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

I received an email this morning that contained the following words. I did verify that this was not a hoax but an email from a new publicity intern.
Hi,

I’m from [major New York publisher]. I would like to spread the word on two of our new Vampire novels. The first is [name of Book 1], and the second one (that I just began to read) is [name of Book 2].

Vampire literature is my favorite reading genre, and I think your website is great for people like us, who are true fans of vampirism. However, as of late a lot the genre has been oversaturated with smut, than overall content.

I assure you these two new novels offers something innovated and exciting.

We’ll send free copies of the books if you’re interested.

Thanks
For the record, we are not requesting the books because they don’t sound interesting to any of us, but it shows the danger of the mass emailed publicity inquiry. Because if the publicity intern had read the blog, she would know that we are all about the smutty vampire novels.  The FiMD is spreading.  Need more lolcats (although I read at Gawker or Wonkette …

The New York Times has an article about Conrad Black’s successful videoconferenced bookstore signing. Mr. Black is bound, by law because of his conviction on charges of fraud and obstruction of justice, to Chicago and Palm Beach. (As an aside, did Conrad Black serve any time in prison? After all Martha Stewart had to go to prison.)

Because of his legal constraints, he is not able to do a book tour. Thus, he took advantage of the Long Pen, a system invented by Margaret Atwood that allowed her to interact with her fans, sign their books but not actually have contact with them. 150 fans showed up to engage with Conrad Black

It’s a weird commentary on the fan culture that we are so desperate for interaction that we’ll go to a video conference and get a xeroxed autograph. My take? I get to videoconference with my fave author? And get a photocopy of her autograph? No thank you.

Source: Inkygirl

The Happy Endings Foundation website was just poorly enough done to look like an authentic organization. It’s motto? “Sad books are bad books.” The site was ostensibly run by Clare Hughes and another mother. In the first iteration of the website, Hughes and the group called for the banning and burning of books.

Several respected media organizations such as the BBC were taken in. Jeremy Vine’s even interviewed “Clare Hughes” on his BBC radio show. The sad news is, though, that the site, Clare Hughes and the entire foundation was a hoax, a publicity scheme to bring more attention to the Lemony Snicket series.

So the Unfortunate Events author and publisher decided that they would make fun of those who take stands against book banning and censorship by making them look like fools all for the purpose of publicity?

Source: Sarah and Candy

Nicola Cornick has penned 18 Regency historicals plus a June 2007 release, Lord Of Scandal, from Harlequin’s HQN imprint. Her 2006 release, Lord Greville’s Captive, is an RNA finalist. It may be that Ms. Cornick’s geographical placement, England, gives her a leg up when writing about her own country’s historical underpinnings. However, location isn’t her friend when it comes to promotional efforts or meeting with her US Audience. Ms. Cornick shares with us the joys of writing across the Pond as well as the pitfalls.
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Do you have modify the language in the books to exclude colloquialisms from your native tongue?
Fortunately the Regency language that I use in my historicals is fairly distinctive so this isn't as much of a problem for me as it might be for contemporary authors. I do notice my editor changing spellings of words like honour to honor, though, and that feels a bit strange!
Where do you prefer the …

Nalini Singh created her own meme to generate publicity for her upcoming March release, Visions of Heat (Berkley Sensation). If you post the meme on your blog, you’ll be entered in a contest to win a $50 Amazon voucher and an Advanced Copy of Book 3 of her series, Caressed by Ice. Do it. You know you want to.