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

Sue Grimshaw is the romance buyer for BGI. She buys for Borders, Borders Express and Waldenbooks. Since she began her position with BGI, Ms. Grimshaw has increased romance book sales for BGI by 20%. She is a fan of the genre and is devoted toward getting the romance books into the hands of the romance buyer.

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 …

Dear Fictionwise:

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 …

Samhain Publishing graciously offered DearAuthor three gift certificates of $5.00. The winners are 3, 5, 16 (picked by Ned). I will email Samhain with your email addresses. The winners were picked at random from the 18 comments left during last Sunday’s Ebook Weekly article. Ebook lovers may want to visit even if you didn’t win. Samhain’s bookstore has been revamped and there is an ebook reader giveaway that you can enter if you buy a book.

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.

Received in the inbox today a notice that Waldenbooks and Borders Express are having a 10% off sale for all romances until August 27. You do have to be a Borders Rewards member but that’s a free deal. Here’s your opportunity to pick up Nora Roberts’ Angels Fall, Helen Kay Dimon’s Viva Las Bad Boys, Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout’s Speechless, and Jo Goodman’s One Forbidden Evening or any of the other books you have been thinking about but haven’t yet purchased. Go for it. You know you want to. ;)

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. :)

Samhain has been in business for almost a year (if I’m reading their “about us” section correctly). They publish ebooks and print books ranging from short stories to plus novels ($2.50-$6.50 ebook prices). Samhain has two yahoo groups, Samhain News (announcements) and Samhain Café (chat). They state that their policy is to sell ebooks for less than print books (yeah, rah!) and when I looked up buying a print book, the cart stated that there is no shipping charge for books sold in the US. At least some of Samhain’s titles are also sold at Fictionwise.
The website is laid out with links for the Home Page, newest releases, coming soon, submissions, publication calender, about us, about ebooks, employment, and contact sections across every page. The About Ebooks section has links to download free Adobe, Microsoft Lit, and Mobipocket readers. Submissions are encouraged and information can be found by clicking the link found at the top of all pages. The author link will take you to individual author pages which have links to each author’s own webpage.
The Book Store (My Bookstore, …

CONTEST! Phaze is releasing six stories to be published early next month as part of their Samba Heatsheet line - all stories set in South America. Phaze will offer two Dear Author readers three downloads apiece. Just post in the comments section one title that will be released in the Samba Heatsheet line.
There are two websites for Phaze. One is the publisher site which is mainly devoted to giving information about its books, Phaze events, and submissions and the other is the bookstore. Phaze appears to have opened its doors in 2004. There are novels in print and for sale at Borders. It publishes erotic stories in a several categories, lengths and explicitness:

Heat Sheets: 5,000 - 12,000 words (short stories)
Photon: 12,000 - 30,000 words (novella)
Comet: 30,000 - 60,000 words (category)
Eclipse: 60,000 - 90,000 words (novel)

And

Pulsar—Milder language, standard sex and pairings.
Nebula—Bold language, may contain toys, sensual bondage, mild D/s, anal play
Nova—Bold language, may contain threesomes, anal sex, significant bondage, serious D/s, m/m encounters

There is forum which contains reviews, news, contests, and events. There is also an …

Liquid Silver wanted to give away three books but only two people sent me an email. These are the winners: Michele B and Jennifer. Look for an email from LS soon.

NCP began publishing in 1996. They sell ebooks and also offer some of their books in print.
They have several book categories:

Anthologies, Special Collections
Contemporary Romance
Fantasy and Fantasy Romance
HARMONY™ Romance, Multicultural, and Interracial Romance
Historicals: Medieval, Western, Regency, and Georgian
Historicals: Other Time Periods and Unusual Locales
Love Bites™ Short Stories (SENSUAL to CARNAL), including Short Story Themes and Holiday Themes
Paranormal Romance, Vampires, Werewolves and Shifters (Contemporary)
Time Travel
Thrillers, Mysteries, and Romantic Suspense
Science Fiction and Futuristic Romance

Their sensuality ratings are sweet, sensual, spicy and carnal.
BOOK LENGTH:

Full Novel = 90,000 words and up; 360 pages and up (double-spaced)

Mid Novel = 61,000-89,000 words; 244-356 pages (double-spaced)

Category = 40,000-60,000 words; 160-240 pages (double-spaced)

Novella = 20,000-39,000 words; 80-156 pages (double-spaced)

There is a link to an author information page with links to each individual author. Those author pages have covers for all the author's books at NCP. Some have pictures and …

I am cycling this to the top to close out the contest. One more guess needed, ladies.

CONTEST! Venus Press is offering DearAuthor readers a chance to win three gift certificates worth $5.00. You just need to post below one of the three books Jane bought in trying out Venus Press. Hint: One is from the Confessions line, one from the Paranormal line, and one from the Contemporary line. The first three posters to guess one of the books will get the $5.00 gift certificate.

Post your guesses here. Hints will go up tomorrow. We have only one entry folks and no matter what’s going on between author and publisher, this blog is for readers and this contest is for three free books!