Orbit’s $1.00 release is

• Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow, retail price $6.99 for $1.00 during the month of August.

Forever Summer Sizzling Reads for $1.99

• Insatiable Desire by Rita Herron
• Hungry for More by Diana Holquist
• Seduce Me by Robyn DeHart (new release)
• Simple Wishes by Lisa Dale

Other Hachette August specials:

• Brian Haig: Buy Secret Sanction and get Mortal Alliesfor free.
• Kate Lynch:  Blessed Art the Cheesemakers for $2.99

Harlequin is offering:

• 25% off My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent, the launch title of the new Harlequin Teen line. Offer ends Aug 31.

Books on Board is offering a number of ebooks under $5.00 including:

• One Week as Lovers by Victoria Dahl
• The Darkest Prison by Gena Showalter
• Thorn Queen by Richelle Mead

First, BN’s ebookstore is simply that, a store. There is no device.  Kindle captured the burgeoning ebook crowd not because it simply provided books in digital but because there was a bookstore tied to a device that made purchasing so simple you could explain it to your mom or your five year old.

Second, BN has no such device and there are no plans to release such a device until 2010.  2010 is a long way off. The fabled Apple tablet may have come by then. The PixelQi netbook that has a dual screen (eink like and straight LCD) may have captured the attention of the market.  2010 is eons away in technological time.  Further, there is no confirmation that BN will even sell the device. Instead, the news is that BN will be the exclusive content provider of digital books for the Plastic Logic device. Have you seen the Plastic Logic device? It’s big which means expensive (the Kindle Dx cost $449) and unweildy.

Third, BN price matching Amazon gives people no incentive to leave Amazon if they are already customers there.  Without a matching device, how many existing customers are going to suddenly start reading on their iPhones or laptops who are not already ebook readers?  Certainly not enough to challenge Amazon’s domination. People who are already ebook readers understand that there are a plethora of stores and price matching opportunities out there.

Fourth, BN’s inflated book count of 700,000 includes over 500,000 public domain books fed by Google Book.  Of the remaining books, BN.com’s ebook store has the worst content availability.  This morning is the release of Meredith Duran’s ebooks, Bound by Your Touch and Written on Your Skin.  Neither books are available at BN.com.  Both are on sale at Fictionwise.com, BooksonBoard.com, and Amazon. BN is not even winning the simple content game.

Fifth, BN promises multiformats but will be wrapping those formats in it’s own DRM.  BN promises that its books WON’T be compatible with the Sony Reader or the Kindle.  Just what we readers need and want.

BN brought nothing new to the game.  It’s offering eReader format which are already available at ereader.com or fictionwise.com, both vendors offering customer rewards programs that BN is not.  It’s not a leap to say that these two sites, owned by BN, will be totally subsumed into the BN.com ebook site, but until that time, there is no incentive for a reader to leave eReader.com or Fictionwise.com.

The roll out of BN.com’s ebookstore brings nothing new. It’s not a Kindle killer. It’s barely competition for the existing ebook stores out there.  Frankly, it was aweak rollout.  If this is the understanding of the market that BN has in its upper management, it will be nothing but a failure.

Along with 20% off list price all titles by these authors whose books are mentioned in the book:

• Stephanie Laurens
• JD Robb/ Nora Roberts
• Jude Deveraux
• Kelley Armstrong
• Patricia Briggs

The promo code for readers will be “SmartOnBoard”.  Details are here and here.

I’m hopeful that this is just an error but for big fans of Sagara, Banks, and the like, be careful of these “unpublished” works particularly when the price is so high.

Thanks for tip, Has.

According to blogger at TensionBreaker:

Offering consumers 5 romance novels for the price of 4 (and making the offer a week before Valentines Day) crosses the line from “meeting the consumer’s untapped needs” to “exploiting the consumer’s human frailty at a time of emotional weakness.”

I think offering the coupon on St. Patrick’s Day would be particularly insidious given how liquor can also “exploit a consumer’s human frailty”. Perhaps Columbus Day would be an appropriate time for Borders to run the special?

I went to the Borders site to see if it was engaging in any other nefarious business practices and it was. It is offering Hogfather, the movie version of Terry Pratchett’s novel, BEFORE YOU CAN BUY IT IN THE STORES! If that is not exploiting human frailty of those weak willed addicted to Pratchett, I don’t know what is.

Please, readers, we must band together and put a stop to this corporate attempt to exploit us. I suggest we take up a letter writing campaign and demand this discount not be offered during any holiday during which we weak women might be emotionally susceptible to the ploy of getting us to buy more romance books!

We all love to buy books, right? And as much as I luv me some ebooks, I still enjoy browsing in a bookstore. Something about the feel and heft of a book in my hands, the surprise discovery, the remembered TBB title makes a trip to my local brick and mortar store a treat. Sean Dodson has picked out 10 stores from around the world that make browsing just as much fun as actually reading what you’ve bought.

