passion for fashion

Fashion

hope she goes and finishes it… there are only two posts up and it is sort of nifty… I always have a hard time understanding all those layers they are wearing

Anyone have any other links like this? I should go check out the risky regencies girls.

To blazes with the code.

Reviewing has a super secret code! Who Knew?

I am so always the last to know.

more like guidelines…

Barbossa: First, your return to shore was not part of our negotiations nor our agreement so I must do nothing. And secondly, you must be a pirate for the pirate’s code to apply and you’re not. And thirdly, the code is more what you’d call “guidelines” than actual rules. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Turner.

hee I know that is from one but WoOT! you all do know that PoC:Dead Man’s Chest is coming to DVD soon right?

minions….misty water-colored minions

Now you may have noticed I hold Amazon reviews to mean just about nothing. I am sorry and I have been told, asked, whatever to look into putting reviews on Amazon as well as my blog, so it is something that I keep trying to look at as a useful tool.

Today I find it wonderful in a very Highland Fling, WolfTales sort of way.

Lets take a look…

Color me annoyed

Dear Jane mentioned a article in Publishers Weekly a few days ago. Angie talks more about it on her blog and has a short interview up with one of the authors mentioned Jacquelyn Frank who has a book that just came out called Jacob: The Nightwalkers.

from PW

Subgenre: Paranormal
First printing:250,000 mass market

Editor’s take: “It’s so magical, sexy and intense…. I’ve never been more enthusiastic about a project.” —Kate Duffy

I know little about this book. I had never heard of it or the author until the PW article was brought to my attention. I did pick it up at wally world last night and didn’t make it past the first two pages.

The first page is pretty much author quotes telling me how much I am gonna like this book. Or how blown away they were by it. And honestly it left me with the feeling the only thing blowing was hot air.

These are good authors. Authors I read (for the most part). And because I am ever the optimist I am gonna say I believe they mean what they say (vs faves called in, cropped quotes, or whatever). But isn’t there a point where too much it too much.

A quote from Linda Howard, Lori Foster (oddly missing from the website press page), Kenyon, Feehan, Ross and Cathy Maxwell to me equals too much. Having Kate Duffy saying this is the bestest ever (I think that is promo hype but feel bad for her other authors) is too much on top of all those author quotes.

Where the heck are the reviews? Where is the buzz from people who aren’t in the business? Or you know… best friends with the author. (note to all newbie authors, tell your friends to not play fangirls [earn your minions!] or at least make sure the three people posting on your message board and blog don’t go around defending you or ‘getting your back’)

Sell me a book. Sell me an idea but don’t force feed it to me. I don’t want it. Tell me I have to love something and I will tell you what I will hate sight unseen. It is a knee jerk reaction I know. But color me annoyed: publishers can’t put out a historical because the market is soft, can’t take chances, can’t buy a book by an author whose last book sold poorly but who has been a proven winner. Can’t, can’t, can’t….

Maybe they can’t because they are putting too many eggs in a very breakable basket. Maybe putting out an unknown author, with such grand promo that people who hunt the internet for book info hear about it two weeks before the release date isn’t a good idea. Maybe having a message board, blog, website, six book deal with first run at 250,000 mass market is jumping the gun. And to pick a market that is so over run right now… and do 250,000 MM books… seems like a bad idea. Hell I want historicals. I want GOOD historicals and it seems like a shitty idea to have two unknowns come out with a print run of over 100,000k (although I do hope to have my hands on Campbell and McCarthy’s books soon).

Honestly some of those print run numbers turn my stomach. What is that going to do other than ensure if you want any of them wait a week… it will be in the used book store. Is it good for the author? How can a newbie author with no press or following hit those numbers? Are they being set up to fail?

I don’t write. I don’t have a book to sell. I don’t work in publishing. But I am offended and greatly annoyed. Susan Kay Law can’t sell a western (after winning a Rita, go team Rita! /endsacrasm). Alexis Harrington has had a book shopping for a while. Marsha Canham chooses to retire vs keep up with the game. Laura Kinsale can’t get a deal she wants to take. And I could go one and on… But a newbie can get a 6 book deal and 250,000 MM print run?

Or will this prove that if you put enough of anything ‘out there’ and that anything in large numbers at wally world will end up in the cart of the ‘average reader’.

I generally ignore cover quotes. Because publishing is a business. But the biggest thing is, just because I may think your book is the shit that doesn’t mean I am going to have the same taste as you.

Can this be seen as the same thing as Dear Authors 100 bloggers blogging? I admit I am a book pimp. And if I love something I am the first person to talk about it. Repeatedly. I love to have the chance to turn a reader onto a new to them author I love almost as much as I love to find new to me authors. For some reason having those ‘readers’ all be ‘writers’ doesn’t work for me.

Does it work for you? Will you be heading out to wally world to pick this up? Has anyone read this yet? Do you think this is a sign of good things to come? Bad things to come? Or is this normal and I have never noticed before? Is that noise we hear readers rushing to go buy the book or writers rushing to find Cindy Hwang’s email addy?

Update as SKL Site: Just Sex

I so don’t think this is pointing in the direction of Susan Kay Law’s next book being a historical.

