First, from many folks, Bianca D’Arc & Zoe Archer’s Half Past Dead is free for Kindle right now, just for this weekend until 1 November. Archer’s story is a prequel to the Blades of the Rose series, one of which, Scoundrel was the October Sizzling Book Club Pick.
Harlequin is launching an online search for new writing talent called So You Think You Can Write. From Nov 1-5, Harlequin editors and authors will be hosting outreach and educational events on various social media platforms designed to both seek out new writers and instruct folks on what goes into writing a quality romance. Submitted manuscripts from unpublished writers will receive an examination from Harlequin editors, and you can follow the week of events on the Harlequin blog, and on Twitter at hostage #sytycw. Very cool!
Scholastic has launched a book lover’s social networking site for adults, with “bookprinting” that allows others to view the “list of books that left a mark on your life.
My first reaction: cool, but do we need another social networking site? Really? And how many people are going to list “Eat Pray Love” and “The Secret?” (Thanks to Kathryn for the link.)
And finally, from Sharon, a link to make you feel a bit better about needing that super spiffy editor: evidence suggests that Jane Austen had a very savvy editor who corrected her punctuation and spelling, among other things. You can both read and listen to the interview with Oxford professor Kathryn Sutherland who has studied handwritten pages of Austen’s work and discusses the differences in the edits.
Thanks so much for the heads up about the free HALF PAST DEAD on kindle. I’ve been thinking about trying the Archer books and now I can see if the writing works for me. Love that!
Jane Austen had a good editor? That’s another example of just how smart she was. More and more I think “Find an Editor who Doesn’t Love You and Can Spell” should be part of writing 101.
Oh, sweet! I just got Half Past Dead for my iPad.
I may be over thinking this, but it almost seems like Harlequin is trying to cash in a little on the NaNoWriMo hype with their writing contest. Kinda odd.
I strongly encourage everyone to download Half Past Dead—the Zoe Archer story is fantastic, and a perfect read for Halloween weekend!
Half Past Dead is also available for the nook. Here. So it’s probably available elsewhere in other formats as well.
worked29: It just feels like I worked 29 hours today.
Yeah, I am loving the Blades series so I am excited about this one.
Sandra, thanks for the tip that you can get it for nook free too! I just downloaded it.
“Half Past Dead” looks amazing! Can’t wait to download and read it! Up until recently I wasn’t really into this genre, however, I have been reading “Stronger Than Sin” by Caridad Piñeiro and am now hooked on this genre!
Hmm… sadly not showing as a freebie for me… US $8.79…
It doesn’t show as a freebie here either (guess it’s the region again; $12.41 here). But I just found it for free on KOBO and they did let me download it for free. 🙂 Hehehe, now I even have it in epub which I prefer. Already bought the other books in the series but I guess I will now start with this one.
Just wanted to add my own w00tz for next week’s Harlequin online event—I’m featured in the first podcast on Monday afternoon, talking about my experience selling to Blaze. Well, technically my alter ego Meg Maguire is featured, but it’s too early in the morning to fumble about and register a new SBTB screen name and embrace my personality disorder. Maybe after my coffee kicks in.
This is shaping up to be an amazing event for aspiring writers to take part in. Just follow Sarah’s link in the post to see everything they’ve got planned for the week. I’m honored to be taking part.
Oooh, I love free. Free is good. Downloaded my copy and can’t wait to start reading.
It’s not showing up free for me, either (though it is in amongst e-books with $0.00 price when I sort titles by price, oddly).
As Andrea said, it is available free on KOBO, though you’ll probably have to download their desktop e-reader software and get it that way. Some other online retailers probably have it free, too.
I was able to get Half Past Dead from the Sony Store for free.
Thanks for the free book tip!!
@Anne Ardeur: I have downloaded several free books in epub from KOBO and only use ADE.
But good to know that it wasn’t only me who couldn’t see it as free on Amazon.
That editorial week looks way cool, and is a MUCH better idea than promoting vanity publishing, but OMG the timing. Nov 1 is the start of Nano, the first day of my new job, and the beginning of the Xmas gift prep season. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. (I started giving people homemade wontons and perogies as gifts when I was a starving student, and now they won’t let me quit.)