Candice Hughes

Harlequin…what can I say, but Hmmmm…

The whole situation is quite awkward for my romance writer friends. It just feels unpleasant.

For anyone not up on the situation. Harlequin, a gold standard romance publisher, has decided to open a self-publishing arm. Authors rejected for publication by Harlequin’s traditional lines will be “offered” the “opportunity” to pay to self-publish their novel.

Personally, I feel aspiring authors would be better served by spending their money on training classes or association dues.

I guess I’ll get off my soap-box. Harelquin is certainly entitled to open new divisions and increase profitablity. But, we authors don’t have to buy it.

Now you can follow me on Twitter.  Keep in mind that my tweets will cover both my thriller author life and my alternate identity as a pharmaceutical communications expert. I’ll try to hash tag so readers will know which is which but, being a woman who juggles many bowling pins at once, I may forget once in a while so apologies ahead of time. My twitter link is below:

http://twitter.com/candicemhughes

I love libraries. I love being surrounded by books. I especially love my local library. They hit a home run this week with a lecture by David Baldacci. I knew right away that other people felt the same way because there was not one single parking space left in the lot. I persevered. Parking in a local business parking lot, I trudged through the cold drizzle. Inside the gorgeous new auditorium, I squeezed into one of the few remaining seats.

David Baldacci came to the podium, looking exactly like the photo on his book jackets. (you might question my mental acutity with this statement, but try sometime matching real celebrities to their photos and see how easy it is). Within a few minutes, he had the audience rolling on the floor with amusing “life of an author” stories. One comment I found particularly memorable, although it was not one of his hilarious anecdotes. That statement was that every rejection of an author’s work is a badge of courage. I also learned that if he sees you reading one of his books, don’t expect him to walk up to you and say “Hi”. (You’ll have to learn the story of what happened when he actually did this one time from him.)

All in all, this lecture was worth the walk through a cold, dark, drizzle. I applaude our hard working librarians for bringing us a wonderful speaker. I also encourage everyone to support their local libraries because they’re the heart of every community.

Book Wars continues unabated with Target joining Wal-Mart and Amazon. The low prices have attracted re-sellers including smaller bookstores. This has forced the big 3 to limit sales.

Looking at trends in Internet chatter, Book Wars has raised the profile of Wal-Mart books the most.

One outcome of Book Wars could likely be a greater volume of sales, which could boost the sagging seen earlier this fall. In early October, sales were estimated to be 4% lower than the previous year.

The real question is will readers become used to the below market sale price. If they do, will increased sales volume make up for lost per unit revenue?