samhain

Crimson by Ethan X. Thomas

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Crimson by Ethan X. Thomas

Blurb:

Submission isn’t an option—it’s a full-time job.

A Men in Space story.

Humiliated by the betrayal of his former Master, Lieutenant Benjamin Kraft will do anything to bring the drug czar Tazu to justice—anything but kneel again. Forget passion too. He’d rather risk daily grow-op raids. Then, just when Tazu is finally within reach, an ambush wipes out Ben’s entire squad and threatens the life of his partner—a partner he never realized he cared about, much less loved.

As a member of a former slave race known as starlings, Adam’s speed and strength make him a valuable asset to the police force even as his blue skin inspires prejudice and derision from the other officers. Ben’s always been able to look past that, so what’s changed? Suddenly his partner is rude at every turn. Ben may try to get rid of him, but too bad; Adam won’t be scared off. He has his own reasons for wanting to bring Tazu in, and he’ll do it even if it means putting Ben in his place.

Even if it means acting as Ben’s Master on their next mission: an investigation on a planet where sex is everywhere, and where whips and chains are the norm…

Beyond Meridian by CC Bridges

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Beyond Meridian by CC Bridges

Blurb:
Two men. One passion. No choice.

A Men in Space story.

Captain Rick Raine got more than he bargained for when he agreed to take on a brash young man as a crewmember along with contraband cargo. Karl’s spirit intrigues him, but he didn’t sign up for battling privateers, the United Planetary Alliance—or his traitorous body’s response. Especially to a naïve kid who cheats at holo poker and knows a whole lot more than he should.

Deep in the heart of enemy space, Karl’s goal, to rescue the woman who saved him from a life of sexual servitude, is finally close enough to touch. Unfortunately, so is Captain Raine, who becomes erotic poetry in motion when he pilots the ship. Raine’s an honest thief, but Karl can’t trust him with UPA secrets that could get them both killed.

But when Karl signed on for this mission, no one told him to hang on to his heart.

Moonlust by Kallysten

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Moonlust by Kallysten

Blurb:
In space, no one will hear them moan.

A Men in Space story.

The job was supposed to be an easy one for Captain Kar and his two-man crew: land the Danaus on the deserted moon, appropriate a few boxes of precious chromore, and jump out of the system before the Guardians could get to them. Even Will and Jay’s inability to keep their hands off each other for any length of time should not have been too much of a problem.

They discover too late it’s the laineards’ mating season. The resulting sexual pheromones begin to affect them as soon as they step off the ship. With Will and Jay losing their minds to lust, and Kar himself blinded by visions of the two men he has wanted for months, things suddenly get muchharder than expected.

Their only hope for not ending up in jail is to get out of there before the Guardians find them. Except an open loading dock contaminated the air inside the Danaus. And Kar will have to resort to drastic measures to keep Jay and Will apart long enough to escape…

no one cares to hear them moan either..

Lessons in Temptation by Charlie Cochrane

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Lessons in Temptation by Charlie Cochrane

Blurb:

He thinks he has everything. Until someone tries to steal it.

Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Book 5

For friends and lovers Orlando Coppersmith and Jonty Stewart, a visit to Bath starts out full of promise. While Orlando assesses the value of some old manuscripts, Jonty plans to finish his book of sonnets. Nothing exciting…until they are asked to investigate the mysterious death of a prostitute.

Then Orlando discovers that the famous curse of Macbeth extends far beyond the stage. It’s bad enough that Jonty gets drawn into a local theatre’s rehearsals of the play. The producer is none other than Jimmy Harding, a friend from Jonty’s university days who clearly finds his old pal irresistible. Worse, Jimmy makes sure Orlando knows it, posing the greatest threat so far to their happiness.

With Jonty involved in the play, Orlando must do his sleuthing alone. Meanwhile, Jonty finds himself sorely tempted by Jimmy’s undeniable allure. Even if Orlando solves the murder, his only reward could be burying his and Jonty’s love in an early grave…
i hope you are prepared to fight..

