Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News, and Commentary

In 2001, Amazon took over Borders online bookstore, but it looks like the two may be parting ways. What I found interesting was the market share reported in this article:

• Barnes & Noble has 15 percent of the book market
• Borders has 13 percent
• Amazon.com has 10 percent

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Dear Ms. James:

You have an immense talent and I love your writing style. I particular love how you show that women are a community of individuals rather than separate and alone. Josie has been a favorite of mine since the very beginning of the Essex sisters. She’s a little bit of each of her sisters: a bit of a pragmatist (Tess), a bit of a dreamer (Imogen), a bit of a fatalist (Annabelle); but she also wholly her own creature. I tend to think that Josie could have carried this book on her own without Mayne as she is just so delightful. For the readers’ benefit, Mayne is 34 in this book and Josie is 18. You engage in a little writer cheat here as in previous stories, Mayne was 34 in Your Wicked Ways which took place two years earlier than Pleasure for Pleasure.

I was not bothered by the May/December aspect of Mayne and Josie’s relationship. I thought that Mayne, after years of dissipation, needed the love for life that Josie had. Josie, after being thought of as the least desirable Essex …

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The existence of amazon reviews and reader review blogs, like this one, are being touted as the downfall of literary taste. Seeing as how I never aspired to having literary taste but read for entertainment and review for entertainment, I suppose I must agree. The Smart Bitches and Sybil have links for those who are offering instructions on how not to ruin the world of literature.

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Dear Ms. Blair,

I know there will be people who adore this book. People who enjoy a more wacky, screwball type of comedy and who’ll love watching these two characters interact. I’m not one of them.
I know that lots of people have enjoyed the two previous books in this series, The Kitchen Witch and My Favorite Witch and I would imagine they will eat this one up too.

Vickie Cartwright lives in Salem, Massachusetts and runs a vintage clothing store. When her Nana died, Vickie inherits the key to a large wardrobe that’s been sitting in the family’s old attic. Legend says that only a Cartwright woman who possesses the magic of her ancestresses will be able to open it. Well, Vickie manages to open it and finds a beautiful antique carousel unicorn inside. When she and the unicorn are featured on an antiques roadshow, it catches the attention of Rory MacKenzie and the citizens of Caperglen, Scotland.

A century ago, one of Rory’s ancestors carved the entire carousel set which drew visitors to the tiny town. When he lost the women he loved, he presented her with the unicorn thus breaking the set and …

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YBP Library Services, the world’s leading provider of materials to academic libraries, has announced plans to market a comprehensive collection of ebooks in partnership with EBL. Slated for launch in the first half of 2007, the deal will make EBL’s growing list of over 40,000 ebook titles available to YBP’s library customers around the world. Read more here.

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Apparently you cannot get your change made into dollars at a bank without fee anymore. Who knew? (Apparently Ned). Coinstar to the rescue. You can turn your coins into e-certificates for vendors like Amazon.com or Borders/Waldenbooks even give your change to charity. That’s cool.

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Dear Ms. Crusie, Foster and Phillips:

I would have never thought the three of you were a good match in an anthology but, for the most part, it worked. For the readers edification, however, only Hot Toy by Jennifer Crusie is a new contribution. Christmas Bonus by Lori Foster was previously published in All I Want for Christmas in 2000 and Naughty Under the Mistletoe by Carly Phillips was previously published in Naughty or Nice? in 2001. One thing I noticed about each of these anthologies is that each couple had a previous connection before the start of the story and none of the stories ended with babies.