Who knew you could be disappointed in a book when all you know is the title?

Edited to add:
Go check this out…

So what do you think? Interested?

Panic! At the Disco or book coveting

link if box is missing again

You Tube hates me… why?
Now we can all have it stuck in our heads *g*. You are most welcome.

So what new books are you coveting? The end of November books are out at WallyWorld…

Me…

I just finished…
The School for Heiresses by Sabrina Jeffries, Liz Carlyle, Julia London, Renee Bernard
The Stranger I Married by Sylvia Day

Books I have bought…
The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt (highly rec)
Lord Greville’s Captive by Nicola Cornick (tbr)
Her Lone Protector by Pam Crooks (tbr)

Currently reading…
Unleashed by Rebecca York, Susan Kearney, Lucy Monroe, and Diane Whiteside
Bit the Jackpot by Erin McCarthy
Beyond a Shadow by Alison Kent

I am eyeing…
Autumn in Scotland by Karen Ranney
The Mad, Bad Duke by Jennifer Ashley
The Unexpected Millionaire by Susan Mallery

maybe…
Love in a Bottle by Zoe Archer
Lord of Seduction by Paula Quinn
For the Love of a Pirate by Edith Layton (read the first chapter in the store and hated the hero… anyone read this yet?)

December…
Harmony’s Way by Lora Leigh (I won, I won!)
The Harem by Celia May Hart, Emma Leigh, Noelle Mack, and Melissa MacNeal

And would rec…
The School for Heiresses by Sabrina Jeffries, Liz Carlyle, Julia London, Renee Bernard (not for Jane cause she is hating on antho’s right now)
The Rules of Seduction by Madeline Hunter (not a December but you still should get it if you haven’t)

sexing up the cover

The Great Scot was

And is now

So which cover do you like better? If it helps here is the blurb:

Location coordinator Erin McGregor knows she’s finally found the perfect setting for her romance reality show, Your Prince Charming. The Chisholm clan stronghold in the Scottish Highlands has it all—romantic moors, windswept cliffs, misty lochs, a four-hundred-year-old castle, and possibly the most gorgeous man she’s ever laid eyes on in chieftain Dylan Chisholm. Nothing like a guy with a sexy accent and a big…turret to make a girl all wonky-kneed. Right. No time for wonky. Time to get over her fixation with the Hot Scot and get back to business. And Erin will…any minute now…

With his three youngest brothers spoken for, Dylan Chisholm is at the top of his village’s matchmaking list. Now they’ve sent some impish, forthright American lass up to tempt him into a devil’s bargain: He can let the Yanks use his castle to film their foolish romance show, and in exchange, he’ll get the money his village desperately needs. It took a tragic loss to get Dylan to embrace his heritage and his duty. He can’t turn away from such a promising offer. But keeping his thoughts off Erin McGregor is another matter. She’s everything he never wanted in a woman, and suddenly, she’s everything he craves in every way possible…

I still don’t get it

I looks like Wicked Pleasure by Nina Bangs now has a Feb 2007 release date. And there are two new covers that I can find on the net but all seem to have the same cover quotes as the one that was pulled in July.

Personally I don’t care for any of them but none seem worth the cost of pulling a book… anyone hear anything else about this?

gakked from marg, who gakked from dylan who…

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

I am soooo much higher on the OC scale but whatever

Can old news be the sign of new things?

From the RT newsletter:

And speaking of historicals… we predict that a comeback is on the horizon. With authors like Karen Robards, Judith McNaught and now Julie Garwood returning to the much-beloved genre, it won’t be long before all publishers will jump on the bandwagon to cash in on this returning trend. Add to that the recent news that suspense authors Tess Gerritsen and (of all people) Dennis Lehane will have historicals out in the next two years and you can see the trend is already in motion. If you’re an author, dust off those historicals and get them ready for submission and if you’re a fan of historicals, rejoice in the knowledge that authors and/or publishers have heard your pleas! Let’s hope the new historicals live up to what fans want: lush, historically accurate detail, strong, independent heroines, heroes to die for, palpable sexual tension with tender sensuality and books overflowing with old-fashioned romance!

FYI: Keep in mind that when these historicals hit stores it will be up to you (and your buying power) to determine how long the trend lasts. That means you MUST show your support for historicals by purchasing them new and not buying them on sites like half.com or used. “New” book sales is the only measure publishers use to determine if they will continue to publish more historicals. Create the demand and they will supply the product.

It may be winter but we have sprung ahead with a sneak preview of some blockbuster books to anticipate this spring including ones from Lisa Kleypas, Karen Robards, Gaelen Foley, Kelly Armstrong and Brenda Joyce to name a few.

I could be way wrong but didn’t Karen Robards new historical (the wrap up to her long ago started trilogy which is currently on hold with no publishing date) get announced in the RT last year? As well as the HUGE news that Garwood would be returning to historicals (although maybe that was an AAR interview?).

But Judith McNaught I didn’t know about and I am way interested in the Lehane although I doubt it is a romance. LOL unless he is gonna give sparks a run for his money and really Lehane could so kick Sparks ass. Sez I.

So what do you guys think? Is the historical the new black for 2007? Or still the same shade of gray it has been for the last few years?

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