Book Tour for Benefits of Sharing by Leslie Lee Sanders

Before I introduce you to this new sexy read, I want to thank CBLS Promotions for letting me be a part of this tour and Ms. Sanders for her intriguing new read, Benefits of Sharing.  Before we learn more about the new book, Leslie Lee Sanders is going to talk about digital books and her feelings about writing.

Why Books Aren’t Free

An imaginative, inventive, person like me has an urge to see their imagination come to life. We spend many hours in solitude—total isolation—creating and birthing our ideas. The message behind our work is what motivates us. We’re eager to expose our creation to the world and to relay our messages through our art. This is what we live for.

And if we simply give away that which we put so much of our time and effort into ... we wouldn’t be financially able to support ourselves. Writing is work, hard work. And just like your job, you want compensation for your time and effort.

Writing is work but it’s also my art. It’s my imagination come to life. Without it I wouldn’t be able to express my views, my opinions, my likes and dislikes—myself. Writing is how I connect to the world and how I declare myself an individual. I feel what my characters feel—happiness, heartbreak, embarrassment, betrayal—and I get butterflies knowing that readers feel those same emotions when connecting with my characters. Along with my characters, I fall in love, I’m heated with anger, I feel the thrill of doing something forbidden, and so much more.

My writings help me feel alive.

But writing would be impossible to accomplish without the support of my readers. And as much as I enjoy sharing my creations with others, I equally understand that writing is a business. This is why books aren’t free. It’s hard work. Not many people understand this, IT’S HARD WORK. Writing as a profession is more difficult than the average hobbyist or dabbler would ever know.

What makes writing so hard?

You must be enthusiastic to start a writing project.

You must be driven to write every single day for hours at a time.

You must be determined to actually finish your writing.

You must plan, outline, and take notes. You must figure out what questions to ask, ask the questions, and then research the answers.

You must set a goal and push yourself to accomplish that goal.

You must read every day. Only great readers become great writers.

You must challenge yourself. Push yourself beyond your comfort zone.

You must hone your skills and develop your craft. You can never stop learning.

You cannot be afraid to fail. You will be rejected, you will get negative feedback but you must have the confidence to learn from it, keep writing and keep moving forward.

You have to have the strength to ignore self-doubts about yourself and your work.

You must plot, plan, rewrite, and edit. Check spelling, grammar, characterization, plot, point of view, tenses, transitions, believability, dialogue, description, etc. You must write the blurb, write the full synopsis, write the query to send to the editor and plot, plan, rewrite and edit those as well.

You must learn the skills to present your writing professionally and sell it along with your voice to editors and agents. Know your competition and your target audience, etc.

You must market and promote, manage websites and social networking sites, blog and article write, leave comments and respond to comments, design (or get designed) promotional material; banners, bookmarks, website ads and book covers and book trailers. You must request reviews, interviews and guest blogs. And so much more.

So knowing this, I hope you understand why books aren’t free and why authors appreciate readers’ support.

Appreciate the books you own and the writers who write them. Never share or upload digital books online. If you do get a free copy from an author cherish it, because a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into making that book available to you.

EXCERPT:

"Hi," she greeted the delivery guy.

"Hello," he said with such a deep voice, she did a double take just to be sure the sound came from the tall young man standing before her. He smiled. "Cara Matthews? These are for you."

"Thank you." Her husband was definitely the best. Already his gift had cheered her up.

The delivery guy handed her the dark purple irises in their clear glass vase. They were her favorite color and flower. "There's a note in the middle for you." He beamed.

"Oh, I already know who they're from." She smiled again, said "thank you," closed the door, and turned to go back inside. Once in the kitchen, she set the flowers down on the center of the table and smelled a few of them. A fresh, sweet floral scent filled her nostrils. Perfect. She grabbed her cocoa and quickly drank the rest of it before washing the mug and putting it back in the cabinet. Then she sat down at the kitchen table before her leather-bound diary. She glanced at the flowers and the little white note that stuck up from the purple petals. She carefully plucked it out and read it.

We talked about the benefits of "sharing," and I think it's the perfect time to do just that. You deserve a special gift for a special day, and he's outside waiting for you. Now invite Isaac in, and be sure to thoroughly thank him. Happy birthday!

Love, James.

Cara read and reread James's message. Was she reading it clearly? They had talked about what fun it would be to invite someone into their bed for a threesome. They even laughed at how it could further strengthen their marriage, but she had thought the entire conversation was just a joke, a way of entertaining themselves. She turned the card over, expecting to read, Gotcha! I cheered you up, didn't I? But no such words were there. It was blank.

Isaac?

Was James serious?

Cara immediately went back to the front door and looked through the peephole again. There he was, the delivery guy, pacing back and forth on the porch.

"This must be a joke," she mumbled and cracked the door opened. She peeked through the slit. "Isaac?"

He grinned and stared at her with light brown eyes. "You gonna invite me in?"

"Who are you?" she asked, frowning, unsure.

"I'm Isaac. James sent me."

"For what?" Cara glared, waiting for him to confirm what was written on the note.

He laughed uneasily and whispered, "To help you feel better," then winked.

Although she was a bit hesitant, Isaac looked harmless and even a little tense. She opened the door wider to get a better look at the guy.

AUTHOR BIO:

The author of several books of fiction and fiction with spice, Leslie Lee Sanders spends most of her time writing erotic romances mostly in the MM and MMF categories. She currently has two books available for the late teen readers and several erotic romances published as e-books and in print.

Benefits of Sharing BUY LINK: http://www.breathlesspress.org/Book/361

Author Website & Blog: www.leslieleesanders.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeslieLSanders

Free MMF erotic serial Three’s a Crowd online at: http://www.threesacrowd3.com

Backlist Titles & ARe profile: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Leslie+Lee+Sanders

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/leslieleesanders

Thanks for being here Leslie!  To learn more about Benefits of Sharing, the tour continues here tomorrow where a review and more great thoughts from Leslie will be posted.