Tag: collection development

Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Big 6 publishers> ebooks> ebooks in libraries> libraries

And now libraries know that Random House is planning to use real silver for that lining.

The problem with Random House’s plan is that libraries don’t have all that much silver to give them  in this era of shrinking budgets.

On February 2, Random House, the only one of the “Big 6” publishers to provide ebooks to libraries without restrictions, made an announcement that they would continue their generous policy, but that there would be a price hike to deal with some of the issues surrounding permanent access to ebooks.

Most libraries probably expected the price to rise somewhere in the neighborhood of 50%. Maybe double.

The hammer fell March 1. Hammer as in auction hammer. Or the hammer of doom.

Yesterday, Random House tripled the prices of their ebooks. You read that right. An ebook that cost a library $15 on Monday, costs $45 today. The libraries are reeling from the sticker shock.

But what will this mean?

Library budgets are not growing, they are flat or shrinking. Public libraries are creatures of local government, and tax revenues at the local government level are still sucky. Let’s be blunt here.

If the per-title price rises significantly, as it has just done. and the budget stays flat, what will happen? In most cases, libraries will buy fewer titles with the same dollars. Some will rearrange their budgets as much as they can, but very, very few will be able to triple their ebook budgets.

What gets purchased in this scenario? High-demand titles get purchased, so the hold queues get filled. Or at least stay tamed. John Grisham does not lose many library sales out of this.

What doesn’t get purchased? Mid-list authors and debut authors, because there is very little money left in the budget with which to take a chance. And the next John Grisham and Nora Roberts and James Patterson have to come from somewhere. Some of them will come from self-publication Cinderella stories like Amanda Hocking, but some will still come from the mid-list. If they get the chance.

Unlike V.C. Andrews, most authors do not write from beyond the grave. What are the publishers planning to do when the current crop of bestselling juggernauts decide to retire?  The number one way that readers decide to purchase a book is because they liked the author’s last book. The trick seems to be to get people to read an author the first time. And with the demise of more and more bricks-and-mortar bookstores, that trick is getting harder all the time.

But protecting their authors is not what this move is about. Revenue numbers from 2011 are starting to come in from the major publishers, and the picture that emerges is very interesting. Sales of print are down, digital is up and profitability is up. Think about it for a minute. Digital books have no inventory, no print costs, and very low distribution costs. Most of the infrastructure to produce them already exists. For the publisher, they are almost pure profit.

Profitability is in no way a bad thing. It’s required for a business to remain in business. But let’s not pretend. Random House is charging more for their ebooks to libraries because Random House believes:

that pricing to libraries must account for the higher value of this institutional model, which permits e-books to be repeatedly circulated without limitation. The library e-book and the lending privileges it allows enables many more readers to enjoy that copy than a typical consumer copy. Therefore, Random House believes it has greater value, and should be priced accordingly.

In other words, because they can.

Ebook Review Central, Samhain Publishing, January 2012

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central> ebooks

It’s time to warm up a cold winter’s night by taking a look at the titles released by Samhain Publishing during the month of January 2012.

And the reason I said warm up is because all of the featured titles for this month’s issue carry Samhain’s “Red Hots!!!” label. The stories favored by the reviewers for this month were all steamy enough to heat up the coldest winter night.

The other thing that this month’s hits all have in common is that they were all series entries.

The first featured entry this week, is Devon’s Pair, by Jayne Rylon. This is the fourth book in her Powertools series, and the “warning” in the description calls it the first “m/f/m/f/m/f/m/m/f” they think. Call this a ménage with a fairly big crew. Which is part of the point of the story. The Powertools series is about a crew of home renovators that seem to share everything, their tools, their company, and their spouses. By the time this fourth book in the series comes around, every relationship between ever possible combination of partners, triples, etc. is up for exploration in hot and loving detail. And based on the reviews, readers keep eating each new addition to the mix.