Hot Toy by Jennifer Crusie
For Crusie fans disappointed (or delighted) by Don’t Look Down, Hot Toy is much more in keeping with traditional Crusie writing. It features great dialogue, a mouthy heroine, and a fast moving plot. On Christmas Eve, Trudy Maxwell is searching for a MacGuffin, the season’s Hot Toy, for her nephew Leroy. Leroy’s father just ran off his his nanny and his mother is desperate for Trudy to find this particular toy. Only, because of …

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Remember the Harris Interactive study which reported that Baby Boomers were feeling left out of the TV market. In a small nod toward baby boomers, HarperCollins is releasing its large-print titles with the debut of HarperLuxe. HarperLux will feature 14 point font (compare to the 16 point font used in large print titles) and a new crisp design. The price of the book will be the same as a hardcover although it will be a trade paperback. (I suspect this is because of the printing costs, according to one article I read, you do not get economies of scale with paper. The more pages in a book, the more expensive). The plan is to do 100 titles per year, branching out from the traditional fiction bestsellers to nonfiction and other works that might appeal to baby boomers (can you say ROMANCE?).

HarperLuxe reports that the major market will be online retailers.

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Sales for Hastings and Books a Million were up in the third quarter due to improved sales of hardcover bestsellers.

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Dear Readers,

In addition to her novels about India, M.M. Kaye also wrote a series of mystery novels set in exotic places. In “Death in Berlin,” she uses war torn 1953 Berlin as a backdrop to mystery and romance.

“The strange beauty and terrible past of war-scarred Berlin. Miranda Brand
is a beautiful model visiting Germany for what is supposed to be a month’s
holiday. But then a story about a fortune in lost diamonds — a story in which Miranda herself figures in a remarkable way — transforms the holiday atmosphere into something more sinister.

A handsome intelligence agent and the shadows from her past throw Miranda into a turbulent whirl of emotions. And when murder strikes on the night train to Berlin, she finds herself unwillingly involved in a complex chain of events that place her life in deadly peril. M.M. Kaye, one of the finest storytellers of our time, has written a consummate mystery rich in romance and intrigue.”

If you enjoy Mary Stewart mysteries, you might want to check this one out. Kaye uses the same idea of a young, innocent woman thrown into conditions outside of normal who has to try and survive deadly peril. She uses …

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On August 24, 2006, Avon began a round robin sort of fan lit contest in which writers would submit chapters which were voted on by readers. Two winners were chosen, one at random and one which was an “editorial” selection. Sara Dennis (I think she’s commented here before) was the editorial winner and received $5,000 cash and a 12-month development deal with Fox Television Studios. The random winner was Eva Ortega who will be flown to New York City to spend a day with Avon, including a meeting with an editor, a visit with the Avon art department, and will learn how books are promoted. The News Release can be read here

There were 1,705 chapter submissions, and more than 147,000 votes and 47,000 comments, more than 7,100 romance fans who participated. Wow. There were some other interesting statistics. According to a blog post by Carolyn Pittis, SVP, Global Marketing Strategy & Operations, HarperCollins, provided these numbers:

• A third of all visits, and 17% of all registrations, came from fan-generated promos.
• Author-generated marketing—newsletters, onsite promotions—contributed 12% of the registrations.

The complete AvonFanLit novella, …

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Dear Ms. Frank:

This book, apparently, has been a highly touted first novel. I am always looking for a new debut author to latch onto like white on rice. Alas, while this is a paranormal not featuring vampires or shapeshifters, the concept of the story is not new and the worldbuilding had some real issues and the heroine is a bit of a Mary Sue. I spent 3 weeks reading this book, picking it up and putting it down. Last night I told myself that I have to finish and I did. The second half was definitely better than the first.

Stock character No.1: Virgin librarian lives in NY with sister. Turns out to be one of the strongest paranormal creatures ever born with the power to fight any magical creature. Plus, after each encounter, virgin librarian gains more power.

Stock character No. 2: Demon Enforcer has never been tempted until virgin librarian is encountered. Together they defeat forces of evil.

Stock plot: Two halves make a great whole. Destiny demands soulmates come together.

The first half of the book, I was bored to tears, …

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Dear Ms Archer,

The back blurb for this Harlequin Next book was a little confusing. Something about grown children and empty nest syndrome and being in Hell. Well, that’s a lot of the story but not quite all.

