By God Its Over!!

As of the the 17th of December, I have the rights to my novel, He Belongs to Me, back from the peace of crap publisher, Aspen Mountain Press. Per the contract, if Sandra for any reason, suspends services for 60 days straight, all rights revert back to the Author.

And she did!!!

Here's the letter I Sent her:

Dear Sandra,

I am writing to advise you that at midnight eastern standard time on December 18^th, 2011, Aspen Mountain Press (AMP) has had their business operations suspended for sixty continuous days. Therefore, as per Clause XIX of the AMP contract; all rights to He Belongs to Me automatically reverts back to me.

I now consider myself and my novel, He Belongs to Me, free of any and all legal obligations to Aspen Mountain Press as per December 18^th, 2011.

An official reversion of rights letter would be appreciated, as per the contract.

Sincerely,

Cathy D. Colebrooke (Nya Rayne)

Yep, it's over not on to bigger and better things!!  I'll be posting the cover for Storm's Fury soon, so stay tuned.

Will the crap with AMP ever stop?

Alrighty, all!! 

Celina, a really terrific Lady was brave enough to post about the behind the scenes going on's at Aspen Mountain Press (AMP).  Let's just say, this is Law & Order type stuff people. 

Check it out at:

http://kaantira.blogspot.com/2011/10...-mountain.html


or just click on the heading and you'll be taken there immediately!~!
 
Yeah, I really should've thought twice before accepting this offer....
 
That's all for now, Folks!!

Aspen Mountain update and then some...

Evening Ladies and Gents!!

Up until recently there were no changes with Aspen Mountain Press (AMP), just the same old bull crap day in and day out. However, Sandra posted the following message to the AMP Yahoo Loop last night. Of course, I have been kicked off this loop even though Sandra is still making money off of my sales (FYI):

"The AMP site will be down for an indefinite amount of time as we try to ascertain the backend problem with the coming soon page. As soon as the error is found and corrected the site will be back up."

She posted this message, but the thing is her site was already brought down for an hour or so last week because she was still selling novels she no longer has under contract. In order to bring it back up she had to remove the novels she had up illegally.

Per the contract she can't have the site down for more than 30 days--I think--but she's claiming technical issues, which is not covered under the contract.

The woman is ridiculously slimy, I tell you!! If she can find a loop hole to save herself she'll slither threw it with the quickness!!

So, I'm still sort of stuck.

*scratches head*

But boy wouldn't I love an attorney's opinion?!?

In addition to that, I've heard from a good source that AMP might honestly be closing its doors. That news is just a little too good to be true and needs to be verified, but my fingers are crossed. Because I'd love to get He Belongs to Me back and into the hands of a publisher who would appreciate it.

That’s all for now, but as promised, I'll keep you guys and gals apprised to any changes.

----------------------------------------=========+++++++++---------------------------------------------========++++++

Anyway, on the Musa end, I have my release date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wait for it...

Wait for it....

Grab your calenders and pens...

Wait for it....

JANUARY 13TH, 2012

Now mark it down!!

That's it for now!!

Aspen Mountain Press, the BAD and the UGLY.

Over the past few weeks I've been waffling between letting you all in on the dark seedy side of publishing or keeping it to myself. I've decided to let you in and hopefully keep what's happening to me from happening to any of you aspiring authors out there.

My tale begins July 4th 2010.

It should have been one of the happiest days of my life and for a while it was, because that was the day I got my first contract offer from Aspen Mountain Press for my novel, He belongs to me. After reviewing the contract, I tried to get clarification on certain parts of the contract. I found my contact with Sandra Hicks to be lackluster, blah, and severely underwhelming. It honestly left a very bad taste in my mouth. Because of that, I thought about not going with her company. However, I had a few acquaintances who had published with AMP tell me that regardless of her demeanor, AMP was a good E-Publisher.

Long story short, I signed with her.

It was--without a doubt--the biggest mistake of my publishing life.

I sent the contract back to her at the end of July, beginning of August. She sent it back to me promptly, fully executed and all. The month of August went by, then September, and then October. I heard nothing from anyone at the company about my release date, edits, nothing, nada, zilch!! I sent off a generic email to Sandra requesting an update as to when I could expect my novel to be released. I heard nothing from her until the end of November, I believe. It was a very nonspecific email, but it was something.

2010 goes out and 2011 comes in and still, I have heard nothing about my release date. I end up posting to the Beware Forum at AbsoluteWrite.com (AW). One of the nice people who work at AMP responded and I promptly received a release date, and was put in contact with my editor. It's now the end of January beginning of February, 2011.

