Jul 18 2011
Monday Midday Links: A New Fave Cover and Book Group Sale Sites
Enjoy sites like Groupon or Living Social? If so, you aren’t alone. Around 50 million people have used Groupon inviting a hoard of copy cat social coupon sites like locusts to a wheat field. All Things D reports that Hearst Owned magazines will launch its own group commerce site that will launch this summer:
The offers, which will start rolling out later this summer, will primarily target the male-dominated audiences of the two magazine brands. Later, Hearst will expand it to other demographics through such well-known magazine properties as Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and Esquire.
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HarperCollins has a book site called Book Perk which is similar to a coupon site. The deals aren’t daily and they aren’t quite as attractive as most Groupon deals (which are usually for 50% or more off) but they are book specific. The latest deal is for paper readers:
Juliana Stone Paranormal Romance Bundle: FREE Pre-order of His Darkest Salvation With Purchase of His Darkest Embraceand His Darkest Hunger
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Kelly McClymer’s blog post on what author royalties should be.
Conclusion: 25% net is much too low a royalty rate, a 50% net is too much as it assumes no cost to the publisher and is not realistic.
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Ideeli is also having a book sale. Scholastic is selling boxed sets of its most popular titles: Harry Potter, Hunger Games. The Harry Potter collection in a treasure chest is $150 (regularly $195). I love how the books get exponentially larger as the series waxes on. To my great dismay, the Captain Underpants boxed set is on sale. We just bought the box set at Barnes and Noble two weeks ago.
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This is the Princeton Report of their eReader pilot program. (PDF) Students were issued Kindle Dxs for study purposes. The major issues were the lack of ease of annotation. For leisure reading, the Kindle worked great. For scholarly reading, not so great. The report is based on the first generation of Kindle Dxs and there have been software improvements but it’s still a great resource for those designing ebook readers and ebook reading software.
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A new-ish blogger, Lux Lucas, had a great epilogue post in response to the discussion we hosted at DA last week. She suggests that epilogues are the price of sentiment but also brings out a really interesting point about the out of step heroine and hero:
Opponents of romance like to talk about its conservativeness, its heteronormativity. Certainly the genre can have those elements–and when an epilogue works overtime to reinscribe its characters into the problematic social fabric they’ve been trying to buck, I start to feel some sympathy with those criticisms. How many times have we read the scenario in which rakes or bluestockings express their great ennui with the shallow/rigid/traditional society that enmeshes them only to see those same characters absorbed back into the fold at the end of the book? Often, indeed, this reabsorption seems to be a desirable end that the epilogue is designed to effect.
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And finally, I have updated the Coming Soon catalogs. The August catalog is pretty much complete although I am missing most of the series books. Here is the July catalog. In adding in the covers to the catalog, I came across this gorgeous historical romance cover. I love the color of the cover (kind of pumpkin-burnt orange) and I love the positioning of the couple. The look of the couple is also arresting with both of them appearing in very period oriented clothing. The ring on the man’s very big hands is also a great touch. Yeah, I’m totally interested in reading this book just based on the cover alone.
Send to Kindle
Jul 18, 2011 @ 10:43:42
Wow! That cover is lush and gorgeous. Totally gets my attention…too bad it isn’t out until November (I went and checked simply based on the cover.)
Jul 18, 2011 @ 10:44:19
That is a great cover, made even more effective by the fact that they are both fully dressed. The pose and the expressions carry it.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 11:27:28
Not only are they fully dressed, but we can see both from head to toe (!). And wowzer. That paw. That man has a huge, beautiful hand.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 11:29:32
I love the Charlotte Featherstone cover — Hot Dang!
Jul 18, 2011 @ 11:53:09
This week was my turn to blog over at the ADAN, Romance Divas Site. B/c the issue is SEXISM, I’d love everyone to stop by and check it out. The website is at:
http://alldayallnightromancedivas.blogspot.com/
Jul 18, 2011 @ 11:55:29
I’m all in on that cover.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 12:15:40
That cover is gorgeous. Having the couple in a full-length shot, as opposed to a close-up, really makes a difference. Usually I recoil from clinch covers, but this one seems much less cheesy. Maybe it’s the inclusion of the scenery in the background, or the fact that the heroine’s dress is still on. ;-)
Jul 18, 2011 @ 12:40:36
I get emails from Book Perk and so far, nothing has been the least bit interesting. The price is always high and the additional perks don’t make it any more tempting to buy.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 12:43:32
That cover is absolutely stunning. That’s the kind of thing I would WANT the paper copy of so that I could carry it around and show people. You know, as opposed to the ones with shirtless, headless men that cause people to look at me like I’m a degenerate.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 12:46:14
That is a gorgeous cover – and Charlotte Featherstone is already on my must-read list, so yay for the bonus eye candy.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 13:21:23
An epilogue on epilogues: If I may honk my own horn a tiny bit. I only wrote one epilogue, which happened to be on the book I just last Friday e-re-pubbed on Amazon, Secrets to Surrender. I felt the epilogue was, if not absolutely necessary, at least justified by plot issues — other than the romance — that couldn’t be resolved at the end of the last chapter due to time frame. I didn’t want readers to be left wondering, “Okay, they’re all HEA, but what about the ******?”
