Jane Litte's Blog, page 1043

ACE/ROC 2011 Fall Preview and Giveaway from Anne Sowards

Welcome to Ace and Roc's exciting fall books preview and giveaway. It's almost autumn, and when it starts getting colder, I, for one, love to curl up with a good book. We've got some great debuts and new titles from favorite authors to talk about (and give away) to keep you entertained no matter the weather.

Thanks again to Dear Author for giving me this opportunity to let you know about some of our terrific upcoming titles. As always, there are too many good books for me to mention all of...

How Agency Pricing Helped Barnes and Noble Gain a Foothold in eBooks

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On June 21, 2011, BN happily announced $7 billion in sales due, in part, to a 50% increase in sales at BN.com.  The WSJ's lead in the July 20, 2011, article is "Meet Barnes & Noble Inc., software company."

The original nook was announced in October 2009 and released in November of 2009.  At that time, it was estimated that Amazon held 45% of the ereader market but sales wise, speculation was that Amazon comprised 70%-90% of the digital book market. The market of digital books was less than 2...

DA/SBTB Bestseller List

Week ending August 30, 2011

Hearts Aflame by Johanna Lindsey Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo Wild and Steamy by Carolyn Crane Jill Myles and Meljean Brook Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo Always the Bridesmaid by Nina Harrington Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo Frederica by Georgette Heyer Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo Arabella by Georgette Heyer Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo Bad Boyfriend by K A Mitchell  Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo A Night...

REVIEW: Space Slugs by Frances Pauli

Dear Ms. Pauli,

I don't try and hide the fact that when I read (yet another) romance book title that features the word "scandal" or "shocking" or "Duke" or "Mistress," the chances of me reading it drop a notch. I'm so damn sick of these interchangeable titles I could scream. For that reason alone, when you offered us your book, "Space Slugs" to review, I decided if the excerpt was halfway decent I'd give it a try. It was and I did but unfortunately, many things about the book left me wanting.

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First Page: DARK HOUSES – YA Dystopian

Welcome to First Page Saturday. Individual authors anonymously send a first page read and critiqued by the Dear Author community of authors, readers and industry others. Anyone is welcome to comment. You may comment anonymously.

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The forest was noisy. Wind ruffled the leaves, birds sang, and something small and innocent scurried through the duff nearby. Caylen liked a noisy forest; it was when things got quiet that she started to worry.

She moved forward quickly but carefully, being sure not ...

What John's Been Reading, Week of August 30th

This past week was a blur of family vacationing and getting ready for school.  I just had my first day today as well, so my reading is already taking a toll with my energy.  High school throws punches like that.  My reading is going to hopefully continue at a semi-similar pace, and I'm going to be attempting to keep up more with reviews once I get organized.  These were the books I read during the last week or two of summer.

Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan

This was one of those books that I...

DUAL REVIEW: In the Arms of the Marquess by Katherine Ashe

This is a Dual Review instead of Dueling because Sunita and I came away feeling the same about the book but for slightly different reasons.

Dear Ms. Ashe,

I read less historical romance than I used to, but I was intrigued by the description of your book, as well as by your bio. I approach books set partly or wholly in British India with trepidation but I am still drawn to them. And I was hopeful that your day job as a history professor would improve my chances of reading a sensitively...

Friday Film Review: Wild Target

[image error]Wild Target (2010)

Genre: action/comedy/romance

Grade: B+

"I love you, Victor Maynard." – Roger, a parrot

It's got a hit man, an inept thief, a forged Rembrandt, a lost young man, the second best assassin in the business, a mother with high standards, a pink cat, a stolen bullet strafed car and a lesson about cleaning your gun. What more could you want in a film?

[image error]Victor Maynard (Bill Nighy) is 54 years old, the best assassin in the business and assigned to kill Rose (Emily Blunt) who pulled an a...

Review: Seeing Spots by Ellen Fisher

Dear Ms. Fisher,

You have a fair amount of self-published books up for sale.  I think I tried one and enjoyed it, tried another and it wasn't for me, though you have a nice, easy voice. When I was searching for self-published books to read, I ran across this one and purchased, as it was only $0.99 cents. I'm happy to say this was a purchase I did not regret, but I was not blown away by it either.

[image error]Seeing Spots is a 'contemporary romantic comedy with a paranormal twist' according to the book's...

Thursday Midday Links: eBooks 20% of the Market?

Barnes & Noble reports that the majority of its ebook sales are agency priced books (which feeds nicely into my Sunday article about how the biggest winner of agency pricing was BN).   BN announced its quarterly results two days ago.  Total sales are up 2% to $1.4billion, driven by large increases at bn.com as a result of nook color and nook touch and "a quadrupling of digital content sales over last year's first quarter."  In store sales decreased 3% for the year, particularly for books...