to send files to your ereader, you won't be tied down to just using Amazon for everything. You do need the Kindle email address assigned to you when you registered with Amazon for an account. You have one even if you only have the Kindle App for your phone or iPad.  It should look something like stephryan@kindle.com

Now that's not my actual kindle addy but you get the picture. This is the email address you have to send all files TO.  Now what email account or accounts are accepted by your Kindle is up to you as well. Go into your Amazon account and choose the tab that says: Manage Your Kindle.  In there you'll find a spot where you can add all the sites that are allowed to send you material. In mine, I have my gmail account and Bookstrand's email. By allowing Bookstrand to send me stuff, I get an INSTANT upload to ereader. That's about as close to a "one click" shopping you can get!

Now if someone were to send me a ebook file, in MOBI or PRC format...or even PDF format, I can download the file to my computer.  I don't open the file yet. Instead, I send it as an attachment from my gmail account to my kindle address.

That's it. Within five minutes I have the file on my ereader. 

If you'd like more detailed instructions, here's a step by step on how to do it straight from Amazon

So go on and get used to sending files to your Kindle. You'll be able to receive ARCs from your favorite authors, become beta readers for others, read the ebooks you've won in contests, read PDF files for your job...anything you can think of, you'll eventually be able to do it. Go on. Give it a go!

~Steph

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Fighting Through the Self Doubt, Fears, Tears and Writer's Block #amwriting #MyWANA


It's been a while since my last post. Sorry about that. Life got in the way again...big time. It's not easy juggling a full time job as a veterinarian and writing under four pen names. As Stephanie, I am supposed to have my debut romantic suspense out at the end of October. Unfortunately, that may not go as planned.

My husband is now retired from the Coast Guard. After twenty years of service, he wishes to move back to his home state of Washington. For many people, the idea of moving is overwhelming in itself. Add on to that jumping through all the hoops and the sea of paperwork to get my license to practice veterinary medicine, pack up the house, purge the unwanted stuff, sign the new contract with my employer (same group of hospitals, just a different state), write not one, but FOUR stories for three different publication dates. At this point only one may go out on time. My debut may squeak by in time, but the last one will be delayed by two weeks.

Of course this is the time to be thankful I'm my own publisher. That's right, not only am I the same person as Tammy Dennings Maggy, Lia Michaels and Tawny Savage, I'm also Sassy Vixen Publishing. All of these "hats" have kept me busy but now it's causing some serious writer's block.

You would think I wouldn't have an issue. If one of my stories isn't working out, I can switch to another and keep going. That's the beauty of having four pen names. It has worked for me in the past, but now it's not. I'm so afraid of failing that my mind won't move forward...on anything.

I know I shouldn't compare myself to other authors, but that's much easier to say than do. Why can't I have those same successes others appear to have with their first books. Why can't I seem to get my groove and find friends and fans out there who want to take a chance on my stuff? It never fails that when I'm feeling this way, I get an email from Authorgraph telling me the low ranking of one of my earlier books. 

Nothing like a kick in the gut when you're already thinking of quitting. Why should I go through with the publication of Dangerous Medicine if it will simply sit there, unnoticed in a sea of other new releases? I'm not able to devote the time it takes to promote it properly and not spam the hell out of social media with it. It feels weird for me to be involved in book clubs where we choose a book a week to help promote by reading it and giving honest reviews. There are other genres in there I'm not interested in and don't enjoy reading. I don't think it's fair of me to read those or expect the others to read my romance.

Nice pickle I have myself in, huh?

It's even harder for my erotica and erotic romance. Amazon continues to "fine tune" their algorithms and slap ADULT CONTENT labels on books so they're essentially hidden from general searches. So much for being discovered by new readers who love to browse through the categories!

I know many of you may look at this post as just one more from a whiny author who really doesn't want to succeed bad enough to keep going. You're entitled to your opinion, but until you go through a day in my shoes, deal with life and death of your patients, deal with groups of people going through Amazon and Goodreads tagging all your books with 1 stars just because they can, take care of your health and that of your family AND find time to write, edit, create book covers and promote all four pen names...(taking deep breath) then and only then can you make an INFORMED opinion on whether or not I'm whining.

I don't want to quit writing. I want to go back to the time when it was FUN to write and share my stories. I want that excitement of waking up in the middle of the night just to jot down a plot point or a bit of dialogue before it flies out of my head forever. I want the JOY of writing back again.

Yes, writing should be viewed as a full time job in order to succeed at it. I think this is my problem. I've been trying to be successful at THREE full time jobs: wife, veterinarian, and author. I've thrown in there publisher, editor, cover artist, public relations/marketer, social media technician, beta reader and reviewer...oh and don't forget blogger.

There's not enough time in one day to accomplish a third of those tasks and yet I push myself to do them all. No wonder I'm blocked! LOL

I'm taking this weekend to enjoy some time away with my hubby and forget about the move, the deadlines, laundry and housework. When I get back, I hope to have cleared my mind enough to pick a few things from my To Do list and complete them. I'll not look at the rest of the list until those are done. It's the only way I'll get through it.

