November 5, 2009

America’s Best-Celler semi-finalists

Posted by Leah under General interest, News | Tags: |
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Dorchester and TextNovel.com have announced the top vote-getters for America’s Next Best Celler contest. These entries are now semi-finalists in the contest to win a book contract.  Dorchester editors will choose 10 from the following list to be our finalists.  On Nov. 16th voting will open once again.  [Edited: Sorry, my mistake.]

Meantime, take a look and tell us your favorites.

1.    Manhunt

2.    Muse Struck

3.    Lancelot’s Lady

4.    Stay

5.    Death’s Angel

6.    Forever Freed

7.    Confessions of the World’s Oldest Shotgun Bride

8.    Fae Nights

9.    How to Lose a Demon in 10 Days

10. What She Was Missing

11. Courting Demons

12. Daughter of Fire

13. Vampire Vacation

14. Redeeming Characters

15. Enchanted Season

16. Death Waylaid: Passion of the Psychic

17. Primitive Nights

18. Tossing the Gloves: How to Love a Hockey Player

19. Highland Magic

20. The Hooded Man

21. Enchantment

 

November 4, 2009

January pub previews

Posted by Leah under Previews
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As the evenings are darker these days, it’s hard not to think of winter being right around the corner.  Here are some January titles I thought looked interesting in the various sales kits that come around.

SPELLBENT by Lucy A. Snyder

A woman in Ohio who’s learning magic accidentally opens a portal to Hell and releases a demon (oops!), who then snatches up her teacher/lover.  So she’s left to figure out her powers and rescue the guy. 

From Bantam/Del-Rey.

SEDUCING THE HEIRESS by Olivia Drake

This is the first of “An Heiress in London” series in which a rich family of commoners take London Society by storm.  The great endorsements from from Susan Wiggs and Christina Dodd along with that stunning red cover immediately caught my eye.

From St. Martin’s.

PROOF BY SEDUCTION by Courtney Milan

I was surprised to see that this is Milan’s debut novel because it seems as though her name has been everywhere lately.  I think this is one a lot of people are looking forward to, especially since it recently got a starred review in Publishers Weekly and Julia Quinn calls it “One of the finest historical romances I’ve read in years.”   The premise: a scientific-minded lord is determined to prove a fortune-teller is a fraud.

Coming from HQN.

HEARTS AND BLOOD by Gail Dayton

This is a sequel to her Victorian fantasy, NEW BLOOD, which I recently read a preview of and really enjoyed.  From the back cover:

Pearl Parkin, a gently reared lady struggling to survive in London’s slums, sees magic as a way out of the life she finds herself trapped in. But blackmailing master conjurer Grey Carteret into making her his apprentice has unexpected consequences. As they plunge into the hunt for a murderer, Pearl discovers that the things she once desperately wanted are not as important after all, and that she must risk her blood, her heart and her very life to grasp the love she needs. 

From Tor.

 

November 2, 2009

Taking your questions

Posted by Leah under News | Tags: , |
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I’m blogging over at Romance University today – taking names and kicking as$.  No wait, that’s taking questions and giving back.  Sorry.  Hope you’ll stop by and join the fun.

Some more fun.  We recently had two winners for the Beacon Award, sponsored by the First Coast Romance Writers.  Congratulations to Trish Albright and Phyllis Bourne Williams!

    

 

 

October 29, 2009

Which witch?

Posted by Leah under General interest | Tags: |
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Alicia

Editorial Director Alicia Condon

The Dorchester staff is getting in the Halloween spirit.  Check out the latest photos on our Facebook page.

 

October 27, 2009

Nov. books & all kinds of promo

Posted by Leah under News, Promotion | Tags: , |
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The November books are officially on sale today, and with release day comes all kinds of promo:

C.L. Wilson is over at the Borders True Romance blog for an exclusive interview about QUEEN OF SONG AND SOULS.  You can also check out the video.

The Dorchester site is offering a $10 coupon for purchases over $25.

I’m answering questions today over at Barbara Vey’s Beyond Her Book blog for Publishers Weekly.

Congratulations to Lexie, who won all the November romances.  Later today, I’ll be pulling the winner of the widget contest for the Tairen Soul series. But there’s still time to enter!

 

October 23, 2009

Share widget & win prize

Posted by Leah under free stuff
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queen-of-song-and-soulsWe’re all in super huge anticipation of C.L. Wilson’s QUEEN OF SONG AND SOULS coming out on Tuesday.  In fact, there’s a special widget on the right side of the Dorchester home page with links to an exclusive deleted scene, excerpt, and more.