From there the process was pretty smooth, my novel released on April 8th, 2011, a full week early. I, as an author, was happy and had almost forgiven Sandra Hicks for her lack of responsiveness and unprofessionalism. And then in July I received my first royalty statement--YAY!

Not!!

It basically told me that from the day my novel was published, I had only sold one book. Thing is, even if no one else on the face of the planet bought my novel, I personally bought 15 of them. I promptly informed AMP of this and was told that it would be researched.

Supposedly, it was and they still couldn't find proof of the other 14 novels that I purchased. So, being a good sport, I sent them my receipts proving that something was wrong with their system. It was swept under the rug or combed over—how ever you want to say, covered up.

I received no additional funds.

Since that time, I still haven't received an update as to my correct royalty statement and missing money. The entire staff at AMP has quit, Sandra Hicks is MIA and is not responding to emails, phone calls, or accepting certified mail. Every once and a yellow moon, she creeps out of her cave and posts a short message--I heard--saying she's doing her best. She has also removed any and all authors who are speaking out against her horrible treatment of AMP's authors from the AMP website yahoo loop.

Basically, she’s treating us like we’re not published with her company, but yet she is living off of money incured from the sales of our books.

Moving on, I Sent Sandra Hicks a formal email requesting a correct royalty statement and any back funds she owe me as well as a formal explanation as to the state of her company. I gave her 45 days to get back to me and clear this mess up, or I formally requested that she revert my rights back to me post-haste. That email was sent to her on the 9th of September.

To date, I have had no response from Sandra Hicks or anyone at her so called company. I'll keep you all informed as to when--if I ever do--get my rights back or at the very least some answers, a check and a freaking apology!!

That’s all folks, I'll be back in a few days with some excellent news about my new paranormal romance novel, Storm's Fury!!

