Blogflog - Beauty, eSpecial, or the Sexy Outtake

[blogfloggery.livejournal.com]

Link: Beauty, eSpecial, or the Sexy Outtake
Disclaimer: This blog entry is verbatim, as originally posted on LKH's blog. Copyright belongs to Ma Petite Enterprises.

Whenever I tweet, FaceBook, or blog, that I had to delete a perfectly good scene because it no longer worked with the plot of the current book, a lot of you ask to see the scene. You’ve even suggested that I share my Anita outtake file with you. Well, guess what, Beauty, the eSpecial that everyone’s been asking me about is an outtake from Kiss the Dead. It’s a sex scene that unfortunately had to be cut, because character decisions made it impossible as written. More unfortunately it was the scene between Jean-Claude and Anita. I really wanted them to have some up close and personal time in this next book, and it was a great scene, and . . . I still had to cut it.

But one day I was talking to my editor, Susan, on the phone, and I bemoaned the loss of the scene. She thought it was a fabulous scene, too, and regretted it’s loss. That was the point that she and I came up with the idea of doing the outtake as my first ever eSpecial. I thought great, and it’s already written, but like much in this whole e-experience that wasn’t quite correct. I had to write a new beginning for the scene, because it was taken out of the early middle of the book where the world, the characters, relationships, everything had already been explained, but suddenly the scene had to stand on it’s own without all the earlier pages. So, I did add a few paragraphs to introduce the world, Anita, and her relationship to Jean-Claude and Asher. Yep, try as I might in Kiss the Dead to give Jean-Claude and Anita their alone time, Asher was just not going to be left out. When things work well between the three of them it’s so worth it, when it doesn’t, well . . . it’s just a freaking disaster. So I did the extra bit up front so the scene would not be quite so naked to everyone who buys the eSpecial, and then it was done. Okay, except for the whole editing part when it came back from New York, but other than that it was done.

But one of the weird things about publishing of late is that e-books are still evolving in how they are handled, and before I’d ever seen Beauty back from New York, before I’d even signed the contract, and sent it back to them, I had people asking me about it on the internet. People were asking what Beauty was, and were thrilled it was coming out on April 24. Since my editor had told me that Beauty was scheduled for a month before Kiss the Dead came out on June 5, I was a little confused. I called her up and she double checked, and the actual date for Beauty is May 8, because the whole idea is that it comes out about a month ahead of the novel, that it’s an outtake for, so . . . No one at my publisher is sure where the first date of April 24 came from, but it is now corrected on line to its actual release date of May 8, so yay, for that!

So, Beauty is my first eSpecial. It’s the first outtake from any Anita Blake novel that I’ve allowed to be published. It’s a very hot, steamy, outtake with Jean-Claude, Anita, and Asher. It comes out May 8, as a sort of preview for Kiss the Dead which comes out June 5.

Links to preordering Beauty -

Amazon Kindle edition

Barnes & Noble nook edition

Comments

[queenmeow.livejournal.com]

Way to put a positive on a huge negative, namely 2.99 for a combo of flirt and one of the millions of screaming anita sex scenes in a hot tub.

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

So on the up side, it's something that won't be in the new book.

On the down side, it can't be canon and it doesn't have a plot, it's just a random scene.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think someone in the last topic said this seems like something that would better be put up on the website for fans, and I agree. I don't feel like freebies of even the smallest sort are something a writer is obligated to give, but I do think it'd be better both for adding something to said site and fostering goodwill with fans, versus charging three dollars for it when it's seriously just some pointless random ego-stroking smut that, even if I were a troo, I wouldn't be inclined to buy.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I'm weeping at the part where she says she had to put in introductions about the characters -- I just know it's going to be a massive infodump that long-time readers probably know by heart and maybe segue into talking about the other dudes (Micah and Nathaniel immediately spring to mind) so we can have a monologue about people who aren't even there while JC and Asher are sitting in the hot tub like, "hurry up, my fingers are starting to prune." "The timer went off, I need to rinse my hair treatment. Yell if she snaps out of it."

Also, I'm so glad Laurell clarified that it's an outtake slated for release a month before Kiss the Dead because that's due out the month after Beauty. Yes. For a moment I was confused about that.

[dolphin-daze.livejournal.com]

I am wondering how many pages it is going to be? Really an deleted scene from her book can't be more than what 20 pages? How many pages does a person get for $2.99 cause for that price I am would expect more than one tiny deleted scene and no where that I could find would tell me. I mean I know font size and margins make a difference to the page count in an ebook but there must be some way that they can give us an idea for it?

