Authors Turn to Online Marketing to Promote Their Books

Staff cuts at publishing houses and the trend toward independent publishing fuel the popularity of online book promotion.

Both traditionally published and independently published authors are increasingly relying on the Internet to promote their books.

Publishers often provide little marketing support beyond a book's launch, leaving most of the promotional responsibility to the author. With so many staff cuts at major publishers in recent weeks, that situation is likely to get worse.

In addition, more and more authors are turning to independent publishing. These authors typically have modest marketing budgets and lack the media connections of publishing houses and publicists.

Both groups of authors face the same challenge: how to effectively promote their books without spending a fortune. Traditional book publicity tactics, such as pitching stories to the media and booking appearances on radio and television, can be a challenge if you're not working with an experienced publicist. Other promotions, like print ads, author tours and premium placement in bookstores, are expensive.

"With the Internet, authors can reach a huge targeted audience around the world at a very low cost," says book marketing coach Dana Lynn Smith, author of The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing. "Online book marketing levels the playing field, allowing small publishers to compete with the big guys."

In the new world of book marketing, authors and independent publishers have a variety of free and low-cost promotional tools at their disposal, including blogging, virtual book tours, online article distribution, videos, forums, interactive Web sites, social networking, online media releases and more.

The ability to reach a highly targeted audience is one of the major advantages of online book promotion. A few hours of research can turn up literally hundreds of blogs, websites, networks and forums that focus on a book's topic or cater to a niche audience.

"Online book marketing also allows authors to connect with their readers in new and interactive ways," explains Smith. "Social networking is really hot right now, as evidenced by the explosive growth of sites like Facebook and Twitter."

The downside of online marketing is that it can be very time consuming. Smith advises authors to have a written promotional plan and to budget their time wisely. "With good planning and tracking, authors can work smarter, not harder," she says.

Book marketing coach Dana Lynn Smith is the author of The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing, one of a series of book marketing tools available at http://www.savvybookmarketer.com/. She has a degree in marketing and 15 years of publishing experience. For free book marketing tips, visit http://www.bookmarketingmaven.com/.

New Audio Book Publisher Launched

Sara Lowe has launched a new company, Faith Audio Center, a publisher/producer of original audio books, with online retail sales only. The company's first title, "The Unbelievable (but True!) Story of Moses," has just been released, and is available for sale at http://www.faithaudiocenter.com/. Titles will be Christian or values-based, for children or adults.

Additional children's stories will be published, including more under "The Unbelievable but True" brand of Bible stories, as well as titles for adults.

The company produces a free podcast for children, "Sweet Talk for Kids," available on its web site and iTunes, as well as a blog for adults.

Free Classroom Guides accompanying the purchase of "Moses" are available on http://www.faithaudiocenter.com/, of particular interest to home-schoolers.

"The audio book industry enjoys double-digit growth, 12% in 2007 and now tops $1 billion in sales, according to Audio Publishers Association," said Lowe. "Audio books are a wonderful way to make room for 'reading' in today's busy lives. People can listen as they work or work out. Or they can simply relax, close their eyes, and be transported by a book brought to life by professional narrators."

Lowe also owns Lowe Communications, a marketing firm in Charlotte, and online at http://www.lowe-communications.com/. Services include web content, including blogs, newsletters, press kits and publicity campaigns, and other compelling promotions. Clients include travel, education, Christian organizations and more.

Lowe is an award-winning writer and marketing/public relations professional with 20+ years corporate and entrepreneurial experience. She recently served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Women Business Owners, Charlotte Chapter.

Still Alice Book Author Advocates Self Publishing

Like any other author who has also had given up on ever seeking traditional publisher's attention, Lisa Genova rose to the occasion and technically did the entire publishing process herself. Of course, by self-publishing her book, she actually heralded a success story that became everyone's favorite.

Lisa, the proud author of her self-published book Still Alice, is very much happy with how it all turned out. Before starting on her book publishing experience, she also harbored hopes on being picked up by a publishing house.

For a year, she did the inevitable: blogs, campaigns, queries and all that book publishing jazz until she reached quite a substantial audience. An agent in time chanced upon her crusade and finally got her to sign up on a contract.

Ten months was all it took for her book to be finally at the hands of an agent who sold the rights to Pocket Books. The newly edited book of hers was released January of this year by Pocket Books publishing house.

When interviewed about her views on self-publishing, Lisa explained that the reason she self-published her book was because she couldn't make any headway on the conventional road to a book deal. Her self-publishing goal was to get an enthusiastic and sizable audience for Still Alice. If creating a buzz was entirely her aim, she definitely came to the right place for self-publishing companies do more than stir a crowd.

