Forwarded from Loose id…

You talked and we listened. You said you wanted our books in .epub
format and you wanted them without a two month delay to our resellers.
As of tonight at midnight eastern, you can have them.

What’s .epub? It’s a specialized format designed for today’s e-book devices:

Astak EZ Reader, Astak EZ Reader Pocket PRO, Astak Mentor, BeBook One,
BeBook Mini, Cybook Gen3, Cybook Opus, COOL-ER, Elonex eBook, Hanlin
V5, Hanlin V3, IREX Digital Reader 1000S, NUUT2, Sony PRS-300 Reader
Pocket Edition, Sony PRS-505 Reader Digital Book, Sony PRS-600 Reader
Touch Edition, Sony PRS-700BC Reader Digital Book, Nook.

So now you can find your fantasy in epub. Starting TODAY at Loose Id!

I loved this and had to share.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

IS PRINT DEAD?
by J.A. Konrath
Author of Jack Daniels thriller series
HuffingtonPost.com/5-21-2010

Moderator: Welcome to Obsolete Anonymous! I’ve gathered you all here to welcome our latest member, the Print Industry.

Print Industry: Hello, everyone. But there’s been a mistake. I don’t belong here.

(chuckles all around)

Print Industry: I’m serious. I’m not obsolete. I’m relevant. Print books have been around for hundreds of years. They’re never going to be replaced.

VHS Tapes: Yeah, we all thought like that once.

LP Records: It’s called denial. It’s tough to deal with at first.

Print Industry: Look, everyone, I assume you all think that ebooks are going to put me out of business. But that won’t happen.

Phone Company: I remember when you couldn’t walk twenty yards in a city without seeing a pay phone. Then those gosh darn cell phones came along. Do you know some people don’t even have land lines anymore?

(Phone Company begins to cry. Print Phonebooks joins in. So does Dial Up Modems. Encyclopedia Set, wearing an I Hate Wikipedia T-Shirt, pops a few Prozac. A group hug ensues.)

Video Rental Store: What Phone Company is trying to say is that when a technology comes along that’s faster, easier, and cheaper, the old technology–and all the companies that supported it–tends to fade away.

Print Industry: Why are you here, Video Rental Store? There are a lot of you around.

CDs: There were record stores everywhere once.

Cassette Tapes: Hell yeah! They sold cassettes, too! Someone give me a high five!

(no one gives Cassette Tapes a high five)

Video Rental Store: Things looked good for a while. I had a decent run. Then I got hit by all sides. Netflix. On Demand. Tivo. YouTube. But the nail in the coffin came in the past two years. Hulu. Roku–which allows subscribers to stream video instantly. iTunes and Amazon offering movie downloads. Red Box, which rents DVDs for 99 cents and takes up no more space than a candy machine…

Print Industry: But ebooks are just a tiny percentage of the market. People have been reading print since Gutenberg. They won’t adapt to change that easily.

SLR Cameras: You’re correct. It takes a few years for people to fully embrace new technology. Some never do. Instant Cameras never replaced me.

Instant Cameras: Shut up, SLR. We both got our butts kicked by digital. How much film did you sell last year?

TV Antennas: I’m still big in some third world countries!

Typewriter: The bottom line is; when technology improves, it becomes widely adopted. Me and Carbon Paper used to have a groovy thing going. I’d make the words, he would make the duplicates. Then Copy Machine got into the act, but he’s not doing well now either.

Copy Machine: Effing computers.

Dot Matrix Printer: Effing laser and inkjet. Doesn’t anyone else miss tearing off the perforated hole punches on the side of paper? Don’t they miss the feel and smell of that?

Fold-Out Paper Maps: I agree! Isn’t it fun to open up a big map while you’re driving, in hopes of figuring out where you are? Don’t you miss the old days before cars came equipped with GPS and no one ever used that upstart, MapQuest?

CDs: Effing internet. That’s the problem. Instant access to information and entertainment for the whole world. You guys want to talk about pirating and illegal downloads?

