Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review

Filed in Gena Showalter , News , Nicole Peeler , Patricia Briggs , The Smutty Lover Posted on February 18, 2011 @ 12:00 pm 11 comments

After last week’s epic news post and the authors gone HULK, things have been quite subdued this week, with some depressing and sad news of bankruptancy and deaths.

The biggest announcement has to be Borders filing for Chapter 11 insolvency and will be entering administration. Sadly 200 of their 600 megastores will be closing and around 6000 employees will face redundancies. This will also affect publishers which Borderes owes millions of dollars of debt and in turn as this article highlights will affect authors, because the majority of books being sold are via stores like Borders.
Another struggling mega store chain owner REDgroup is also facing bankruptancy, but this time its in Australia. Ironically enough they also own the Australian arm of Borders as well as, Angus and Robertson and Whitcoulls in New Zealand. This shows that traditional brick and mortar mega bookstores are really facing a stiff time around the globe due to the increasing competition and an aging business model. I have also read that Waterstones, and its parent company HMV are also struggling the past year or so. I think the next few years is going to be interesting how bookselling will change and adapt to combat their problems especially with how ebooks are taking off and how that will affect the general state of publishing.

There is an interesting study about the demographics about the people who have taken up ereading/ereaders. OnePoll has reported that there is a growing majority of ebook readers are over 50 and tend to spend heavily on ebooks and books in general. I am not really surprised by this result because they tend to have more disposable income and have more time to read as well as being more passionate about books. What I do find it interesting is further proof that ebooks’ popularity is growing expetionally and will definitely play a major factor of the market. I actually think they will overtake Mass Market PBs in the next few years.

More sad news:
I forgot to mention the passing due to the brouhaha of last week’s post/s. Another author, Brian Jaques, the author of the Redwall series, has died at the age of 71. Everyone at Book Lovers Inc pass on our condolences to his friends and family. I loved his books as a kid, I am sure they will live on because they are such classics.

Fancy meeting Patricia Briggs???

Weeeel she’s going on a mini tour to promote, one of the eagerly awaited releases of the year, River Marked, the 6th Mercy Thompson novel which is out in the US on March 1st and March the 3rd in the UK. I hear that in the book, there is an evil lurking in the Columbia River who may be nom nom nomming on poor unsuspecting folk, bad movie nights and Mumzilla wedding preparations…..

Below is the full details of the tour dates although if anyone is close to Radcon at Pasco WA – Both Patty and Mike (her awesome admin/tech guru for her sites and even awesomer hubby) will be at the con!
March 1-8, 2011: River Marked Signing Tour
March 1, 2011: Richland, WA 
Hastings, 1245 George Washington Way, at 7:00 PM
March 2, 2011: Oakbrook/Chicago IL
 Borders Books, 1500 16th St. at 7:00 PM
March 3, 2011: Washington DC
Borders Books, 5871 Crossroads Center Way, Bailey’s Crossroads, VA at 7:30 PM
March 4, 2011: Minneapolis, MN
 Barnes and Noble, 2100 N. Snelling Ave, Roseville, MN at 7:00 PM.
March 5, 2011: Houston, TX
 Murder By the Book, 2342 Bissonet St. at 6:00 PM. By the way, this should be a blast, I’ll be signing with Kim Harrison.
March 6, 2011: San Diego, CA
 Mysterious Galaxy, 7051 Clairmont Mesa Blvd. at 2:00 PM
March 7, 2011: Seattle, WA
University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE at 7:00 PM
March 8, 2011: Portland, OR
Powell’s Books, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd. Beaverton, OR at 7:00 PM
Note: Patty will also be touring France sometime in the Spring, once I get the full details about that from her site, I will post it here in the next news post.
Nicole Peeler the author of the fantastic and zany Jane True Series has announced via twitter that the 5th book will be called Tempest Fury!!!!
Now its the time for upcoming books/covers!
If you didn’t know this already, Paranormal/Historical Romance author Kathryn Smith has unveiled the cover for her upcoming Steampunk YA . She will be writing under the penname as Kady Cross. The Girl in the Steel Corset will be released via Harlequin Teen sometime in June. I really really like the look of this series!

