Author
The Blushing Brides Series is a group of standalone novels from sweet romance authors Evangeline Kelly, Lorana Hoopes, Emma St. Clair, Josephine Blake, Elle E. Kay, and Tayla Alexandra.
Look for more books in the series coming in 2019!!
The Fireman’s Perfect Bride by Lorana Hoopes
The Prince’s Secretive Bride by Evangeline Kelly
The Billionaire’s Reluctant Bride by Elle E. Kay
The Cowboy’s Forbidden Bride by Tayla Alexandra
As a reader, the idea of getting books for free sounds great! Who doesn’t like free? I remember as a child, being completely AMAZED when I went into my very first used book store. They weren’t free, but trading in my old books made them seem free. I didn’t ever have to use my money! So… free.
It was called The Book Rack and I begged to go several times a week. My biggest regret was not realizing that when I turned in my old books to get credit for new books, I didn’t get them back. AND in the end, the number of books I owned went DOWN.
Seems logical, but to a fourth grader, I just didn’t quite get it.
As an adult, I now know that there is a cost for everything, EVEN for free. I actually learned this lesson as a teenager when I went to Nature Camp. One of the big lessons we learned in terms of conservation and the way that the natural works is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. AND that this didn’t apply to eating food!
When a bear ate a fish, that cost the fish its life. When someone chops down a tree to use it for firewood, there is an impact on the creatures who lived in the tree or maybe even the smaller vegetation growing in the shade of the tree. Everything has a cost.
I am a big-time bargain shopper, especially when it comes to books. When I see cheap or free books, I get super excited! But, like the no-free-lunch rule, there is no such thing as a FREE BOOK.
As an author, I thought I’d share a bit of what goes on behind the curtain when it comes to a free book and what that cost REALLY is.
First, I’m going to break down what it costs a self-published author to write a book.
Financial costs of writing a book:
These are just the basics! You might also end up with costs like childcare or coffee (if your writing “office” is not at home). A lot of these costs may vary, but for one of my books, the basic costs are at least $500.
There are also costs that aren’t strictly financial and harder to measure. I get joy from writing, but it can also be emotionally exhausting. It does take a lot of my time. For different authors, the amount of time it takes to write a book varies. But realize that there are HOURS going into every book. And these are not hours where we are getting an hourly wage, since that’s not how we get paid.
Now let’s breakdown how pricing works for books to see how authors get paid.
Traditionally published authors
For traditionally published authors, they will typically get an advance against royalties. That means if they get $5000 up front to write a book, they won’t get any more money unless the book sales go ABOVE that amount. The agent will get 15% of the advance and of any royalty.
If the author sells enough books above the advance to get royalties, they will receive somewhere between 10-15% of the list price of the book, maybe less for trade paperbacks. (Read this post if you want details on royalty rates!) They pay their agent 15% of those royalties. So on a $20 book, the author might earn $2.00, then have to pay the agent out of that.
Independent authors
For authors like me who publish ebooks themselves on Amazon or other marketplaces (Apple Books, Kobo, etc), there are no publishers or agents to pay. We will receive a commission based on the platform where we sell. On Amazon, independent authors will make 70% of the price of books listed between $2.99-9.99. Above or below that range, they will make 35%. (I’m not going to get into print, but we get less because of printing costs.)
When I launch a book at 99 cents on Amazon, I am earning somewhere around 30 cents per ebook.
Think about this for just a moment. For all those hours, all that time, all those costs, authors are earning 30 cents per ebook sold at 99 cents.
When I first started writing, that number made me feel sick. I value my books. I want to write quality. It’s not even just about how much I’m paying out of pocket to write a book, but how I value my work.
As a reader, I love bargains. We have five kids and aren’t living on some giant income here, so we don’t have an unlimited budget for books. But as an author, I know how much other authors are making when their books are priced low. I want to value their work as well and to pay them a fair wage.
If authors are putting $500 into writing a book, you might be wondering why they would ever sell a book at 99 cents or free. Usually it has to do with marketing strategies, which is probably way too boring and intense to get into here.
But in short, pricing books lower for a time allows authors to get visibility. At a lower price point (or free), authors can utilize promotional sites that will help get the word out about books on sale. (These are usually paid sites, so they factor into my marketing and advertising costs.) When books are selling more, they show up higher on the bestseller lists in categories on Amazon, which get them in front of more people.
Sales lead to more sales–assuming the books is GOOD and readers enjoy it. So free and cheap books will often help with marketing. Sometimes the best sales day I have in a month might be the day AFTER I had a book as free. (Typically I only do the occasional ONE free day on a book on Amazon.)
