Still Here…Writing and Dreaming: Completed first draft of sequel to MONOGAMY SUCKS

I am still here…writing and dreaming.

Just wanted to leave a short update for the readers of my blog about my current writing and upcoming books. As I hoped, I was able to finish the first draft of the sequel to my novel MONOGAMY SUCKS before the close of 2012. This was a satisfying personal achievement for me considering I don’t have as much time to write these days since taking a full-time public relations job this past August.

However, I will never abandon my writing dreams as I don’t write for a paycheck. I write for me. I could never hope to explain the joy writing brings to my life and how it feeds my passionate and creative soul.

My sequel to MONOGAMY SUCKS I believe will be sexier and even funnier that the original. The narrative follows my protagonist Jake Dalmas’ continuing naughty journey exploring wild swinging adventures, including sexy interracial threesomes and other hot encounters.  Jake’s honesty diary and sardonic voice remains the constant as a humorous self-deprecating guide for the readers into these naughty worlds. And I promise you there will be shocking scenes you can’t read anywhere else.

Yet there is a serious side to my writing that rarely gets mentioned in reviews. My MONOGAMY SUCKS sequel also addresses the potential pitfalls of relationships, even open relationships and the limits of love. In the frank way my original novel questioned monogamy, the sequel will take aim at romantic and sexual relationships through the eyes of a male swinger who is a little more wiser but no less vulnerable this time around.

However, dear readers, don’t look for my sequel any time soon. I plan to spend 2013 editing and shaping my MONOGAMY SUCKS sequel toward a possible summer 2014 release. After that, I am planning a sequel to my novel DEAR HEF as well for the fans of that humorous book.

Although I have no plans for a third MONOGAMY SUCKS novel right now, you never know. I am also planning at some point to take on other non-erotica genres such as Science Fiction, work life novels, thrillers, etc.

Please check my blog from time to time for updates on my writing, interviews and the progress of my MONOGAMY SUCKS sequel and other upcoming books.

And thanks for coming along for the naughty ride so far. Get ready. You haven’t read anything yet.

GP

Am I the NEXT BIG THING?: Check out my author blog interview

Am I publishing’s NEXT BIG THING?

Well, fellow author and sweet friend Shannon MacLeod seems to think so. She has tagged me as the NEXT BIG THING on Nai’lah Carter’s blog tour. Shannon is a cool author I met on Twitter. If you aren’t already, you should follow her at @themacleod.

The purpose of this promotion is to be able to discover new books you may not have heard about or for works that are still in progress. This is week 22 of the NEXT BIG THING blog tour.

So what what follows is the NEXT BIG THING interview — 10 questions about my writing, novels, etc. At the end of the interview, I will include links of authors I think will also be the NEXT BIG THING. Enjoy

What is the working title of your book?

Well, I actually have four books out right now on Amazon, including novels MONOGAMY SUCKS, DEAR HEF, an anthology INDULGENCE: TALES OF THE CIRQUE ROMANI, and my first novel LETTERS FROM CYBERSPACE. And I am finishing up the first draft of my sequel to MONOGAMY SUCKS that will focus on the topic of open relationships. I am hoping to have my sequel out in early to mid 2014.

 Where did the idea come from for the book?

The ideas for my novels came from my own life and the lives of people I met or from close friends. Through writing we explore our true selves even if the characters are nothing like us. Our lives ultimately shape our words.

What genre does your book fall under?

Erotica. Or what I like to call real life erotica. One reviewer described my novels as “Tucker Max meets Sex in the City.” I think that is a pretty good description.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I would say either Jason Schwartzman or Luke Wilson would make an interesting Jake Dalmas, the protagonist of MONOGAMY SUCKS, or Jimmy Rausch, the protagonist of DEAR HEF, if  movies or TV series were ever made of my novels.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Novel MONOGAMY SUCKS is a provocative peek behind the scenes of a Long Beach, Calif. man’s mid-thirties lust crisis and his ensuing sexy, intriguing, humorous journey into the swinging lifestyle.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Three of my novels — MONOGAMY SUCKS, DEAR HEF, INDULGENCE  have been published by digital publisher Lazy Day Publishing.  I published my first novel first novel LETTERS FROM CYBERSPACE.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I started writing my novel Monogamy Sucks in March 1998, however, because of my fears and doubts that anyone would interested in my story, I kept my novel hidden in my computer for more than 12 years as I worked on many drafts. Early in 2009, I read an article on the Huffington Post about how a number of best selling books started out first as blogs. So I decided to launch my novel on a blog one chapter a time in May 2010. Several months later, digital publisher Lazy Day Publishing offered me a book deal. I seriously doubt if that would have happened if I hadn’t put my novel out in the blogosphere and tweeted about it on Twitter. I believe Twitter is an essential tool in promoting my books and novels, writing in general as is Facebook, blogs and the Internet overall.