Hidden Fire by Jess Dee is part of the Red Hot Weekend series. It is also the sequel to Winter Fire, a novella in the same series from January 2011. In Winter Fire, Rachel Ashberg and Garreth Halt spend one night together, as he indulges her fantasy of being with a man she can never have.  Two years later, it is Garreth’s story, and he is trapped for the weekend with Janna Brooks, the woman he loves but who has always been out of reach. Reviewers must have begged for Garreth’s story, and been thrilled when they finally got it!

Vivian Arend’s Rocky Mountain Heat was a November featured title, and she has continued to heat up the mountains with her Six Pack Ranch Series. Book two at the Six Pack Ranch, Rocky Mountain Haven, captured the reviewers hearts this month. Haven not only contains Arend’s signature wit and heated love scenes, but also captures a complicated second-chance-at-love story between an intelligent and interesting characters. The reviews make this sound like a strong entry in what is shaping up to be a very interesting romantic and erotic series.

Next week will be the January 4-in-1 post, so we’ll look at Amber Quill Press, Astraea Publishing, Liquid Silver Books and Riptide Publishing.

Ebook Review Central, Carina Press, January 2012

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central> ebooks

It’s a new year at Ebook Review Central. This issue covers the January 2012 titles from Carina Press. And what titles they were!

There’s an old phrase that goes “one man’s meat is another man’s poison”. Undoubtedly, that’s just as true for women. I see the application of it every week when I run down the reviews for the new titles. The same book (this week it’s Stephanie Julian’s Sex, Lies and Surveillance) can be rated 5 out of 5 by one reviewer, and the ever-frustrating DNF (Did Not Finish) from another.

I do think that the “Wallbanger” review is going to slowly disappear from the reviewing lexicon. No matter how much I detest a book, I can’t afford to throw my iPad against the wall in frustration.

The three featured titles this week are all different. We have one urban fantasy, one science fiction romance, and one contemporary romance. The one thing they do have in common is that all three titles are part of series, so readers either knew what to expect, or are looking for more from these worlds or relationships in the future.

First up, Zoe Archer’s Chain Reaction. Ms. Archer is not only an established author in print, but Chain Reaction is the sequel to Collision Course, published by Carina Press in April 2011. Chain Reaction is science fiction romance, taking place in a space opera universe where a plucky rebel alliance of elite pilots and engineers is fighting against an evil empire. In this entry to the series. the warrior-pilot is the female of the duo and the nerd-engineer is the male, which makes the romance even more interesting. She’s the alpha and he’s the beta in this equation.

The urban fantasy featured entry is Don’t Bite the Messenger by Regan Summers. The messenger of the title refers to Ms. Sydney Kildare, one of the highly-paid and generally short-lived crew of human messengers who try to survive long enough as couriers for the vampires who have taken over Anchorage Alaska. Vampires are an economic boom, but they wreck havoc with electricity, among other things. And they usually try to enslave any humans who get near them. Sydney just so happens to be immune. When Sydney suddenly becomes a target, one man tries to save her. Too bad he’s not what he appears to be. Don’t Bite the Messenger looks like the start of an excellent urban fantasy series. Vampires go to the Southern hemisphere for the summer. More stories waiting.

The final featured story set a new record for the number of reviews for a single title. On January 1, 2012 Carina Press re-issued Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacey, in both print and ebook. Exclusively Yours is the first book in Ms. Stacey’s Kowalskis series, and was originally published during Carina Press’ launch in 2010. Between the reviews from the initial publication, and the interest generated by this relaunch, there were 34 reviews for this contemporary romance!

That much talk deserves some attention. But it’s more than that. The reviews are overwhelmingly positive–the equivalent of a B- grade or higher. Generally the reviews a lot higher. People didn’t just read this book, they liked this book. They liked it a lot! If you enjoy contemporary romance, and you haven’t read Shannon Stacey, take a look at some of these reviews, and then find yourself a copy of Exclusively Yours.

Dreamspinner Press is up next week with their January 2012 books. See you then!