Free books through sites like Bookfunnel can also be a way to help an author grow an email list. Readers exchange their email for an ebook or a sample. Then the author will have the ability to email that reader about future books and sales. So offering free books is generally a way that authors can be discovered by new readers, who will hopefully become readers who buy books.
If an author has their books in KU, this means that the books are not available on any other platform. They are exclusive to Amazon. Readers who pay for a Kindle Unlimited subscription can pay $9.99 a month and read any KU books for “free.” (With up to ten books checked out on their device from KU at a time.)
Authors get paid by page reads, a percentage that Amazon changes every month. As a romance writer, a lot of readers use KU and 85% of my income comes from KU page reads. For a book priced at 99 cents, I will usually make more money if someone reads my book through KU. But this depends on the length of my book and the page read payout for the month.
I wanted to write this post because I think it’s good for readers to understand what goes into the writing and how authors get paid. No, it won’t increase your book budget, unfortunately. But I hope it helps you understand a little about the business of publishing and how authors get paid.
Every week I get a few emails from readers requesting free copies of print or ebooks. Sometimes I get emails saying that my books at $3.99 are priced too high. Usually the reason is that people are on a fixed budget.
I get it! This past year, my husband has been between jobs. We don’t have a big book budget either! I have a Kindle Unlimited subscription ($9.99 a month) and we buy paperbacks at places like the Goodwill. So I very much understand book budgets!!
But look at the flip side: This past year, my income from writing has helped pay our mortgage and bills. If I’m giving away all my books for free or keeping them at 99 cents, that means a lower income for our family of seven. I can’t imagine going into a business of any kind and asking for a discount or free product because I can’t afford it.
Am I looking for pity or trying to be manipulative to readers?? NO WAY!
I am so happy to be in a time where I can write and publish my own books. I love knowing that people are reading my words! This past year, I’ve started making a full-time income which has helped since my husband was between full-time jobs. Doing something I love AND making money? This author gig is a dream come true!
But it’s also a LOT of work.
My books are all in KU, which means that if you have the means to pay $9.99 a month, you can choose to read my books and thousands of others for free. I also usually launch new books at 99 cents or at least have that price for a limited time. At full-price, my books are still less than the cost of a Frappuccino at Starbucks.
I hope that this post helps you understand a little of what goes into writing and publishing a book and how authors get paid! I value my books and want to put out the best product I can. I also value my readers and hope to have options even for people on a budget.
And if you ever thought about asking a writer for free copies (this is NOT most of you!!), consider the value of books and the cost to the author.
I’ve already shared my favorite clean billionaire romance novels, but if that’s not enough, I dare you to take on this list of clean billionaire romance SERIES. That’s right: whole series of love stories featuring a billionaire.
Side note: Can we talk for a second about how rare billionaires are? Especially the young, hot kind. I’m going to drop some billionaire facts on you before we move onto my list. Bear with me. You might enjoy these!
Okay, so…the truth about billionaires is less fun than what we get in the pages of books, am I right? Let’s suspend reality for a bit and enjoy fictional billionaires, who have a lot more fun, are a lot younger, and seem to be in endless supply. 😉
This post contains affiliate links, which means that at no extra cost to you, I may earn a commission from your purchases.
There are five books in this series from Bree Livingston, all tied together by simply the fact that they are CLEAN. I’ve read all of them and my favorite two are Her Pretend Billionaire Boyfriend and Her Fake Billionaire Fiance. Both are about (duh) fake relationships, which aren’t always my favorite. But these two had my favorite characters and storylines. You’ll also find a broken football star, a second-chance romance, and a plane crash on a deserted island.
You’ll love this best-selling clean billionaire romance series!
There are three books in this series, one of which made my list of my favorite billionaire romance books. (That would be the Truth about Billionaires, book 2!) I’ve read all three of these and enjoyed them. I feel like Pennington does a great job layering more into her characters than I see in some clean romance novels. As a Southern girl, I also loved the settings! You’ll also read about a billionaire falling for a single mom and a single billionaire dad whose love interest is also the one hurting his resort business.
This series deals with storylines where there is some element of surprise. In The Billionaire Love Match, that surprise comes as Casey meets and connects with a stranger just before the taping of a reality show. During the first episode, she finds out that the handsome man is actually a billionaire and that she’ll be competing for him with fourteen other women. In The Billionaire Land Baron, Shelby doesn’t realize that Jake, the man renting out the Airstream trailer on her property is a billionaire developer. And neither of them realize (at first) that her property is the last one standing in the way of his newest project. (Releasing September 12th!) These billionaire books have a good mix of humor and heart!