Dana Logan can’t imagine where all the years went. One day her children were young and suddenly she and her husband are dropping their youngest off to start college. Dana heads back home to discover that there’s nothing to fill her days but worrying about her daughter’s impulsive elopement and if her son is getting to his classes on time. Pretty soon she’s reduced to following the antics of the backyard squirrels and playing bridge with women she’s never liked. When a call to her son reveals he’s sick and needs to her finagle an extension for a test, she doesn’t stop to think before heading out to drive to his rescue.

Only Troy never meant for his mother to show up in his dorm room and Dana leaves just as quickly after they fight. Now she’s driving home, late at night, through gathering snow until a detour sends her in the direction of Hellen, CO …

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Dear Ms. Dean*:

I guess this is your ode to Laurell K Hamilton and Buffy the Vampire slayer. To which I say, haven’t we had enough of that?

Candace Steele is a vampire hunter. She lives in Vegas where she made her home after leaving San Francisco and her vampire lover. Having had a little vampire blood in her, she is made to be a little stronger, a little quicker, and she is able to discern humans from vamps which gives her a big edge. There are some very slight changes to the ordinary vampire mythology but otherwise, it’s the same world I’ve been reading about for the past 6 years or so.

What saves this book from being a total wall banger is that the pace of the book moves quickly although for an action book, there is almost no action until the big climactic movement at the end. The story is told in two parts. First is the current day story in which Candace has a satisfying relationship with a homicide detective from Las Vegas. The second is the flashbacks which reveal Candace’s past relationship with Ash, …

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• Sybil, Lora Leigh’s Harmony’s Way
• Sara Dennis, set of Catherine Mann’s Wingman Warriors, Signed by the author.
• Monica Jackson, Anthology Unleashed
• Susan, Charlene Teglia’s Yule Be Mine
• LLL, Emma Holly’s Prince of Ice
• jaq, Kathleen O Reilly’s Diva’s Guide to Selling Your Soul
• Rosie, Kathleen O Reilly’s Diva’s Guide to Selling Your Soul
• Robin, Erin McCarthy’s Bit the Jackpot
• Seton, Catherine Mann’s A Soldier’s Christmas
• Phyl, Eileen Rendahl’s Un-Bridaled
• Alison Kent, Kathleen Cross’ Schooling Carmen
• La Karibane, Rebecca York’s, Moon Swept
• Cathy, Annette Blair’s The Scot, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
• Kelly, Jennifer St. Giles Touch a Dark Wolf (arc)
• Linn M, Jasmine Haynes, Open Invitation
• Valeen, Meljean Brook’s Demon Angel
• Collette, Lynn Kurland, Star of the Morning
• Kristie(J), Kristina Lloyd, Darker Than Love
• Danny, Catherine Mann’s A Soldier’s Christmas
• Sarah, Kathryn Caskie, How to Seduce a Duke
• Josie, Kathleen O'Reilly, The Diva's Guide to Selling Your Soul
• kardis, Beverly Long, Here With Me
• Racy Li, Kristina Lloyd, Darker Than Love
• JenniferL, Bella Andre, Take Me
• Rebecca D T, Gail Giles, What Happened to Cass McBride
• Susan, Annette Blair’s The Scot, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
• Angie, Julie Kenner’s Carpe Demon
• Michelle, Jill Monroe, Share the Darkness
• Lizinka, Elizabeth Vaughn, Warlord Poster and Rache Gibson’s I’m in No Mood for Love

If you send me your snail mail address, we’ll get the books right out to you.

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Ian McEwan, nominee of the Booker Award for his novel, Atonement, has been accused of copying Lucilla Andrews’ work. Ms. Andrews wrote an autobiographical novel, No Time for Romance, of her work nursing injured soldiers druing World War II. McEwen’s female protagonist has similar experiences as the ones related in Andrews’ book.

Andrews wrote several fictional hospital/medical romances and was a founding member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. I guess I like the idea that an award winning novelist was inspired by a romance novelist. :)

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Not to be left out, even though Thanksgiving has past, here’s my list.

