Sloan Parker

Once a week, I post about something I’m loving (tv, movies, books, art, photos, romances, authors, or anything else) that I’ve seen or read about recently. So here is this week’s For the love of …

This week, I loved this article What’s Hot in Romance? E-books, Baby! by Lori James, the COO of All Romance Ebooks, LLC. It talks about the trends in romance ebooks.

Here’s some of what she had to say…

“Romance is also about werewolves falling in love with girls. Sometimes it’s about two or more boys falling in love with a girl. It’s even about boys falling in love with boys. Formulaic is out. Edgy is in.”

“In 2009 we saw a 22% decline in straight contemporary. What were the niche sub-genres in which we saw a significant increase? Rubenesque (i.e. stories that feature women with curves), Paranormal, Werewolves and Gay Fiction—and the hotter the better. At least in terms of sales.”

I also believe we are seeing more acceptance of all kinds of love stories, and I like that. I like that, as a reader and a writer, my favorite types of books are doing well. I like that ebooks are selling well. I like to hear that more and more people are reading, and I think the convenience of having tons of books at your fingertips wherever you are (waiting at the doctor’s office, riding on the bus, waiting for your kid’s practice to end), means that people have more time to read during their busy schedules. No more lugging around a print book or being stuck without something to read because you finished the one book you had tucked in your purse. My PDA has hundreds of books loaded on it. Call it an addiction, but I love the hours of reading that affords me, the choices that offers me.

I still love print books, and I still buy my favorite books in print if I can. But I also love the convenience of buying ebooks. I love that in a matter of a couple clicks of the mouse, I have a new love story to read.

So do you read ebooks? What genres do you read? Comment or send me an email. I’d love to hear about your reading habits.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sloan Parker
New free fiction available at:
www.sloanparker.com

I’m excited to announce that I’m guest blogging at Fiction with Friction, a blog for a group of M/M erotic romance authors. It’s titled “What makes a great love scene” and is about sex scenes in gay erotic romances.

http://www.fictionwithfriction.com/2009/12/03/guest-blogger-sloan-parker-what-makes-a-great-love-scene/

Stop on by and let me know what you think about sex in erotic romance? What is it about the sex that works for you? And what are some of your favorite sex scenes? I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks,
Sloan Parker
www.sloanparker.com

I posted a free gay erotic short story on my site titled More Than Just a Good Book. It’s a light, sexy story. It’s less emotional, less romantic than my book More, but I enjoyed writing it for that reason. It was a lot of fun to throw Scott and Mark together and watch the sparks fly. I hope you enjoy it.

More Than Just a Good Book
Scott is a big geek and Mark is a little controlling between the sheets. During one afternoon at the university library, they’ll find they are the perfect match. And they’ll prove some things are even more enjoyable than a good book.

Friendly warning: This work contains graphic language and explicit sexual content between two men including some light spanking. Intended for adult audiences only. Not intended for anyone under the age of 18.

Read More Than Just a Good Book

Have a good one,
Sloan Parker

I was watching Grey’s Anatomy over the weekend (yeah, I DVR all the TV I watch and I’m usually a week, or two, or three behind) and this line seemed to hit it big at my house. Rosie and I loved it.

“You can’t pray away the gay!”

Callie on Grey’s when her dad brings a priest to counsel her about being a lesbian.

I have been fortunate to have a loving, supportive family. My mom’s not out marching in any PFLAG parades, but she loves me and has told me she wants me to be happy. And most importantly to me, she loves Rosie. My heart goes out to all the real life people like Callie who not only have to live with the knowledge that their parents think there is something wrong with them, but also have to live with these types of attacks aimed at changing who they are — suggesting they’re not good enough.

That’s also a huge theme in my book More. Luke’s father wants his son to be a different man, and he’ll do anything to force Luke to behave the way he wants him to. But Luke doesn’t let his father’s hatred destroy him. He doesn’t deny who he is (not for his dad or anyone), but he does grow and become someone who can fall in love again. It’s a beautiful thing. I’m quite proud of his journey.

