Dear Ms. Seidel,
I've been slowly going through your backlist and have enjoyed most of what I've read so far. Your books aren't flashy, but down to earth. They take their time to get where they are going. There is however, a welcome realness to the characters, surroundings, and events. At no [...]

Dear Michelle,
Thanks again for sending me an advanced copy of your newest Mills and Boon/Harlequin Historical release “The Roman’s Virgin Mistress.” As you hoped, I can honestly say that a) I enjoyed it and b) I think you’re still improving with each book release. The cover is lovely too. You certainly have been smiled [...]

I first read Liz Carlyle in 1999 with her release of My False Heart, and I have bought her new, on the release date, ever since. It only took one amazing book for her to win me as a reader. My False Heart was an amazing debut novel. It took chances by [...]

Dear Ms. Foster:
It’s probably unfair for me to have read this book for you are an author that “I gave up on” or rather “to whom I have never felt a connection”. Unfortunately for both of us, I kind of got sucked in by the cool cover and the idea of a fight club [...]

I didn’t have any doubt that Janet Evanovich’s most recent Stephanie Plum story would be number one. I am just glad that I have not even the slightest desire to read this book. It was a struggle initially to kick the Plum/Morelli/Ranger habit but as time has gone on, it’s been easier and [...]

Dear Ms Kenner,
Two summers ago, “Carpe Demon” grabbed me and pulled me into the world of Kate Connor, retired fourth level Demon hunter now living in a small Southern California town. Last year “California Demon” kept up the action as Kate, now brought back into active demon hunting, polished her skills, saved her hometown [...]

Dear Ms. Bujold:
I shared in my previous letter to you regarding Beguilement that I had never read you before despite many romance readers claiming you as their favorite “cross over” author. Yesterday, Janet and Janine, wroet about cross pollenization or the blending of genres together to create a more magnetic, fulfilling whole. [...]

Word came down a few weeks ago that the brick and mortar Wal-mart stores were reducing the number of mid list authors it was going to carry. According to Black Romance Reader, that is not the only negative book shelving change that is going on. BRR reported that the following:
I'd already known [...]

Dear Ms Quinn,
I don’t think I’m alone in having wondered what you would do next after the last Bridgerton novel was released a year ago (and I don’t count the flimsy 2nd Epilogues as really doing anything). “The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever” doesn’t appear as though it will lead to the sequelitis [...]

Dear Ms. Dimon:
When I read Viva Las Bad Boys!, I was struck by how great your voice was for smart, snappy dialogue. But writing a full length book wasn’t the same as writing three novellas and I admit to being a bit worried that smart, snappy dialogue couldn’t carry an entire story. I [...]

In two separate press releases today, Apple announced that activation can be done using iTunes in the privacy of your own home and that the rate plans would be incredibly reasonable. (my emphasis).
Activation
I was in the Cingular store this weekend asking why I should buy there instead of the Apple store and the sales [...]

This weekend a Salon article caught my eye. “Summer Reads,” it was called, and I clicked on the link, expectations charged, thinking, there’s got to be some Romance in this bunch. After all, everyone knows that summer reading is beach reading, and if fall sweeps in the more “serious” reading, summer is always [...]

Dear Ms. Lee,
I remember when “White Tigress” was released and all the hoopla about it being set in historical China and the tantric-esque sex. I bought it but actually started reading the series with the second book “Hungry Tigress” and followed with “Desperate Tigress.” It was at that point that I readily admit [...]

While June was a somewhat disappointing month, July is rife with great reads. It’s an expensive month because there are hardcover and trades included in our list, but we’ve got a varied menu that I think would satisfy any number of reader yearnings.
The Sharing Knife: Legacy, Volume Two by Lois McMaster Bujold. The [...]

Paul Ellis: Book Cover Artist
An Interview by Erin Aislinn
Jane’s Note: I am not one to reinvent the wheel and when Erin Aislinn graciously offered this interview with Paul Ellis, a cover artist, I thought I would be foolish not to share it.
It has come to Dear Author’s attention that the cover art that was [...]

DISCLAIMER: Just to CYA, I feel like putting up a disclaimer. There is much that I don’t know about the Triskelion situation and any discussion regarding the law and the legal issues surrounding copyrights and publisher bankruptcies are general and not to apply to any one particular situation. If you feel like [...]

