Guest Blogger, Donna Lea Simpson

It’s my pleasure to welcome author Donna Lea Simpson as the special guest blogger here today at Thoughts in Progress.

Donna’s current book, LOVE & SCANDAL, releases today and I’m thrilled to have her here to celebrate that occasion and tell us how the publication came about. In addition, Donna has a surprise from her book’s heroine, Collette, to share with us.

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I’ve been with a few publishers over the years, with varying experiences. I’ve had run-ins with copy editors and line editors; I’ve felt the sting of rejection; I have wailed into the vastness of space, ‘Why no promotion? Why?’

But I was publisherless last fall (Autumn 2009) for the first time in many years. I was taking time to rethink my career, making some serious changes, and I was even kind of between agents; we hadn’t officially broken up yet, but we weren’t exactly ‘seeing each other’ any more. Then I made the momentous decision to send my book, Love & Scandal (a Victorian-set historical romance) to this new eBook start-up I had heard buzz about.

This was on the heels of sending it to another new eBook start-up that never got off the ground; the other publishers folded up their tents and slipped quietly into the night before they even published their first book. Those around me were skeptical about yet another eBook company, let me tell you, but I was not hesitant. Not in the slightest.

Why no hesitation? eBook companies are notoriously poorly planned, right? Few sell many books, and even those that do, have shaky accounting at best. So goes the common wisdom anyway. I know differently; I know there are many eBook companies with solid sales models and professional accounting practices. But the real reason I had absolutely no hesitation over the new eBook start-up was that ‘Carina Press’ was to be the all-digital imprint of Harlequin Enterprises, and Harlequin is as solid as they come, in the publishing world. They are proactive and ahead of their times, but never enter any venue without due deliberation. And they give their imprints a chance to succeed.

So I sent Love & Scandal to Carina and kind of forgot about it. I had a lot on my plate, and I was busy with other things. And then I got a wonderful letter from the acquisitions editor, Angela James, and she told me those words that every writer longs to hear; ‘Love the book… we want it!’

Then the real fun started. I must say, never, in all my years, have I been through such a thorough editing, proofing, planning and advertising process! They have every detail nailed down tight, and though they demand a lot of their writers, they also give a lot in the way of feedback, editorial support, advertising support and a deep well of knowledge about the romance publishing industry from which the author is encouraged to dip.

Bottom line, I would recommend Carina Press highly for any author who is thinking about sending out their baby to a publishing company. Once you’re accepted, you won’t be sorry! And they publish more than romance; they are up for paranormal, suspense, mystery… you name it.

Soooo, what about Love & Scandal my June 21st release from Carina Press? Well, I’ve always been interested in Victorian literature--I’ve read quite a bit of it—and I find female authors (Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters) most in tune with my reading likes, so a novel about both seemed a no-brainer, even though Love & Scandal is the only book I have ever written set in the Victorian era!

Love & Scandal is a romance. Set in 1855, London, England, the heroine is Collette Jardiniere, a female author who has written a scandalous bestseller using a male pseudonym. But an infamous gossip rag has speculated that ‘Colin Jenkins’, ostensibly the author of The Last Days of a Rake, is the well known man-about-town Charles Jameson.

When she learns about this, Collette takes the train to London (she meets a handsome and intriguing man on the train and they share a passionate kiss) and confronts her publisher, but he refuses to do anything about it, since Last Days is selling again like hotcakes. So Collette vows to find Charles Jameson and make him admit to the world that he is not the author. But when she meets him face to face she’s in for a surprise; Charles is the mysterious man on the train, the very same one who left her breathless from his expert kiss.

Will she tell him she is Colin Jenkins, author of The Last Days of a Rake? Will he believe that this slip of a young woman, to whom he is fiercely attracted, has written the book he is so enamored of?

Love & Scandal is being released today, June 21st, 2010, and readers can download FREE The Last Days of a Rake, the scandalous novel by ‘Colin Jenkins’!

Hope you enjoy both books! Best regards, Donna Lea Simpson.

Donna, thanks so much for guest blogging here today. It’s interesting to see how LOVE & SCANDAL came about and that you wrote a novel for your novel. How neat.

For more information on Donna and her writing, visit her at http://www.donnaleasimpson.com  She plans to have a link on her site where visitors will be able to buy Carina Press eBooks directly! In addition, visitors can read Chapter One of Love & Scandal at: http://donnaleasimpson.wordpress.com/love-scandal-chapter-one/