Novelicious

I declare, India and I are having a bang-up time introducing ourselves to U.K. readers. Here's an interview I did for Novelicious, a fun and funny website dreamed up by some U.K. writers. I may have had a drink or two while answering these questions.

Yikes (and a German cover)

Once again, I have been shamefully lax at posting any updates. India would not be pleased and would no doubt berate me for my indolence. I'm sure she would be an avid user of social media. Photos of Lotus House on Instagram. Sarcastic digs at politicians on Twitter. And the daily specials available at the brothel on Facebook.

So, here's a peek at the cover for the German edition of India Black and the Widow of Windsor, with its new title, Danger to the Throne. At least, I think that's the new title. Any German speakers out there who can translate?

Female First

Here's a link to my interview with Female First, an online lifestyle magazine for women in the U.K. India Black and India Black and the Widow of Windsor will be released there on April 17th.

Tarts Or Torts?

Here's a link to an article I did for the Harrogate Festival magazine in the U.K. Did I mention that I love my publicist at Titan?

SHOTS

Not that kind

I mean SHOTS Crime and Thriller Ezine, a UK based digital magazine devoted to, uh, crime and thriller writing. The publicist at Titan, my UK publisher, arranged a guest post there for me, and here's the link.

I've just sent off an article to the publicist which will appear in Your Booked, the online magazine associated with Britain's premier crime writing convention. Very exciting, if a little weird. I'm introducing India to a new group of readers and revisiting the topics I wrote and talked about when India made her debut in the U.S., including what motivated me to write the books in the first place. It's been fun making an excursion down memory lane.

New Covers for Great Britain

The publisher of the British editions of the India Black series, Titan Books, has provided covers for the current novel and the two digital novellas previously published here in the States. Here they are:

Across the Pond

The British publisher has finalized the cover for India Black and the Shadows of Anarchy (sorry, I just have the cover from the Amazon UK page at this point).

Hmmm. That face is a little sweet for India.

Mord im Lotushaus

More exciting news for me. The German edition of India Black is coming out soon. The German publishers opted to add an additional title, Mord im Lotushaus, which appears to translate into Murder in Lotus House. That's cool with me.  And here's the cover, which I love. Sexy!

Hello...Hello...Hello

Waits for the echoes to die away.

Well, I've been gone for awhile. No particular reason except that life has been so quiet that there's been little of note happening. But that's changing, as India Black and the Gentleman Thief will be released on February 4th and is available for pre-order now.

But that's not the only news I have. The India Black Series has been sold to a British publisher.Titan Books will release the first two titles in April. I received the covers for these last week, and here they are:

Titan is an interesting company with an emphasis on comics, graphic novels, historical and adventure fiction, film and television tie-ins, science fiction and detective novels. After looking at their list of representative authors and books, I think it will be a great fit for India.

Finally, RT Book Reviews has the first review of Gentleman Thief. Unfortunately, you have to subscribe to the magazine to read it, or wait another few weeks when they will make it available to the general public. I can tell you that it received four and a half stars and has been designated a TOP PICK.

Rip Van Winkle Here

Hello?  Anyone out there?  It seems I was gone much longer than anticipated.  If you're wondering what's happening with India and French, I've completed the second India short story.  India Black in the City of Light is available now for pre-order from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  The release date is October 1st.

The fourth novel in the series, India Black and the Gentleman Thief, is also available for pre-order.  Here's the cover:

Yes, I know.  Another headless woman.  Do you know why publishers do that?  They use models for these figures, and they don't want too many books with the same woman on the cover showing up under their imprint.

Party Time!

Time to break out the champagne-India Black and the Shadows of Anarchy appears tomorrow, the fifth of February.  That's the official publication date, though I wouldn't be surprised if you can't buy it now, as "official publication date" seems to mean "somewhere around the fifth of February."  I will be enjoying a suitable celebration to mark the date.  My, how times have changed.  Below on the left we see a Victorian couple pushing the boundaries of good taste, and on the right-well, I guess that's how the youngsters do it now.

  

Drum Roll, Please

Today is the official release date of the especial, India Black and the Rajah's Ruby.  Download.  Enjoy. And Happy New Year to you all.

Three Days

The eSpecial India Black and the Rajah's Ruby officially goes on sale December 31st.  I recommend reading it with a glass of champagne.  Here is Page's impression of the story.

The Gatekeepers

If you read much about the current state of the publishing industry, you'll soon run across a defender of traditional publishing protesting that without agents and editors there will be no "gatekeepers."  No one to keep us from reading those awful self-published novels.  No one to stop the publication of poorly written books.  No one to halt the spread of poor grammar, misused metaphors and tautologies.  I'm so glad we have gatekeepers.

And then I see this headline:  "KATE MOSS ON HER NEW BOOK:  I DIDN'T ACTUALLY HAVE TO WRITE ANYTHING."

Great job, gatekeepers!  Thank you for ensuring that only the quality stuff gets published.

