Book and Author News --Issue # 7

I'm lucky this year--I get two springs. I just returned from a week in Atlanta where everything was blooming. Now in Mayland I get to see my flowers and bushes come to life.

This week Romance Writers of America announced the finalists for their RITA awards. Congratulations to Nora Roberts writing as J. D. Robb for Innocent in Death in the Best Romantic Suspense category and to Mary Jo Putney who is so a finalist for Best Long Historical for The Marriage Spell. You can see all the nominees for the RITA awards at
http://161.58.67.252/ritafinalists2007.htm

Watch for an interview with Deirdre Martin, author of Chasing Stanley, in Monday’s New York Post (April 2).

For parents of teens, I’ve done a podcast on safe teen driving for Parentingmyteen.com and it should be up the first week in April. For more teen driving tips, visit teendriving.com. We have a new interview on the site with Tim Smith who wrote Crashproof your Kids.

Mary Jo Putney recently attended an event put on by the Officers Wives Club on Ft. Meade. There's a great post on Word Wenches (3/29) from Kimberly A. Lowe, Major, Air Force Reserves on what it means to be a military wife.

Make your plans to attend the Washington Romance Writers Pre-Retreat mega book signing at Turn the Page Books (www.ttpbooks.com)
Friday April 27, 2007 11:30-2:00 WRW Retreat Signing
Join Nora Roberts and special retreat guests Lisa Gardner, Madeline Hunter, and Julia Quinn. WRW Members attending: Dee Davis, Susan Donovan, Diane Gaston, Donna Kauffman, Kathleen O'Reilly, Pamela Palmer, Hope Tarr, Michelle Willingham, and Jean Marie Ward. If you can’t attend, you can order signed copies on the virtual book signing page on the ttpbooks website.

If you listen to Sirius Satellite radio, be sure to tune into Toby Deven’s interview on Wednesday, April 4 at 2:00 pm ET The Good Life Show with Jesse Dylan, Sirius- Satellite "Lime Radio" Toby is the author My Favorite Midlife Crisis Yet.

Bestseller Lists
Wall Street Journal Mar 22 Fiction list
# 11. "Innocent in Death" by Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb (Putnam)
USA Today List March 29 list
#54 Table for Two by Nora Roberts
#57 Irish Dreams
#88 Innocent in Death

Bookshelf
Now in stores: Innocent in Death, J. D. Robb
My Favorite Midlife Crisis Yet, Toby Devens
Table for Two by Nora Roberts, Trade size reissue of Summer Deserts 10/85 and Lessons Learned 5/86
Dragon Lovers by Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Barbara Samuel, and Karen Harbaugh
Golden Night by Candice Poarch 4/3/07
Not Quite a Lady by Loretta Chase - 5/07

Signings and Events:
Apr 20-22 - Mary Jo Putney: Pike’s Peak Writers Conference, Colorado Springs, CO
Friday Apr 27 11:30-2:00 WRW Retreat Signing—Nora Roberts and members of Washington Romance for a Mega signing at Turn the Page Bookstore (ttpbooks.com)
Wednesday, Apr18: Toby Devens, Gerber Mini College, Rockville, Maryland
Monday, April 2, 8:30 am CT/ 9:30 am, Toby Devens, ET WZEE-FM Madison, WI
Tuesday, April 3, 4:00 pm CT/ 5:00 pm ET, Toby Devens, The Michael Dresser Show Nationally syndicated by the Lifestyle Network
Wednesday, April 4, 2007 2:00 pm ET The Good Life Show with Jesse Dylan Sirius- Satellite "Lime Radio"
Wednesday, April 4, 2007 2:30 pm ET WDRC-AM Mary Jones, Midday Magazine, Hartford, CT

Book and Author News--Issue 6

Welcome to Spring. This is what my cherry trees will look like in about a month.

