Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review

Filed in News , The Smutty Lover Posted on January 14, 2011 @ 3:00 pm 8 comments

Nora Roberts has joined the Million copies sold on Kindle club and joins the ranks with Stieg Larrson and James Patterson. The Bookseller reports that she has sold more than 1,170,539 Kindle books under her Nora Roberts and J.D Robb pseudonym! Way to go Nora! 

According to Price Waterhouse in the UK, they have predicted that the UK ebook market growth will increase ten-fold during the next five years. However there is a caveat warning stating in their report that that growth will be sluggish compared to their US counterparts who are more open to the digital format whilst the the UK publishers are reluctant in embracing this new market. Personally I think with agency pricing emerging in both the US and the UK, I doubt that point is right but I do think that non agency publishers will sell and have more growth to agency publishers.

This week has also witnessed online kerfuffles amongst authors and publishers:
The most serious and disappointing item is a blog post about an author for Decadent Publishing who is also a reviewer for The End is Not the Final Word blog. According to a blog post there, Decadent Publishing wasn’t happy with a negative review that the author wrote for the site with a group of other bloggers. Due to this Decadent hunted down and outed the author and have entered unethical territory and probably a few privacy laws for checking to see if the blog was on their reviewing list and whether to see if they purchased a copy of the book via their financial records. They then accused them of pirating books because there was no records of the reviewer buying the book and was not on an approved reviewing list.

I feel after reading that, this just puts me off from reading and purchasing books from smaller presses and definitely from Decadent especially the the reaction that they have brought on to the bloggers/author. It is very disappointing especially since this would put of other bloggers from reviewing and promoting their books.

Another kerfuffle happened on the academic blog that analyses Romance novels. In this blog post, it highlights that Mills and Boons will be starting a new imprint called Riva which will be hotter than the average M&B book and is aimed at a younger audience. But whilst reviewing one of the books, With This Fling, the reviewer raised points that touched on feminist issues and a few of the authors of who wrote for this line disagreed on the reviewer’s take of the book who felt that it shouldn’t be taken seriously even though the blog analyses romance books in great depth!

But my favourite brouhaha tidbit this week was between Laurell K Hamilton and P.C Cast over fashion. Full details can be found here at Dear Author with the excerpt and response from Laurell K Hamilton. Personally I think its a mountain over a molehill!

Karen Marie Moning has unveiled the long awaited and the guarantee of no more torturous cliffhangers first two chapters of Shadowfever! Beware – the excerpt has huge spoilers so avoid if y’all want to remain spoiler virgins!

And those who are hungrily awaiting River Marked, well Mike has posted the sample chapter up on Hurog.

Upcoming covers!
Checkout the awesome second book/cover for Ellen Connor aka Carrie Lofty and Ann Aguirre’s Midnight – so pretty. Chapter excerpt can be found here and the book will be out this September, and will be followed by Daybreak which should be scheduled sometime in December. 

Their desire destroys her defenses.

Their love gives him a reason to live.< Three years of wandering the post-apocalyptic wasteland has stripped Dr. Chris Welsh of humanity and hope. He’s a dangerous man now, full of dark energy and yen for violence. A harrowing loss drove him from his home, and he hasn’t stopped moving since. Grim and sardonic, he never found anything worth sticking around for–until now.

Rosa Cortez runs Valle de Bravo, a haven of civilization amid the chaos of the Change. Soldiers take their orders directly from her–the iron hand within a velvet glove. The last thing she needs is a feral loner upsetting the town’s tentative balance. However, for the good of her people, she lets the sexy doctor stay. He evokes a delicious new longing, but she won’t submit to any man.

Tension rises as bloodthirsty raiders strike again and again, bent on possessing Valle and its resources. Together Chris and Rosa battle hellhounds and dust pirates while also fighting desperate attraction. To save them, love must overcome the pain of the past–and build a future in this brutal Dark Age…

The long awaited book and prequel to Lauren Kate’s popular YA Fallen series has been released. Passion is the prequel to Fallen and Torment. I am not really feeling this one as much as the previous two- I think it maybe the colors or tone.

