Factability

One of the things that I've learned since moving up to New York is that, yes, anything in the world can happen, and often does. I like the All About Romance Site, enjoy reading their reviews, and they usually have the best discussions on the romance industry anywhere. Anywhoo, there was a review for UNDENIABLE by Julie Elizabeth Leto about a restaurant that had beds instead of tables and the reviewer had problems with the concept and because of that, couldn't quite get into the book. But in New York and Miami, restaurants with beds are becoming the new pink. So is this a problem with the reader or the writer? Who's to blame when reality isn't believable?

I had a scene in JUST KISS ME where the heroine and the hero got a little frisky on the subway (and no, they didn't have sex, just a little touchy/feely fun). One reviewer had a problem with the scene and said that she couldn't believe it would happen. Well, not too long after that, two guys and a girl were arrested for having a three-some on the subway. Did I feel vindicated? Not really, because even though the history factability quotient is high, the reader still had an issue.

So, how does a writer approach this? Do they ignore anything that is unlikely to happen? Oh, yeah, that'll go over well. No Harry Potters. No Da Vinci Code. The answer is that it's the writer's responsibility to craft the scene in such a way that the reader becomes so completely immersed in the author's reality that it doesn't become an issue. If you look at the plots of Law & Order, they are oftentimes full of coincidences that if the writing were poor, would send the audience into fits of laughter. But the writing isn't poor. The writing is very well-done, and the setup for the story is crafted in such a way that it becomes believable.

And if you're wondering why I'm musing about using real life in fiction, it's because I'm still on the grand jury and one of our cases is a doozie. Will it show up in some form or fiction at a later date? You betcha.

And because it's Tuesday….

New books and used books and backlists, oh my...

Publishers Weekly is doing a multi-part series on the effect of used books in the publishing industry. Recently, big name publishers have been speaking out against the affects of used books on new book sales. A few years back, Amazon went blue-buttons-blazing into the used book market, letting a perspective customer opt to "buy used" instead of new at big (sometimes) savings. Authors were outraged, saying it was cutting into sales. The Authors Guild spoke out against the practice, but Amazon did not blink, mainly because in 2002, 23% of their U.S. orders were for used goods, up from 4% the previous year.

The PW article surmises that the book industry will follow in the shoes of the text-book industry, where these days, 30-40% of the college book sales are used. So, assuming that the Internet has changed the face of the book industry, what changes could be expected?

From the article:

"In trade books, some publishers say they have noticed slower reorders of backlist and older hardcover titles, especially fiction and some book club picks. Others see an effect on new titles. Discussing his company's results in July, Simon & Schuster president Jack Romanos said used books are contributing to softness in backlist sales. "It's an issue worth watching," he commented. "We're hearing that term around here more and more.""

Now the issue here is that backlist sales are a publisher's cash cow. Especially if your name is Danielle Steel or Nora. So, theoretically, profit margins would decrease, because the profit risk is higher for No-Name Suzy Writer, than it is for, say, JK Rowling. A decrease in the number of titles printed? Perhaps.

It'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Industries are changing these days. Music (iTunes), Television (on-demand, TIVO), and it makes sense that publishing will change as well.

That's Entertainment

Every now and then there comes a time of perfect entertainment. Last night was such a time. I'm not a huge TV watcher; mainly the news and a few shows here and there, but last night I watched for a good three hours. Lost, the new ABC show. Excellent premise, very scary. I even hid my face in one part, because I KNEW the boogey-man was going to show up. Then I watched Law & Order with the new guy. I approve. I was curious if they could do Law & Order without Jerry Orbach, but yes, I think they can. Dennis Farina seems very New Yawk, but uniquely his own character, too. After that I started reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I'm only on Chapter 4, and I can see it's going to take me awhile to finish, but I'm having a great time. It's very Dickens, and I love Dickens. Next up is the new episode of Rescue Me.

I abandoned my high plotting ideals and just started writing today, and yes, progress was made. Somewhere in between planning and blood-letting is where I fit in. Writing is not algebra. There are often many different ways to approach it, and everyone has to find their own path, and their own way of clearing that path as they trudge forward.

