HelenKay Dimon

Yesterday’s winner: Angie. Yay!! Email me so I can get your book (or whatever) out to you.

Today’s pondering has two parts:

1. Those book references you see on blogs – the ones where it reads as if the blogger is in a group and the “job” is to post about a particular book at a particular time. You know the ones. The entries usually consist of the cover, a description and maybe an excerpt. Usually the blogger hasn’t read the book. I think of these as book ads. Like ‘em? Do they do anything for you? Do they make you want to buy the book?

My view: It’s your blog so you can put whatever you want on there. If I wanted to write REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM* all day, I could. Sure, I would get a very different group of people reading my blog and writing to me, if anyone even did, but I could make that blogging decision. I haven’t, so don’t panic. But, really, bloggers can post whatever they want so long as the blogger is prepared to take the consequences.

In keeping with that philosophy, I understand the purpose behind the book ads (my phrase). I love when authors talk about other books. But, these book ads don’t work for me. I generally go to a site, see the book ad, look at the cover, see what the book is and then do not read on. I leave the site and come back the next day. It’s not that the book ad upsets me. It’s just that, for me, it’s not effective. If someone posts about a book, I’ll connect if: the blogger found the book and is excited about it; the author wants to know something about a book and is posting with a question; the blogger read it and/or is reviewing it; or the blogger is chatting about a friend or contemporary’s book on a personal level. That’s me. You?

2. Bookmarks? Cover flats? Little gadgets? Do you care? Do you like them? I have bookmarks and cover flats and a few other items. As a reader I don’t collect them. What do you guys think? And, by the way, if you want a cover flat or bookmark, always know I have them. Just write me and let me know.

*A reference from Stephen King’s The Shining, in case you didn’t know…

Here’s what happening through Friday: I’m going to ask a few promo/publishing questions that have been on my mind. If you comment, you could win a copy of Viva Las Bad Boys!. Yeah, I will give a copy away to a person chosen randomly from those who comment each day. Four days – four chances to win. And, yes, this is in addition to the “regular” monthly contest going on. If you are picked and already have the book (or for some ridiculous reason don’t want it???), you’ll get another prize. See, you could win twice this month!

Today’s question – when can an author call herself a bestseller? Seems like there’s an obvious answer to that one, I know. What I’m really talking about is when you pick up a book in the store and see USA Today Bestselling author or something similar title on the cover…and you’ve never heard of the person before. Many times I think the “bestselling” record comes from being in an anthology or collection with a Big Name Author and riding her coattails on to a list. Lord knows, I support that idea. But, is it legitimate for that coattail rider to then call herself a bestseller? Yeah, she was on the list but does it strike you funny or wrong when you see it?

Diana Peterfreund’s debut book Secret Society Girl comes out this week. In a pretty cool promo coup, she got a mention in the Washington Post Sunday Source Section. Specifically, her book was highlighted and her book cover included in Media Mix - a section that features new releases across several mediums. The blurb says you’ll love this about the book:

The action is undeniably juicy — from steamy make-out sessions with campus hotties to cloak-and-dagger initiations — and the book is a quick read.

Yay Diana!!

In the even-closer-to-home category – Stacy posted a wonderful review of Viva Las Bad Boys! on her blog. She says:

After reading this anthology, I imagine HelenKay will go far with her writing. She brings an honesty to her stories that I really enjoy, and her style works so well with the Brava line.

Awwww. We love Stacy.

If you’re looking for some chick lit short stories and would like to support a good cause, you can do both at the same the time if you buy Girls Night Out. Here’s an article about it. If you don’t feel like following the link, here’s a review from Publishers Weekly about the book:

The 25 stories in this anthology (following Girl’s Night In) come from the shiniest names in chick lit, and most seem dedicated to making frustrated singles feel like their lives are very, very normal. The hilarious “Ladies’ Night at Underwood Pet Hospital” by Nicki Earls features a local TV news anchor trying to meet the guy next door by being “completely charming” in her nightly broadcast and “sending him a telepathic message that went, `Watch my news… watch my news…’ ” Chris Manby’s offering, “Saving Amsterdam,” is a sexy European exercise in getting over “the Bastard Ex.” Lauren Henderson’s “Last Waltz” is an introspective slow dance of miscommunication and insecurity between lovers at the fair. Tales from the wed side can also be found, like editor Mlynowski’s “A Little Bit Broken” (“I am the kind of woman whose husband cheats on her at a bachelor party”) and Lolly Winston’s “Only Some People,” an incongruous story about a middle-aged couple (with nary a Cosmopolitan in sight). Though uneven, fans of the genre won’t be disappointed, and the net proceeds go to charities overseas.

