Jun 7 2010
June and July Launch Titles for Carina Press
Did you know that Carina Press launches on June 7? It does. There are ten titles that will be on sale beginning June 7 and then new releases each week. Carina Press provided me a spreadsheet of releases and I made that spreadsheet into a sortable/searchable list. We’ll be posting reviews of a number of Carina Press books this week. You can download this PDF to see the covers and blurbs of all the June releases.
If you buy today, the books are 20% off. Woot. (Sale good through July 5th, actually)
From the press release:
[table id=36 /]Carina Press will begin by publishing 37 books in its first month-’approximately 10 books a week-’across a broad range of fiction with an emphasis on romance and its subgenres, including science fiction, fantasy, erotica, gay/lesbian, mystery, suspense and thriller. Carina Press ebooks vary in price from $2.99 to $6.99 depending on the length of the work, which can range from 20,000 to more than 100,000 words.
Carina Press ebooks are available on the Carina Press website (www.ebooks.carinapress.com) and through third-party retailers such as Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Carina Press ebooks are published in the ePUB format and can be read on a variety of devices, including computer, iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, nook, Kobo, BlackBerry and mobile phone. Carina Press does not utilize digital rights management so readers are able to share stories between devices. Carina Press also offers digital review galleys through NetGalley.
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Jun 07, 2010 @ 09:58:12
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jim Duncan, Joanna Terrero, Liz Fichera, Angela Henry, Lea and others. Lea said: RT @FictionVxn: RT @dearauthor: New post: June and July Launch Titles for Carina Press http://bit.ly/951kBV [...]
Jun 07, 2010 @ 10:06:37
WTB excerpts. What gives?
As much as I like the players involved, who buys books without being able to read at least a bit of the writing?
I’ve queued up Carrie Lofty’s book, but I’m sure as hell not trying any new authors without an excerpt.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 10:29:51
@Ridley:
They have excerpts posted on their blog:
http://carinapress.com/blog/2010/06/launch-book-excerpts/
Jun 07, 2010 @ 10:31:06
There are excerpts for the June launch titles here…
http://carinapress.com/blog/2010/06/launch-book-excerpts/
Jun 07, 2010 @ 10:34:44
Carina press excerpts aren’t yet available on the site but you can find them on the blog at http://carinapress.com/blog/2010/06/launch-book-excerpts/
Jun 07, 2010 @ 10:39:41
Thanks, Jane, for the release date rundown.
Does anyone know if/when Carina books will be available on Fictionwise or BooksOnBoard? (I have a ton of micropay/rewards dollars to use.)
TY!
Jun 07, 2010 @ 10:56:18
Thank you for the link.
Why aren’t they with the books?
Jun 07, 2010 @ 11:07:26
Good question. It seems they need to work on their site a bit. It took a bit of looking to find the price structure and what formats they offer too.
They offer DRM Free ePub and PDF and pricing is as follows…
15-25k: $2.99
26-50k: $3.99
50-75k: $4.99
75-100: $5.99
100k+: $6.99
Jun 07, 2010 @ 12:43:14
I went there this morning and both 3 books!!!!
Jun 07, 2010 @ 13:16:09
Bank of America apparently doesn’t like Carina, as I tried to buy some books and I’ve now got a security hold on my card.
This is not going easily today.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 15:19:27
You have two books listed under the same title ‘Parker’s Price’ by Toni Anderson and Ann Bruce respectively. Seems unlikely to me?
Jun 07, 2010 @ 16:02:10
As usual, I’m confused by the use of “Erotica.” According to these genre designations, the Lilly Cain, Lindsey Bayer, and Kris Starr titles aren’t Romance. Does anybody know if that’s the case?
I think two of them are on my list, but if they’re Erotica and not Romance I’ll have to reconsider.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 16:05:53
@MaryK: I’ve read the Lilly Cain book and it is straight romance. The Kris Starr looks like erotica to me but I haven’t read it.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 16:34:52
Thanks for the post, Jane.
I can answer the Erotica question. In this case erotica is only the main genre based on the BISAC codes (used for classifying the book for the retailers). Sadly, there is no BISAC code for erotic romance, only erotica, so you have to look at the secondary category as well. The third tier of classification (not on this spreadsheet) is the niches.
On June 21st. The Kris Starr book is actually titled Lovely (currently listed as In Enemy Hands) and it is not romance, it’s straight erotica.
The Toni Anderson book is Storm Warning.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 16:43:12
@KJ
I asked the same question on the SBTB site and was told that the books will be available at Fictionwise. They are hoping tomorrow, but if not later this week.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 17:07:10
Thanks for the post! I’m very excited to be a Carina author!
