Blogs of Note: Twisted Kingdom

Liz B, who runs A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy, highlights a new blog every week in her Blog of the Day posts. The blogs range from reader to professional (librarian, bookseller, and publisher) to author blogs and represent the interesting and informative in their field. Thanks to this feature on Liz’s site I’ve found many delightful blogs that I never would have discovered otherwise. I’ve always wanted to do something similar here with the new, intriguing, or just plain pretty blogs that I run across in my lit-blog surfing, so I’ve decided to borrow Liz’s practice* and make it my own.

To that end, let me introduce the first blog of note in what I hope will become an ongoing tradition here at Bookseller Chick central: Twisted Kingdom.

Twisted Kingdom (the blog) was created in September 2006 in response to perceived lack of fantasy review sites on the web, especially when compared to the abundance of romance reader review sites. As Nath, one of the founding reviewers of Twisted Kingdom, explained to me, “There's been a lot more paranormal romance on the market in the last few years, but there are still many fantasy books in which romance is very limited, but it doesn't mean it wouldn't appeal to romance readers. So we thought it'd be fun and helpful to start a review blog for fantasy/paranormal books.”

The blog recently experienced a rebirth in March, and the reviewers—Ames, Dance Chica, Kailana, Mailyn and Nath—have made a concentrated effort to post daily since then. In addition to book reviews categorized by their fantasy type, readers will also find a fantasy dictionary (where the reviewers attempt to define Urban Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, etc as well as give examples of books that fit that subgenre) as well as guest posts by popular authors (Kelley Armstrong was the latest to post this month).

Twisted Kingdom is open to submissions from fantasy authors (including self-published) from the category of Young Adult fantasy on and is looking to make a name for themselves. If you’re interested in getting your book reviewed, or just reading up on what others think of the newest fantasy releases, this is a blog to check out.

Here’s hoping this rebirth leads to a long and fruitful life for both Twisted Kingdom and the Blogs of Note** series.

*Liz, in theater they claim that borrowing is the greatest form of flattery and please know that I’ll work to uphold your tradition of blog coolness.

**If you have any suggestions for blogs to be included in the blogs of note series, please email me at bookseller {dot} chick at gmail. All blogs of note will eventually find their way into the side bar column of links for a permanent home.

The ponies, the ponies, the ponies (and blogging questions)

There’s this poem I read in the summer after my eighth grade year when I was in the Summer Enrichment Program down at U of O. For years now it has haunted me because I can’t remember much about it other than I like it. Oh, and that it started with something like “I’m thinking of committing suicide off the bridge behind my house…,” ended with the repetition of “the grackles, the grackles, the grackles” and that the author’s name might have been Spanish.

Sweet bejezuz, I’m turning into one of my customers! Still, if you know what I’m talking about, please email me. Please. This has been killing me for years! It was a funny poem. Yes, it was. A funny poem starts with talking about committing suicide. It is not as weird as it sounds.

Anywho, moving on. Um, yeah. So the poem talks about the incessant sound of the grackles and last night it was all about the incessant sound of the phone ringing with questions about the ponies.

And about whether or not we were a completely legal operation, “‘Cause I had this friend who did this off-shore betting and he lost a lot of money when they didn’t pay out…”

Dude, we’re not that kind of gambling organization. The states invite us in. Unlike the mob we don’t just move in and take over!

Unless we are the mob, and I’ve been brainwashed by watching the ponies run and run. Oh, the ponies, the ponies, the ponies. Everything is Zen if you’re watching the ponies.

Well, it’s Zen unless you’re dealing with blogger—which I’ve been doing. I’m so tired of all the log in problems and weird post ickiness I’ve dealt with since the new blogger program took affect. I’m going to start looking into alternative programs today between calls and see if I can come up with some sort of alternative.

Of course that means teaching this old pony some new tricks, a questionable thing when one has been brainwashed by the mob.

If there are any of you out there who would like to share your expertise in the ways of Wordpress or other programs, please drop me an email. I value you knowledge and direction.

In return, I’ll tell you how to bet on the ponies and win.*

*The answer to this being, don’t bet on the ponies at all. You may not make any new money, but you didn’t lose any either.

Author Interview: Shel Horowitz

When I was approached by Dorothy Thompson of Pump Up Your Book Promotion PR to host Shel Horowitz on my blog I’ll admit I was a bit leery. Shel’s book was self-published and my years as a bookseller concerned with processing returns left me not without my hang-ups in that regard (I’m working on them, I promise). Given the specialized nature of his title, however, I decided to give it a try.

Wow. Shel packs a lot of bang for your buck and offers a truly unique perspective that differs from all the other Author/Publisher marketing books that I’ve read.

Bookseller Chick: First off, tell my readers a little about your book. What are they getting when they buy your title?