(everyone shouts out “no!”)

Moderator: We all read on JA Konrath’s blog that the way to fight piracy is with cost and convenience. Print Industry, are you lowering your prices and making it easier for customers to download your books?

Print Industry: Actually, we just raised prices on our ebooks.

(all-around sighs and head shaking)

Moderator: Well, far be it for you to learn from any of our mistakes. Are you making it easier at least?

Print Industry: Well, we’ve begun windowing titles, releasing them months after the hardcover comes out.

(collective head slapping)

Music Industry: Have you at least tried selling from your own site? I wish I’d done that. But then Apple came along…

Print Industry: Uh… no. We haven’t tried that. In fact, some ebooks–we’ll use JA Konrath as an example since he was mentioned–aren’t even available on all platforms and in all territories.

Moderator: What do you mean? Konrath’s ebooks are available all over the place.

Print Industry: Those are the ones he uploads himself. The ones of his that we sell are missing from several key markets, and have been for years. But it’s okay. We’re paying him much smaller royalties and jacking the prices up high so we can still make a profit. Besides, ebooks are a niche market. Ereading devices are dedicated and expensive.

Arcades: I used to be a thriving industry. Kids dropped millions of quarters in my thousands of locations. But then Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft made home arcade machines, and now people play their videogames on dedicated devices. It’s a multi-billion dollar business now, and I can only compete if I sell pizza and give out plastic trinkets to kids with the most foosball tickets. If people want the media, they buy the expensive device. Period.

Print Industry: None of you are listening to me. Print will always be around.

Newspaper Industry: Yeah! What he said!

Print Industry: Let’s not compare ourselves, okay Newspaper Industry? No offense.

Newspaper Industry: None taken. Hey, maybe we can help each other. I’m selling advertising space for dirt cheap these days, and…

Print Industry: No thanks. No one reads you anymore. People get their news elsewhere.

Moderator: So why won’t people get their novels elsewhere as well?

(Print Industry stands up, pointing a finger around the room.)

Print Industry: Look, this isn’t about me. All of you guys have become irrelevant. Technology marched on, and you didn’t march with it. But that WILL NOT happen to me. There will always be bookstores, and dead tree books. We’ll continue to sell hardcovers at luxury prices, and pay artists 6% to 15% royalties on whatever list price WE deem appropriate. And the masses will buy our books BECAUSE WE SAID SO! WE SHALL NEVER BECOME OBSOLETE!!!

Buggy Whip Industry: Amen, brother! That’s what I keep trying to tell these people!

CDs: (whispering to LPs) I give him six years, tops.

Carina Press was announced this morning (http://www.cnbc.com/id/33785094). They are an all digital imprint of Harlequin with Angela James (formerly of Samhain Publishing) at the helm as Executive Editor. They are accepting submissions now of all romance subgenres as well as women’s fiction. They will follow the no advance/higher royalty model of other epublishers although they don’t disclose the royalty rate.

Check them out at http://carinapress.com/.

Permission to repost granted   *   Help us get the word out

F O R    I M M E D I A T E    R E L E A S E

All Romance Announces the launch of OmniLit™, Bringing eBooks Directly into the Homes and Digital Devices of R eaders of All Genres

Palm Harbor, FL (PRWEB) July 21, 2009 – The owners of All Romance™, an independent on-line bookstore specializing in the sale of romance eBooks, announced today the launch of OmniLit.com, a new site dedicated to the sale of fiction and non-fiction eBooks.

“The overwhelming success of the All Romance site spurred the expansion,” said Barbara Perfetti, the company’s Chief Financial Officer. “The publishing world is poised on the brink of an eBook explosion and we want to be ready on the forefront to meet that demand.”

OmniLit will offer genres currently not available on the All Romance site, including best sellers from some of the biggest names in publishing, as well as offerings from small, midsized, and indie presses. Customers will be able to select from hundreds of thousands of titles, everything from mainstream, children’s, and speculative fiction, to books on health & fitness, cooking, travel, and business.