MaryK – Although it has been answered above, I’ll comment (because I can’t resist, lol) Alien Revealed is romance – erotic romance. :)
Lilly
Jun 07, 2010 @ 18:17:04
@ Ridley *ouch* I’m betting you’re not going to forget the day Carina Press launched. Hope by the time you read this comment it’s all sorted. Damn banks.
My PNR novella The Price of Freedom comes out with Carina June 14, so I’m going to remember launch day for all the right reasons–wild excitement doubled and trebled it by sharing with the online romance community. Thanks, Jane. :)
Jun 07, 2010 @ 18:30:47
@Jane: Thanks.
I’ll go back and look at the blog posts for the Bayer.Or not. I didn’t make an actual list; I just bookmarked the blog posts for the books I was interested in. So all I have now is a bunch of not always helpful post titles.
@Angela James: The second category doesn’t answer my question in this case (except for the Starr by contrasting historical and historical romance). Would the 3rd category show Romance for any of them?
Jun 07, 2010 @ 18:33:55
The wording makes it sound like the books are “on sale” (discounted) if you buy NOW, but when you get to the checkout, it’s clear only THEN that it’s a presale.
So you pay for the books but have to wait until June 21st to download them. That defeats the point of an e-book and one if its only advantages over print books.
I am really not a happy camper right now, since I loaded six books into my cart and found out four of them aren’t available for another two weeks.
No, not happy at all.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 18:41:15
@Moriah: I’m sorry you’re unhappy so I’d like to ask your feedback. The wording says “* Presale – buy now & download this format on its street date!” directly underneath the “Add to Cart” button on each book that’s on presale’s page. How do you feel it might be made more clear? We appreciate feedback on these things, especially as this does seem straightforward, so it’s good for us to hear how their might be something else inferred in the wording.
@MaryK you’re right, it says science fiction and not science fiction romance. BISAC codes are making our life quite complicated. This is something we really struggled with and I’m glad to hear your feedback. I’m not sure what we can do to improve it, but we’ll revisit to see if there is a way to.
We really appreciate the feedback, so we can make improvements as we go.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 18:49:44
@Angela James:
You could make it bigger. It’s very tiny. I’m not going to look for caveats when I’m shopping.
The add to cart button is big and bright. That’s great. It also completely overwhelms the notice.
In my opinion, the title should not be allowed to go in the cart or purchased until the download is available. Where the Add to Cart button is, the notice should go.
You see, a discount is nice, but the point of an ebook is to download NOW. Not two weeks from now when I’ve forgotten.
I don’t know if I’m the typical ebook customer, but I have the attention span of a gnat. I see pretty cover, I read awesome blurb, I hit the BUY button. I do LOTS of hitting the BUY button because I’m an ebook junkie and I hoard. I am not looking for anything that might impede my progress toward giving you my money.
When I’m stopped at the shopping cart and I start looking twice about what I’m about to spend money on, I’ll leave the whole cart behind because whatever made me stop and look twice also makes me think, “Eh. I don’t need it anyway. Got plenty on my TBR.”
Jun 07, 2010 @ 18:52:21
@Moriah Jovan: I guess I disagree. I preorder all the time from Kindle. It’s one of the things I really disliked about Fictionwise – the inability to pre order.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 18:55:34
@Jane: But do you remember to go back and download or is it automatically put in your device? Do they charge your card at the time of preorder?
I will not remember to go back to download the book, and I don’t want to be charged to wait.
So I guess the solution is to make the notice much, much bigger and brighter.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 18:58:20
Oh, I see. In that case, I’m sorry you’re unhappy that we offer pre-orders, lol, but this is definitely a case where we can’t make everyone happy because it’s a feature that was requested and many customers specifically hoped we would have available. I can honestly say that none of us at Carina ever expected we’d make a customer unhappy by offering pre-orders!
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:03:36
Maybe do like Fictionwise and Amazon do and make the actual add to cart button for those titles a Pre-Order button.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:03:41
@Angela James:
Please don’t twist my words like that and make me sound like the crazy cat lady next door. I said nothing about pre-orders. Pre-ORDERS are when you order it and get charged AFTER it’s shipped.
No, I’m not unhappy when people offer pre-ORDERS. I’m unhappy that you offer pre-SALES that aren’t marked well, and charge the card two weeks before the merchandise is available.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:04:30
@Moriah Jovan: Yes, I did go back and download my book. I used to do this all the time at Fictionwise and do so now at Kindle. I’m still waiting for Pure Sin to show up and I pre ordered it in March.