Random Penguins

Last week a momentous moment occurred in the publishing world:  the announcement that Random House and Penguin would be merging, giving the resulting company 25% of the world's publishing market.  The companies both announced that the purpose of the merger would be to benefit from the synergies created, which as one writer pointed out, is Wall Street speak for layoffs, consolidation of divisions and the elimination of competing imprints and duplicate departments.  Fewer imprints and editors mean fewer places to pitch books, and agents and authors are already muttering about the negative impact of the merger.

In fact, it's hard to find anything very positive in the coverage of the merger.  Some writers are downright hostile, with one commenting that the move should be expected when these businesses are run by English majors wearing Daddy's work clothes.  I don't know if I'd go that far (or be that snarky), but I don't think the merger will prove to be good for authors.  One analyst (quoted in this week's edition of The Economist) says that the merger will mean many mid-list authors will be jettisoned, as the two publishers focus on their stable of best-selling authors and more spin-offs of Fifty Shades of Grey.

The new company, to be called Penguin Random House, has announced it will using the savings generated by the "synergy" to explore and expand their digital publishing options.  I read one article which raised an interesting point about how the companies might do this.  In the past, the German publishing company which owns Random House held a small stake in Barnes & Noble.  The writer suggested that we should keep our eyes peeled for a potential deal between PRH and B&N.  PRH could gain a foothold in the ereader business with the Nook, and B&N would get a shot of cash necessary to keep their brick and mortar stores open, a retail outlet which, of course, Amazon does not have.  This is better than a soap opera.

Self-Publishing - Is the Stigma Gone?

TC and I had interesting conversation over dinner the other night.  I've been reading a lot about the pros and cons of self-publishing versus traditional publishing.  The future of publishing is being hotly debated at the moment, and the issue of self-publishing is coming to the forefront.

Several years ago, when I was first beginning to write and hoping to land an agent, I would never have considered self-publishing.  At the time, that activity consisted of paying several hundred dollars to a small publisher for a print run of a few hundred copies.  Digital publishing was in its infancy, as were ereaders.  Self-published books were considered to be inferior and their authors lacking the talent to find an agent or publisher.

Things have really changed.  For one thing, there's a new nomenclature out there.  Now a self-published author is an "indie author."  The Romantic Times Convention has a book fair devoted to e-books, indie publishers and graphic novels.  Some famous authors (Barry Eisler) are jumping out of traditional publishing to sign deals with Amazon, or to self-publish.  Of course, there are a couple of authors going the other way (Amanda Hocking and E.L. James), but this illustrates the fluidity of the industry.  What's your view?  Has the stigma of self-publishing disappeared?

Book Reviews and Book Sales

Continuing on the theme of what drives book sales, here's an interesting (as in, "wow, I had no idea things were this bad" interesting) article about the validity of the book reviews you find online.  It's long, but worth reading.

Social Media and Book Sales

It's an article of faith among publishers, publicists, various marketing gurus and quite a number of writers that an author must be a committed user, producer and consumer of social media. Before publication of India Black, my publisher sent me an extensive guide to establishing a web presence.  If a writer isn't writing, then she should be updating her website, blogging, tweeting, posting on Facebook, or otherwise using social media to market her work.  We are advised to brand ourselves and to understand our target audience.  Since I'm interested in selling my books, I've read dozens of articles and interviews with P.R. types on this topic.

There's only one problem with this advice.  Not once have I seen a publisher or public relations expert trot out the data proving that a jazzy website or a fascinating blog translates into book sales.  I suspect they don't provide this information for a simple reason:  it does not exist.  I sometimes wonder if we've all bought into this canard because the alternative-that we don't really know what drives book sales-is so much less appealing than pretending we can boost sales through a flurry of activity.  Certainly social media allows authors to keep in touch with fans but as for driving sales, I'm not convinced.

That Didn't Take Long

From an article by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg in the The Wall Street Journal:  

"Barnes and Noble Inc. bore the brunt of Wednesday's antitrust settlement between the U.S. government and three major book publishers, losing 6.4% of its market value on Thursday alone and tumbling 17% this month.

Those market worries reflected the broad sentiment in the publishing world that Amazon.com Inc is likely to emerge a far stronger competitor in the fast-growing e-book business now that it once again will be able to discount digital books...."

Publication Dates for India #3 and #4

First, some news:  the publisher wants to do a couple of "eSpecials," which are pieces of short fiction published only in electronic form.  I'm going to do two of them, with the first devoted to explaining how India acquired Lotus House.  It will be published a few weeks before India #3 comes out and available at the usual eBook sources.  The second eSpecial will precede the publication of #4.  Here are the dates (and I wish they were sooner, but that's how it is):

January, 2013 - first eSpecial published
February, 2013 - India Black and the Shadows of Anarchy published
October, 2013 - second eSpecial published
November, 2013 - India #4 (as yet untitled) published.

My editor has approved the outline for #4, and I'm writing the first eSpecial now.  It is due by June 1st, so that is the top priority at the moment.  Then I'll start #4.  I'm also reading background material and thinking about my World War II spy novel.  How am I doing with all this?  I think this picture sums up things nicely: