On my decision to self-publish…

On my decision to self-publish…

On my decision to self-publish… (Jackie Collins)

If you pay attention to book publishing news and blogs, then you probably already know I’ve decided to try my hand at self-publishing by re-writing and releasing a NEW version of my book The Bitch.

Little did I know when I gave an interview to Galleycat in February that the press would pick up the story so quickly! To date, from that one interview, there have been over 120,000 stories and articles posted online about that one decision.

As you might imagine, the buzz has set off a bit of a firestorm of comments, gossip, conspiracy theories and the like about my publishers and me.

• “Did she get in a fight with her publishers?”
• “Did they drop her from their roster?”
• “Is she dropping them from her roster?”
• “Does this mean publishing is dead?”

So I’d like to take a moment to set the record straight.

First, I have fantastic relationships with my two publishers, Simon & Schuster UK and St. Martin’s Press US. No juicy story about a tiff or spat between us—we’re good. I’m currently writing my 29^th book “The Power Trip,” and it will be published by both companies, respectively.
But times are changing, and technology is changing, so I wanted to experiment with this growing trend of self-publishing.

My thoughts on eBooks

Let me say up front that I will personally always love physical books. I love how a new book feels in your hands. I love turning the pages one-by-one as you curl up in a chair and engross yourself in the story.

But I also know that to stay successful, you’ve always got to be thinking two steps ahead of the game. And by all counts, the book industry is going the way of the CD industry. Almost nobody buys CDs anymore; we get our music fix on iTunes.

And more and more people are opting for eBooks over paper. For example, with Goddess of Vengeance, I think we sold an equal amount of hard covers and eBooks.

And in England, they just bought the digital rights to all my books and Lethal Seduction immediately jumped to #2 on the bestseller’s list. That’s a book that’s 10-years-old! I was quite impressed with that.

Read the rest of the story....

All changed, changed utterly…

From LB's (Lawrence Block's) Blog:

All these things happened in the space of a week or so:
1. My friend Pat reported that the POD paperback of the book he’d co-authored with my friend Dick had gone on sale quietly at Amazon, with a score of copies sold in the first several days. (The eBook has already been selling for a month or so.)

The book is Bitter Medicine: What I’ve Learned and Teach about Malpractice Lawsuits (And How to Avoid Them), and I’ve been peripherally involved with it since Dick showed me some chapters he’d written several years ago. Dick is Richard Kessler, a retired surgeon and professor of medicine, with extensive service as an expert witness in malpractice lawsuits. Pat is Patrick Trese, also retired after a distinguished career as an Emmy-winning writer and producer at NBC News; in the course of it he’d also written and published a couple of books. I’ve known them both for thirty years or so, and they’ve known each other for about as long, and the partnership turned out to be a good fit. They put in a lot of hours over a couple of years, and wound up with a solid professional manuscript that told important stories in an accessible manner.

But nobody was interested. A couple of agents agreed to look at the manuscript, kept it forever, and then returned it. A publisher, in an uncharacteristic moment of candor, said essentially that every retired doctor wants to write a book, and many of them do, and nobody cares.

And then Pat had a revelation. Neither of the book’s authors was in it for wealth or glory. Dick had had a very important and useful tale to tell, and Pat had found a way to tell it clearly and forcefully, and what they both wanted was for it to be read. And Pat knew a couple of people who’d embraced the revolution of eBooks and self-publishing, and figured why not?

Read the rest of the story.....

About Lawrence Block's Fiction

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Forgotten

Forgotten
by Jessica Barksdale Inclan

What happens when you do the one thing you would never do? What happens when you forget the one thing you never, ever would forget, not in a million years? How do you keep on living when you are left but your child is not?

Marciela and Matthew Phillips are happily married, a hard working couple, the parents of a beautiful two-year-old girl, Rose. Marciela is determined to avoid the mistakes her own mother made, driving herself to be the best mother, wife, and worker she can be. But after the birth of her second child, Liam, she realizes that doing it all is doing too much.

And then she forgets. And nothing is ever the same.
Download to your KINDLE.
FREE for Amazon Prime Members.

My review at Amazon:
4.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking, April 9, 2012
Was it a pleasure to read this book? No. It was heartbreaking. Am I glad I read it? Yes. The author was amazing in the telling the of the tragedy that happened to this family. I wanted a happy ending but how could there ever possibly be a happy ending to this story? Or an ending at all? A tragedy of this nature can never be FORGOTTEN.

I would have given this book 5 stars but I knocked off 1 star because some odd mispellings of words ... like amp for map, or at least I assumed the word was supposed to be map. Also words misplaced in phrases, etc. Things like this knocked me out of the story because I was trying to figure out what the author meant to say instead of what was actually said.

