Erotic Romance

Mithra

2012-01-26T16:13:00.001-06:00

Mithra Publishing opened recently, apparently to publish crime fiction:

'"What types of books are we in the market for?That's the easy one. Mithra publishes books in the thriller and fiction genres. There are numerous sub genres within these categories.'

They seem to have retrofitted the genres of romance and erotica into their plan. However the one book I could find for sale on their website is, strangely enough, in none of these genres.

They also had the ~~unique~~ foolish idea of putting advertising in their ebooks. (Because I know that what I want from a 6 pound/8 dollar ebook is advertising.Its not a distraction, it's a service!)

"Far from being intrusive, e-book ads may help to enhance the reading experience by giving the reader more information about a product or service relevant to the story."

Yeah.

Pass.

I don't mean to be a bitch, but...

2012-01-26T11:02:00.001-06:00

LR Cafe Best Cover

So the Preditors and Editors readers [cough] Poll has come out and none of the winning publishers are in the usual top five lists even just for the erotica/romance epublisher genres. Some of the top ten would be on my 'avoid' and 'amateur hour' lists.

I mean, really. What does this poll mean now that more authors and their minions vote on it than readers? I bet the majority of voters in the genre categories have no direct experience of the books they are voting for.

Which I guess does make me a bitch raining on the winners' parade. Oh, well.

See also: Complete List of LR Cafe's Best of 2011 Winners

The problem with romance novels

2012-01-25T09:27:00.001-06:00

The problem with romance novels is largely people who problematize romance novels. (And yes, problematize is a word, even if Firefox doesn't think so). How dare authors get kudos for writing something a lot of people (well, women mostly, but they are kind of people) enjoy. Fer shame!

And while I am on the subject. The problem with calling ebooks ebooks (instead of just books) is people who think there is a value different between "ebook" and a "book", rather than just a semantic difference (specifically ebook as a subset of book, letting consumers know what format said book is in).

Another Revouhaha

2012-01-23T11:06:00.001-06:00

Dear Author's review
Koko Brown's response
Edited to add: Smart Bitches review

South Tyneside's Short Memory

2012-01-22T20:39:00.001-06:00

"Catherine Cookson Country" is being torn down from the road signs of South Tyneside (United Kingdom). It seems that the history of the area, in reality and in Dame Catherine Cookson's novels, is too grubby to continue to acknowledge.They need to update their [shudder] "branding".

Coliloquy

2012-01-20T14:49:00.003-06:00

According to the press release, Coliloquy (presumably a riff on soliloquy) launched with interactive ebooks, entirely in the romance genre, written by Heidi R. Kling, Kira Snyder, Liz Maverick and Tawna Fenske. None of whom I have heard of (not that that necessarily means anything, I don't get out much).

Apparently these ebooks will allow reads to communicate with the author and choose what POV they want to read a chapter in--or other vaguely referenced interactively stuff like that.

Me, I prefer books to be books. But if you try one of these out, be sure to let me know what "Reading and Writing. Re-imagined." looks like....

The Hari Matter

2012-01-20T13:35:00.002-06:00

It is not often I feel and sympathy for a plagiarist. But I think some kudos is due to Johann Hari who was caught copying, admitted to it, apologized, and when offered his job back at the Independent, didn't take it.

Still a very low thing to do, but most plagiarists compound the area with months of evasion and excuses.

(Second link may be slow as everyone and their dog is reading this blog post right now)

Forever Yours: New Romance Epublishing Imprint of Hatchette/Grand Central...

2012-01-19T16:29:00.001-06:00

...will be opening soon (February) and accepting submissions.

See also:

Links: the 'Isn't Violence Entertaining?' edition

2012-01-18T21:45:00.000-06:00

Hey kids, lets do a jigsaw with a voluptuous dead body on it! Yay!

