Happy book birthday to Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 3!

On the personal front it's been a hard month so I'm thrilled that there's some good news on the horizon: one of the best books I've ever edited, Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 3, is officially out today in ebook!



I love that my ebooks are now publishing a few weeks earlier than print since that's how the vast majority of people read them. If you like sexy stories, I'm pretty sure you'll like these 21 tales by women from around the world. I made sure every story is action-packed and super hot. It opens with an amazing bisexual exhibitionism story by Abigail Barnette, which I chose as the first story because it totally blew me away, and goes on from there to everything from sex toys to a bibliophile with a major book fetish to bondage, hiring a Dom, and so much more. If you're planning to buy it, doing so during the first week of release is majorly helpful, but of course sales any time help me a great deal. My grand crazy wild finger-crossed dream is to get to edit at least 10 volumes of Best Women's Erotica of the Year and publish over 200 authors in the process, so if this one sells well, I'll be one step closer to making that happen.

Even if you're not buying the book, a hugely helpful thing to do would be to add it to your Amazon wishlist and your Goodreads want to read list. It may seem like a small thing and takes just a second, but those little things make a big difference in helping more potential readers stumble across my book amongst the millions available out there. This is my livelihood, but it's also my deep passion that I've poured my heart and soul into since I started writing erotica in 1999. I do everything I can to turn that energy into giving these authors, several of whom are being published for the first time, as many new readers and followers as I can. I can't wait for you to check out these stories. You can read my introduction over at bweoftheyear.com.

Here's what others have been saying:

Publishers Weekly (starred review): "With a refreshing variety of characters, configurations, and situations, all 21 stories in the collection deliver without becoming stale or repetitive."

Library Journal (starred review): "Editor Bussel (The Big Book of Orgasms) has curated a variety of quality stories with care and intention, highlighting women reclaiming their agency through erotic experiences. This collection opens with Abigail Barnette’s playfully steamy “The Birthday Gift,” wherein Sophie presents husband Neil with a wickedly unconventional visual treat. Wickedness is also the word of the day in Sommer Marsden’s “Demon Purse,” in which an adventurous makeup artist uses her skills to indulge her boyfriend’s sinful fantasy. "

Slutty Girl Problems: "There was something I enjoyed about each story from Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 3, but a few stories stood out as my favorites. I absolutely appreciated Sophie’s love of books and the feelings they can stir from deep within in “Bibliophile,” and took pleasure in the unfolding of a threesome dream come true in “Red Satin Ribbon” and the unexpected rendezvous in “Weightless.” Role reversal and crossdressing made “Romance and Drag” an intriguing and enjoyable read, while my domme fantasies were satisfied in “Making It Feel Right.” A perfect blend of romance and raunch, this book proved to be titillating and a continuous page turner."

In my opinion, Volume 3 is even hotter than Volumes 1 and 2 and is one of the best books I've edited. I try hard not to just put out variations of the same thing over and over, but to innovate and experiment and push my own boundaries and deliver stories that readers will treasure not just once, but again and again. I hope I've succeeded with this title. I took the feedback I've been getting on my titles and poured that into making this book one that you'll want to race through (or savor slowly). Where to buy the ebook:

Kindle

Nook

Google Play

iBooks

Kobo

Happy birthday to me and happy book birthday to Dirty Dates!

So, it's my birthday, and it's been so busy, in a good way, that I haven't had a chance to post about it until now. I'll be posting about what it means to me to be turning 40 soon, but for now, I wanted to share that my latest anthology, Dirty Dates: Erotic Fantasies for Couples, is officially for sale in print!



So if you're wondering what to get the woman already has too much stuff (this hoarder raises her hand!), the best "happy birthday" gift to me is actually a gift for YOU. Or someone you love/lust after/want to get kinky with. Yes, Dirty Dates has lots of inspiration. No, it's not a how-to, but it's got super sexy stories that have fun date ideas, whether you're kinky or not, that will very likely give you ideas for adding some creative hotness to your relationship (or your next relationship. There are married couples, couples who are just starting to date, kinky couples, female submissions, female dominants and a lot more. It includes short stories written by Jade A. Waters (read about the inspiration behind her story "The Swap" on Jade's blog), Justine Elyot, D. L. King, Dorothy Freed (read an excerpt from "The Corset" at Kinkly) and others. You can read the full table of contents and introduction on Tumblr and below is where you can buy it (or pre-order the ebook). I'm thrilled to share a birthday with my book, and hope you enjoy it too!

Amazon

Kindle

Barnes & Noble

Nook

Books-a-Million (paperback)

Books-a-Million (ebook)

Powells

IndieBound (find it at your local bookstore)

iBooks

Kobo

Cleis Press

Amazon UK

Kindle UK

Amazon Canada

5 books being publishing on my birthday, November 10th

Happy November! It's my birthday month (shoutout to my fellow Scorpios!), and while I'm excited to celebrate turning 40, I'm also excited that my Tuesday birthday means lots of great books are publishing that day (including one of mine) that I'm looking forward to reading. I actually have an advance copy of November 9 that I'm saving to read on my train ride from Washington, DC to New York on November 9th, because how could I resist?

Cool coincidence: I started this post on Thursday, and in the mail that day arrived Yes of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. Sign that I'm on lots of publishers' mailing list? Perhaps, but I like to think of it as a very cool Scorpio book lover's coincidence. See below for 5 that I'm excited about - and know that Dirty Dates is already in stock on Amazon 9 days early, so you can have it in your hands ASAP (unless you read it in ebook form, in which case it'll be out November 16th). Full disclosure: all links here go to Amazon, where I get a small commission from each sale, but I encourage you to buy books at your favorite bookstore or use your local library, because libraries are awesome.