There is a few anthologies that you should keep an eye out – Gena Showalter and three other popular Paranormal authors have released this cover for their upcoming novellas from their own ongoing series featuring smexy and Rrroaar like warriors!

Another one which I am desperately going to get just because it features a short story by Patricia Briggs and will feature Warren (being a bad ass PI) and Kyle (being a bad ass lawyer in his infamous Purple Cowboy suit) tackling annoying neighbours which will be called In Red with Pearls. I like the cover haz a PI style!
There’s also a cover for the thrid book in Lisa Mantchev’s Théâtre Illuminata series. Isn’t it made of awesome?

Bertie thinks her quest is almost done. With the help of Ariel and the rest of her friends, she has managed to find her father and rescue the kidnapped pirate, Nate, from Sedna the sea goddess. Now all she has to do is reunite her father, The Scrimshander, with her mother, Ophelia, and she will finally have a true family of her own. However, things are never easy for Beatrice Shakespeare Smith. Her father has vanished, Sedna is out for revenge, her own actions have trapped the Theatre Illuminata, the only home she’s ever known, into a strange kind of limbo, and the stress of her in-between state is tearing apart the fragile threads of her mother’s sanity. Bertie’s best hope for salvaging the situation may lie in the summons by Her Gracious Majesty, Queen of the Distant Castle and hope of winning the magical boon given to the most pleasing performance. Bertie is caught between her growing responsibilities to home and family and the dream of flying free, just as her heart is torn between her two loves, Ariel and Nate. With so many forces pulling on her, how will Bertie be able to choose which wish to make come true?

I caught sight of this book Goodreads today and it pinged my book radar like a ping pall on speed, due to its blurb!

HE IS A LETHAL WEAPON…

One of an army of human soldiers injected with alien DNA, Michael is a legend within this new race, split between good and evil. Untamable, he has walked on the dark side and returned to the light. Feared and misunderstood, he leaves everything behind, including the one woman destined to be his mate.

HE IS HER ENEMY…AND HER DESTINY…

Fate leads Michael back to Cassandra Powell, for she holds the key to defending his comrades. With their loyalties divided between duty and the people they love, only together can Cassandra and Michael overcome insurmountable odds to save humanity from the wrath of a madman.

But no ordinary woman can control a creature such as Michael, and only one thing is clear—the world will never be the same…

More info and excerpt can be found here.
I blame the Martini affect from Gini Koch’s scifi series! – smexy aliens are at the moment my weakness!
And finally – This is shamelessly has NADA with books/authors or publishing (blame sexy alienz – they invaded my mind at 2 .00 am in the morning whilst doing this post and told me to bring sexy back!). A woman has decided to have a hidden camera on her butt to show how many people are caught staring at her derriere. You know to make it an equal opportunity there should be a sexy guy doing this 😀

Enjoy! Here is the post about the vid.

 What is your opinion on this whole Borders fiasco?
What do you think is the appeal, especially of ereading for the 50+ readers?
 Did we miss any great covers?
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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11 Comments

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  • JenM February 18, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    I'm not over 50 quite yet, but I know that one of the biggest appeals of ebooks for me is physical. First of all, I'm right on the cusp of getting reading glasses, but not quite there yet, so when my eyes are tired at the end of the day, I just adjust the reader to a bigger font size and I can read to my heart's content. Secondly, I have repetitive stress issues in both of my hands and my Kindle has been a godsend for that problem. I find hardbacks to heavy to hold and paperbacks to hard to hold open for any length of time, whereas my Kindle is a joy to read on.