But then I don’t shop around a ton anymore and maybe that is a difference.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:05:33
@Moriah I wasn’t trying to twist your words.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:06:00
So they’re charging your card at the time of order even if it’s not released? Not cool IMO unless it’s very explicit that they’re doing it (IIRC FW does the same thing). Most folks expect a Pre-Order/Sale to be charged when the product ships (in this case when the book can be downloaded).
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:08:19
@Jane:
You’re much more on top of things than I am. LOL I would totally forget.
OTOH, I’ve never shopped at the Kindle store, I never liked Fictionwise, and do all my shopping exclusively now at All Romance eBooks/OmniLit.
I went to Carina to support my friends and only one friend’s book was available.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:12:12
@Brian the wording says: “* Presale – buy now & download this format on its street date!”
Buy now implies that you’re, well, buying now, no?
I appreciate that Amazon does it differently, but on the other hand, Fictionwise does it the same. We chose to go this route and I’m very sorry it makes Moriah, and possibly you, unhappy, but I think this appears to be one of those things that we could discuss the pros and cons of and never agree that one way is more right than the other. I suspect that anytime you have a subject involving someone’s money, that’s going to be the case.
@Moriah I’m very sorry you weren’t satisfied with your shopping experience, no matter what the reason.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:15:25
@Angela James:
Yeah, except…you’re really not. You’re leaving your money at the store and walking out empty-handed. That’s just not the way I shop for things. Maybe it’s me.
Yes, I think so.
In any case, I’m sure I’ll get a poke from one of my friends on the 21st. I’ll get them all then.
I was intrigued by six out of not very many titles on the site, which is a high percentage, and all the covers are gorgeous.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:15:58
Could the “Add to Cart” button say “Pre-Order” for those like Amazon does? ;)
@Angela James: Yikes! Yeah, that’s kind of a problem. I browsed the site and the Lilly Cain isn’t listed under the Romance genre. It’s not that I wouldn’t browse the SF category, but I’d go to Romance first; and since I don’t really read erotica . . .
I don’t suppose they have a SF Romance code? I suppose that’s too niche-y.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:18:03
@Angela
No, I don’t really have a problem with it as long as it’s easy to know what’s what (I couldn’t remember exactly what it said when I posted). I do think you could make the info ‘Pre-Sale’ a little more prominent I know I missed it at first and while I wouldn’t get angry I’d be a little disappointed if I thought I was getting it now and didn’t because I missed the small text below the big bright add to cart button especially if it was a title I was particularly looking forward too.
EDIT: I personally like pre-orders as sometimes I read about a book and if I don’t pre-order it I forget about it. I don’t always remember to write down upcoming titles I want.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:22:47
Is Carina’s store down, or is it me?
I was just able to buy something elsewhere with this card, but then when I tried to use it at Carina’s store, it says it can’t complete at this time.
I want to read that Shannon Stacey book after reading the excerpt. /pout
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:23:30
I’d also suggest a shop by author option in the side menu maybe.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 19:31:03
@AngelaJames
FWIW, I was very upset because I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted those books NOW, and now I have to wait.
I have apparently appropriated my 7-yo XX tax deduction’s Princess Diva act.
/temper tantrum
Jun 07, 2010 @ 22:33:30
@ Moriah Jovan
I pre-order quite a lot and I have now gotten to the stage where I just add an alert to my iPhone calendar as a reminder for my pre-orders. BooksonBoard don’t send reminders and Fictionwise supposedly send reminders when the pre-order is available, but I usually receive the email 3 days after the book has been made available and by then I have already downloaded it. My Carina Press pre-orders will just be handled the same way with a reminder.
Jun 07, 2010 @ 23:53:35
Interesting, I loved the pre-order feature though I did assume I would get some notification when it became available. :) Was glad to be able to support authors I know and the new edition to the Epub family.
Jun 08, 2010 @ 02:06:15
I thought I’d chime in since I went to the site to buy books and left without any!
The covers are gorgeous and lured me right in but when I clicked on the books there weren’t any excerpts or lengths listed. Those two things are right up there with price so I was disappointed that information isn’t readily available – just like it is on Samhain. I saw that people posted excerpt links here and a price chart that correlates to book length? but I couldn’t find any of that on the actual site.
