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Monthly Archives: April 2019

How Did The Roman World View Homosexuality?

Most of us that love m/m romance, have to wonder when we read about gay Romans and other historical figures how their worlds viewed homosexuality. Well, wonder no more, because historians have a relatively good handle on how the Roman world viewed homosexuality, and it’s not exactly what you might think.

In ancient Rome, there was no stigma per se against homosexuality. But rather against males who took the more submissive role. There in fact, were no words to describe homosexuality as a lifestyle as there is today. Instead, ancient Romans paid attention to behaviors, so one either applauded or punished the behavior itself. There was a law to cover this. Called Lex Scantinia, legally penalized a Roman male of high status and or freeborn for taking a submissive role when having sex with another male. So, male homosexuality was legal, if you were a high ranking and or freeborn Roman male who enjoyed being the more submissive partner, this could cause you problems legally.

There were a few exceptions. It was perfectly acceptable for a highborn, or freeborn Roman male to have sex with a male slave, prostitute or war captive. To do so in no way took away …

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5 Things to Add to Your Author’s Newsletter and The Sex #VirtusSaga in PRINT!

Do you have an author’s newsletter? Do you want one if you don’t have one, but don’t have a clue about what to put in it? Either way, here are some great ideas for what you can put in a newsletter to your subscribers!

1. Sneak Peeks: Readers love sneak peeks of upcoming stories. So pick a short excerpt from your upcoming story and post it in your newsletter.

2. Cover Reveals: Just got your new cover? Then here’s your chance to have a cover reveal that only your newsletter subscribers get to see. Be sure and put a smaller version so you don’t take up too much space in your newsletter. Remember, reader’s attention spans are short, if you put too much in your newsletter they’re going to click away.

3. Free short stories: Free short stories are one of my favorite ways to pay back readers for buying my books. Now keep in mind a free short story can be as short as a few paragraphs. In fact, I recommend flash fiction rather than say a five-page short story for author newsletters.

4. Character Interviews: Think your readers understand your characters? Well…probably not as much as you do. …

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5 Ways to Come Up with New Book Marketing Strategies

Anyone that tells you marketing is stagnant or that once you find a good book marketing technique you should stick with it only doesn’t understand book marketing at all. As an author, I’ve seen book-marketing techniques come and go and I’ve found that book marketing has to remain fluid in order to keep your books selling. What I mean by this is that as an author, you have to be willing to try new things, and I don’t necessarily mean what every other author out there is doing. There’s nothing worse in my opinion than an author that does what everyone else is doing. I’ve got one word for it, “boring.” If you want to sell books, you have to be willing to experiment. When you do what everyone else is doing, it’s hard to stand out. Thus said, I also believe in taking what everyone else is doing and turning it on its proverbial head.

Here are five ways you can come up with brand new book marketing strategies that will set you apart from the crowd and help you get new readers.

1. Read about other book marketing techniques and or talk to your friends about what they’re …

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