The book benefits War Child and No Strings . You can find more information about this impressive project here.

Dropped in at Borders last evening. Believe it or not, I was not going on a hunt for Viva Las Bad Boys!. But, of course, since I was there I did check… yeah, not on the shelves yet. It’s allegedly shipping from B&N online, so that’s the place to track it down at the moment.

While I was busy not seeing my book, I did buy the books of other authors. Specifically, I picked up:

-A Dangerous Dress by Julia Holden – Looked as if it had potential.
-Enslave Me Sweetly by Gena Showalter – I actually owned a copy of this previously and gave it to someone as a gift. Now I have my own copy.

For the first time, I saw a book from New Concepts Publishing in the store. It was Warriors of the Darkness by Mandy Roth. The woman in the aisle with me bought it. She also bought a Susan Squires book and one by Rebecca York – you know, in case you care.

And, I saw a book with what I think – others may disagree – is a strange looking cover. Very mechanical. It caught my attention to the point where I had to pick it up and read the back. The book was Garrison: Lockdown by Vijaya Schartz. Apologies to Schartz and Triskelion Press if everyone but me loves it.

Writers have a tendency to whine. Yeah, I do it too. It’s a human trait. One of the less attractive ones, sure. You know the drill. It goes like this: too many books under contract; too few books under contract; too much to do; too little to do; no time; too much going on; and/or, too little publisher support, communication and assistance.

Then one day you read about some amazing person from an unbelievable background who writes a book and, really, you don’t even know how the person managed to survive.

The amazing author this time: Baby Halder

Her story:

Abandoned by her mother at 4, married off at 12 to an abusive husband, a mother herself at 13 – there is little in Baby Halder’s traumatic childhood to suggest she would become an emerging star on India’s literary horizon.

A single mother at 25, struggling to feed her three children by working as a maid for a series of exploitative employers, Halder had no time to devote to reading or to contemplating the harsh reality of her existence until she started work in the home of a sympathetic retired academic. He caught her browsing through his books when she was meant to be dusting the shelves, discovered a latent interest in literature, gave her a child’s notebook and pen and encouraged her to start writing.

Her book: A Life Less Ordinary

And I was upset when my internet service went out for 18 hours… ::sigh::

The nice people at Touchstone sent me a book – Point Clear by Jennifer Paddock. With the deadline over and my mind still mushy, I decided to give it a try. The cover is provocative. So is the copy:

Caroline Berry is lost at twenty-seven, living in New York — not as the writer she once hoped to be but as an assistant at two part-time jobs. In an attempt to figure out a next step, she heads for Point Clear, Alabama, to spend several weeks relaxing at an old southern hotel on Mobile Bay — unaware that it will soon lie in the direct path of Hurricane Ivan.

Ignoring evacuation orders, Caroline hides out in the hotel and braves the storm alone. The next morning, she meets a mysterious man on the beach as he enters the churning water for a swim. He is Walker Galloway, a champion swimmer, which she discovers after learning of his disappearance in the newspaper. Realizing she is the last to have seen him, Caroline becomes entangled with his family and friends, and as she is gradually drawn in to Walker’s world, she finds, at last, the story she was meant to tell.

This turned out to be one of those books I picked up and didn’t put down until I hit the last page. Nothing explodes. No one gets kidnapped. No serial killers. No real romance either – not in the way I think of it. I love all of those things. None were present here, which had me worried at the beginning. What was present was incredibly strong writing – spare yet very evocative.

Not everyone agrees with me. Kirkus Reviews said:

Paddock’s off-handed prose (“The place was not crowded but not empty either”) makes one long for anything to occur, but not even a hurricane can enliven this tale. Astonishingly dull.

I disagree. I think Sonny Brewer, the author of The Poet of Tolstoy Park got it right. He said:

Paddock has worked some kind of sorcery and imposed a strange and beautiful quiet on a situation that’s ready to explode, writing people whose hearts you can hear beating.