Shel Horowitz: Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers was described byMidwest Book Review as "An informed, user friendly, 'how to' book marketing seminar/workshop in a single volume...The ideal reference manual for anyone having to promote a book with little or no available capital for publicity and promotion."

Among the goodies: two actual marketing plans I prepared for paying clients (and a third one accessible online, included with direct orders)...seven different models for building a book-focused website... eight actual press releases--including one that got 63 major media!--and six successful media pitches. Not to mention a huge resource section and a full index so folks can find things again.

B.S. Chick: When I was starting my research into the world of author publicity, I read a lot of different books from John Kremer to Lissa Warren. How does your book differ from the other marketing books out there?

Shel: It focuses more than most on strategies that authors or publishers can implement without spending very much--and I think there's particular strength in the chapters on working with mainstream media and in harnessing the full power of online strategies beyond the Web. It looks at numerous overlooked but very powerful resources: as oneexample among many (page 66), I've gotten a lot of mileage out of starting correspondences with newsletter editors and other influential people, and I describe how I do that and how that translates to more books sold. It includes a whole chapter on theadvantages and disadvantages of various publishing models. There's another whole chapter on the dismal realities of working with bookstores, followed immediately by one on how to make bookstores work despite the odds. Google and Amazon each rate a chapter, exploring some of the lesser-known marketing strategies on those two sites...and it's the only book on book marketing I'm aware of that really looks at Book Expo America as a marketing opportunity for independent publishers and authors.

Also, it includes over 40 success stories from ordinary authors who were able to achieve something through unusual or persistent marketing.

And I think it's the *only* book to be endorsed by most of the top names in independent publishing--my "competitors": John Kremer (1001 Ways to Market Your Book); Dan Poynter (The Self-Publishing Manual); Fern Reiss (The Publishing Game series); Rick Frishman (Author 101 series); AND Marilyn Ross (Complete Guide to Self-Publishing--as well as several publicity and marketing experts (among them Joan Stewart, Marisa D'Vari, and TJ Walker) and various others. It's also getting very nice reviews. So far, in addition to Midwest Book Review, the book has been praised by Norm Goldman of Bookpleasures, Bob Spear of Heartland Reviews, John Culleton's Shortlist of Recommended Books for Self-Publishers, Armchair Reviews, Tom Nixon of the Small Press Blog, and another blogger, Ted Demopoulos. Not bad, considering it's only five weeks since publication. If my previous books are any indication, reviews will continue to come in for years. You can see them all here. (Midwest just came in today and hasn't been posted yet.)

Incidentally, the bit about turning your competitors into sales ambassadors is something I discuss at length in my award-winning sixth book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First—which is all about harnessing attitudes of ethics, cooperation, service, and ongoing relationships to build a successful business. I took my own advice for that book and for book number 7, which is the author/publisher book. It's very good advice.

Oh yes, and I think it's one of the few books that's specifically designed to be useful to authors who publish traditionally, with a subsidy press, or with their own imprint.

B.S. Chick: What made you go the self-publishing route?

Shel: Each book has its own best path. As it happens, my first, third, and fifth books were published by traditional publishers, with an advance and the whole bit--and my second, fourth and sixth were self-published. If that had come about through any sort of pattern, I'd have had a publisher for my seventh book. But knowing how little marketing help I would get, and knowing how well-branded I am in my key market, it certainly made sense to self-publish this one. One of the biggest reasons to do a book with a traditional publisher is to establish credibility--but having already published with Simon & Schuster and other houses, I already have that credibility. There are other books I'd like to do that I would only write if I get a good publisher and a big advance, because they would require a whole lot of research and legwork, and because one of them in particular really needs mainstream distribution--but for this one it made sense to do it myself.

Interestingly, the book is actually jointly published by my own imprint and by Infinity. I sell my edition on the Web, through my newsletters, and personal appearances. Infinity's edition is on Amazon and is available to bookstores. This is my first time publishing with a subsidy house, and it came about because I showed the cover last year at BEA to two executives I know at Infinity—my hope was that they'd want to make a bulk purchase for all their authors. One of them, John Harnish, requested the manuscript and came back to me and said he really wanted to publish it-- but I also wanted to publish it. So, since I'm not all that good at selling through bookstores anyway and find it a big hassle, I gave them that market. And John made the numbers work for me; I will make out quite decently on any books they sell. However, I couldn't afford to get all my copies through them, as their edition is significantly more expensive to print than mine. Even printing as needed, I'm paying 2/3 as much per copy through my own sources--and if I went to offset I'd cut even that cost at least in half.

B.S. Chick: Do you think that is an option all writers should consider?

Shel: Yes, they should consider it. Each path to publishing has its own set of plusses and minuses, and each is right for some books and not others. I spend a whole chapter on this in Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers.

