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

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I love this song. I can’t decide if Bridget Moynahan is one or if Tom Brady is an ass. Maybe it’s a bit of both. It’s like he said, “hey, babe, I’m breaking up with you to date a younger supermodel (Gisele Bundchen) but I’ll leave you with a little sperm package to remember me forever.” Her response, “Well, you’ll be paying me for said sperm package for the rest of your life.”

And what is going on with the trend of younger men/older women? Justin Timberlake leaving Cameron Diaz for the barely legal Scarlett Johanssen and now, Tom Brady shucking his older supermodel for a younger, sportier model. It’s nice to see that the trends always swing back. Maybe there is still hope for a resurgence of the historical romance novel.

An interesting story picked up by Media Bistro today. Jason Pinter, author and Crown editor (imprint of Random House) compared the sales numbers of Chris Bohjalian’s The Double Bind: A Novel, picked as Barnes and Noble’s second store-wide choice versus Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Starbucks’ second pick. The New York Times Bestseller list will debut The Double Bind (fiction) at #3 and A Long Way Gone at #2 (non fiction).

Pinter makes the case that Starbucks is more influential than bookstores and may rival Oprah on the influence front. The inaguaral book for Starbucks’ Picks was Mitch Albom’s book, For One More Day, which sold 50,000 copies at Starbucks alone.

Midwives by Bohjalian was a former Oprah pick and therefore, according to Pinter, had established a base that would likely purchase his next release. Beah did not, but he did have an appearance on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The Bookscan numbers offer up more evidence in favor of Pinter’s thesis. Bohjalian sold 17,000 copies in week one and Beah, 26,000. Of the 26,000 Beah books sold, 19,000 …

Dear Ms. Anonymous Author:

I read your letter over at the Anonymous Publishing Vent Club which, I have to confess, has been terribly boring of late. I had high hopes for it when it started, but the first 4 posts have been quite dull. Your letter was just the right thing to start out the day. I’ll be quoting liberally from your piece so no one can accuse me of misinterpreting your thoughts.

You are mad at your publicist. How do I know this?
I am so PISSED at my publicist.
At first, I felt a bit bad for you until you let on that the publicist was a publisher employee.
I signed with this major publisher in hopes that maybe they’d do some publicity but so far he doesn’t return calls, doesn’t return emails.
Oops. This is where I started laughing. Good thing I didn’t have any liquids in my mouth else I would have spent the rest of the morning cleaning off my keyboard and screen. Let’s parse this sentence out some more. You signed with a major publisher because of the publicity you thought you would get? You didn’t sign with a major …

Independent booksellers are beginning to offer free wi fi to increase customer traffic. Bridget Rothenberger told Bookseller This Week that offering free wi-fi was “one of the smartest decisions” and that she would “recommend it to every bookstore.”

I love free wi-fi. Panera Bread offers it free but Barnes & Noble only offers a pay (as does Borders). Guess where I go to get a snack and read my book? Yep, Panera. If there was a bookstore that offered free wi-fi, I would be there instead.

Via Shelf Awareness

Dear Ms. Sinclair,

Games of Command, your science fiction romance, begins shortly after an alliance is formed between the Triad and the United Coalition. Captain Tasha “Sass” Sebastian, formerly of the United Coalition, is surprised to learn that she has been assigned to the Vaxxar, a huntership under the command of the biocybernetic Admiral Branden Kel-Paten. When Tasha was working for the United Coalition, the “Tin Soldier” was her nemesis, and on the Vaxxar, Kel-Paten continues to dog her heels, so Sass believes he doesn't trust her.

Tasha and Kel-Paten each have a secret they are keeping from one another. In Tasha's case, the secret is that she is really the notorious “Lady Sass,” a rim runner who supposedly died in prison. In Kel-Paten's case, his secret is that he has been in love with Tasha for years, and his many run-ins with her in the past were orchestrated by Kel-Paten partly so that he could have a glimpse of her.

If Sass's secret is found out, the crucial alliance could be torn apart, and the United Coalition and the Triad could both fall prey to their mutual enemies. If …

Dear Ms Cornick,

Wow, my historical cup doth runneth over. So far this year I’ve read two books set in ancient Rome and two during the reigns of the 17th century Charleses. Thanks again for sending me a copy of this book. I usually don’t miss at least trying a Harlequin Historical that isn’t set during the Regency. I don’t know where I was on this one since the Restoration Era is another favorite of mine.