And finally this cover and blurb caught my eye! Thanks to Dark Faerie Tales for the source of the blurbs and cover!

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story. . .

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

And finally – this is taken from an English primer to help foreign language students to learn English but I think it does it too well LOL!
And a several little notices! – Authors After Dark have announced their chosen charity for their annual raffle for this year’s conference – so anyone who fancies donating and supporting a worthy cause please check it out and pass on the word!

Copied from their site:

This year we are doing our charity raffle for an extremely deserving charity: Pets Alive. Pets Alive is a front runner in the ongoing fight against animal cruelty.

Pets Alive is an animal rescue in Middletown, NY that is commited to helping animals no matter where they are. Home to over 50 dogs and over 50 cats at any given time, as well as horses, livestock, birds, reptiles and any other animal thats been abandoned the staff of Pets Alive run a wonderful rescue that has gotten national acclaim. They have helped closed countless puppy mills and rescued dogs from Puerto Rico’s hated Dead Dog Beach. From their website:
Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary is one of the oldest no-kill organizations in the United States. The mission of the sanctuary is to rescue, rehabilitate, and place animals into loving homes. Last year, Pets Alive saved more than one thousand animals. Pets Alive is recognized within the local community, nationwide and around the world, as a leader in developing alliances to end the killing of adoptable animals and promoting the humane treatment of animals.

Both of these deserving charities run completely on donations, and we are hoping to raise $2000 this year to help with the day to day running of the Pets Alive compound!

So this is what I am working on doing. Authors and Publishers are donating gift baskets full of goodies from everything book related, to anything you can think of for the fans to donate to win. Last year they even had a cute little doggie gift basket! Well I thought why not try to put a few gift baskets together myself with the help of you! The big animal lover I am, I am always for helping out the worlds best 4 legged companions!

So what do you say? Do you have a book you would like to donate? A piece of handmade jewelery? Or a handmade Bookmark? How about a $10 GC to a book store, or coffee shop? Absolutely anything and everything will work! I would like to put together at least 2 gift baskets so anything you can donate, will be more than appreciated! (please no used items)

Please head on over and fill out the form, and please HELP SPREAD THE WORD!

http://petsalive.com/                          http://authorsafterdark.net/

Next up is JoJo/Cornered Lover headsup for an Alzheimer’s charity walk– copied from her personal blog. She will be hosting a giveaway in connection to both of these causes!

The Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s™ is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research. Since 1989, this walk has mobilized millions to join the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, raising more than $347 million for the cause. Events are held annually in the fall in nearly 600 communities nationwide. With more than 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s, and nearly 11 million more serving as caregivers, the time to act is now!
Team Bubby

For the last 2 years my best friend, my mom and I have taken part in the Walk to END Alzheimer’s. And last year I had some of you who were wonderful in donating for the cause. This year I would like to take it one step further. I am looking for a few of you who are willing to donate signed books, swag, maybe a book store GC, anything book related. What I would like to do is give back to those of you who donate for this cause. How it will work is everyone who donates to the charity, will be entered to win a prize. But that is later on towards the end of the year. Right now I am looking for your help in donated items. So please head on over and fill out the form. And thank you for taking the time to help out!

Details to enter can be found here.

What do you think about the writer wars? Should an author ask you as a reader to protect her? Mistake or done on purpose?
What do you think about how Decadent Publishing acts? 
Will you read the teaser chapters? Can you resist the call of a spoiler?

Copyright 2010-11 Book Lovers Inc.

About Susi


Susi is a geeky vegetarian from Gemany. She just finished university and now works as a civil engineer in steel construction. Besides her reading addiction she also knits like a maniac while listening to audiobooks. Susi also blogs at the Secret HEA Society.

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8 Comments

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  • Chelsea B. January 14, 2011 at 5:03 pm

    Thanks for posting all this!

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  • draconismoi January 14, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    LKH actually being offended by this "insult" is ridiculous. There is nothing to indicate the authors themselves are mocking her, just that the characters are. And as a former teenager who read the Anita Blake books, that little excerpt seems pretty much in character.