 What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Charles Bukowki’s “Women,” Henry Miller’s “Tropic of Cancer,” Anais Nin’s “Henry and June,” to name a few.

Each of them bravely and uniquely explored controversial sexual and societal issues in a frank, unsentimental manner exposing truth and hypocrisy alike. I treasure novels that truly take me on a journey and challenge my preconceptions about life.

 Who or What inspired you to write this book?

The two most influential books on me as a writer are Henry Miller’s “Tropic of Cancer” and Anais Nin’s “Henry and June.” Miller’s and Nin’s eagerness to explore erotic subjects in a serious way that were considered taboo at the time (1930s and 1940s) has always impressed me. Miller’s frank and brutal honest prose and Nin’s sensual, erotic and insightful diaries and description of her own sexual awakening have impacted my own writing. I say this humbly, but I view my novels MONOGAMY SUCKS and DEAR HEF as my attempts to write modern versions of Miller’s and Nin’s seminal novels. I would also have to mention Charles Bukowski’s novel WOMEN as having a huge impact on me. His honest prose and humor really impacted me. Bukowski, like Miller and Nin, went places most writers would avoid.

I wanted to write honest books about swinging, monogamy, sex, Internet sex, but leave in all the troubling, shocking and funny encounters most other erotica books leave out. Despite its explicit content, I don’t consider what I write erotica.  I call it real life erotica or reality fiction without the erotic trappings of your typical erotica novel. I want to make you think and laugh not just turn you on.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I hope you’re readers will take a chance and read my provocative novels and won’t be put off by the controversial content. They are really like no other modern novels they have read.  My books have some relevant and interesting things to say about sex, relationships and monogamy, and are an intriguing exploration of the male sexual mind. I think my novels appeal to both sexes, but really have seemed to have struck a chord among women, which was unexpected. Yes, my books are explicit, but I believe its themes are more universal than one might think.

You can find me on Twitter at @gpwriter. 

I tweet a lot about my books, writing, sex and life.

Check out these amazing writers, who along with Shannon MacLeod, I believe could be the
NEXT BIG THING:

SID KALI

RANEE DILLON

PENELOPE JONES

AMBER GRAYSON VAYLE

Tomorrow Night at 7 p.m. PST I will be a guest on the NAUGHTY SLOT radio program to talk about my novels MONOGAMY SUCKS, DEAR HEF and INDULGENCE

Tomorrow night at 7 p.m. PST I will be a guest on the Naughty Slot radio program to talk about my novels MONOGAMY SUCKS, DEAR HEF, and INDULGENCE: Tales of the Cirque Romani.

I was invited on the show by Amber Grayson Vayle, who I met on Twitter — follow her @thenaughtyslot   She is also an author in addition to her role as the host of the Naughty Slot radio show and TV series.

This is the 50th interview on my blog tour in support of my novel MONOGAMY SUCKS.

Enjoy. It will be a sexy conversation without a doubt.

GP

MONOGAMY SUCKS Was Downloaded More Than 2,500 Times Last Week on Amazon Kindle

This past week my novel MONOGAMY SUCKS was downloaded more than 2,500 times on Amazon Kindle. My novel had 2320 free downloads in U.S and 210 in the UK as part of Amazon’s borrowing program.

Thanks to all who took a chance on my brand of wild real life erotica. You will not regret it. My novel will make you laugh, shock you and it may even turn you on.

I’m a little more than halfway through the sequel to MONOGAMY SUCKS, so thanks again for embarking on this opportunity to follow Jake Dalmas’ adventures from the beginning.

GP

Starting Today Don’t Miss the Chance to Take a Walk on the Wild side of Erotica for FREE all week: Download MONOGAMY SUCKS on Amazon Kindle

Don’t miss the chance starting today, if you dare, to download my sexy and controversial novel MONOGAMY SUCKS for FREE on Amazon Kindle.

You can get it here.

My book will be available to download for free for the next five days as part of Amazon’s book borrowing promotional program. I recently participated in this promotion with my current novel DEAR HEF,  and had an amazing response with more than 1,000 readers downloading my e-book.

So take a chance on my brand of wild real life erotica and find out how swingers really live.

Oh, and remember — Monogamy Sucks, too. Discover more about one man’s journey for sexual fulfillment. And I promise my novel’s ending will also surprise you.

I’m also halfway through writing the sequel to MONOGAMY SUCKS, so take this opportunity to follow Jake Dalmas’ adventures from the beginning. It is worth your time and you can’t beat the price.

