Lori Perkins's Blog, page 27

What Every Gay Man Needs to Know About Prostate Cancer

WHAT EVERY GAY MAN NEEDS TO KNOW
ABOUT PROSTATE CANCER
The Essential Guide to Diagnosis, Treatment, and Recovery

Edited by Gerald Perlman, PhD

Breaking the silence around the special concerns and issues faced by gay men
diagnosed with prostate cancer, this new book explores the full spectrum
of experiences from diagnosis to recovery

March 8, 2013 – Riverdale Avenue Books/Magnus is proud to publish the first trade book on prostate cancer for gay men. “I was truly amazed that something like this did not already exist at an affordable price,” said Magnus Editor-in-Chief, Donald Weise.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men and the second leading cause of deaths in men, after lung cancer. Men have a one in six chance of diagnosis with the number doubling for gay couples. While biology between gay and heterosexual men is the same, cultural differences in the ways in which gay men and heterosexuals experience diagnosis, treatment, and recovery vary widely. Most urologists, support groups, and prostate cancer literature assume patients are heterosexual, leaving gay men to seek out reliable information particular to their needs on their own.

What Every Gay Man Needs to Know About Prostate Cancer provides gay men with the essential answers to important questions often left undiscussed, regarding anal intercourse, erections and ejaculate, as well as recovery time and expectations for future sexual activity after treatment and surgery.

Magnus Books editor in chief Don Weise says of the book, “When I first heard about the project, I immediately wanted to do it. I didn’t know a lot about prostate cancer, but I saw that there was almost nothing in print on the topic for gay men and their partners specifically. I felt I had to publish the book. The clinical information is essential reading for anyone diagnosed with prostate cancer, and the personal testimonials by gay men who have survived it are deeply moving and eye-opening. The book is also an ideal tool for healthcare professionals new to the topic of how prostate cancer affects gay men and who are looking for ways to assist their gay clients navigate their diagnosis and treatment.”

Editor Gerald Perlman, PhD has been a Supervisor of Psychotherapy at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, at Fordham, Pace, and Yeshiva Universities, and at the City University of New York. In his private practice in New York, Dr. Perlman specializes in individual and couples therapy. For almost ten years (under the auspices of Malecare) he facilitated an ongoing, open-ended group for gay men who have been diagnosed with and/or treated for prostate cancer. He lives in New York.

This is an important book. Please tell people about it.

http://www.amazon.com/Every-Needs-Pro...

Why I Published We Love Jenni

I came of age in the feminist era, and still live by the feminist adage, "the personal is political." It has been my guiding mantra.

It is also the reason why I wanted to publish WE LOVE JENNI: An Unauthorized Biography of Jenni Rivera by NY Times best-selling author Marc Shapiro and Charlie Vasquez.

Jenni Rivera was an everywoman. I felt like she was my sister-in-law or my cousin through marriage. She was so real and her life, the ups and downs, was so open for all to see. It's what made her music and her TV show so powerful.

I also consider her an important voice of empowerment for Hispanic women in a machismo culture. I loved her.

I was so saddened to see her die so tragically and so early. I thought she was going to be America's Hispanic neighbor next door with her forthcoming ABC sitcom.

So that is why I am so proud to be the publisher of the first mainstream pop culture biography of Jenni, which I hope brings Jenni's life and music, and message to an entirely new audience. I want readers to pick up this book about this Mexican-American singer they didn't know, and come away feeling that they want to buy all her music, watch a marathon of her show, and keep her alive in their hearts.



So, please buy the book and read about her amazing life, and "like" the book on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/We-Love-Jenni-e...

Behind 50 Shades of Gay

Guest Post by Donald Weise, Editorial Director of RAB/Magnus

This week sees the publication of Magnus/RAB's latest must-read erotic romance, 50 Shades of Gay by actor/writer Jeffery Self. You may have seen Jeffery on 30 Rock in the role of Liz Lemon's gay nephew, Randy, or on Desperate Housewives or Hot in Cleveland, but you'll see a very new side of him in this sometimes hilarious, often tender, but always hot riff on the 50 Shades international phenomenon.

