About Books

  • E-ARCs and bookmarks policies …

    I’ve posted this on the Extras page, but I thought I would mention it here on the blog as well. I currently have electronic advanced reading copies (e-ARCs) available for both Spider’s Bite and Web of Lies (coming out on May 25)

    The e-ARCs are for librarians, booksellers, and book reviewers for review purposes only. I do ask that folks who request an e-ARC actually review the book in a timely manner — around the release date in other words — as well as send me a link to the book review when it gets posted online. You don’t have to like my books, but I do like to check and make sure that they actually get read/reviewed — that’s the whole point of having e-ARCs in the first place, whether the reviews are good, bad, or indifferent.

    Interested in an e-ARC? Send me an e-mail and include the name of your library/bookstore/review site, as well as which e-ARC that you want.

    Note: Please don’t e-mail me if you don’t have a review site and are just trying to get and read the books for free. If folks start trying to scam me, then I’ll have to rethink my policy.

    Also, I offer free bookmarks to readers. I currently have bookmarks available for Spider’s Bite and Web of Lies and will be getting some made for Venom when the cover art is finalized. These are available to anyone who wants some — librarians, booksellers, book reviewers, readers, and other groups.

    However, I do ask that folks send me a self-addressed stamped envelope to help me cover postage costs. Also, I’ve gotten several requests from overseas readers about getting bookmarks. Overseas postage can be expensive, so I also ask those folks to send me a SASE or international postage coupons to help me out with the cost of mailing the bookmarks back to them.

    Got questions? Ask away in the comments.

  • ·

    Finished … for now …

    2 Comments

    So I finally finished Elemental Assassin #5 and shipped it off to my agent to read. Huzzah! There’s nothing quite so satisfying as finally turning in a complete manuscript.

    Also, a quick update: Some folks have asked, but I don’t have titles for Elemental Assassin #4 or #5 yet or release dates, although I imagine both books will come out in 2011. That’s what I’m hoping for anyway.

    Another quick update: I’ve written two free short stories to go along with Web of Lies, coming out on May 25. I’m going to try to get those posted to the Web site soon. I’ll put up a note here on the blog when they go up.

    That’s it for now. Enjoy your weekend!

  • Buying books everywhere else …

    3 Comments

    I’ve talked about Walmart and Amazon. Now, it’s time to look at all the other places that I buy books — namely Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, and eHarlequin.

    My book buying at BAM and B&N is pretty much the same. These are the places where I buy the mass market paperbacks that I’m interested in, mainly because I have a 10 percent discount card at BAM and get e-mail coupons for the same amount from B&N. So whatever store I’m in that day gets my business.

    As you’ve probably guessed by now, I like coupons and discounts and deals. My mama taught me never to settle for buying something at full price unless you absolutely have to.

    That’s one of the reasons that I love eHarlequin so much. The site has some really great deals practically every week –things like free shipping, buy two books, get one free, etc. If you read romance, you should definitely check out eHarlequin. Most of the time, I can get three paperbacks there for around $16-$17, which I think is a pretty awesome bargain.

    And I’ll admit it — I also buy books at my local used bookstore. Every two months or so, I’ll sack up all the books that I’ve read, trade them in for store credit, and come home with half a dozen new books to read. Yeah, I know that authors don’t get royalties on sales from used bookstores, but if I read something, I feature it here on the blog, so I figure that it all evens out in the end.

    What about you guys? Where do you like to buy books and why? Share in the comments.

  • Buying books at Amazon …

    So in continuing my little miniseries about buying books, I thought I would turn my attention to Amazon today.

    Ah, Amazon. So many products available in one place. With a click of a button, they’re mine, no matter what time of night or day it is. I have to admit that I love Amazon — free shipping on orders more than $25, no sales tax, and they have great discounts on hardbacks and trade paperbacks. Not so much on mass market paperbacks, though.

    And, of course, like other authors, I obsessively check the ranking of my books on Amazon to see where they stand. Since Spider’s Bite came out on Jan. 26, my Amazon ranking has pretty much stayed above the 10,000 mark, which I’ve been thrilled about. I’ve even cracked the top 100 contemporary fantasy books a time or two and been as high as in the 3,000s.

    But you know what? It’s only translated to about 500 copies sold at Amazon, according to my editor. I have to say that this surprised me. I’ve always wondered what the Amazon rankings really mean (if anything) and how many books they actually sell. Apparently, since Amazon sells everything, they don’t necessarily sell a lot of one particular thing, if that makes sense.

    Spider’s Bite has sold more copies at Walmart, Barnes & Noble, and Borders group than at Amazon. Of course, I’m sure that more popular authors sell more copies on Amazon, especially as more and more folks buy Kindles.

    In recent weeks, I’ve also signed up to become an Amazon Affiliate. That means when you click the Amazon link to one of my book covers, go to the site, and buy the book, that I get a small percentage of the sale. I’ve made about $8 so far this year. You have to accumulate $10 before you can cash it in for an Amazon gift card. I’m not sure what I’ll do if (or when) I hit that $10 mark. I might do a giveaway here on the blog or something. We’ll see.

    Anyway, these are just some of my general thoughts on buying books at Amazon. What do you guys like or dislike about Amazon? Share in the comments.

  • Buying books at Walmart …

    8 Comments

    So, as some of you know, Spider’s Bite is available at Walmart, so I’ve been checking out my local Walmarts to see if they have they book. Some of them do, some of them don’t. But it’s got me thinking about books and Walmart lately.

    I think that if Walmart really wanted to, they could give Amazon and Barnes & Noble a run for their money in the book business. (Or maybe they already do, I don’t know). I never used to look at the books at Walmart. I was there to get groceries or office supplies or whatever — not books.

    So you can imagine how surprised I was to discover that most paperbacks are at least $2 cheaper at Walmart than they are at B&N and other bookstores. It’s like a whole new world has opened up to me! I bought Pleasure of a Dark Prince by Kresley Cole at my local Walmart for $5.97, along with The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay. Now, every time I go to Walmart, I swing by the book aisle just to see what they have.

    My only complaint? It’s hard to see what they really have or find a specific title that you’re looking for. It seems like the books at Walmart fall into four categories — inspirational, romance, best-sellers, and westerns. (I think they had more westerns at Walmart then I usually see at B&N.) The books are loosely grouped into sections, but within those sections, there’s no real order. All the authors/genres are just jumbled together. I think that if Walmart put in a few more rows of books and had them all organized, that they could really put a hurt on the other book chains. I’d go there if it meant saving $2 on a paperback.

    I asked the folks in my local critique group about this, and they said that they all cruise by the book shelf at Walmart on a regular basis just to see what they might have. Looks like I was the only one out of the loop on this. LOL.

    What about you guys? Do you ever buy books at Walmart? Why or why not?