B.S. Chick: Your book comes with lots of extras if they by directly from you: a free ebook, How to Write and Publish a Marketable Book; 20 Low Cost Ways to Promote Your Book on the Internet: Dan Janal interviews Shel Horowitz; How To Attract Customers To Your Website by Sean D'Souza; Framing by Kenrick Cleveland; The 7 Inner Secrets of Personal Achievement by Yanik Silver; Effective Online Marketing For Authors And Publishers; How to be a Great Radio Guest: 27 Tips by Brian Jud; and A Pirate goes Promotin' and Advice for Radio Guests by Jacqueline Church Simonds. What made you decide to provide so much more for your direct buyers?

Shel: Number one, I'm a big believer in giving a lot of value when someone buys something from me. In part, this is because I know a certain percentage of my readers will choose to hire me for copywriting and/or consulting on the basis of the quality of my books and supplementary materials. And in part it's just because as a shopper, I like to get more than my money's worth, and as an author/publisher, I want to deliver that experience for others.

Number two, I'd prefer that people buy the book directly from me, so that I can get the contact information (which I don't abuse--but some years from now when I publish book number 8, these folks will hear about it) and so that they can see and perhaps purchase the other fine books I offer on the same order page. The bonus package gives people an incentive to get it from me instead of Amazon.

Number three, I wanted to test out the "Internet marketing guru" theory that people will buy more easily with a lot of bonuses. This is not something I've tried before. It's really a winning thing all around: all I have to do is send one email with a link, and people can get whatever appeals to them. The people who supply the bonuses get additional exposure to new audiences, I provide and the reader receives more value. They're all electronic so there's no cost to me in postage, time, or anything else.

Number four, my wife, D. Dina Friedman, who publishes novels with big NYC houses, reviewed the manuscript and told me it was tilted too much toward self-publishers and not enough toward people like her. So I took five chapters that were about things like picking a title and getting a cover designed and separated them out into an e-book that I offer with every direct order, along with the other bonuses. And as it turned out, not printing those five chapters made the book much less expensive to print and to ship, and easier for customers to lift. As it is, it's over 300 pages counting front matter.

And number five, the bonuses and especially the e-book are mentioned all through the book--so this is one way to get people who bought the book elsewhere to go to my site and pay a nominal fee to get all the goodies.

And there's the ability to surpass expectations and provide instant gratification. There's one very special thing I include with the bonus link that is not mentioned anywhere but that I believe is very powerful, and provides that "oh, wow!"--which starts our relationship off on a good foot. And I very much believe in marketing by building real relationships (again, something I talk about in the ethics book).

Thank you, Shel for your participation.

I wasn’t Shel’s only stop, so if you’re interesting in doing more research into Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers* you can visit any of the following stops in the virtual marketing campaign:

Tom Nixon, Small Press Blog (second appearance coming soon)

Ted Demopoulos, the Ted Rap

Denise Wakeman, The Blog Squad

Troy White, RichWriters.com / SmallBusinesscopywriter.com**

Books by Shel Horowitz:

Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers (AWM Books, 2007)

Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First (AWM Books, 2003)

Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World (Chelsea Green, 2000)

The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a Peasant's Pocketbook (AWM Books, 1995--converted to e-book only in 2003)

Marketing Without Megabucks: How to Sell Anything on a Shoestring (Simon & Schuster, 1993--out of print)

Keep Your Money: How to Save Thousands in Advertising (AWM Books, 1985--out of print)

Nuclear Lessons (Stackpole, 1980--out of print)

*This link will also allow you to buy the book directly from Shel and receive all the really great extras he includes.

**Link coming soon.

Because the caffeine has yet to kick in...

I’ve been keeping a running list of searches that bring people to my site. It is by no means a complete list, but here’s for your enjoyment (original search in bold):

Tuesday With Morrie Homework questions

Um, no. Not unless your homework questions are written by someone completely fed up with selling this book.

TNT book seller

Why, yes, I was dynamite. Thank you for noticing.

Tween discussing sex

No tweens here. No tweens discussing sex here either. Discussing whether or not tween books should discuss sex? Now we might be on to something.

Anderson speak is unrealistic

This just makes me sad.

product placement in books cost

For the right amount of money you can get a whole book about your product. See the Bulgari Connection.

starbucks, bookseller

Yes they are and it is only a matter of time before they take over the world. (Probably because their caffeine is also necessary for a bookseller’s sanity.)

pluses and minuses of being a sales representative

Oh, darling. If you have to ask then you’ve obviously never been one. Let me sum it up for you: Pluses-customers, minuses- customers. It depends on the day whether your column is positive or negative at the end.

Obsessed toes

They come alive at night and wiggle in demand for nail polish!

Comments on what makes a good reader

Enjoyment.

Fear of doing homework

A fear I knew all too well.

Jacketflap new look

Lovely.

Franzen False Memoir

Proof that Frey was so last year.

