Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

Barnes & Noble chairman sent a memo to all employees saying that "the retail environment the worst he has ever seen as a bookseller."  The outlook looks gloomy for chairman Riggio for this holiday season which he describes as "terrible" and expects "the trend to continue well into 2009, and perhaps beyond.” Wall Street Journal via Publishers Weekly .

The Scotsman finds that the victor in economic depression is Mills & Boon , the purveyor of romance books, of which one is bought every three seconds.   Mills & Boon, celebrating its centenary this month, is enjoying its most successful year to date. We may be tightening our belts, but that doesn't mean that there's no room for romance. And Mills & Boon novels, at £2.99 each, are according Clare Somerville, retail marketing and sales director of the company, "an affordable pleasure".  …  When Mills & Boon Limited was launched in 1908 it was as a publisher of general fiction and etiquette guides. But it didn't take long for founder Charles Boon to clock on to the fact that romance was the way to financial success. During the First World War, sales of the romance-filled novels enjoyed their first peak and it's something that's continued ever since.

BookBinge is running a contest for Meljean Brook's Demon Bound.  Do things and get a chance to win $100.  Check it out.  

Harlequin adds to its original ebook fiction shorts with the Harlequin Undone line.  This month there are four titles available, each priced at $2.99.  Like Spice Briefs and Nocturne Bites, these novellas can only be purchased in ebook form either from Harlequin's website or any other etailer that carries Harlequin books.

My links sucketh. Here is a better one from commenter RfP:

If you go here in the next 50 minutes, you can get two Spice Briefs and one Nocturne Bites for US$.89 each.

Note that the promotion is good for every day from 12:00 p.m to 3:00 p.m. EST

There were reports of electronic machines switching votes last week because the machines weren't correctly calibrated.  Given the problems people have had with the computerized voting machines, some states are returning to the tried and true voting method - paper ballots.  This lead to the headline at Ars Technica of "Paper Ballot: The New Killer App. "   I do wonder why we can't have some uniform voting ballot system wherein a state can opt out as long as they prove that they have a superior method that has greater safe guards to protect a person's vote.  There's little that can go wrong with the No. 2 pencil, right?  

Would you buy a $99 netbook with a 2 year data plan?  The Wall Street Journal reports that computer companies thin you will.  HP is negotiating with broadband carriers to work out a deal much like a cell phone purchase which underwrites the cost of a cell phone with a 2 year committment.  In this case, of course, your mini computer like the Dell Mini 9 or the HP 2133 Mini Note or the Asus Eee PC would come equipped with broadband and a 2 year customer agreement.   I want a mini notebook and I have a broadband contract but I like the portability of the broadband device allowing me to use it in several different machines.  Would I have the same possibilities under this agreement?   WSJ via Gizmodo .

Wall Street Journal wakes up and discovers that vamps are sexy to readers. (thanks Kay)
Quotation marks are lacking in elegance.  Really?  I appreciate punctuation.  (thanks again Kay)
Archaeologists may have found the campfire of a real Robinson Crusoe.
Brazillian designer selling lingerie that has a GPS locator so your stalker can find you with ease.
And for you political junkies out there, a map of poll closing times.

Have a great weekend and don’t forget to vote.

Carly Phillips, Hot Property, is available for FREE through the Harlequin eBook store.  Add the book to your cart and type in the coupon code HALLOWEEN at the checkout.

Harlequin posted revenue gains of 2.4% in the third quarter.  There was a decline of earnings due to "unfavorable exchange rates" and flat profits. Sales continue to slide in the North American direct to consumer division (which is, I believe, it's subscription and direct sales through its site to consumers) but there have been strong gains in the retail market and the digital manga sales in Japan.  Harlequin believes it will have a good fourth quarter despite the flagging US economy. Via PublishersWeekly .

Simon & Schuster had a 5% sales gain in the third quarter after two negative quarters.  S&S benefited from selling the execrable book, The Obama Nation by Jerome Corsi which should have been marketed as fiction for all the made up facts Corsi included in the book (many facts had been sourced from his own previous works). Of interest to Dear Author readers is that Play Dirty by Sandra Brown was a book that was cited as selling well enough to assist in a strong third quarter.  Sales were up in July and August but fell in September.  A sign of consumer spending declining, however, were the soft sales of trade paperback backlist titles.  Via PublishersWeekly .