1. Those Calgon, Take Me Away moments wherein you are transported from mundane suburbia into the rich lives of the Old West, the Near Future, the Distant Past, and the Alternative Reality.
2. No matter how many big silly misunderstandings a couple suffers through complete lack of communication, in the end, nothing can keep the gudgeons apart.
3. Learning new words, like gudgeon and ahvenge.
4. The words “free book” can make my whole day better even though a book costs about the same as a lunch. Come to think of it, though, I get excited over the words “free lunch”. It just must be the word “free.”
5. Even the tritest most hackneyed story plots still read like new under the hands of a great author.
6. Despite biological impossibilities, humans can be made into vampires and immortals and really live happily ever after.
7. Finding that even the basest of humans can be worthy of love and redemption.
8. Having extensive knowledge about something.
9. Being one of the millions of readers who read those kinds of books.
10. That romance is an industry for women, written by women, sold by women, bought by women. Go WOMEN

…

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The romance cover contest results for 2005 are in. Let the discussion begin! The “worst” one is definitely a bad cover.

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First James Patterson joins RWA and now Hiassen is selling a romance?

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Regan was responsible for the Simpson book. Apparently, she had great discretion in what books would be published under her imprint using the HarperCollins money. She produced such bestsellers as How to Make Love Like a Porn Star by Jenna Jameson and Juiced by Jose Canseco. According to Newsweek, Regan’s future projects will be under great scrutiny.

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One issue that constantly crops up in the ebook discussion is pricing. Common sense tells us that ebooks cost less to make and distribute than paper books. According to an indepent epublisher, Sony charges $200 to have a book converted from a PDF to a digital BBeB (Sony’s proprietary content). In order for an epublisher to break even on this, assuming that the publisher gets 60% of the retail price, 56 units would need to sell. This seems to be quite a low cost for a self published book.

Let’s take it one step further. Samhain Publishing sells its books through its own bookstore. Let’s assume that overhead is approximately $1.00 per book. This would include website maintenance, formatting, marketing/promotion/conference fees, contract negotiation fees (read: lawyers ;), hosting, design, customer support, admin, etc.). Let’s also include costs for art, editing and formatting at approximately $5,000.00. (This number is half the cost of the art, editing, and typesetting for a NY Published book). Assuming an average cost of $5.99 per book and 40% royalty rate, Samhain needs to sell 2506 units to break even. For …

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Dear Ms. Ward,

As everyone who has read your books knows, Zsadist is the most feared member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. A vicious fighter in the vampire Brotherhood’s battle against the evil lessers, Zsadist is also scarred, antisocial, and rumored to kill women. But in your previous book, Lover Eternal, Zsadist began to make a tentative connection with Bella, a beautiful vampire who desired him. Although Zsadist rejected her, he was devastated and furious when one of the lessers abducted Bella.

As Lover Awakened opens, it’s been six weeks since Bella’s abduction and she is still missing. The lesser who holds her captive, a Mr. O, thinks of her as his wife and is obsessed with her. But Mr. O makes a key mistake that allows the Brotherhood to find Bella, and Zsadist rescues her.

Bella wakes up in the Brotherhood’s mansion to the realization that Mr. O has carved his first name into her belly. She feels safe only when she sleeps in Zsadist’s room, but Zsadist has suffered even worse trauma when he was imprisoned for decades as a blood slave to another vampire and sexually abused by …

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Publishers Weekly has an article up about the new faces of romance. I’ve read three of the books featured and Meljean Brook’s book, Demon Angel, is the class of the bunch. Hers is not to be missed.

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Slate offered up a column on how Google Book Search can be used to combat plagiarism. Says Paul Collins “Google Book Search contains hundreds of millions of printed pages, and yet after just a few words, the likelihood of the sentence’s replication scales down dramatically.”

In related news, noted jurist Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals is releasing his hardcover novel, The Little Book of Plagiarism which explores plagiarism and its effects on the economic market. It’s a book I’ll be buying in 2007.