In books news, ebay is not closing down their used books site, half.com. I think this is great news. There are not many used book stores in the tri-state area, or at least not in my neck of the woods, so I've been using half.com quite a bit to both trim down my book shelves to a manageable level and also to buy books that I want to try, but am not willing to pay full price for.

In breaking celebrity-author news, Madonna has gotten married!!! Oh, wait, sorry, Madonna is in Israel! It's Madonna's Mini-Me that got married… Oh, wait, she didn't?? (All who care, please stand up).

And in other celebrity-author news, Paris Hilton has 150,000 copies of her book in print. It's #53 on Amazon, and Dr. Phil's Relationship Rescue is #49. On the NY Times list, Paris' book is #7, right below Bushworld, and above Between a Rock and A Hard Place. My closing link is here.

Catching up...

My fun word of the day is longueur:
A dull and tedious passage in a book, play, musical composition, or the like.
All writers should know this word and run from it.

Quote of the day:
Write without pay until somebody offers to pay; if nobody offers within three years, sawing wood is what you were intended for. – Mark Twain

In my important news, Julie Kenner and I updated our Coffee Klatch, with a gripping analysis of Rule of Four, by Caldwell and Thomason. Check it out

Today the 11th volume of the Lemony Snicket series is being released: The Grim Grotto. I really, really enjoyed the Bad Beginnings, and my daughter is currently reading Book 7. There's something very Charles Dickens about Lemony Snicket, only funnier. The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram had an article about the new darkness in kid's literature . Is dark humor creeping into adult reading as well? I don't know. I do know that I was listening to an editor speaking recently about the decline for sales numbers in romantic comedy, but perhaps there is more to the glut in the market for rom com previously and that now it's flattening out into something more sustainable. Again, just thinking aloud.

On the writing front, I've been trying something new, that pre-plotting and planning process. So far I'm really not impressed. I've got two great characters and some good solid conflict thingys, but the actual plottage is plodding along. If I don't get divine inspiration sometime today, I'm just going to start writing tomorrow. I've been working my way through Noah Lukeman's book, The Plot Thickens, and it's made me do a lot more work than I usually do in the beginning, but it seems to be working. If you're a writer, you should check the book out. I've read it before, but never actually used it to jumpstart a story.

The jury stuff is really interesting. I can't say more.

You all know my feelings on celebrity books. I think this is tres funny.

Romance Writers of America

On Tuesday night I attended RWA/New York City's annual wine and cheese party. A friend of mine, the very lovely Barbara Daly was being honored as author of the year, and I wanted to go lend my support (and applause). Anyway, when I was there, I remembered why I like RWA so much. There's just a very warm feeling when you're among other writers. Possibly due to all the marabou feathers, I don't know. People have the most fantastical impressions of what romance writers are like, and the truth is much more mundane. The ages are from the very young (some writers are in their 20s) to the grand old dames of romance (not giving away names here), who are in their 80s. I've known judges who are romance writers, lawyers who are romance writers, lots of computer people who are romance writers (not sure about that correlation, but it's definitely there), and then there's Julia Quinn, who gave up medical school to be a romance writer.

People ask what goes on at a writer's meeting, and I'll tell you that it's lot of fun. Sometimes the meetings are on serious writerly thing like character and plot and dialog. And sometimes they're on sexual tension, which usually ends up being a laugh-fest because when a group of women discuss sex, well, there's usually laughter involved. Anyway that is seriously considering writing should look into their local rwa chapter.

I've been picked to sit on a grand jury, so posts will be hit or miss for the next four weeks. When you're sitting there on Wednesday night (actually, pretty much any day of the week), watching Law & Order, just think of me. Duh-dum!

Book stuff

Gross news of the day: It's a good thing Anita Blake lives in St. Louis.

Writing quote of the day:

Stick to Zen. F*&k the work.
-- Henry Miller in a letter to Lawrence Durrell (another writer).
This one just cracked me up.