Lisa gives this advice for everyone who has already self-published their book: "Get a website. Network online. Write your own press release and post it free at www.pr.com. If you can start to feel the vibration of a buzz and you have the money, you might want to consider hiring a book publicist to assist you in your efforts. Say yes whenever possible. Be tenacious. This is likely to be a marathon, not a sprint. Be sincerely grateful to everyone who helps you on your journey, because it will take a village to raise a self-published book. And remember to enjoy it all!"

Lisa Genova did it with Still Alice. So why not get started on that book now? What is your book's name?

Publishers Adopt Mobile Technology to Reach Young Readers

With the creation of MobiStories.com, a 21st century story time experience, publishers can extend the reach of their children's picture books through mobile digital devices including iPhones, iPods, laptops and portable DVD players.

Still Motion Media, exclusive producer of MobiStories, digital books for kids, answers the call from publishers to advance children's literature distribution into the 21st century. With the latest MobiStories release of the children's picture book, "Mommy's High Heel Shoes", Kristie Finnan joins the growing number of publishers ready to extend the reach of their books through mobile digital devices including iPhones, iPods, laptops and portable DVD players.

Looking to reap the benefits of non-traditional methods of selling books, publishers are embracing the digital realm. By visiting the MobiStories.com website, parents can download a digital file of a picture book to a multitude of portable devices, enabling kids to take their reading on the go. Utilizing experts in fields as diverse as reading education and Hollywood film production, MobiStories sets the bar for children's digital book entertainment and stands out as the only mobile-multi-platform provider.

Amazon's Kindle, a favorite of Oprah's, has brought legitimacy to the world of digital publishing. However, until the advent of MobiStories, children's picture books had been left behind. "These days kids seem to come pre-wired to handle anything digital," says Rick Toone, Creative Director of Still Motion Media. "They have access to digital players at a much younger age. MobiStories utilize that mobility to instill the joy of reading and offer publishers the opportunity to reach their readers on today's terms."

MobiStories maintains the integrity of each book by keeping the rich illustrations, but enhances the story time experience by adding music, sound effects, narration and "turning pages" to accompany the author's original text. The company consulted with reading experts and others in the field of education to ensure MobiStories' readers benefit from proper early reading strategies. Still Motion's latest release, "Mommy's High Heel Shoes," is the quintessential example of what sets MobiStories (mobistories.com) apart from the pack. Finnan's charming book, a heartwarming look uniquely told from a child's perspective at the numerous jobs a mother does and why a working mommy goes to work, is narrated by a child actor and is accompanied by music and sound effects by an award-winning Hollywood film composing team.

"Creating the book in MobiStories format fits hand in glove with my life and many of the working mothers with whom I've had contact," commented Finnan. A full time working mom of two, with one on the way, and a blogger, Finnan knows first-hand how hectic today's family schedules can be. Certain activities, such as reading together, may get lost in the shuffle. "Now, the smallest children can enjoy my book even when their Moms or Dads are unable to read it to them," said Finnan. "In fact, I have several MobiStories on my iPhone and my kids just love them."

Bob Budlow, president of Still Motion Media, noted, "MobiStories aren't meant to replace the crucial early story-time experience with mom or dad reading to a child." He continued, "They offer children the opportunity to learn and enjoy a story-time experience on familiar digital devices, throughout the day, anytime, anywhere and on virtually any device. Now, screen time is reading time."

5 Problems With Conventional Book Publishing by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

I am the best-selling author of 12 books, all of them issued by major publishers. Collectively, they have sold hundreds of thousands of copies.

I like to start this way, not to boast, but to give you some confidence in my observations. They have been accumulated over 20 plus years of writing, so I've seen various markets for authors.

Right now, there are some major problems with conventional book publishing, of which you should be aware, if your goal is to get this community to acquire and then to issue your work:

(1) Distribution through bookstores has never been tougher. Most publishers sell to stores on consignment. If books don't fly off shelves into the hands of buyers, they're returned to publishers, very quickly. Your title doesn't get very long exposure or time to establish itself.

(2) Books used to be kept "in print" and available for longer periods of time, in many cases, for years. Now, they're put to death quickly, if initial sales are anything other than brisk.

(3) We live in an era of the celebrity book. If Oprah wants to write a diet book, it will be a monster hit; you know that. But the most exciting, up and coming, highly credentialed nutritionist may not have a chance of breaking into print.

