Sex, Life, and Hannah » Book News

Amazon Initiative

hannah — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:59:52 +0000

As I dive into the next round of edits for Book 3, the Summer Season, I need your help. Along with the new book is a whole new way of doing business for Sex, Life, & Hannah. I am no longer going to be wearing ten different hats. Mostly because I’ve learned a lot over the last six years about book publishing; what works and what doesn’t work, but also because I want to be able to focus on writing and getting the word out about the books, instead of printers, distribution, and shipping. The launch of the third book in the SLH series is actually going to be the re-launch of the first two books as well through Amazon’s CreateSpace. This is going to make Sex, Life, & Hannah available globally, in print and digital format, and ease many of my day-to-day administrative woes. ...

Hacked.

hannah — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:37:02 +0000

So...in case you didn't notice, portions of the Sex, Life, & Hannah website kind of disappeared on Sunday and Monday. Yup, I got hacked.

Panic set it. Had I backed up any of the content that was missing? Probably not. And how long would it take for me to recreate about 15 pages worth of content...and all those links, and pictures, and videos?

...

Indie Author Spotlight on SLH

hannah — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:57:22 +0000

This hasn't posted yet on The Indie Spotlight, but I thought you might enjoy reading the answers I just sent them to their questions. Q. Author Bio: Dorota Skrzypek is author of Sex, Life, & Hannah, a book series about romance gone to hell. Dorota was born in Poland, grew-up in Canada, and moved to Southern California in 1997. After many years of piloting airplanes, designing airports, exploring the world, and dating a swarm of eligible bachelors, she created the adventures of hannah – concept publishing to focus on writing fiction. Dorota resides in Los Angeles with her husband, writer and producer Scott Frazelle. Q. Tell us about your book: The Sex, Life, & Hannah book series is an exploration of the human heart; the things we desire and fear most, and Hannah is the telescope into our most intimate thoughts and emotions. What starts off as a basic girl loses boy and tries to find love again story, ends up winding us through the sordid details of the relationships that shape our lives. Will Hannah find The One? Will Jack ever stop philandering with both sexes and settle down? Will Ireland ever have a baby? Will Celeste ever give up her virginity? Sex, Life, & Hannah is a sexy shotgun blast of cocktails, cockteases, and revelations. ...

Believe In What You’re Selling

hannah — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:20:53 +0000

My sweet, shy, timid little sister has decided to try her hand at selling Avon. Even though these three characteristics and "sales" is quite the dichotomy, I support it. I support anytime someone wants to stretch their wings, try something new, and step into an uncomfortable situation, because I believe this is how we grow. Yesterday she asked me what my best advice was to her in how to make sales. My response: Believe in what you're selling. If you love your product(s), your efforts will be coming from a genuine place, and even if you don't get the exact results you want, you will get better results. I also told her that she should make a list of reasons why people should buy her product(s). And then I thought, I really should do that too, especially in this season when most of us are thinking about buying more than usual. So, here goes, my reasons for why you should buy a Sex, Life, & Hannah Book Club Membership: ...

The Major Rearrangement of Book 3 Begins

hannah — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:30:43 +0000

Sometimes when you need to write, nothing comes to you, and other times your writing fills up six pages of your journal before you know it. The last couple of nights I've started the process of working on an official second draft of the Sex, Life, & Hannah Summer Season, the third book in my series about romance gone to hell. Do you like that? The romance going to hell part? It's a new slogan I'm trying out...please let me know, coming up with a slogan, a tag line if you wish, is something I've struggled with since 2007. But I digress. I can't say my re-writing started off with a bang. In fact it was the complete opposite. I toiled over two paragraphs, ended up deleting more than actually writing, and actually created more work for myself. Of course this is going to make the book better, but still, it's frustrating that this book is taking so long to be birthed. The first two came so quickly (relatively), and this one, it's been over a year, and I'm just getting started on the official round two. It makes me wonder if I've lost the touch, the voice, style, or whatever it is that I had in the first two books. The doubts are luckily fleeting, I know if I could run away to Palm Springs, alone, without my phone, and lock myself in a hotel room with no internet service, the official round two would get done in a week. It's hard not to be distracted and just focus on my book right now. ...

The Sex, Life, & Hannah Sound Bite

hannah — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 17:57:36 +0000

I have had a love/hate relationship with e-newsletters. Back in the day when every marketing expert was telling you that your list was your lifeline, everybody jumped in hoping to monetize, and what happened? Our inboxes became filled to the brim with emails from our favorite shoe store to some obscure lingerie designer, and then there was Daily Candy... There was no way in hell we could reasonably keep up, so one by one we started unsubscribing, and that's when I stopped sending out regular e-newsletters from Sex, Life, & Hannah. I felt conflicted and torn regarding "purpose", and rather than being one foot in, I stepped completely out (I hate half-assing). In walks Sasha Jones, my new PR & Marketing Manager, last Wednesday, at our first official meeting, "What's going on with your newsletter?" I told her I had no idea, until we opened up Constant Contact and found I hadn't sent out anything since April. The mulling of ideas began until we came up with something that we both thought had "purpose": The Sex, Life, & Hannah Sound Bite. The quote, thought, tip, or whatever thing...of the week. Just one thing, and hopefully something that will put a smile on your face. So we're going to give this little experiment a whirl, and comments are of course welcome. p.s. I even put a link back up on SLH where you can sign up, if you're not already. Look right below the SLH Book Club Membership Login.