 

 

 

Ebook Review Central, Amber Quill, Astraea Press, Liquid Silver Books, Riptide Publishing, December 2011

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central> ebooks

This edition of Ebook Review Central is the last time ERC will look back at December 2011. Or look at 2011 at all. But one last time to complete the year. This is the time for ERC to see what Amber Quill, Astraea Press, Liquid Silver Books and Riptide Publishing had to say at the close of 2011.

First, Amber Quill did have output across all three of their publishing lines for the first time in Ebook Review Central’s coverage. Until now, it’s been all Amber Allure, their Gay/Lesbian Romance imprint. This month, Amber Heat, their Het erotica line, published two titles (Truth or Dare and The First Noel) and Amber Quill, their general imprint, published one title (Never Moon a Werewolf).

Second, Astraea Press has hired a reviews coordinator, and it shows. Every one of their December titles has at least one review. And this in a month where a lot of people in general were just plain busy with other things. I also noticed that some of the backlist titles picked up reviews. This is really, really great to see. Keep up the good work!

And now, the part you’ve all been waiting for…this week’s featured titles!

The number one pick was definitely Counterpoint by Rachel Haimowitz, published by Riptide Publishing. Counterpoint is the first book in Ms. Haimowitz’s Song of the Fallen series, and is a dark fantasy that takes place at the twilight of the human race. This male/male romance tackles issues of slavery, politics and interspecies prejudice as well as the age-old questions about which love is the highest and greatest: love of family, love of one’s own people or country, or the love of one’s heart.

Dreamer by Ann Mayburn is the ERC second feature for this week. Liquid Silver Books published this story of good versus evil that takes place in an alternate Washington, D.C. Reviewers say that this romance is filled with fantasy and action, and that the characters, especially the heroine, are incredibly sarcastic and funny. This story doesn’t just have evil stalking the children of Washington, D.C., it has Celtic Gods and Goddesses, Temple Warriors and their chosen mates, and more than a little BDSM. This romance is not for those who like their erotic on the vanilla side.

On the other hand, the third featured book is perfect for those looking for a sweet romance with a Happily Ever After and some romantic suspense. From Now Until Forever by Sherry Gloag is about the prince of a pocket European country and the female security chief his parents have entrusted with his safety. When they fall in love and marry, while still keeping their identities secret from each other, their life is idyllic until the prince becomes the target of an assassination attempt and their secrets come between them. The characters are extremely likeable, and the plot works surprisingly well.

2011 has officially ended at Ebook Review Central. We’ll return next week with the Carina Press titles from January 2012. Happy New Year!

 

Ebook Review Central, Samhain Publishing, December 2011

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central> ebooks

By the time December rolled around, it’s pretty clear that the folks at Samhain Publishing were done with Christmas. Out of the 29 titles that Samhain published in December of last year, there’s only one Christmas book. Just take a look at their title list for December 2011 and you’ll see what I mean.

Samhain had other things on their publishing plate besides Santa’s milk and cookies.  On December 13 (not a Friday), Samhain launched their Retro Romance™ line. It’s their way of bringing out older titles that were previously published in print by a host of other publishers, and whose authors want to introduce their work to a new audience of ebook readers. Random House is doing something very similar with the revival of Loveswept, although the Loveswept revival includes some new titles.

The romances from the Retro line did not pick up a lot of new reviews, but my research introduced me to the blog Get Yer Bodices Ripped Here, which definitely wins the award for best blog title of the month. This blog is worth reading for the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s vintage cover-picture inspired trips down memory lane as well as the absolutely inspired snark-fest reviews, which still tell the reader everything they need to know about each book. This blog is awesome.

But what about the featured books for the month?

The first featured title continues a trend for Samhain. This is the second time they’ve managed to scoop up an ebook-only novella in a popular print series. That popularity was reflected in the double-digit reviews all with B ratings and above for Thea Harrison’s True Colors, book 3.5 in her Elder Races series. The Elder Races books are paranormal romances about a group of very powerful, ancient shapeshifters called the Wyr. The series began in May, 2011 with the release of Dragon Bound, and the reviews for each succeeding book, Storm’s Heart in August, Serpent’s Kiss in October, have continued to raise expectations. Since book four, Oracle’s Moon, won’t be out until March, this novella is just enough to whet fans appetites for more. And did I mention that there are dragons?

