Ebooks

Liquid Silver Update: LSB – Looking to the Future

What’s new and exciting at LSB? 2008 has been a year of renewal for Liquid Silver. First stage was increasing our staff. Tina Burns took over the role of Publisher to lead LSB in an expansion phase by increasing submissions, author retention, and moving Liquid Silver to be more visible in the ePublishing world. We [...]

eBook Odds and Ends

eBook Odds and Ends

I am still digesting and working on a post regarding the Google BookSearch Settlement.   If you have thoughts on it, feel free to email me (jane at dearauthor.com).   I’m fairly concerned about the future impacts and my initial feelings are ones of concern.   Today, though, I thought I would give some bullet point items about [...]

REVIEW: Bloody Confused, A Clueless American by Chuck Culpepper

REVIEW: Bloody Confused, A Clueless American by Chuck Culpepper

Dear Mr. Culpepper, Yours was a book lingering in my Fictionwise wish list (love, love, love that feature) for a few weeks after the title caught my eye during one browsing session. I’ve grown used to hearing less than positive adjectives attached to the word “American” so wasn’t surprised to see ‘clueless’ added to the [...]

Raising the Sexual Acts Stakes (Part review, part rant)

Raising the Sexual Acts Stakes (Part review, part rant)

There I was, sitting at my computer, reading a review copy of Pepper Espinoza‘s gay male triad novella from Samhain, Falling in Controlled Circumstances. I’m feeling pretty nifty that I’m reading a review copy-’like, OMG, people are actually giving me free books in the hopes that I’d write something nice about it. And I’ve got [...]

Why eBook Readers Won’t Reduce Sales

Joe Esposito, a very smart mind in the publishing and epublishing world, argued a week or so ago that the Kindle and its “kin” would reduce overall book sales. I admire Esposito and his thoughts about publishing but in this case, I find his argument to be, well spotty at best.   His argument is thus: [...]

EBooks Getting the Shaft from Writing Awards

For romance writers, the RITA is the equivalent of a writing Oscar. This year there were changes to the qualifications for the RITA awards including one that effectively eliminates ebooks from competing. The RITA contest will not be open to any book that is not “mass-produced by a non -Subsidy, non-Vanity Publisher in print book [...]

Harlequin Gives Away Free Book for Halloween

Carly Phillips, Hot Property, is available for FREE through the Harlequin eBook store.   Add the book to your cart and type in the coupon code HALLOWEEN at the checkout.

REVIEW: Rough, Raw, and Ready by Lorelei James

REVIEW: Rough, Raw, and Ready by Lorelei James

Dear Ms. James: Angela James (no relation, I assume), Editor Extraordinaire at Samhain, has been Twittering about your book for weeks as she edited it, saying how good it is.   She then had a Twitter competition to give away five review copies of the book and while I missed out on that, she sent me [...]

REVIEW: Walk by Faith by Rosanne Bittner

REVIEW: Walk by Faith by Rosanne Bittner

Dear Ms. Bittner, Until I saw this book listed at the eharlequin site, I had no idea you’d written any Steeple Hill Love Inspired historicals. Since “Texas Embrace” is one of my favorite old timey Westerns, I decided to give “Walk by Faith” a try. This story is not for readers who don’t want to [...]

REVIEW: A Taste of Murder by Virginia Smith

REVIEW: A Taste of Murder by Virginia Smith

Dear Ms. Smith, This is the first Love Inspired Suspense book I’ve tried. Frankly, I wasn’t certain how a Christian themed book crossed with deadly suspense was going to work. What I found is that it worked surprisingly well and is an area I’ll check monthly when the new Harlequin books are released. The book [...]

Oprah Seal of Approval for the Kindle and What It Means for eBooks

Oprah Seal of Approval for the Kindle and What It Means for eBooks

Oprah Winfrey has enormous consumer influence, particularly with the reading public. There is not an Oprah Book Club book that hasn’t enjoyed bestseller status for an extended period of time. A mere mention of a product on Oprah can “make” a retailer. So it was with no small sense of wonder that I received the [...]

REVIEW: The Wedding Heiress by Pamela Ford

REVIEW: The Wedding Heiress by Pamela Ford

Dear Ms. Ford, When you offered us a chance to read your novel, the title gave me pause. “Oh dear,” I thought. This is going to be about some spoiled heiress who has to act silly and ends up falling for a poor hero all told against a backdrop of weddings. Which goes to show [...]

Oprah Endorses Kindle and $50 Off Coupon

Oprah has indeed endorsed the Kindle as one of her favorite gadgets. This summer, Oprah received a gift that she says changed her life. “I’m telling you, it is absolutely my new favorite thing in the world,” she says. Along with her endorsement, Amazon is offering $50 off of the Kindle until November 1. The [...]

REVIEW: The Serpent Garden by Judith Merkle Riley

REVIEW: The Serpent Garden by Judith Merkle Riley

Dear Mrs. Riley, As I look back on the books of yours that I’ve read, two central themes stand out. 1) How helpless women were during most of history and 2) how it’s better for the little people to get out of the way of the powerful ones when those people are throwing their weight [...]

REVIEW: Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn

REVIEW: Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn

Dear Mrs. Quinn, I didn’t start reading your books until the publication of the second Bridgerton novel. The hoopla surrounding it was impossible to miss. Once I’d finished it, I had to go back and read the first book and then each of the following books in the series. My favorite remains Colin and Penelope’s [...]