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Aultbea Publishing is setting new records by signing and publishing Christopher Beale’s children’s book, 1,500-word five-chapter novel called This and Last Season’s Excursions. Mr. Beale was 6 years old and 118 days when his opus was completed. He is now busy translating his book into Italian (a language in which he is fluent) and writing his second book.

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Penguin announced that it will release some classics with blank, art ready covers so that the reader can sketch, paint, decoupage their own cover. I love this idea and think it would make great gifts. Ned is so handy with the stick figure art. :)

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I loved Jayne’s, Janine’s and Nora’s thankful lists and thought that I needed to remind myself (because, you know it’s that time of year where I tend to forget just why it is that I work in retail!)

1. The whole store is my to be read pile.
2. ARCs (I love to read things early . . . )
3. The readers I get to chat with everyday
4. Sharing *my* favorite books with other readers and hearing about *their* favorite books
5. The DISCOUNT
6. I LOVE BOOKS!
7. Working with others who love books just as much as I do
8. Authors and publishers who think you are the greatest ;-)
9. Finding the right book for the right customer and having them come back to me for more!
10. The many GREAT friends I’ve made just because I read romance!!!!!

Bookseller Jolie

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Dear Ms. McCarthy:

I thought since yesterday was Thanksgiving, I could get away with not posting today. But then I saw that everyone else in Blogland posted and I can’t be the one to drag us all down even though I ate enough food to feed a village. I hate the holidays. Or rather my jeans hate the holidays. I did throw up a bit when I heard that Jessica Simpson is now dating Tony Romo, new quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. If I have to hear about Jessica Simpson during my football games, I may have to swear off football. At least I have retail therapy to wash away the bitter aftertaste. As I stand in line to purchase the items that I really don’t need but am gulled into buying because of the low, low price, I’ll need a book to wile away the time. What better book than Bit the Jackpot? It’s funny, light-hearted and easy to read romance with spicy love scenes. Not just spicy, but funny, spicy love scenes.

Sure, this story has a few cliches (okay, alot …

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Dear Mrs. Canham,

I hope that your muse can tempt you back into writing. I keep hearing rumors but what I want is to read another new Canham book! ;) Other reviews have decried the amount of violence and sex in “The Iron Rose.” Yes, it’s violent. Yes, it has sex. But it’s a pirate book! It’s supposed to be violent. It’s supposed to have sex. And it’s a wild, exhilarating ride. Like watching an old MGM movie. I kept expecting Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power to come swinging out of the shrouds, sword in hand, to battle the dastardly enemy in a duel of flashing rapier death. “Away, all hands up and over!”

Varian St. Clare, 12th Duke of Harrow has been sent to the Caribee by King James to persuade the English privateers to lay down their arms and sail tamely back to England in order to further a peace treaty with Phillip III of Spain. But when his ship is attacked without provocation by the Spanish and he’s rescued by Juliet Dante, the daughter of the famed Sea Wolf, Simon Dante, and captured documents are translated to reveal the …

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Dear Ms. Garwood:

I want you to know that I open myself up to ridicule from any number of blogland sources such as my blogging partners, Jayne and Janine, Keishon, Maili, and who knows else by writing this love letter to you. Alas, I cannot let this week of thankfulness pass by without referencing at least one of your books that I have read so much that is poor cover fell off. So I am hiding this review on Thanksgiving where I can be quietly be thankful for this book whilst the rest of the US blogland is sleepy from gorging on turkey and mashed potatoes. (As an aside, the Thanksgiving episode where Jerry plays with the mint boxed Superman whilst girlfriend is drugged upon Trytophan is hilarious).

This was one of the first of your books that I had ever read and the opening scene is unforgettable.

They meant to kill him.

Baron Duncan of Wexton land is standing naked, tied to the pole in the bitter winter. Even at his seemingly weakest moment, his enemies still fear him. They stand a weapon’s length away to spit at his feet …

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Dear Ms Jensen,

For readers who are as anal as I am about trying to read a series in order, let me spell out this one. “Vivid Notions” is the second book in this series that started with CHOICE DECEPTIONS (other books in the series are Coup De Grace, His Grace Endures, What Chloe Wants, A Grand Design). It’s not necessary to read them in order as they stand fine on their own.