(4) Publishers expect authors to make them profitable through personal promotional efforts. "What are you going to do to sell this book?" is the major question they ask, and agents will tell you, without a personal commitment to sell your own copies, stated in your book proposal, you won't get a publisher to bite.

(5) Publishers are clueless, themselves, about what to put out there. Reluctant to lead, and reluctant to follow the success of others, they are like the proverbial deer in the headlights.

It used to be the case that if you wanted information on a subject you either went to your library or to your local bookstore. Not anymore.

By going to the Internet, you can assemble the equivalent of a book, fast and more or less, for free. Publishers haven't figured out how to sell content at a premium, in an environment in which so much of it is available, instantly, for nothing.

There are alternatives to conventional book publishing, including self-publishing and using media alternatives such as audios and videos. I'll explore them in future articles.

But for now, give that dream of seeing your book on the shelves of Barnes & Noble, a second thought.

It may not be worth the effort.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad.

Author-supported Publishing Flourishes as Writers Pay the Tab

Automakers and banks aren't the only big businesses suffering in today's grim economy. Declining sales have forced major book publishers to severely cut back on staffing and drop many of their regular authors. Once considered a dirty little secret of the publishing industry, vanity presses and self-publishers like Nautilus Press, a division of the Nautilus Works, (http://www.thenautilusworks.com/) are undergoing a renaissance as authors search for new homes and alternatives to large, corporate-owned publishing houses.

Offering a broader range of services and using new technologies that make self-publishing more economically feasible than in the past, Nautilus Press has seen a large increase in business in today's rapidly changing and unsettled bookselling environment.

"Almost everyone thinks they have a book or two in them," says Sarah Ryan, vice president of Nautilus Press.

Industry experts estimate that over two million Americans will write a book this year. Less than 100,000 of these books will be published by traditional publishers, according to various reports.

"We are lucky to have a current backlog of worthy projects and a mile-long waiting list. Even in today's difficult economy, we haven't seen a decrease in the number of people who are interested in writing," says Ryan. "In addition to already-published writers who have been abandoned by their current publisher, author-supported publishing is attractive to professionals who want to use their book as an enhanced business card or promotional piece and to people who are creating books as gifts for family and friends," Ryan added.

"Because of the growing number of unemployed publishing professionals, we are able to offer our authors the services of editors who have worked with Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and designers who have won every award in the business," Ryan states. "We can also get books to the marketplace much faster than traditional publishers."

In explaining the rise in sales of self-published books, some industry experts think that books tailored to narrower audiences might fare better during an economic downturn than titles from traditional publishers that depend on a more general appeal. "A lot of this niche content is doing fairly well relative to the rest of the economy because it's very useful to people who have a very specific need," said Aaron Martin, director of self-publishing and manufacturing-on-demand at Amazon.

Take the Confusion Out of Self-Publishing Your Book

KeepingUpBooks.com is the first ever networking and one-stop shopping website for new and self-published authors. It's a full service company for that writer who has become frustrated with the process of trying to get published.

The competition to get published is fierce with approximately 1,000 new books being published/self-published each week. KeepingUpBooks.com (http://www.keepingupbooks.com/) keeps it real because we know when publishers ask, "What makes your book different?" or "Why should I publish your book?" It doesn't mean that they will consider adding an unknown author to their list. They just want to see if you are passionate and enthusiastic enough to do it yourself. Not to brag but we don't concern ourselves with the publishers because we know that for every person who writes a book there are thousands of people ready to read it. They just need to know where to find it.

KeepingUpBooks.com works with writers and authors from the initial typing of your manuscript to a polished professional book that is ready to compete in the marketplace. Our experienced Self-published Specialists take the guesswork out of what you as an author should do next. They eliminate much of the stress and frustration associated with the process of getting published.

KeepingUpBooks.com will reveal the predators in the publishing businesses who make a profit from your inexperience. No, our services aren't free, they are reasonable when you consider we practically hold your hand through the entire process. Nobody held our hands and we learned many valuable lessons and now we're passing that knowledge on to writers, authors, and self-published want-to-bees'.

The owners of KeepingUpBooks.com, P. Sprattling and Pat Myatt are both in the publishing industry. Mr. Sprattling has 30-years of experience in the editorial and entertainment field while Ms. Myatt is a seasoned self-published author and screenwriter. Ms. Myatt published her first book, Keepin' Up With the Joneses: Secrets the Banks Don't Want You to Know through the School of Hard Knocks, "Which can be a painful education when you don't know where to go or who to trust." Both of KeepingUpBooks.com's partners feel the time has come for writers and self-published authors to have a support system that is reliable, professional, and vested in the author's success. KeepingUpBooks.com is the right system to provide that service.

