Electronic Media and the Two-Way Connection

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So the big book news recently is about Amazon deleting an ebook from its Kindle e-book reader--and the huge public backlash. Yes, it didn't help that the book was George Orwell's 1984. You'd think that 1984 might be a public domain book, but for this version, as Ollivander says, apparently not.

I've read a variety reasons why Amazon did it, from discovering that this was a pirated version to belatedly realizing it only had U.S. and not international distribution rights for this version. Whatever the reason, Amazon discovered it shouldn't be distributing this, and it acted quickly to undo the damage and refund people's money.

The news has not been consistent about when Amazon notified customers about their actions. If it was contemporaneous with their actions, that's about all they can do. If it was later, yes, customers had a right to be indignant.

But it seems to me that most people who are complaining about this don't take exception to how Amazon did this but that Amazon has the ability to do it at all. They worry that the next step is for the government to unilaterally withdraw things from publication by demanding that Amazon erase the offending items from Kindle.

Yes, what is downloaded can also be uploaded--but this incident actually highlights why that functionality is useful. Amazon needed to recall a book. What other practical way is there to do it? I asked a publishing industry professional how Amazon should have handled this, and she said Amazon shouldn't have sent it out in the first place.

That's fine in a perfect world, but in the real world, people make mistakes. I hope Amazon wouldn't be fooled by someone attempting to sell product from major authors or major houses, but what about all the tiny e-publishers springing up? Publishing is much easier to get into now that e-publishing and print on demand has reduced overhead costs. So it's much harder to verify who you're talking to and what they own.

I understand people are particularly sensitive about books because of book burnings and book censorship. However, book piracy is a bigger problem than book censorship right now. People are trying to sell illegal versions of copyrighted books right out in the open. Ebay has kicked a couple of pirates off recently thanks to some vigilant authors.

Individual illegal print copies are effectively impossible to trace. Electronic media is traceable, and pirated copies can be removed from existence. Yes, that has some Big Brother overtones, but it also reduces the hit-and-run anonymity of media pirates. For now, that outweighs a threat of censorship.

[side note--my store software does not have the functionality to offer ebooks yet, but that is planned for a future revision]

NEW LISTINGS

PARANORMAL

Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark-Hunter and Dark-Dreamer books in paperback and many in hardcover

Laurell K Hamilton Merry Gentry series in hardcover; Kiss of Shadows also in large print, Bloody Bones - new HCDJ OOP!, Strange Candy, Cerulean Sins, Danse Macabre,

Anthologies - (HC) Cravings, My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding, Man of My Dreams, Dates from Hell; (PB) Tapestry, Stroke of Midnight, Midnight Pleasures, Love at First Bite, Dead After Dark,

Karen Marie Moning - (HC) Spell of the Highlander, Darkfever

Christine Feehan - (HC)Dangerous Tides, Dark Demon, Dark Possession, Dark Celebration

Kelley Armstrong - (HC) Stolen, Bitten

Mary Jo Putney - (HC) The Marriage Spell, A Kiss of Fate

JR Ward - Lover Unbound HC

Angela Knight - Master of Swords HC

Maggie Shayne - Prince of Ice HC

Cameron Dean - Eternal Hunger HC

Susan Krinard - Kinsman's Oath HC

Lynsay Sands - A Quick Bite (Argeneau 1) HC

Kerrelyn Sparks - How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire HC

MaryJanice Davidson - Undead and Unappreciated HC SIGNED

Patricia Rice - Magic Man HC

Susan Carroll - Midnight Bride HC

Jacqueline Carey - Kushiel's Scion HC

Shana Abe - The Dream Thief HC

Kathleen Nance - Phoenix Unrisen

HISTORICAL ROMANCE

Kinley MacGregor - (HC) Return of the Warrior, Taming the Scotsman, Claiming the Highlander, A Dark Champion; (PB) Knight of Darkness, Master of Desire, Warrior

Eloisa James - 2 in 1 HC A Wild Pursuit/Your Wicked Ways

Hannah Howell - Highland Groom -HC

A Regency Christmas Carol - anthology with Mary Balogh

Karen Ranney - The Scottish Companion, When the Laird Returns

Suzanne Enoch - Twice the Temptation

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Wildest Dreams

OTHER

Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Contests!

