Ready For Business Use

Hey all,

As promised, I'm still here doing this. New book out today, available on Amazon and included in the Kindle Unlimited Program!

Excerpt:

He asked, “So, how was your day?”

“Pretty great!” I replied enthusiastically. I stepped to the fridge and pulled out a beer for him. As I poured it into a glass for him, I added, “Spent most of the day with that fitness program.”

“How far are you in it?” Ken asked.

“Tomorrow’s lesson is hypnosis!” I said. It felt a little funny saying it out loud, but I couldn’t help but look forward to it. I set the mug in front of Ken and asked, “Anything else, dear?”

“Hazel,” Ken asked firmly, “Would you mind taking off the apron and bra while you eat, so I can have a better look at your chest?”

Take Off My Apron And Bra.

Ken was so sweet, wanting the view while he ate. Besides, I didn’t need to wear a bib. I agreed happily, “Yes, dear.”

As I peeled out of it, Ken asked, “So, hypnosis? How do you feel about that?”

“It’s weird,” I said, “I mean, you think about that, you mostly think about people clucking like chickens or something, right?” I set my clothes on a spare chair, then got my own plate. 

“Right,” Ken agreed, digging into his food. He raised a bite to his lips, but before he took it, he asked, “But it’s not, is it? I’m not going to come home to you clucking like a chicken?”

I poured myself a glass of wine and took a seat across from him, keenly aware of his gaze on me. The attention was nice. I shook my head and said, “No, it’s not about making me do funny stuff, it’s just about relieving tension and anxiety. Like guided meditation or something. I’ll just be calmer and happier.”

“So you’re not worried about being, like, programmed to do a bunch of extra sit-ups or something?” Ken asked, clearly joking.

Mind Control Isn’t Real.

The thought was immediate, almost reflexive. It was also completely true. I shook my head and giggled, “That’s silly. Mind control isn’t real. Hypnosis is perfectly natural and safe. You must know that, I mean, you’re involved in the product launch.”

Hope you all like it. I'm off to start something new ASAP, maybe play with the format a little. :)

Update on Things, and other vague blog titles.

Previously, on my blog:

I said I was going to wait a week to let vendors pull my books, per Smashword's recommendation. While I was vetting everything to make sure it had come down, I found out that The Doll Academy: Passing Notes was being offered on a scam site without my permission, so I ended up filing my first ever DMCA complaint. (If they hadn't been trying to steal credit card information with my stolen content, I might have even been flattered... but identity theft is not okay.)

I spoke to the Amazon team about everything, and they recommended holding that one back until the scam site is down. I was a little frustrated by that, but Amazon's representative was very kind about it, and I appreciated their prompt and professional response. So for the time being, I placed the other four titles on Select to make them available to read for free on Kindle Unlimited. Hopefully there won't be any other issues with that. I've only ever used KDP once before, and that was from day 1, which is a little different than this month's project.

The story I am currently working on yet isn't quite done - this all has me a little stressed and distracted - but I should have it ready to roll soon. In the spirit of giving this experiment proper time to succeed or fail, I'll be releasing things on Amazon exclusively for a little while just to see how that goes. If there are further changes, I will post about them.

The other thing I wanted to mention:

I've been working in 1st person POV since... I wanna say my third story. It's good for unreliable narration, which is a hallmark of the kind of mind control erotica that I've been writing here. (I used to think I'd write a bunch of different things, but the truth is that I'm happiest writing things that appeal to me, and I have some very specific tastes in sexy stories.)

However, I'm wanting to tell some longer stories, and I personally find 1st person to be too constraining. I know some authors kick ass with that, (*waves to Jim Butcher*), but I just haven't ever gotten the hang of it. Both the Doll Academy and Beta Tested books were experiments with just hopping around characters a little bit between sequels to give stories a better sense of scope. I loved all five of those books, but I'm not sure how well that part worked out for me.

As a result, I might be trying some other stuff with an eye toward longer stories, just to kind of break things up a bit for myself. As with the KU thing, I'm hoping this will be a change people enjoy.

Thanks again for reading! I really appreciate each and every one of you. :)

- Jessie.

Kindle Unlimited

I've decided to give Kindle Unlimited a try on a limited basis. For those of you who don't know, that's a program where Amazon customers with a Prime subscription can read books published to the Kindle without having to buy them. You'll be able to either purchase them to own as before (without needing Prime), or just borrow them. I'll still be paid in either case, either for pages read that way, or traditional sales.