While I'm no stranger to erotic romance as a reader, as a publisher this is an area new to me. But I welcomed the opportunity to take a step in this direction once I began reading 50 Shades of Gay, because I was equally touched and aroused by the book--and there aren't many I can say that about! For starters it's set in Hollywood, where I grew up, and unfolds in the movie world where closeted gay stars are as common as the palm trees that line the streets. Being an out TV actor himself, Jeffery writes about this world with laugh out-loud humor and an insider's understanding of how power plays out both on and off the movie set.

The book's virgin protagonist, Alex Kirby, a young, out writer with literary aspirations, meets blockbuster movie star Taylor Grayson, a drop-dead gorgeous closet case who has a full-time staff guarding his closet door, at the star's latest movie premiere. The sexual heat is instant for Alex, while Taylor's playful interest in Alex seems only platonic at best--but not for long. In short order Alex finds himself romanced by the superstar in scenes right out of the movies. However there's a dark side to this shining price. Romance for Alex has never before involved an initiation into BDSM, which Taylor not just offers but demands. 50 Shades of Gay goes deep into the world of kink, depicting some of the hottest, boundary-pushing sex you'll find today.

What's also appealing to me about the novel, apart from its heat, is that 50 Shades of Gay is a love story between two men that will satisfy both gay male and straight female audiences--or anyone for that matter who's turned on by hot man-on-man sex. The book has an emotional and sexual authenticity that's fresh, and for me, sets the novel apart from most of the gay male or M/M erotic romances I see. Regardless whether you've read 50 Shades of Grey, whether you’re turned on by BDSM, or even whether your gay, Jeffery's novel is sure to arouse you and open your mind.

The Story Behind Master

MASTER: The Sexuality, Life, Politics and Philosophy of a Master by Master R can finally be purchased just about anywhere books are sold.

It took me 10 years to get this book published. The manuscript was first sent to me by an editor at Grove Press who said, "we can't publish this, but I bet you can sell it." I was a literary agent at the time and was riveted by this true-story of a dominant man who had built a slave training Bed & Dungeon in upstate New York that read like something out of THE STORY OF O.

I tried to sell this book for years, but not a single editor was interested in straight male sexuality at that time. I teased the author that if he were a gay man or a dominant woman, I could sell it in the snap of my fingers.

But now is the time for this book.

In the wake of 50 Shades of Grey, this IS the book to read if you have ever wondered about the real-life of a BDSM Master. I cannot imagine you will be able to put this book down. It will stay with you forever.

La Domaine Esemar and Master R were featured in Lisa Ling's episode Shades of Kink in her Our America show. Here's an excerpt, in case you missed it.
http://www.oprah.com/own-our-america-...»¿



Please "like" MASTER on Amazon here, http://www.amazon.com/Master-ebook/dp...
If you buy MASTER directly from our website, riverdaleavebooks.com, there is a 20% discount at check out through 2/14."

In Praise of Trunk Novels

OK, so I've been a literary agent for 25 years. And over the course of those two and half decades, I have sold more than 2000 titles (yes, before printing prices went sky high and the Internet, the average paperback novel used to sell between 85,000 and 150,000 copies, so I used to sell 100 books a year). I've had 8 titles on the NY Times best seller list. It's been a good ride, and I feel fairly confident in saying that I know what sells and what American genre readers want to read.

But I've still had a handful of flat out failures. I've had books that I loved passionately and no one bought. Or they bought them and they hit the ground with a thud.

And, as an agent, you just have to walk away.

Or tell the author to come up with something new, and to put this one in the trunk (thus the term "trunk novels," which always makes me think of that scene from The Hunger).

Or even help the author come up with something new.

Sometimes the author gets mad at you and thinks you didn't love the book enough, and goes to another agent, who rarely is able to resell or even sell the book.

So it just languishes as that book that might have been.

Until now.

I can go back and track down all the books I loved that didn't get the attention they should have (or the right cover, or the right spin, etc.).