Now, I’m not one who thinks only spare writing works or is good. Many times, it bores me (see: The English Patient). Here – very compelling. I also liked the fact the cover, copy and actual novel were consistent in mood. I didn’t have one of those “what the hell is that cover saying” moments. I did have to read the ending a few times, but that was more about me making sure I got “it” than anything else.

This book is worth a try if you’re looking for something different.

According to Publishers Marketplace:

Barbara Walters’ memoir, resold to Knopf, for less money than Miramax had paid, though “in the same league” (the original figure was never established, and was guessed to range anywhere from $4 million to $6 million), by Mort Janklow at Janklow & Nesbit.

Yeah, you know, this is what I was offered for mine… 

I’m one of those people who doesn’t find Barbara interesting enough to watch when she comes into my home for free (via television – not via a tin foil helmet or anything).  I can’t imagine plunking down $26.95 to read about her.  The Barbara Love thing has always escaped me.  I feel the same way about Leslie Stahl.  Don’t get her either.  Now, Linda Ellberbee?  Yeah, there’s a cool chick.  I read her book.  Paid for it even.

But it is worth pondering how much Barbara could have snagged if she had waited to make the sale until after the Star Jones brouhaha.  Wonder what Star is getting for hers.   

Two sales at Publishers Marketplace jumped out at me recently, but for very different reasons.

First, I read this and thought it sounded like the cutest thing ever.  Was actually one of the few times (okay, the only) I regretted not being thirteen:

Lisa Papademetriou’s THE WIZARD, THE WITCH AND TWO GIRLS FROM JERSEY, a humorous send up of the fantasy genre, in which two girls fight over a book for a book report and find themselves in a magical land on a quest to slay the Queen of Twilight, optioned by Damon Ross for Nickelodeon Movies/Paramount Pictures, by Stephen Moore at the Paul Kohner Agency, on behalf of Rosemary Stimola of the Stimola Literary Studio.

Then this:

NYT bestselling author Mary Blayney’s TRAITOR’S KISS, in which a titled astronomer is rescued from prison by a nun wearing perfume, to Shauna Summers at Bantam Dell, in a good deal, in a three-book deal, by Helen Breitwieser at Cornerstone Literary (World).

A “good” deal means Blayney got an advance in the $100,000-$250,000 range.  Yay for Blayney!  What struck me about this one is that I’ve never heard of, or read, Blayney.  I checked out her website.  Looks as if her recent novella was in an anthology with J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts).  Talk about a huge payday…  Blayney’s other books appear to be mostly Zebra Regencies, an imprint I believe is dead.  I’m guessing that being in a book with J.D. Robb, and hitting the NYT Bestseller list as a result, pushed Blayney into a significantly higher advance range.  But, really, that may not be fair.  I don’t know enough about Blayney’s career to be able to tell.  While the sale blurb doesn’t make me want to run out and buy this, I’m intrigued enough to give it a try.

According to BookScan (via The Book Standard ): The top five Overall Bestsellers and the top five Fiction Bestsellers were identical last week. Apparently this (“this” meaning: the same books being in the same slots on both lists) hasn’t happened since the week of July 24, 2005. Maybe it’s a once-a-year thing. Here are the big sellers along with some editorial info:

“Vampire-mystery writer Laurell K. Hamilton has her biggest debut since BookScan began collecting data, in January 2001, with her latest Anita Blake novel, Danse Macabre. The book lands at No. 2 on the Fiction Chart after it sold 54,000 copies. Her previous novel, Micah, sold more than 38,000 in its first week, landing at No. 2 on the Fiction Chart the week ending March 5. Danielle Steel also debuts with her 67th novel, Coming Out, which sold 38,000 to land at No. 3.”

1. TWELVE SHARP, Janet Evanovich (St. Martin’s, Hardcover, 0312349483)
2. DANSE MACABRE, Laurell K. Hamilton (Berkley, Hardcover, 0425207978)
3. COMING OUT, Danielle Steel (Delacorte, Hardcover, 0385338325)
4. 4TH OF JULY, James Patterson (Warner Vision, Mass Market Paperback, 0446613363)
5. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, Lauren Weisberger (Anchor, Mass Market Paperback, 0307275558)

Speaking of nonfiction…for those who hate Ann Coulter: Here is a story in the New York Post accusing her of plagiarism.

And for those who love her (in addition to her mother): Here is Coulter’s response.