Men behaving badly orange blouse

Um, say what? Do I even want to know what men behaving badly and orange blouses have in common? I sense a “There’s Something About Mary” scene in the making.

Feel free to state your own conclusions on how these searches came about or "answer" their search question.

Book thoughts from the Book(ie)

I was reading the comments yesterday on “Book(ie) Chick: Day Three” and Maya’s mention of Dick Francis made me laugh. You see, we’re not allowed to read between calls (that’s not what they’re paying us for), and instead are encouraged to learn more about the betting systems we employ. Their desire to educate us is so strong that they’ve asked us all to sign up for the company’s sister site that allows you to make bets on actual races with fake money. The guy across from me keeps winning big, while my results are…indifferent at best. Quite possibly because I’m indifferent to the whole betting process and keep just randomly picking horses.

“Huh, that one has a nice name, I’ll go with him.”

Or:

“I don’t think I’ve bet on the fifth horse yet, let’s give it a try.”

Real scientific. No wonder I’m not winning. Of course, I’m not really losing either as most of my bets have been in the one dollar range.

Still, I don’t think the bosses will believe me if I claim the Dick Francis novels were part of my horse racing education. They’d probably make me read a thoroughbred magazine instead. It’s really too bad that I’m not a horse-crazy five year old anymore because I sure would have devoured that magazine back then. Now I just occasionally look at the races on the TV in my cubicle and think, “Pretty horse,” before going on with my business.

Still, interacting with the company’s gambling site has made me think about different book sites out there, especially Amazon. Booksquare brought up an interesting point in her recent column on Amazon, saying in regards to the changes made to their plog set up:

“Amazon has not yet truly embraced the key aspect of Web 2.0: community. We get that the site exists to sell stuff; the problem is that the continual push toward commercial transactions tends to destroy community-building efforts.”

Horse racing—any gambling at all, really—isn’t a community activity because the person placing the bet is looking out for number one: him or herself. You’re playing the odds to try to beat the house or fate and pick the winning card or horse to earn a significant (or insignificant) payout. Most of the people I deal with on a day to day basis bet at home from their computers or TVs, and never interact with others in the betting circle. And why should they? Why should they share the information they have which “indicates” a winner when having other people bet on your lucky pony might increase the odds on the horse which would decrease the amount of payout (a winning horse ranked 20/1 will have a better payout then the odds on favorite ranked 2/1). Still the site is set up to provide everything the bet-maker might need to make an informed decision on the horse he’s picked. Not only does s/he get the main line odds (those set from the beginning) and the current odds (those set by which horses receive the most bets), but also the names of the jockeys, their weights, access to information about their past performances, the names of trainers and their past performances, and anything you could possibly want to know about the horses. A little more searching and you can also find access to weather conditions at the track and assorted other details.

Don’t want to look or don’t have time? Call your friendly customer service rep: me.

Horses are easy to quantify: you can look at their past races, the weight of their jockeys, the odds based on how they performed that morning. Books are harder because what might appeal to people is harder to define. Amazon is looking for that definition, but appears to be missing the point. Why don’t all the book pages have the back cover copy? Why not add widget that allows a person to go read a sample chapter?

Quantify—in some way—why people who bought book A also bought book B by adding some sort of move that allows you to bring up customer comparison comments.

Yes, this is all still in an effort to sell books and not necessarily build a community, but we don’t give out horse stats so all the bettors will feel the need to sing Kum-bah-ya and get along. We give out the horse stats so people can bet.

You give what people want book-wise so they’ll feel like they’re making an informed buy.

I don’t miss the plogs because I feel that many were underused and I almost always forgot they were at the bottom of the page anyway. I’ll admit I’m just now learning how to use the Wish List feature because I needed to show my mom who has discovered the joys of the free trial period Amazon Prime. She’s a prime example of why back cover copy and excerpts should be linked to the site as she tries to make informed buying decisions about the books she’s looking at.

What are your thoughts on the whole Amazon monstrosity? Does it need to be changed and how? What would you do differently?

Are the book site out there (whether for brick and mortar stores or online only set ups) that get this right and make the community aspect work?

I’d love to focus my thoughts more, but I’ve got to go place some fake horse bets, so give me your opinion.

P.S. Guess whose book I saw on the front table at Borders yesterday?

Marta Acosta’s Midnight Brunch! Congrats, Marta. The blood drop on the edge of the plate was very eye-catching.

Visual DNA

All the cool kids were doing it:

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Book(ie)* Chick: Day Three

So here's the thing, I learned the other day that technically I'm not a bookie as the company doesn't allow people to bet with funds they don't have. Considering that I doubt the Oregon Gaming Commission would let them operate legally any other way, it makes sense. I'll have a little badge "graced" with the presence of my smiling face to prove this fact soon.