But it can't just be me, right? I'm not the only agent who fell in love with something and couldn't sell it?

So send me your trunk novels. Tell your agent friends to send me their trunk novels. Let's show the world what they've been missing. This is your second act.

I know there are some awesome books in storage out there.

I started this post because I had just written to an old client (one of my very first) whose first novel I had sold for $25,000 and then couldn't sell any of his others. He never published anything else, but I loved his work and want to publish all four of the novels he wrote while we were together. So I tracked hm down and emailed him. And I hope he calls me Monday morning.

But that made me think of all the other fabulous books (both fiction and nonfiction, because there's a nonfiction pop culture title I tried to sell a decade ago that should be making its premier at Riverdale Avenue Books soon too), and I wanted to share the possibilities.

So, This is a call for publication, not representation, although I am sure it will be easier to get an agent once you have a publisher.

I was going to call this post Why It's Good to be an Agent and a Publisher, but then I expanded it from the personal, but I don't want to mislead anyone.

So, please send your work to lori@riverdaleavebooks.com.

New Magnus Title: Passionate Attention of Interesting Men- Guest Post by Donald Weise, Editorial Director of Magnus/RAB

am thrilled to have published Ethan Mordden’s Passionate Attention of an Interesting Man. Ethan’s story collections Buddies and Everybody Loves You were books I read while coming out, their distinctive Stonewall Inn Editions logo on the spine announcing “gay fiction!” to anyone in the know.

Passionate Attention is a clever, fun, sexy read featuring a brand new novella and four stories. While not quite erotica, it’s still hot!—or as Ethan describes it, “Every one of the stories deals with the relationship of a dominant and submissive male, the daddy and his ‘boy,’ the top man and the vassal.”

In one of my favorite passages, a character says, “Jutter Flexx was not a porn star. He had done some modeling for Colt, and he did become one of their most exploited figures, with his own calendar. In the gay world, this is like being elected President of France.” How can I not love a brilliant line like that?

Best Vampire Steampunk EVER! Avalon Revisited by O.M. Grey

I read this book when Louise Fury was a newbie agent. She came into the office breathless and told me she had found a masterpiece. I decided I'd better read this so-called work of genius, since my name would be going out on it as she submitted it under our agency stationery. I started reading it right after she left, was hooked after the first chapter, and read it straight though the night.

Now, we shopped it around. Editors LOVED it and called and said they wanted to throw money at us, but then came back and asked why the book had to be in the male vampire's voice. Couldn't the author change it? But it didn't work that way because Arthur Tudor is as memorable a vampire son-of-a-bitch as the Vampire Lestat.

They also wanted us to lengthen the book, because it was just about 50,000 words.

So O.M. Grey did that.

And then I started a new publishing company and I begged Louise Fury to let me buy the book.

And she let me because I believe in it so much.

Here it is.

Please, please, please "like" it on Amazon , http://www.amazon.com/Avalon-Revisite... ….

(where it's only $5.99) and you get the extra 20,000 words and the first chapter of the second book in this series, which should blow your panties off.

If you want to buy it from our website, please go here, http://riverdaleavebooks.com/books/20...

If you are a reviewer, please request it at NetGalleys and give us a review.

Look for the Give-away coming soon at Goodreads.

And tell your friends.

Let's make this into the best-seller it should be.

FLASHES: Adventures in Dating Through Menopause by Michelle Churchill is out!

I am thrilled to report that FLASHES: Adventures in Dating through Menopause by Michelle Churchill is our new book for the week and is now available on our website and all ebook vendor sites (Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Smashwords, Apple, OmniLit, etc.).

As a friend of Riverdale Avenue Books, we are offering a 20% discount if you buy the book directly form the site (it kicks in at checkout).
http://riverdaleavebooks.com/books/19...

We would also greatly appreciate if if you would go to Amazon and "like" the book. It helps the author's ranking in search engines.

And please tell your friends about this great read.

http://www.amazon.com/Flashes-Adventu...

