Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Fictionwise
April 11, 2012 | Wednesday | 14 Comments
If you're reaction to the Department of Justice is a bit of "what?" and "huh?" here's plenty of explanation and education. First, you can read the documents filed by the Department of Justice (pdf) in New York's Southern District court. The documents explain the case, the processes of print and ebook publishing, and allegations that caused the suit to be filed. Point of note: references to "horizontal conspiracy" create mental images that are unintentionally silly. (I went and looked for a few links to explain the basics of antitrust, and I discovered a strange phenomenon. Many of the pages that explain the…
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September 24, 2011 | Saturday | 20 Comments
Christine Merrill’s The Inconvenient Duchess is a free PDF download from TryHarlequin.com. This book was released in 2006, and has pretty high Amazon reviews from its release. Also in the TryHarlequin collection are three Spanish language novels—scroll all the way to the right to find them. But wait, there’s more! This weekend only, Fictionwise is offering 50% off all titles with coupon code92311 092311 (SORRY!). There are two caveats: one, the coupon is not valid on Samhain titles and certainly not on any agency publisher titles. Two, there’s not a huge selection at Fictionwise, alas. But they do have Harlequin…
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August 25, 2009 | Tuesday | 13 Comments
The website isn’t updated at Sony and I’d give anything for a detailed press release, but here’s the data on Sony’s new Daily Edition wireless reader, from the ZDNet live blog: $399, and on sale in December Wireless connectivity via 3G network (Oh no, I hope it’s not the Absolutely Terrible & Tawdry network I’m already familiar with) 7” Touchscreen Mac and PC compatibility Horizontal and vertical orientation for reading Online bookclub at Words Move Me.com Here’s a picture of the three new Sonys side by side, from Slashgear: Oh noes! Even as I write this, I am bummed. From…
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July 24, 2009 | Friday | 26 Comments
When I presented at Digital Book, one of my fellow panelists was Michael Santangelo, the Electronic Resources Specialist at the Brooklyn Public Library. In his slides, he featured a picture of their digital kiosks, which allow library patrons to check requests, reserve books, and manage most of the features of their library account. I think similar kiosks should be installed in bookstores so that people who want to buy ebooks can do so - in the store. This would be where the million dollars come in! Any sexy venture capitalists out there want to take me to lunch? I’m a…
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April 27, 2009 | Monday | 20 Comments
My Give-a-Shit is long broken, but given my reaction in the last 20 minutes, my Holy Shit is in fine working order. From Brad Stone’s New York Times’ Bits & Bytes section, by way of R. Nash’s Tweet feed comes the stomach-dropping news that Amazon has acquired Stanza-creator Lexcycle. It is not clear how much Amazon is paying for the year-old company with offices in Austin and Portland. But the move indicates Amazon wants to consolidate its position on mobile devices, particularly within Apple’s ecosystem, which may include a tablet computer later this year. According to the Lexcycle blog announcement,…
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April 06, 2009 | Monday | 10 Comments
After many a bracket and much trash talking, it’s down to two books: Patricia Briggs’ “Iron Kissed” vs. Joanna Bourne’s “Spymaster’s Lady.” Quite a battle: exceptionally-researched and written historical romance with plot twists and uncommon characters battling conspiracy and mystery, pitted against a paranormal series with a kick-ass heroine in an entirely different era dealing with werewolves and… conspiracy and mystery. Two very different books yet both are similar in key areas: strong characters, nimble writing, deft twists and turns, and incredibly absorbing writing. Jane asked Joanna Bourne and Patricia Briggs to do a quick interview to highlight their books…
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April 03, 2009 | Friday | 0 Comments
We are at a crucial juncture in the Final Four at the DABWAHA. Who will survive to the Championship Round? You decide with your votes. (cue ominous music). Will it be urban fantasy tear jerker, Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs? Possibly contemporary favorite, Blue Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas. Or historical breakout The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne (would she rather win the DABWAHA or the RITA?). Maybe Maya Banks’ polyamorous tale of love between one woman and three men (yes, shocking isn’t it?) will be the surprise darkhouse winner. Here’s the voting schedule Voting Schedule: Iron Kissed v. Blue…
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April 01, 2009 | Wednesday | 5 Comments