The New York Post has a very interesting article on Jenna Jameson's book and I'm wondering if I'm going to have to eat my words…Anyone here read said book and would like to comment?

Feeling a need for a little literary condemnation and a good verbal spanking? Check out The Fiction Bitch. Because sometimes the truth is hardest of all.

And if you'd made it through the Fiction Bitch, perhaps self-publishing is the route to go. Now, I'll caveat this with the fact that every traditionally published print author is going to go, "Ewww…," but the truth is that I have two friends who have started out this route and then sold to New York in later deals. So, make of it what you may.


A Guardian article on the bestseller process. Articles like this just make me sigh…

A lot of chick-lit has been making it into options and movies, but then there's something like this: Miramax maxed out on chick lit. Does this mean the Hollywood love affair with chick-lit is over? I have a friend who works in the movie industry and we were talking a few years back, and this really stuck in my head. She talked about how a lot of Hollywood actresses were anxious to find vehicles for them (KO comment: because of the way Hollywood treats aging actresses, hmmm?) and there is a tremendous demand for female-oriented scripts that are well-done with strong female leads. I think that's here to stay. Just as technology, finance, and politics have opened up in a big way to females, I think Hollywood has to as well.

I started working on a proposal for Blaze, and had to scrap what I had. I keep telling myself it's because my standards are higher. Don't know. I had four Temptations contracted, but I had to rethink them for Blaze, and now I'm rethinking my rethink because this one turned into a blind book (i.e. writer has no clue about what they're going to write).

Cows and the guns of Bond

I've been playing with my blog format (like you couldn't tell ). Anyway, it'll be shifting some as I tweak it to my satisfaction. I'm expanding my sidebars to include author/reader blogs. If you have one you'd like to add, just let me know.
News of the day:
Using cows to dampen passions
Even Ian Fleming can make mistakes.

Insta-Promo

I thought this one was fun. Text messaging romance novels in China. There will be changes coming the way that books are handled, promoted, etc, and I wonder if text messages are part of it. Okay, maybe this works in China, but not here. However, even here things are changing. If you look at the success of dearreader.com, who sends out pieces of books in installments, USA Today where they print chapter excerpts, and the NYT summer reading program where they serialize some of the modern classics, perhaps we're returning to the old chapter at a time format. But to be even more effective, it should hook into TV or radio. One of the things that I'll be putting up on my website is an audio clip excerpt because I got my heroine's accent down so well and it became such a part of who she was and I need to share this experience with others (and if doesn't work for you, I don't want to hear about, because I just had too much fun reading aloud to myself).

There was an article in the post about a manuscript that's being shopped around , and the Post chopped it up even before it was published. It'll be interesting to see if it sells or not. It has the "dish" hook going for it, but can that overcome a bad story? If past sales history are any indication, the answer to that is 'yes'.

Book thoughts for the Fall and the fallen....

I guess Thursdays are book days in the press. Lots of links for thought:


Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article on street-lit, or hip-hot lit. The interesting thing is the quandary of whether books can actually influence social behaviors or not and whether if that is true, does that offset the benefits that come from influencing a culture of non-readers to read? I think reading is always good, no matter the subject matter. It broadens the mind, and makes people think. Are there some who are more susceptible to the lure of the concept? Yeah, that's true. But IMHO, the benefits far outweigh the outliers. Reading is the cornerstone of any developed civilization, and anything that helps strengthen that cornerstone, is to be encouraged. One opinion here, only.

USA Today has their list of recommended fall reads:

How I Paid For College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater by Marc Acito; Broadway Books, $21.95; in stores. Quirky coming-of-age novel in which penniless teen resorts to blackmail, embezzlement and high jinks to earn his college tuition.

KO note: Sex in the title, will sell well.

The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle; Viking, $25.95; in stores. In-your-face author uses Kinsey Report on human sexuality as jumping-off point for this tale of marriage, sex and infidelity.

KO note: Kinsey report: see above note.