Via the Guardian

I have to just give a plug for my dear friend, Tina Trevaskis, who is now the new Romance/Horror & Westerns Marketing Specialist at Borders Group Inc. Tina is a huge lover of romance. I met Tina over 7 years ago (I think) due to our mutual love of romance. Of course, her goal is to sell as many romances (and horror and westerns) as possible so any marketing decisions will be geared toward that. I’m also sure she’ll take extra care to avoid misspelling names, JMC!

I am really excited that Tina, someone who loves the genre, will be leading the marketing charge at one of the largest retail book selling chains in the US. I bet if you’ve got a suggestion on how Borders can better serve its romance readers, Tina would love to hear it. (Or maybe not but eh, that’s what the comments are for, right?)

Drollerie Press came to my attention when two authors, Joely Sue Burkhart and Imogen Howson, emailed DearAuthor and wondered if we wouldn’t be interested in reading their books. The covers were gorgeous and I assumed that this was some small print independent publishing house. Upon further investigation, I learned that Drollerie Press is a new ebook publishing house that is offering transformative fiction in any genre. Jayne read Joely Sue Burkhart’s romance Survive My Fire and I read Imogen Howson’s young adult offering, Falling.

Both were interesting pieces of fiction that made us interested in more Drollerie Press offerings. One of the owners, Deena Fisher, emailed me with an offer to the Dear Author readership. Any purchase totaling $2.50 or more, the buyer will receive 15% off if they enter the words ” Dear Author ” (without quotation marks). The code is good through December 31st.

Ms. Fisher agreed to answer some questions about the vision and future of “Drollerie Press ”

Q. What is your niche in the publishing market?

Fisher: Mythic arts. Our goal is to showcase great writing in any genre that includes mythic elements presented in an original way. To use Joely Sue Burkhart’s story as an example, you told her you didn’t much care for dragons as I recall. That was my first response as well. Dragons are overdone. I’m tired of them. They hoard gold, they’re vain, they hate humans for their short lives or brutishness, they’re either sentient and wise beyond mortal ken or they’re incredibly helpful pets. Joely took the idea of dragon and turned it around. She imagined something unique and yet perfectly appropriate to the myth and she made them real for the reader. We find that kind of storytelling exciting and that’s what we want to provide for every genre.

Q: What makes an ebook publisher successful?

Fisher: Well, I may have a different answer 10 years from now, but I think any business enterprise is likely to succeed if the principals find a need and fill it well, manage their product (quality, freshness, reliability), stick out the tough times, provide great customer service, and watch their cash flow. E-book publishers have built an audience on erotica, which, if you’re going to get consumers to adopt something new is one very good way to go about it, and more publishers and wider offerings have resulted from that early boom, which is great. It’s a healthy field, but it seems to me that the rate of growth is slower now in the U.S. Quarterly earnings have quadrupled since 2002, but there’s no reason it shouldn’t be much higher. To truly succeed, to grow into a major market, I believe we need to encourage a universal e-book reader format (such as the adoption of the IDPF approved format); simpler DRM, which I believe is the greater hurdle; and more attractive reading options (as an aside, did you know that 68 million dollars worth of e-books sold in Japan in 2006? And that cell phone reading is what’s pushing that explosively rising trend? AnimeNews ).
I think e-books will explode–they are exploding–but who will end up leading the explosion is the question.

Q:. Where do you see your publishing house in 5 years?

Fisher: Drollerie Press will have brand recognition outside the e-book world. We’ll have a large selection of good works available for sale in both e- and print formats and in every genre, with a solid collection of non-fiction, literary fiction, and poetry that work within our greater theme. When a reader picks up a book and sees our logo on it, they’ll know there’s a really good read inside. I see us as providing a great publishing experience for established authors and exciting opportunities for new authors. I see our covers as real works of art that are as unusual and exploratory as the words they cover. We’ll have branched out into related products like art prints, pillow books, and illustrated books for adults, for example, and we’ll have a strong and growing young adult category. I’d also like us to be able to be active in other ways, such as providing a couple of college scholarships one to a budding author and one for an artist, though that may have to wait for the 10 year plan.

How are you determining what content to offer?

Fisher: We accept based on a handful of criteria. First, is it mythic in nature?
Does it take a myth, legend or fairy tale and turn it on its head? Does it create a new legend from bits and pieces of old ones or the author’s fertile imagination? We’re not looking for faithful re-tellings, we’re looking for imaginative stories rooted in the mythic. For example, Cindy Lynn Speer’s retelling of Bluebeard is set in an alternate Spain, includes Kitsune, and reads like an historical romance, Imogen Howson’s Falling puts a mutated Rapunzel in an alternate future. Tala Bar’s heroine lives in ancient Israel, sees visions, and her idea of happy-ever-after doesn’t come with a man. Each is very different in style from the other but they’re all mythic in nature.

