Announcing the Borders True Romance Blog

Border True RomanceThis weekend, I’ve been shopping for some tuxedos with ruffled shirts and practicing both the dance where you rock back and forth on your toes and the part where Jane and I go “WOO HOO.” Why? Because today we’re debuting as the Romance Experts at the Borders:True Romance Blog with Sue Grimshaw.

She’s the Gladys Knight of romance, so we’re the Pips, and we’re on the Midnight Train to Romance. WOO HOO!

Sue is one of the most recognizable faces in the industry. You might have met her at a conference or at an RWA chapter meeting, or read an interview with her online – it’s hard to get involved in the genre without meeting Sue. Sue started reading romance over ten years ago, and is among the most enthusiastic and well informed romance experts – which is good since she has what has to be The Worst Job in the Universe: she’s the romance buyer for all Borders stores. She has to read romance novels. Professionally.

Jane and I try to control our jealousy over that one. WOO HOO!

The Borders: True Romance Blog is a whole knew way to meet Sue, and find out how much she knows about books. From her old favorites to the novels she’s most excited about this year, Sue has a ton of ideas to share with you.

Our launch is Monday, 17 August, where you’ll meet Sue and find out more about what we have planned in the days to come. WOO HOO!

What makes the Borders: True Romance Blog interesting and innovative is that each entry will start off with an exclusive video from Sue herself. She has clips of author interviews, insider information about the books she’s reading, or details about our featured guest – and that’ll be the start of each day’s entry. Yup. Every day.

We’ll be doing different things each day, as well. We’ll be featuring four guest authors a week, and they’ll be talking about writing, their new books, and maybe even revealing new information about their work. Plus, we’ll have exclusive discounts or giveaways on featured books each week from some of our guest authors. Our first guests this week are Linda Howard (18 August) and Julia Quinn (19 August) who will be talking about their books – and we’ll have some surprises in there, too.

On Thursdays, we’ll be featuring “Sue’s Must Reads,” a video and written column that highlights books Sue is very excited about – just in time for weekend book shopping.

On Fridays we’ll have something completely new and different: guest columns from romance bloggers. Few readers devote as much time and energy as the romance bloggers whose communities we enjoy, and we wanted to invite them to be a part of this new endeavor. They’ll be discussing their favorite books and subgenres, their own sites, and the elements of the romance genre they most enjoy.

Our goal is for the Borders: True Romance Blog to be a new kind of community, one that unites readers, authors, bloggers, and now booksellers in a unique environment perfect for the discussion and promotion of our favorite genre. We are so honored to be a part of it. We’ve got big plans, with giveaways of ARCs, conversations about romance with authors who aren’t online all that often, exclusive content, video features, and, well, you. You’re the best part.

Hope to see you there! WOO HOO!

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  1. Ashley Ladd says:

    What a HORRIBLE gig. LOL

    I’m so jealous. This is fabulous!

    I can’t wait to read, and watch, your posts.

    Congrats! I’m sure you’ll do your customary wonderful job.

    Tomorrow, August 17th, is also a debut for me. My book “Friction” at Total-E-Bound releases. Now there’s even more reason to celebrate. 🙂

  2. katiebabs says:

    Can’t wait! Congrats.

  3. Woo Hoo, Indeed! And a Woot too.

    was42: Wow. How did it know?

  4. Kristi says:

    Wow! That is so exciting! As a new reader to your blog but a reader of romances for the past 20 years, I’m so excited for you!

  5. way to go, ladies.  how awesome for you.

  6. Jessa Slade says:

    Happy launch day tomorrow! I’ll definitely be checking in. Congrats on this latest endeavor!

    (And I’m looking forward to the Linda Howard interview. I’m reading DEATH ANGEL now and love it: Unrepentant assassin hero, unrepentant thieving mistress heroine. Fun fun.)

  7. Elyssa Papa says:

    WOOHOO! YAY! What fantastic news!

  8. I was PSYCHED when Sue Grimshaw talked about this at RWA Nationals. Gonna get your blog on in a big way, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the Bordersblog community develops~

  9. rebyj says:

    Excitng news! Congrats, I’ll bookmark it on puter later. Just an FYI , the site locked my iPod touch up twice. ( cuz if something doesn’t work once, I am ditzy enough to try again LOL. I think it’s the video settings that froze my iPod up but not sure. Just be aware, it took me 5 minutes to get it working again.

