Rhys' Music Monday

So I completely failed and totally spaced on Rhys' Music Monday. It was a grave oversight that I'm remedying right now. Be sure to check out her post featuring All I Think About is You by 3 Doors Down. 

Weekly Music

The music this week is from Imagine Dragons, which is a group I definitely recommend you check out. My favorite song from them is "Radioactive," but the one I'm embedding below, "My Fault," is becoming a very close contender for favorite.

Amazon and Fanfiction

Amazon has announced a new platform, Kindle Worlds, which will allow fanfiction writers to publish their work and receive royalties. The royalties will be split with the author of the original work on which the writer is basing their fanfiction. At this point in time, Amazon has partnered with Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment to allow writers publish their stories based in Cecily von Ziegesar‘s Gossip Girl, Sara Shepard‘s Pretty Little Liars and L.J. Smith‘s Vampire Diaries verses. More can be read about this at Galleycat.

Given the success of stories originally written as fanfiction and modified into published fiction, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Amazon would attempt to bridge that gap and go after the fanfiction market directly. As for if it will be profitable, I actually think it possibly could be. Some will argue why pay for it when you can just find it for free at any multitude of fanfiction sites. The same could be said, however, for the stories that were modified from fanfiction into published fiction. The original stories could still be found to the diligent Google searcher. 

Personally, I think, in general, there's a bit of a stigma concerning fanfiction by the public as a whole. I'm not saying it's merited, or justified; it's just an observation I've made over the years. As a result, I could see where fanfiction sold through Amazon will have the ability to separate itself into a new entity, lose the stigma, and become somewhat successful. It's all going to depend on how it's marketed in Amazon and I could see them avoiding the word 'fanfiction.' Instead, I could see a page set up with something along the lines of, "If you enjoy Vampire Diaries, check out other stories in this universe" or "Check out similar stories." It's all about shaping your market and Amazon has proven they're rather adept in that respect.

Agency Pricing

Galleycat has a post today with a summary of the review of agency pricing by the Department of Justice, which was basically brought about with the whole ordeal with Apple and agency pricing. You can also read the entire court document here.

Welcome to Sanditon

I don't know if you were like me and found yourself swept up in the wave of amazingness and addiction that was The Lizzie Bennett Diaries. I might have come late to the game, but I definitely lost my fair share of time devouring their YouTube videos. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, click that link and be prepared to lose your entire weekend. I'll wait. Terrific, wasn't it? Anyway, the talented group that brought you the black hole of time-wasting that is the modern day video adaptation of Jane Austin's "Pride and Prejudice" have now started their new project, Welcome to Sanditon. It's based on the unfinished novel "Sandition" by the one and only Jane Austin. Here's the recap, directly from their webpage:

Welcome To Sanditon is a modern multiplatform adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel “Sanditon.” The series was created by Jay Bushman and Margaret Dunlap, and is produced by the team that created the hit series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
Welcome To Sanditon relocates the action from the English seaside to a California beach town, and replaces the novel’s protagonist with LBD’s Gigi Darcy.
Gigi has come to Sanditon, CA to run a beta demo of the Pemberley Digital Domino application. The residents of Sanditon have all been invited to join in the test, and discover how this “life-revealing” app performs.
And you will get a chance to play a resident of the town.

I know I loved Gigi in LBD and can't wait to see more of her and her story in WtS. This is definitely going to be my new black hole of time-waste addiction.They currently have three videos up on their YouTube page, one of which I've included below, so be sure to check out the rest.

Weekly Music

This week is going to feature a song that's a little more upbeat, at least in the instrumental. I make no guarantee of the lyrics. Today I present you with "Color the Walls" by Foster the People. Yes, they do have a song other than "Pumped Up Kicks." A song which, incidentally, was totally our boat/lake song for that summer. It still makes me think of lemonade beer, water, and coconut sunscreen. Despite already having one 100+ degree day this week, I'm eager for more.

Cover Reveal for Assassin's Ritual

Check out that cover!!

Recently, I've been working on a new erotica novella series, currently titled "Courtesans of Thiaria," with the wonderful Rhys Astason. It's a somewhat different, and hopefully interesting, way of doing the series. Instead of coauthoring a book, we've built a world where both of us will be telling the stories of our character. So, there will be two series based in the same world by two authors. That's pretty much two for the price of one, right?! What better deal could you ask for? Well, the better deal is if a third author, the also talented CC Denham, who is currently rather bogged down with other projects, can be convinced to sign on. Then it's three for one. I really don't know how it gets better than that.

The series is centered around courtesans who also double as assassins. Think of it as James Bond with a larger cast in a medievalish/steampunk verse with more sex and females as the lead characters. And, if that doesn't get you excited enough, check out the cover again. Seriously, I can't stop staring at it. Such book cover porn.

Be sure to check back here for updates. Along with this story, we're looking at getting a few more in the series published by the end of this year.