Help spread the love, and one winner will receive a whole set of the New York Times best-selling Tairen Soul series.  Everyone who plays will get some kind of prize.  Here’s how:

  1. 1.    Visit the Dorchester website
  2. 2.    Click the Share button at the bottom of the widget and post it to your blog, your Facebook, your MySpace, etc., or use the embed code to post to your own site.
  3. 3.   Email me (lhulten @ dorchesterpub.com – no spaces) the links with “C.L. Wilson widget” in the subject.  For every link of a different site, you’ll get one entry in the grand prize drawing for the four Tairen Soul books: LORD OF THE FADING LANDS, LADY OF LIGHT AND SHADOW, KING OF SWORD AND SKY, and QUEEN OF SONG AND SOULS.
  4. Be on the lookout for a return email with a thank-you prize for participating.
  5. All links must be sent by Tuesday, 10/27 by 3 p.m. EST.

Unfortunately the widget does not work on WordPress blogs, which don’t support Flash.  However, Blogger, Live Journal and most others are no problem.  If you’re blogging on WP, send me a link to this contest, and I’ll still enter you in the drawing.

 

October 22, 2009

April releases

Posted by Leah under Previews | Tags: , |
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SunriseinGardenGet a peek at our April 2010 releases.  The slate includes Barbara Monajem’s debut, SUNRISE IN A GARDEN OF LOVE AND EVIL, a paranormal romance that Susan Squires calls “in the spirit of Charlaine Harris.” 

SUNRISE is also the first book in our new lineup of Publisher’s Pledge titles, books the editors have hand selected as being so strong that we’re willing to offer readers a refund if they don’t absolutely fall in love with the story.

Hope you also enjoy the larger cover images!

And on the Coming Soon page is a listing of ALL the May 2010 books on the Dorchester schedule, along with a new excerpt for PRIDE MATES, the first book in Jennifer Ashley’s Shifters Unbound series, coming in February.

 

October 21, 2009

Nook vs. iPod

Posted by Leah under Ebooks, News | Tags: , , |
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The publishing world was abuzz yesterday with news of B&N’s new ebook reader, the Nook (seriously, where do they get these names?).  And from everything I’ve seen and read, it looks pretty darn cool. 

The B&N site does a nice comparison of Nook vs. Kindle, but I’ve recently been looking at upgrading my Palm to an iPod Touch.  So I did my own comparison:

                                                      iPod                           Nook

  • Ebooks                          yes                               yes
  •      epub                          no                                yes
  •     eReader                    yes                               yes
  •     Kindle                        yes                               no
  • Music                             yes                               yes
  • Movies                          yes                                 no
  • Word doc                     yes*                               no
  • pdf                                  yes*                              yes
  • wireless download    yes                               yes
  • Wi-fi capable              yes                                 yes
  • operating sys             Mac                              Android (Google)
  • eInk (good for sun)   no                                yes
  • backlit (good for dark) yes                          no
  • screen size                     3.5″ diag                      6″ diag.
  • loan books                  no                                   yes
  • price                         $199 8G/$299 32G       $259
  • expansion slot          no                                   yes
  • replaceable bat.       no                                   yes
  • Web browsing           yes                                   ?

* requires app at additional charge

The biggest questions for me come down to screen size and backlit vs. eInk.  I’m having a real hard time deciding because on one hand, I love to read on our sunny terrace (which gives backlit devices a terrible glare), but I also like reading in bed and not having the light on to bother the DH (eInk requires a separate light source). 

Also, how functional is the Nook at web browsing in a wireless hotspot? 

The Nook is available for preorder now and will start shipping Nov. 30. At that time, it will also be in stores for customers to demo.

 

October 19, 2009

Dorchester ebooks

Posted by Leah under Ebooks, News | Tags: , , |
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Some good news to report today:

  • MY WICKED VAMPIRE by Nina Bangs is in its second week on the USA Today best-seller list
  • Examiner.com called DARK LEGACY by Anna DeStefano the “top genre-bending must-read fiction of the year.”
  • $4.99 bargain books are all in one place. And this is good stuff, folks – Lisa Kleypas, Katie MacAlister, Lynsay Sands and more.

A lot of readers have been asking about the availability of ebooks of Dorchester titles.  Currently we send files to Barnes & Noble and Amazon.  The files are sent at the same time, but I’ve found that generally BN.com has the books available anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months earlier than Amazon.  In fact, they currently have the abovementioned MY WICKED VAMPIRE in its digital edition.  And DARK LEGACY, for that matter.  Amazon hasn’t posted either for Kindle yet.

B&N ebooks can be read on the iPhone/iPod Touch, Blackberry, PCs and Macs.  And whatever new device it is that they’re annoucing tomorrow morning.

 

October 14, 2009

Free webinar from library experts & bestselling author

Posted by Leah under Inside Publishing, News, free stuff | Tags: |
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I’ve never done a webinar before, but I’m really looking forward to this special panel to discuss the state of romance in the industry,with a special focus on the library market. 

Speakers include marketing executives from HarperCollins and Random House, librarians/Booklist reviewers John Charles and Shelley Mosley, Booklist editor and RWA award-winner Donna Seaman, and bestselling author Madeline Hunter.

The hour-long panel will be held online on Thurs., Nov. 12.  All are welcome to sign up here.

 

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