Playing With Boys by Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez; St. Martin's, $24.95; in stores. Author of The Dirty Girls Social Club tells fast-paced story of three young women trying to make it in L.A.

KO note: Title implies sex, see above note.

The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips; Random House, $24.95; in stores. Rollicking, globetrotting adventure tale about one man's manic obsession with finding the tomb of an apocryphal king in turn-of-the-20th-century Egypt.

KO note: No sex. More iffy on the number-front. However, implies a certain Indiana Jones quality that might overcome it's non-sexiness.

The Love Wife by Gish Jen; Knopf, $25; Tuesday. Overburdened family of Carnegie Wong, second-generation Chinese-American, and his blond wife, Janey, is turned upside down when Wong's "cousin" Lanlan comes to live with them.

KO note: Title implies there will be sex and Chinese-American provides multicultural sex which is even better. Will sell.

Che's Chevrolet, Fidel's Oldsmobile on the Road in Cuba by Richard Schweid; University of North Carolina Press, $27.50; Sept. 24. Journalist tracks history of U.S. cars dating to 1950s that still travel the streets in Cuba. Schweid recounts historic "car" moments such as Fidel Castro riding to the Bay of Pigs in a Chevy.

KO note: No sex at all. Will only sell to leftist anarchists who can't get laid.

Melancholy Baby by Robert B. Parker; Putnam, $24.95; Sept. 24. In fourth novel featuring Sunny Randall, the Boston private eye struggles with the upcoming marriage of her ex-husband while seeking out family secrets for a college girl.

KO note: "family secrets of a college girl?" Hmm… lesbian sex?

Trespassing by Uzma Aslam Khan; Metropolitan, $27; Oct. 5. Ill-fated love story of Daanish, an American-educated Pakistani, and the deceptive and mysterious Dia shifts between Pakistan and America.

KO note: love story, with Pakistani bent. Multi-cultural sex, will sell well.

Cheat and Charmer by Elizabeth Frank; Random House, $25.95; Oct. 5. Pulitzer Prize winner's debut novel, set in the 1950s, pits screenwriter's wife against her sister during Hollywood blacklist scandals.

KO note: Sounds more glitzy, but does have the Pulitzer cachet. No sex inherent. Sales are iffy, but I bet reviews are great.

Color Blind by Jonathan Santlofer; William Morrow, $24.95; Oct. 12. Author of 2002's The Death Artist writes a gritty tale of murder and mayhem that begins with the discovery of two bodies and the oddly colored paintings left at the crime scene.

KO note: Gore and art. An interesting dichotomy. No sex, but perhaps we'll have skanky villain sex. Don't know. Could do well.

Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book by Gerard Jones; Basic Books, $26; Oct. 12. Author of Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence looks at the genesis of and our enduring obsession with comic books.

KO note: No sex, not even comic-book sex. Sales will do well among techy geekazoids who can't get laid.

The Best American Nonrequired Reading edited by Dave Eggers; introduction by Viggo Mortensen; Houghton Mifflin, $14; Oct. 14. This year's eclectic mix of fiction, non-fiction, journalism and humor includes pieces by Michelle Tea, Haruki Murakami and David Sedaris.

KO note: Ohhhh, the much-praised Dave Eggers, combined with Viggo's hunkiness. An interesting marketing ploy. Will get great reviews, and I wonder if they'll include a step-back of Viggo?

Speak, So You Can Speak Again: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Lucy Anne Hurston; Doubleday, $29.95; Oct. 19. Scrapbook-like tribute to the life of this African-American writer precedes Oprah's November production of Hurston classic Their Eyes Were Watching God, starring HalleBerry.

KO note: Oprah. TV. Will sell well and will be fodder for reading-groups everywhere.

The Virtues of War by Steven Pressler; Doubleday, $24.95; Oct. 19. Fictionalized re-creation of the life of Alexander the Great, who ascended the throne of Macedon at 19 and died at 33, never defeated by an enemy.