I'm hoping this situation is win/win: I would like to reach a wider audience both because I hope people like my work, and because this is technically a job to me. While money is not my primary motivation in writing erotica, I have to make sure I can afford to spend the time it takes. 

The down side of this is that Amazon requires an exclusive deal for any participating title. As long as a title is available on Kindle Unlimited, it can't be sold anywhere else. There's also a three month period of exclusivity after removing a title from the program, so if I don't like the results, there'll be a brief waiting period before I can change my mind about it. 

I'm not going to switch everything over right away, as I have 50 individual titles and only so much time for this. Plus, I'm not sure this will work out. 

This morning, what I've done is take the Doll Academy series and Beta Tested books off of Smashwords and Nook. Next Monday, after those books are no longer available at the laundry list of places Smashwords goes to, I'm going to submit them for inclusion in Amazon's program. (I'm really anxious to move forward, but I have to give vendors time to pull the titles.)

If that goes well - no hitches or complaints from Amazon - I'm going to pick through my catalog and move more stuff over in batches. Not everything will switch, as some of my content is a little risque for Amazon anyway. (Most recently, Hot & Swappable was too dirty for them.)

If it goes poorly, well... lesson learned, and I'll just keep doing what I've been doing. 

I will post again to keep you all updated. Right now, I just wanted to give everybody a heads-up, as this would be a pretty big change in how I do things, and that's 5 titles that have been made less accessible this week. I will continue to offer updates about progress here as I take further steps either toward this, or to change stuff back.

I also wanted to let everybody know that I do have a couple more stories in process right now. I'm sorry that I'm so much slower these days. 

Thanks again for reading. I firmly believe the idea that anything worth doing is worth doing for an audience. ;)

- Jessie

Beta Tested 2: Target Audience

Like I mentioned before, I enjoyed Beta Tested enough that I started work on a sequel immediately.

Excerpt:

“That’s right,” I agreed, “The game can’t control our minds.”

Even as I said it though, I wondered if that was necessarily true. The smoke was already clinging to the ground in our cell, but it didn’t smell the least bit sooty. It was more like someone had plopped us in a field of wildflowers in bloom, heady and sweet. I inhaled deeply, and my chest felt warm. My body began to relax again, taking on the heavy drowsiness I had felt when we first logged in. My arousal hadn’t dipped at all either. 

The game was certainly affecting my body.

Jenny voiced that thought. She wriggled a little, getting comfortable in the corner of the cell and asked, “But why not? It’s putting images and sounds and smells right in our heads.” She took a deep breath for emphasis and asked, “What’s the difference between putting in the idea of a smell, and the idea of kneeling?”

Kneeling.

Just the mention of it made me want to get on my knees. I wondered dully if she might not be right.

“Like brainwashing?” Nate asked. His tone was skeptical, but his voice was dull too. Whatever the smoke was, it was definitely affecting all of us, not just me.

“Mm,” I agreed, “I know it isn’t, but I can imagine it. Maybe not like…” I paused, finding it difficult to express my thoughts verbally, “… not like thoughts right in our heads, but training us by making us feel things. Experience things.”

I was starting to feel uncomfortably warm, even in my new and low-cut clothes. I unfastened the bustier idly, letting it slip open. 

Nate protested weakly, “That’s still not mind control though. The game can’t control our minds. It can’t do any real harm.”

Can’t Control Our Minds.

Can’t Do Any Real Harm.

That was all true. I definitely wanted to strip and kneel of my own free will.

As the excerpt indicates, it's an indirect sequel - this is the self-contained story of four gamers who play Lost Skeloath after its release.

It's available on Smashwords already, soon to be on Amazon and Nook. Hope you all enjoy it!

Beta Tested

Hey all,

Here's the latest:

Excerpt:

From beneath me, Mitch asked, “How’re you doing, Tiff?”

Being so turned on that I would need to mop up my seat hadn’t made me blush, but his voice did. Hearing it sent a thrill down my spine and brought heat to my cheeks. I opened my eyes and replied, “Gooood.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Mitch said, “Your vitals looked good through the whole thing. I just brought you out to make sure you ate, used the restroom, and so on before we put you back in.”

I sat up, rubbed my eyes and looked down at him. Mitch was so thoughtful. He was so handsome, too. It was hard to understand why I hadn’t noticed it before. I also saw and smelled some boxes of Chinese takeout behind him, and realized that the single scone I’d eaten hadn’t really been enough. I smiled down at him and said, “Thanks. You’re such a sweetheart. And buying me lunch? I could kiss you.”