This week we celebrate readers and fans from around the country and around the world. Meet some of Nora Roberts’s fans online at the adwoff website and chat about Nora and her books. Nora sends postcards and pictures from her trips to the site. http://adwoff.com/

After Hurricane Katrina, Adwoff members and Nora’s fans raised over $30,000 online for Habitat for Humanity—and Nora matched that and more. And in 2002 when a town landmark in Ardmore was threatened by development, Nora’s fans rallied sending thousands of emails to the Ardmore council and persuading them to make the area around St. Declan’s an untouchable “green area.”

Deirdre Martin, author of Stealing Stanley, got an encouraging note from Alice a reader in the UK who loved her hockey themed novels so much she wrote up a review and sent it to the local hockey team, the Sheffield Steelers. The team published the review of the book in their program and then sent it on to their opposing team.

Post your own reader's stories as comments to this post.

Stop over at the Word Wenches blog (http://www.wordwenches.com/) and read Mary Jo’s review of the new movie Amazing Grace.

Bestseller List

Publishers Weekly list March 19
#6 Innocent in Death by J. D. Robb (Fiction List)
#7 Table for Two by Nora Roberts (Trade Paper)
USAToday List March 18
#39 Table for Two by Nora Roberts
#55 Innocent in Death by J. D. Robb
#38 Irish Dreams by Nora Roberts

Bookshelf
Now in stores: Innocent in Death, J. D. Robb
My Favorite Midlife Crisis Yet, Toby Devens
Table for Two by Nora Roberts, Trade size reissue of Summer Deserts 10/85 and Lessons Learned 5/86
Dragon Lovers by Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Barbara Samuel, and Karen Harbaugh
Golden Night by Candice Poarch 4/3/07
Not Quite a Lady by Loretta Chase - 5/07

Signings and Events:
Mar 24 - Mary Jo Putney: Lovettsvillle Library (talk), Loudoun County, VA
Apr 20-22 - Mary Jo Putney: Pike’s Peak Writers Conference, Colorado Springs, CO
Friday Apr 27, 2007 11:30-2:00 WRW Retreat Signing—Nora Roberts and members of Washington Romance for a Mega signing at Turn the Page Bookstore (ttpbooks.com)
Mar 29: Toby Devens: Brandeis University National Women's Committee Book and Author Luncheon and Wednesday, Apr18: Gerber Mini College, Rockville, Maryland
Listen to Toby Deven’s radio interviews:
Monday, April 2 8:30 am CT/ 9:30 am ET WZEE-FM Madison, WI
Tuesday, April 3 4:00 pm CT/ 5:00 pm ET The Michael Dresser Show Nationally syndicated by the Lifestyle Network
Wednesday, April 4 2:00 pm ET The Good Life Show with Jesse Dylan Sirius- Satellite "Lime Radio"
Wednesday, April 4 2:30 pm EST WDRC-AM Mary Jones, Midday Magazine Hartford, CT

Book and Author News --Issue # 5

Booklovers today have several choices on how to keep up with their favorite author’s new novels. In addition to traditional hardcover, paperback, and trade paperback books, there are also audio books, eBooks, and large print copies. You can download books to your eBook reader, computer, palm pilot or other hand-held device. Turn the Page Books carries a full line of Nora’s books including audio titles. You can find over 17,000 eBooks for your Palm pilot at ebooks.palm.com.

I teach eBusiness and web technology courses for the University of Phoenix online and they’ve put all their text books into eBook technology. There are other technologies in the pipeline such as electronic paper—where your newspaper is downloaded with the day’s news. They are already experimenting with them in Japan. http://neasia.nikkeibp.com/neasia/003542

EBooks are still a small but growing part of the publishing market. It’s both an exciting and challenging time in publishing—keeping up with advances and also being able to ensure that authors reach their audiences through a variety of new and traditional channels.

On the Web
Check out Nora’s interview on Romancenovel.tv. Nora talks about her typical writing day plus advice for new writers.