KO note: this should hit about the time that Colin Farrell's epic hits the big screen. Confused consumers will flock to the shelves, assuming that Colin will be included. Alas, two week sales are good, but this one will not have Colin's "legs"

Bicycle by David Herlihy; Yale University Press, $39.95; Nov. 1. The definitive, illustrated cultural history of the long quest for and development of a human-powered vehicle.

KO note: Huh? And 39.95? However, this is around election time, so who knows what'll happen. Perhaps it's the Lance Armstrong affect.

Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich; HarperCollins, $26.95; Nov. 2. A thriller that mixes murder and explosions with car races and graft.

KO note: Oh, new Janet E. Can she reproduce Stephanie Plum for the NASCAR set? This one should hit NYT easy.

Oh, Play That Thing by Roddy Doyle; Viking, $24.95; Nov. 4. Sequel to Doyle's 1999 best-selling novel (A Star Called Henry) takes a former IRA assassin to New York and Chicago.

KO note: Title implies sexiness, but plot sounds vaguely sex-free. However has Irish cachet and is a sequel. Should do well.

Nixon at the Movies by Mark Feeney; University of Chicago Press, $27.50; Nov. 8. A critic for The Boston Globe examines Richard Nixon's fascination with Hollywood and the nearly 500 movies he watched in the White House (more than two a week during Watergate).

KO note: Nixon??? And it's not even Nixon sex. I don't know. Iffy.

The Power Game by Joseph Nye Jr.; PublicAffairs, $25; Nov. 9. A former assistant defense secretary's debut novel, thriller set in Washington, D.C., is about power and deceptions.

KO note: Political celeb cachet. Bet he puts in Washington sex.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $23; Nov. 19. The second novel by Robinson (Housekeeping) deals with war-tested faith and visions in three generations of Midwestern ministers.

KO note: Midwestern ministers? Hmmm… Maybe in Wisconsin, but I wonder about this one…

The Ins and Outs of Publishing

Publisher's Weekly has an interesting article about a new hooker memoir. Here's the outtake:

After 26 years of publishing primarily fiction, Permanent Press is poised for a major breakout with a racy memoir, Callgirl. The author is novelist Jeannette Angell, who supported herself as a lecturer at M.I.T. and Boston University, where she got her Ph.D. in anthropology, until her "rat bastard boyfriend" emptied her bank account. Desperate, she answered a Boston Phoenix ad and became a hooker earning $200 an hour. Three years later, her two worlds collided when she began teaching a course on the sociology of prostitution by day, while working as a callgirl at night, and nearly got arrested.
Press co-founder Martin Shepard anticipates that Callgirl will be the house's all-time bestseller, based on early media response, including a taping for Oprah, which may air as early as next week or later in the fall during sweeps week, and bookings on nationally syndicated radio programs like The Bob and Sheri Show. Before its publication in August, the book went back to press for 2,500 copies, bringing the in-print total to 5,000. "Then, depending on how Oprah goes, we'll print 50,000 to 200,000 copies," says Martin, who is keenly aware of the potential pitfalls. "This one could bankroll things for a long time—or could bankrupt them."

Oprah. Can you believe it? Oprah. Queen of all things about womanly empowerment, and now she's talking about Callgirl books. First is was porn stars, now it's hookers. Next thing you know, literary agents will be scamming East LA looking for the next big ho…. Oh, I'm sorry. Is my jealousy showing? OF COURSE IT IS, I (and pretty much every other writer in the world) HAVE BEEN ONE-UPPED BY A PROSTITUTE!!!
Taking a big, calming breath now….

And because not all of publishing is about pimping, an actual story of yes, just a great story. Salon has a review of Susanna Clarke's first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and it sounds like a great fun, romp. Sometimes as an author, you can feel like the playing field is so slanted against you, and then a story like this one comes along (and there's usually about 2-3 stories like this every year), and you realize that it's really not slanted against you, you just think it is, because you're a deluded paranoidal. From the review:

Even if, as adults, we have learned to read differently and to appreciate other books that don't necessarily cast the same spell, most of us continue to yearn for that magic and to cherish the rare book that can still work it. We may admire those other, possibly greater books, but the ones that enchant us -- "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" is destined to join that company -- are the books we love. Some people might call this regressive, and perhaps it is. But the nature of love is to be regressive and irrational and irresponsible, and life without it would be a drab thing indeed.