Second, does the author have a good grasp of the mechanics: punctuation, spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and does the author know how to tell a good story?

Third, does it really work for us? It can’t just be mechanically adequate and based on a myth. The story has to grab the editor and shake him or her. It has to have its own intrinsic magic. I accepted Atlantis
1999 because it’s not just a good story; but the language is incredibly dense and intricate.

Why should a reader be buying from you?

Fisher: A reader should buy from us if he or she wants a good story that’s well-told. Though we find our stories at the heart of myth, legend, and fairy tale, that’s the sum of what we’re about.

Are there any things you’d like readers to know about Drollerie Press?

Fisher: We want them to love buying our books. If there’s a problem with the software, they have difficulty with the shopping cart, they want to buy it from a particular outlet, or in a particular format, they’d like things differently organized, they want to know when the next book is coming out, they’d like to read a particular kind of story, or anything else they’d like us to know or would like to know about us, we want to answer the questions, fix the problems, and make the whole experience rewarding. We hope they’ll drop us a note and let us know–good or bad–how they feel.

The Buywise Club at Fictionwise. Is it worth it?
I buy alot of books at Fictionwise but recently I’ve wondered whether I am getting the most bang for my buck. In other words, should I be shopping around? I’ve been a Buywise Club member for as long as I can recall. To be a member of the Buywise Club, you have to pay an annual fee of $29.95.

I had Ned do the math for me and you have to buy 27 books in order to break even with the club membership. (That’s 27 books at $6.00 per book with one free $6.00 book).

If you buy more than 27 books, being in the club makes sense. If you buy less than 27 ebooks a year, Fictionwise Buywise club doesn’t work for you.

• 28 books x $6.00 = $168.00 (purchase without club benefits)
• 27 books x $5.10 (15% discount) + $29.95 + 1 free book = $167.65 (purchase with club benefits).

For every book above 27 books you paid for (because you get 1 free), you would be saving .15 per dollar spent. In our example, you would save $.90 for every $6.00 book. If you bought 99 books (because you get 1 free with the club membership), you would save $65.15.

How does All Romance eBooks compare to Fictionwise’s Buywise Club?
All Romance eBooks has a deal where you get 1 book free for every ten purchases. There is no cost to the book club and the “free book” is a perk that every purchaser gets. How does that compare to Fictionwise’s Buywise Club?

If you buy more than 60 books, Fictionwise’s Buywise Club is a better bargain for you.

• Fictionwise: 60 books x $5.10 (15% discount) + $29.95 + 1 book free = $335.95
• All Romance eBooks: 56 books x $6.00 + 5 books free = $336

Are the Cheapest Prices with the Bookclubs?
We’ve determined that if you buy more than 60 books a year, then Fictionwise’s Buywise Club is a better deal than All Romance eBooks. Now, we turn to whether it is better to buy at Fictionwise than anywhere else on the internet. After all, price comparison is just a click of the keypad away from you. The results will surprise you.

As can be seen by the table above, the prices are lowest at Books on Board except for Simon & Schuster books. Simon & Schuster sells all its ebooks at 35% off the retail price and thus it is always cheaper to buy from the publisher website for Pocket, Pocket Star, etc. book. This really doesn’t make sense for publishers, in my opinion, since it could drive traffic and business to their own bookstores by selling at the 35% off rate like Simon & Schuster.

Books on Board, while it has great prices, has an unwieldy purchasing system which requires you to wait for an email with a verification code. You paste the verification code into your account center. That said, if you don’t mind the extra hassle, Books on Board is the place to shop right now.

Fictionwise’s Buywise club doesn’t make much sense (this is what I would use on a regular basis) because you can get the cheap prices from Powells, Diesel or Books on Board. Sadly, even with the micropay, the Buywise Club doesn’t make financial sense. At this point I can’t see renewing my Buywise Subscription. I’ll be shopping at Books on Board, even with its unwieldy purchasing system because not only does it have the lowest prices, but it also has the books on time where as Fictionwise is always selling the books a week late.

*Mobipocket format is slightly more expensive most of the time.

Readers want to buy your books; booksellers want to sell your books. Even though this article is all about the peeves, it’s really about how to help authors get connected to readers. The only way to do that is have a fabulous website where readers and booksellers can find the answers for which they can use in order to buy more books!

***

#1 – Series links are not easily identifiable.  This should be its own special link on the home page!
When readers find a book they like, they want everything they can get their hands on!!! Whether it’s more in that series or another series you may have!

Booksellers want to stock your series, have all the books on hand. 9 times out of 10 a reader will buy all the books in the series, if a bookstore has them. While booksellers are a smart bunch, we can’t know ALL the books that are interconnected! Like the reader, we’ll go to the author’s website for the information.