Four years ago Lady Anne of Grafton and Simon, Lord Greville were engaged to be married. Both families were pleased and, despite not really knowing each other, Anne and Simon were both cautiously optimistic that theirs would at least be a marriage of passion if not love. Then the political differences between the King and his parliament boiled over into Civil War, tearing the country and families apart. Now, on the eve of battle, Simon finds himself besieging the manor and people which were once promised to him by his betrothal. For Simon has followed his conscience and pledged himself to Cromwell thus going against even his own father while Anne and her father have remained true to …

There have been a couple heated online debates about the legality of selling Advanced Review Copies, Galleys or Proofs, all of which pre publication copies of books. Nora Roberts was angered over the appearance of advanced copies placed on EBay by a seller who had eight of them. It was clear to me that any individual having 8 copies must have procured them with inside help for no reviewer gets more than one copy or maybe 2.

This seems confirmed by the recent report at Media Bistro that Harper Collins UK employees were caught selling Proofs of books on E-Bay. Apparently, an email went out company wide asking for employees with paypal accounts so the company could bid, purchase and find out the identities of the sellers. The Proof selling employees, in true Darwin Award fashion, didn’t really connect the dots and failed to pull down the auctions.

I have maintained that the sale of the ARC is not illegal. It is the point of procurement of the ARC which were the theft, if any, occurs. I am sure that Harper Collins …

There are no new faces on the list this week, but there were also no new releases last week. I expect that next week Nora Roberts’ alter ego will be up in the Number 1 slot. I’ve been resisting the expensive ebook purchase but it sounds like the book is a doozy. My bookseller friend said it might be one of the best of the series featuring a very serious impediment to Eve and Roarke’s seemingly unshakeable marriage. Gah. Must resist. Must.

Irish Dreams, Nora Roberts (Silh Special Releasees), $7.99, No. 8 (Peak 2).
The Dream-Hunter, Sherrilyn Kenyon, St. Martin’s Paperbacks, $7.99, No. 11 (Peak 3).
Most Likely To Die, Lisa Jackson, Beverly Barton, Wendy Corsi Staub (Zebra),$7.99 No. 12 (Peak 5).

Plum Lovin’, Janet Evanovich, (St. Martin’s Press), $16.95 No. 16, (Peak 1)
McKettrick’s Luck, Linda Lael Miller (HQN), $7.99, No. 20 (Peak 8).
Tongue in Chic, Christina Dodd, Signet, $7.99, No. 26 (Peak 17).
The Winter Lodge, Susan Wiggs (MIRA), $7.99, No. 27 (Peak 13).

Causing Havoc, Lori Foster (Berkley), $7.99, No. 32 (Peak 13).
Angels All Over Town, Luanne Rice (Bantam), $7.50, No. 42 (Peak 22).
Point Blank, Catherine Coulter (Jove), $7.99, …

I always thought Audio books were way too expensive for purchase and I have only used them when I could check them out from the library, but my libraries selection was very limited. Audible is a good resource, offering many books for less than $20 if you subscribed. A better solution is Audiobooksonline, a UK company, which is purporting to offer audiobooks for rent. The author receives a royalty for the rent on top of the original purchase. It’s not as good, obviously, as each reader buying new, but it may increase overall use of audiobooks.
The service will operate in a similar way to online DVD rentals, with the customer paying a monthly subscription and compiling a “wish list”. Depending on which subscription band they opt for, they can borrow several titles at one time, listen, return and have their next titles delivered. The bands are: £9.99 for one title at a time, £12.99 for two and £15.99 for three - all for an unlimited number of choices in a month.
I hope this comes overseas, and soon. Via …

Emma by Kaoru Mori. Published by CMX. Retail: $9.99 2/7 Volumes released in English. Series complete in Japanese. Rated T+ (teens and up; female nudity in a matter of fact manner, mild sexual references, kissing) . A-
Note: I feel distinctly uncomfortable addressing a frank letter to a Japanese mangaka. It’s so… Ugly American. So I will be addressing readers for the most part in these reviews so that I don’t have to be so circumspect.

Dear Readers,
One thing you’ll discover if you read much manga is that accuracy in setting isn’t something that really concerns most mangaka, if a story is set outside Japan. But there are exceptions. Emma is one of them.
Admittedly, there are a few things used here and there that are slightly anachronistic, such as having a model airplane in a few panels well before the first one ever flew, but they are used to make the story a little more colorful and are not major plot points so they don’t bother me. It’s the feel of the story I love….