What are you excited to read this month?

1. November 9 by Colleen Hoover

Beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover returns with an unforgettable love story between a writer and his unexpected muse.

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

Can Ben’s relationship with Fallon—and simultaneously his novel—be considered a love story if it ends in heartbreak?

2. For the Record by Charlotte Huang

Chelsea thought she knew what being a rock star was like . . . until she became one. After losing a TV talent show, she slid back into small-town anonymity. But one phone call changed everything

Now she’s the lead singer of the band Melbourne, performing in sold-out clubs every night and living on a bus with three gorgeous and talented guys. The bummer is that the band barely tolerates her. And when teen hearthrob Lucas Rivers take an interest in her, Chelsea is suddenly famous, bringing Melbourne to the next level—not that they’re happy about that. Her feelings for Beckett, Melbourne’s bassist, are making life even more complicated.

Chelsea only has the summer tour to make the band—and their fans—love her. If she doesn’t, she’ll be back in Michigan for senior year, dying a slow death. The paparazzi, the haters, the grueling schedule . . . Chelsea believed she could handle it. But what if she can’t?

3. Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes

She’s the creator and producer of some of the most groundbreaking and audacious shows on television today: Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder. Her iconic characters—Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Olivia Pope, Annalise Keating—live boldly and speak their minds. So who would suspect that Shonda Rhimes, the mega talent who owns Thursday night television (#TGIT), is an introvert? That she hired a publicist so she could avoid public appearances? That she hugged walls at splashy parties and suffered panic attacks before media interviews so severe she remembered nothing afterward?

Before her Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes was an expert at declining invitations others would leap to accept. With three children at home and three hit television shows on TV, it was easy to say that she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. Afraid of cocktail party faux pas like chucking a chicken bone across a room; petrified of live television appearances where Shonda Rhimes could trip and fall and bleed out right there in front of a live studio audience; terrified of the difficult conversations that came so easily to her characters on-screen. In the before, Shonda’s introvert life revolved around burying herself in work, snuggling her children, and comforting herself with food.

And then, on Thanksgiving 2013, Shonda’s sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: You never say yes to anything.

The comment sat like a grenade, until it detonated. Then Shonda, the youngest of six children from a supremely competitive family, knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her.

This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda’s life before her Year of Yes—from her nerdy, book-loving childhood creating imaginary friends to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her (like Cristina Yang, whose ultimate goal wasn’t marriage, and Cyrus Beene, who is a Republican and gay). And it chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun—when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and giving the Dartmouth Commencement speech; when she learned to say yes to her health, yes to play and she stepped out of the shadows and into the sun; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes.

This wildly candid and compulsively readable book reveals how the mega talented Shonda Rhimes, an unexpected introvert, achieved badassery worthy of a Shondaland character. And how you can, too.

4. Woman with a Blue Pencil by Gordon McAlpine

What becomes of a character cut from a writer’s working manuscript?

On the eve of Pearl Harbor, Sam Sumida, a Japanese-American academic, has been thrust into the role of amateur P.I., investigating his wife’s murder, which has been largely ignored by the LAPD. Grief stricken by her loss, disoriented by his ill-prepared change of occupation, the worst is yet to come, Sam discovers that, inexplicably, he has become not only unrecognizable to his former acquaintances but that all signs of his existence (including even the murder he’s investigating) have been erased. Unaware that he is a discarded, fictional creation, he resumes his investigation in a world now characterized not only by his own sense of isolation but by wartime fear.

Meantime, Sam’s story is interspersed with chapters from a pulp spy novel that features an L.A.-based Korean P.I. with jingoistic and anti-Japanese, post December 7th attitudes – the revised, politically and commercially viable character for whom Sumida has been excised.

Behind it all is the ambitious, 20-year-old Nisei author who has made the changes, despite the relocation of himself and his family to a Japanese internment camp. And, looming above, is his book editor in New York, who serves as both muse and manipulator to the young author—the woman with the blue pencil, a new kind of femme fatale.

5. Dirty Dates: Erotic Fantasies for Couples edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel (yes, that's me!)

What happens when date night involves a blindfold, a corset, handcuffs or a spanking? The couples in Dirty Dates combine kink and romance in this collection of erotic stories that will give you plenty of ideas for your next sexy outing. From “Magic Words” to a “Recipe for Punishment,” these doms and dommes know just how to make their partner bow to their commands. In return, these lucky subs say yes to all sorts of naughty adventures, from play parties to bondage to risqué roleplay and beyond. However they do it, they make getting dirty much more fun than dinner and a movie.

Bloggers, wish me and Dirty Dates a happy birthday on November 10th and get a free book of erotica

I'm enjoying my final month in my thirties, and preparing for the release of my new anthology Dirty Dates: Erotic Fantasies for Couples.



I came up with the idea of doing something special since the publication date, November 10th, is also my 40th birthday. Instead of a blog tour, with bloggers posting for a few weeks about the book's release, I'm asking bloggers to post on November 10th about Dirty Dates. What can you write about? Anything, as long as you post the special book birthday image and two links about the book. You can review Dirty Dates, interview Rachel or one of the other 20 contributing authors, riff on BDSM or kinky couples. What you post is up to you, as long as it happens on November 10th! You get a free copy of the book and I will share your post on Dirty Dates social media accounts (all @dirtydatesbook) on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Want to join the celebration? Register here by October 20th (all fields are required). Questions? Email dirtydatesbook at gmail.com and I'll get right back to you!