# 2  Printable booklist – This makes it so easy for the reader to print and take to the bookstore! And makes it even easier for the bookseller!
The list should have all your books listed on one page, series in chronological order and separated, ISBNs, dates!! Prices and publishers optional but it can’t hurt to have that information too!!
I say printable because, when you print it, all the information should be there and not cut off the page. Everyone’s computer is different so making the list simple and easy is best!
Here are some great examples:

• I LOVE Meljean’s – it has everything!!
• Nora’s is great too – Including the anthologies!!! This is especially important to the JD Robb – In Death series, those short stories about Eve and Rourke are what keep us happy in between!!
• Susan Grant’s Printable Book List”I know how difficult it is sometimes to find where a book fits within a series or even if it belongs to one. For your convenience, here is a list of all of my books on a page with no graphics and text in black (with the series the book belongs to and the reading order in parentheses) easily printed for reference. Happy reading!

I couldn’t have said it better!! Thank you Susan!!

#3 A contact the author link should be visible on the home page - it’s the easiest way for us to tell you how great your books are!
Romance readers love to tell you how much they liked your book! They love that connection to a book and its author as well! So do booksellers for that matter. I’m often telling authors how wonderful they are! Psst, here’s another secret – I may even tell you special tid-bits! Like how you book is doing in our stores or if we’ve got your book placed in special locations, or your book is selected for our promotions!

#4 The most recent book should be featured on front page with sequel links, etc.
Again, it’s all about a reader getting the most out of your website! If we know the information is at our fingertips – that’s the first place we’ll go!

#5 – Everywhere there is a book mentioned, there should be a 13 digit ISBN . . .
The easiest way to locate a book online and in a bookstore is through this handy number. When used, it’s THAT specific book found very quick and easy!! Readers would rather be reading the book than spending too much time looking for it!

#6 – Coming soon should be on the first page as well. And update it often . . . it’s what keeps us coming back!!!
We’ve just finished your latest book and already we’re looking for more! And we want to go directly to the source – YOU! So what’s next???

#7 – Don’t make us work to buy/sell your books! Keep things simple . . .
The easier it is, the quicker it is, the more time we have to read and sell more!! Make the links easy, don’t hyphenate ISBNs, etc.

#8 – Who would you compare your stories to?
Ex: If you like sexy historicals by Sabrina Jeffries, you’ll love my new book. . .
Or compare it to another medium, if you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you’ll love my new paranormal series. . . We may not always agree, but in the end, it gives us a direction and a place of reference to start.

#9 – Let me know future books in a series . . . dates if you have them or general concepts and plans are great too!
Again, when we readers and booksellers find something we love – we want more!!! And if we have to wait for another book, that’s okay, but give us the lowdown about who, what, when, where – please any information!!!

#10 – Toot your horn — let us know of all the awards you’ve won, etc.
I know there was recent debate on this site about this, but what it comes down to is – you’ve been chosen, over others. Readers and booksellers are interested, especially when we’re looking for a new author, new book. And let’s face it, we ALWAYS are!!

This is more importantly the case when sending out promos to booksellers, if we haven’t had the chance to read your book – at least we know SOMEONE did – and LIKED it enough to give it an award!!!

Oops, yeah, promos to booksellers – that’ll have to keep for another time . . . this is about websites!!

Honestly, what it comes down to for a great website is info, info and more info. If readers and booksellers are getting what they need from your website, readers can get in and out of the bookstore that much quicker, will buy MORE and have more time to read great books!!! And in the end, that’s what we all want!

Most Important!! BGI – bordersstores.com and waldenbooks.com should be linked on everyone’s site — they are the leaders in Romance :)
Oh yeah, you all know I work for one of the chains, so I’m outing myself! We are the industry leader for selling romance. Soon to be the leader of online sales as well!! We have the romance top picks flyer that has over 20 titles with $1 off; a free rewards card; and soon we’ll have our own online retail presence.

Angie W, Executive Editor of Samhain Publishing, brought a new ebookstore to our attention last week: All Romance Ebooks. All Romance Ebooks or “ARe” opened its doors on November 1, 2006, and while it took a while to get my attention I appreciate it didn’t go around and spam comment on all of our blogs like another ebook company did a couple of months ago.

This ecommerce site offers ebooks from all the major electronic publishers except for Ellora’s Cave. I started with its FAQ section and its suprisingly complete, even bringing up issues I hadn’t thought of such as whether they are selling our personal information to any third party (NO) or whether the “tell a friend” section is a way for them to harvest more emails (another NO). Here’s why I love this idea. As a consumer, I like to go to one place to buy all my books, particularly ebooks. I cannot remember all of the ebook publishers out there and bringing all the epublished romance books together in one location makes for easy browsing and even easier purchasing.