Bestseller List
USAToday List
#31 Table for Two by Nora Roberts
#35 Innocent in Death by J. D. Robb
#39 Irish Dreams by Nora Roberts

Bookshelf
Now in stores: Innocent in Death, J. D. Robb
Table for Two by Nora Roberts, Trade size reissue of Summer Deserts 10/85 and Lessons Learned 5/86
Dragon Lovers by Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Barbara Samuel, and Karen Harbaugh

www.wordwenches.com

Golden Night by Candice Poarch 4/3/07 www.candicepoarch.com

Not Quite a Lady by Loretta Chase - 5/07 www.lorettachase.com

Signings and Events:
March 15-17 Novelists, Inc 2007 Conference, San Diego
Wednesday March 21 (BALTIMORE) Brooklyn Library (EPFL) 3:30 - 5:00 pm Kathy Harig, owner of Mystery Loves Company bookstore will give a talk recommending new mysteries.
Mar 24 - Mary Jo Putney: Lovettsvillle Library (talk), Loudoun County, VA
Apr 20-22 - Mary Jo Putney: Pike’s Peak Writers Conference, Colorado Springs, CO
Friday April 27, 2007 11:30-2:00 WRW Retreat Signing—Nora Roberts and members of Washington Romance for a Mega signing at Turn the Page Bookstore (ttpbooks.com)

Book and Author News --Issue # 4

Book and Author News

March 8, 2007

Lifetime TV Channel ranked fourth place during February sweeps on the success of its Nora Roberts movies, averaging 1.65 million viewers in prime, a jump of 14 percent year-over-year. Lifetime placed fifth among adults 25-54 and scoring third among women 25-54 and fourth among women 18-49 (495,000).

If you missed Carolina Moon, it will re-air on Sunday, March 11 at 11 am et/pt.

RomanceNovel.tv has recently done an interview with Word Wench Edith Layton. Look for Edith’s video in the coming month as well as more from Mary Jo Putney and other romance authors on the romancenovel.tv website.

Bestsellers
Innocent in Death by J. D. Robb, #1 on Publishers Weekly HardCover list, #2 in USA Today list 2/25, #1 in Wall Street Journal’s Hardcover Fiction
Table for Two, by Nora Roberts # 20 on USAToday list. 3/4/07
Irish Dreams # 35 on USAToday list 3/4

The Essex Library in Essex, Connecticut announced the five finalists for their Bronte Prize chosen from over 400 love stories published in North America. Angels Fall by Nora Roberts made the top five. The winner will be announced on Thursday, March 15th, 2007.

http://essexlibrary.wordpress.com/

Dragon Month continues on the WordWenches.com blog, Watch for these upcoming guest interviews
Barbara Samuels March 21
Shana Abe March 24
(Check the website in case the dates change)

Bookshelf
Now in stores: Innocent in Death, J. D. Robb Read an excerpt
Table for Two by Nora Roberts, Trade size reissue of Summer Deserts 10/85 and Lessons Learned 5/86
Dragon Lovers by Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Barbara Samuel, and Karen Harbaugh
April 3, 2007 Golden Night by Candice Poarch

Signings and Events:
Mar 13 – Patricia Rice: Coffee Time chat, http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Chat.html
Wednesday March 21 (BALTIMORE) Brooklyn Library (EPFL) 3:30 - 5:00 pm Kathy Harig, owner of Mystery Loves Company bookstore will give a talk recommending new mysteries.
Mar 24 - Mary Jo Putney: Lovettsvillle Library (talk), Loudoun County, VA
Apr 20-22 - Mary Jo Putney: Pike’s Peak Writers Conference, Colorado Springs, CO
Friday April 27, 2007 11:30 am-2:00 pm Turn the Page Bookstore--WRW Retreat Signing. Join Nora and the members of Washington Romance for a mega signing.
Mar 11 – Toby Devens: Bibliobabes, Howard County, Maryland
Mar 29 – Toby Devens: Brandeis University National Women's Committee Book and Author Luncheon
April 18—Toby Devens: Gerber Mini College, Rockville, Maryland


Tip of the week is a Daylight Savings Time Alert for your home PC.

provided by Howard Buckholtz from Techconnectedhome.com

You may have heard that the new Daylight Saving Time change may impact your home computer. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 changes the starting and ending dates for Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the United States. Beginning this year—and this weekend, DST will begin on the second Sunday in March (11th) and end on the first Sunday in November (4th). This new law results in a new DST period that is four weeks longer than in previous years.

