Lynn Raye Harris

Good news for readers! Amazon is still selling the Kindle version of The Devil’s Heart for an amazing price: $1.71! If you like bargains, then you should snap this one up. It’s gotten some good reviews — RT Book Reviews gave it 4 Stars and said it had ‘Lots of conflict, hot love scenes, and a satisfying ending’. Readers on Goodreads seem to like the book a lot too.

A diamond, and a deal with the devil…

Francesca D’Oro was just eighteen when darkly sexy Marcos Navarre swept her up the aisle—then fled before the ink on the marriage licence had dried. Marcos might have given Francesca a jewel for her finger, but he stole another: the Devil’s Heart—a dazzling yellow diamond he believed belonged to his family…

Years later Francesca, no longer so youthfully naïve, is determined to reclaim the precious gem! But she’s forgotten that Marcos lives up to the treasure’s name—and dealing with the devil is always dangerous!

$1.71 on Kindle – it’s a bargain! I hope you’ll give it a try, and I hope you’ll let me know what you think.

As always, thanks for reading my books! Y’all are the reason I keep writing them.

Have you heard of the romance novel trading cards that will be available at RT and RWA? See this site for details. Basically, authors are making character trading cards for their novels — and readers can collect them all! I thought this was such a cool idea that I had two cards designed.

Here’s the card for The Devil’s Heart:

And here’s the one for Behind the Palace Walls:

These are side by side views. The cover will be the front, and the hero will be the back. If you’re at RT in a few weeks, come and visit me at the booksigning and pick up your trading cards! When I get them in, I may offer to mail some out to readers who can’t attend. Stay tuned for details!

I created a Fan Page! If you’re on FB, come on over and become a fan. I hope to put more info about my books and events there, plus there’s room for discussions, etc. I still have a regular FB page, and will continue to use that as well. But I think the Fan Page gives me more options for the future, so I want to get it going now. I’d love your participation! Come on over and post a note, start a discussion, comment on the books, etc!

Hope to see you there.

Wow, DC was extraordinarily fun! I did so many things, y’all. Talked to lots of people. I had a blast! I used to live in DC, so touring wasn’t high on my list of things to do. But one of my roommates, the lovely Pamela Hearon, managed to finagle a tour of the Capitol for us. I’ve been in the Capitol many times, but it’s so beautiful I was ready to go back. And I’m glad I did!

The day started in the Rayburn Office Building where we trekked to Pam’s Congressman’s office and dutifully turned over all our liquids, signed a guest book, met the Congressman, and took a photo with him. Yours truly even managed to give the man a bookmark. Hey, he asked why we were in town. I do have to say that he was wonderfully gracious considering all the ladies in the photo, with the exception of one, were from Alabama and couldn’t ever vote for him if so inclined. Nice man, truly.

After our tour, several of the ladies split off for sightseeing while Pam, Kimberly Lang, and I went to lunch at a place called Bullfeather’s just down the street from the House office buildings. (Lunch was on the Marriott, btw. We were asked to stay in another hotel for one night and given quite a nice incentive to do so: a free room, cab fare, and $100 cash.) Later that evening, we all met up again and went to the Occidental to celebrate Kira Sinclair’s birthday. A quick walk to the White House, and then we were headed back to our hotels for the night.

That’s the end of Day One in DC. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about my presentation at the Chapter Leadership Seminar and my experience at my very first Literacy Autographing!

One more thing: today, I’m also blogging over at Kate Walker’s blog. She’s giving away a tote of signed books! Come say hi!

The revisions have arrived, so I’ll be in the writing cave again! They aren’t too bad, fortunately, but this next month is SO busy for me that I’ll probably be away more than I’m here. Boo hoo. I like talking to y’all!

I do have good news, though! CAVELLI’S LOST HEIR has a January 2010 release date in North America! Yay! It’s not available for pre-order yet, except in hardback from the UK. And one more piece of good news, if you like to read ebooks, you can order SPANISH MAGNATE, RED-HOT REVENGE now from the eHarlequin website!

If you’ve won a book from me in the past week or two, they’re going in the mail today!

Clearly, I need to give away more books! I have an entire box of my August release just begging to be read. If you want a copy, tell me in the comment trail the name of the hotel that Rebecca Layton wants to buy from Alejandro de Ramirez. You can find the answer on this website, so do poke around! And stay tuned for more giveaways. I’m making plans for a great contest in the near future!

(A comment is an entry; by entering, you will also be signed up for my spam-free newsletter. Unsubscribing is very straightforward.)

— I am not giving away the entire box today, btw! Thanks, Hannah, for pointing that out.

Keep it coming y’all! Winners tomorrow. Yes, I will choose more than one.

One of the things I’ve had to begin considering as my book gets closer to publication is promo. Specifically, I mean those items that one gives away — bookmarks, notepads, potholders, etc. And I am NOT having fun. I don’t like these kinds of decisions.