Anyone else watch Grey’s? Anyone have a personal story to share? Comment or send me an email.

Thanks for stopping by,
Sloan Parker

This past week, I finished writing an article about GLBT Bookshelf, a new on-line community. As their web site states, this is a site for “writers, artists, publishers, reviewers and readers … with a difference. We’re a GLBT Community, where the emphasis is on gay books. If you enjoy a great gay read, this is the place for you!”

The article will be featured in the upcoming Rainbow Romance Writers’ chapter newsletter. I had the pleasure of talking with the site’s creator, Mel Keegan. Mel is passionate about this site, and I could see why. It’s a global community dedicated to supporting and promoting GLBT books … and ONLY GLBT books. Kinda nice, huh? Writers of gay stories often have to deal with discrimination against their writing in contests, bookstores, and other areas of the business. It’s nice to have a site where all the books, opinions, reviews, and more are not excluded or judged for their gay content. You can click into the Bookstore and all the books are GLBT, categorized by genre. Way to go Mel Keegan and the other site administrators.

So check it out. You can browse for books, post reviews, participate in discussions, look at cover art, and more at www.glbtbookshelf.com.

Here’s the page I created on the site. My page includes info on my writing and free fiction. I also list some of my favorite authors and books since I don’t just write gay stories–I read them too!

What do you think? Have you checked out GLBT Bookshelf yet? Comment or send me an email. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the site.

Sloan Parker

Reviews by Jessewave has a new website and address so be sure to update your links, bookmarks, and feeds to www.reviewsbyjessewave.com

For those of you who don’t know much about it: Reviews by Jessewave is a review site for Male/Male adult themed romance books. It always has thorough reviews, interesting articles, and fun stuff too. I’ve been following it for some time and find the reviews helpful when selecting books to read.

Be sure to check out the new site if you haven’t done so yet. It loads faster and has a great look. Congrats to Wave and her team for their hard work. And best of luck to them on the new site!

We’re official. Here’s the announcement from chapter president, Jade Buchanan.

Rainbow Romance Writers is the newest Special Interest Chapter within the Romance Writers of America. A lot of hard work has gone into setting us up as a chapter, but we are very proud to announce that writers specializing in LGBT romance now have a specific place to network with other career-focused writers and concentrate on our unique needs within the romance genre.

Our goals are:
-to promote excellence in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender romances
-to help members become published in LGBT romances
-to be an advocate within the industry for our genre
-to be a resource to our members and others on writing and the publishing industry

We currently have 39 wonderful members who represent all different aspects of the LGBT romance genre. Interested writers can contact us at membership@rainbowromancewriters.com if they would like to become members of RRW. They can also email me directly at jade.buchanan@yahoo.com.

Thank you for your continued support!

Jade Buchanan
RRW, President

You can visit the chapter web site at: www.rainbowromancewriters.com Thanks to Jade and the entire board for all their hard work. I’m glad to be a part of this group- Sloan

About a year and a half ago, I discovered the world of gay romance/gay erotic romance. The first book I read was Ransom by Rowan Lee and I was hooked. I’ve been reading and writing like crazy since then. (Well, I’ve been reading and writing since I was a kid, but this was in a whole different world).

Once you start getting into reading different works by different authors and publishers, you get a sense of what trends are out there, what talents, styles, etc. But even though the market may seem small and the number of books much smaller than other niche markets of Romance, there are still a lot of great sources out there. I’ve been searching around for months now, learning the market, the players, the publishers, but it still seems like there is so much I don’t know. I figured there were others in the same boat, so I thought I’d share some of what I’ve found.

Whether you are a reader, a writer, or just interested in what the this world is like, here are some blogs that might be of interest.

Fiction With Friction

Speak Its Name

Slash Readers

ManLove Ebooks

Gay Book Club

Rainbow Reviews

Author Blogs

Sensually Wicked Man Love

Josh Lanyon (author of the writing guide Man, Oh Man!: Writing M/M Fiction for Kinks & Cash)

If anyone has a blog site they’d like to recommend, let me know and I’ll check it out.