Favorite Storylines from the New Book

hannah — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:03:52 +0000

Sex, Life, & Hannah editor Scott Frazelle discusses his favorite storylines from the new Sex, Life, & Hannah book: The emergence of Hannah's sister Holly as a real character, and Phillip Ferrari as a complicated love interest.

I have to agree. I do love how Holly comes alive in this book and we get to see that there's more to her than just a spoiled girl who inherited her late husband's millions. The direction of Hannah's relationship with Phillip Ferrari took me by surprise. I didn't really have a plan for them, but as I started writing about the inner dynamics, everything started taking shape, and it went from a basic affair to something more... More new book excerpts here: http://www.sexlifeandhannah.com/category/new-book-stuff/

A Literary Critique of the 3rd Book is Completed

hannah — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:10:27 +0000

Sex, Life, & Hannah editor Scott Frazelle discusses his one main concern of the third book: The Christian Knight character. Is Hannah really into him? He's not convinced.

What do you think? This excerpt from the new book, Sex Shop Adventures, is from Hannah and Christian's first date after a couple year of not seeing or talking to one another. Read more new book stuff here: http://www.sexlifeandhannah.com/category/new-book-stuff/

First thoughts SLH Book 3

hannah — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:27:15 +0000

On the train from Rome to Paris hubbie (aka editor) finished reading the first draft manuscript of the next Sex, Life, & Hannah book, the Summer Season. I recorded his thoughts.

Working on Chapter 25: Wedding Dress Confessions

hannah — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:42:17 +0000

A couple weeks ago I was working on Chapter 24. Driving home from that exercise I had a thought about Chapter 25, so I got out my new handy dandy Droid voice recorder and recorded this: http://sexlifeandhannah.tumblr.com/post/8435377004/working-on-chapter-25-wedding-dress-confessions Sorry for the link to a link, but I can't figure out how to insert an audio file into Wordpress...just yet. Anyway, this thought about how Hannah starts freaking about how she always thought she'd be married at 28, came out of answering this question: Am I crazy because I need more? Whether we realize it or not, there is a timeline that runs through our head; a timeline of expectations. And the closer we get to hitting each date, the crazier we get trying to achieve whatever goal we set for that date. ...

Editing the SLH Summer Season

hannah — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:30:47 +0000

Last weekend, when I wrote: The editor is reading the first draft of the Sex, Life, & Hannah Summer Season, it ended up being a half truth. I had printed out the first five chapters for him, and was about to print out the last four, when I started reading through them and thought, “Damn it, I need to change this…and that.” So I got into editing mode, which is never good when you’re just trying to get a first draft out the door, and by the time my editor yelled out for the last four chapters, we realized it was time to leave for the pool party. This book, like neither the previous two, has brought me many creative challenges...

The beauty of sexual tension…

hannah — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:08:07 +0000

Last night, I was re-reading Chapter 14: Friends...with Benefits and came upon the beginning of one of my favorite storylines in the SLH book series, the interesting relationship that develops between Hannah and her new boss Phillip Ferrari. It made me miss the tension of office romances...and I've had a few:) It also put me on a quest this morning to find that scene out of 9 1/2 Weeks, that inspired me to write this scene:

Will Hannah ever get married?

hannah — Thu, 05 May 2011 16:58:27 +0000

This morning, in my inbox: I love your books, I can’t wait for the third one, just one question, will Hannah ever get married? It was as if a plea for hope. And one I was very familiar with. I’d heard my friends lament over this question plenty, and as I stretched into my late twenties I found myself asking it too. It was actually one of the reasons why I decided to write Sex, Life, & Hannah in the first place. When I wrote the first draft of what was to be Sex, Life & Hannah, back in 2004, the overlying moral of the story was self love. The original Hannah, like the new Hannah, and me, was going through a slew of men; sometimes purely for pleasure, but always seemingly on a quest, to find “The One”. You know, that one person that would ultimately complete her, fulfill her, and turn her life into everything she wanted it to be. Except a light bulb goes off towards the end of that manuscript: ...

Progress on the 3rd SLH book.

hannah — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 00:21:01 +0000

Tonight I'm going out for a third night in a row, which I haven't done in a long while. I think it's because on Wednesday I finally finished a first draft of the Sex, Life, & Hannah Summer Season, and for the first time in eight months, a huge weight lifted off my brain. There is a solid list of reasons for why it took too long: lack of inspiration, identity crisis, writer’s block, guilt…I could go on, but I’m going to stop. The important thing is, the first draft is done, and that is always the hardest part.

What now? I’m going to re-read the Winter and Spring Seasons, make notes about any story lines I’ve left dangling, make sure names and references are correct, and then go through the manuscript one more time; adding, changing, deleting, giving it a final go before handing it off to my two amazing editors.

At the last SLH Book Club meeting…

hannah — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:31:54 +0000

Well, let's see...it was kind of mayhem:) People were getting stuck on the 405, arriving late, canceling, but whatever happened or didn't happen, we all had some fun, did a little shopping, talked about everything from squirting to marriage, and I got to read from Sex, Life, & Hannah, which is always a privelege. Plus I got to wear a crazy little dress I would have never even batted an eye at before I started getting girlified.

Thank you so much Blush Boutique in Encino for hosting and providing the amazing martinis and snacks, and super huge thanks to my good friend, loyal supporter, and trusty helper @Sugarcurlz.

Where would we be in this world without good friends...