I also didn’t see any formats listed for the books so after much searching I think I found that info in Help but not the FAQ – the FAQ is for authors and not customers. (Since you already have a tab labeled Submission Guidelines maybe you can put the author FAQ under that and write up a Customer FAQ?) But anyway, you offer ePUB and PDF which is fine but I read on my Kindle and there’s no link to Amazon, who sells the format I can use. I can appreciate you’d rather I buy the books directly from your site but since the formats offered are limited to two that left me cutting and pasting book names and authors to try and find the books on Amazon–and I couldn’t. I guess you pre-sell on your site but you can’t pre-order from Amazon? Either or the experience was a frustrating waste of time.
So to sum it up:
I went to your site to buy books but I needed to come to this blog post to figure out where to find the excerpts. I also needed to decode the price to figure out what the book length was going to be.
Then when I found a few books I wanted to buy I couldn’t figure out the formats you sold. Once I figured out I needed to buy from Amazon I still couldn’t find the books! I’m pretty disappointed in my experience after eagerly anticipating the launch.
One thing I did like (besides the covers) was the Niche Categories on the side. I use them all the time when I shop online so assuming the Carina site is re-worked to be more consumer friendly I look forward to that.
Jun 08, 2010 @ 02:09:23
@library addict:
Thank you, library addict! Crossing fingers that they’ll be on FW today. (really want to read the Carrie Lofty book)
Jun 08, 2010 @ 05:21:52
@Honeywell:
There is a workaround for the formatting issue, if you don’t mind manipulating your book files.
Carina doesn’t use DRM, so downloading an EPUB and converting it to Mobipocket format (which I understand the Kindle can read) with Calibre should be reasonably easy.
Jun 08, 2010 @ 07:59:54
Last I saw they will be selling on Amazon at some point.
But hapalochlaena is correct, Calibre will easily (in a few clicks) convert the ePub to a Mobi file for the Kindle to read.
Jun 08, 2010 @ 08:04:11
All the links in the table are to Amazon. I don’t know off hand the price differential
Jun 08, 2010 @ 08:31:03
Angela, it looks like the books on Amazon have DRM?
I know if you use DTP you have a choice of DRM or no DRM, but if you’re going through the type of account most publishers have Amazon forces you to use DRM (this is why there are no Baen books on Amazon).
Jun 08, 2010 @ 13:22:45
Carina store won’t check me out. I give up.
Jun 09, 2010 @ 07:41:42
@Ridley:
I think it isn’t just Carina, since I have had problems with the main Harlequin ebook shop the last times I have tried to buy books. Very annoying.
Jun 09, 2010 @ 08:47:32
@Mikaela:
I usually buy my Harlequins through Fictionwise, so I didn’t try that. Carina’s store has totally facepalmed me, though. Maybe the books will show at FW or BoB soon?
Jun 09, 2010 @ 10:03:55
@Ridley:
I know you can buy Hqn titles at All Romance eBooks http://allromanceebooks.com/ but I don’t know if they have every Hqn title.
Jun 09, 2010 @ 10:31:36
Books On Board now has the Carina titles…
http://www.booksonboard.com/index.php?F=060910-ebooks-carina-mailer-us
Jun 09, 2010 @ 11:24:35
This may sound stupid, but am I right that these are only going to be available as ebooks, not as paper books? So I am never going to get to read them?
Jun 09, 2010 @ 12:37:13
AFAIK at this time they aren’t planning on paper releases, but it is something they may consider in the future.
Jun 09, 2010 @ 19:45:41
@Moriah Jovan: I pre-order for my Nook from B&N quite a bit. It downloads itself to my Nook on the day of release, THEN I get charged. They also send a reminder email.
Not buying from Carina Press since they don’t take AMEX. I had to DIG for that info. It was under their Blog of all things, not FAQ. Oh well. Nice idea and all that.
Jun 10, 2010 @ 09:08:14
@ehoyden:
I think that’s a perfect system and, to me, that’s precisely what pre-ORDER means. Not pre-SALES.
Jun 10, 2010 @ 12:58:37
I don’t pre-order many ebooks, usually only to take advantage of sales. But I, for one, prefer being charged at the time the order is placed. For security reasons. Many ebook retailers don’t store credit card info, and I prefer it that way. I’d rather be charged right away if the alternative is for them to store my credit card info. Also, I often use gift certificates and virtual credit cards for online purchases. If they wait until the ebook is released before charging me, it would mess up those balances.
Jun 14, 2010 @ 20:18:41
The books still aren’t listed at Fictionwise, but All Romance eBooks has some of them.
They said they would be carrying all of the titles soon. Their search function isn’t the best, but I like the buy 10-get-1-free policy. And in my experience, they have really great customer service.
Jun 15, 2010 @ 22:25:53
Just to set the facts straight–my current release is SEA OF SUSPICION, next book is STORM WARNING. Ann Bruce is Parker’s Price.