If Dangerous Medicine isn't a best seller right out of the gate...so what? It's still going to be published. I owe it to myself to finish this one. I started it in 1999. Maybe it's time I took Journey's advice and enjoy the blessings I have in my life instead of allowing all the other "stuff"  to weigh me down. 

Don't Stop Believin',
~Steph


Friday, July 25, 2014

#FridayFantasy: Cover Reveal for #RomanticSuspense DANGEROUS MEDICINE



Welcome back and happy Friday! Today is an extra special day here. We've finalized the cover for Dangerous Medicine. It wasn't easy. At first I wanted to go simple and not put a couple on the cover. This one isn't an erotic romance like the others I've written under other pen names. It's a romance, but the concentration of the story is more on the suspense aspect. The steamy love scenes are there, but you have to wait for them just like the characters. LOL!

I poured through more photos but then went back to the bunch I'd saved for inspiration. BINGO! I got my red head heroine and the smokin' hot hero in a sensual clinch. It's steamy without giving you the impression it's erotica.

What do you think?


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

**99¢** Party For the #Anthology Featuring a #SneakPeek of DANGEROUS MEDICINE by @StephRyanAuthor

Welcome back to Through Stephanie's Eyes. I'm Stephanie Ryan and today I'd like to give you a head's up about the special my publisher is running right now. 

The new anthology Sweet, Sultry, and Oh So Taboo is only 99¢ for the next three days only. It's made it into the top 100 paid Kindle anthologies and it features the first six chapters of my debut romantic suspense Dangerous Medicine.

As you recall, Sassy Vixen Publishing decided to offer this anthology up as a special release in time for RomCon in Denver. It was such a hit, they decided to continue with it and release it to everyone on all retail sites. Right at this moment it is 99¢ on ALL sites including iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Kobo. If you love to get your eBooks form All Romance...it's there too.

Here's the BLURB:

The “Sweet” from Stephanie Ryan’s Dangerous Medicine (M/F): Detroit based veterinary surgeon Miranda Jacobs puts her fast-paced career on hold in order to be with her family at her brother's bedside. It's on the way to the hospital that she literally collides with Detective Jake Martinelli. Sparks fly between them, and Miranda finds herself fiercely attracted to Jake even though she knows very little about him. 

The “Sultry” from Tammy Dennings Maggy’s Meet Me Under the Mistletoe (MF): Coast Guard Steve Sanders is called to assist a sinking vessel. His pregnant wife Jolene waits for his return when the rescue mission has goes horribly wrong. Will a miracle bring him back to meet his wife under the mistletoe?


The “Taboo” from Lia Michaels’s Have a Naughty, Naughty Christmas (MFMM): Candice, Alexander and Gabriel own Candy Kisses, the place to be in Detroit. The business partners have kept their desires hidden. When a wealthy playboy extends an offer that allows them to indulge their wildest fantasies, they embark on a very naughty Christmas. 

If you prefer the print version, it's available through Createspace, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and many other outlets. From Amazon, if you purchase the print book, you get the eBook at a reduced price. 

So what are you waiting for? Grab this collection now to help you get ready for my full novel, and the next installments of Tammy and Lia's tales. So many more stories are coming up throughout the rest of the year. You don't want to miss a single one!

Until next time,
Steph

Friday, June 6, 2014

#CoverReveal and Getting Ready for #RomCon2014 #amwriting


I'm so excited to show off the cover for Sweet, Sultry and Oh So Taboo. Sassy Vixen Publishing decided to put out the first six chapters as a sneak peek for the readers at RomCon 2014. I know you've all read them here on my blog, but they've been edited and now PUBLISHED in this book along with two novellas by my alter egos, Tammy Dennings Maggy and Lia Michaels.



At the book signing on Friday June 20th, we'll have copies of this collection as well as a few other Sassy Vixen Publishing books available for purchase. During the convention, multiple copies of this one and others will be given away for prizes and in gift baskets. "We" will be involved in the Erotic Authors Panel (Tammy Dennings Maggy...well, me since we are one and the same! LOL), Karaoke and Dance with the Decades with the 70's games Hungry Hungry Hippos and Kerplunk, Get Crafty with the Authors at the sewing table demonstrating how to make a cool quilted book cover, and running the Naughty Bingo during the Chocolate Mangasm. We'll have all sorts of candies, swag and baskets for prizes at each event. 



Another thing we've put together is a large basket for the Breast Cancer Awareness/Research raffle. In it will be print copies of all our books, swag and a hand made knitted prayer shawl along with a decorated framed poem from Follow Me: Poetry from the Heart and Soul by Tammy Dennings Maggy.

Another framed poem will be given away during the Get Crafty with the Authors event.






On July 1st, the special editions released at RomCon will be made available on all retail outlets in both print and eBook formats. I hope you join me in making their releases extra special and get them to the top of the charts!

See you in two weeks!
~Steph