Jul 18, 2011 @ 13:56:29
Re that cover, I think it’s partly the bronze dress. Talk about stunning. And I clicked the link for all the July catalog. Really, are covers just generally getting better? Most of them are fabulous. Seriously. Not real crazy about the White Trash Zombie one, though. I mean, euuu. But maybe I just don’t get the appeal. That’s more than possible. And no one can say it’s not striking and memorable.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 14:01:08
@Christine Rimmer: I picked up White Trash Zombie in Borders the other day because of the cover. Not because it was appealing, but because it was so gross (to me) LOL. Of course the blurb made me put it back down again. It sounded like a train wreck and I didn’t want to even start watching it.
I agree about the Charlotte Featherstone cover. Stunning dress. Eye-catching. I think I’ll try this one. Yes, based on the cover alone.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 14:06:35
I went and looked up the first in the series and holy cow, the difference in the covers are striking. The first one is just very meh compared to the second one. What an upgrade.
Link to first cover.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 14:23:08
Charlotte Featherstone is an auto-buy for me when it comes to her historicals. The first one in this series was wonderful. Yes, I agree, this cover is much better than the first.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 14:36:36
@Angela: Exactly! To me, a cover really has to have a certain tastiness. It can be a dark tastiness. But gross just doesn’t work for me.
And Jane, yes! The first cover is pretty ordinary. The bronze one is spectacular.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 14:55:32
Plus the first Charlotte Featherstone cover looks as if the heroine is fainting. Not sexy. This newer one is just so beautiful, and sensual.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 16:03:50
@Jane:
Looks more like a cover for a vampire book.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 16:06:09
Oh my gosh, that cover is amazing.
Forget the book though…I want that dress!
Jul 18, 2011 @ 16:06:30
When I looked at the first Featherstone book cover I thought “vampire” too. I LOVE the 2nd one, though. I used to say I didn’t pay attention to covers now that I’m doing more digital, but I have to admit to a couple purchases lately that were cover influenced. And I’ll be putting this one on my tbr list!
Jul 18, 2011 @ 17:06:04
When I saw the cover, I thought, “Oh goody, a Georgian set romance!” Then I saw the bridge, which wasn’t built until the 1830′s, and was mildly disappointed, but whatever. And he’s unpowdered, and it looks like shortish hair. But hey,Georgian!
But then I looked up the blurb, when Jane told me the book was set in the 1870′s. Wait, what?
So why on earth put them in unmistakeably Georgian dress? She has the atypical Georgian gown, and he is wearing a stock and neckcloth instead of a collar and tie. And he’s clean shaven. Unless they’re in fancy dress, what’s the point in putting them in clothes that are 100 years out of date? Was that the only stock photo available, and can I please have one of them for my books? Because the pose is lovely, and the picture atmospheric. If it had been a Georgian set book, it would be great.
Like Jo Beverley, I dislike the Victorian era, and I try to avoid books set in the era. I would have bought this book, expecting a Georgian, and got something I didn’t want at all. What makes it worse was that the 1870′s was the era of Worth, with some stunning designs, so why not use them?
This is no reflection on Charlotte Featherstone, who is a great writer, but the cover artist and the marketing panel who let this one through.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 17:54:59
I have to agree with Lynne about the clothes. Hers (SHE HAS NO PANNIERS!!!) don’t match his. That said, I was too dazzled by the colors to give it much thought beyond the fact that I feel slightly out of kilter looking at the picture.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 18:06:46
@Christine M.: Agree! That’s a good-looking manhand. We don’t pay enough attention to hands. The rest is nice, too. I’ve always been fond of the clinch.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 18:14:41
Oi, re White Trash Zombie, I LOVE that cover.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 19:53:43
Jane, you rock around the clock. That August catalog: fabulous. Thanks for the hard work.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 20:03:25
Just checked the August catalogue – are HQN reissuing Kristan Higgin’s Fools Rush In? Surely it hasn’t been that long ago since it was first released..? And yes, lovely cover on the Featherstone. Historicals have so much scope for great covers.
Jul 19, 2011 @ 08:45:26
I’m not familiar enough with Georgian or Victorian fashion to note mistakes in the cover, so I was blown away by it. Beautiful colors, lush and vivid. I’d want this in print format based on the visual appeal of the cover. Beautiful!
Jul 19, 2011 @ 09:01:10
I’m with Grace on this one; which I’m sure most of the romance readers are. We don’t haggle over fashion trends.
Jul 19, 2011 @ 14:45:24
I found the remarks from the students (regarding the Princeton Report) very interesting. I would have thought color would be a high priority and was surprised they preferred their long battery life & eink screen (with the exception of highlighting in different colors for easier reference). I wonder if the new Kindles will have any of the features the students recommend.