Head Rush by Carolyn Crane is the conclusion of her Disillusionist Trilogy. Based on the ratings and the fourteen reviews, the fans who were waiting for this book will not be disillusioned in the least. This urban fantasy wowed the reviewers as the perfect conclusion to an enthralling trilogy, complete with paranoia, mind games, awesome characters and bad guys you really need to see get what’s coming to them. It also sounds like this one only works if you start at the beginning, so first Mind Games, then Double Cross, then, and apparently only then, Head Rush. The reviewers all say it’s well worth the trip.

Last at this round up we have Cowboy Casanova by Lorelei James. This is book 12 in her Rough Riders series. Rough Riders is clearly a guilty pleasure for a tremendous number of readers–Ms. James’ books have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list. The Rough Riders series is erotica, and sex very definitely sells. The series takes place in Sundance, Wyoming, and each book stars a different member of the McKay family. And yes, they are all cowboys. Well, there is one sister. But every single book is smoking hot according to the reviewers, and Cowboy Casanova is sounds like one of the hottest of the bunch. The reviewers are split on whether it’s necessary to read the whole series and get the background on the McKay family to fully enjoy the story, so if you want to start with the first book in the series instead, that was Long Hard Ride.

That’s  it for this week’s Ebook Review Central. We’ll be back next week with the multi-publisher post covering Amber Quill, Astraea Press, Liquid Silver and Riptide Publishing. And we’ll finish up 2011 in style!

Ebooks in Public Libraries: Whither, Which, How

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | audiobooks> books> ebooks> libraries

The Digital Public Library of America discussion list has kicked into high gear again, in anticipation of an in-person meeting at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference in mid-January, 2012 in Dallas, Texas.

The piece of the discussion that has caught my interest concerns the future availability of ebooks for public libraries to loan to patrons — and whether lending ebooks to patrons should be part of any public library future.

Statistics are showing double the ereader penetration in the US population from this time last year, not counting multi-function tablet (i.e. iPad) use. Libraries really don’t have the luxury to pretend this isn’t happening. The question remains what they can do about it.

The other question is, what do libraries provide? The “Big 6” publishers are increasingly skittish about providing ebooks for public libraries to lend.

  • Only Random House just plain lets libraries buy their ebooks to lend to patrons.
  • Harper Collins sells to libraries, and every time the copy has been checked out 26 times, the library has to buy it again.
  • Which puts Harper Collins ahead of Penguin and Hachette, who have both stopped selling ebooks to libraries.
  • And even further ahead of Simon and Schuster and Macmillan, who have never sold ebooks to libraries.

But back to the DPLA, which has been discussing the future of ebook publishing as it relates to libraries. There’s been a particular thread about commercial fiction and public library patrons.

The assumption that keeps niggling at me is that all the current trends will continue, and that the only changes we will see will be for the worse from the perspective of the library as institution.

My interpretation of the trendline being predicted is that the publishers will continue their unfortunate circling of their wagons, and that the lending rights that libraries have traditionally enjoyed with physical materials will disappear in the electronic age as publishers attempt to preserve their profit margins. Brilliance Audio’s scheduled January 31, 2012 withdrawal from the library download market is another step in this trend, as is the support of many, many publishers in the library marketplace for SOPA.

Publishers are worrying about their profits because those profits are based on a physical distribution model, and the physical distribution model is collapsing. And the publishers are becoming less optimistic about digital being their savior than they used to be, at least according to recent reports out of Digital Book World. So they are hanging on to every penny they can. Publishers have always feared that books borrowed from libraries have represented sales lost. But with physical books, sales to libraries were impossible to prevent.