Publishers who are reselling through ARe:

Aphrodite Unlaced, BooksForABuck, Champagne, eXtasy, Freya’s Bower, Linden Bay Romance, Liquid Silver, loveyoudivine, Mardis Gras, Midnight Showcase, Phaze, Samhain, Siren, Uncial, Writer’s Exchange, Zumaya, and others.

***

Website layout – The home page features the covers of “What’s New” and “What’s Hot”. I figured out that “What’s New” referred to newly added, but I was unsure what “What’s Hot” meant. On the lower left side, there is a list of the “Top 10 Bestsellers” and the “Top 10 Highest Rated.”

According to the FAQ, bestselling status is calculated by the average sales per day for the past 30 days. The ratings are given by those who have purchased the book.

There are links to “Home”, “My Library”, “Discount Books”, “FAQ”, “Logout”, and “Cart”. You can browse by category (Vampire/Werewolf, Shapeshifter, Inspirational, Multiple Partners, and so on). Within the category pages, you can sort the list by Bestselling, Top Rated, Recently Added, and Word Count. You can also search by “Author”, “Title”, or “Publisher.” If you click on a title, you will also be given the option to look at all the books by that particular author. Some books have excerpts and some have reviews from review websites.

Rating- There is a 5 flame heat index with one flame representing books wherein love scenes either without consummation or without details of consummation. Five flames contain explicit love scenes using graphic and direct language and subject matter than some find objectionable. The “heat” index is on each page right under the word count.

Information about each book - Clicking on a book title will take you to a page which shows the book cover, author, link to other books by author, publisher, ISBN no., Word Count (on every book!!!), Heat Index, and format options. There are sometimes

* * *

• Navigation – By category. Having chosen a category, you can browse by bestselling, top ranked, recently added, and word count. On a book page, you will have the option to browse that particular author’s other works. You can search by title, author, or publisher.
• Excerpts – One page and dependent upon the book. Not all books have excerpts.
• Reviews – None by book purchasers but book purchasers can rate the books.
• Series -Not identified.
• Wishlist – None.
• Cart – After clicking on “Add to Cart”, a new page shows up showing your cart contents and suggesting additional books for purchase. You have the option to “Continue Shopping” or “Checkout Now”. The next page shows your billing information and requires you to enter your credit card number. When the purchase is complete, you are given a link to your library page where you have the option to download your book in whatever format the book was available in.
• Bookshelf - Eternal bookshelf with the option to redownload your book, only in the format which you originally choose. In other words, you get one chance to determine what format you want and there is no going back.
• Payments – Visa and Mastercard. NO Paypal.
• Downloads – Immediate upon payment.
• Confirmation – Email sent with details of purchase (book and price). There is no download link.
• Account set up – Must register. The billing information is saved, but the credit card number is not.
• Formats – Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Reader, and HTML. Some books also offer Mobipocket and Rocket.

* * *

While every commerce place has room for improvement, ARe is doing a lot of things right. It has a great discount program: buy 10 books and get 1 free. It has an “eternal library” meaning that you can redownload your books at anytime. You don’t have to wait for a confirmation email to download. The FAQ was very detailed and provided an answer to almost every question you could think of. I really appreciated the word count information on each page (versus no word count or some cutesy name disguising words count). I loved the ability to browse by word count as well.

Irks -No paypal. Can only download a book in one format. The category pages default to an alphabetical listing which I think is unfair. I would prefer the default listing be “bestsellling” or “top ranked” or even “recently added” versus the alphabetical listing.

Overall, if you are an epublishing reader, All Romance Ebooks is a great new service. There is definitely room for improvement and it’s catalog of offerings doesn’t appear to be a full complement from the publishers but it’s a good start and definitely a decent alternative to Fictionwise. I’ll be using it again.

Edited April 17th

This week we're reviewing Cobblestone Press. They opened their cyber doors in 2006.

“Cobblestone Press is an electronic, full service publisher of mainstream, sensual, and erotic romance, releasing two to three digital books a week in a variety of downloadable formats. It is our mission to provide quality romance books in electronic formats and to raise the standard in digital publishing. If you are new to eBooks, check out our eBook guide for help.”

They sell only ebooks. Their books are also sold through Fictionwise. They have a chat room, a newsletter, several forums, several yahoo chat groups, RSS feed, a blog and a quarterly emagazine. CP merchandise can be purchased through CafePress.

Website layout – There are links to View Cart, Home, CPQ, Recently Released, Bestsellers,Subscribe- RSS Feed, Coming Soon, Chat Room, Ebooks categories, About Us, Gift Certificates, Submissions, BLOG, CP Mercandise, Contact Us,Community Center, Customer Service, Copyrightand Tradmarks at the side of each page. There is now a search by author link. Or, you can click on a book then search the link of the author's name leading to a page with each author's books listed (with except link), the author's webpage (with link).