An Improper Holiday by K. A. Mitchell

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An Improper Holiday by K. A. Mitchell

Blurb:
He followed all the rules…until one man showed him a dozen ways to break them.

As second son to an earl, Ian Stanton has always done the proper thing. Obeyed his elders, studied diligently, and dutifully accepted the commission his father purchased for him in the Fifty-Second Infantry Division. The one glaring, shameful, marvelous exception: Nicholas Chatham, heir to the Marquess of Carleigh.

Before Ian took his position in His Majesty’s army, he and Nicky consummated two years of physical and emotional discovery. Their inexperience created painful consequences that led Ian to the conviction that their unnatural desires were never meant to be indulged.

Five years later, wounded in body and plagued by memories of what happened between them, Ian is sent to carry out his older brother’s plans for a political alliance with Nicky’s father. Their sister Charlotte is the bargaining piece.
Nicky never believed that what he and Ian felt for each other was wrong and he has a plan to make things right. Getting Ian to Carleigh is but the first step. Now Nicky has only twelve nights to convince Ian that happiness is not the price of honor and duty, but its reward.

2 men and a vial of lavender oil.. fruity even then

Love, Like Ghosts by Ally Blue

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Love, Like Ghosts by Ally Blue

Blurb:
Truth. Lies. A century-old mystery. What a tangled web…

A Bay City Paranormal Investigations story.

At age eleven, Adrian Broussard accidentally used his mind to open a portal to another dimension. Now, ten years later, he’s successfully harnessed his strong psychokinetic abilities. In the process, he’s learned the lessons which have become the guiding principles of his life. Absolute truth. Absolute control. Always.

Sticking to his personal code of ethics has never been a problem, until two chance meetings—one with a hundred-year-old ghost, one with a handsome, very-much-alive man—turn his orderly existence upside down.

Having grown up in a family of paranormal investigators, Adrian is intrigued by the spirit of Lyndon Groome and determined to solve the mystery of his death. Greg Woodhall, however, affects Adrian in unpredictable ways. Not only does his every touch challenge Adrian’s hard-won control over his abilities, his company quickly becomes a light in Adrian’s lonely life.

As the mystery surrounding Lyndon’s death turns sinister, Adrian’s relationship with Greg deepens into something serious. Something Adrian wants to keep. But intimacy isn’t as easy as honesty, and when the heart’s involved, the line between right and wrong can blur.

can a ghost -really- get it up?

Blood and Roses by Aislinn Kerry

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Blood and Roses by Aislinn Kerry

Blurb:

In this world, love can put you on the wrong end of a stake…

 

The last thing Arjen wants is a vampire in his bed. The rest of the world may be enamored of the creatures, but he doesn’t share the obsession. When local vampire Maikel van Triet pays a visit to the brothel, Arjen tries to slip away—drawing the one thing he doesn’t want: Maikel’s attention. Arjen’s too pragmatic to refuse a paying customer, but Maikel doesn’t want his services. All he asks for is a bed, shelter, and a meal before bedtime.

Arjen’s reticence and open dislike intrigue Maikel, who’s delighted by the jaded young prostitute’s attitude, so different from the adoration he’s accustomed to. He’s never been a regular patron at any brothel, but now he can’t keep himself away. He still refuses Arjen’s services though, instead demanding Arjen tuck him in with tales of the daytime Amsterdam he hasn’t known for nearly two centuries. But when Arjen tries to seduce him into leaving, he realizes they’re forging something completely unfamiliar to him: emotional bonds. It’s equally obvious to Arjen that their arrangement is becoming more than either of them expected, and the thought terrifies him.

Vampires are shallow, fickle creatures, and Maikel could never truly love another—could he?

 

vamp fluff with a lot of sucking.. click to find out which kind

Lessons in Power by Charlie Cochrane

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Lessons in Power by Charlie Cochrane

Blurb: 
The ghosts of the past will shape your future. Unless you fight them.


