Reversions, Revisions and Reveals, oh my!

As many of you know, Samhain Publishing has closed its doors. This means that my Bollywood Confidential stories — Spice and Smoke, Spice and Secrets and Bollywood and the Beast, are no longer available for purchase in their current incarnations. My plan is to slowly re-release them via self-publishing. I need find new covers, strip all the Samhain-y aspects and probably edit and revise a ton. Here's what you can expect:

•Bollywood and the Beast will be back first, sometime in the first half of the year.
•Spice and Secrets will be next, likely with some additional text and revisions to make it worth your dollars.
•Spice and Smoke is...yeahhhhh. Guys, IDK. It basically needs to be split into two novellas. And it needs a HUGE amount of work. It was my first novella and I've never been quite happy with it. It and its companion novella, Smoke and Ash, will definitely be the last stories to be re-released. I have no idea when that will be. Probably when I've spent all my tears and pulled out all my hair.

Now for some good news! I am putting out a collection of my erotic short stories and novellas, some of which have been published before and some of which are totally new to readers. My target for release is mid-April. It all depends on coding, finding the right distribution platform for me, etc.

Check out the blurb and the cover, which was gorgeously rendered by Romanced by the Cover.

From the past to the future, from hotel rooms to hospitals to homes, passion can bloom anywhere. In this collection of previously released and brand-new stories, Suleikha Snyder describes the many permutations of love, of ishq.

You have a thing for your hot boss. You can’t get your ex out of your head. You’re not supposed to be together. You are supposed to be together. He doesn’t remember you. You can’t forget her. She died. You die. Somehow, love and lust still find a way. 

These are the Ishq Factors.   

Bollywood Confidentially: A Hard Look Back

Ever have one of those "If I only knew then what I know now" moments? Sometimes, it feels like my entire experience in romance publishing is that moment. More and more, I circle back to what was initially my great joy: my Bollywood Confidential novellas for Samhain Publishing. I was so proud to get these stories out there. And then so demoralized when they did poorly. But I learned a lot and if I could go back, there are so many things I would do differently. Here are just a few.

1. I would take the people off the covers. I mean, I LOVE these covers. They are stunning. Cover artist Angela Waters is a goddess. But POC on covers don't sell well -- particularly for authors of color. It's hard lesson to learn and a tough truth to swallow, but them's the breaks. Mainstream romance readers (by which I mean primarily white ones) take one look at these covers and go, "Oh, this isn't for me." Similar to why they won't hang a left at the African-American section at the bookstore. The sad-funny thing is, my books don't do well with Indian readers either!

Sometimes you just have to slap a piece of furniture and a puppy on a book to get folks to realize it is for them to read. 

Free Ficlet/Extra: Seva and Shine

It's been a long time since I've written in the Bollywood Confidential universe, but this week I was struck with the urge to return to two favorite characters from Bollywood and the Beast.

I hope you enjoy this free, original short.

~*~

Ashraf watched Kamal unhook the last rope of tiny twinkle lights, his long-fingered and capable hands sifting through the tangles and knots with ease. Diwali had long since come and gone, but they’d kept the haveli lit up for Rocky, who was flying back and forth to Mumbai for a film shoot. Because, as his brother Taj was constantly pointing out, she brightened every room.

“She should be welcomed home every time with the same light.”

“Bhai, when did you turn into a chocolate hero? Are you sure you are feeling okay?”

“Shut up, Ashu. Better hero than zero, na?”