My neighbors over in Chatham, NJ, Fictionwise, have some ebook madness for he Stanza crowd. From the Stanza newsletter: EVERY eBook at Stanza for Fictionwise now sports 45% REWARDS. After that, our accountant’s meds wear off and he will force us to shut down this sale. Build your eReader library today! Learn more about eReader Rewards online at stanza.fictionwise.com. Plus, Stanza is offering four free titles: Persuader(Book 7 of the Jack Reacher series) by Lee Child, Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult, Circle of Love by Linda Swift, and Glad Tidings by Debbie Macomber. Offer good through tomorrow, 1 April…
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March 26, 2009 | Thursday | 1 Comments
Update: Sorry guys. For some reason the polls did not open on time so we are revising the voting schedule. We’ve still got voting going on in the DABWAHA Tournament. Round 3 is about to begin at 8 AM EDT. Voting in Round 3 will be for 8 hours. Voting Schedule: Round 3, Set 1: March 26, 2009 Round 3, Set 2: March 26, 2009 Round 3, Set 3: March 27, 2009 Round 3, Set 2: March 27, 2009 The schedule is varied and longer to give people as much time to vote and to accommodate schedules all over the…
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March 22, 2009 | Sunday | 8 Comments
Thanks to Greta, I have an interesting link to share. It’s not 100% effective from my testing but it’s definitely a step in the right direction for ebook price shoppers - or for people who are still undecided between a Kindle or a Sony or another ebook reading device. EbookPrice.info will show you the purchasing options for an ebook or books by file type, vendor, and price. Pretty savvy idea - and definitely one I appreciate. Sadly, it’s not 100% effective. Consider my test. This weekend I spent about three hours in epic battle with Fictionwise, then with Mobi DRM,…
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March 19, 2009 | Thursday | 5 Comments
It’s time. The books have been nominated, seeded and slated against each other. Over 700 brackets were filled out. (That’s twice as many as last year). We’ve got some mad prizes: a Sony Reader for the one bracket that rules them all and a Sony Reader for the author who penned the Champion of the DABWAHA tournament. This year, we are handing out prizes at the end of each round to the top scoring bracket. Each right pick gives you points. The goal, obviously, is to have the most right picks. Even though your brackets are locked and you can’t…
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March 18, 2009 | Wednesday | 1 Comments
Reminder: if you want to enter the DABWAHA bracket competition, your window of opportunity expires at 11:00 pm EST on March 18, 2009. Voting will start March 19, 2009, better known as tomorrow, at 6am EST. Please note, as there’s been some confusion as to how the bracket entry works: You can enter by simply entering a UserID and email address. Each entry is entered in the database by Jane so there is a delay between when you register and when you see your userid in the list of entries. Please wait for about 3 hours before checking to see…
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March 15, 2009 | Sunday | 14 Comments
It’s time for the Dear Author Bitchery Writing Award for Hellagood Authors or DA BWAHA. For newcomers, this is a tournament of books that mimics the March Madness tournament of basketball. We’ve picked a slate of 64 books in 8 different categories to compete against each other through the next few weeks. We welcome all participants regardless of whether you are an author, reader, reviewer or someone who doesn’t even have an interest in romance books. We encourage authors who have books in the tournament to fill out a bracket and pick yourself to win. There’s no hubris here. Only…
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March 09, 2009 | Monday | 50 Comments
em·bar·rass: v 1. To cause to feel self-conscious or ill at ease; disconcert. 2. To involve in or hamper with financial difficulties. 3. To hinder with obstacles or difficulties; impede. Sixteen bodrillion people forwarded me this link, so thank you to all of them: IT World says ebooks are taking off because women can buy erotica and romance without embarrassment. Specifically: “porn is blazing a path to a new media format.” Lest anyone think I’m quoting out of context, let me grab the two paragraphs that caught my eye. Barnes & Noble abandoned ebooks once, so why are they coming…
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March 05, 2009 | Thursday | 14 Comments
Ron Hogan of Beatrice.com, GalleyCat, and lady Jane’s Salon posted via Twitter the news from Teleread, which of course has crashed like the server was slashdotted. Forbes has the story as well: Barnes and Noble has purchased Fictionwise for a reported $15.7 million dollars. The deal gives Barnes & Noble a presence in the e-book market prior to the launch of its e-Bookstore later this year. The transaction may also include additional performance-based payments to Fictionwise over the next two years. Barnes & Noble plans to keep New Jersey-based Fictionwise as an individual division after the deal closes, with founders…
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