History, Poetry, Politics Dominate University of Arkansas Press Catalog

Historic artifacts, current events and creative endeavors come together in the latest offerings from the University of Arkansas Press in the 2009 spring catalog.

The history of race relations in America will be the subject of three books in the spring catalog. Jim Crow America: A Documentary History, edited by Catherine M. Lewis and J. Richard Lewis, provides readers with a wealth of primary source materials from 1828 to 1980 that reveal how the Jim Crow era affects how historians practice their craft. The second book, Showdown in Desire: The Black Panthers Take a Stand in New Orleans by Orissa Arend, tells the story of the Black Panther Party in New Orleans in 1970, a year that included shootouts, standoffs and rebellion in the Desire housing development and elsewhere in the city. The third book, Finding the Lost Year: What Happened When Little Rock Closed Its Public Schools by Sondra Gordy, tells the sad story of the children who had to seek education outside of the Little Rock Public School System in 1958-59.

The press turns to another type of history with Digging for History at Old Washington by Mary L. Kwas. The book brings together the historical record with nearly 100 color photographs of the archeological finds from this town that prospered in the mid-1800s and saw the likes of Davy Crockett and Sam Houston pass through. The town diminished over time due to a series of events including two fires, a tornado and being bypassed by the railroad in 1874. Today, the town is an Arkansas State Park and a National Historic Landmark.

Author James F. Cherry digs up more history in The Headpots of Northeast Arkansas and Southern Pemiscot County, Missouri. Almost 30 years in the making, the book contains more than 800 color photographs that create a comprehensive catalog of 138 classical style headpots. The illustrations depict the works created by people the Spanish called the Casqui and the Pacaha between A.D. 1400 and 1700. The book brings together these enigmatic and little-known vessels to enhance the understanding of the cultures that created them.

From centuries-old pottery, the press turns to modern-day art, where an author offers a first-person view of what it's like to be an artist's model in Live Nude Girl: My Life as an Object. The book, by Kathleen Rooney, offers a meditation on the profession of nude modeling historically and today. Rooney draws on her own experiences and on stories of famous, notorious and mysterious artists and models. Through her personal perspective and witty prose, Rooney reveals that the appeal of posing nude and drawing the naked figure lie rooted in human responses to beauty, love, sex and death. Rooney is also the author of the press's Reading With Oprah: The Book Club that Changed America, now in its second edition.

As the visual arts appeal to visceral human needs, so does poetry, and two volumes featured in the spring catalog add their voices to the canon. Don't Leave Hungry: Fifty Years of Southern Poetry Review, edited by James Smith with a foreword by Billy Collins, offers 183 poems by nearly as many poets. This anthology charts the development of the influential journal, decade by decade, featuring poems by poets from across the United States, both major and obscure. Poetry takes a more personal turn in A Sunday in God Years: Poems by Michelle Boisseau, where the poet reckons with her slave-owning ancestry.

From a poetic chronicle, the press turns to chronicles of journalism, politics and history. In Looking Back at the Arkansas Gazette: An Oral History, edited by Roy Reed, the former Gazette and New York Times reporter brings together more than 100 interviews with former staffers recalling the stories they reported on and the people they worked with from the late 1940s until the paper's tragic end. The book examines a publication known for its progressive stance in a conservative state and that won two Pulitzer Prizes for its rule-of-law stance during the Little Rock Central High crisis. The interviews, collected from archives at the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History at the University of Arkansas, provide details on editors and reporters who covered civil rights crises, Bill Clinton and more.

Speaking of former presidents, an examination of politics and government in Arkansas brings together scholarly research on a range of topics ranging from issues of church and state, term limits, constitutional reform, civil rights and education reform. Readings in Arkansas Politics and Government, edited by Janine A. Parry, a political science professor at the University of Arkansas, and Richard P. Wang, a professor at Arkansas State University, with a foreword by David Pryor, will appeal to anyone interested in the workings of state politics and government.

On a different note, the press is distributing the DVD film, The Buffalo Flows: The Story of Our First National River. The documentary was written and produced by Larry Foley, a journalism professor at the University of Arkansas, with photography by Trey Marley and editing by Dale Carpenter, also a University of Arkansas journalism professor. The Buffalo Flows is a one-hour documentary featuring the bluffs, trees, flowers, birds and elk of the majestic river. Narrated by Academy Award-winner Ray McKinnon, the documentary also is the story of the people who make their homes in Buffalo River country year round.