Can't wait to read it.

The Freedom Edition

Done, done, done, done, done…. The revisions have landed. And I'm FREEEEEEE…. (well, actually have tons of things to catch-up on, but that's for another day!)…

Here's my bit of writerly advice for the day:

Writing 101: Never Write About Baseball

Well, you would think the New York Yankees, the baseball dynasty, the hittingiest group of men ever assembled would be doing well since they're atop the division and October's nearly here. After leading the division race by some god-awful number (18?) the lead is now down to 2 ½. Do you know what is responsible for this deep slide? Moi. Yes, moi. I wrote about their winning ways in my book to be published in April 2005. I went on and on and on and on about their successes and yes, now, they're going to prove me wrong. You would think I would learn. Last year, when I was writing Pillow Talk (written in spring of 2003), I made a big deal about the Cubbies losing ways…. Do you KNOW what the Cubbies did last year? I barely escaped that one. And now, I'm sweating again. Moral of the story: you want to fix a baseball game? Let me know. I'll put the team in my next book. Results are 100% guaranteed.


There's an
article about controversial books and their covers that I thought was interesting, especially since we have two of them (Mein Kampf and Marquis de Sade's Justine). Recently ALA released their list of banned books and many were classics, but something like Mein Kampf reminds you of the true power of books. Please note that I don't believe in censorship in any form(slippery slope, blah, blah, blah), but there are some books that are truly dangerous in the wrong hands.

In Defense of Category Romance (and other fun stuff).

A day off – finished the book, sorta. Still have the read-through to go, but it's nearly there. And enough of that book which shall remain nameless (I'm getting tired and ready to bounce off into new things).

I'm still following the links on All About Romance about series romance and I get so mad when people lump all series romance into secret babies and cowboys. I want to jump up and down and say, "NO, NO, NO!" There are LOTS of Harlequin and Silhouette romances out there and to lump all series is no better than saying all romance readers are bored housewives eating bon-bons. It's just not true. I have written about an astrophysicist heroine, a reporter hero (okay, the journalistic hero is not a stretch), a Starbucks barista heroine, an airplane mechanic hero, a personal injury lawyer heroine, and that only covers three books. One of my personal issues with the romance industry is that I read romances for 30 years (and I'm only 41, you do the math), and I've seen it all. I've cruised through the streets of London in a mini, I've been a nurse in the Australian outback, I've been a virginal governess who is overwhelmed by the handsome Duke, but I want to write about stuff that's different and interesting to me. And I do. Thank God I have two editors that actually encourage my radicalness. I told my editor at National that I didn't think I would ever win contests because my books are too far off the beaten track, and you know what? I came home to two contest wins. A wonderful way to make me eat my own words. So all those critics of Harlequin and Silhouette should start browsing the shelves at Waldens because there's lots of different stuff that's out there and available. Please don't think I'm saying that Harlequin is doing everything right. I sent in my suggestions to the company (the covers!!!), but the point is that Harlequin is working to find the right solution.

Okay, off the soapbox. I'm sorry. I was looking to find a hunky picture and I realized that the new FDNY 2005 calendar was out. I love watching Rescue Me, and the current calendar storyline is hysterical. What I like about the show is the authentically male dialog. So here's today's picture:



And some fun book links:

I thought this was one was hysterical. The literary book reviewers are often a subject of sniggering punnery. Musings on literary book reviewers and the language they speak

And people had problems with Carolyn Keene … When your pen name is forced upon you – Anonymous

The End is Nigh

I'm down to the finish line on the revisions. Only the last chapter left to go. Should finish tonight, have one final read-through to clean things up and then –whoosh—that sucking sound you hear is my manuscript emailing it's way to New York.

