A Pocketful of Books

Yesterday, JK Rowling came down from her mountain and announced the new date for Harry Potter VI. July 16th. The booksellers rejoiced and there was good tidings of great joy amid booksellers and readers alike. Instantly the tome shot to Number 1 on Amazon and the stockmarket bounced as well. It was a nice Christmas present to all in the biz. We at this household will be eagerly awaiting the new release, just like everyone else in the free world.

According to Publishers Weekly, holiday bookshopping is doing mildly better this week. Go out there and do your part. Buy a book, give a book, read a book.

And if you're in the market for free books, might I suggest dropping by www.pocketauthors.com where there will be a drawing for a HUGE basket of books by the Pocket authors. Sign up for the mailing list and you'll automatically be entered. Drawing is to be held at the end of January, but we'll be having a drawing at the end of every month.

And speaking of drawings, the winner of my diva basket is Kat Mayo.

That's all in today's book news. And Happy Reading!
Kathleen

The Holiday Edition

I got some nice news today. The fourth book in my Bachelorette Pact series was nominated by Romantic Times as one of the best Temptations of the year. Interestingly enough, that book was about as much fun as a root canal to write. People often think that writing a book sounds like so much fun. And most of the time, it is. But sometimes (often at the worst possible moment), it is actually very difficult to do. You don't want to write. You want to clean your house, organize that desk drawer that has been untouched since before the Ice Age, and maybe even make cookies. And there seems to be no correlation between the joy of writing and the quality of the story. So, the hardest books to write can be the most successful, or the easiest books can really tank.

Anyway, I didn't really want to get into all this, no instead, I think I'll discuss Amber Frey's book deal. The book is hitting the shelves in January, (which means it was already written and edited before the ink had dried on his big 'ole guilty stamp). I'm sure she was well paid for this hard-hitting expose on what it's like to *&#% a married wife-killer. Was that harsh? Probably. Spank me. In other news, Scott Peterson is getting "quite a lot of fan mail" according to his jailer. Probably from other aspiring groupies authors who want to ride that gravy train.

We've been sick here at the homestead this week, (more so than usual), and perhaps it's coloring my foul mood. At least next week is Christmas, and I'm one of the types who enjoy the holidays. I like the eating, the being lazy and not oozing guilt, I like spending time with my family (on most days), and I like all the lights and the decorations. I like buying presents for people, things that won't normally splurge on, I like the food (did I mention that?), I like the smiles that people wear, and I like the mood of the world. 364 days of the year, we're all going to hell in a handbag, but for that one special day… It's magic.

Happy Holidays, all.
p.s. in celebration of the holidays, I have a gift basket and the IN ONE YEAR AND OUT THE OTHER anthology just waiting for the first person to send me an email with your name and snail mail address....

The Best of 2004

It's that time of year again. The list season, that time of year when we all go back over what has happened during the year and pick the best, or alternatively worst. Well, since my temporal region has all the recall-ability of the FDA, I decided to improvise, so here it is:

The Best Books Never Written in 2004

1. The Definitive Expose On Adhesives: A Complete History from Epoxy to Duct Tape by Janet Jackson


2. They're Just Not That Into You: The William-Morris Agency's Writer's Guide To Rejection


3. America, The Sequel: A White House Guide to Tourism in Iraq


4. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Orange by Martha Stewart


5. Bushworld, Enter at Your Own Risk by Paris Hilton


6. The Plot Against America by Michael Moore


7. Reading Lolita in Paktia by Osama Bin Laden


8. The Amateur Marriage by Brittany Spears


9. Rewriting History by Bill Clinton


10. The End of The Democratic Party: Religion, Terror, and the Future of NASCAR by Karl Rove

In today's good news department, I found the New Year's Eve anthology, IN ONE YEAR AND OUT THE OTHER on the Best-seller rack in Target. We're #9! In today's bad news department, any mention of Dick Clark's death in my short-story in the above-mentioned New Year's Eve anthology were written many, many months ago, and were not in any way intended to perpetuate his demise. Here's to another two decades of New Year's Eves, Mr. Clark….

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Fits and Starts

Quote of the day:
"The older I grow, the less important the comma becomes. Let the reader catch his own breath." Elizabeth Clarkson Zwart

I feel like I should be writing something about my writing, because well, I do call myself a writer, and I'm paid to write, but these past few weeks, I've been writing in stops and starts. There's a personality trait at work here. I write like I parallel park. I go for the spot, pull in a bit, get myself all fired up because I'm relatively parallel, and then after I straighten, I see I'm about twenty feet from the curb.

I think starting a book is quite similar to this process for me. I get excited, fired up, write down some stuff, and then get out of the car, and yes, the curb is WAY out there. So, I've been retooling my efforts, and I'm back to the "fired up and excited" stage, so I have big dreams for today.