Book length – Book lengths are listed for each title.
Length Chart:

• Trystsâ„¢: 10,000-20,000
• Novella: 20,001-40,000
• Novel: 40,001-65,000
• Full Novel: 65,001-100,000

Rating- At the bottom of each page there is a small link listed as rating system but when I clicked on it, I got a pop up message that said “Opps – Page not found.” Shouldn't that be “oops?”

Information about each book - Clicking on a book title will take you to a page which shows the book cover (artist listed), the author's page (which might list email address, short author bio and one sentence book reviews), the ebook formats, excerpt, prices, ISBN ebook numbers and a brief description of the story. There are guidelines for sensuality, violence or language…

* * *

• Navigation – By genre, line, series, author or book name.
• Excerpts – one page
• Reviews – none by book purchasers
• Series – listed
• Wishlist – None
• Cart – After you pick a book and format, you have to click to add it to your cart. You are then taken back to CP and have to click on the “View Cart” link. Once there, you can edit or remove items, or continue shopping. Information will be remembered during browsing, can be accessed at any time, and books will remain in the cart until removed.
• Bookshelf - none
• Payments – Credit card (Visa, Mastercard. Am Ex, Diners, Discover, JCB, for non US currency choices are restricted to Visa or MC) or Paypal. If you choose to pay by CC, you can also choose “Bill Me Later.”
• Downloads – an email with a dl link will be sent immediately. You can also cut and past the dl link into your browser (which is what I had to do). Note: The download link expires but no time limit was given.. Be sure to back up your ebook immediately.
• Confirmation – A confirmation email with dl link was sent a few minutes after my purchase.
• Account set up – Billing information can be saved for future purchases. CP assigns a customer number so be sure to write it down. I'm not sure if this can be changed or not. I chose to pay with paypal so I'm not sure if CC information is saved.
• Formats – HTML, Adobe, Microsoft Lit, Mobipocket (chosen when book is added to the cart)

* * *

Irks -Books are rather pricey for the length. It took a while to be transferred to the cart service. The download pages are available for a short time only but the time limit wasn't mentioned! After that, I guess you could contact the vendor. CP states that you should allow up to 24 hours to wait for any response from them. Their book covers appear to be CGI and for the most part, look like a great source of cover snark for Bam.

It is advertised as “an erotica and romance publisher”, however, the submission guidelines are clear that if sex isn’t organic to the story, it should be left out. They prefer third person stories. Each month they give away one free ebook. The contest is simply sending an email with the word “contest” in the subject line. There is a newsletter, an author blog for readers to communicate with authors and a blog to keep up to date with the publishing plans of Wild Child and Freya’s Bower.

* * *

• Website layout – There are two sites: the main site which features the books and information about the type of book, length of book, ratings, submission information; and the bookstore site. Both layouts load quickly and are easy to navigate with links to information primarily on the left side of the webpage. On the main page, the primary method to navigate is by author, category, or rating. On the bookstore page, it is an alphabetic scroll through the catalog. Along the top of the main page run navigation links for contact, submissions, privacy policy, terms of use, and monthly contest.
• Book length – The explanation of novel lengths are straight forward and not cutesy which I appreciate. They offer anywhere from a Bite (6,000-8,000) to Humungous (100,001+)
• Information about each book - Clicking on a book title takes you to a book page that features the cover art and a very short description of the book. There is a link to an excerpt and if the book was reviewed, it may include a link to a positive review. Unfortunately, from the book page, you cannot click on the author’s name to view other works. If you see this logo, it denotes that the book is a Freya’s Bower Bestseller.
• Navigation – By author, category or rating on the main site. Alphabetical by title on the store site.
• Excerpts – one page and only accessible via the main site. No excerpt on store site.
• Reviews – links to reviews on the main site. Store site allows reader reviews.
• Series – There does not appear to be any links to series or perhaps there are no series
• Wishlist - There is no wishlist but there is a permanent cart where your books will remain until you remove them Cart – The cart can be accessed only after a book is added and then “Shopping Cart” and “Checkout” appear at the top of the page. Even after the book is purchased, it remains in the cart until you remove it manually.
• Bookshelf – None
• Payments – Credit card and paypal. Credit card information must be reentered for each purchase.
• Downloads – Downloads are available via the invoice page which is a link sent to you in a confirmation email. Downloads are available for 14 days and the user is limited to three downloads.
• Confirmation – A confirmation email was sent immediately after my purchase with a link to the detailed invoice. This link sends you to the download page. This information is not readily available in the confirmation email.
• Account set up – Billing information can be saved for future purchases. Credit card information has to be reentered for each new purchase.
• Formats – HTML and PDF.

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Irks: The credit card information must be reentered for each purchase despite the requirement to sign in to purchase a book. The books remain in the shopping cart even after the purchase. There is no direct link from the main site to the store site. You must put a book in a shopping cart in order to find your way to the bookstore. Of course, I am always unhappy with limited download times.

Pros: Both the main site and the store site load quickly. The cover art is available for each book and there are excerpts for each book. The store allows user reviews.

WPI opened its cyber doors at www.wings-press.com , with offerings in General Fiction and all genres of Romantic fiction. Books will be available as downloads in popular ebook formats, along with quality trade paperback editions. In addition to publishing a catalog of excellent fiction, WPI plans to put into place an entire writer’s community where authors can work directly with editors while honing their craft, exchange ideas, share in promotional and educational opportunities and grow as professionals.

I think they've been in business for about 5 years. They sell ebooks and trade paperbacks ($6.00 for ebooks and $11-12.00 for most trade paperbacks). Their books are also sold through Fictionwise, Amazon, Cyberbooks, and Pats and Paws. They have a yahoo chat group, a newsletter (which offers monthly prizes), and a blog.

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• Website layout – There are links to Showcased authors, Author Search, New Releases, Golden Wings (Senior Editor picks in each department), Information, Submissions, About Us, and Booksellers at the top of each page. There is also a link for authors only (author help section). A side menu shows the categories of books (Romance, General Fiction, Special Releases and Young Adult). Books can also be accessed alphabetically through the Bookstore link on the side. The Author Search link lists authors alphabetically. Each author's books are listed (with excerpt link), the author's webpage (with link) and sometimes an interview (with link) about individual books. Jane’s note: Wings uses frames and I really dislike that. Please think about changing that, Wings Epress. Frames is so 1990s.
• Book length - There aren't any categories for book length. Trade paperback book lengths are listed under each individual title. I couldn't find any file size for the ebooks.
• Information about each book – Clicking on a book title will take you to a page which shows the book cover (artist listed), whether it's won a GoldenWings award, the author's page (which might list email address, short author bio and one sentence book reviews), the ebook formats, excerpts, prices, ISBN ebook and paperback numbers, and a brief description of the story. I didn't find any guidelines for sensuality, violence or language.
• Navigation - By author, genre or book name.
• Excerpts – one page
• Reviews – none by book purchasers
• Series – listed
• Wishlist – None
• Cart – Information will be remembered only during browsing, can be accessed at any time, and books will remain in the cart until removed.
• Bookshelf – None
• Payments – Online – Credit card, Via mail – check or money order. Print books can be shipped internationally. Once you've entered your billing information, there is a box you can click so that it will be remembered for future purchases. Taxes will need to be added as appropriate. Credit card information must be reentered for each purchase.
• Downloads – a download page will immediately appear with dl instructions. Note: The download page is available for 24 hours ONLY. Some files may simply open and will have to be saved to whatever location you choose. Be sure to back up your ebook immediately. A separate download email was sent with a link (I had to cut and paste this into my browser).
• Confirmation – A confirmation email was sent about 15 minutes after my purchase. There is no download link in that email.
• Account set up – Billing information can be saved for future purchases. Credit card information has to be reentered for each new purchase.
• Formats – HTML, Adobe, Microsoft Lit, Mobipocket (chosen when book is added to the cart) or trade paperback.

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Irks – It's hard to find the customer service email address (customer at wings-press dot com) or any contact information. These email addresses should be on the home page instead of buried in the “Information” section. In the cart, it's mentioned that taxes must be added. I didn't see a place to do this. I guess it depends on which state you live in and would appear if needed? The book I ordered for this review was listed at a sale price but when I added it to my cart, the regular price was charged. The download pages are available for 24 hours only! After that, you need to contact the vendor. There doesn't appear to be any way to set up an account which will save all your information for future purchases.

Pluses – Wings appears to have a wide variety of genres including Young Adult.

Can you share a little about how you came to be the buyer for romance for Borders?

Prior buying the Romance genre I bought for our non-fiction and children’s categories. Five years ago when our Romance Buyer left the company for a job in NYC, I jumped at the opportunity to interview for the position & thankfully got it! I am a voracious reader of the category and read anywhere from 3 to 5 books per week. I totally love the genre and enjoy seeing authors succeed.

What is your role as the romance buyer for Borders/Waldenbooks? I.e., what exactly is it that you do!

The merchandising structure in the company begins with the buyer who reports directly to a category manager, who manages various categories in a segment of our merchandising business. Each buyer has a seasonal/financial plan that they build and adhere to. The decisions are made by the buyer then supported by the category manager.

My position includes all of the responsibilities pertaining to buying: purchasing and marketing books, placement in stores, financial plans, industry support, which includes but is not limited to attending conventions and chapter group workshops. It is a marvelously, exciting job that I would encourage anyone interested to pursue.

Are you (and others like you) the one to whom the marketing people at a publishers house gear marketing strategies? In other words, if you order a ton of vampire romances, would the marketing people tell the editors to push authors to write more of the same? Or do you just get presented with tons of vampire romances because something else pushes editors to push authors to write these?