GP

My Five Minutes Story of Books’ Blog Q and A About Future of Books & Erotica

Today I was featured on the Story of Books blog’s Five Minutes interview Q & A talking about the future of books, how e-books have sparked an erotic resurgence, and my favorite books. I was interviewed by Twitter friend and the blog’s editor Salina Christmas.

Story Of Books is a project that began life as a Twitter hashtag for Sojournposse Purpose’s London Design Festival 2011 event, “Whatever is to become of books?”.

Check out my interview here.

This the 49th interview of my blog tour for my novel MONOGAMY SUCKS.

More to come as always.

GP

Novel MONOGAMY SUCKS Featured on the INDIE SPOTLIGHT

This past week my novel MONOGAMY SUCKS was featured on the INDIE SPOTLIGHT blog. The blog is run by Gregory Bernard Banks, who is a graphic designer,  forum administrator, co-Webmaster for the Speculative Literature Foundation, author of six books, and owner the small press WheelMan Press (wwww.wheelmanpress.com), and the freelance graphic design company, BDDesign LLC (www.bddesignonline.com.)

Here’s a link to my interview and excerpt of Chapter 7 of my novel MONOGAMY SUCKS. This was the 48th interview of my blog tour for my novel.

Enjoy.

As always, more to come.

GP

2011: A Remarkable Year on My Writer’s Journey

This has been a remarkable year for me as a writer.

2011 saw the publication of two of my novels — MONOGAMY SUCKS and DEAR HEF — and a paranormal erotica story Swinging with the Supernatural that was included in the Lazy Day Publishing print anthology INDULGENCE: Tales of the Cirque Romani.

However, the year started in a much darker place with me receiving hostile indifference toward my novel MONOGAMY SUCKS from some critics and readers. Yet through steady persistence of promoting my books in social media and in the mainstream press, I have been able to overcome a lot resistance to the explicit nature of my work.

MONOGAMY SUCKS continues to perform well in the Amazon Kindle sales rankings consistently placing in the top 50,000 out of 800,000 books. My others books are also slowly finding an audience.

I make no apologies. Frankly, I don’t write for the faint of heart. I try to depict sex without the rose colored glasses typical of mainstream erotica. I call it real life erotica with all the messy parts left in.

I must admit I do revel going into other areas that many other writers avoid — male sexual insecurity, disappointing swinging and casual sex encounters, the limitations of monogamy and traditional relationships, the honest  truth about the swinging lifestyle, and how the Internet distorts our sex and romantic lives. I try keep things humorous as means to engage my readers as I delve into thorny and uncomfortable issues.

Still, each day it seems I find new readers who embrace my vision. That support is priceless for a writer, and so rewarding when you can find it.

I will have more to offer in 2012 as I am half way through writing the sequel to MONOGAMY SUCKS which I hope to finish by this summer or fall. It will be just as sexy and controversial as its predecessor.

Take a chance on my three books.  You will not be disappointed. You might even enjoy yourself and find out something about how other people live.

Isn’t that why we read novels in the first place?

Happy New Year to all my readers, supporters and fellow authors, writers, bloggers, poets, artists, musicians, filmmakers and songwriters.

GP

My Nomination for the The Farthest Reach Award 2012 For Book Marketing Excellence

Today I received the wonderful news that I have been selected as one of the five nominees for the Farthest Reach Award 2012. I am very honored to be included in the very talented company of authors EdenBaylee, Jeremy C. Shipp, Kristen Lamb, and the Indie Book Collective.

The Farthest Reach Award 2012 recognizes excellence in book marketing. The award is presented to individuals, groups or teams who have made outstanding ‘on-the-ground’ contributions to the sector of book marketing and publishing, either through mass efforts that have benefited the entire segment or particular to their own writing and sales goals.

Many thanks to author Jason McIntyre and the Decision Committee who chose me and other nominees out of 50 possible selections.

Look here and on Jason’s site for more news about the final award selection next year.

GP

NOVEL “MONOGAMY SUCKS” 1 YEAR LATER : LESSONS I LEARNED ALONG THE WAY

One year ago today Lazy Day Publishing launched my wild swinger magnum opus MONOGAMY SUCKS on an unsuspecting literary world and reading public as an e-book.

Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. I was just relieved my book would finally see the light of day after 12 years of being afraid to show it to anyone. For those who don’t know the story, I launched the first six chapters of my novel on my blog starting in May 2010, and a few months later I was offered a book contract by Lazy Day Publishing, which was a new digital publisher launching its company in December 2010.

Despite my happiness at finally being published, I naturally expected the worst. And initially anyway, my worst fears were realized as my first two reviews were awful, hit piece attacks by those who completely misunderstood what I was trying to achieve with my novel — an honest and frank look at sex, monogamy and the swinging lifestyle from a an unflinching male point of view.