Triskelion Publishing has announced on its website that it is closing its doors on July 2.
RWA contacted its attorneys on behalf of authors who are under contract with Triskelion. After reviewing a sample contract that Triskelion submitted with its application for RWA recognition, the attorney advised that the best options with respect to the [...]

Who says digital copies don’t sell? Apple is now the third largest retailer of music in the country with a 10% market share. Wal-mart is number one with a 15.8% market share and Best Buy number 2 with a 13.8% market share.
Via Gizmodo.

Dear Ms. Caskie
I picked up your book with the vague impression that I had read you before and enjoyed you. Unfortunately that is not the impression that I was left with at the end of How to Engage an Earl. How to Engage an Earl had all the standard regency hooks: a [...]

Dear Authors:
A couple of weeks ago there was a small online furor over the Publishers Weekly review of Jennifer Crusie, Eileen Dreyer, and Anne Stuart's collaborative book The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes. The review referred to the book as three novellas, concluding with the hope that "the authors' next collaboration will be on [...]

Normally I don’t report on non fiction deals because I don’t read non fiction for leisure. But these are bloggers we know writing about a topic we love. Congrats ladies.
Sarah Wendell and Lay-Ping “Candy” Tan’s SMART BITCHES WHO LOVE TRASHY BOOKS, based on the popular blog, a funny, somewhat bitchy and adoring look [...]

Sasha White has a secret weapon. Every night White hones this weapon in a locale that is ripe with despair, joy, lust, and love. For a writer whose success depends on the intricate character arcs as it particularly relates to the interrelationship of males and females, there is no more fertile ground than [...]

Dear Ms. Dodd:
When I first heard that you were doing a paranormal series, I was a bit skeptical. Not every author has made the transition from contemporary or historical to paranormal well. I also will admit that I haven’t read you in years (2003 to be exact) because I was quite perturbed at [...]

In a completely believable (to me) claim, a computer hacker has said that he hacked into Bloomsbury Publishing and stole a digital copy of the final Harry Potter book. The Hacker posts a brief (3 sentence) summary of the ending of the book and reveals who was killed. Link here. Don’t [...]

There’s not much I can say about the list this week. It’s the standard authors here: Roberts, Coulter, Robards, Lindsey. These ladies are bestsellers and will continue to bestsellers, maybe even long after they are gone (cough, VC Andrews, cough). The big surprise, although some may have seen it coming, was the rapid [...]

Dear Ms. Wolf,
I had heard many good things about your book, A London Season. Despite having been published twenty-six years ago, it remains loved by many fans of traditional regencies, some of whom consider it a classic of that subgenre. So when a copy of the book came my way, I was eager [...]

Bookeen’s newsletter just arrived in my inbox. The specifications and high resolution photos are up at the Bookeen site.
Specs of the Bookeen v. Sony Reader

 
Bookeen
Sony

size
7.4" x 4.7" x 0.3"
6.9” x 4.9”x 0.5"

weight
6.13 ounces
apprx. .8 oz

screen

6" E Ink® Vizplex600×800 pixels
166 dpi
B&W, 4 gray-scale
[...]

DISCLAIMER: Just to CYA, I feel like putting up a disclaimer. There is much that I don’t know about the Triskelion situation and any discussion regarding the law and the legal issues surrounding copyrights and publisher bankruptcies are general and not to apply to any one particular situation. If you feel like [...]

Dear Mrs Strohmeyer,
I loved The Cinderella Pact and was delighted when Jane mailed a review copy of your new hardback, The Sleeping Beauty Proposal. I found it enjoyable and funny but not quite as good as the first book.
At 36, Genie Michaels is beginning to feel that she has hit the snooze button [...]

DISCLAIMER: Just to CYA, I feel like putting up a disclaimer. There is much that I don’t know about the Triskelion situation and any discussion regarding the law and the legal issues surrounding copyrights and publisher bankruptcies are general and not to apply to any one particular situation. If you feel like [...]

Capitalizing on the success of the back to basics instruction manual for boys of all ages, publishers are now seeking its sister publication. The Dangerous Book for Boys detailed simple things like how to make a paper airplane and how to skip rocks. It’s retro, low tech appeal has been huge. The [...]

Adobe released its Adobe Digital Editions 1.0 that had previously been released in beta form. I’ve tried out the beta form and with properly formatted pdfs, the books looked great. With older books, however, it struggles with the same issues of reflow and readability. Still, if the IDPF can convince every publisher [...]

