Lana Griffin - Guest Blog and Contest

Today PVN welcomes Lana Griffin author of the terrific vampire novel Dusk. She's here to tell us what the writing life has been like for her. [Look for contest info at the end of the post.]

Lana's Journey from Print to E-Books

First, I want to thank Patricia for inviting me here today. 

I'm fairly new to blogging and Goodreads, and in fact, created my own blog only a few months ago.  During the past few weeks, I've done numerous interviews and guest posts, so perhaps I've had my first blog tour without knowing it.  I still don't know how to twitter, and I may never find out.  You see, I come to the e-book world from print, where things are very different.

DUSK is my first vampire romance novel, and it's an e-book from Ravenous Romance, a new e-publisher.  DUSK was released on 12-30-09, a few months ago.  This marks my first baby step into the e-landscape of writing. 

While DUSK is my first step into romance, it certainly isn't my first step into paranormals.  All of my published works (several dozen stories and six novels to date) are paranormals; most are wild, wacky, sexy stories about vampires, witches, spirits, shapeshifters, and other creatures. 

I became a creative writer because I had no choice.  I'm not particularly good at anything else, and I can honestly say that writing fiction is the one thing I truly enjoy doing.  If I can touch a few readers with ideas and emotions that matter to me, I'm thrilled.  If I can make someone laugh, I'm thrilled.  (I've received some fan letters over the years that are priceless, but that's a topic for another time.)

When I started selling fiction in 1993, I used a free CPM desktop computer with a free Spinwriter printer.  The equipment was so large that it occupied half of my dining room.  It was my first word processor, and I was amazed at how it boosted my fiction output compared to what I'd been producing on my parents' ancient 1940's typewriter. 

The ribbon on the Spinwriter had about as much ink as a Word document on your computer screen.  Hence, when I printed my stories, the type was almost illegible.  Not having a clue about what I was doing, I printed each illegible manuscript on the back of one long sheet of 20-inch-wide, perforated, green-and-white striped warehouse inventory paper.  This inventory paper had accounting statistics all over it (if you haven't guessed, I got the used inventory paper for free).  I then ripped the pages apart at the perforations and cut everything to size with fingernail scissors.  I pounded a staple into the top left corner of each story.

I sold my first dozen stories this way.  Amazing.  Because this is not the way to submit stories to print publishers!

Time rolled forward.  After selling a few dozen stories to print magazines and anthologies, I took a big step and sold one story to an e-publisher that offered pro-pay rates (4 cents/word).  I was paid, the story appeared online, and other than the backup copy I kept, the story is now long gone.  The e-publisher shut down, its website disappeared. 

I decided circa late-90s that e-publishing wasn't a great route for writers.

Time rolled forward.  (It has a habit of doing that.)  I wrote a lot of print books under very tight deadlines.  Some books sold well (350-400,000 copies) and some didn't do particularly well (10,000 copies). 

My agent, Lori Perkins, saw the rise of e-publishing and decided to hop onboard early.  She formed a partnership and created Ravenous Romance, and I returned to e-publishing using the pen name of Lana Griffin.

Here's what I think about my first vampire romance novel aka my first e-book: 

It was intensely fun to write DUSK.  I'd always wanted the freedom to write a wild, wacky, sexy vampire series.  The first book in that series is ∫. 

I'm extremely grateful to Ravenous Romance for publishing DUSK and giving me the freedom to write what I enjoy:  paranormal romance, as wild and wacky as I want, as sexy as I want, as romantic as I want. 

I'm onboard the e-ride now with full gusto.  I may not have print runs of 10,000 to 400,000 copies in the e-world, but I'm having lots of fun.  And for creative writers, fun is the reason we started in this crazy publishing business.

I'm still writing wild, wacky, sexy stories about vampires, witches, spirits, shapeshifters, and other creatures for print publishers:  I have three contracts (under my real name -- Lana Griffin is my pen name) for paranormal print books that will be released in 2010 and 2011. 

But I'm also writing wild stuff for Ravenous Romance, with two more paranormal romance novels coming this year.  Look for BITTEN BY LOVE in August and SEX IN THE GALAXY in late October. 

BITTEN BY LOVE is another vampire romance novel -- unrelated to DUSK. 
SEX IN THE GALAXY is an outerspace sexscapade. 

After writing the five novels currently on my plate, we'll see what comes next.  One thing is guaranteed:  whatever it is, it's going to be paranormal!

Buy DUSK from Ravenous Romance  ( HYPERLINK "http://www.ravenousromance.com/fantastica/dusk.php" http://www.ravenousromance.com/fantastica/dusk.php)

Buy DUSK from Amazon

It's also available wherever fine e-books are sold.  In addition, a print version of DUSK will be available at Amazon within a week or so.

xoxoxoxo,
Lana Griffin


CONTEST

[this contest it closed]

One lucky commenter will win a copy of  Dusk. Contest is international!

*To enter:  Lana would like an answer to this question: "Do you believe in voodoo - why or why not?"

You may also:

*Link to this contest on any of the social network sites, including Twitter, or your own web page. Let me know the url:  One chance for each link.
 
*If you are a Google follower (see sidebar on right): One chance
 
*If you are a member of the PVN Facebook page: One chance
 
*If you are an email subscriber: One chance

*If your email is not associated with your ID, please put the address in your response.

This contest closes April 23, 2010.