Now, whenever I'm faced with cleaning up my own mistakes, I begin a game of "next-time". Next time I'm going to work the plot out entirely, so there's no hanging-plot-chads. Next time, I'm going to do character charts, to make sure that all character turning points, primary and secondary characters are included, are accounted for and properly documented in the manuscript. Next time, I'm going to make a collage of my story, to get a cool visual….

Bwahahahahahaha… I have my system for writing, such as it is (shoot from the hip and pray to God it works) and I'm not going to mess with it. Moral of the story: Do whatever works.

I apologize in advance for a boring post. All my wit and innovation is being poured into above manuscript.

Publishing in the news:

British author gets $5M advance for children's book. The next JK Rowling?

Chick-litters for charity

I have long suspected that my good friend and prolific writer, Julie Kenner, had a secret formula. AHA! Steroids for writers

Revision Interruptus (AKA Kathleen is Procrastinating)

Laurie Likes Books current At the Back Fence column focuses some on the quality of series romance. It's a fairly good breakdown of the trials and tribulations of category romance. I do know that all of publishing is hurting, but category used to be a true cash cow in the book biz, and the cash cow is getting a little lean. I have always liked category romances, but I don't read nearly as many as some die-hard regions (and thank God for each and every one of you). One of the problems, IMHO with series is that there ARE readers out there who know exactly what to expect with series romance and Harlequin/Silhouette is walking a fine line trying to not lose those loyal readers that are pumping up the bottom line, but to attract new readers as well and grow their own market. All I can say is that I'm glad I'm a writer and not a bean-counter.

Laurie Likes Books article on series romance

Part of the problem is that reading tastes have evolved, and the reader base has evolved. Someone pointed out that the price of a hardback these days can run you over $20. Compare that to a DVD, which you can get for $14. Visual media has gotten very cheap. The music industry is experiencing some of the same market loss that publishing has experienced and I think it's because TV and DVD's are relatively cheap. The movie-going experience is certainly not, although I wonder when that will change. There's a certain "must-see" attitude inherent in culture today that fuels the blockbuster movie and book phenomena. Some publishers and authors are now doing "trailers" for books, which I think is interesting, and I'm wondering if it works.

Celebrity and sex and currently politics seem to transcend the downward trend, although I'm wondering if the political market will be as hot post-election as pre-election. I would assume not, but we'll see. And segueing right into political sex, the blogging sex diva of Capitol Hill has a spread (ah-hem) in Playboy and has a fiction book due out next year.

Playboy interview (kid safe, no pictures)

Note that if you're a Washington intern, Playboy wants you!!!

In current book news (which has absolutely nothing to do with Playboy and politics), I'm at the tail end of my revisions (and how many days have I been saying THAT?), but this time I absolutely, positively mean it. I got my back cover copy and I'm very happy. Here it is:

Don’t hate me because I'm beautiful . . .
Call me V. I used to be a nobody, just a girl from New Jersey who was probably going to hell anyway—or worse, mediocrity and a size 14. Now I get whatever I desire just by casting a little spell . . . a flawless body, a luxury penthouse, and a Fifth Avenue shop where rich women clamor for my overpriced handbags. Even better, I have power. I can taunt my ex-husband, break hearts without guilt, and love every minute of it. My secret? I lost the one thing I never needed in the first place: my soul. I sold it. And you’ll never guess who’s got it now.
She’s a devil in disguise.
You know her as the dishiest gossip columnist in the city’s trashiest tabloid. I call her Lucy. And our deal is this: the more clients I recruit for her Life Enrichment Program, the greater my rewards. But just between us, my fast track to heartless apathy has hit a few speed bumps—lately, I’ve had the totally annoying impulse to do things that are . . . good. First there was rescuing a kid in the park. Then there was the date with the handsome, decent guy who wasn’t even a celebrity. What’s next, giving to charity or something? All I know is Lucy doesn’t like it, not one little bit. And when she finds out, there will be hell to pay. . . .

Okay, nose back to the grindstone.