The Winner of the AMP Tour Interview's Me

This should be a blast!!!  And here weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee go!!!!!!!!!!!

~~~

K: What do you love most about writing? What do you hope for your writing career in the next few years?

N: Very good question, Kim!! What I love most about writing is that there are no boundaries. If I want to write about mermaids who can’t swim, or vampires with webbed feet that thrive in water or flies that carry the vaccine for AIDS, I can and no one can tell me I can’t. I guess, I love that while I’m writing, reality is what I say reality is.

In the next few years, with regard to my writing career, I hope to have landed one of the top five agents in the business and have at least two of my books on the NY Times Bestsellers list. If I’m going to dream I might as well dream big, right?

K: How long does it take to write a book for you? Is there much research involved in your stories?

N: The time it takes me to write a book varies. For instance, He Belongs to Me took about 45 days to write, but Storm’s Fury, the novel I’m subbing out now, took six to eight months. I guess it really depends on how heavy I want the writing to be. So as to your second question, yes, I do research when necessary.

K: What would we find on your bookcase if we looked? What is one of your favorite authors?

N: If you looked at my bookcase you would find such a mixture of novels it would probably make your head spin. Let’s see, there’s some Lora Leigh, she’s one of my all time favorite paranormal romance authors, Christine Feehan, a little bit of Angela Knight, and quite a few JD Robb novels. There are also a lot of John Sanford, Lee Childs, John Saul, and I think I have one or two Zane books in there somewhere. Told you it was quite a mixture…lol.

K: What was the last book you read (e or print) and did you like it? What are you currently reading now?

N: Since I got my kindle, I’ve been really big into e-books. I can download a novel straight from the internet to my kindle in like 6 six seconds. It’s crazy!! Let’s see, the last book I read was an old Lora Leigh novel, I think it was Jacob’s Faith or maybe Aiden’s Charity. I’m really not sure, because I devour those books like a dog does peanut butter. (lol) And yes, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Right now I’m reading a paranormal romance Anthology, but the first story bored the living crap out of me so I haven’t picked it back up in about a week or so.

K: Out of all your books, do you have a favourite one? If not, then which one is closest to your heart?

N: I do have a favourite but it’s still a work in progress. I’ve been writing it for over five years and am now at chapter 65 and it’s still going. I think it’s one of those that probably won’t be released until I’m a well established author and then it will have to be broken down into two or three books. As of right now it has no working title. It’s definitely closest to my heart out of all of my books.

K: Could you tell us a little about how you develop your characters? Who has been your favorite character to write? The most challenging?

N: My characters sort of develop themselves at first, and then during the “gutting” I go back through and add in the little twitches that make them human. The character that was the most fun to write had to Ice, Phia’s best friend from He Belongs to Me. She’s just a ball of fun—every girls bestfriend!! The most challenging by far would be Donté. He’s been through so much in his life that his feelings at times were hard to sort out, especially where Phia was concerned.

K: What character out of all your books is the closest to your personality?

N: The character that most closely resembles me is in a novel I’ve only recently begun working on. She’s a control freak, set in her ways, who thinks her way is always the right way. When she falls it’s going to be quite a tumble. That novel probably won’t be out until the end of 2012.

K: You have to ask a fictional character out on a date—who would you ask and what would you do together?

N: Wow, Kim you’re entirely too good at this! These questions are awesome!! Let’s see, I’d probably ask out Jack Reacher from Lee Child’s Reacher Series. What would we do for a date, well, let’s just say we wouldn’t be leaving the house…lol.

K: You come back from the dead as a spirit, what message are you trying to get across?

N: Where the heck are you getting these questions? (lol) To the question, I honestly don’t know what I would want to get across because I’ve never experienced death, but I would hope it would be something along the lines of there’s no need to be afraid of death because it’s just as the bible says it is...beautiful!!

K: If your muse were to talk behind your back, what secrets would he/she tell?

N: The rat-fink bastard would probably tell you that all the little dark moments in my books are the closes to my real thoughts. You know the ones; you don’t want other people to know you have. I should probably delete this answer, but I want. (lol)

K: What is your favorite way to relax after a hard day working and writing?

N: With a nice cold beer, preferably a Dos Equis and a trip to the dog park with my favorite pouch.

K: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what 5 things would you have with you?

N: Wow, well let’s see... I would bring a satellite phone with a back up battery, a grill, some steaks, charcoal, and twelve-pack of Dos Equis. I’d have everything I needed to grill out while I wait to be rescued.

Wow, Kim great questions!! It’s been fun and please feel free to stop back by anytime for a visit and to chat!!

All Good Things Must Come to an End

What a wonderful week it has been!! I've met some wonderful people, who I hope will continue to swing by from time to time to let me know how they're doing. Hey, if you don't come to me, I'll come to you...lol.

Any who, tonight marks the end of AMP’s Birthday tour, but I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who commented and let you all know that you are now in the running for a beautiful Kindle Graphite. The winner will be announced tonight on the AMP site during our wind down party bash--click the gold banner and it will take you there.

I will also be announcing the winner of the autograph copy of my novel, He Belongs to Me and the interview with me on my blog—this thing—tonight, so be around or be around!!

See you all later at the festivities and thanks again for stopping by!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Aspen Mountain Press!!!!!!!

First and foremost, I want to thank all of you wonderful-wonderful, wonderfully crazy people for stopping by my blog on this, Aspen Mountain's Anniversary!!

Bonsai! Hooray!! Way to go!! Great job!!



I'm a newly published authoress, so let me introduce myself. I'm Nya Rayne, but please call me Miss Rayne when I'm nasty. I spend my time between sunny South Florida and beautiful Charlotte, NC, and I'm the proud parent-owner of a 1 and 1/2 year-old German shepherd by the name of Apache-Star.


Isn't she gorgeous?!?! I love dogs, so feel free to share some of your own with me!!

In addition to being a novelist, I am also a licensed stylist and cutting specialist to the stars--yeah, I'm claiming it!! If you want to find out more about me, click here and friend me on that wonderful thing called FACEBOOK!!