I sent out this month's contest and new releases email last night. If you missed it, here is the contest part:

Next giveaway is your choice of Bengal's Heart by Lora Leigh (Feline Breeds series) or Underground by Kat Richardson, both of which will be released on August 4. To enter, click on the Buy the BOOK Club link at the bottom of any store page. That opens up an email to me. Just fill it out, and you will be entered in all future contests.

Second, the very cool author Shiloh Walker is having a twitter contest to rewrite the blurb from The Redeeming in tweet form (up to two tweets). The winner gets a gift certficate to www.buythebookcv.com. Tweet your entry either @shilohwalker or use #theredeeming in your tweet.

Finally Author Michelle Rowen has announced that her 1000th follower on Twitter will receive her whole backlist (6) signed. She's still below 800 followers.

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See all summer releases here!
New volume reader discount plan HERE.

After taking the kids to the beach last week, the tops of my legs got very sunburned. So I've been staying inside listing books.

NEW RELEASES 6/30 and 7/7:
Darkness Calls - Marjorie Liu
Hidden Currents - Christine Feehan
Burning Wild - Christine Feehan
Witch Fury - Anya Bast
Summer Knight - Jim Butcher (hardcover)
Poltergeist - Kat Richardson
Breaking Midnight - Emma Holly

PREORDERS
Bengal's Heart - Lora Leigh
Underground - Kat Richardson
Vanished - Kat Richardson

PARANORMAL
Greywalker - Kat Richardson
Ghostwalker series by Christine Feehan
Susan Sizemore's Primes and Laws of the Blood series
Magical Seduction (Ellora's Cave) - Anya Bast, Cathryn Fox, Mandy Roth (TSP)
4 Immortal Witches series by Maggie Shayne
Eternal Highlander - Hannah Howell and Lynsay Sands (TSP)
Dead End Dating - Kimberly Raye
The Lunatic Cafe - Laurell K Hamilton (hardcover)

HOT ROMANCE
Taken by Surprise - Susan Johnson, Thea Devine, Katherine O'Neal
Sinful - Maggie Shayne, Lori Foster, Suzanne Forster (hardcover)

HISTORICAL ROMANCE
Entire Boscastle set by Jillian Hunter in paperback and hardcover
Knight of Darkness-Kinley MacGregor (Lords of Avalon)
Master of Desire - Kinley MacGregor) MacAllister #1

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
In the Garden trilogy by Nora Roberts - both hardcover and paperback

MYSTERY
Purity in Death - JD Robb (hardcover)

This Week in Technology!

This week I have joined the world of Twitter. This is truly a great thing. It's got all the best elements of IM, email, and chatrooms with the bonus that it does all three functions at once. I've been following people who are longtime users, so I've learned about the functionality by watching them.

I also updated my author links page significantly. I thnk I had about a dozen before; 64 author web sites and a ten-author blog now await the click of your mouse.

Tomorrow I'm taking three teenagers to the beach, then it's back to listing.

NEW THIS WEEK:
An Enchanted Season -new trade size paranormal holiday anthology
On a Wild Night/On A Wicked Dawn - 2 in 1 hardcover by Stephanie Laurens
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
The Dragon Chronicles-new oversize hardcover illustrated "journal"
The Merlin Trilogy by Mary Stewart - 3 in 1 hardcover
Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series in new hardcover:
New Spring
The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
Fires of Heaven
Lord of Chaos SIGNED
Crown of Swords SIGNED
The Path of Daggers
Winter's Heart
Crossroads of Twilight (Knife of Dreams will be up this week)

A Change in Personal Lifestyle

So Tuesday, like so many other people these days, I was laid off from my day job. It was a complete shock; I had been there over nine years and could picture myself retiring there. Given the economy and the unusual nature of my day job, my husband and I both expect I will be out of work for at least the rest of the year. Thus, I'm looking at a change of lifestyle.

