Jane Litte's Blog, page 941

Monday Morning News: Timeline of the pricefixing lawsuit, Digital readers being spied on, and

I’m changing things up a little. More and more people apparently read the news roundup that I post every day and therefore I’ve decided to post the news posts first thing in the morning. That’s when most people read the news and thus Dear Author can be a consistent morning routine for individuals who come for the news but not the reviews.

The reviews will be posted at 8 am and 12 pm CST followed by the deals posting in the afternoon around 2 or so. I’m still fiddling with the time.

In any event...

Price Fixing Lawsuits Against Publishers Summarized with Timeline of Events

Intro:

In April, the DOJ filed suit against five of the big 6 publishers alleging an illegal price fixing conspiracy with Apple that increased prices of digital books. Three publishers have agreed to a settlement which has yet to be approved by the court.

Penguin, Macmillan and Apple are proceeding forth with the suit against several of States, Class Action Plaintiffs and the Department of Justice. The trial is set for June 3, 2013.

The following includes a timeline of events as well as backgrou...

REVIEW: Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt

Dear Ms. Hoyt:

You are a superior writer and because you are a superior writer, you can get away with things that lesser writers cannot. First, let me commend you for writing about non titled characters. This is such a rarity in historical romance that the success of your series is a testament to your storytelling skills. Second, every book I’ve read of yours has a fairytale woven throughout, usually as the epigraph. These fairy tales are always so finely crafted and in “Thief of Shadows” it i...

Daily Deals: Four recommendations at $3.99 and under, from the creepy to the contemporary

Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis. $3.99

This book was one of “Save the Contemporary” books. Save the Contemporary was a campaign that Sarah of Smart Bitches and I ran a couple of years ago to increase the profile of contemporary romances. Contemporaries are really on the rise right now and Shalvis’ “Instant” series which featured the romances of three Wilder brothers in Wishful, California, fit the oeuvre well. This book is one of my favorite Shalvis titles. Fans of contemporary, modern boo...

Using Belvedere to auto add purchases to Calibre

This is a follow on to Jane’s post on automating theadding ofbooks to Calibre in Mac OS, but this time for Windows users.

There is a neat little program called Belvedere from Lifehacker which is kind of a knock off of the Hazel program Jane mentioned for Mac’s. Belvedere is an automated file manager that can do all kinds of things, but we’re only going to look at it from the specific task adding our purchases to Calibre automatically.

Step 1: Create folder for Calibre additions

Before we start s...

Daily Deals: Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brien, famed sea faring series, and others

Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brien. $3.99
The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik are inspired by Novik’s love for the famous Patrick O’Brien series featuring Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin. The first in this series is Master and Commander. Some of the earliest slash fiction was written about Aubrey and Maturin, maybe even some of it penned by Novik herself. Google has discounted this series in its Play store. Amazon has matched it. Google’s ePubs are compatible with all other ePub devi...

REVIEW: The Other Soldier by Kathy Altman

Dear Ms. Altman:

I wasn't sure I was going to read this book but Brie asked me if I would take a look at it after we briefly discussed soldiers marrying their friends' widows. That's not what this story is about. It's about a storyline I've never read before. Corporal Reid Macfarland sought out Parker Dean on his first leave in over a year to apologize. Tim Dean, Parker's husband, was killed by a drone under friendly fire. Reid was the one who sent the drone.

[image error]

Parker responds with anger because...

First Page: Craven Desires

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. You can submit your own First Page using this form.

“…Lady Evelyn turned, flinching when Laird Craven pulled her back into his arms. She stiffened and arched as far from him as she could. Work roughened palms skimmed down her arms, before one arm curved around her wais...

Daily Deals: Suspense, Magical Realism, Fantasy and Medieval all for $2.99

[image error]Out of Time by Samantha Graves. $2.99

This is a mix of paranormal and romantic suspense. I thought I had read this book but I searched the archives for the author’s name and came up empty. Apparently, though, it was a 2009 RITA nominee for contemporary. You can see how important the industry views the awards by the prevalence of the award in the jacket copy. Or on the cover. Okay, none at all but Forever has put out great romantic suspense authors like Annie Solomon, Kate Brady, and Karen Ros...

REVIEW: The Company You Keep by Tracy Kelleher

Dear Ms. Kelleher

June 23 was the 40th Anniversary of Title IX, a controversial statute that required colleges to offer women equal access to collegial athletics. The initial goal was to provide an increased opportunity for women to attend college through the form of athletic scholarships. Over time, the statute has been criticized because in some cases men’s programs were reduced or eliminated. The Company You Keep uses this controversy as the center of the conflict between the main protagoni...