  10. Anon says:

    Love the idea, hate all the video dependence. For those of us who check our RSS feeds at work, that makes this site almost impossible to access—because we can’t listen to it there.

    I would love this site if it came with transcripts. Especially since, now that I’ve watched the video at home, I’ve discovered that the video (at least so far as we have now) has literally zero video value added.

  11. This is exciting!  I’m looking forward to checking it out!  Congrats, ladies.  Way to go.
    Terisa Wilcox

  12. DocTurtle says:

    Congratulations all around!

  13. Janet W says:

    Even though I don’t know Sue Grimshaw from Adam (should that be Eve?) I already know she’s one smart cookie: look who she choose to join her in this venture! Two of the smartest, most inclusive insiders in the biz with a seat at the table. Wow. Very cool.

    Borders is my go-to store when I have to have it new and now—they have the widest selection out there—but (full disclosure here), the majority of my book buying bucks goes to tracking down OOP books and snagging them. There’s a whole lot of money to be made in republishing books.

    But no off track comments: congratulations!

  14. SB Sarah says:

    No off track comments? Come on, even my blog entries don’t stay on track. The comments are fair game for any tangents!

    Thanks for the congrats, y’all. I’m so flattered by the “inclusive insider” part – thanks Janet. Borders is my local store, too, when I’m at work. At home, there’s an indie I love but I buy children’s books there. They don’t stock romance (WOE). But should anyone be in NYC, the Borders on Park Ave. at 57th? WOWSER. Lotsa romance.

    Anon and Rebyj, we are still trying to figure out the best way to merge the video features with the text features. I’m sorry it battled your iPod, Rebyj, but thank you for letting me know. I’ll definitely look into it.

    Thanks for the congrats, y’all, and thanks for adding another site to your, “Oh, lookit that!” list today!

    WOO HOO!

  15. It’s probably related to my lack of caffeine or something, but i can’t figure out how to log in/register to post @ the True Romance blog…?

  16. SB Sarah says:

    Shiloh – it looks to me like you’re registered. Not working? Getting an error? Email me or leave a comment here – I’m around to help.

    (I’m practicing my backup singer moves, too.)

  17. Can’t even see the comment box at the Borders blog.

  18. SB Sarah says:

    Shiloh: have a reload and it should work ok now. Please let me know if it doesn’t? Thanks.

  19. Whoa! Congratulations on the idea! It’s just brilliant. Besides, finally someone else also recognised the possibilities of “romance blogs”!
    We are looking forward the interviews.

  20. Sarah, it’s working just fine now.  🙂  Thank you!

  21. SB Sarah says:

    Shiloh: Great! NOW YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE MWAAAHAHAHHAHAHAH!

    Kidding.

    You’re welcome!

    Thanks for the kudos, folks. I’m definitely excited.

  22. Snort.  Trapped for eternity in a book blog.  You didn’t include that in the fine print.

  23. Ariana says:

    Congratulations! *dances*

  24. Okay, I can’t figure out how to register….

    looking75… I certainly hope not!

  25. SB Sarah says:

    You shouldn’t have to, Ms Bookjunkie. Your comment should be all clear when you enter your name, etc.

    Let me know if you have problems?

  26. JoAnn Ross says:

    Loved the interview!  I even managed to use the embed code to put it on my own blog. (With links here and to Borders, natch.) Borders was the first superstore chain back in the early 90s to stock my single title backlist, so I’ve always been hugely grateful.

    And, Sarah, the red dress was way more fab than a tux!  Personally, I think you looked more Pointer Sister than Pip!

  27. Kaetrin says:

    I’m just about to head over there – sounds like fun.

    I take it that the SBTB and DA will still be continuing?  (where do you find the time girl!!).

    Congratulations on the gig.

  28. Kim says:

    “She’s the Gladys Knight of romance, so we’re the Pips, and we’re on the Midnight Train to Romance. WOO HOO!”

    You all make me laugh every day!  Perhaps you can write copy for David Letterman, et al.

    Thanks for keeping us in the know about romance!

    Kim

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