Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Tuesday Morning Updates: Alpha Men Gone Awry, Shopping In The Bargain Basement, and Zombies In Love







Happy Tuesday Morning!

Here are updates....

1.) I decided to start a "bearded hero" shelf at Goodreads! As I compiled my list, I realized that Lora Leigh's classic book Wild Card has a bearded hero. (The heroine keeps getting tell-tale beard burn! hee hee). Lora Leigh is a master at creating alpha heroes gone awry. And the women they love. And call "Baby".....way too many times. And then insist that the path to true love is "through the back door." I am laughing my way through the book! Baby!

2.) There is an interesting post and discussion going on at Bob Mayer's blog about pricing e-books. As I watch the pricing for books fall...from $18? for hard-covers, to $5-$8 for paperbacks, to under $5 for e-books, to $3, then $2, then $1, then .99, I wonder......how low will we go? .25? a nickel? a penny? There is no going backwards now. Readers will not accept $10 for a book price. We have created "monsters" of our own making....readers with the expectations that books aren't worth a buck.

I find this depressing as hell. Is there any other artist/inventor/film-maker, etc, who toils away for years and years, puts blood, sweat and tears into creating something, and the final product is worth....

99 freakin' cents. Not even a buck.

I don't think so.

Yeah, I know, if you sell a million copies (who's selling a million copies?), then suddenly your life's work has more value. But still.

For self-pubbers, this whole thing may be a gold-mine. But for those who choose traditional publishing paths, it's going to become a nightmare. There is simply no way the traditional publishing industry can support agents, editors, publishers, booksellers, and authors, with books that cost .99.

Good luck with that.

ETA: Gotta love Twitter. I just found my long-lost-twin-on-the-same-page-as-I-am-about-this-stuff...Andrew Shaffer. Here is a link to his blog post.... How Much Is Your Time Worth?

3.) I am fervently hoping and praying that the zombie/romance thing goes away soon. I cannot imagine a less complementary pairing of genres. For God's sake, there is nothing remotely romantic about body parts falling off and consuming human flesh. Who came up with this lam-o idea? Zombie romance, be gone!


Hope everyone is having a good start to the week. Happy March 1st! I am about to dive into another ARC by Meg Maguire. Yee haw!

Love yinz,
Penelope