Cambridge, 1907

After settling in their new home, Cambridge dons Orlando Coppersmith and Jonty Stewart are looking forward to nothing more exciting than teaching their students and playing rugby. Their plans change when a friend asks their help to clear an old flame who stands accused of murder.

Doing the right thing means Jonty and Orlando must leave the sheltering walls of St. Bride’s to enter a labyrinth of suspects and suspicions, lies and anguish.

Their investigation raises ghosts from Jonty’s past when the murder victim turns out to be one of the men who sexually abused him at school. The trauma forces Jonty to withdraw behind a wall of painful memories. And Orlando fears he may forever lose the intimacy of his best friend and lover.

When another one of Jonty’s abusers is found dead, police suspicion falls on the Cambridge fellows themselves. Finding this murderer becomes a race to solve the crime…before it destroys Jonty’s fragile state of mind.

 

more of noodle head and idiot…

Pricing Cont’d – Samhain Publishing

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Welcome back to the pricing series where I look at various publishers (e-pubs) and do an in-depth analysis on the cost we readers/consumers are paying for our prized fiction. Being a lover of fiction I’m pretty much going to pay whatever a group charges but hearing grumbling, I’m attempting to show for good or bad if the pricing is reliable, consistent, and ultimately worth your money. The last is obviously something only you can decide.
 

Now I’ve looked at 3 publishers so far and found:
Dreamspinner Press (DSP) to be consistent but somewhat pricey
Torquere Press (TQ) to be inconsistent but somewhat inexpensive — depending on the line
loveyoudivine Press (LYD) to be inconsistent and expensive

 

So what about Samhain?

Well I found them to be both consistent and inexpensive! Hey, I’m as shocked as you so let’s break it down.

Usually associated with reader comments of excellent editing and a strong stable of authors, many have often lamented the m/m selection is too small. Now sticking with pricing, the website states the following:

 

Our pricing philosophy

Samhain believes the price of an ebook should be less than a print book; after all, it doesn’t need to be printed, stored or shipped! Why should it equal the cost of a print book? Samhain is dedicated to delivering excellent books at reasonable prices.

Short Stories:

$2.50

12,000 to 18,000 words

Novellas:

$3.50

18,001 to 35,000 words

Category:

$4.50

35,001 to 60,000 words

Novel:

$5.50

60,001 to 100,000 words

Plus Novel:

$6.50

over 100,000 words

 

Thanks Samhain! Like other publishers, this makes it pretty easy for readers. Now, as with other publishers I can’t just take their word for it. After all, sneakiness is rampant so let’s see what Samhain has to say for their books themselves.

Unfortunately Samhain doesn’t list word counts so I can only go by what I’ve found either on my own conversion or on FW, however I will clarify which is which. There is still some discrepancy with FW counts and I’m working on a solution.


But to continue on in the discussion of Samhain, they use a site called “MyBookstore and More” for their e-book sales when buying directly from the publisher. This works like Fictionwise or ARe as an e-tailer with several publishers. Unfortunately I found this site somewhat clunky and difficult to maneuver around with the print books mixed in with e-books and there is no way to separate genre within the subset of publisher. This site also doesn’t list word counts but there are quite a few discounts I found right off the bat that may be interesting. So like other publishers, you need to be aware and price shop to find the best price.

[Not sure when this turned into basement e-book shopping but it is annoying to pay more for the same product so let’s go with that.]

Checking word counts over at Fictionwise for range, it appears as though Samhain is generally right in their listings. I couldn’t find any listing for a book shorter than 14,000 words and all my personally bought books come over 20k words at least on conversion. The 20,000 to 22,000 range and 35,000 to 40,000 range seems to be a bit in flux as there are several back and forth at $2.50/$3.50 and $4.50/$5.50.