Order 500 pens with my name and web addy? Or go for the sticky notes? What about the potholders? Lip gloss? Personalized mugs? Drink holders? Backpacks? Notebooks?

ARGH!

Obviously, cost is a factor. So is space and tote-ability. And, after visiting the Goody Room at the National Conference, I have very specific ideas about what I like and what I don’t. Truthfully, I wonder how much of that stuff makes a difference or an impact. I get bags full of stuff at the Reader’s Luncheons I’ve attended, and I toss most of it. Except for bookmarks. I figure you can never have too many bookmarks.

What kind of stuff do you like to get in your goody bags? Do you keep potholders and luggage tags? Or do you prefer bookmarks (I know there are TONS at these things, and yet I keep nearly all of them I get). Or do you consider all of it a waste of time and money?

P.S. HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!

Saturday was my RWA chapter meeting, and even though I have a deadline rapidly approaching, I wouldn’t miss my Heart of Dixie day for anything (I have another chapter too, Southern Magic, but it’s a bit farther away and I don’t get to the meetings like I’d like to).

Just the camaraderie of meeting with other writers, laughing and talking about things that concern us (and often only make sense to us) is worth losing a day of writing for. I head out around 10am, drive about 40 minutes, and stop for lunch at a local deli where a lot of the members gather beforehand. Then, after an hour of laughing and fun, we head to the museum that hosts our meetings. There, who knows what’ll happen. We start at noon and often don’t finish until between 2 and 3. After that, I can talk for hours with friends, sometimes even heading to a restaurant or bookstore to chat. It’s a great time, and it’s the kind of socializing that I definitely need.

I have other friends, of course, but so many times they don’t understand what it is I do and how it works. I can’t tell you the number of people who have asked my husband if he’s retiring when my book comes out. Other writers know how funny this is.

Publishing is a strange and hopeful business. You can make enough to live on; you can become very popular and make a lot of money; or you can barely get by and need to work a day job to make ends meet. You never know where on that scale you’ll end up, but we all hope we get option #2. Friends — writing friends — help keep you sane!

Okay, so I have some changes coming up in the next month or two! For one, I’m getting a new website and blog. I’ve found the perfect person to do my design work, and I’m so excited to be working with her. I’ll also be retooling the newsletter, and hopefully start sending out some regular news.

There will be contests; not sure what or when, but stay tuned so you don’t miss out on the goodies! I won’t stop talking about writing, but I need to talk more about reading. If you’re on MySpace, come friend me. Same with Facebook. I can be found on both — just type in Lynn Raye Harris. I’m also on Twitter (been there for a couple of months, but still haven’t figured out how to get my feed on the sidebar here). Follow me, and I’ll follow you.

Finally — what are you reading right now? I’m reading a delicious Harlequin Presents by Jennie Lucas and enjoying it very much. I love an arrogant Italian prince — in fact, I’m writing about one for the next book!

I discovered Twitter recently. It’s a site where you write these short little blurbs about what you’re doing. And you follow other people doing the same. They follow you. You communicate. It’s cool because you aren’t necessarily communicating directly with anyone. I am, of course, following other writers, some publishers, a few reviewers. Some people are more prolific than others, that’s for sure.

eHarlequin uses Twitter to update what’s going on — I like this because I know when there’s a blog I need to read. They also announced my Call on Twitter, and my guest blogs. Totally cool.

The posts are short, no more than 140 characters, and easy to do in the course of your day. A post is called a “tweet.” The setup is easy, and it’s easy to get going. Finding people is more difficult, or was for me anyway, because I refused to let Twitter access my email for addresses. Still, I’ve managed to find plenty of people, and they’ve found me.

If you decide to give Twitter a try, look for me. My user name is LynnRayeHarris. Follow me, and I’ll follow you. So far, it’s interesting. I don’t spend much time at it; I think the nature of the short tweets helps keep it manageable.

Do you use Twitter? Do you think all these networking sites are a waste of time? Did I mention you can send Tweets using your phone? And that an American graduate student Twittered his way out of a Middle Eastern jail this past spring? What’s next, hmm?

Congratulations again to Tami Brothers! She won the $25 Gift Card and will soon be shopping for books! Stay tuned for other giveaways in the future…..

Hey, I’m celebrating my two-book sale with my friends over at The Writing Playground today! Come on over and say hello!

I’m also having my first official contest!!

Sign up for my newsletter and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a $25 Barnes & Noble Gift Card.

By signing up, you agree that you will receive emails from me on occasion. I promise not to share your address with anyone.

I’ll draw for a winner on Tuesday, October 28th. I’ll announce it on the blog and send you an email. You will have 48 hours to get in touch with me and give me your snail mail addy before I redraw.

Click to join lynnrayeharrisnews

Sign up and then come on over and party!