Profits Spike at Random House

The nation's largest trade book publisher reports that its earnings, before interest and taxes, surged 72.5 percent in the first half of 2011.
   
Random House attributes the increase in profits to a strong performance by its bestsellers and to large ebook gains. The publisher experienced 200 percent growth in ebook sales, according to a letter Random House chairman Markus Dohle sent to employees.

Digital sales so far in 2011, have already surpassed sales for all of 2010. They account for more than 20 percent of revenue.

However, tree books remain important to the company. In his letter, Dohle said strong print sales “reminds us that the print side of our business is an indispensable contributor to our greater publishing success.”

Read the full Publishers Weekly article here.

'Temping Bella' is a 2011 PYHIAB Finalist!

This is turning out to be an excellent day.

I received a phone call from Shirley Hailstock, president of the New Jersey Romance Writers, who informed me that my Regency manuscript, Tempting Bella, is a finalist in the 2011 NJRW's "Put Your Heart in a Book" contest.

I am thrilled! The NJRW's group is pretty special to me. I won in this category last year with my manuscript, Seducing Charlotte, and another of my manuscripts, Compromising Willa, placed second.

I think their judges get me!

The final judges, who will choose the winner, include Avon editor Tessa Woodward, bestselling author Cathy Maxwell (I'm a huge fan of her books) and agent Ethan Ellenberg.
       

The final winners will be announced at the NJRW's October conference. I plan to be there. I went last year and it was a fantastic, inspiring experience.

The workshops and panels featured bestselling authors and top editors. I came back super-motivated. It's rare when an experience exceeds expectations, but that was definitely the case last year.

Maybe it will be so again this year!   

Traditional Publisher Strikes Deal With Self E-publishing Phenom

Simon and Schuster has closed a distribution deal with author John Locke, the first self-epublished author to sell a million copies of his books through Amazon's Kindle Store.

It's the latest sign that the publishing world is adapting to the rapidly-changing landscape brought about by ebooks. 

Under the deal, the publisher will handle sales and distribution for the print editions of the author's titles.The arrangement gets print editions of Locke's books out to traditional book sellers, making them more widely available. 

Simon and Schuster will distribute eight of Locke's Donovan Creed novels. The titles are expected to be on sale by February 2012. The publisher says more books will follow under the deal.

Locke retains the rights to edit and publish his titles.

The publisher says the arrangement is a standard distribution agreement, similar to the deals distributors regularly strike with small publishers.

The deal was negotiated by literary agent Jane Dystel. 

How Much Do Book Editors Make?

It's none of our business but we're all kind of curious about how much moola people in the publishing industry are earning.

You know from some of my previous posts that most published romance authors can't quit their day job. But for New York book editors, editing IS their day job.

According to GalleyCat, the average salary for any editor in the New York area is $53,500 a year.

At Penguin, average salaries range from $40,000 to 75,000 a year. An associate editor makes about $41,654, while a senior editor draws anywhere from $54,000 to 93,000 a year.

At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, editors can make from $32,000 to 77,000 annually. Senior editor salaries range from $38,000 to $75,000 a year. A supervising editor's salary can range from $59,000 to 90,000.

Random House associate editors make between $42,000 and $45,000 a year. Production editors salaries range from $42,000 to $62,000 a year.

Galleycat got these figures from the anonymous job site Glassdoor, and all of the figures are taken from the website's anonymous users.

Victorian-Era Film Tackles Women's Pleasure

Now this is something I have yet to read about in any historical romance novel.

"Hysteria," a new movie starring Maggie Gyllenhaall and Hugh Dancy, is based on the true Victorian-era story of the invention of the vibrator.

Check out this hilarious - and somewhat shocking - trailer:  

Amazon Jumps into the Tablet Business

Apple's iPad 2

Look out Apple, Amazon plans to introduce a tablet computer this fall.

The device could challenge the iPad. It is expected to have a nine-inch screen and will run on Google's Android operating system. 

Amazon customers will be able to watch videos, read ebooks and listen to music purchased or rented from Amazon. It is not expected to have a camera.

The new tablet will intensify the competition between Amazon and Apple, both of which are fighting for customers for their own digital books, music and movies.

Amazon is also releasing two new versions of the Kindle. One will have a touch-screen, the other will not. It will be an updated, cheaper version of the current Kindle model.