Vivian Redmond is a Boston shipping heiress sent to London for a Season who is staying with two middle aged widowed sisters. Just when she arrives in London after staying in the country with the sisters for a month, an anonymous series of poetry cantos begins to be published and to her horror and the ton’s delight, she appears to be the mysterious “Vivid One” referred to in them. Speculation as to the author is rife and the current odds are that it is the dashing George, Lord Byron. Vivian doesn’t care who is writing them just as long as the author stops soon so that she doesn’t feel like a freak in a circus everytime she ventures out into society.

Noel Windram, the …

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It may surprise you, but the top visited publishing website is Spark Notes, a study guide publisher. Next up is Random House, ranked 8133 and then Harlequin (excluding non romance publishers). St. Martins is dead last and that’s because their website basically has no usable information. Nothing like failing to highlight your authors, St. Martins.

Publisher
Rank

Spark Notes
3791

Random House
8133

Harlequin
17964

Simon & Schuster
28719

Harper Collins
31464

Penguin
51790

Elloras Cave
59790

Hachette
…

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A UK based company called U Star Novels is offering personalized romance novels. You answer 26 questions from where you work to what your favorite perfume is and these details are then interwoven through one of three romances: “Fever in France”, “Indecent in Italy” and “Spanish Sizzle.” You can customize the cover (bet real authors would like this option) and you can set your love scenes to be “sensual, steamy or scorching.” Just £26.95.

So Karen, you could replace Tall Guy with the new hot James Bond. It’s the ultimate in Mary Sue reading.

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Dear Ms. Everaux:

Over at Bam’s blog, a couple three people suggested Bam read this book. I’m not Bam but I am always up for a recommendation. I had to fly for business last Thursday and downloaded this book at the airport. God, I love ebooks. . Onto my handheld the book went and I proceeded to walk around the entire airport, down the jet bridge, onto the tiny commuter jet and so on without looking up. So maybe I bumped into a few people, trampled over a kid or two without noticing what I was doing, but I was reading!!

Moira Shine lives in an alternative earth that has been decimated by disease. In the first chapter, we learn everything we need to know about Moira. She has suffered terrible loss, but hasn’t allowed it to make her bitter. She has a big heart and a pragmatic nature. She understands when it is time to run and hide and when it is time to fight. My kind of heroine. More than anything, though, she loves that she had a child even …

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Dear Mrs. Cobb South,

I’ve been a fan of yours since “The Weaver Takes a Wife” and was delighted to hear that a new book was coming out. I can now happily say that “Of Paupers and Peers” will take its place beside my other Cobb South keepers. I just wish that 1) it was a lot cheaper so more people might buy it and enjoy it and 2) your books were available as ebooks. Any chance of that?

James Weatherly’s greatest hopes in life were to win the hand of the Peerless Miss Prescott and to aspire to the living in the small village of Fairford. When Miss Prescott laughed at his proposal, he lowered his sights to earning his keep as a Latin tutor and vicar. It was then that Fate, in the form of an unbroken male descent from the disinherited second son who ran off with a milkmaid, changed his life. James suddenly finds himself a wealthy Duke traveling to his vast Surrey estate when Fate hits him over the head again, only this time literally. Beset by two robbing ruffians, he’s lying in the middle of a dusty road when Miss Margaret …

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St. Paul is home to new indie bookstore owned by Garrison Keillor. There will be no romance and John Grisham will be found on the Qualilty Trash shelf.

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Dear Ms. Johnson:

Long before there was Jaid Black and Ellora’s Cave. Long before the rise of erotic romance and the publication of lines like Aphrodisia, Spice, and Avon Red, there were authors like you who wrote historically rich, emotionally deep and impossibly erotic romances. There are three of your books that I re-read with some frequency and this is one of them.

