Alison Kent Interview and Contest

While I'm getting ready for my Afraid book tour (I'll be contacting all the people who emailed me about providing room and board very soon) I'm going to be hosting a few people on my blog.

Today, the wonderful Alison Kent is offering some free books, and some insight into self promotion. Her May release is called NO LIMITS.

The Heat is On...

Simon Baptiste's latest SG-5 mission just went south in a major way. With his career on ice for awhile, it seems like a good time to take care of some business back home in Louisiana. Simon knows it ain't going to be pretty. He's got some old enemies in Bayou Allain who won't exactly roll out the red carpet. But Simon's first night back is more than he bargained for. Not only has the homestead gone to hell in a hand basket, but there's a half-naked woman hiding inside it-a woman whose face Simon knows all too well. It's Michelina Ferrer, the sultry spokesmodel for her family's Ferrer fragrance empire-and Simon's been staring at her picture on a billboard outside his Manhattan apartment for weeks.

And It's Only Getting Hotter...

Micky Ferrer came down to Bayou Allain looking for her old college friend, only to discover that Lisa Landry has been missing for days. As soon as Micky starts asking questions around town, someone runs her car off the road. She's hiding out in the old Baptiste place when Simon shows up-and he's the hottest thing she's laid eyes on since she got to town. Simon agrees that something strange is going on and that Lisa's disappearance may be tied to it. As he and Micky search for answers, the sweltering heat makes it hard to keep their heads straight or their hands off each other.even as they unravel the small-town secrets that some people are willing to kill for.

There's an excerpt here: http://www.alisonkent.com/nolimits.php

Alison is giving away three copies to people with US mailing addresses. To enter, simply leave a comment in this blog entry saying you want it bad.

I shot Alison a few questions about self-promo, since that's a topic near and dear to my blog.

Joe: Thanks for giving away free copies of NO LIMITS. Can you save me some searching and tell me the page numbers of the naughty parts so I can read those first? Maybe a hot excerpt would be nice, too.

Alison: I'll tell you what my husband does with every box of my author copies that show up at the house. He pulls out the first one, holds it overhead in his right hand, flips through the pages with his thumb and stops. 95% of the time he hits a sex scene. And, no, there aren't that many sex scenes in the books; he just happens to have, uh, some sort of husbandly intuition about where the naughty parts are. ;)

Joe: Hmm. I wish I did. My wife is tired of me bringing that diagram into bed with us. What's your favorite scene in the book?

Alison: One of my favorite scenes in NO LIMITS, two, actually, are between characters other than the main ones. Lots of emotion that's not love involved, which made their story - and their sex - a lot of fun to write. If you really want a hot excerpt, I put one up here: http://is.gd/rBn7

Joe: That is pretty naughty. Maybe I should bring that to bed instead of the diagram. Your blog and website (www.alisonkent.com) get a lot of traffic. What have you done to make them so popular?

Alison: I've blabbed a lot, most of it without any sugar coating, and ended up in some kerfluffles because of not playing nice. I think readers like it when people tell it like it is. These days, I honestly don't blog a whole lot. A mixture of time and burn out. I blog at a couple of other places, and tend to pour all my thoughts there, leaving very little for my own blog. I started blogging in 2002 so I've written a whole lot of words. I've also given away a whole lot of stuff. Books, primarily. My own, but also those of other authors. Some the others have provided, some I've bought because I believe in them and want to spread the word. I love connecting with readers who share my tastes in books. Great fun to cuss and discuss.

Joe: Besides the Internet, what are some other ways you self-promote?

Alison: Uh, I don't. I don't do signings. I don't speak or teach, though I have in the past. I don't do bookmarks or gadgets either. I have bought ad space in RWA's RWR magazine, and on sites like RomancingTheBlog.com and Smart Bitches, and I'm a member of AccessRomance.com, but yeah, those are on the Internet, so never mind.

You have to remember, I started writing before Al Gore invented the Internetz so I've had a lot of years and 40 something published works with which to build my name. So these days, I rely on word of mouth, and get readers online involved, because I know if they like what I do, they'll spread the word in real time. Makes my job a lot easier. All I have to do is write.

Joe: What's next for Alison Kent?

Alison: In September I have a Texas Ranger Harlequin Blaze ONE GOOD MAN, and in December another Brava, WITH EXTREME PLEASURE. That one is the story of the guy in the naughty bits excerpt, King Trahan.

Joe: I'm going to my first Romantic Times Convention in Florida, April 22-25. Any advice for a newbie?

Alison: Have fun? I dunno. I've never been. RT is not my thing. I know authors who love it, and authors who swear they'll never go again. Knowing you, I'm sure you'll have a great time. ;)

Joe: I'm hoping to buy a new diagram...