Brazil’s Big Brother May Have Broadcast a Sexual Assault [blog/news]
Harlequin jigsaw puzzles [new product]
Student newspaper calls for death for gays [commentary]

Links: the 'Oh, Great' Edition

2012-01-14T17:49:00.002-06:00

Oh, great. Another semantic issue to quibble about: writer versus author [blog/opinion]
Oh great, another author critiquing a negative review [website/review+comments]

Shades of Grey

2012-01-13T11:11:00.000-06:00

Remember when I suggested that The Writers Coffee Shop, by carrying fanfiction and linking commercial and fan texts, might cause trouble even for their clearly popular books like 50 Shades of Grey (former Twilight AU)

Well: surprise.

AAR get off the Dime

2012-01-11T10:24:00.003-06:00

It seems that the AAR (Association of Authors' Representatives) has provided some guidelines re: agent-slash-epublishers. But I have no idea what they say because I don't subscribe to Publishers Lunch.... I do wonder why, unlike their general ethical guidelines, this "advice" is not being made public?

On a side note: Jeebus their website is ugly.

And here's another

2012-01-10T19:35:00.001-06:00

"The frozen zipper of her jack cut into her lips as she tried sinking further into her coat. She was trembling violently. It was April. It was supposed to be warm. Grey clouds hung so low they obscure Lake Ontario nearby." --From Heartbreaker by K.C. Hall (2010) and also from One Dance with a Stranger by Mary M Forbes (2009)

"They both laughed as I thought silently for a second. She's probably right I better open the door. So without hesitation I jumped up and sprinted to open the door. I removed the chair and turned the knob to open the door. Jerry [Tony] stood there in his not-yet changed work clothes that he wore to cut grass in and dirt and grass plunging off of him." --From A Fool for Love by K.C Hall (2010) and also from When the Grass Wasn't Greener on the Other Side by Sandra Hicks Lavenchi (2009)

"She shrugged it off and began tying her bikini top, a trip to the beach is what she needed, a nice swim in the ocean. She loved the ocean air, the smell of the salt and the way the water felt on her body. She drove to the beach in her fancy convertible her husband had bought her for Christmas, a blazing Porsche Cayene [a pretty red Porsche]" -- From Whore: an Erotic Tale of Deception by K. C. Hall (2009) and also from Deception: An Erotic Tale of Twisted Fate by Stephanie Smelova (2009)

My rejected Amazon review

2012-01-10T13:11:00.001-06:00

I posted:

"1.0 out of 5 stars Plagiarised, January 10, 2012
By Emily Veinglory
This review is from: The Pleasure Courts (Kindle Edition)
This work was written by literotica author "anonentity"--not by Robin Scott. This seems to be a case of shameless plagiarism for profit."

It was rejected as Objectionable, Promotional, Inappropriate or Off-topic information.

Can't say that I agree.

Another one...

2012-01-10T12:11:00.000-06:00

Dragonfairy press is seeking many speculative fiction genres including paranormal romance/erotica. The offer royalties of 40% of net and e/POD publication. Owners/editors are not specifically named but the founding authors are Kenya Wright and Alicia Wright Brewster.

Robbin' Scott

2012-01-10T10:48:00.006-06:00

It appears that prolific kindle "author" Robin Scott is indulging in some serious plagiarism.

Known cases:
Arrow, The--actual author Michael McCaskil (literotica, self-published)
A Sexual Act in King Arthur's Court--actual author: brightlyiburn (literotica)
Story for Bed, A--actual author MikeIvy (literotica)
Oral Exam, An--actual author GradProf (literotica)
Pleasure Courts, the--actual author: anonentity (literotica)
Slave of the Galaxies--actual author dweaver999 (literotica)

Edited to add: looks like these books are being purged from Amazon as we speak, so links above may be broken.

All the cool kids are doing it.....

2012-01-06T18:28:00.001-06:00

The latest author to go all ranty on a reviewer is Julie Halpern. Phase of the moon?