Forbidden is a book full of rule breakers. The book itself is a rule breaker because it features a heroine who is a minority, an Absarokee Indian; a hero who is married and then proceeds to get a divorce; a heroine who lost her virginity well before meeting up with the hero; a hero who actually has adult children and one grandchild; and a long separation; it’s set in 1891 and its in France and America. You would think that all of those things would tend to irritate the crap out of people but Forbidden is still in print today, some fifteen years after its original publication in 1991.

But it is your rule breaking that makes this book so wonderful. Daisy Black is a serious person, not …

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News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch has cancelled the Simpson book. Book and TV Special both are cancelled.

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Dear Ms. Abé,

Imagine a place so ripe and thick with the promise of magic that the very air breathes in plumes of pearl and gray and smoky blue; that the trees bow with the weight of their heavy branches, dipping low to the ground, dropping needles and leaves into beds of perfume. A place of white sparkling mountains and black forests and one high, ancient castle. Of diamonds that churn up raw from the marrow of the earth to lace the woods, unseen, in necklaces of ice and fire.

The first book in your drákon series begins in this fashion, with a prologue that tells of a species of dragons who, in order to survive the encroachment of mankind, took human shape and traveled from their home in Eastern Europe to England. Although I am usually a fan of luxurious language, the descriptions in the prologue verge on being too rich for my blood. They are very effective at conveying that drákon’s origins are the stuff of fables, but I am nonetheless glad when the prologue gives way to chapter one and The Smoke Thief settles into a lovely style that is still poetic, but more …

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Borders announced that it would carry the book but that it would donate net proceed to a national organization that assists domestic violence. It will also not discount the title or promote it.

If you dislike the idea of this book, this site has all the contact information you need to protest its publication, sale, and promotion. I think that HarperCollins has a right to publish it but would like to see it pledge the profits to a charitable organization so that no one but the victims profit from this.

Some Fox Affiliates won’t air the two part interview with Simpson such as XETV in San Diego. The GM has been quoted as saying that if they do air the interviews, they’ll do it “commercial-free with PSAs for victim’s rights and abused women.”

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Dear Mrs. Kelly,

Most people know you for your excellent trad regencies but I wish more people would mention this anthology featuring stories about the 19th century frontier Army. This book is fabulous. Just fabulous. Some of the short stories and novellas are told from the hero’s POV and some from the heroine’s. Some are funny, some are sad and most are both. Some are not for the faint of heart as many of the men are Civil War veterans and you don’t skimp on telling how war really is. There is also one about a detail pinned down in Arizona by Apaches that has some gory details. Two of the characters are surgeons and one reminds me of Jesse from The
Wedding Journey. But every one of them is wonderful and I give the book an A+.

Thanks for sticking with writing even when the publishers let you (and us the readers) down.

~Jayne

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Dear Readers, Authors, Editors, Publishers, Booksellers, and Librarians,

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are my top ten reasons for being grateful for romance:

1. In the pages of a good romance, I can re-experience the joy of falling in love.
2. I've met wonderful people through online romance discussions.
3. The psychology of relationships is really interesting, and romances are nothing if not relationship-focused.
4. Nothing (not even chocolate) beats reading a favorite romance when I've had a really rough day.
5. Romance is a genre that acknowledges the power of emotions.
6. A great romance can transport me to other places, and sometimes, other times.
7. I have had some fabulous conversations about romances with other readers.
8. In romance, tragedy is usually leavened by humor, passion and happiness.
9. I've discovered some terrific authors this way, authors who have made me appreciate the beauty of the written word.
10. Romances give me something to blog about. :-)

Sincerely,

Janine

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According to a Harris Interactive study, 37% of Baby Boomers are having a difficult time finding television shows that are reflective of their lives. I wonder what publishers are doing (besides creating the slightly larger mass market book – don’t get me started) to address the needs of the Baby Boomer. I know that Next tried to capture that market but failed. Any other authors/books/imprints that focus on the Baby Boomer generation?

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In its November 19, 2006, column, the Post reports that paranormals are really hot these days particularly with the ladies who love bestiality.