You can read more about it in this article from The Wall Street Journal.
 

Ebooks, Young Adult Fiction Help Spark Book Resurgence

Despite the closing of Borders, it looks like things are not quite so gloomy for the book industry after all.

Ebooks, along with juvenile and adult fiction, are driving a resurgence of the book industry. 

Instead of shrinking, the publishing industry has expanded in the last three years, according to BookStats, which is published by the Association of American Publishers and the Book Industry Study Group.

BookStats looks at net sales revenue and unit data reported by almost 2,000 U.S. publishers. It tracks sales and units by format and category.

Publishers sold 5.6 percent more books in 2010 than they did in 2008, according to the report. More than  2.5 billion books were sold in all formats in 2010. That's a 4 percent hike over 2008.

Americans of all ages are actively reading in all print and digital formats. Juvenile and adult fiction have made some big annual gains.

Fiction aimed at children, teens and young adults rose 7 percent over the three years in net sales revenue and 12 percent in net unit sales.

“The BookStats study indicates that the publishing industry is healthy and growing during a time of unprecedented change,” says Dominique Raccah, founder and CEO of Sourcebooks, who chairs the BookStats committee.

And the numbers are likely to grow. The BookStats report does not include sales from 2011, which has seen a surge in ebook sales.

Check out more details of the report here.

'Tempting Bella' is a 2011 Maggie Finalist!

I received a pretty great call just after dinner last night.

It was Dianna Shuford, from the Georgia Romance Writers, calling to tell me that my latest work in progress, "Tempting Bella," is a finalist in the 2011 Maggie Contest for unpublished writers.

This is Bella's first contest final. About 30 pages of the manuscript - plus a synopsis - were judged by two published authors.

It's always encouraging to receive validation for my work - a little something that tells me I'm on the right track. Especially from two professionals in the field. 

"Tempting Bella" is my third completed manuscript.

It is the story of Mirabella, who is married off as a child to settle her father's gaming debt. After the hasty marriage, she does not see her husband again for almost a decade. She grows to resent the stranger she assumes married her for her fortune and promptly forgot she existed. When they do meet again, neither knows who the other is, but the attraction (of course!) is immediate. You can read more about the story by clicking here.

There are four other finalists in the Maggie contest's historical category.

Avon's Tessa Woodward is the final judge.

The winner will be announced at the Georgia Romance Writers 2011 Moonlight and Magnolias conference in which runs Sept. 29 through Oct. 2.

This is my second time as a Maggie finalist. My first manuscript, "Compromising Willa," placed second in the 2009 contest.

By the way, it's fun to note that the winner that year was Patricia Patton for "Love and the Heir." Later published as "The Heir" - under Patton's pen name Grace Burrowes - the book was named one of Publishers Weekly's Top Five Romances for 2010 and went on to become a New York Times bestseller.

So at least I can say I got beat out by a New York Times bestselling author. Not too shabby!

Kindle Cuts Prices on 900 Ebooks

Amazon has launched another Kindle book sale called "The Big Deal." According to the online retailer, there are 900 ebooks priced between $.99 and $3.99.

Amazon made a similar price-cutting move back in June. That promotion was called Sunshine Deals and it  shook up the Kindle bestseller list. Almost one-third of the books in Amazon's top 100 during that period were part of the Sunshine promotion. About 80 percent of them - 24 books - were not Kindle bestsellers before prices were slashed.  

The only problem with the sale is that it's too easy to spend way more than you intend to. With such talented authors at very reasonable prices, it's hard not to!

Here's a look at some of the deals in romance:

$2.99

$.99

$2.99

$.99

$1.99

Click here for more on The Big Deal.

New Nook Outscores Kindle

The Nook Simple Touch, black and white with touch screen

More evidence that Barnes & Noble's Nook is nipping at the heels of industry leader Kindle by Amazon.

Consumer Reports  says the new version of the Nook e-reader, the Simple Touch, has outscored Kindle in its ratings for the first time.

According to Consumer Reports, both e-readers have black-and-white screens, but the Simple Touch also has touch-screen navigation and weighs less than the Kindle.

Amazon's Kindle

You can also borrow ebooks from the public library with the Simple Touch. Kindle is expected to add the library feature sometime later this year.