Edited to add: link removed as the post has been deleted

Not looking Good for Nook

2012-01-05T11:20:00.001-06:00

A Barnes and Noble representative has reportedly said that: “over-anticipated the growth in consumer demand for single purpose black-and-white reading devices this holiday.” That is: sales of Nooks are not that great, but we prefer to blame the customer, not ourselves. That approach to the book business worked so well for Borders, after all.

Instead of separating their e-tailing arm from their under-performing dedicated e-reader, they seem to be looking at selling the e-tailing and Nook business off as a unit, and putting all their chips on printed books and associated nick-nacks.

Links: What's Wrong...?

2012-01-04T22:09:00.003-06:00

What's Wrong with Christian Romance Novels:"The problem I see with so many romance novels is that the basis for determining whether two people should be together is whether they are “in love” or not."
Does Your Website Suck? Fix It!: "If you don't have the heading BOOKS on your website, for the love of God, put one up."
File under 'Q' for Questionable: The 'Thank You for Your Review' blog.
Piracy via Goodreads? See also at TeddyPig

Links: Authors Behaving Badly. Redux

2012-01-04T14:54:00.004-06:00

Leigh Fallon rallies the troops against snarky review by a "disgruntled old cow": And the email somehow gets sent to the reviewer.... (oops, and author apology, but is that enough?)

NetGalley, not friendly?

2012-01-04T14:11:00.000-06:00

I realize I am biased here, and I fully understand that publishers need to limit how many review copies they send out, including ebooks ARCs made available through Net Galley--but I do think some publishers are being a little precious about where they set the bar.

Berkley Romance informs us (in bold font) that: "we are only approving review requests from blogs with 1,000+ followers." Entangled also requires 1000 followers and adds "Yes, this is a lot, but we are in the business of selling books and exposure is key." Disney-Hyperion won't consider bloggers at all.

I think I preferred the old 'ask for an ARC and cross your fingers' approach more than the current long list of 'thou shalts'.

(By contrast University of Illinois press: "University of Illinois Press titles are READ NOW in the catalog, so all NetGalley members can access the galleys immediately.")

Links: Tempests

2012-01-03T11:25:00.007-06:00

Goodreads reviewers attacked by authors: Worse than 4chan? Well, not quite. But it does strike me that "authors that think they’re too good for their readers" wouldn't be on GoodReads in the first place. The bad reactions are, perhaps, from authors who care altogether too much about what their readers think.... [See also: Tempest review]
When Dads Are Barred from their Daughters’ Basketball Games – Improvise Reasonable Accommodations [News, International]
Writing about rape [Blog, commentary]
The Cat’s Meow: Taiwanese Airline Launches Hello Kitty Jet [Random bizarritude]

Hmmm

2011-12-31T20:10:00.000-06:00

Sssh.com seems to be very happy to be teaming up with Blushing Books: "This may be our first eBook publishing venture, but it will not be our last!" The thing is, as far as I can see, Blushing Books is part of ABCD Webmasters (a spanking oriented collection of websites and e-publishers) which is known for delayed payment and non-payment of authors--unless something has changed on that front?

Market: Inkspell

2011-12-29T10:28:00.001-06:00

Standard disclaimers apply. A new epublisher with a focus on romance and fantasy.

Not sure what to make of this nonsense: "We do not publish erotic romance but all heat levels are accepted if it is relevant to the story."

Some people think porn means nasty crap, and erotica means porn--
but assuming erotic romance=erotica=porn=nasty crap is a new.

Pretty covers, though.

Edited to add:
Entangled uses the sentence: "We are not an erotic romance publisher, however we consider all heat levels, so long as the erotic elements are secondary the story." -- which I think is somewhat less derissive as it at least implies what they mean by 'erotic romance' other than 'stuff we don't want'. (Not that I, personally, agree with that definition--but whatever, I may be in the minority there).

Entangled are saying erotic romance is a romance where sex is part of the primary story, Inkspell by contrast is saying erotic romance is a romance where sex is gratuitously added that is irrelevant to the story.