In the hot new “paranormal romance” version, the hero may literally be a stallion.

Authors getting Post love? Keri Arthur (who doesn’t really write romance, does she?); Shana Abe, and Karen Marie Moning.

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Last week, I had a short list of what publishers were doing right with ebooks. This week, I have a short list of what they are generally doing wrong with short individual complaints. (I am kind of ruining the whole “being thankful” thing, aren’t I?)

• Lack consistency in releasing formats: I.e, Renee Bernard My Lady’s Pleasure is available in only Adobe and eReader formats, not Lit.
• Lack customer support. It takes at least 5-10 days to get response back which is particularly egregious for a digital company, imo. I emailed Simon and Schuster last Monday about the Renee Bernard book and have yet to hear back from them.
• Lack consistency in releasing books: All Night Long by Jayne Ann Krentz was originally available in hardcover in January of 2006. In October, the book was released in ebook format attached to a hardcover price.
• Lack realistic pricing: This is probably my biggest grievance. Oftentimes, the prices of ebooks are above that of the mass market paperback. Sometimes, the ebook is still at the hardcover price when the mass market version has been released.
• Inconsistent DRM: A reader should be able to

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Apparently one commenter has gone completely nutso over the whole Miss Snark disses romance author shindig. Karen S has been paying attention and pulled out the comment by WitLit Today, whose own blog, while having cute pictures of dogs, is one I don’t understand at all. Apparently by disagreeing with Miss Snark, all commenters and blog rollers are in danger of something. Being recognized, I guess. Or something else nefarious. It’s fairly vague.

For the commenters, aka ex-snarklings, who just dissed Miss Snark…It’s not a good idea to burn a bridge this publicly, ‘cos if I recognize you, so will others.

Please feel free to insert your own consequence here. I.e., “for the commenters who just dissed Miss Snark . . .” My imagination has finished the sentence as follows:

• you are in danger of getting your keyboard taken away as the snarklings work their way through the PsyNet and try to drive you insane!
• a snarlking will recognize your online name and follow you around, attempting to divide you from your werewolf lover.
• you will fall into a dark hole at the bottom of which you

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Dear Mrs. Beverley,

I had fond thought of this book before I even started it because it was the subject of the first email I ever exchanged with someone who’s become a dear friend of mine. I had mentioned after the year 2000 AAR Top 100 that I was looking for a copy and Deb, the consummate bookstalker, emailed me saying she had one. Plus about 10 other books I’d been looking for. Deb, this review’s for you!

Mrs. Beverley, you work for me yet again with this one, the first in the Malloren series. Cyn, Captain Lord Cynric Malloren, is a great hero who is bowling along in his brother, the Marquise of Rothgar’s coach, when it’s held up by some very interesting highwaymen. Sensing something isn’t quite right, he goes along with things til he finds himself kidnapped to drive the coach to an out of the way cottage where things get even weirder. He soon concludes that the two *highwaymen* are actually women, one of whom resumes her female identity and turns out to be the mother of a months old infant. The other, the one who intrigues him, stays in her male …

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Even though Mario Lopez lost out to Emmitt Smith, he can still have a good time with this bird.

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If I Did It will be released by ReganBooks on November 30 and will be featured on FOX TV in two segments featuring Simpson interviewed by Judith Regan. Some booksellers are put off by the book and others are plan to donate any profits to appropriate charities. Vroman’s Bookstore, Pasadena, Calif. will donate profits to the Nicole Brown Foundation. True crime is a popular area of fiction and I can see the interest in it. The royalty and advances are supposedly not going to Simpson who has outstanding civil judgments against him in the amount of $33.5 M. It would be difficult to see how Simpson could get the royalty money as most of that should be snapped up by the judgment lien holders.

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Bantam Dell publishing is running a new type of book ad for author Dean Koontz wherein it isn’t really apparent that the ads are for books. Have books fallen so out of favor that they have to be packaged as not a book? And what happens when the customer realizes it is a book that is being advertised?

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