Hachette/Grand Central

Monday News: Self publish titles made up 25% of bestselling titles in 2012; Random House begging for trouble; ebooks 26% at Hachette

Wool: Sci-Fi’s Underground Hit – There are a lot of interesting details in this WSJ article about Hugh Howey. Setting aside that this article could have just as easily profiled Colleen Hoover writing about young women struggling with losing their parents or dealing with sexual abuse rather than Hugh Howey, the article discusses the print(…)

Friday News: Hachette’s Forever and Forever Imprint announces major expansion; Apple iWatch coming; Copyright dispute bans Germans from viewing German meteor video

Germans can’t see meteorite YouTube videos due to copyright dispute – Last week a meteorite fell in Russia. Apparently there are hundreds of citizens who have dash cams and many recorded some amazing video of the meteor’s fall into our atmosphere. In one video, the radio is playing and a German rights group is demanding(…)

REVIEW: Immortal Rider by Larissa Ione

REVIEW: Immortal Rider by Larissa Ione

Dear Ms. Ione: I haven’t been a faithful follower of the Demonica series, but I’ve read several. Having some knowledge of the world helped ground Immortal Rider but I did wonder whether readers who entered at this book or its predecessor would be a little lost. Immortal Rider is the second in the “Lords of(…)

REVIEW: Heartstrings and Diamond Rings by Jane Graves

REVIEW: Heartstrings and Diamond Rings by Jane Graves

Dear Ms. Graves, Lately I’ve been trying to read more new-to-me authors and when your latest book, “Heartstrings and Diamond Rings” landed in my arc pile, it was fate. I had heard you have a good reputation for humor and this story certainly backs that up. That plus good hero/heroine snappy dialogue are what makes(…)

REVIEW:  Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt

REVIEW: Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt

Dear Ms. Hoyt: I have not read the previous two books in the Maiden Lane series.  While I loved your initial books, Jayne began to review the series and she did such a competent job that I kept putting the Hoyt historicals aside to read and review others.  I was hankering to get back in(…)

REVIEW: Always a Temptress by Eileen Dreyer

REVIEW: Always a Temptress by Eileen Dreyer

Dear Ms Dreyer: For the first third of this book, I had real doubts about whether I would finish it. The hero, Major Sir Harry Lidge, had fallen in love with Lady Catherine Anne Hilliard Seaton, Dowager Duchess of Murther ten years prior but because he believes that she tried to foist a bastard baby(…)

Monday Midday Links: Amazon Questioned About Privacy by Congress

Monday Midday Links: Amazon Questioned About Privacy by Congress

Congress is asking Amazon to explain its SILK service. SILK is the service that Amazon will be using to speed up browser access on its tablet. Rather than spend the money on building a faster processor like Apple’s A5, Amazon has developed SILK which takes in web content and then optimizes it for the Kindle(…)

REVIEW: Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

REVIEW: Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

Dear Ms. Keplinger, I read your debut novel, The DUFF, earlier this year. While I didn’t think it was as mindblowing as I was led to believe, I liked it enough to look out for your future books. When I learned your sophomore effort was a retelling of Lysistrata, my interest was piqued. How would(…)

REVIEW: The Orchard by Theresa Weir

REVIEW: The Orchard by Theresa Weir

Dear Ms. Weir: A while back you posted on Twitter a couple of drawings that your late husband had done, explaining that while he was an accomplished artist, he never felt comfortable thinking of himself that way or having his art made public. At the time I thought it was sad that someone who so(…)

Thursday Midday Links: eBooks 20% of the Market?

Thursday Midday Links: eBooks 20% of the Market?

Barnes & Noble reports that the majority of its ebook sales are agency priced books (which feeds nicely into my Sunday article about how the biggest winner of agency pricing was BN).   BN announced its quarterly results two days ago.  Total sales are up 2% to $1.4billion, driven by large increases at bn.com as(…)

Thursday Midday Links: New eReaders to debut from BN and Amazon

Thursday Midday Links: New eReaders to debut from BN and Amazon

There is a lot of news today.  First up Barnes and Noble is set to announce a new ebook reader during BEA which is in a couple of weeks. Amazon is releasing a new ebook reader this fall.  The BN Nook 2, as Mike Cane believes it will be called, is likely to have a(…)

REVIEW: Ripe for Pleasure by Isobel Carr

REVIEW: Ripe for Pleasure by Isobel Carr

Dear Ms. Carr, Thanks again for sending an advanced copy of your newest book “Ripe for Pleasure” to Dear Author so we can get an early sneak peak at it. When I heard that it would be set during one of my favorite historical periods, Georgian England, that’s all it took for me to be(…)

REVIEW: My Immortal Assassin by Carolyn Jewel

REVIEW: My Immortal Assassin by Carolyn Jewel

Dear Ms Jewel: When you handed me a hot-off-the-presses ARC of your new paranormal release, My Immortal Assassin, I was both excited and nervous. Excited because I had wanted to try your paranormal books, and nervous because a) I know and like you and didn't want to hate this book, and b) I've found myself(…)

Thursday Midday Links: Teleread Acquired by Media Company

Is it Thursday already? I feel like I haven’t had any traction this week. For those publishers who believe Apple is their savior, they may want to take a look at this news report. Apple is driving down the prices of iTunes TV episodes to $1 per show. I think this is great and I(…)

December Ebook Deals

We begin with the monthly Orbit/Grand Central specials: Orcs by Stan Nicholls $1.00 Pitch Black by Susan Crandall $1.99 (I recommend getting these. Crandall is a good RS author and at $1.99 these two books are a total bargain). Seeing Red by Susan Crandall $1.99 Bad News by Donald E. Westlake $1.99 Dark Harbor by(…)