In the last two days (today being my third work day), I've learned a lot about the politics of who can bet, what tracks we run and why, and enough horse racing terminology to make my head explode. Daily doubles, trifectas, superfectas, exactas and across the boards. I've gotten calls from men demanding to know the weight of the jockeys, the state of the track and the daily picks.

For the most part my callers are (older) men who are a nice enough lot, some even willing to tell the new girl where to find the info they want on the website even if they're not above giving you a hard time. Their accents range from spanish-tinged West Coast to deep South to Midwest to one guy whose Jersey accent was so thick I could hardly understand him. Many of these men only bought computers so they can gamble which has lead to some long discussions about their computers and what they don't understand.

The little old ladies are the most amusing. Sure, some come across as tough old broads, but one customer shyly informed me that she was "putting a little fun money" in her account for when she wanted to treat herself, and then she giggled.

Giggled! It was adorable. It made me want to giggle.

Between calls they encourage us to explore the site and visit the free betting sister site to build bets with fake money. The races are on in TVs in various cubicles or we can live stream them at the internet at our desks. Having been surrounded eight hours a day for two days with horse racing, I can tell you two things: horses are beautiful creatures, and I still have absolutely no interest in actually betting on a race. I did some fake bets on the free site by just randomly picking horses in the most absurd combos I could.

I lost, in case you were wondering.

So back I go today, for another eight hours of horse central before topping the evening off with a soccer game** (something I'll go to as long as I'm not overloaded by angry calls from customers having account issues). Maybe the soccer game will be the catharsis I need because there's nothing like drinking beer and singing obscenity laced songs to brighten your mood.

Back with actual book news and views in my next post, this is the almost bookie signing off.

* In honor or Ann(ie).
**Go Timbers!

Links: The Hey, It's Stopped Raining edition

I’m typing on a borrowed laptop at a coffee shop I hadn’t planned on visiting, but it is pouring outside and walking the twelve blocks home would leave me soaked for sure. Walking home now would upgrade my laundry pile from “tonight sometime” to “Jesus, girl, why’d you put it off so long,” which would lead to me putting on PJs as appropriate alternative clothing which would then necessitate a nap.

It’s like giving a mouse a cookie, really. Put a twenty-something in her PJs on a rainy day and she’s going to want to curl up under some blankets to take a nap. It all goes down hill from there. That’s the real reason I’m in this coffee shop, to avoid the napping fate and its ability to wile away my free time, something that has been precious as of late.

In life, it seems, nothing is ever really spread out. Up until last week I was experiencing the paralyzing powers of boredom, and then all of sudden not only had I gotten into the Publishing Institute but the temp company was hooking me up with a job! I went from interviewed to hired in less than an hour and was once again facing a future of forty hours a week, albeit this time taking calls in a cubicle for a job that I would need to get drug tested and licensed for. I wonder if they’ll object to me answering the phones in a faux Brooklyn accent.

Just seems appropriate, if a bit clichéd, for the whole gambling experience. Hopefully being a bookie will be as interesting as it sounds.

Life in the book world continues to go on in interesting and kooky ways. Many thanks to the reader who gave me the heads up on the Newsweek article where John Banville has interviewed his alter-ego Benjamin Black. While it’s no Vonnegut/Kilgore Trout affair it is definitely worth the read if you’re intrigued by the inner going-ons in writers’ minds. One of my favorite customers from the bookstore was so fed up waiting for the Christine Falls to be released in the United States that he just went ahead and ordered a copy on Amazon UK. Unfortunately we closed before I could ask him if it was worth the cost.

Dr. Howard V. Hendrix (the VP of the Science Fiction Writers of America, according to Galleycat) disparages all authors who dare to give books away online. In response many have come forward to disparage Dr. Hendrix in return, and around and around we go. Personally I’m a fan of writers offering up free books, and loved the concepts that David Wellington, Cory Doctorow and others used to gather a wider reading audience. I took an impromptu poll of the my friends when I first read about Hendrix’s comments, and general consensus appears to be if they liked what they read, they would probably buy the book when it was released in print (if not to read again themselves, then to loan to others). It was only after learning about Wellington’s online endeavors with Monster Island that I began stocking it in my store. It became the book we would recommend to our horror fans looking for something new and different, and a title that we continuously sold through.

What I’m saying is that I’m on the side of the free books, and apparently I’m not alone. You can read a free novel, Jumble Pie, on Melanie Lynne Hauser’s site (she of Confessions of a Super Mom and Super Mom Saves the World fame, both titles I’ve heard recommended to people who like Julie Kenner’s Carpe Demon).

Moka wants to help you get in touch with your inner spirit via your cell phone by distilling bestselling self-help/religion/philosophy books down to the essentials and text messaging them to your phone. From what I can tell, you pay month to month for the service, but the current promotion has the first month free. How much inner learning could you pack into that time?

If you’re looking for something to read during the unpredictable weather we’ve all been experiencing lately, I’d suggest checking out “The Killer Genre” on Library Journal. Com (link provided by Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind). Not only does the article outline a bunch of small and upstart mystery publishers putting out some edgy new material, but points out what award winning material it has been. Interviews with the Man in Black’s Jason Pinter and Robert Fate follow.

Marta Acosta has up a link to an article on the use of ghost writers to create works by big name (and dead) authors. Maybe that's what I need for this blog! Think about it, with a ghost writer I could have new content up every day. Of course, I could have new content up every day if I just sat my ass down and typed, but that's entirely beside the point.

Now I’m feeling a little linked out, but I would like to hear your thoughts on any or all of these links. While I feel that the “whether or not to give away books for free on the net” debate has been done to death (and the practice should just be accepted), I’m fascinated by the potential parallels to be found in the DRM debates and the pulling of copyrighted material from You Tube. Where does is the line between creating a name for yourself/spreading the word via free material and infringement?

Goodbye, Kurt.

Goodbye, Mr. Vonnegut. Goodnight and Goodbye.

You'll be missed.

Books: Want, Need, Desire

First off, for those of you who live in the greater Oregon area and would like some cheap books, the Clackamas Town Center Borders Express is being closed as part of Borders 200 store closing initiative. As of Friday all of their stock will go to 40% off.

Now, I can tell you from experience (and the fact that I had a long talk with the manager) that it will go no lower than this, but 40% is a damn good deal. They have a lot of stock left and it looks like they were still receiving shipments up until last week. Here's a chance to go pick up some new books (or old books that you really wanted to read) at a very deep discount, so go spend your money.

Second, I want this book. Not only are they sending out the ARC in an evidence bag with a free DVD tour of the book's setting, but the whole novel happens to take place in my town! Who better than a resident of Portland, Oregon to review a fictional novel about a Portland serial killer? I could give excellent feedback, I tell you.

Anyone close to the nice Publicity folk at Minotaur?

I'd give the book away after I read it. Promise.

Third, I don't know if you care, but my book review on Lisa Kleypas's Sugar Daddy will be up on Paperback Reader tomorrow...despite the fact that the book is not a paperback. The ARC I had was one though, and that's good enough for me.

That's all for now, I've got a temp job to go interview for. Who knows, tomorrow I could be learning the fine art of taking horse racing bets.

I'm in!

I'm in! I'm in! I'm in!

Into the Denver Publishing Institute that is, I just got the email and the letter packet is on the way.

I'm bouncing around on the couch as I write this, all "They accepted me! They really accepted me!"*

And I don't know why the hell I find this so mind-boggling except that, dude, I'm not some fresh out of college, sweet young thing who is all dewy-eyed and awestruck about the publishing biz. Okay, awestruck maybe, but not without realizing there are some major issues that I want hear publisher's take on.

And...oh my god, I'm in! That sure tables all the job application I was filling out.

Hopefully I'll be back with something more coherent later.

*Sorry, Sally Field and Sean Penn, the situation called for the rip off.

Happy Easter, Bad Dancing and Book Talk

For all of those who celebrate, Happy Easter!

For all of those who don't, Happy Sunday!

For all of those who--like me--don't know where they fall because they aren't going to a church service but are having Easter Brunch, Happy Eatin'!

Last night I attended the birthday party of the one and only Hot Teacher Chick, and proceeded to experience a very literary--of sorts--evening. It seems that the only time I ever get to see the founding editor of Indigo Editing, LLC is at these parties and we inevitable just start talking books: how's her business going, the future of our former company, the future trends in different genres, writing we like, etc. We talk over the conversations with our, "Oh my God, did you see the Shelf Awareness April 2nd edition? For a second I was completely fooled!" and "Well, I heard about X genre...," leaving a crowd of bemused people around us. I don't know if they stick around because we get so excited that at times we've been known to bounce or if book talk causes some form of inertia, but at least four people stuck around through a twenty minute book discussion last night.

Maybe it was because we were standing near the chips.

In the future, we're going to attempt to get together in a non-party setting to try to get the book talk out of our systems, which will have the added bonus of no longer having to struggle to be heard over the music. If nothing else, I'm going to try to make it to the next Women in Portland Publishing event (and any of y'all, male or female, who live near the Portland, Oregon area are invited to come along too).

In other literary news, I challenged an assistant editor from Dark Horse to a bad dance dance off where the only true winners were the people who watched us embarrass ourselves. Not that we mind being the object of ridicule because being able to laugh at yourself while doing the sprinkler is its own reward. Seriously though, for your next party if you ever two people who don't care about looking like fools to provide an entertaining array of bad dance moves, we're your girls. Although I must admit, we've got nothing on this guy:



I've been looking for an excuse to use this video for so long. Happy Easter/Sunday/Brunch day, everyone!

