Dear Ms VanEperen,
I hadn’t read a contemporary in a while and since I’d been meaning to try one of your books, I picked “Willow Spring.” The second-chance-at-love plot is also a favorite of mine, so with no vampires or werewolves likely to pop up anywhere, I fired this one up on the old Ipaq.
Overall, I [...]

I received a warning regarding Ocean’s Mist Press and a question as to its current status. Apparently sometime in 2006, Ocean Mist announced that it would be closing its doors. Then in early 2007, it was announced that there would be new management. No books were released, although the submissions page gives [...]

Dear Ms. Hauf,
I understand that this is the first offering from Nocturne Bites, the new Harlequin/Silhouette line of paranormal novellas. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I’ve never read any of your previous work and paranormal novellas can be hit or miss with me.
Sunday is a female mechanic who lives out in the [...]

Last month, I read about a new e book program for kids called Kidthing.com. Kidthing is based on Adobe flash and is one part audio book and one part video. It really harnesses the ability of a computer to translate into a learning tool for young children.
During its beta period, users could access [...]

Dear Ms Mueller,
One thing I know is that I’ll always get something new and different when I begin one of your stories. I realize I mention the unusual settings you utilize in almost every review but I appreciate it so darn much that it just has to be said. And this is one [...]

Dear Mrs Duvall,
I’ve got to say this is one of the more unusual suspense novels I’ve read lately. There’s not an ex-Navy Seal, sheriff, or former black-ops member of any kind in sight. No mafia hit men, billionaire’s daughter in danger or any of the other standard operating procedures for romance suspense novels in the [...]

Dear Ms. Samuels,
This book has a great beginning with a different plot. In a book world overpopulated with vampires and werewolves, it was something totally new to me. You give us interesting characters - a flawed heroine, a Japanese hero and Tom, who’s a ghost. It starts wonderfully and then, unfortunately, goes totally overboard [...]

Dear Mrs. Arkins,
My decision to try another of your books coincided nicely with Samhain’s offer of this novel. It’s longer length, screwball comedy feel and more contemporary setting are a 180 degree contrast with the historical novella “Don’t Fence Me In” and gave me a good chance to see what else your writing has to [...]

Dear Ms. Showalter,
Although your previous works haven’t worked as well for me as I’d hoped, I was intrigued when I heard about your new series, The Lords of the Underworld. Pandora’s box? Hell? A horde of ravenous demons? Not only did the premise feature some of my favorite story elements, it sounded fresh and original, [...]

Dear Mrs. Stuart,
The description of this novella at Fictionwise caught my attention and induced me to buy it. Too bad that that description has F-all to do with the actual plot. I don’t blame you for that. But it’s lucky for Fictionwise that I enjoyed the story anyway.
The actual paranormal elements here are [...]

Hat tip to SB Sarah who has the scoop. According to the petition, Christina Brashears is a 5% shareholder of Ellora’s Cave beginning in July of 2003. September In 2005, Brashears was terminated from her position as Director, Chief Operating Office and Publisher. Her main claims are as follows:

She is entitled to [...]

The Society of Authors, an author organization in the UK, has cried that literary piracy is going to lead to the demise of literature because authors will eventually stop writing.
“For a while it will be great for readers because they will pay less and less but in the long run it’s going to ruin the [...]

So, this Amazon thing. It sounds bad. For those who might have missed it, Amazon decided to stop stocking Print on Demand books that do not use Amazon’s own service, Booksurge. I’m not sure who falls under a Print on Demand service. I have always viewed PODs as any publisher who [...]

Dear Ms Hart,
I was checking my ebook reader to see what books were on it and came across this one. I’m embarrassed to say how long it’s been sitting there, patiently waiting to be read so I won’t. But I found once I got started reading it, the pages just clicked along.
I’m not [...]

Dear Mrs. Dodd,
Despite the promise of eccentric aunts and zany robberies, I decided to try this contemporary novel. The conflict between sensible Nessa Dahl and undercover bank investigator Jeremiah MacNaught sounded intriguing, especially with the implied show down once the truth was revealed. And at first, things worked great but then slowly the eccentricities [...]

Shadowrose Press has apparently cut off communications and are not responding to authors requesting a return of rights.
Dark Eden Press is closing because of an illness of the owner. It is a tragedy for the owner, but also shows the instability of some epublishing businesses. If your career depends upon the [...]

Dear Mrs. O’Reilly,
How do you do it? How do you make accountants sexy? No offense to any number crunchers out there, especially at this time of year, but the profession isn’t up there on the sexy-job-o-meter. Daniel’s brothers, the lawyer and the bartender, have jobs that could be considered babe-magnets but it takes a [...]

I’ve read about RWA getting alot of grief this past week for discriminating against small presses however, I think it is patently clear that the reason for the 2007 change in RWA policy regarding recognized publishers (making it more author focused) is to protect its authors from unscrupulous small presses (including epresses) who start up [...]

Dear Mrs Connolly,
I know we at DA (okay, me in particular) have harshed on some of your latest paranormal books but with “Met by Chance” I can happily say you’re cooking with gas again. After finishing this, I need to go back and try the first two books in this “Triple Countess” trilogy from [...]

Dear Mrs. McLeod,
I have a soft spot for the unheralded people of the world finding love. People not as beautiful or dazzling, not as charming or glib as those who easily command the spotlight. Yet at the same time, I don’t want authors to pour misery on the head of a lead character thereby [...]

Dear Ms. Lofty,
Wow, what a great way to start off my new year’s reading. Yes, I actually finished this novella in early January but took my sweet time actually writing a letter about it. Real life is a beotch, doncha know?
I want to congratulate you on a wonderful, inventive plot. It’s one I’ve never [...]

Karen Scott started reporting on this last week and at least one author has gone public. The complaints against New Concepts surprised me since it has been around since 1996 and the reported problems have been associated with newer epublishers. New Concepts publishes in both print and ebook formats.
The complaints include [...]

Free ebooks are all the rage these days. Oprah gave away over a million copies of Suze Orman’s, Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny and became the #2 bestseller in the nonfiction/general category.
Other publishers are toying with the free ebook giveaway. Tor is giving a free book away a week [...]

Dear Ms. Green,
I read and enjoyed the first novel in this Hunstmen world last year. And despite being for the most part paranormaled out, when you mentioned that there would be sequels to come, I was excited. Here’s a world that is radically different from most paranormals out there and one which was fairly [...]

Dear Ms. O’Reilly,
As with the first book of your last trilogy, this one is a winner for me. Straight from the beginning and all the way through. I enjoyed all the characters in this book, the plot, the setting…in fact everything. At first I was a little leery about the setting. I mean, an [...]