I recommend this book but not for light reading. One thing for sure is that if you do read it, you will never forget it.

Jessica Barksdale Inclan's debut novel Her Daughter's Eyes, published in 2001, was the premier novel published under New American Library's new imprint Accent. Her Daughter's Eyes was a final nominee for the YALSA Award for the best books of 2001 and best paperbacks for 2001 and has been published in Dutch and Spanish. Her next novel The Matter of Grace was published in May 2002 and was re-released in a mass market version in May 2004. Her third, When You Go Away, came out April 1, 2003. Her fourth, One Small Thing, was published April 2004, and has been published in Dutch and Spanish. Her fifth, Walking With Her Daughter, was published in April 2005. The Instant When Everything is Perfect was published in February 2006. In June 2006, she published the first in a trilogy from Kensington Books. When You Believe was followed by Reason to Believe and Believe in Me. Being with Him, Intimate Beings, and The Beautiful Being (October 2009) are the novels in her second trilogy. She is a 2002 recipient of the CAC Artist's Fellowship in Literature. Incl'n teaches composition, creative writing, mythology, and women's literature at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, and on-line creative writing courses for UCLA extension. She has studied with Sharon Olds, Anne Lamott, Kate Braverman, Grace Paley, Marjorie Sandor, and Cristina Garcia. Her short stories and poems have appeared in Rockhurst Review, Hotwired, The Salt Hill Journal, Free Lunch, The West Wind Review, The Prairie Star, Gargoyle and many other journals and newspapers. Her short story Open Eyes was given first prize by Sandra Cisneros for El Andar magazine's 2000 writing contest. She co-edited a women's literature/studies textbook Diverse Voices of Women (Mayfield Publishing, 1995). Ms. Inclan has degrees in sociology and English literature from CSU Stanislaus and a Master's degree in English literature from SFSU. Ms. Inclan lives in Oakland, California and is currently at work on her next novel. Find her Kindle books on Amazon, starting with The Wolf at the Window.

 

Donna Fasano's latest release - Nanny and the Professor

Nanny and the Professor
by Donna Fasano
(romance)

Professor Joshua Kingston thought he'd found the perfect nanny for his son. But once Cassie Simmons stepped into his life, she turned it upside down! His son no longer played by the rules – and Cassie kept making up new ones. He would fire her – if he didn't find her so utterly enticing.

Cassie had a huge secret to hide, and she couldn't afford to lose her new job. But her handsome employer wasn't making things easy. All those silly rules. How was an eight-year-old boy supposed to have any fun? The professor definitely needed a lesson in laughter – and love!
Download to your Kindle

Amazon Review  (Mel Comley) - 5 stars
Donna has written yet another winner. A touching story about a father who is overprotective of his son. He employs a nanny to look after him. The story was full of twists and turns. I don't like telling the whole story but I would highly recommend it, you'll love it.

Love always finds a way...

About the Author

Growing up the third child of five--yes, smack dab in the middle and the only girl to boot--Donna Fasano had no idea she would one day become a published author. Her bent for story-telling came to light when she conjured lively tales of pure blarney (yes, she has a bit of Irish in her blood) for, first, her youngest brother, and years later, her children.

Donna sold her first manuscript in 1989, and since then has become a bestselling, award-winning author of over thirty novels and four audio books. She writes under her own name, Donna Fasano, as well as under the pen name Donna Clayton and is known for her "smooth, polished" writing style and for creating "strong, complex" characters. Reviewers have described her stories as "poignant," "richly textured," "enticing," and "absorbing." The writing process can be extremely engrossing for Donna, so much so that she's missed appointments and lunches, and once she even missed her carpool run. Luckily, the people in her life love her enough to make allowances.

Still happily married to her high school sweetheart, she is the mother of two grown sons who have left the nest. She and her husband share their home with Jake, a couch-potato, black and white border collie, and Roo, a spotted tan and cream Australian cattle dog that looks (and acts) like a wild dingo. Donna's spare time is spent reading, hiking, or trying out new recipes from one of the dozens of cookbooks she has collected over the years. Oh, and one night a week she and her hubby nab some alone time from their busy schedules to enjoy a nice glass of wine and a video--preferably a romantic comedy. Donna also volunteers loads of hours to her small church, writing newsletters, scheduling acolytes, working fund-raisers and serving on committees. She divides her time between northern Delaware and Maryland's southern seashore.

Donna loves to hear from her readers. Please contact her through her website at www.DonnaFasano.com.

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