Consumer Reports also says an e-book reader is still the best way to go - rather than a tablet like the iPad - if reading books is your main use for the device.

The lighter weight makes holding it for long periods of time more comfortable and the screen is easier to read than the text on tablets' LCD screens, especially in bright sunlight.

How to Undress a Victorian Lady

At the recent Romance Writers of America (RWA) convention in New York, author Deeanne Gist gave a hands-on, clothes-on workshop on how to dress - and undress - your heroine.

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, it took Gist an hour to put on everything that a lady would have worn in the 1860s. The pieces of clothing included stockings, garters, bloomers, chemise, corset, crinoline or hoop skirt, petticoats, a shirtwaist or blouse, skirt, vest and bolero jacket.

The Journal reports that 25 percent of all books sold are historical romances, according to book-industry analyst Bowker.

But getting accurate details on a lady's under-things takes a lot of work.

"When you're doing something where they're undressing in a love scene situation—these are the practical things that you never find in a research book," bestselling novelist Laura Lee Guhrke tells the Journal. "You want to be accurate."

Check out the video above for a close-up look at a Victorian lady's unmentionables.

Nook Outpaces Kindle in 1st Quarter Shipments

The Nook Color helped Barnes & Noble beat Amazon's Kindle in the eReader market for the first time, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), which tracks media tablet and eReaders.

The Kindle was second, but the lack of color seems to have allowed the Nook to put a dent in Amazon's previous dominance of the eReader market.

That doesn't mean more Nooks have sold than Kindles. The IDC report refers to the number of eReaders shipped - not purchased. 

All in all, the eReader market is doing well. IDC expects there to be a 24 percent increase over last year in the number of eReaders that are shipped.

I can certainly see the appeal of the Nook. I chose a Kindle for my birthday last year, primarily because I wasn't sure if the Nook would be around for long. Clearly, I miscalculated! I enjoy reading on my Kindle but I can't say that I love it. I do wish it had color and a touchscreen.

And reading magazines on the Kindle is one of the more lackluster experiences out there.

I have to admit I am now eyeballing the Nook for my next birthday. It seems a little wasteful but I find I'm craving a little more color in my life.

Ebooks Give Treebooks a Push

At least one publisher is betting on the idea that ebooks can help traditional  retailers sell books.

Algonquin has started a promotion at 300 Barnes & Noble stores which offers a discounted ebook to customers who purchase an Algonquin trade paperback, according to The New York Times.

Algonquin plans a similar promotion in October. Customers who buy a hardcover copy of "When She Woke," by Hillary Jordan will receive a digital version of the book for free.

“We spend a lot of time lately trying to figure out how to sell books in this new world order,” Elisabeth Scharlatt,  Algonquin's publisher, told the Times. “And particularly to help booksellers to sell hardcover books, which seems increasingly difficult. So this seemed like one way of calling attention to a book by giving an incentive to the customer.”

The Times reports publishers are concerned about declining traffic at physical bookstores as more ebooks sales are made online. If physical bookstores disappear, publishers worry their books will not have an opportunity to be discovered by customers who wander into a store without knowing what they want to buy.

This month's Algonquin promotion lets customers choose a trade paperback from a list of 12 titles, and then buy an ebook for $3 from a separate list of 12 titles.

RWA Honors Best in Romance

 The 2011 RITAS were announced this weekend in New York. The RITAS honor the best in romance fiction for 2010.  Here's a rundown of the honorees as selected by the Romance Writers of America. Congratulations to all of the winners!

 Best Paranormal Romance
Sharon Ashwood for “Unchained: the Dark Forgotten”

 Best Romance Novella
Virginia Kantra for “Shifting Sea”

 

Best Contemp Series Suspense/Adventure Romance
Helen Brenna for “The Moon that Night"

  

Best Young Adult Romance

Julie Kagawa for "The Iron King"

  

Best Regency Historical Romance
Lauren Willig for "Mischief of the Misteltoe"

 

Best Historical Romance

Sherry Thomas for "His At Night"

 

 

Best Contemporary Single Title

Jill Shalvis  for "Simply Irresistible"

 

 

Best First Book

Kaki Warner for "Pieces of Sky"

 

Best Novel With Strong Romantic Elements

Jodi Thomas for "Welcome to Harmony" 

Best Inspirational Romance

Irene Hannon for "In Harm’s Way"