In which our Heroine gets hit on by a three year old

It’s been in the seventies the last two days and Portland has gone mad. When the sun makes its first real (warm) appearance after a long, wet winter, people rush outside and pity the fool that stands in front of the door. Productivity levels have dropped in offices with windows; those offices without windows are experiencing a sudden rash of people calling in sick; the park grass is obscured by people sitting on blankets; the fountains are filled with little children and teens skipping school splashing; and everywhere you look people are reading.

They are reading on the grass, next to fountains when they should be watching their kids, and at the picnic tables outside of restaurants. They are reading as the walk, while on the MAX with the windows cracked and on the bus. Some, I’m sure, are even reading while in the car with their windows down and sunroof open, waiting for the bridges to come down.

Given my complete and utter lack of skin pigmentation (see the previous entry for photographic proof), I’ve been doling out my sunshine time. No need to burn so early in the season, that’s what June on the river is for. Forty minutes each side during the sun’s highest point of the day is just fine, and it gets me out of the park before all the kids who didn’t skip school and all the people who didn’t call in sick show up.

With that in mind, early this afternoon I filled my backpack with the necessities (blanket, full water bottle, journal and The Call of the Weird) and staked my claim on some sweet smelling grass on the hillside. There I sat, amongst the blankets and lawn chairs, enjoying the sun, my book and my spying.

You see, I love to figure out what other people are reading. Did they haul a hardback, paperback or trade out with them? Is the book new or used? Can I figure out what it is from far away?

It’s a game I play with myself in between book chapters, or, in today’s case, after I put my own book down but before I take a nap. If I remember my calculations correctly there were four mass markets in my vicinity (one definitely used, one well read, the rest new) and one trade (which appeared to be Chick Lit, but I might have been fooled by the pink). My own book was the only hard cover around and not well suited to lying on your back while reading.

No big since I was planning on taking a nap anyway. The day just called for a little cat-nap action in the sun and since the golden retrievers had settled down in the shade—having gotten their greet and lick circuit out of the way—my nap was pretty much guaranteed to go uninterrupted.

Or it would have, had I not become the object of interest of a three year old.

There I was, minding my own business when I hear the shuffle of feet in the grass. Opening my eyes I found myself the object of study for a little blonde toddler who stood at the edge of my blanket clutching his bag of crackers.

“Big book,” he said pointing at the Theroux.

“It is.” I looked around trying to figure out where his family was. Not the old guy in the lawn chair, not the cell phone chatty Kathy who looked incapable of caring a kid full term, not the—

“I like books.” He grinned at me.

“I like books too.”

He nodded. “I like little books at the store.”

I watched him nibble on a cracker. “So you like bookstores.”

“Yep. They have lots of little books and big books like books about…” (and here is where I had to strain my toddler translation skills, but I think he said), “…about dinosaurs and the sun.”

“Wow.” Because really, there is no other reply to give to a three year old regaling you with his book love.

“For you,” he said, handing over a cracker. He then attempted to give me the whole bag.

“Sean*! If you don’t want those crackers you should bring them to me,” a woman called from the top of the hill. Sean giggled and ran over to her. “Were you sharing with the lady?”

“We were talking books,” I told her. “You have quite the reader it sounds like.”

She smiled, “He likes to impress the ladies.”

Impress the ladies with his book knowledge indeed. The way to a reader’s heart is through her mind, and maybe the way to a little girl toddler’s heart is through her love of Dora the Explorer stories.

Little Sean has quite the future ahead of him, I’m sure, considering he already realizes the need to offer the lady your chatting up food along with the intellectual conversation.

Kids are growing up so fast.

*Name changed to protect a future heartthrob.

Anne Lamott, Pictures from Adulthood, and Coming to Terms with Our Tendencies Towards Forgivishness...

I had the joy of seeing Anne Lamott speak last night at the Baghdad theater where she talked about her new book, Grace (Eventually), life and answered her own questions.



And while I don't consider myself religious so much as spiritual, many of things she had to say about learning to forgive resonated. It's hard not to envy, it's hard not to hold on to old gripes and it's hard not to talk yourself too seriously. It is not, however, hard to listen to someone who can make you laugh while being candid about the failings within us all.

Thank you, Anne, for sharing. And hank you, Powells, for giving me the chance for free. (Next time I'll have to get there earlier so I'm not in the last row, struggling to see over/around people's heads.)

I highly suggest checking out the book, and hopefully I'll get a chance to discuss it here with you. This post, however, will not be the place as I'm suffering from computer burnout today and desperately need to alleviative it by going outside.

So instead of intellectual discussion I give you proof that I did indeed grow from that small little thing with a book bag into something resembling an adult who can take a picture without always making a face. You can thank the Boss Lady for the photo and the clucks that led to its immediate posting.



The paleness is due to the fact that basement bookstores are the antithesis of sun-filled parks. Blah, blah, blah, something about direct sunlight hurting books and vampire salesgirls, blah, blah, blah...