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  • GeishasMom73 February 18, 2011 at 2:43 pm

    I'm upset about Borders closing so many stores. They are closing many here in Chicago. Luckily mine is not one of them. I don't shop at B&N. Borders is closer to me. I hope they are able to restructure and pay off what they owe the publishers and other vendors.

    Stacie
    GeishasMom73 on twitter

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  • LSUReader February 18, 2011 at 2:45 pm

    So Harris and Briggs are headlining two anthologies this year—Home Improvement Undead Edition is set for August publication, and Strange Streets follows in October. Lucky us.

    Not so lucky on the bookstore bankruptcies. Even folks who use ereaders (like me) still like to visit bookstores (like Borders.) This reminds me of the uproar when Wal-Mart overtook locally owned stores and how Blockbuster has become insignificant as a video outlet. The success of Amazon and other eretailers hurts brick and mortar stores that operate with an outmoded business model. If the Borders of the world don’t change, they’ll fail.

    As to why I like my Kindle—and reading library books on my computer—it’s easy on the eyes. I can read more quickly, so I can read more. And everyone wants to read more, right?

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  • Estella February 18, 2011 at 3:28 pm

    There are no Borders within a hundred miles of me, so have never shopped in one.

    I am over 50 and love my Kindle.An ebook is instant gratification. I can be reading the book in about a minute.
    The majority of the books I read are still paper.

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  • Chelsea B. February 18, 2011 at 3:33 pm

    The Borders thing is sad, for sure….
    I'm looking forward to reading On The Hunt!

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  • draconismoi February 18, 2011 at 5:24 pm

    I thought Borders closed down YEARS ago.

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  • Sheree February 18, 2011 at 5:39 pm

    I'm glad that the four Borders stores I frequent are going to stay open. I love to browse and I have to have a paper book to do so. I have ebooks, too, but it's not the same.

    Also, the Borders I go to the most has a very comfortable cafe setup, much better than the local B&N or the indie bookstore.

    I do have fave indie bookstores but generally they're for specific genres of books.

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  • Kaetrin February 19, 2011 at 2:25 am

    Borders customers in Australia (as mentioned in the post, Borders AUS is completely separate to Borders US)
    are really angry at the moment and unfortunately, the poor staff are copping the brunt. The administrators have advised that if you have a Borders gift card, you have to spend at least the value of the card in cash/charge to redeem the card – so if you have a $20 card, you have to spend at least $40 in store to use the gift card. Apparently this is legal but it still sucks. Also, the gift cards can't be used online anymore (where the prices were much better).

    I know why they're going under – it's not just ebooks – the books themselves cost too much – a MMP in Borders AUS costs AUD$20 – I can get the same thing delivered from the Book Depository for AUD$8. With the Aussie dollar on par with the US dollar, it's very difficult to understand why we'd pay $20 for a book which costs $7 or $8 in the US. Unfortunately for RED group, shoppers are becoming more savvy about prices.

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  • Alexandra O'Hurley February 19, 2011 at 8:23 am

    I have sat for hours in my local Borders – perusing titles with my kiddo.

    It is closing – as of TODAY. We are heading over there in a few moments to have our last tour of the store…it is so sad. And we just got an email – EVERYTHING MUST GO – by today.

    So we are probably walking into a crazy madhouse. Joy.

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  • -petit February 19, 2011 at 11:09 am

    I hope that they don't stop to produce print books and start to do only ebook books, because it's would be sad D: Ebboks are great if you don't have much space to put your books after you read, and they're cheap than Paperbacks, but read ebooks doesn't give you the same pleasure as you're reading a print book.
    And the cover for So Siver Bright is sooo beautiful! *-* I loved her dress! It's a wedding dress maybe? =o

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  • natalie23 February 26, 2011 at 8:38 am

    I'm in the UK so the Borders thing doesn't effect me, but I'll have to keep an eye out for info on Waterstones and other bookshops here.
    I love the covers for So Silver Bright and River Marked, and the dress on The Girl in the Steel Corset cover is just fab.

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