Dear Ms. Bast:
I’ve read most of your backlist at Ellora’s Cave and really, your books have been the impetus for trying more. You have almost always been able to capture and convey the emotional connection while still bringing the heat. I think you are one of the best of the epublished authors and was [...]

Dear Ms Shinn,
I hadn’t known, or perhaps I’d just forgotten, that this book was a police procedural murder mystery. I did know that it involved priestesses so expected some religious element but I had not expected to be blown away by how wonderfully you would work that into the story. And while the book [...]

Last night was the season premiere of my favorite television show, The Closer. For those who haven’t watched the most successful basic cable show in the history of cable, the show revolves around Brenda Leigh Johnson, played by the indomitable and sexy Kyra Sedgwick. Last fall Sedgwick won a Golden Globe for the [...]

Dear Ms Lackey,
The Fairy Godmother was the first book of yours that I tried and I loved the spin on the traditional fairy tales. One Good Knight is good but not quite as good as that one.
When a dragon storms the castle, what should a (virgin) princess do?
Why, turn to her studies, of [...]

DC Comics is looking to cash in on the Manga furor in one way or another. Last week saw the release of DC Comics manga for girls and now comes the announcement that it has invested heavily in Flex Comics. Flex Comics will be managed by DC Comics Japan and will produce original [...]

No one but she and her publishing company are actually going to make money off the millions of Deathly Hollows books sold. Amazon has over 1,000,000 pre-orders world wide. Bookstores are planning events. But because discount competition is so fierce, the book will be sold at cost or at a loss. [...]

After researching how bestseller lists are compiled, I’ve come away with a new cynicism about how the book world operates. It does seem that if the publisher is willing to pay, some venues will promote chosen books as bestsellers or, in the case of Waterstone, include a book on its “best of the [...]

Covers are one of the most important sales tools a book has. Whole websites are devoted to them. More than one professional has acknowledged that covers can make or break an author. I bought Lila Dubois, Forbidden, in part because of the phenomenal cover.
April Martinez is a graphic designer who specializes in cover [...]

Last December I blogged about the ebook readers that were to hit the market in 2007. Unfortunately, none have made their appearance although word is that a few are still slotted for an imminent debut. The buzz still points toward the Amazon Kindle as being the most widely anticipated. Despite the talk [...]

Dear Ms. Halliday:
When I saw the blurb for your book, I had to have it. Jake Sims was a retired baseball star who was trying to make a new life for himself and his thirteen year old daughter in the suburbs of Chicago. Alicia Greene was a woman who had suffered a bad [...]

Via Let’s Gab.

Dear Mrs Connolly,
I love your Georgian historical series featuring Richard and Rose. Your Regency novel didn’t work as well for me so when you wrote offering a chance to read a paranormal, and one including American characters, I was intrigued and curious as to what I’d think of it. Well, some parts are okay [...]

Ruth Ryan Langan is a writer who has penned 88 published books beginning in 1981. She’s been on Good Morning America and CNN as well as quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan and the Detroit Free Press.
Her stories have spanned the genres, from romantic suspense to westerns, from paranormals to victorian [...]

Dear Ms. Potter:
I’m thinking that this book caught me just a few years too late. Not only is this a chick lit novel, but it is also a Jane Austen homage which seems to be the topic du jour at publishing houses these days. I can see the appeal of Darcy and the [...]

Despite last week being a major release week for romances, there were not many new entries. Two big names: MaryJanice Davidson and Jo Beverly showed up in the middle of the list and Yasmine Galenorn, a paranormal writer, showed up toward the end. Galenorn is said to be writing romances, but I wasn’t [...]

Dear Ms Cach,
While this isn’t one of my favorites, I still enjoyed it. I remember it being a departure from the other books you had published then by virtue of it having no paranormal elements, despite the title. However, as several reviews stated, a reader does need to suspend a little belief in order [...]

Dear Ms Alexander,
I was delighted with my impulse buy of your first novel “And Only to Deceive.” Luckily for me I didn’t have to wait too long before book two in the series was released. Now all I can say is write quickly so I don’t have to mope too long before getting to [...]

According to the estimates by the Census Bureau, bookstore sales dropped 6.0% in April (following a 6.8% drop in March). The Census Bureau statistics are devoted to brick and mortar stores, however, and do not include direct mail or internet sales.
Via Publishers Weekly.