With ebooks (and e-audiobooks) publishers don’t have to sell to libraries. So some of them are increasingly choosing not to — especially the big ones who believe that their authors don’t need libraries to help them develop a following.

But there are a lot of authors who do want their books, especially their ebooks, in libraries. I was interviewed by author Lindsay Buroker for an article on her blog about how self-published authors could get their books into their local libraries.

Self-published authors and authors who are published by small independent publishers are searching eagerly for ways to get their books into libraries. Increasingly those books are exclusively ebooks. Many of those authors would even be willing to donate a copy to their local public library (maybe not every public library, mind you, but the one in their own hometown) just to get readers.

In the print world, they used to be able to donate actual books. But in the digital world, what’s the mechanism? They don’t want to donate rights, they want to donate a couple of copies, and quite likely DRM-free copies at that, but how can they do it?

And for anyone who doesn’t think there is money in self-published authors, remember that Amazon has offered special incentives for self-published authors to make their work exclusively available through the Kindle Selects Program for 90-day periods.

This a a world that is changing faster than the “Big 6” can keep up with, which is why they are circling those wagons.

So, in this corner, we have the big publishers who either haven’t entered the library market or are sounding a retreat.

And in this corner, we have a lot of independent publishers and self-published authors who would love to enter the library space and are hungry for readers–readers that libraries know how to provide.

Libraries need  the equivalent of Smashwords for libraries. This may turn out to be something like what OverDrive will be when the big publishers have dropped out of the library market, with the addition of a method for self-published authors to donate copies or for libraries to buy copies of their work and lend it.

From a library institutional perspective, the library would miss the big blockbuster books. But we may not be able to keep those no matter what we do.  What we would get is a lot of popular content of the type that public library patrons read, popular genre fiction of all types. It would even cost less for the library than the current model. It might even be possible to have enough material so that people would have to wait forever for an ebook.

Yes, it would be different from how public libraries do ebooks now. But the future is going to be different. The question is, can we work toward making it different in a way we can have some control over? Can we have a future with a chance at a win-win?

Ebook Review Central for Amber Quill, Astraea Press, Liquid Silver Books and Riptide Publishing for November 2011

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central> ebooks

It’s going to feel like we’re using the WABAC (pronounced, of course “Wayback”)   Machine here at Ebook Review Central for another few weeks while we wrap up 2011. It’s still early days yet for 2012, at least as far as giving readers a chance to review the books that just came out in the last 8 days! December wasn’t all that long ago when it comes to reading and reviewing the stuff we all just read.

So this week it is time for the multi-publisher issue. Amber Quill, Astraea Press, Liquid Silver and Riptide Publishing titles for November 2011 are included in this last of November issue.

Last month, I wrote that there were difficulties with covering Astraea Press. Specifically that several of Astraea Press’ October titles were not reviewed anywhere.  This is not to say that Astraea Press titles do not get reviewed. But in specific, The Ghost of Herbert Grezley, Lucifer House, Scent of a Witch, For Pete’s Sake, and The Hidden Door were not reviewed on either Goodreads, Amazon or Barnes and Noble, nor anywhere else I could find. Nor have they been as of this month.

Instead, there are three more titles that have no reviews, Over Coffee, To Christmas with Love and Sanders Cross. Those of you who took the time to write in to ask that Astraea Press continue to be covered, I appreciate your interest. Support Astraea Press just a little more by finding copies of these books and reviewing them.

On a much brighter note, one of the three featured books for this month is also an Astraea Press title. A Dog Gone Christmas by Lindsay Downs definitely tugged at more than a few people’s heartstrings over the holiday season. This Christmas tale combines the story of a mother collie rescuing her puppies from a man who wants to sell them for nefarious purposes and a group of human friends who bring their own collies to help seven children deal with the grief of losing a parent in uniform. Talk about a three-hankie special! But with happy endings all around, it sounds like a perfect story for Christmas.