Speaking of dreams, there's a discussion going on one of my loops, regarding getting stuck in writing. As you can see from the above, I do get stuck. Try as I might to be organized and plotter-girl, I'm not. So, my favorite form of work is thinking about what I'm stuck at, mull it over (usually a glass of wine is involved) and then go to sleep. Nine times out of ten, this fixes this problem, and as a bonus, I get extra sleep and extra wine. Not a bad life. I think this is as close as I get to living the stereotypical writing life. I can see how Poe, Doyle, and the heavy addict-writer types were so prolific. I think if all I did were drink, sleep, and write, I could do some serious cranking, no pun intended, as well.

I just finished reading an arc of BLINK, which is a January release that you'll be hearing about. It's from the THE TIPPING POINT guy, and I think it's interesting. His point is that our sub-conscious is a truly powerful device and is often correct about picking up on things before we consciously note them. It's the gut-check, in other words. I think the gut is a very powerful thing and the author argues that in today's society, the gut is becoming more formidable as a decision-making tool. In my case, my gut decides many things, both about my writing, and also about what I eat. Sometimes I ignore my gut and go ahead and do what I want to anyway. I pay for these bouts of gut-ignorance.

I think I've accomplished all the procrastination I can manage without guilt, so I'm signing off.

Happy Tuesday.
Kathleen

p.s. in other news, we received our first seasonal greeting card yesterday. Back in Texas, we called them Christmas cards, but it's not the same up in New York, so I'm going with the "seasonal greeting card". Is there a PC term that's shorter? Probably. Although this reminds me that I need to write up our annual Christmas letter. I've already bought the paper for it, got a good deal at Staples.

As you can see, I can always procrastinate when push comes to shoving it back to tomorrow.

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled mass markets"

A couple of posts back, I talked about publishers' fondness for trade, and how booksellers seemed to be sweating it a bit. However, it is a fact that mass market sales have declined both in number of units sold and also sales dollars. In prior years, sales dollars stayed steady while units sold declined because of increased cover price. (And they thought we didn't notice). However, through the three quarters of 2004, sales declined by 8%. So, is this a case of trade cannibalizing the mass market market , or is mass market merely passé?

Publishers Weekly talked about the state of the mass market in this week's issue and they noted this from Jack Romanos, President of Simon & Schuster, regarding the declining number of retailers and shelf space:

More troublesome is that outlets that once were major supporters of the format, such as certain discount stores (e.g., Woolworth's), don't exist any more, Romanos said. Penguin Group USA president David Shanks is another publisher who's convinced that there are fewer outlets for mass market titles, even as the output rises. That combination results in less shelf time for titles, plus higher returns. The reduction in outlets has also resulted in the elimination, or near elimination, of entire genres, with male-oriented subjects such as westerns and men's adventure affected the most.

So, is it perhaps the content on the shelves that might be affecting this trend. Another little tid-bit from Mr. Romanos:

The sales decline is "wreaking havoc with the formula we use to calculate how much we can pay for advances to authors," who have traditionally earned back about half the advance through the sale of mass market paperbacks" Romanos said.

And this one from Penguin Group USA President, David Shanks:

Shanks also noted that deals for many New York Times bestselling authors are "based on the fact they will sell lots of copies in mass market paperback." Many authors are selling "far fewer" copies when their hardcovers are reprinted than in the past, Shanks said, and the "rate of backlist sales is not what it once was." Applebaum agreed that "relatively few authors" sell as many mass market copies as before, adding that publishing "is in a period where everyone needs to recalibrate" how deals are done.

How many readers, having glimpsed the towering Danielle Steel wall of books, could have predicted this? Okay, everybody raise your hand….

Yes, all this gloom and doom is nothing new. So what are the bright spots? They had a couple of items from John Lindsay, v-p of marketing for Levy Home Entertainment, first of all:

Sales are strongest in what he termed "subcategories" such as romantic suspense that blend elements of two genres.

And also, this:

To give the segment a spark, Lindsay said, mass market houses "need to be more promotional." Levy noted that too many racks "look all the same," and suggested that publishers spice up displays with promotions and different authors. Finding a way to better highlight new authors would also boost sales, Lindsay said, and Levy hopes to launch such a merchandise program early next year.

Levy is the BIG book distributor who sponsored the "Get Caught Reading At Sea" promotion where selected titles and authors who tied into a cruise with readers. In their August 2005 newsletter they site significant increase in sell-through (most increases were 30+ percentage points) through their cruise promotion. Now, THAT is awesome.

And in the "let's try something new" department, Penguin is experimenting with a larger mass-market format, with an increase of ¾ inch increase in length, and 1/16 inch increase in width. The books are designed to fit in existing racks, but will have a larger font, and yes, you guessed it, an incremental price increase as well. Their first title to be released in the new format will have a cover price of $10.

So, there are some good things to look forward to. Another bright spot, Sears has been opening up new outlets called "Sears Grand" with a substantial book department. In light of the merger last week with K-Mart, perhaps Wal-Mart is about to get some competition in the book department? Hmm…..

Have a great week.
Kathleen