I do work with publishers, editors, agents, and publicists where much of the conversation includes discussion of the marketing and positioning of romance authors and their books. Although I hold weekly calls with various publishers regarding trends and authors, the national conventions are where strategy discussions are primarily held.

Generally, what sub genres seem to be selling well? Where do you see market growth/contraction for sub genres in the future?

Paranormal Romance continues to show double digit increases; Romantic Suspense is another area of growth. The exciting thing about this genre is the trends are evolving and keeping the industry on its toes. There is no telling where the next trend will come from but, one thing is for sure, the reader is the one to dictate it and our job is to recognize that and react accordingly.

There have been reports that historicals are in a decline. Is this merely cyclical? Or asked another way, is there still hope for the historical?

I certainly hope there is more life in historical romances as that is my favorite sub-genre! Most of the sub-genres within the romance category are cyclical at one time or another.

What do you think is the reason behind the push for more erotic sex scenes in all books, other than inspirationals?

This would be a good question to ask the publishers.

What covers do you think have the most impact on readers today? Ie., the stepback, the clinch, the male chest, the female back?

In general, the sexier the cover the more interest we see from our customers, especially in the paranormal and historical sub-genres. Male torsos continue to be best sellers and a good stepback never hurts.

How do you decide what books to feature in the Waldens Romance Reader/ Top Picks, etc.?

This decision is based on what we think our customers will be the most interested in, along with the popularity of the author, the strength of the authors backlist and how much the publisher is behind the books.

What books are you looking for to stock in the stores? Does it differ from region to region? How can readers affect what is stocked in their stores?

To put it simply, I am looking for books that I think our customer base would be interested in. Our customers have the power to influence the books that are carried in their neighborhood store. If a store is showing that customers in that area are very interested in paranormal romance titles, then we may have a larger paranormal sub-section in that particular store than in a store were the customers are more interested in, let’s say, historical romance titles.

We are able to special order books for customers in our stores if we are not currently carrying them.

Do you think the internet, such as blogs, websites, and email are having an impact on romance book sales?

Romance readers are voracious readers and love to learn about their favorite author as well as about new releases. Many authors have responded to their fan base by having websites and hosting blogs. By participating in blogs and posting on websites, fans are able to share their favorite books with other fans.

What do you think of the hybridization of romance or the marketing of books not really a romance as romance?

I would suggest speaking with the publishers about this as well.

I am a long time customer and a big pimper of ebooks. Listen to me. I have some important business advice to impart. Part of the whole deal with ebooks is instant gratification. That means when the book is out, we readers want to buy it and read it. Maybe you haven’t been paying attention to readers, but alot of online romance readers (you know, the ones who actually buy ebooks v. the offline readers who don’t) are pretty savvy. They know when books are released. It’s on Tuesdays. Every NY publishing house releases books on Tuesdays. That’s the day after Monday.

I have emailed you a number of times about this, but it hasn’t seemed to sink in. Your reply to me is always “we release books on Monday.” Why would it be so difficult to change your release date to Tuesday so I don’t have to wait an entire week to buy the “new” releases. Because by the next week, I have already bought the new release from some other bookstore. Like Powells.com or eReader.com. You should, in fact, release your books as soon as soon as the street date hits. At both Random House and Harper Collins, you can buy and download a new release at midnight EST of the Street Date.

Oh, and Morrigan’s Cross by Nora Roberts which is a book that you promised me via email would be released on the Monday following the Tuesday release date is still not at your store. Look, I appreciate the multi formats you offer, the Buywise club, and the eternal bookshelf but I am spending more and more of my ebook dollars elsewhere because you can’t seem to get with the program. It’s Tuesdays. The book week starts on Tuesdays. So should yours.

Readers, comment on the one thing that you wish any ebook publisher could do better and I’ll enter you in a contest to win one of the following books: The ARC of Christine Feehan’s Conspiracy Game or a New and Unread copy of Morrigan’s Cross by Nora Roberts.

On Tuesday, we’ll be announcing the winner of the Nalini Singh Viral Blogging Contest.

I think I am up to 5 4 book pimping posts. In my email box yesterday, I received notice from Borders/Waldenbooks of a coupon of 30% off of any one book. Now you have to be a member, but signing up is free.

I’ll be getting Crown Duel and Inda by Sherwood Smith that Nicole blogged about the other day. Talk about an awesome cover!

Oh, and romances are still 10% off until September 24 so JR Ward’s book, Lover Awakened, will be discounted along with books like Viva Las Bad Boys by HelenKay Dimon.

edited to add: damn bookstore had neither Smith book. worthless coupon.

As for me, I’ll be stopping off to pick up Primal Heat by Susan Sizemore. Is it just me or does anyone else get Susan Sizemore and Susan Squires mixed up? Anyone else got a recommendation for Jayne and I? Because I know Jayne is all over this sale too. After all, 10% means we can save as much as $.80 on some books. Which means we have $.80 more to spend on books. :)