 

For example:

20,235 for $3.50 FW / My count is 20,250 /MbM lists as $3.50 Novella

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b89824/Monster-/Joely-Skye/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/monster

 

20,637 for $2.50 FW / My count is 20,603 /MbM lists as $2.50 Short Story 

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b90528/Sleight-of-Hand/Katrina-Strauss/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/sleight-of-hand

 

20,716 for $2.50 FW / No count from me  /MbM lists as $2.50 Short Story

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b90258/Not-in-Kansas/R-G-Alexander/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/not-in-kansas

 

21,641 for $3.50 FW / My count is 21,701 /MbM lists as $3.50 Novella

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b83091/Object-of-His-Desire/Ava-March/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/object-of-his-desire

 

37,231 for $3.50 FW / My count is 36,942 /MbM lists as $3.50 Novella 

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b94032/His-Convenient-Husband/J-L-Langley/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/his-convenient-husband

 

37,131 for $4.50 FW / No count from me /MbM lists as $4.50 Category 

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b95450/72-Hours/Shannon-Stacey/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/72-hours

 

39,547 for $3.50 FW / No count from me /MbM lists as $3.50 Novella

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b90604/Miss-Firecracker-/Lorelei-James/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/miss-firecracker

 

39,310 for $4.50 FW / No count from me /MbM lists as $4.50 Category

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b90510/Riptide-Love-/Melissa-Lopez/?si=0

http://new.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/riptide-love

 

Now is this because Samhain is inconsistent – which really is the key, consistency in publisher pricing – or is it as previously pointed out to me, a conversion mistake?

So far Samhain seems pretty good on pricing unless you get into the ambiguous ranges of 20k to 22k or 35k to 40k. You could be paying $1 more for your story for less words if we can believe the counts. But, can we? My own counts (taking a PDF and doing the word count in MS Word brings the counts very similar to what FW lists) say that these areas are gray and consumers may be overcharged or undercharged leading to quite a bit of inconsistency. You may not be getting your money’s worth in these areas. 

 

How does Samhain break down in pricing?

Well their shorter stories are pretty expensive (20k for $2.50 or $3.50) but they gradually cost less as the word count increases. The following is based on their internal pricing structure listed on the website.

 

 

Now when averaging the word count and cost, I had to go by FW numbers and it’s been shown FW sometimes counts differently than what the publisher would. So keep this in mind. But doing an internal comparison of FW numbers (my only source) you can at least see the averages of those books for the FW listed cost/count. 

 

Novels – AVG 78,040 words for $5.50

Category – AVG 52,600 words for $4.50

Novella – AVG 32,700 words for $3.50

Short Stories – AVG 18,800 words for $2.50

 

Now, how does that compare to other publishers?

As I have with other pricing comparisons, I use an internal standard of Fictionwise counts. So if they are all off, they should all be off by the same amount and thus the comparison still stands.

 

 

Since Samhain doesn’t produce shorter stories like the other publishers, they come late into the game count wise, let’s focus tighter on that. According to the data, it seems Samhain is actually your best cost wise.  

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:

It seems Samhain is the best cost wise for books when comparing among the publishers (so far). They also have pretty good consistency which I personally find key to the whole process. No matter what the individual reader may feel is worth their money, it’s important to feel confident in your choices.

There does seem to be some variation in Samhain pricing to word count but for the most part this actually seems to play in the consumer’s favor in offering higher (by FW) word counts for a lower cost. On the flip side there are several up and down examples of paying the same cost or more for a lower word count book.* I’m going to say this is provisional since it lands in that mystery area that may be a conversion issue.

Either way the trend with the publisher is pretty much clear. Somewhat surprising since I really thought Samhain would come out as one of the more expensive and readers may pass this off due to the usually good covers and reputed great editing. In my own experience Samhain works vary from very clean to somewhat clean and a total wreck. They do tend to be more clean than not, from an average readers’ perspective.  

So from this perspective, you’re getting the most for your dollar at Samhain so far.

Is it worth it though?

Well only you can decide that.

As always.. your thoughts?