Our second featured book this month comes from Riptide Publishing. A Chip in His Shoulder by L.A. Witt is the story of a contract killer who is both a vampire and a cyborg. This M/M science fiction romance takes place in a near-future dystopia between two ex-lovers who are opposites in every way, human vs. vamp, human vs. cyborg, gutter rat vs. wealthy corporate scion, and yet, both the world-building and the romance worked for the reviewers. Sounds like another great story from Witt, whose Amber Quill title Ex Equals was featured in September.

The third featured title for this month is also a science fiction romance, this time from Liquid Silver Books. Nico Rosso’s The Limit of Desire is the third book in Rosso’s series The Limit War. The reviewers loved this story of a female soldier who is both a real woman and a true soldier. And when she falls behind enemy lines, the man who risks his life on a suicide mission is the only one who could possibly be right for her. Because he accepts her exactly as she is, including the fact that she is his superior officer and they never had much of a chance at a long-term relationship. Until now. The reviewers say this is “real and sweet and sexy”.

That’s a wrap for this week. See you next week with the Carina Press December 2011 books.

Ebook Review Central for Samhain Publishing for November 2011

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central

Happy New Year everyone! But even if it is 2012 in the rest of the world, it is still 2011 at Ebook Review Central for a few more weeks, at least until the rest of the November and December titles cycle through.

This week it’s Samhain Publishing’s November 2011 turn at bat. We’re here to take a look at the 33 titles Samhain released just a few short weeks ago.

There are a few interesting things to note. Samhain’s list is bigger than any of the other publishers that ERC covers. 33 titles compared to Dreamspinner’s 22 or Carina’s 19.  It’s a chunk. Samhain has also added straight-up horror to their line.  So far, the reactions have been mixed. The review sources are different, and a couple of titles (Dead of Winter, Borealis) have received some excellent reviews.

But it’s starting to look like the Samhain titles get reviewed during the first month of publication, but not so much after that. Except for “Best of the Year” lists. the September and October lists didn’t receive very many updates. We’ll see if the trend continues.

On to the featured books for this month. Wow, was I blown away by the reviews for a few of these titles. The reviews for certain books usually tell me which books should be featured, either by the sheer number of reviews, by the quality of the ratings, or both. But this month, these titles really jumped off the page.

Once Upon a Winter’s Eve by Tessa Dare is book 1.5 in Dare’s popular new Spindle Cove series. This 99 cent novella is sandwiched in between A Night to Surrender (August 2011) and A Week to be Wicked (March 2012). And this is also a Christmas story, and was released just in time to capture the holiday reading spirit. Tessa Dare is a terrific and popular author; every one of her books has received at least a 4/4.5 rating at RT Book Reviews. This particular story is reviewed as a fantastic introduction to her work, and a standalone introduction to her new series. And it was short and very, very inexpensive. Is it any wonder that Once Upon a Winter’s Eve received 18 reviews this month?

Rocky Mountain Heat by Vivian Arend generated a lot of reviewing heat all on its own. With 19 reviews, this is clearly a book that people are not just reading, but also talking about. Rocky Mountain Heat is the first book in Vivian Arend’s Six Pack Ranch series. This is a contemporary western romance of the very hot and steamy variety. That so many reviewers felt strongly enough to write a review says that this is a book that will be requested and read. And it’s the first book of six in a series. Everyone is eagerly awaiting the next book, which will generate even more interest in the first book.

Demon Bait by Moira Rogers is also the first book in a series. Rogers’ series is titled, Children of the Undying, and it is billed as Post-Apocalyptic/Cyberpunk, so this is probably as far from the family dynamic in Rocky Mountain Heat as it can get. On the other hand, for readers who like their hot paranormal/futuristic romance with a mixture of angels, demons and what sound a lot like computer hackers, this one looks like a real winner. Eleven reviews, including a “2011 Favorites” from MinnChica at The Book Pushers, pushed Demon Bait into the third featured slot for this month.

That’s a wrap for this week. See you next Monday with our last post from way back in November 2011, covering Amber Quill, Astraea, Liquid Silver and Riptide.