But I digress...

My current novel is a Futuristic Romance called, He Belongs to Me. It's about a world dominated by women where men are not only an endangered species, but a priceless commodity available only to the ruling class. It is the first novel of a three book series, the second of which is currently being written.

Check out this excerpt, it's all about the lead male with his sexy booty, chest and dreamy eyes:

Xavier stood, stepped to the end of the bed, and brushed a few thick locks of hair from his face. His Intimacy Instructor strutted in his direction, her blonde, board-straight hair pinned back away from her face. Her light brown eyes focused on him.

He didn’t like her, not because of who she was, more because of what she was. He’d read and studied his text thoroughly and he knew what she taught him was not considered intimacy. It was more barbaric and demeaning than anything else.

She stopped before him, a tight smile on her face. “Good evening.”

Kail and Savior spoke in unison, “Good evening.”

She ignored them and spoke directly to him, “Good evening, Xavier.”

She stared at him, and he had to wonder exactly what she was looking for. She had to have known once he had found favor; she could not touch him in that way ever again. “Good evening,” he finally said.

She stepped closer to him, her breasts brushing against his bare chest. “I wanted to congratulate you on your wonderful luck. I hear your goddess is most desirable.”

“I wouldn’t know,” he bit out in a tone he had never used with any of his instructors before. He took a small step back away from her.

Her head tilted to one side and for an instant, he saw the look he’d seen numerous times on her face just before she chained him to the wall of her private classroom and tried to beat him into submission.

“If I had known you were going to be chosen, I would have made sure to schedule one last session with you,” she admitted brashly.

He could feel the eyes of the other nurturers trained on him as he took another step back away from her.

She stepped forward and continued, her hands gripping her hips, “There is still so much I need to teach you.” Her eyes traveled the length of his body and back as if devouring him. She bit down on her lower lip in what Xavier figured was meant to look sexy. It set his nerves on edge.

Xavier looked away from her and around at the other occupants of the room. “I have learned all I need to learn from you,” he said as he stepped back again, his back bumping up against the cold steel of his hanger.

She grinned. Her breasts flat against his bare chest felt like warm soft pillows begging to be plumped or pulled closer. If she weren’t such a sadist, the thought might have appealed to him. Her lukewarm hands moved up his arms and over his shoulders.

Xavier shot a look at Savior and Kail for help, but all he saw staring back at him was regret and helplessness. They could not intercede. If he had not found favor, she would have been allowed to do this to him at will and in the presence of everyone because she was his instructor. Her eyes sparkled with mischief as her hand slipped down to his waist and into the elastic band of his white, loose-fitting cotton pants. His body froze as her hand found his member and cupped it, her nails digging into the tender skin.

He hissed and closed his eyes, his hand coming up to hers, gripping it. “Stop,” he growled. His anger surged to the forefront and it took every ounce of will he had in him to keep it in check. He was too close. He was too damn close. “I’ve found favor! You can’t do this!”

Xavier knew he couldn’t hit her or push her away. He could never put his hands on any female in such a manner. It went against everything he’d been taught and bred for, but her, he wanted to pound into the ground at his feet. His free hand clenched and released as he bit down hard on his lower lip and tried to suppress the hatred he felt for her and the violence he wanted to inflict on her. He couldn’t and wouldn’t allow her to throw his gift away.

She laughed in his face. It was a wicked cackle that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end and his ire to spike even more. “And do you…”

“Carnie, what are you doing?” a voice bellowed, cutting her off.

If you want more, then click here.
 

Contest....Contest...Contest TIME!!!!

 

 

 

First Contest

 

Now that you've purchased your copy of the book, be the first to tell me; first, what city were Phia (female lead) and Xavier in when he was recaptured, and second what city does Phia and her remaining compainions escape to inorder to avoid capture.

 

First Place Winner: $50 AMEX Gift Card

Second Place Winner: $25 Amex Gift Card

 

Second Contest

 

Respond to this blog, telling me about your favorite character and you'll be placed in the running for an autographed copy of He Belongs to Me and a one on one conversation on this blog with me!!  On second thought just post to this blog and you're in the running!!

TOUR RULES:::::::

1) Tour Starts: Monday, August 1, 2011 at Midnight (EST)
Tour Ends: August 7, 2011 at Midnight (EST)
Final Celebration is August 7th from 6pm-11pm (EST) at the AMP Community Loop.
Grand Prize: a Kindle (Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6″ Display with New E-Ink Pearl Technology) is the Grand Prize. Drawing will take place and be announced on August 7, 2011 on the AMP Community Loop at 11pm (EST). Only comments posted before 10pm (EST) on August 7, 2011 are eligible to win the Kindle. Winner will be notified by email on August 8, 2011 if they are not present on the Loop for the announcement.
***Individual winners from author contests will be drawn and posted August 8, 2011 on their individual sites.***

2) Participation at every blog on the tour is not required but the more blogs a person comments on, the more chances they have to win. If a person comments on one blog, they are entered into the Grand Prize Drawing once. If they comment on ten different blogs, they will be entered into the Grand Prize drawing ten times. Only one comment per blog per person will be entered to win the Grand Prize.
3) The winner of the Grand Prize must be a resident of the United States with a US mailing address. Non-US winners will be eligible for $50 US in Aspen Mountain Press books from the AMP Website.
4) Prizes at individual author blogs are completely at the discretion of the individual authors and are not in association with Aspen Mountain Press and its prize system. To enter the contest on any given blog, you must follow their contest rules and objectives.
5) By commenting on any blog in the tour, the participant is agreeing to these rules and policies.
6) All prize winners will be chosen randomly by using Random Line Picker.

Thanks so much guys and gals for visiting my blog, it's been a real blast!! Please feel free to stop in anytime, but for now your next stop will be to the wonderful and gifted Viki Lyn another one of Aspen's finest authors. Go ahead and grab your towels and spray bottles because the girl is HOT, HAUT, HOT,and did I say, HOT!!  Just click here, or here, or here and you'll be on your way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEE YOU ALL REAL SOON!!!