Alison Kent's Blog, page 49

There’s no crying in reading

Today at RTB, Barbara Ferrer has a super article about reader entitlement. If you haven’t read it, go and do because she’s a wise, wise woman. I’m not giving commentary on her post, however, but on the first comment in response instead because I’m kinda floored and am hoping such sentiments are limited.

I think this business is very different from baseball.

Let’s look at this first. Publishing is a business. Baseball is a business. Fans love the books. Fans love the games. Fans get upset when thei

Friday Night Publishing Lights

Want to know how to survive the current publishing economy?

Agent Nathan Bransford tells you:

“Listen up! We got a big submission Friday night, and the publishers out there are going through some hard times. They want to see your submissions sparkling! They want perfection, and as the literary agent of this here team I aim to give it to ‘em! It’s time to look deep inside yourself and step up yer game! This means everything from revising to your queries to your submissions needs to be absolutely 11

Just like riding a bike

I spent all of last week writing. You may be saying, “Well, duh. That’s your job.” But here’s the thing. I turned in my last manuscript in early February and the revisions to that in early March, and since then, I’ve done next to nothing that could be called writing. Or at least fiction writing. I’ve written blogs here and there and even there, and copious emails to friends here and there and even there. I’ve written a gazillion tweets and some lengthy to-do lists. I’ve even jotted down characte

And the winner is . . .

Random.org generated #19 for the winner of the Jennifer Haymore book and that’s Fedora! I’ll get that sent to you today. Other people waiting on things? I’m making a drop off trip to the p.o. with several items. I still have a few to stand in line for to ship overseas, but not sure I’ll manage that till next week.

Be sure and stop by RTB and the Blaze Blog for a chance to win copies of some of Harlequin’s Famous Firsts!

And because everyone needs a smile in their day:

The Construction of Gender - Harlequin Covers

Embedded video from CNN Video

Also check out Marsha Zinberg at the Blaze Authors Blog today for goodies!

Jennifer Jackson, Jennifer Haymore, Toni McGee Causey, & Blaze!

There are all sorts of giveaways going on around the web today. (And I’m blogging at GenReality about backstory.)

1) Win this month’s Harlequin Blaze books

2) Win a book store gift certificate from Toni McGee Causey

3) Win books from my agent who is celebrating her 16 years in the biz

And from me you can win a copy of Jennifer Haymore’s novel A HINT OF WICKED. I learned about the book via Twitter, and I ordered it. Twice. NO clue how that happened, but I have an extra to give away. Just leave a comm

Wii Fit Yoga

The gym I mentioned belonging to in my previous post? Years ago. I went at lunch or after work, and this was before I was laid off in 2004. I know our company gave up our membership there at least a year before the lay off, so best guess? I belonged in 1999 - 2001 or so. I worked out daily and loved it. I could manipulate amazing amounts of weight on the various machines. I alternated walking and jogging on the track that circled the fourth floor of the building and would look down at the cars a

Romance Reading Roots

The online romance community is good, old-fashioned word of mouth updated for a digital age. Readers recommending books to other readers thru blogs, message boards, e-mail loops, and Twitter - instead of meeting up at the corner bookstore, the PTA meeting, or calling each other on the phone. That’s what makes social media so darn attractive to so many readers and authors.

Super Librarian Wendy made that comment at Access Romance’s Readers Gab in a conversation about how publishers and authors get

MY American Idol Discovery

As much as I love watching the American Idol hopefuls (the ones who can actually sing, that is) compete each week, it’s the singing itself, not the competition, that keeps me there. I love singing voices as much as I love writing voices, and as I think about that this morning, it’s probably why I posted recently to Twitter:

Have decided I can tell in a page or two if I’ll stick with a book. Voice is everything to me as a reader. Good thing I’m not an editor.

I knew this year’s 4th AI judge, Kara

That of which I cannot let go

Today at GenReality I’m talking about letting go of stories we love, ones that editors don’t so much, and that seem will never find a home except within our hearts. The story I can’t let go is the one I posted an excerpt to a year ago January at this link.