Stephanie and her cast are available for live performances of pieces from the book.
Listen to a sample of the audiobook here: https://www.lustilyeverafter.com.
When sassy Raleigh Jackson interviews for a six-week contract to be the fake girlfriend of Trystan Lay—schmillioniare playboy, politician, ex-Navy Seal, songwriter/astronaut, and “the world’s most perfect human”—she knows the outcome will change her life.
A student/waitress/intern living with her obligatory best friend, Kim, Raleigh overcomes her medical condition—chronic clumsiness—and snags the job, thus beginning a whirlwind of extravagant travel and glitzy events.
LUSTILY EVER AFTER: THE AUDIOBOOK MUSICAL covers the span of romance novel clichés from the brooding playboy to the fake romance with sprinkles of paranormal love. The story is sultry, silly, snarky—and hilarious. Chapter titles are sung in harmonies invoking the R&B group En Vogue. The characters voice their own dialogue and routinely burst into song, as they fumble through pillow talk, and relive steamy memories in songs such as “Talkin’ Dirty” and “50 Shades of Lay.”
The creator’s inspiration for LUSTILY EVER AFTER: THE AUDIOBOOK MUSICAL came from her unusual day job. “I’m a romance audiobook narrator by day and a musical theater performer by night. Every day in the booth, I giggle at the same tropes coming up again and again. Then these song lyrics just started coming to me, “The models in my bed don’t keep me warm at night,” for example. I started writing and pretty soon, the whole musical just came tumbling out!”
LUSTILY EVER AFTER: THE AUDIOBOOK MUSICAL has an e-book companion containing the story and all of the lyrics, and there may be plans for a sequel: “I thought we had hit most of the tropes, but now I realize we may have only just begun,” Stephanie says.
Book Info:
Audiobook, $6.95; 2 hours 37 minutes; ISBN: 978-1089023753
E-book, $2.99; 104 pages
Publication date: August 2019
Published by Stephanie Bentley
★★★★★ORDER YOUR COPY★★★★★
Amazon → https://amzn.to/2VA47Fw
After your book was released, what was the first thing you
did when getting ready for your book launch?
I beefed up the new Instagram and Facebook pages,
@lustilymusical, and the website for the book! Https://www.lustilyeverafter.com
After that, what was your next step?
Gettin’ that word out! Although I have been an audiobook
narrator for many years, I’m brand new to the publishing world, so I’m kind of
going on instinct and following orders from my publicist from this point on!
I’m sharing on social media, soliciting bloggers and reviewers to take a
listen, and most of all, continuing to believe not only in my particular
project, but this new sub-genre of audiobook musicals to become the next big
thing in the audiobook world!
In
the spirit of getting the word out about what this book even is, Lustily
Ever After: The Audiobook Musical is a totally new format of audiobook:
two and a half hours of musical comedy parodying romance novels, featuring a
multicast performance of comedians voicing their own dialogue and singing 20
original sexy and ridiculous songs peppered throughout the book.
Did you do anything different to spice up your website in
lieu of your upcoming book release?
Let me just say I’m loving this question about spicing up
the website…very in the lusty theme. The lustilyeverafter.com website is so
much fun IMO, because the first page features an audio sample of a very funny
song from the book, ‘Talkin’ Dirty’, where we get to hear how a schmillionaire
and a ‘regular girl’ might differ in their interpretation of bedroom talk. The
rest of the website has cast and crew pics and bios (which I always love to
read when I’m listening to a performance), press and reviews, and sneak peek
promotional photos of our cover models that can only be seen on the website or
social media.
Did you ever consider using a PR agency to help you promote
your book or did you prefer the DIY route?
I am so lucky to be working with one for this release, since
this audiobook musical is the first of its kind, I’m so happy to be able to get
the word out to a larger audience using connections I wouldn’t otherwise have
had! But also my only experience with the term DIY is also immediately followed
by the term ‘Nailed It’ so I needed a little professional help for sure.
Were finding reviews a top priority for you and, if yes, how
did you approach that?
My team and I are working to get reviews now, and recently
received one from my new favorite humans on the planet at Pacific Book Review
calling Lustily Ever After: The Audiobook Musical “A musical masterpiece
of romance and romantic parody.” (Here’s the part where I vanish with this one
review onto some tropical island and repeatedly tell the locals that someone
once said I wrote a ‘masterpiece’ for the next many years until they find a way
to kick me out of their village.)
What are your views on social media for marketing your book?
The social media pages are super new and still gaining
followers, but I am loving getting to share little lines and treats from the
book in fun ways on the Instagram page: “Be my queen, baby, and we’ll make the
whole world our California King”, for example.
I have also had a lot of success running ads on Facebook and reaching
tons of people that way. So they say… (-eyebrow raised-)
What social media has worked best for you?
Facebook ads, and sharing the @lustilymusical Instagram
posts and super sexy funny pics. The benefit of having an underwear model and a
dancer at my disposal for an entire photo shoot… so many amazing photos to hand
out like trick or treat candy.
Did you write a press release and do you think it worked for
you?
We did write a press release together and I think it was so
magical for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it helped to have a professional
version of what it was that I wanted to communicate to the world, but also the
process of writing the press release was an amazing and unexpected opportunity
to delve deeper into my passion and connection to what I love most about Lustily
Ever After: The Audiobook Musical and what inspired me to work so hard for
two years to write and produce the book.
This thing was born out of a lifelong devotion to musicals
and comedy, passion for cheesy 90’s music, and a love affair with about a
hundred amazing romance novels that I narrated, but it’s easy to forget that if
someone decides they don’t like it, or don’t get it, or has really terrible
taste in all things and hates laughing (more likely explanation).
Did you revamp your author’s page at Amazon in any way to
prepare for the launch (https://authorcentral.amazon.com/)?
Nope! Although I have narrated more than 150 audiobooks
(including my super-secret, not-that-secret pseudonym) and am all over Amazon
and Audible, this is my first ever author page!
Did you set up booksignings and, if so, how did that work
for you?
We are still brainstorming ways to do this since the book is
audio format, but I would love to do some kind of live musical performance type
event anywhere that will have us! PM me! We’ll come sing to you!
Did you create a book trailer?
Not yet but I have lots of ideas for one!
Did you time your book launch around a certain holiday?
Nope, everything just happened very naturally with our
timeline. Since this wasn’t a traditional publishing format and had to exist in
audio first, we had to get it up on Audible and iTunes before we could start
the launch, so that was in August, and now here we are in Oct/Nov ready to help
some people have something funny to listen to as they prep for long holiday
travel (you’ll never find a better book boyfriend than schmillionaire
astronaut/politician/playboy Trystan Lay), or sneak away to a quiet corner to
listen during awkward turkey dinners with drunk uncles.
What was the best money you ever spent on your book launch?
I couldn’t have received the exposure that I did without my
PR firm, so that was hands down the best money I spent. The worst money?? The
(very gorgeous) little flyers I had printed that are mostly in a neat little stack
next to me as I write this. Turns out the whole posting flyers in coffee shops
thing is pretty limited to people without little kids who actually go to coffee
shops…
Any tips for those authors wanting to set up a successful
book launch?
I technically don’t have any idea since I’m flying by the
seat of my hot-pants here! But I will say that it helped me to start by setting
up an expectation of what I was hoping to gain by this launch, and then measure
success based off of that set of goals, whether that is book sales, exposure as
a creator, or building a loyal fan base. Sometimes success is in the eye of the
book-launcher!
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