“Readers used to the convenience of All Romance’s easy to navigate site and unsurpassed customer service can expect to find the same at OmniLit,” said Chief Operating Officer, Lori James. “Our goal is to hold on to what we believe are the best qualities of both the larger chain bookstores and the smaller independents, then offer that in digital. OmniLit’s customers will have the advantage of choice and a technically streamlined shopping experience, but t hey will also receive personalized service and support.”

All Romance eBooks, LLC was founded in 2006, is privately held in partnership, and headquartered in Palm Harbor, Florida. The company owns All Romance (allromanceebooks.com), which specializes in the sale of romance eBooks and OmniLit (omnilit.com) which sells both fiction and non-fiction eBooks.

AMBER ALLURE

1. Bring The Heat - M. L. Rhodes (Gay / Contemporary)
2. Car Wash - Shawn Lane (Gay / Contemporary)
3. Seducing Light - KC Kendricks (Gay / Contemporary)
4. Forbidden Desire - Carolina Valdez (Gay / Contemporary)
5. Pottery Peter - Rick R. Reed (Gay / Contemporary)
6. Sins Of Arrogance - India Harper (Gay / Suspense)
7. Bottom’s Up: Triplesex - Amanda Young (Gay / Contemporary)
8. Bottom’s Up: A Kinky Orgasm - Amanda Young (Gay / Contemporary)
9. Playing The Field: Play On - J. M. Snyder (Gay / Contemporary)
10. Sorcerer’s Lover II - Shawn Lane (Gay / Fantasy / Historical)

Permission to forward…

You asked for it, today it’s a reality.

As lovers of romance we know that customer buying decisions are influenced by reader opinions. Since opening our doors we’ve encourage our customers to rate books on a scale of 1-5 for overall enjoyment and sensuality. We’re still doing that - but we’re also doing more.

ARe readers can now submit full text reviews to our web-site. As of t! oday, customers can log in to their on-line library, access a review link, and enter a review of your books.

We’d love it if you could help us get the word out to your readers. If you have a newsletter, blog, yahoo group, twitter account, etc., please let your readers know that they can now go into their library at All Romance and post reviews. Their opinions matter.

Lori James
Chief Operating Officer
All Romance eBooks, LLC

Smashwords Courts Publishers with Free e-Book Service

The digital self-publishing company Smashwords announced a new free service for publishers–helping publishers create, market, and sell e-books.

Smashwords will give publishers back 85 percent the net proceeds, and the release noted that 20 indie publishers had tested the company’s new tools for three months. Already the erotic publisher eXcessica Publishing has added nearly 200 titles to the Smashwords platform–books by 61 authors.

Here’s an endorsement from Selena Kitt, president of eXcessica Publishing: “Their publisher-friendly royalty structure recognizes that ebook publishers deserve more favorable terms than offered by conventional ebook retailers. Smashwords backs their so-easy-even-your-mother-could-use-it publishing platform with super-responsive support that enhances the reading experience for our customers.”

Information obtained HERE.

Amazon is stripping ALL erotica books be it m/m, f/f or m/f of their sales rankings, which means, no matter how well they sell they won’t appear on ANY best seller lists, making them literally invisible to anyone not seeking out THAT SPECIFIC TITLE. So, if you click on best sellers in gay romance, anything adult won’t show on that list, and that includes books with literally NO sex in them.

This is the reply that Mark Probst (an author who has no sex in his gay romances) has had:

“In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.

Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.

Best regards,

Ashlyn D

Member Services
Amazon.com Advantage”

There is a petition going around for those who feel strongly about censorship, as I do. Click here to sign the petition.

If you’d rather call or email, Amazon’s customer service emai is: ecr@amazon.com. Their customer service phone number is 1-800-201-7575. There’s an excellent form letter you can copy and paste HERE.

Author Stormy Glenn was kind enough to interview me for her blog. If you’re interested in taking a peek into my somewhat warped psyche, then you can read the answers here: http://stormyglenn.blogspot.com/2009/03/amanda-young-visits.html