Finally, politics and history return in The Historical Report of the Arkansas Secretary of State 2008. In it, Secretary of State Charlie Daniels has gathered a reference source for the appointed and elected officials of Arkansas during its colonial and territorial periods as well as during its 172-year history. This report, published every decade by order of the General Assembly, is a must-have for historians, journalists, genealogists and other researchers.

For more information on these books and press titles, please visit http://www.uapress.com/ to learn more, and while you're there, check out the press's new blog, The Bookmark.

Street Fiction author K. Elliott offers his fifth novel, "Dear Summer," free to fans

Urban fiction author K. Elliott knows that when the economy takes a hit, his fans feel it, making low-cost forms of entertainment like books and movies even more popular as escapes from reality. Today the tremendous growth in readily accessible e-books has fueled inexpensive, online publishing. Even Oprah Winfrey is promoting an e-reader to her audience. Publishing houses expect the market to double for e-books this year.

Making sure the fans of gritty Urban Fiction have access to e-books is the goal of Urban Lifestyle Press. Urban Fiction is an increasingly popular genre of literature with a growing audience of young, mostly black readers. Essense Magazine Best Selling author K. Elliott is offering his newest book, " Dear Summer," free online to encourage more people to escape with a good book. (Visit http://www.street-fiction.com/freebook/dear-summer/index.html)

To make it easy and more enjoyable to read, Elliott also has developed an easy-to-use online reading tool called the Digital Reader. The only cost for both the book and the reader is the willingness of the consumer to provide an email address so that the publisher can provide future book information and offers.

"I believe the important thing for a writer to do is to stay on the minds of his readers regardless of how he has to do it. The economy is tough and digital technology offers me the ability to produce a product and deliver it in a format that is easy to use and far more engaging than a large PDF file," says Elliott.

Urban fiction has also been labeled street fiction or ghetto fiction, and it attracts readers to tales of sex, crime, easy money, gangsta life, and yes - tragedy. Authors of this type of fiction range from real life gangsters writing from their jail cells or former con men, thieves or gang bangers who did their time and are attempting to reach young readers with some lessons from the dark side to authors from the fringes of street life.

"Dear Summer" is the fifth novel by Charlotte author K. Elliott. Main characters include a sympathetic car thief, his "caramel-colored" and sexually stimulating "woman" Summer, and a cast of unsavory characters who spew the bullets and profanity of the streets with realistic portrayals of greed and corruption.

"By offering a free book and a free e-book reader, we are doing our part to put both literature and technology into our fans hands at a time when entertainment budgets are being cut and people are having to make hard choices about where to spend their limited funds," Elliott says.

K. Elliott, himself an ex-con with plenty of lessons to share, invested his own money into developing his Digital Reader. The Digital Reader will be the cornerstone for a soon-to-launch publishing site called 21 BlackStreet, which will offer authors the technology to not only self-publish their work but convert their manuscripts to e-books quickly and affordably.

"With the Digital Reader you can read a book anywhere. You can download content to a Black Berry or read it directly off your monitor. Unlike hard to read e-books that are simply pdf documents, the pages in The Digital Reader 'turn,' making the experience not unlike reading a normal, printed book. It makes it possible to read anywhere and makes it easier to bookmark your place or start where you left off. Our goal is to make this book and all our titles accessible to the broadest audience possible," Elliott says.

Urban Fiction has been criticized by some as glorifying thug life, but proponents and artists say the moral undertones that permeate the tales of life on the street do just the opposite. In fact, authors hope their readers learn from the bad decisions depicted in the genre and the true-to-life consequences that come from choosing the perils of street life.

Rappers 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg have published their own books within the Urban Fiction category in recent months. Elliott wrote "The Ski Mask Way" for 50 Cent's publishing company, G-Unit Books, and the rapper has purchased the movie rights to the book. Publishing divisions for Urban Fiction are springing up within some of the major New York Publishing Houses, including Simon & Schuster and Kensington Books.

With all the major publishing houses, including Random House and Harper Collins, jumping on the e-book bandwagon, PricewaterhouseCoopers has estimated that the sale of e-books will be $9.6 billion by 2012 and that they could surpass paper books in sales as soon as 2018.