[lady-fellshot.livejournal.com]

I had to write a new beginning for the scene, because it was taken out of the early middle of the book where the world, the characters, relationships, everything had already been explained, but suddenly the scene had to stand on it’s own without all the earlier pages. So, I did add a few paragraphs to introduce the world, Anita, and her relationship to Jean-Claude and Asher.

To translate, she decided to copy/paste the same intro that is in every single AB book ever because she labors under the impression that a reader must be lead by the nose to draw conclusions that should manage to be vastly apparent via context.

So I did the extra bit up front so the scene would not be quite so naked to everyone who buys the eSpecial, and then it was done.

Wait... she gets new readers that start in the middle of the series who remain interested enough to find more? Wouldn't any such readers be reading for the smut factor anyway so introductions to the harem would seem a little silly?

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

It reminds me of the massive infodumps at the beginning of every Baby Sitters Club book ever. Since I grabbed them by the armfulls at the library, I soon learned just how to skip past those parts to get to the story. XD

[mystickiwi.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who associates beginning info dumps with the Baby Sitters Club!!

[kisstheground.livejournal.com]

chapter two time! ;)

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

Well this pretty much confirms it....this IS the short piece she was twittering about when she was on the last round of edits for KtD the fact it's under a separate contract from the rest of her books means that this wont count toward her three book deal. She just didn't mention that she was building that piece around a cut scene.

Wow it's not like she's done THAT before, repackaging scenes and trying to spin them as 'new' /sarcasm

And the fact she was pushing so hard for this scene to be 'published' rather than just posting for the fans or actually takeing the time to assemble an 'outtake' book with blurbs of how these scenes would have changed the books ect and publishing that (which seems like a cool idea...not just for LKH) she's over charging for what is a REALLY short PWP tale that can't be more than 15-30 pages...which again goes to prove that she can't write plot she just strings sex or 'relationship' scenes together.

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

I also think this is a bit of "TAKE THAT" to her publishers/editor she wants to 'prove' that she's right about these scenes and they are wrong, if it sells 'well' then she will try to smuggly go to her editor and say "SEEE! These are IMPORTIANT SCENES! You cannot cut them from my draft the fans love them!"

But I think she's in for a disappointment since I can't see anybody other than a die hard Troo buying this after being burned on Flirt

[c-l-craft.livejournal.com]

Wow, way to think of your fans lady. :/

Also, how is she going to dance around the fact that she's publishing something that is pure erotica now? Or has she given in an admitted she's stopped writing mysteries and started writing romance/porn?

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

$3 for a pornfic

Wow.

[cheeky-duckie.livejournal.com]

I'm not bothered by the price point -- publishers love overpricing for ebooks. I am bothered by the word "especial." I know it's superficial, but I've never heard it anywhere else, and it sounds so... cheesy and 90s. Why couldn't she just say "e-book"? It's not fundamentally different -- and I recognize that -- but it's standard use.

I'm rambling and making no sense. >_>;

[mystoflare.livejournal.com]

You make so much more sense than the blog.

Speaking of cheesy and 90s, well, we do joke that LKH is about 20 years or so behind the curve on things. I mean, she's still trying to shill AB like Anita's the only Real Tough Manly Woman-type character interacting with vampires/werewolves/etc in urban fantasy/paranormal fantasy out there, when she's far from it by now.
Hell, I just finally managed to finish the first Kate Daniels book after a friend recommended it to me. It's not perfect, the story made me blurt out "WTF is this!?" a few times, but I prefer Kate to Anita, and it did give me something that I hadn't seen before (magic and tech working in 'waves,' as well as being set in Atlanta). Other people are more with it than LKH, I think. But I'm in a rather snarky mood, so take it with a grain of salt ^^;;

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

Anita's going to be back in fashion soon. I see blazers and miniskirts on young women of today.

[mystoflare.livejournal.com]

At least we don't have to worry about seeing mullets and other poofy 80s hair with it? :D

[polymexina.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on the price point. She doesn't actually have anything to do with the pricing. It's determined by her publisher.

Also, I'm as big a fan of cheap ebooks as the next person, but I don't think 3 dollars is that bad considering that the book itself is 15.

[magdalen77.livejournal.com]

It depends on how much you get for $2.99. This is just supposed to be a scene, so it's probably not going to be more than 30 pages or so even if LKH pads it. At that rate her 350 page book ought to be $35.

[jamoche]

Especially since it's a word already.

[everstar3.livejournal.com]

Yep, try as I might in Kiss the Dead to give Jean-Claude and Anita their alone time, Asher was just not going to be left out.

Asher probably wants to make sure Jean-Claude doesn't pass out from boredom. Boiled vampire is just gross.

Also, it's a good thing I'm not getting this e-porn: I'd be humming "3-Way (The Golden Rule)" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi7gwX7rjOw) the whole time.