Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Bea
May 21, 2012 | Monday | 35 Comments
First, via Katiebabs and KatiD on Twitter: More from Plagiarism Chutzpah! YA Author Sarah Cross has a guest blog about plagiarism and how it sucks a lot (which it does). It's not a bad post, as it discusses the different types of plagiarism. But it's a guest post on Kristi Diehm's site, The Story Siren, where plagiarism occurred last January, and was discovered last month. Unfortuantely, this guest post, if you're keeping score at home: 1. includes as a description the exact thing Kristi Diehm did when she lifted content from fashion bloggers Beautifully Invisible and Grit and Glamour. 2.…
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May 26, 2011 | Thursday | 16 Comments
Want some stuff to read? The internet is happy to oblige. First: Kobo has announced their Read On initiative, focusing on getting one trillion minutes read on Kobo devices and apps. From their site: Sign up, and tell us the school or community organization you would like to support. For every 10 million-minutes read on Kobo, we will make a contribution of eReading valued between $1,000 and $20,000 to a school or organization in your community. I think this is spiffy. And it makes me curious how many minutes I actually do read! Second: librarians at BEA discussed the impact…
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May 25, 2011 | Wednesday | 15 Comments
Yesterday was day 1 of BEA, and I took a lot of pictures. I also took my shoes off to walk around part of the time because oh, my GOSH, do your feet get sore traversing the cavern of book booths that is the Javits Center. My day started off with a conversation at the Digital Book World booth, where I was asked about romance readers and digital reading, and because it was on camera, I can guarantee I probably had some sort of smudge on my face. Then I walked past the Kobo booth and got so excited I…
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May 21, 2011 | Saturday | 12 Comments
Holy smoke, that was fun! Over 600 comments to form the Best Romance Reading List Ever. WOO. Thank you for entering the contest, for your interest, and for all your congrats on the new book. I am so excited. Look. I’ve still contained myself to ONE exclamation point. And now TEH WINNAHS. Please email me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTcom with your mailing address if you’ve won, and I’ll put together the packages of book prize-tastic-ness-olation. The winners: 1. Noozie 2. Debbie (@3:49am) 3. Ashlea 4. Rebekah Crain 5. Michelle (@7:11 am) 6. Davi @ 11:06 am 5/17 (I have NO idea why…
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May 16, 2011 | Monday | 23 Comments
It’s Book Expo America time, where publishers set up booth to tout their wares, lines form for signings featuring really awesome authors and some celebrities you might not have thought about in years, and, most of all, where people bemoan the fact that there’s about 4 bathrooms for the whole damn convention center. Ah, Javits center, I love you. I’m doing a lot at BEA this year and I’m very excited! First, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by it all, I have two resources for you. First, BEA has a ton of conference planning tools and Publishers Lunch also has apps…
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October 08, 2010 | Friday | 3 Comments
Want to know two words that make my insides go EEEK?! “Keynote Speaker.” I’m the keynote speaker at the 2011 Book Blogger Convention in NYC on 27 May. I was so flattered to be asked, and I am so totally excited, but wow, the import and intimidation factor of “keynote” and “speaker” is making me crave donuts. So there’s your first indication of what I might talk about: donuts. Or, I just might bring some. I am speaking in the morning, after all. I hope if you’re interested in attending that you’ll sign up - it’s during BEA so the…
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September 22, 2009 | Tuesday | 11 Comments
Despite the focus on romance novels in the hot pink palace, I buy many other different types of books, including cookbooks (boy is that a problem), computer instruction guides, and children’s books. This past week I’ve found two children’s products - one book and one DVD/CD - that have rocked my socks enough that I wanted to spread the word. My older son, known online as Freebird, has a book from Sleeping Bear Press called “H is for Homerun.” It’s an alphabetical poem with verses about baseball, from “A is for the All Stars,” to my favorite, “Z is for…
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May 29, 2009 | Friday | 6 Comments
A friendly reminder that tomorrow, Saturday, I’ll be at the NetGalley Blogger Signing Booth at 12 noon, in booth #4077. You can see the complete schedule of blog-tastic awesomeness over at Follow the Reader. The best part? Blogger trading cards created by Melissa Klug from Glatfelter Paper. I’m so curious and cannot wait to see them. Simon Owens over at Bloggasm interviewed Edward Champion about participating in the signing, and the quotes from Champion, Kat Meyer, and Fran Toolan are well worth reading as they illustrate, I think, how using traditional methods of publishing communication (i.e. book signings) in a…
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May 29, 2009 | Friday | 9 Comments
First, there was this Tweet from Ron Hogan: Planning to blog at #BEA09? The New Media Zone will have about 10 electrical outlets; you’re responsible for your own WiFi. Then - a correction: To repeat last night’s clarification from Roger Bilheimer, the #BEA09 New Media Zone has 10 electrical outlets AND internet connections. Then, Kat Meyer pondered how much she’d be bringing with her: is it true about no wifi? should i not bring my 40 pound laptop to Javitts? #bea09 BEA attendees warned those giving sessions that it’s BYOW for BEA: RT @russmarshalek: If your session on social media…
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May 24, 2009 | Sunday | 11 Comments
Thing the first: Diana Rowland interviewed me for Magic District. She wanted to examine the issues facing romance, science fiction, and fantasy novels - and I apparently wanted to use the word “element” about sixteen times too many. It’s like an elemental drinking game at this point. Thank you for the interview, Diana! While I was traveling in scenic, windy, and unquestionably awesome Iowa, a segment I taped for Better.tv aired in a whole mess of places across the US. Host Audra Lowe interviewed me about the Bosoms, the power of romance in a recession, and what to do about…
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June 17, 2008 | Tuesday | 10 Comments
If you take a look at the Yahoo: Books and Publishing News Page, you’ll see a particular byline frequently: that of Hillel Italie, who is the AP National Writer who covers All Things Book. Some people stalk their favorite authors. Some people stalk Fabio. Me, I start wondering about the job responsibilities of AP book beat reporters. I was rather fascinated by the idea of a reporter whose responsibilities include publishing, books, bestsellers, news, gossip, events, and trends - I mean, dude. How cool is that? So, being the nosy woman I am, I asked Hillel if he’d be willing…
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June 07, 2008 | Saturday | 49 Comments
In a Friday Op-Ed in the NY Times, Paul Krugman examines technology and the profitability of the ancillary market for publishing in light of the advancing market share of the ebook. He cites the the predictions of Esther Dyson, who in 1994 predicted that digital content itself would not be the source of profit for emerging companies; instead, services and support surrounding the content would be the actual revenue-generating aspect of business. Comparing technology and software distrubution to the Grateful Dead business model, in which “enough of the people who copy and listen to Grateful Dead tapes end up paying…
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June 02, 2008 | Monday | 83 Comments
I have to say, I’m kind of a fangirl of Hillel Italie, the AP reporter who covers publishing, books, and all things literary. His article covering the BEA over the weekend gave me a massive pile of things to ponder, from the amount of money in publishing, and how it might be redirected, to the future of local booksellers, and whether the “Literary Liberation” stickers that will be sent to booksellers will be cool. The CEO of Penguin Group USA, David Shanks, is quoted as saying, “I think when this is over, we’re going to do some soul searching…. There…
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