Ebook Review Central for Samhain Publishing September 2011

This is the third issue of Ebook Review Central. And it is your guide to the Samhain Publishing titles for September 2011.

If you are interested in how this feature came about, or earlier issues, please check out the posts on Carina Press and Dreamspinner for the gory and not-so-gory details. But this week, the focus is on Samhain.

Samhain published 19 ebook titles in September. One of the surprising things about this list is how many Western titles there are. Three Westerns! Maybe there still is a wild, wild West out there someplace.

I always like to make a special note of which books got the most “buzz”, which ones were talked about the most on the list. The Samhain titles were really fascinating in this regard, because there were some huge review numbers racked up by a couple of titles.

Some of that is because there’s a time lapse, these are the September books, and it’s now early November, some of it is undoubtedly good marketing (more on that in a minute) and some is because there were some really great books in this bunch.

Samhain Publishing has done something that I find intriguing, both as a book reviewer and as a librarian. Samhain is participating in Library Journal’s ebook only review program, along with Carina Press. What is unusual about Samhain’s participation is that Samhain ebooks, unlike Carina’s, are not available to libraries on OverDrive. So why does Samhain participate? I confess to being terribly curious. (Full disclosure, I am one of the reviewers for Library Journal)

They certainly get some great reviews from librarians, published in Library Journal Xpress Reviews, and they get name recognition for both their ebooks and the print books. Why Samhain does not participate in OverDrive, I don’t know but I sure do wonder about. It must be a marketing thing.

But speaking of marketing, the first book with a lot of positive buzz this month is Cipher, by Moira Rogers. Not only did Cipher get 10 reviews, all very positive, but there was a lot more. In September, a Cipher giveaway, release party and chat session was held at Fiction Vixen. This was part of a big Southern Arcana Readalong conducted all summer long and cross promoted at Fiction Vixen, Smexy Books and The Book Pushers. It created a lot of anticipation and positive buzz for what looks like a terrific paranormal romance series.

Shiloh Walker’s Locked in Silence is book 5 in her Grimm’s Circle series. I chose it as my second featured book because Ms. Walker is an author who chooses to publish some of her work through traditional print publishers, and some, like her Grimm’s Circle series, through ebook publishers. The author, and the quality of the work, is the same. The popularity, and Ms. Walker’s work is very, very popular, is exactly the same. If hot paranormal romances with demons and angels are what you’re looking for, this series by Shiloh Walker might be a good place to start.

Last, but absolutely not least according to the review, is The Last Detail by Melissa Schroeder. 12 reviews, and all positive. If you like science fiction romance, that’s probably a buy recommendation right there. I’m also overjoyed to see this much interest in SFR! There was also a movie titled The Last Detail with Jack Nicholson from 1973. It’s also about getting someone back to prison, but I think the resemblances probably end there.

Next week’s Ebook Review Central will be the last one to cover September books. Up until now, I’ve been saying that “week 4” would feature a “player-to-be-named-later”. It’s time to name that featured publisher–except it’s going to be publishers, plural. Next week, Ebook Review Central will feature the September books from Astraea Publishing, Liquid Silver Books, and Amber Quill/Amber Heat/Amber Allure.

Tune in next week for another exciting episode.