I had been planning a vacation for the week of July 4th, and I was quite in need of one. So rather than stress, I decided to make this week a vacation week and not worry about job hunting. I went to the beach, the pool at the Y, took lots of naps, took walks, and all that relaxing stuff. And I was able to list a LOT of books, which was very satisfying. I expect to be able to list many more books than I could before even with job hunting, and I'm excited about that even if I'm not thrilled at the reason.

I've been listing only new books lately because of a 6/30/09 change for sellers uploading to Google. We will have to code all of our items as new or used. I'm hoping we will be able to edit en masse, in which case it will be easier if most everything is one or the other, and I picked new.

I also set up a Twitter account this week to send tweets as books are listed: http://twitter.com/buythebookcvcom


NEW THIS WEEK AT http://www.buythebook.com/

Paranormal
Cheyenne McCray Magic series in paperback
Jacquelyn Frank's Nightwalker series in paperback

Hot Spell anthology by Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, Shiloh Walker, and Meljean Brook

Hot Blooded-rare large print hardcover-Christine Feehan, Emma Holly, Angela Knight, Maggie Shayne

Mystery/Thriller

The In Death series by JD Robb (Nora Roberts) in paperback

The Falcon at the Portal by Elizabeth Peters, first hardcover edition

Contemporary Romance
The Love Potion by Sandra Hill
Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas, first hardcover edition signed (I also have unsigned)

Fantasy
The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop - 3 in 1

Reading on the Road

Congratulations to ROBIN from AUSTRALIA, winner of a free copy of SKIN TRADE.



My daughter belongs to a choir that got to perform at Disneyland, and I took her and a friend down. We left home at 6am, got to the park around 8am, they sang at 930, they got changed and reunited with parents around 11, and then we had the rest of the day to play. She's done this for several years now; most years it's very hot, but this year it was perfectly, pleasantly cool.

She and her friend went on 15 different rides (yes, they counted), and I went on 11 or 12 of those, some multiple times. I am not averse to roller coasters (I LOVE Splash Mountain), but I am averse to standing in lines, plus I did mom stuff like get food and fast passes while they were on some rides.

They changed the FastPass system since I was last there. A fast pass is a free ticket to go right on the ride--no line; the catch is that you have to come back about two hours later. You used to be able to go around the park and collect fast passes, have a snack, then go around the park using your fast passes on one ride after another without waiting in lines. Now the deal is you can only get one at a time, so if it's noon and your fast pass says to come back after 2:15, you can't get another fast pass on any other ride until 2:15. And some rides, like the Matterhorn and Pirates, don't have fast passes at all anymore. Matterhorn has long lines all day and night, but Pirates has short lines later in the day and no lines after dinner. If you get there early, go to Space Mountain first, as it is the hardest ride to get on. It does give fast passes but the return time will be later than for other rides--and there are still long lines late at night.

Speaking of which, my two charges decided to wait in line for Space Mountain at 9:45 at night. I saw them again around 11pm. In the meantime, and a few other times while I was waiting for them, I pulled out The Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning. I have read this series over a long stretch and woefully out of order (the first one I picked up was Dark Highlander) but it hasn't made a big difference. The Immortal Highlander takes place just after The Dark Highlander. Adam is an arrogant fae. His offer to substitute himself to spare a mortal's life was altruistic but also grounded in the certainty that his queen would never punish him. Surprise! She sends him to earth without his fae powers. He can't see other fae, and mortals can't see him--except for one sidhe-seer (pronounced she-seer) named Gabrielle. Once he realizes she can see him, he determines to charm her with his mad fae charm skillz so she will help him. Another surprise: since she was raised to believe that the fae only want to harm her, she fights back. But Adam has an enemy who thinks that Adam's defenseless gives him an ideal opportunity to get rid of Adam--and Gabrielle, once he learns about her. So the two of them are forced to work together.

I brought along a paperback to read (I have the whole series available in paperback) but I also have this book in new hardcover. This is a good one to read before the Fever books because it gives you some background in sidhe-seers.