There are two in this series with a third coming out later in 2018. I’ve read both and they are unique stories, both second chance romances. The first deals with a surprise and memory loss while the second features a really huge past conflict that the main characters have to get over. It was beautiful and painful to read about Anna Lynn trying to win Mark back.
From second chances to fake relationships to billionaire bosses, this series from bestselling author Victorine Lieske has it all! I especially enjoyed reading Her Big Fat Dreamy Billionaire Ex (book 4). It features a lovely destination, rekindling old love, and a meddling, matchmaking granny.
This series has five titles with a variety of storylines. I read Forgetting the Billionaire, which has some incredibly sweet moments as Mitchell comes to see his ailing grandmother and falls for Charlie, who is trying to keep her retirement home afloat. You’ll also find a Christmas romance, a story involving a plane crash, and a billionaire trying to atone for his past mistakes.
This isn’t a full list, but includes books that I’ve actually read so that I can better recommend them! Do you have any favorite clean billionaire romance series that I’ve missed?
Novels featuring billionaire storylines or tropes have been so hot lately!! With so many clean billionaire romance novels, it can be hard to know which ones you should read next. For some ideas, you can read my Clean Billionaire Romance Series post or my Clean Billionaire Romance Standalone Novels post.
But here are my favorite clean billionaire romance novels!
This post contains affiliate links, which means that at no extra cost to you, I may earn a commission from your purchases. 
What I loved most about this book was that the female main character was NOT in great need of money. Many of the billionaire storylines involve women who are in dire financial straits and need the help of the billionaire–even if they don’t want it. From the start, Jill and Blake are on more equal footing. She has success and money, so when she is hired as a consultant to work with his company, there isn’t the typical boss/employee relationship either. Her sass and strength draw Blake in, but also make him confused about where they stand. I LOVED the way this story unfolded and it didn’t hurt that it took place in Texas. Did I mention that Blake is a former bronc rider??
The Billionaire Bachelor – Judy Corry
This billionaire book rested more heavily on the trope of a second chance romance than the fancy billionaire lifestyle. Kate had always had a huge crush on her brother’s best friend Drew, but after her brother was killed in a car accident, she and Drew stopped speaking. She always assumed he didn’t return her feelings, but there was much more to their shared history and loss. This book had some more depth because of the back story and really did a great job of portraying the love between Drew and Kate as it unfolded.
Her Fake Billionaire Fiance – Bree Livingston
I was drawn to this story because of the unique characters. Alana is a musician who set aside her time at Julliard to be at home and help her father. When she starts working for billionaire and senate-hopeful Steele, sparks fly. While I’m normally not a fan of the fake relationship trope (they just are SO HARD to believe most of the time), I liked the setup here. Steele’s father has a serious chokehold on his life and controls every aspect of it because of a painful secret. Alana becomes the light that helps set him free. (Also– doesn’t that model look a little like Chris Pratt??)
The Billionaire Love Match – by Emma St. Clair
Is it bad to put my own book in here?? With The Billionaire Love Match, my whole goal was to be fresh with some of the billionaire tropes. When Colt meets Casey, she has no idea who he is. She is smart, sassy, and independent and doesn’t care about his wealth or reputation. She’s more afraid that he’s not who he says he is and that she can’t trust the growing feelings between them. Colt is struggling to gain control of his life again from his mother, who is the mogul behind their family’s entertainment empire. But to free himself, he’s got to let her control one more thing: the reality TV show meant to help him find his perfect match. You’ll find yourself surprised along the way, even though there are a lot of common tropes and elements in this novel. Find out if true love stands a chance on reality TV!
The Unwanted Assistant – by Evangeline Kelly
Already from the cover you might realize that this isn’t the typical clean billionaire romance novel! Ivy takes a job working for a reclusive billionaire who was burned in the fire that killed his parents. The book does a great job of weaving faith throughout without being heavy-handed or making everyone perfect. Ivy and Sawyer each have their insecurities, strengths, and weaknesses. I really enjoyed the push and pull of their relationship and watching the way they changed each other. This is a modern re-telling of Beauty and the Beast without being too cliche or stuck in that story. If you’re looking for an inspirational billionaire book, this one will be a perfect read!
