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April 5, 2010
Rita finalists and chick lit at PLA
Posted by Leah under News | Tags: awards, Elisabeth Naughton, Gemma Halliday, PLA, Rita Awards, RWA |[4] Comments
A huge congrats to Dorchester’s 2010 Rita finalists! In no particular order:
For a limited time, you can get these titles 30% off.
I was fortunate enough to be with Elisabeth Naughton in Portland, OR, for the annual Public Libraries Assoc. conference when she got the announcement that STOLEN FURY had double finaled for Best First Book and Romantic Suspense. We had a fantastic time celebrating.
I also had the pleasure of being on a panel about chick lit and women’s fiction with Susan Wiggs (another double Rita finalist!), Jane Porter (also a Rita finalist!), Beth Kendrick and super-librarian Joyce Saricks. Teresa Bergen has a nice recap of the panel–include how chick lit has become a dirty word among some houses and how it’s evolved for others. It might just not be as dead as you think.
March 18, 2010
One of the biggest hesitations in my deliberations between an iPod or a Nook for ebook reading was the lack of an iPod app for the DRMed ePub files. The iPad coming out next month is supposed to support ePub, but no one is really sure yet what kind of limitations it might have. Luckily, you can read ePub books now on your iPhone or iPod Touch through a free app called Txtr.
Txtr is still in its beta phase and definitely lacks the elegance of Stanza. For example, you can change font size, but there are no bookmarks, annotations, or status bar to show how far you are into a book. However, you can read any ePub file (except ones borrowed from the library; if there’s a way to do that, I haven’t yet figured it out). All you have to do is sign in to your Adobe Digital Editions account, which you have to register for to get DRMed ePub files anyway.
The desktop version also allows you to sync pdfs, Word docs, Powerpoint, Excel and rtf. You can drag and drop the files, or email them to your Txtr account. Unfortunately, the iPod app doesn’t support reading the Word docs. Customer service was friendly and speedy when I asked about it, though. And everything is still a work in progress.
The Txtr site itself is rather bare bones, but you can find more info from their execs at Teleread.
March 16, 2010
Catching up
Posted by Leah under Uncategorized | Tags: Dear Author, Jennifer Ashley, Leanna Renee Hieber |Leave a Comment
I’ll be a panelist on Friday afternoon for Romance in the Backseat’s Book Bloggers and Publisher’s Conference. Which made me realize that I’ve been really behind in the blogging. Topics will include how authors, bloggers and publishers can all work together, whether authors should blog, building your audience and more.
But my lack of posts is hardly for lack of good stuff going on.
As many of you likely know, it’s bracket time. Forget basketball and vote for your favorite romances in the Dear Author/Smart Bitches DA BWAHA Tourney. Jennifer Ashley‘s THE MADNESS OF LORD IAN MACKENZIE (Historical) and THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER by Leanna Renee Hieber (Paranormal) both made the big dance.
Releases for books through October 2010 can now be found on the Coming Soon page.
Feeling the luck of the Irish? Win a bundle of books by signing up for our Romance newsletter. And even if you don’t make it in time for the drawing, we still have all kinds of exclusive freebies only available to subscribers.
February 16, 2010
Cover images and book descriptions are now posted for all the June releases, including the latest rollicking mystery from Christie Craig. Click here for more.
February 11, 2010
Snow + free books = good Valentine’s
Posted by Leah under News, free stuff | Tags: Caroline Fyffe, historicals, Rose Lerner, Leanna Renee Hieber, debuts |[2] Comments
Unlike many on the East Coast pummeled by the latest nor’easter, New York City didn’t have it too bad–about 8 inches. Just enough to give the city that beautiful pristine coating…for a few hours.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t use “Bizzard 2010″ as a great excuse to hole up and read a lot this weekend. If you’re looking for some recommendations for fresh voices, check out the current poll for best historical debut at The Season. Both Caroline Fyffe and Leanna Renee Hieber made the list!
Speaking of great debuts, Rose Lerner is giving away a copies of the absoultely amazing historical IN FOR A PENNY. Get the scoop on where to enter at her blog. If you’re a fan of Sherry Thomas, Lisa Kleypas, Georgette Heyer and any of the Regency greats, you will not want to miss this book.
