Bitchin' Blog Posts
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April 24, 2012 | Tuesday | 22 Comments
First! A friendly reminder: the Sizzling Book Club Chat for Tamara Morgan's Love is a Battlefield is Thursday night at 9pm! Need a handy button to add that to your trusty calendar? Here you go: I hope you'll join us! I'm trying to figure out if I can simultaneously host the chat at the SBTB Facebook page, too, so you may be able to hang out at Ye Olde Face Booke and join in from there. I have been on a serious contemporary romance kick lately, and I hope you enjoyed this book as much as I did. Jim C. Hines…
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February 23, 2012 | Thursday | 54 Comments
While listening to presentations at Digital Book World's Book Marketing Summit in January about the role of social media venues in book marketing, I got to thinking about how very different Twitter and Facebook are. One slide I saw showed Twitter a distant third behind Facebook and StumbleUpon as sources of social media traffic to specific websites, but the two I find myself on most as a reader (and author) are Facebook and Twitter. I randomly mused in Notepad about how the two I use most are so different from one another, and how I am learning the language of…
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April 27, 2011 | Wednesday | 168 Comments
As a rule, I recommend that every carbon-based life form online avoid the comments section of news sites, from newspapers to television stations to local blogs covering the farmer’s market, because the comments are usually overflowing with fresh awful crazysauce. In this case, I recommend everyone read the comments because they restore some sanity and hope for what is a truly disgraceful and frankly stupid news segment. WNEP, a television station from the northeast and central part my home state of Pennsylvania (OH MY GOSH I AM SO PROUD. NOT.) ran this lovely piece of crap story revealing the pen…
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February 22, 2011 | Tuesday | 47 Comments
There’s a software update coming to the Kindle, with some features that I suspect users will very much enjoy. First, page numbers, not locations, so as to make the citing of passages easier for people who cite things regularly. 2 WOOHOOs and a fist pump for that. Second, public notes. And I quote: “Any Kindle user—including authors, their fans, book reviewers, professors and passionate readers everywhere—can opt-in to share their thoughts on book passages and ideas with friends, family members, colleagues, and the greater Kindle community of people who love to read.” (emphasis mine) So, hold up, instead of changing…
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January 27, 2011 | Thursday | 18 Comments
It’s a tradition for me that when I go to a conference, I start a list of the most common terms heard and begin pondering how much to drink for each one. So, here it is, the Digital Book World 2011 Drinking Game! Form factor - 2 sips Are you ready for what happens next? - 1 sip Digital transition - 1 sip Transmedia - CHUG. Get a refill. Drink that. In fact, drink until you’d swear your radio is dressed up like your HD TV. Vertically oriented - 2 sips Verticals - 1 sip @TomThompson: #dbw11 CEO metaphors: we’re…
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January 05, 2011 | Wednesday | 172 Comments
I was shopping for a birthday present for a 5 year old and realized what an absolute bazooka buffet of Disney princess merchandise there is. It is princesstacular out there. And this made me start thinking about Disney heroes - and which princes and heroes were my favorite. I asked the question on Twitter and Facebook, and had such a response I wanted to ask here as well. On Twitter, the majority liked the Beast - in beast form - from Beauty and the Beast. I figure this is a clear case of loving the bad boy who learns to…
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December 31, 2010 | Friday | 50 Comments
Rather than do a recap of 2010, which would probably break my brain because I’ve done a lot of high-impact computer work this week (no, really, not even kidding) and because I can’t remember what I was wearing yesterday, let alone remember what I was reading eight months ago, I wanted to look back on the authors I discovered this year that rocked my world. These aren’t debut authors, not all of them, anyway. I don’t actually think being a debut author causes any more of a ripple in my consciousness than any other author or book that catches my…
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December 17, 2010 | Friday | 19 Comments
From Mariana: Garfunkel, Oates, and Self-Esteem:
Have a weekend that’s full of excellent!
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December 06, 2010 | Monday | 2 Comments
Are you having fun with the giveaways as I am? Seriously, me and the postal service, we are BFFs and super best friends on Facebook at this point. I even feed their cows for them, for reals.
Let’s announce another winner! The winner of the selection of Simon & Schuster books is: Dayle!
Congratulations Dayle - please email me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTcom with your mailing address, and we’ll get the books out to you asap.
There’s more to come this week until Hanukkah is done, so come on back. Thank you for entering, and good luck on the next few contests!
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November 10, 2010 | Wednesday | 30 Comments
ETA: Note: Apparently, *I* have not learned the lesson that the plural of “lesson” is “lessons” - and there was an apostrophe up in that title. All fixed! Color me embarrassed - which if memory serves is a rather sickly shade of puce. Here’s a not-in-any-particular-order list of lessons learned from the Cook’s Source copyright idiot-a-thon of last week. 1. Do not piss off the internet, especially when now, unlike a few years ago, mainstream news media will have no problems with citing Live Journal as a source. 2. Don’t steal. I mean, is that really a hard one? It’s…
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November 04, 2010 | Thursday | 58 Comments
I have this short write-up of links that are all feel-good and awesome with coulis, but first, let’s have some hot smoking asshattery. From many people comes this amazing series of links wherein Monica Gaudio, a writer and something of an expert on historical cookery, was plagiarized by a magazine, Cook’s Source, whose editor, Judith Griggs, believes the internet is public domain. So you don’t have to pay people whose words you steal, and moreover (wait for it… wait for it…) Monica should be grateful that Cook’s Source reprinted her article without permission or payment. No, really. Cook’s Source lifted…
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October 28, 2010 | Thursday | 40 Comments
I’ve never actually identified what a “whatnot” is but I see that word a lot. Maybe it’s like “bric-a-brac” and I’m destined to never fully understand exactly what it is. But in the spirit of bric-a-brac and whatnot, have some links! It is the internet, after all. First: my latest column for Kirkus Reviews is up, and I’m writing about pop culture references in contemporary-set romances - specifically whether references to songs or tv shows that might date a book in a very specific time period are assets or liabilities to the book itself. Also - I don’t know if…
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August 17, 2010 | Tuesday | 533 Comments
Sony contacted me about doing a giveaway in celebration of the premiere of Eat Pray Love, which hits theatres this week. A Sony Pocket! In sexy silver! With a leather case (that is really a beautiful shade of blue on the outside) and two download codes for both of Elizabeth Gilbert’s books! Woo hoo for digital reading devices! I know many of you are paper reading fanatics - which is absolutely awesome with sauce - but if you’re curious about trying digital reading but haven’t gathered all your pennies into one place to buy one, here’s a chance to win…
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August 16, 2010 | Monday | 5 Comments
First, I’m working on updating a lot of the structural elements to the site, which is a big ol’ behemoth on the back end (hur hur back end) so if things look wonky, let me know and I’ll try to undo what I did, if I can remember what I did. Seriously, there is not enough diet Pepsi for work like this. I’m updating the About Us and the FAQ and other stuff, so if you’re looking for info, send up a flare and I’ll look into whatever it is you’re flaring, too. ETA: I’ve added an “edit comment” feature…
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August 03, 2010 | Tuesday | 18 Comments
When I read this book, I was so bummed at the time that I couldn’t tell everyone around me about it, because it wasn’t out yet. Now it’s out! And I can tell you! GO READ THIS BOOK! There, how’s that? Ok, fine, here’s some more. Hot Finish is book three in the Fast Track series by Erin McCarthy about stock car racers. If you have preconceptions about car racing books, put them aside and try this series, especially this book. I suspect people will not want to jump into book three because it’s the third of the series, and…
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