Vampire-Loving Barmaid Hits Jackpot for Charlaine Harris
by Motoko Rich, NYT May 19, 2009

MAGNOLIA, Ark. — Charlaine Harris was sitting in the small dining nook of her suburban cedar-and-stone home one afternoon last week when she took the call from her editor in New York. After she hung up, she yanked both fists down and let out a triumphant, “Yes!”

Ms. Harris, the author of the Sookie Stackhouse vampire mystery romance novels, had just heard that the latest book in the series, “Dead and Gone,” would make its debut on the New York Times hardcover fiction best-seller list this Sunday in the No. 1 spot. It was a first for Ms. Harris, who has published 26 novels in nearly three decades and sold the original book in the Sookie series, “Dead Until Dark,” for just $5,000 nine years ago.

When her husband, Harold Schulz, arrived home from work later, he stepped into Ms. Harris’s office in a converted mother-in-law apartment next to the house. “No. 1, huh?” he calmly noted with a smile.

But with their daughter Julia’s high school graduation looming this week, he wanted to know whether all six acres of the lawn on their property had been mowed, and when certain family members would be arriving.

It was the kind of juggle that might be familiar to Sookie, the telepathic human barmaid who narrates the novels and lives in the fictional small town of Bon Temps, La., amid an ever-expanding cast of vampires, shape-shifters, fairies and witches.

The formula of small-town life regularly disrupted by the supernatural world — and some mind-blowing sex with vampires — has propelled Ms. Harris through nine Sookie novels. For her latest three-book contract, of which “Dead and Gone” is the second, Ms. Harris was paid a seven-figure advance.

The books have also spawned “True Blood,” the HBO adaptation created by Alan Ball, the maestro of “Six Feet Under.” The first season of the series, which roughly followed “Dead Until Dark,” concluded last fall as the cable network’s most popular show since “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City.” The new season, based on the second novel in the series, “Living Dead in Dallas,” begins on June 14.

This heady brew of success has allowed Ms. Harris, 57, some luxuries: earlier this year she hired her longtime best friend as her personal assistant. She bought a diamond ring. And this year, because of Julia’s graduation, she could afford the ultimate indulgence: she refused to go on a book tour.

“It was just a huge relief that I finally hit on the right character and the right publisher,” said Ms. Harris, who had previously written two mystery series that never quite took off. Or, as she put it more succinctly, with a cackle that evoked a paranormal creature: “I had this real neener-neener-neener moment.”

Born and raised in Tunica, Miss., the daughter of a schoolteacher and a homemaker turned librarian, Ms. Harris, an avid reader of mysteries, always wanted to be an author. She published two stand-alone mysteries in the early 1980s, and a few years later began the Aurora Teagarden mysteries, featuring a Southern librarian turned amateur sleuth. Despite promising reviews, sales were modest.

In the mid-1990s she plunged into a more violent and sexually explicit story line about Lily Bard, a cleaning woman who investigates murders. Ms. Harris believed she had hit her stride, but sales did not meet her expectations.

So she decided to try something new. She had always wanted to write about vampires. From the outset, she wanted to set the story in the prosaic trailer-park and strip-mall landscape of northern Louisiana, to distinguish it from the gothic opulence of Anne Rice’s New Orleans.
Nominally a murder mystery, “Dead Until Dark” was filled with inventive details, like the synthetic blood that allows vampires to live openly among humans, and a vampire bar called Fangtasia, where humans who like to have sex with the undead hang out.

Despite her track record, it took two years to find a home for Sookie. Although writers like Laurell K. Hamilton had staked a niche in the paranormal genre, it was not the booming category that Stephenie Meyer has made it today.

Finally, Ace Books, a science fiction and fantasy imprint of Penguin Group USA, bought the manuscript in 2000. “The voice is terrific,” said Ginjer Buchanan, editor in chief of Ace. “And I liked the setting. I think it’s an interesting and different milieu, and she portrays it in a way that’s fresh and understandable, but not stereotypical.”

Driving last week along a tree-lined country road dotted by an occasional horse farm or a row of abandoned chicken coops, Ms. Harris said it was how she imagined the road to Sookie’s house. Ideas for characters come from all over the place.