February 4, 2010
PRIDE MATES on the bestseller lists!
Posted by Leah under News | Tags: Jennifer Ashley, paranormal |[5] Comments
Congratulations to Jennifer Ashley, who is now a New York Times bestselling author! PRIDE MATES is also on this week’s USA Today list. Hooray for sexy shifters!
February 3, 2010
Since we’re still not too far out of the season for resolutions, why not try a few of these on for size. You’ll be every editor’s fantasy come true.
- Turn in your best work possible. Some authors under contract submit a draft at deadline–they figure there are going to be revisions anyway, so they’ll just do all the revising at the same time. Not really cool. The more finalized your work, the more I can hone in on what needs to be changed, and–better yet–what doesn’t. If you have questions or hit a stumbling block as you go, I always find it’s easier to call and we can brainstorm through any plot points together.
- Speaking of deadlines…meet them. Obviously, life happens sometimes and deadlines need to be changed; that’s ok. Just keep us in the loop and everyone can adjust accordingly. It’s when projects are consistently late that things get to be a problem. If you show yourself to be a reliable author, you’re more likely to be considered for special projects like anthologies and continuity series.
- Ask questions. I often don’t know what you don’t know. Please don’t be afraid to drop me an email if there’s something on your mind.
- Be realistic in your expectations. If you don’t know what this means, Ms. I Want To Be On Oprah, see above.
- Strive to get better with every book.
February 2, 2010
Read Romance, Win Jeopardy
Posted by Leah under General interest | Tags: Christine Feehan, Jeopardy |[2] Comments
I’m a little behind in watching my DVR’ed episodes of Jeopardy!, so I think the final round I watched last night actually aired sometime last week.
The category: Nineteenth-century Literature (ooh, baby– I’m betting it all, Alex!)
The clue: Blah, blah, blah…quote from book…Carpathians…blah, blah, blah
The contestants answer, What is: The Time Machine, Gulliver’s Travels, and Wuthering Heights.
All wrong!
Clearly, if they read romance, particularly #1 NYT bestselling author Christine Feehan‘s Dark series, they would have immediately associated Carpathians with vampires and come up with the correct response of Dracula.
February 1, 2010
iPad and Amazon and ebooks, oh my!
Posted by Leah under Ebooks, News | Tags: Amazon, Apple, iPad |1 Comment
There’s been lots of big news in the publishing industry in the last week or so, much of it relating to new technology and how publishers are adjusting (or not) their models of doing business. Much about Apple’s new iPad device and Amazon vs. Macmillan has been discussed in other forums and covered in the news, but a few thoughts from this end of things…
iPad
I was thrilled to see Apple was committing its new iBooks store to the epub format, which publishers are truly pushing to become the standard. But my elation was short-lived when Jane at DearAuthor reported that it seems as though the epub file will still have to be tied to an Apple device. More and more, it seems ebook retailers are segmenting the market instead of uniting it. They’re making ebooks more difficult instead of easier for readers to try out. As a reader myself, I want to know that the book I’m buying today, I’ll still be able to enjoy in 10 years, no matter what new devices are out.
Beyond the iBooks format issue, I, like many, was a bit underwhelmed at the “revolutionary” new device. I had been expecting something that acted like a netbook but in tablet form. Instead, we got an overgrown iPod Touch. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my Touch, and I believe I won’t be replacing it with an iPad anytime soon.
Amazon and ebooks
Publishers and ebook retailers still have a long way to go in figuring out pricing for ebooks, as evidenced by this weekend’s showdown between Amazon and Macmillan. But I have to admit that I have a hard time feeling too much sympathy for the publishers who don’t think they can make money for a product that sells for less than $9.99. Obviously, the mass-market business model thrives on it. Then again, we also plan for it.
If $9.99 ebooks released simultaneously with $25.99 hardcovers become the norm, publishers are going to have to adjust for it in their breakevens. And ultimately that’s going to affect what the authors are being paid in advance and royalty.