The Billionaire’s Secret Marriage – by Tamie Dieren
This book has some of the familiar billionaire storylines–a single mom needing to make ends meet falls for her billionaire boss. Only this boss is blind and struggles with the insecurities that come from his disability. He struggles to feel like he can be loved and she is the only person who brings real calm and peace to his life. To seal a business deal, he agrees to marry a woman who makes Stephanie’s life much more challenging on a daily basis. One trip to Vegas changes everything! There was a lot of heart in this book and I love that this story hits close to the author’s home as her grandson is blind.
There are a TON of great clean billionaire novels out there, but these are my top choices and recommendations. For more, you can read my post on clean billionaire series and clean billionaire standalone novels!
If you’re like me, maybe you didn’t realize that clean romance was such a huge category. Or maybe you’ve heard people talking about sweet romance and weren’t sure what that means. We’ve all been familiar with steamy romance–the kinds of books my grandma used to read (REALLY, Grandma???)–with the bare-chested men and women in various states of bodice-ripping.
But what is clean romance? Let’s get into the definitions and where to find some great books!
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive payment at no extra cost to you from purchases made.
Let’s start with the definition of clean romance. Which is actually a little harder to pin down than you might think!
There are a few terms that people often use interchangeably in this niche. Let me break down some of the wide categories of romance as this can be confusing! (Author Kristin Holt talks more about the potential confusion between clean and sweet romance!)
Clean Romance – Generally means no on-page sex, limited amounts of kissing/arousal. May also mean no alcohol (or limited use by adults) and no swearing or violence.
Sweet Romance – Sometimes used interchangeably with clean romance, but may mean that the book has a bit more leeway when it comes to language, might have more descriptive kissing, and has a focus on the developing emotional intimacy.
Inspirational Romance – Clean or sweet romance with Christian themes as a central part.
Steamy Romance – Novels that have storylines and at least a few detailed sex scenes.
The confusion is that for some readers, clean may mean different things. Some readers are fine with sex happening off-the-page. As in, a couple may live together or engage in sexual activity that’s implied, but it’s behind closed doors.
Other readers expect something more wholesome– the couples do not have sex before marriage or the idea of sex isn’t even implied.
There can also be some subtle distinction between the inspirational and clean romances. I’ll sometimes see varying levels of faith being a part of books that aren’t necessarily in the Christian or inspirational categories, or books that ARE in those categories are clean, but don’t really contain themes or elements of faith.
THIS CAN BE SO CONFUSING!!
Readers can be really disappointed and share that in the comments when the book doesn’t meet their expectations of what a clean romance is. I had negative comments once about a character compromising her morals because she didn’t wear a sweater over a somewhat revealing top. Even though I made no mention of faith or her morals in the book at all.
Authors don’t always agree on definitions. Neither do readers. And Amazon? Sometimes they’ll stick a book in the completely wrong category, which causes more confusion.
(More on this debate about clean and sweet romance from Cathy McDavid!)
Amazon has a category for clean romance called Clean & Wholesome. You’ll find a mix of clean, sweet, and even inspirational titles in this big category.
You can also find some clean romance books with more of an inspirational bent in the Inspirational Romance category. But again, these will have varying degrees of faith included in the storylines. Some are primarily about faith, while others might mention God or church or praying, but not much more than that.
If you aren’t a writer or English nerd, you may be wondering what a trope is. (And no, it’s not to be confused with the Scottish dish tripe…) Tropes are common themes or elements within a story. A novel might be based on one particular trope OR have multiple tropes throughout.
Here are some examples of tropes:
You can find a great list of tropes from Victorine Lieske of the Writing Gals that covers wayyyy more. These are the common themes or storylines or devices that readers expect when it comes to romance. Tropes in clean romance often have a lot of crossover to the tropes in steamy romance– just without the steam, of course.
Unlike the bodice-ripping covers from my grandma’s steamy romance novels, clean romance novels are typically a lot less about hinting at sexual tension and a lot more about romance. And depending on the tropes, you’ll find some variations in what you’ll see.
For example, here are a few billionaire covers, which typically feature a male alone.
Here are a few covers in the fake marriage covers, which often have a female alone.
In the inspirational category, you might see more couples that look very happy and romantic.
There will be some outliers, where books may not look like they fit in a certain category. There is definitely diversity!
I’m a huge fan of NOT having faces on the covers (except in the billionaire books) because I personally love imagining the main characters myself. Sometimes I find the cover images very distracting!!
I love the covers for the No Match for Love series by Lindzee Armstrong, which also let the faces stay up to the reader’s imagination!
I didn’t even touch on the clean historical or regency romances! (I’m a more contemporary girl…) If you had any questions about clean and sweet romance, I hope that this helped give you a good idea of what you might find in the category!