Now on with the Unveiling (Gypsy Rose Lee I'm not)

I feel like I should type this post while drinking champagne as some Ride of the Valkyries-type classical music plays in the background. Instead it's all coffee and whatever is playing on the random setting on my iAudio (Placebo, maybe? Whatever it is more suited to a Philip K. Dick moment of technical breakdown, instead of a personal revelation).

It all feels rather anticlimactic, really.

Apologies for the Ryan Seacrest delay, but I thought y'all should have some background first. (You can amuse yourself by guessing at my first name before finding out below if you are right.) I worked for a corporate book chain for seven years at two different locations in Oregon: three-ish years as a part-time bookseller while in college and four as a full-time/some sort of management position after college. Despite my love of books, I didn't plan on continuing my life as a bookseller after college, but fell back into it when I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Up until my Junior year of college I thought I would be a doctor and took all the prerequisite classes to do so, but after a year of Organic Chemistry kicking my butt and the realization that med students don't sleep, I had to rethink this plan.

You see, I'm rather attached to sleep and need several hours of it to function.

So while rethinking I still got a degree in Biology (as it was a damn good, and well-rounded, degree); moved to town with the Druggie, a friend from college who was going on to study Pharmacy; started looking up writing/publishing classes at the local university; and called up my old boss to see if she had any hours for me. She didn't, but the store in town did.

"Cool beans," I thought, "I can work and take classes form the local U."

Ha! Ha hahaha. The whole work and class taking didn't mix so well, seeing as how if I wanted to take classes I couldn't really support myself and if I wanted to work, classes were at the wrong times unless I worked a split shift. Before I gave in to the inevitable need to support my lifestyle I did manage to take classes in editing, layout/design, and marketing, which I hope the publishing institute will help me build upon...if I get in that is.

In 2005, I hit a period where I had a lot of bookseller stories, stories that my friends really seemed to enjoy, but I could never remember who I told. For the sake of avoiding repetition and to keep my brain active by writing everyday I started this blog. Now my friends all over the country could be amused and I had an "anonymous" space to bitch about customers and corporate if I so desired.

(The downside to this plan is now my friends will bring up stuff that I talk about in this blog without preferencing with "so that blog post on..." and expect me to make the connection. This has resulted in a lot of blank stares on my part.)

The choice to be anonymous may have started to allow me to get my bitch on, but it remained in place as the blog evolved more and more into an information zone because I was writing in the field in which I worked. Personally I would like to think that my company would have liked and benefited from my blog--although I was never big enough that I thought they would take notice--but I didn't want to take the chance.

All of which I've covered already and yet here I go, blah, blah, blah. Enough already and make with the payoff!



Who knew 22 years after this picture was taken I would be unveiling myself as a book blogger. Considering the bag I'm holding there was obviously some foreshadowing.

Hi, my name is Linsey*, and I'm a bookaholic. It's been twelve hours since I last turned a page. I'm not a Chloe--although I know one as well as a Zoe--but I was almost a Bronwyn or a Sydney. I'm pretty happy that Linsey won out in the name debate, even if my father's phonetic spelling has resulted in years of me informing everyone from doctors to teachers to employers, "There's no D. Yes, really. Do you say the "D"? No. No D." At least it differentiated me from all the other Lindseys, Lindsays and Lynzys running around.

I was planning to have an adult photo to contrast with my little three year old self, but then I realized in almost all my adult photos I'm with one or more people, making a face or just generally look like a dork. I would just reenact the above photo but I no longer have the bag and I'm pretty sure the jacket wouldn't fit. So just believe me when I say that I look like that only, you know, older and with more hair (I was bald until I was two so my hair was still pretty wispy when this picture was taken).

So there you go. Was it anticlimactic for you too? Sorry. In the interest in full disclosure I'll reveal a little bit more: I also review books (Romances and Young Adult mostly) for the website Paperbackreader.net. I only review books on the Bookseller Chick website if I like them, at Paperback Reader I follow their motto, "Honest and Unapologetic," which has resulted in me reviews of books I disliked.

Hmm. And that's it. Anything else you want to know?

I'll try to find an adult picture where I'm not making a fool of myself soon.

*More information available if the bribe includes free books.

Better Editing or More Publicity?

On her blog Justine Larbalestier, author of the Magic or Madness trilogy, asked if writers would prefer great editing or great publicity for their books. I've been sitting on this link for over a week now, mulling over the comments, trying to figure out how I would answer it if I were a writer. On one hand, if I had a really strong reader group who helped iron out all the plot wrinkles before my writing ever saw an editor then the lure of more publicity money would make sense. But on the other, look at all the books who've found fame with little or no traditional publicity help? Would more money have helped in these situations?

Given that many of you are writers out there, what do you think?