"Hot flashes, hot and not-so-hot dates, hysterical laughing and crying. Michelle Churchill's Flashes is a reminder that whether 15 or 50, it doesn't get any easier to find a partner, especially when hormonal.”
--Suzanne Portnoy, The Butcher, The Baker, the Candlestick Maker and The Not So-Invisible Woman


FLASHES is a story of coming of age again. While discovering that sex was the best cure for hot flashes, she also uncovered the secrets she had hidden from herself.

As author Michelle Churchill approached her 50th birthday, she found herself careening toward menopause. Suddenly, she could think of nothing but men – about their hairy bodies, their legs and how their hands would feel running up and down her own body. She had an ever-present desire to have male contact in any way she could.

So, how does a single woman living in New York City accomplish this? The author turned to her computer, the only thing she’d had a true relationship with in the past decade and signed up for every online dating service she could find.

FLASHES tells the story of those adventures through a series of dates, from the young man who pretended to be a senior citizen to date older women to the guy who showed up for a first date carrying a bag of sex toys.

With passionate wit, Churchill examines how she got to middle age alone and where she’s going.


In Flashes, a perimenopausal Michelle Churchill swims her way through uncontrollable hot flashes as well as a sea of men in her search for Mr. Right and surprisingly discovers the most important person of all...herself. This sparkling and witty memoir has the charm and self-questioning of Bridget Jones's Diary mixed with the lust and sassiness of Sex And The City. Could a television series be on the horizon? Hollywood, take notice!

---Arthur Wooten, author of Dizzy, Leftovers and Birthday Pie

4 Internship Positions Available at RAB

As a graduate of NYU's journalism program (and a participant in the internship program way back then at Savvy Magazine), I would like to offer these, internships to college students.

Riverdale Avenue Books has 4 internship positions available.

The office is in Riverdale in the Bronx. Each position comes with a desk and a computer, and the intern will get the most out of it ifs/he comes to the office once a week. This is a new expanding epublishing company, so there's also the possibility that I may hire someone as the company grows, so I would prefer someone who can get to the office. I have hired many of my interns in the past.

I taught journalism and editing at NYU, and have worked with their internship program, as well as two long distance college internships, so I can oversee this internship for college credit, if that works for the intern.

Assistant to the Publisher - all around assistant helping with writing blurbs, author bios, setting up blog tours and author interviews, presentations, panel discussions, reading and evaluating query letters.

Assistant to Editorial Director of Magnus Books - this is our LGBT imprint. Similar duties as above with more reading and evaluating.

P.R. Assistant - finding new outlets for news about our books and authors, overseeing the company blog, scheduling interviews and perhaps writing drafts of press releases. We do have a p.r. firm.

Social Media Intern - organizing the company's social media - twitter, facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads - and growing it.

Please contact lori@riverdaleavebooks.com

We Love New York: A Hurricane Sandy Benefit Anthology

Those of you who know me, know that I love a good anthology.

And you also know that I love New York. I have lived here my whole life and just can't imagine living anywhere else. But Hurricane Sandy really knocked us back quite a bit. I have never seen the city so battered, even after 9/11 (very different circumstances).

New Yorkers always band together and rise up, and so do romance writers. Leave it to Trinity Blacio, one of the kindest, most generous women I have ever met to immediately call and ask if there was anything we could do to help New York. Before the ink was even dry on my new publishing company's incorporation papers, Trinity had volunteered to rally the troops and help me put together a benefit anthology to raise money to help New York.

Below are the details:

WE LOVE NEW YORK: A Hurricane Sandy Benefit Anthology

All stories must be 2,000-5000 words,

The theme is love in New York. Ten percent of proceeds will go to the Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy. Stories must be in by Jan. 15. We will consider previously published stories.

We hope to publish 20 stories between 2000 and 5,000 words (might consider going up to 10,000 if the story is exceptional). Pro rata royalties split between the authors. Non-exclusive World rights. We hope this will be an audio title as well.

This will be our Valentine's Day title pubbing 2/12.

Submit Stories as word doc attachments with a brief bio about the author to lori@riverdaleavebooks.com