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Anne Rainey now lives with her fabulous husband, two gorgeous teenage daughters, two ornery dogs and three snooty cats. When she’s not dressing, feeding, cleaning or spending time with them, she can be found at the computer writing stories hot enough to make your toes curl.

Anne got her start writing erotic romance when she wrote the first chapter of Haley’s Cabin. Back then she wasn’t sure she had what it took to get published but her friends encouraged her to finish the story and submit it to a publisher. Anne listened, finished the book, and is now happily published with thirteen published books to her credit and several more under contract.

Anne sold her first category length novel to Samhain Publishing in 2007. Since then she’s been busy writing and selling, having sold six more stories to Samhain and three to Red Sage Publishing. Anne has also signed a contract with Kensington Aphrodisia for a novella and two single titles.

Anne writes steamy contemporary erotic romance with an emphasis on emotion. Her characters are people like the people we all know in our real lives, roofers, administrative assistants, construction workers, massage therapists, and firefighters. Her heroes are hard working men who like their sex varied and plentiful and they are paired up with heroines who wouldn’t have it any other way.

The titles under contract with Kensington Aphrodisia are Anne’s hottest titles to date. “At first I was afraid to venture too far into the steamier stuff. I wrote hot, but vanilla. It’s been a slow progression.” And progress Anne has.

Anne’s latest release Reckless Exposure is part of eRed Sage Publishing’s Three Kinds of Wicked series—think hot ménage stories! In Reckless Exposure time-strider Trey finds himself in contemporary Manhattan where his targets are fashion photographer Rand Miller and Model Lucy Flemming. Innocent, lovely and trusting, Lucy gives herself to Rand in every way possible. She is more than his model. She is his muse. When Rand realizes that Lucy must move out of not only his apartment but his life, he decides to give her the going away party of a lifetime, complete with massage oil, margaritas and their mysterious neighbor Trey. But Trey has a mission to fulfill. This cannot be Lucy and Rand’s last night together. Trey must turn this ending into a new beginning for all of them.

In Suni’s Gift, Suni, a teacher, can’t shake the fantasies of having two men at once but Suni is happily married to her firefighter husband Ross and knows she can’t act on the fantasies so she commits them to her journal. When Ross finds the journal he realizes that Suni isn’t satisfied. Ross wants to give Suni everything she desires so he sets up a ménage experience as a Christmas gift to Suni. Though it seems like the story would be mostly about sex the story is deeper and more meaningful than that. It delves into the confusing feelings that each of the characters have as they decide whether to go through with the ménage encounter.

Anne’s stories are varied with unique characters and plots. Anne says that she usually gets the ideas for her stories characters first, then she builds a plot around the characters. For example, when she wrote Taking Chloe the secondary character, Grace, popped into the epilogue. She knew Grace would be mouthy, a real firecracker. She’d have to be in order to put up with her cousins Blade and Merrick. So, it seemed natural to pair her with someone who could handle her, without wanting to change her. The sexy, ex-military, slightly older Jackson Hill was the perfect fit. Jackson doesn’t feel emasculated by Grace. Instead he likes that she speaks her mind and knows what she wants.

Anne’s own favorite is Tasting Candy. Blade Vaughn is her most favorite hero, a hero she crafted by combining the best of all the men in her life and a few bits of the bad. In Tasting Candy the heroine was date raped and has a very difficult time being around men. Blade is like a gentle giant. He comes in and coaxes Candy’s passion to the surface. It’s a story that combines both strong emotion and a lot of steam.

Anne has attained many of her publishing goals but she offered up some practical advice for other authors who are just starting out and who want to write erotica or erotic romance. “Be very choosy where you put your work. Don’t be impatient and toss your manuscript out there to just anyone! You worked hard to create a good, solid story, now it’s time to do some research,” she says.

“Ask questions when seeking a publisher,” she adds. “Find out who the people are behind the scenes and where they worked before starting up a publishing company. Check into the authors writing for them. Are they happy? Buy a few of their titles and judge for yourself. Are they putting out quality work?”

A firm believer in self promotion, Anne says, “You’re setting yourself up for a really lousy royalty statement if you expect the publisher to do all the promoting for you.” Anne suggests rubbing elbows with readers, joining readers’ communities. Anne also maintains a website where readers can check out her current releases, read blurbs and even a sample chapter of each of her books at http://www.annerainey.com. You can also find her on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/annerainey Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/annerainey and MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/annerainey

About the columnist
Laurie Sanders is the founder and CEO at Black Velvet Seductions Publishing. The company publishes romance, romantic suspense, and erotic romance. Visit Black Velvet Seductions at http://www.blacvelvetseductions.com