Mitch rose from his seat and stepped close. He smiled back and said wryly, “Well, let me give you a hand first, then you can kiss me.”

Give you a hand then kiss me.

The words almost seemed to echo in my head, even though I knew he was kidding. I agreed dazedly, “Yes.”

Mitch offered me his hand, and helped me out of the chair. I was so unsteady that I lurched out of it anyway, and he had to catch me. The sheer catsuit hardly felt like it was there at all. It felt instead like my bare body was pressed against his clothed one. My heart flipped in my chest.

I wanted this.

He started to say, “Sorry, I didn’t expect you’d be quite so off kilter, and-”

I kissed him full on the mouth, cutting him off.

It's up on Smashwords, soon to be available elsewhere. Hope you all enjoy it!

Hot & Swappable

Got a new book out that I hope you all enjoy:

Excerpt:

I nodded at the carefully folded outfit and said, “My nips are gonna poke right through that top, honey.”

He rolled his eyes and said, “This is what I get for cutting your music short this week.”

Trying to think about what he meant made my head foggy. I blinked slowly and asked, “… music?”

“Good grief,” Kevin sighed. He stepped close, made eye contact and said firmly, “Tell me whose slut you are, Tracey.”

<Slut>

I stared at him wide-eyed and replied softly, “Yours.” I’d never let a boy talk to me that way before, never let anyone call me a slut, but somehow, it never failed to get me going when Kevin did it. I already knew I was going to put on the trashy outfit he’d picked out. Now, I just wanted him to play with me first. I focused to try and draw it out. With difficulty, I managed to add, “… but…”

“Butt is right,” Kevin nodded, clearly more to himself than to me. He said, “Spacey Tracey, that’s enough talking.”

<Spacey Tracey>

<Enough Talking>

I felt a head rush, the room seeming to shrink around me. Suddenly, there was only Kevin and his perfect smile, and me. He was right, I had definitely talked enough this morning. I stared at him open-mouthed, waiting for him to speak instead.

Kevin didn’t do that right away. Instead, he pushed me onto the bed, face-down.

Hope you all enjoy it. I'm glad to be back in the saddle, as it were - I really missed this place over the holidays.

The Doll Academy 3: Extra Credit

I'm been in the mood to do a longer arc for some time now, and these Doll Academy stories are moving well enough to justify hanging around, so I've decided to stay on them a bit and begin numbering them. (No promises that I won't put out something else if that's what pops into my head, but I have several more ideas to flesh out in this world, bare minimum.)

This one is a sequel to Passing Notes, with Tony assigning Maggie a mission on her first trip outside the school. I'll continue to just number the new ones, and probably leave the first two alone.

Either way, here's the new one:

Excerpt:

“Do you know Julie or Phoebe? Spend any time with them?” Spencer sounded a lot more curious about that. His touch was firmer as he spoke. 

“Yes, Master,” I nodded and said, “We’re not close, but we attend many of the same classes. They’re both in Etiquette with me, attend the same gym sessions and so on.” I wasn’t supposed to talk about what all three of us did with Tony, not even with Master, so I added a little lamely, “We’ve hung out sometimes.” 

“So you girls do have free time?” Spencer asked, “What’s…” he hesitated, “What’s life like there?” 

I shrugged and said, “It’s just a private college, Master. The only real difference is that we can’t have any contact with the outside world without permission.” 

“And that they brainwash you to be like this,” Spencer gestured at me. 

‹Brainwash You>  

The words made me shiver. I nodded and agreed, “And that, yes Master.” 

“How do they do that?” Spencer’s hand moved up my leg, and I could tell that whatever had him asking about this, my answers were turning him on. He added, “Do they drug you? Is there some kind of sci-fi machine they hook up to your brain?” 

In my head, I pictured Etiquette class, Professor Horn hypnotizing the class with films, with his beautiful voice. I opened my mouth to tell him a little about what class was like, but all that came out was a brainless and perky, “That information is proprietary. This Doll is unable to discuss it.” 

I clapped a hand over my mouth in surprise. 

Spencer cocked his head at me, then he laughed. 

Hope you enjoy it, and I hope to have the next piece out soon. :)

After edit: gah, missed some highlighting in the Amazon draft, (where I pulled the excerpt from). This is entirely my fault, and I will replace that version as soon as I am able. Sorry, folks! That'll teach me to publish so late in the evening.

Second edit: Replaced the manuscript. I don't think anybody ended up buying the dinged up version, but if you did, the new one will be live by tomorrow.