Dear Author » AuthorTalk

Author Talk with Louisa Edwards

Jane — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:00:07 +0000

Interview with Louisa Edwards, author of Can’t Stand the Heat.

Saturday Link Roundup: AuthorTalk Bares All

Jane — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:00:46 +0000

Author Talk features nudity and PC and Kristin Cast.

Roxanne St. Claire is at the Borders True Romance blog talking about her latest book (a recommended read by Robin) and giving away three free copies of Hunt Her Down.

Huffington Post writes about the efforts of DirecTV to put cable stations TNT and TBS online. More and more consumers want to have access to television shows on demand via the internet. Sounds familiar. One of the reasons I’ve advocated so heavily for ebooks is that the competition for a book is not another book but other forms of media. If books are the only media that isn’t easily accessible on demand, it will lose out to movies, tvs, music and gaming.

Our September recommended read list is available now for 20% off the list price at Books on Board. Go forth and buy.

Author Shannon Stacey (of the Devlin Group among other books) has a blog post up about ratings for romance books. I believe in an industry instituted rating system because I believe that if the industry doesn’t respond, then a rating system will be forced on it by retailers. For example, Apple has a parental control system and requires all the applications to have a rating for obscenity, profanity, and the like. I don’t think Apple should be rating books or Barnes and Noble or Borders or anyone. It’s better, safer, for the industry to take this step. Stacey is concerned about the ghettoization of books based on ratings. This is a valid concern but I believe that ratings are coming regardless.

Author Christina Dodd (of the Storm of Visions/Storm of Shadows) mocks the concept of writing the book of your heart.

Is your heart commercial? Does it team with interesting characters, fast pacing, and memorable dialogue? Because if it doesn’t, there’s a good chance you can’t sell The Book Of Your Heart. Do you want to write a book no one will ever read? Because every writer I’ve ever met who has suffered through the anguish, the anxiety, the pure put-you-butt-in-the-chair-for-hours-and-days-and-months-on-end agony, wants to publish that book.

MobileTechReview has a great review of the new Sony Touch Edition (the 6″ screen without the 3G connectivity). The contrast is still not as good as the Sony PRS 505 but the refresh is very quick and the note taking is responsive.

The Touch Edition’s features are excellent and should be captivating enough to tempt Sony Reader 500 and 505 owners to upgrade. Even some Kindle folks might consider defecting given Sony’s more open format support (PDF, ePUB, TXT and RTF are native), easy touch screen UI and advanced note-taking features.

For readers in the UK, WH Smith is engaging in a price battle to attract consumers. It is selling the Sony Readers for £20- £30 less than Waterstones, in addition to selling all of its ebooks at 25% off. Depending the on the exchange rate, shopping at WH Smith may make sense even for US Readers.

MJ Rose argues that publishers have to pay authors differently now that more of the publicity expenses are being born by the author. I’m not sure if Rose is arguing for a higher royalty or a higher advance. Given that publishers are absorbing losses not born by the author, I’m not convinced of her argument. If Rose wants a greater co publishing relationship then authors will need to share in the risk whether it is taking a reduced advanced in favor of the higher royalty (the digital publishing model) or taking a greater role in absorbing losses (such as taking royalty off the net versus retail).

Tor editor, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, talks about the future of SFF books and Tor’s plans to move forward into the digital market. Right now, it appears that Tor is playing the wait and see game:

PNH: We’ve been acquiring e-text rights as part of the default contract since the mid-90s. In mid-90s we needed to be sensible and we revised the contract to include electronic text. Now we have that as a clause. We won’t buy a book without e-book rights.
…

All the way from [Tor parent company Holtzbrinck in] Stutgart down to us, the conglomerate runs on the assumption that there will be changes in the next two decades and we don’t know what they are. We’re not locking ourselves into a platform. We don’t want to let one player become choke point; we don’t want to be a hapless manufacturer in the thrall of Walmart or something.

New Author Talk Videos:Maria Geraci & Marly Gibson

Jane — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:00:53 +0000

Apparently you have to have an M in your name to star in an authortalk video theses days.

Author Talk with Vicki Lewis Thompson

Jane — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:00:32 +0000

Vicki Lewis Thompson won the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 RITAs. She also apparently turned luminaries like Indiana Jones from mild mannered anthropologist to whip wielding hottie. It’s true, I saw it on a video at the RITAs.

Also, having seen Gena and Jill in action filming these AuthorTalk videos, I’m amazed at how they turn out. We need to donate some money to get them an HD camera and a spare tripod. I know Gena is going to break the one that they currently have again because I saw her trip over it at least twice.

Author Talk Interviews Sharon Sala

Jane — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:00:54 +0000

This video answers the burning question of how to pronounce Sala. I won’t give it away. You must watch the video at least to the 4:18 mark. “Maybe that was Dinah.”

Click on the title to watch.

AuthorTalk: Jill Monroe and Gena Showalter Interview CJ Lyons

Jane — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:27:24 +0000

Interview with An Author (or Two) and Some Thoughts on Book Trailers

Jane — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:00:52 +0000

In the true spirit of viral marketing, I received my first AuthorTalk link in my inbox from a friend. I’m not sure how she found it but I think it was from another person’s blog. And now I am doing my part in spreading the word.

I think the entire point of book trailers was to be an online, grass roots, viral marketing endeavor. Circle of Seven Productions owns the trademark to “book trailer” and is credited with the origination of the concept.

I’ve always wonder about the success of book trailers. The Book Standard used to have the Book TrailerPark for videos but the Book Standard is dead and so is the TrailerPark. That’s a bit how I view book trailers, a sort of promotional dead end. I don’t think that even one trailer has convinced me to buy a book.

There have been several posts about the blogosphere that discuss the book trailer with most people agreeing that the videos do very little for them. Despite the many proclamations of readers and authors who feel unmoved by book trailers, authors still keep making them and putting them on YOUTUBE. As of the writing of this blog post, there are currently 13,200 videos that match the search criteria “Book Trailer.”

But Author Talk is something different. They are very entertaining. I’ve never felt that they were too long (I’ve often felt that about book trailers). I’ve been telling everyone I know about them both via the blog and via email. I’ve had IM conversations with more than one reader about how enjoyable they are which is a first for me. Most importantly, these videos make me want to read the books. I asked Jill Monroe and Gena Showalter, the women behind the Author Talk curtain, for an interview and in true Author Talk style, they presented me with the following interview:

Author Talk Friday: HelenKay Dimon

Jane — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:59:52 +0000

There’s another AuthorTalk video up. HelenKay Dimon is the ~~victim~~ subject of the newest one.