Even with supportive words from my publisher, telling not to worry about the reviews or to take them personally, I despaired and wondered about the future prospects for my book and my writing career as I had many books planned.

Yet I took my critical lumps,  persevered and kept promoting my book on Twitter, Facebook and in the mainstream media. Slowly but surely, I began to find support among my fellow authors on Twitter and ultimately enthusiastic readers — even among women,  which I did not expect.

My novel is doing phenomenally well on Amazon Kindle considering its controversial title, explicit erotic content, and its frank real life erotica approach. MONOGAMY SUCKS is consistently ranked around 50K out of 800K e-books on Kindle. So much for the notion of books have a short shelf life in this digital age.

Just as encouraging is that I am halfway through my sequel to MONOGAMY SUCKS and recently I had two more books come out on Lazy Day Publishing — DEAR HEF and INDULGENCE: Tales of the Cirque Romani.

I have learned some valuable lessons in this past year that I wanted to share.

AMAZON IS KING: I am convinced now that securing Amazon Kindle reviews is crucial to driving sales and building up an audience for your book. We all know word of mouth is everything in trying convince readers to take a chance on your writing.  Amazon provides a very simple way for readers to leave reviews and for potential readers to check out what other people thought about your book. Once I built up my reviews for MONOGAMY SUCKS, I found it much easier to find new readers.

SUCCESS OF YOUR BOOK IS UP TO YOU: Book promotion is your most important job next to writing. How do you expect anyone to read your book if you don’t tell them about it? Learn all you can from those who know about book promotion and reach out to your fellow authors on Twitter and Facebook for advice. Don’t be afraid to promote yourself. You wrote a book to have readers didn’t you?

TWITTER IS A WRITER’S BEST FRIEND: If you are an author or an aspiring writer, you must use Twitter to promote your book, and reach out of other writers.  I found an incredibly supportive writing community on Twitter. In addition, creatively tweet about info and links about your book several times a day if you can. Also tweet out parts of your novel using the #novelines hashtag. It gives potential readers a taste of your novel before buying it.  Also realize the importance of hashtags in reaching out to specific #writing #communities that appeal to #authors and #readers. I have found Twitter a lot more helpful that Facebook in finding new readers, but you must have a presence on both.

FREE IS NOT ALWAYS GOOD: My apologies to Wired Magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson, but FREE is not always the best price for your book. I know all the arguments in favor of giving away your book for free, but frankly I just don’t buy it. An occasional book give away is fine, but distributing large quantities of your book for free is not an effective way to find new readers. I am exempting book bloggers and reviewers from this since they will in fact review your book at some point. Most of those I gave my book away to never even bothered to read it let alone review it.
I discovered the hard way that those who actually bought my book — particularly on Amazon — were more inclined to read it and post reviews. I believe they valued my book because they actually invested in it — both with time and money. I know again some may not agree, but that has been my experience.

BELIEVE IN YOUR BOOK AND WRITING OR NO ONE ELSE WILL: Don’t be your own worst enemy. Putting down your writing and not believing in your work is a real turn off for potential readers. If you don’t have confidence in your work why should anyone else?

And I know this goes against conventional wisdom, but be ready to stand up for your books and writing when you have been unfairly attacked. Sure, you shouldn’t take bad reviews personally, but you don’t have to stay silent while someone trashes your book. A reasoned, calm and intelligent response to your critics will only make you appear like a writer people should be reading and offers a thoughtful counterpoint to the bad review.  But that being said — an angry and defensive response to criticism will hurt you and your book and will give a bad review more credence than it may deserve.

DON’T GET OBSESSED WITH BOOK SALES AND RANKINGS: This is easier said than done as an author’s success and value is judged to a large part by book sales. But reaching readers — any readers — with your book is a success in and of itself separate from monetary gain. It why we write in the first place, isn’t it? Building a readership takes time. Thousands of books are released every day so don’t get discouraged. The advent of e-books and the Internet gives authors more access to get their work out than ever before. Take advantage of it.

HAVE FUN: It may seem scary at times to have your innermost thoughts, creations and writing out there for all the world to see, but it is also very rewarding when readers understand your vision and embrace your book. Being an author doesn’t have to be a daunting experience. It can also be one highlighted by inspiration and joy in the knowledge that you are reaching others through your words.

This past year has inspired me in so many ways and has made me more determined than ever to get more of my work out there. What a wonderful, intriguing and educational ride it has been so far.

I am very thankful for every reader I have. Truly.

Monogamy sucks — at least it does for me — but being an author never does.

I can think of no other job I’d rather have.