Three Questions, Continued, Plus a Fourth Hi, everyone,

I'm new to the blog and am here to answer the three questions.

1. Where are you published?
I'm Barrie Abalard, and I'm published with Amber Quill Press, Loose-Id, CF Publications, and a subscription web site called disciplineanddesire.com. I have contracted with Triskelion Publishing, but the book won't be out until June 2007.

2. How did you choose your publisher(s)?
CF Publications and I go way back--to 1995. That was when I first tried my hand at erotic romance and erotica. Back then, I also sold stories to Desiree's Spanking Digest, which is out of business now. I found CF through someone who worked with me(!). How we both found out that the other wrote erotica is a long story that I won't repeat here. At any rate, my coworker sold spanking stories to CF, and gave me contact info when I requested it.

I discovered disciplineanddesire.com in 2001, and started selling to them at the end of that year. As erotic romance became more popular, I decided to try selling to the new epublishers. I sent in a story to Amber Quill Press's 2006 contest and won. I also sent a story to Loose-Id, which was accepted, and have parlayed those successes into a contract with Triskelion.

I went with publishers about whom I had heard the most "buzz". I have submitted to Ellora's Cave, but that was back when they were woefully understaffed, so I withdrew my submission after seven months and sent it to Loose-Id, who bought it. I will probably submit again to EC once I have something suitable. But my focus right now is on the NYC publishers. See below for more on that.

3. What do you like best about your publisher(s)?
I like CF in that I can write most any kind of story, and if it has spanking in it, they will buy it. (I've sold many dozens of stories to them over the years.) They've given me the chance to have some fun, such as creating fictional small towns and characters that repeat. Writing for CF and DSD let me explore various subgenres, such as my noir detective parody set in a politically-correct future. Lots of fun and a change of pace. Plus, writing all these stories taught me a great deal about how to write a good story. My writing has improved a lot since 1995.

Disciplineanddesire.com pays more than CF, so I like them for that. They usually accept everything I send them.

Amber Quill Press and Loose-Id are accessible to me and friendly. No arrogant attitudes or anything. I've worked with each of them on short deadlines and find them a delight--cooperative with a "let's get the job done" point of view.

I don't know enough about Triskelion yet to comment, but I know a lot of people like them. My experiences have been fine so far. The main reason I submitted to Trisk was to gain RWA PAN (Published Author) status. If you don't know what that means, never mind. It's not important in this context.

I want to emphasize that all of these publishers are quality companies that are honest and pay on time, something that's extremely important to me. I like to see what a company's track record is before I go with them, so I don't usually submit to a brand-new venture unless I know something about the people running it.

Here's a fourth question, should anyone else on this blog want to answer it:

4. What are your publishing goals?
My goals are straightforward: I want to sell to the NY erotic romance publishers, the ones who pay advances. I intend to make real money at this, and while I like the epubs I'm dealing with, my goal is (are?) hard copy books with the publishers who put out erotica and erotic romance. The item I'm working on now is targeted for Kensington's Aphrodisia line.

Barrie Abalard
www.barrieabalard.com
www.barrieabalard.blogspot.com

  ¶ posted at 1:39 PM by Barrie Abalard