Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Rwa
February 25, 2012 | Saturday | 12 Comments
I mentioned in my entry about social media and discovery that the RWA had done a survey of romance readers and posted a PDF of the results online for members. I asked if I could share some of the data, and RWA granted permission. Thank you! The following data is from RWA and Bowker's PubTrack Consumer, and all of the information is used with permission. I'm barely scratching the surface of the report, but I wanted to share the parts that really caught my attention. I must start by saying that I have a horrible time with numbers. I remember…
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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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October 31, 2011 | Monday | 42 Comments
This isn’t quite a HaBO request about a missing book - more like a request for guidance. T. wrote and asked: Would it be possible to ask you and/or your readers which books provide the best advice on how to write a romance novel? Or what advice authors who are writing romance would offer? I’m curious and perhaps some of your other readers are as well. There are so many how-to books out there and just a brief page through at the local B&N made it clear that some of them were too vague to be of use and others…
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June 29, 2011 | Wednesday | 17 Comments
Here it is, the 2011 Literacy Signing video, complete with dancing. Well, some dancing. Mostly authors and readers making one awesome night for romance and literacy.
Link!
Enjoy, y’all. And thank you to all the authors and readers who participated. Someday I’ll do one of Freebird or In A Gadda Da Vida so I can use every last person I film in the video.
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June 17, 2011 | Friday | 18 Comments
At the suggestion of Theresa Meyers (so if you don’t like it, blame her!) I’m posting last year’s RWA Literacy Signing video:
I haven’t decided if I’ll do another video this year - it’s fun but time consuming! And I hear rumors of another video in the works right now that promises to be epic hilarious. If I do create a new one, got any song suggestions? Bad lip syncing is always fun!
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June 13, 2011 | Monday | 49 Comments
First: This entire guide will be available as a PDF download, in large size and wallet-sized, for your convenience. Right click and download any PDFs, por favor! Let me begin by cluing you in on the TRUTH about New Yorkers, as best described by Meg Cabot: New York isn’t like Indiana. Well, you probably knew that. But I mean, it’s REALLY not like Indiana. In the town where I’m from, you don’t walk anywhere…. In New York, you walk everywhere. Nobody has a car - or, if they do, they don’t use it, except for trips out of the city.…
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May 10, 2011 | Tuesday | 4 Comments
You guys. I have so many RITA® Reader Challenge reviews that are made of excellent with a side order of woohoo. Today’s is for a novella and is being reviewed by Valerie F.
The summary: Twenty-two years ago four teenage boys were convicted of a young girl’s murder. Now, in the form of a beautiful woman, the “victim” is seeking vengeance. And only one man dares to dig into the past to uncover its secrets… and set her free.
And now, Valerie’s review!
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May 03, 2011 | Tuesday | 78 Comments
I’m working on a a project for RWA this year to help everyone navigate their way to interesting places in NYC. But I need your help: what landmarks, museums, places of interest, stores, and different locations are MUST-SEE spots in Manhattan? Tell me tell me, so I can plot them out. Mwaaaahahahah, plotting. Among my list of spots to recommend to visiting romance writers: Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum (one of my absolute favorite places in NYC) Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Sex MoMA Central Park walking paths of awesomeness Woo Shoe (for all your shoe shopping needs) Bloomingdale’s Macy’s Herald…
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April 28, 2011 | Thursday | 13 Comments
Another YA RITA® Reader Challenge review, this time written by me. Please note: there are spoilers in the review below, but I’ve whited them out. You have to highlight to read them, but consider yourself warned. Synopsis (sort of): Sometimes I still wake up shivering in the early hours of the morning, drowning in dreams of being out there in the ocean that summer, of looking up at the moon and feeling as invisible and free as a fish. But I’m jumping ahead, and to tell the story right I have to go back to the very beginning. To a…
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April 27, 2011 | Wednesday | 5 Comments
This RITA® Reader Challenge review was written by Steph, who is reading like a mad fiend and loading up her Kindle before she is deployed again. The synopsis: Restless souls and empty hearts Brooklyn can’t sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca, died only a year ago, and now her friend Gabe has just died of an overdose. Every time she closes her eyes, Gabe’s ghost is there waiting for her. She has no idea what he wants or why it isn’t Lucca visiting her dreams. Nico can’t stop. He’s always running, trying to escape the pain of losing his brother, Lucca. But…
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April 26, 2011 | Tuesday | 7 Comments
Time for some more RITA® Reader Challenge reviews, which readers have taken to like romance readers reading romance novels. (Obvious statements is obvious!) Today, we have a review for the RITA® nominated novella “Mistletoe Magic” by Sandra Hyatt in Under the Millionaire’s Mistletoe, plus the other novella in the book, “The Wrong Brother” by Maureen Child, both reviewed by Lindlee. The cover copy: Pucker up for two irresistible millionaires who are about to meet their matches…under the mistletoe! “The Wrong Brother” by Maureen Child Well, she’d asked to be kissed. Who was Sam Hale to deny a beauty such a…
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April 19, 2011 | Tuesday | 30 Comments
The rules of the RITA® Reader Challenge stipulated a limit of 250 words, but I loved this review SO much I let it break that rule. This is not an invitation for anyone else to so, but I loved Diana’s review because it highlights how fiction can dare readers to think of themselves differently. First, the description of the book: A lady does not smoke cheroot. She does not ride astride. She does not fence or attend duels. She does not fire a pistol, and she never gambles at a gentlemen’s club. Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules,…
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April 18, 2011 | Monday | 13 Comments
I’ve received a few RITA® Reader Challenge Reviews already - and here’s the first, of Eloisa James’ A Kiss at Midnight, which is nominated in the Best Historical category. This review is from Jayne First: the book description: Miss Kate Daltry doesn’t believe in fairy tales . . . or happily ever after. Forced by her stepmother to attend a ball, Kate meets a prince . . . and decides he’s anything but charming. A clash of wits and wills ensues, but they both know their irresistible attraction will lead nowhere. For Gabriel is promised to another woman—a princess whose…
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April 05, 2011 | Tuesday | 29 Comments
A lot of people try to see all the Best Picture nominees before the Oscars ceremony- so let’s do that for the RITAs, shall we? I looked at the list of RITA® nominated books from the RWA and there were a lot of books I was curious about. I’m not going to be able to read every nominated book before the ceremony… but I can read one in each category - and I invite you to do it, too. Here’s my plan: Below is the list of nominees, along with a Google Doc link to a list of the nominees.…
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February 07, 2011 | Monday | 53 Comments
Seriously, my inbox asplode. Let’s get started with the a-to-the-href, shall we? First: hear that sound? That’s the sound of champagne vendors wailing at the news that Nora Roberts will not be attending the RWA National Conference in New York this year, as I learned this morning. I’m a little bummed about this info, as her Q&A is awesome and who doesn’t love bumping into Nora Roberts in the bar? Alas, not this year. Maybe next year, I hope. * Benjamin Alsup in Esquire takes a look at sex in fiction, saying: Writing about sex is hard. Some writers claim…
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