    Absent an overall offensive tone or theme to a novel, there is no reason to associate a character's statements with the author's own viewpoints.

    As for spoilers….I LOVE them. I am a spoiler addict. There is no spoiler to huge to reveal. Except when they reveal plots I know I am going to hate – such as the spoiler I read for one of my favorite TV shows this morning. Grrrrr.

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  • Alisha (MyNeedToRead) January 14, 2011 at 8:11 pm

    Wow…seems like there's quite a big of bad vibes wafting around the reading world…between publishers, authors, and readers alike. It's too bad…

    LOL whomever wrote (or allowed to be printed) that particular English text knew exactly what they were doing…:o) No "oops!" there.

    Anna Dressed in Blood sure does have an awesome cover. And it looks like it's going to be a dark tale….excellent!

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  • JenM January 14, 2011 at 11:00 pm

    I was so tempted to click over to the River Marked chapter but then I stopped myself. If I read the first chapter, I'll only want more and I can't have any more until March. As for Shadowfever – I've been trying to find the time to catch up (I stopped after Darkfever). I don't want to see the spoilers, but I have a feeling I won't be able to avoid them.

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  • LSUReader January 15, 2011 at 2:23 am

    Decadent Publishing? Was Deceitful Publishing already claimed as a name? Your report makes me wonder if they track down the books authors borrow from libraries or friends, also. How awful!

    Kudos to JoJo, Authors After Dark and Nora Roberts. As always, thanks for the insight.

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  • Mikki-Manó January 15, 2011 at 2:56 am

    Thanks for the post. I haven't heard about Midnight before, but I love its review. It will be releasd in Spetember? Christ, there's so much time until it, I can't wait =P Anyway, I put it and Daybreak on my wishlist =)

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  • Sheree January 16, 2011 at 12:36 am

    The cover of "Midnight" is indeed awesome but I miss Paul Marron who is on the cover of the first book, "Nightfall".

    I'm still waffling about reading "Torment", let alone "Passion". If Luce is more in the loop than she was in "Fallen", I may give the books a try.

    ironss[at]gmail.com

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  • Has January 16, 2011 at 8:32 am

    @Draconismoi
    I actually think that mention is a backhanded compliment in many ways because it proves that LKH has hit pop culture – but I agree! I also think its a bit rich when she has also slammed and maded implied digs to other co-authors, one in particular whose books are currently adapted as a very popular tv show right now.

    @Alisha – That book def tingles my inner radar! 😀 And the book excerpt is HILARIOUS!

    @JenM – I know everyone is antzing about Shadowfever but I held off buying the books until recently. I did read the 1st one when it came out, but after hearing about the cliffhangers – can't deal if I have to wait for more than a year and the fact that Moning has stated the Fever series is like 1 huge book – I decided to wait and I am glad I did. But I really really wantz River Marked – From the little tidbits I have heard and read its going to be a good book and I can't wait for the new changes and developments that this book will bring especially since when the next Mercy book will probably be out sometime in 2013. Although consolation is that the 3rd Alpha and Omega book will be out early in 2012- Patty said she wasn't able to write 2 books a year so she will be alternating books which will be better for her stress levels.

    @LSUReader – The whole thing about Decadent stinks! And the fact they tracked down the blogger even if she is an author with them gives them no excuse. Reviewers review and critique books honestly – the best ones do and are not the PR people of the small presses. I am getting to the point now that I wont probably review small press books because of this type of behaviour and backlash and its a shame because there are gems out there!

    @Mikki-Mano – acutally Midnight is the 2nd book of what I think is right now a trilogy although that could change depending on how well the books do! The first book Nighfall is out in June! I think we posted the cover a few months ago ;D

    @Sheree – I have actually the first book still to be read – I read a few reviews and it made me push it further down in the tbr stack. And right now I have read like a few books on angels as heroes and I may need to take a break from that trope but I hope you enjoy it if you do pick up the followups!

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