“Every trip to Wal-Mart is an inspiration,” she said. But don’t try to find a model for Merlotte’s, the bar and restaurant where Sookie works. Magnolia, in southern Arkansas near the Louisiana border, is the seat of a dry county.

Ms. Harris gave Sookie the power to read the most unpleasant thoughts of others as a way of reflecting on the veneer of courtesy that permeates small-town Southern living.

“I think that must be the worst thing, not to have that buffer zone between how people really think and feel and how they present themselves to you,” Ms. Harris said. “That’s one of the reasons I love living here, because people are so polite.” For Sookie, consorting with vampires comes as a relief because she cannot actually read their thoughts.

Ms. Harris works most mornings in her office, a cozy room with a lumpy purple loveseat and a shelf of knickknacks sent by fans. Like many a commercial writer, Ms. Harris wishes the literary establishment would pay more attention. “I think there is a place for what I do,” she said. “And I think it’s honorable.”

With their message of accepting diversity, Ms. Harris said she wrote the Sookie novels in part as “a metaphor for gays in America.” But, she added: “I am not a crusader. If you need a good adventure or a vacation from your problems, then I am your woman.”

It was that escapist side that attracted Mr. Ball of “Six Feet Under” when he discovered “Dead Until Dark” in a Barnes & Noble four years ago. He went on to buy all the remaining books in the series. “I just went through them like popcorn,” he said.

For “True Blood” Mr. Ball added scenes shot from the point of view of other characters; gave Tara, a high school friend of Sookie’s, a more prominent role and converted her from white to African-American; and amped the sex scenes way up.

Ms. Harris, who rarely outlines a plot, knows how the series will end. Don’t ask: she’s not telling. In the meantime she’s always ready for inspiration. “I think about the books while I am showering or doing the dishes,” she said. “Then all of a sudden I’ll think, ‘What if?’ ”

Happy Memorial Day

NEW IN PRINT: ASHES OF MIDNIGHT by LARA ADRIAN, Midnight Breed book #6
ONLY TWO MORE DAYS TO:
REGISTER FOR THE DRAWING FOR SKIN TRADE!
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Last week I was out of town on a business trip at the Fairmont Princess in Scottsdale, Arizona. This is a large resort kind of off by itself. The Fairmont shrewdly bought a bunch of land around the hotel and is selling it to businesses that will support the hotel. There is a high-end retirement community being built next door. Down the road is the Scottsdale Center for Dentistry, where dentists come from across the country for continuing education and golf, and that (not the golf part) is where I spent my days.

The hotel is one of those that seems like a maze when you first get there. It has buildings winding every which way, cottages, three pools, a lagoon, a hot tub, numerous restaurants, stores, etc. My first night there, I wandered by the lagoon near sunset and saw bunnies nibbling grass, ducks wandering around, etc. If you're in a rural area, that won't mean much to you, but in suburban California, we don't get that.

The second night there, we had the evening free, so I went out for a swim. I went to the less-crowded East Pool rather than the centrally located South Pool. When I got to the far end of the East Pool, I saw there was another pool farther on. I got out to investigate, and saw that the second pool was hiding a treat: a two-story waterslide. With a lifeguard at each end. Not your typical plastic pool slide. That sucker was fast, and I was surprised to find it tucked in a nook in this resort where the restaurants start running out of food around 8pm (in other words, a mostly older crowd comes here).

I mentioned it to my mother because she has been looking for a place to take my two daughters. One loves to be active, so the waterslide, pools, kids club and game room is for her. The other one needs her internet roleplaying fix, so her basic requirement is wifi.

Of course I needed a book for the waiting around times, and I took Double Dare by Saskia Walker, an extra-hot romance book. I give it an A+ for heat. My only issue is the one I usually have with these books--the people fall in love too fast. But the characters were unusually astute and not silly--people you'd really like to know.

And I just got my new promos--bookmarks with my website url. I took some along to hand out, and we had a delay in the Phoenix airport, so I passed some out to people reading fiction books.