For more information, or for a free copy of "Dear Summer," visit http://www.street-fiction.com/freebook/dear-summer/index.html

Grab Your Free Amazon.com Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch

Amazon.com, Inc. has launched Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch, a new application available for free from Apple's App Store that lets customers enjoy over 240,000 books, including 104 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers, on the iPhone and iPod touch using Apple's Multi-Touch user interface. Amazon's new Whispersync technology saves and synchronizes a customer's bookmark across their original Kindle, Kindle 2, iPhone and iPod touch, so customers always have their reading with them and never lose their place. Kindle customers can read a few pages on their iPhone or iPod touch and pick up right where they left off on their Kindle or Kindle 2.

The Kindle application for iPhone and iPod touch lets customers bring their Kindle books with them wherever they go and takes full advantage of Apple's Multi-Touch user interface. With the new Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch application, customers can:

* Shop for hundreds of thousands of books on their Kindle or online at http://www.amazon.com/kindlestore, and wirelessly transfer the books to their iPhone or iPod touch

* Access their entire library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon's servers

* Adjust the text size of books

* Add bookmarks and view notes and highlights

Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch is available for free from Apple's App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

Danielle Steel Debuts Digital Downloads of Her Complete Works

Novelist Danielle Steel has released 71 of her works on Amazon.com and The eBook Store by Sony, two of the world's largest distributors of e-books. This is the first time Ms. Steel's books will be available for digital download. The online release of her complete works , including the new One Day at a Time, represents the largest release by an author in a single day. With the growing popularity of wireless reading devices, such as Amazon's Kindle and Reader Digital Book by Sony, the availability of this large body of work places Ms. Steel at the forefront of authors providing digital content to consumers.

"I'm thrilled to be releasing my newest novel, One Day at a Time, into the increasingly important world of digital book distribution," said Ms. Steel. "The fact that at the same time we're making my entire catalogue available for digital downloads, and are among the first to do this, is something that I'm extremely proud of and very grateful to my publisher for doing. I hope that it brings my work to a new generation of readers."

The library of Danielle Steel's books available in digital format spans her entire career, including A Good Woman (2008), Sunset in St. Tropez (2002), The Cottage (2002), His Bright Light: The Story of Nick Traina (1998), The Kiss (2001), Leap of Faith (2001), Zoya (1988) and The Ring (1980). Ms. Steel's books are published by Bantam Dell, a division of Random House, Inc.

Ms. Steel's latest novel, One Day at a Time, is a tale of three very different couples who struggle and survive, love, laugh and learn to take life as it comes. The couples include Coco Barrington, a dog walker, and her British movie star boyfriend; Coco's mother, Florence, a mega-bestselling author, and a man twenty-four years her junior; and her sister, Jane, one of Hollywood's top producers, and her partner Liz.

Website: http://www.daniellesteel.net/

All Romance eBooks Recognizes the Best Romance Authors, Books, and Publishers of 2008

All Romance eBooks held a virtual red carpet ceremony on Monday, February 9th, recognizing some of the best in electronic romance publishing. Readers, authors, and other industry members attended a pre-party chat before the event, which aired live during the book stores regular weekly radio show, What's Hot in Romance.

Author Cat Johnson acted as Mistress of Ceremony during the evening, with award presentations by Megan Hart, Vivien Dean, Pepper Espinoza, Jamie Craig, Mandy Roth, and Michelle M. Pillow.

Industry awards were given to the top 10 Best Selling Authors, top 10 Best Selling Books, Best Selling Publisher and Best Selling New Publisher. The night was capped off with an acknowledgement of some of the book stores most loyal readers.

Reward recipients included: Carol Lynne, G.A. Hauser, Sean Michael, Maya Banks, Marie Rochelle, J.M. Snyder, Annmarie McKenna, Lorelei James, Jamie Craig, Bianca D'Arc, Torn by Sage Whistler (published by Cacoethes Publishing House, LLC), Double Delicious by Christiane France (published by Amber Quill Press, LLC), Stay with Me by Maya Banks (published by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.), Cowgirl Up and Ride by Lorelei James (published by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.), Their One and Only by Trista Ann Michaels (published by Loose Id, LLC), Phoenix Rising by Kimberly Gardner (published by MLR Press, LLC), Mile High by G.A. Hauser (published by Linden Bay, LLC), Accidentally Were? by Anne Douglas (published by Loose Id, LLC).

Samhain Publishing, which first opened in November of 2005, won the Best Publisher Award. Red Rose Publishing, which opened mid-2007 won the Best New Publisher Award.



Availability: All Romance eBooks is accessible via their website or through their Stanza Online Catalog. Stanza is available from the iTunes App Store for free.

Website: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/.