Microsoft has provided a patch for the new DST settings as part of the February automatic updates for Windows XP Service Pack 2 only. You can check for installation of this update on your system by going to Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs (making sure that “show updates” at the top is checked). The fix will be listed as “Update for Windows XP (KB931836)”.

You can also look up the original Microsoft Knowledge Base article by going to:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931836


If you are running Windows 2000 you will have to update the DST settings manually. Microsoft has provided a time zone edit program available at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927229

Scroll down to “Time Zone Editor” and download the tzedit.exe program. After installing the program, run it and set the DST parameters to

Start Day: Second Sunday of March at 2:00:00 AM
Last Day: First Sunday of November at 2:00:00 AM

Microsoft Office Outlook users may also need to adjust their calendars. For information, see the Knowledge Base article at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931667

General DST information is also available at:

http://www.microsoft.com/DST2007

Book and Author News --Issue # 3

Book and Author News, issue #3
March 1, 2007

Lifetime will be re-airing Carolina Moon, Saturday March 3 at 7 pm et/pt

If you missed Nora’s movies on Lifetime you can download them on iTunes. You must be a U. S. citizen to be able to purchase the downloads.

Innocent in Death by J. D. Robb made #2 on the USA Today list this week.

The DVDs will be released in the U. S. as a two set--Angels Fall and Montana Sky--scheduled for an August release and Blue Smoke and Carolina Moon--an October release. These dates are tentative--and we'll let you know if they change.

All About Romance announced the results of their annual reader’s poll for romances published in 2006. Read the results.
http://aar.blog-city.com/2007_2006.htm
Congratulations to Loretta Chase and Jo Beverley for their awards. Loretta’s wonderful LORD PERFECT was recognized with three wins in Favorite Funny, Best Cabin/Road Romance, and Best Couple as well as four honorable mentions as Best Romance, Best European Historical, Strongest Heroine, and Best Heroine. Jo Beverley’s THE ROGUE’S RETURN was a favorite in the Best Western/Frontier category.

Celebrate Dragon Month on the WordWenches.com blog, Watch for these guest interviews:
Karen Harbaugh on March 3
Barbara Samuels March 21
Shana Abe March 24
(Check the website in case the dates change)

Mystery Loves Company will be received the Raven Award from The Mystery Writers of America. It will be presented on Thursday April 26 at the Edgar's Banquet. Read the latest issue of the Mystery Loves Company newsletter that reviews new mysteries and lists booksignings in the Mid-Atlantic area.

Bestseller List

Innocent in Death by J. D. Robb #2 on USA Today List
Irish Dreams by Nora Roberts #13 on USA Today List

Bookshelf
Now in stores: Innocent in Death, J. D. Robb Read an excerpt
Irish Dream by Nora Roberts reissue of Irish Rebel 2000 and Sullivan’s Woman 1984
Feb 27, 2007 Table for Two by Nora Roberts, Trade size reissue of Summer Deserts 10/85 and Lessons Learned 5/86
Mar 6, 2007 Dragon Lovers by Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Barbara Samuel, and Karen Harbaugh
April 3, 2007 Golden Night by Candice Poarch

Appearances, book signings, and online events

Turn the Page Bookstore: Saturday, March 3, 2007 1-3 PM J D Robb autographs her new hardcover Innocent In Death. Also mystery author Cordelia Frances Biddle signs her debut release The Conjurer. Elaine Fox and Lani Diane Rich sign their latest books. If you can’t attend the signing, you can order signed books from their virtual signing at the http://www.ttpbooks.com/ website.

Mar 2-4 – Patricia Rice: Celebrate Romance conference, Kansas City, MO
Mar 13 – Patricia Rice: Coffee Time chat, http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Chat.html
Mar 24 - Mary Jo Putney: Lovettsvillle Library (talk), Loudoun County, VA
Apr 20-22 - Mary Jo Putney: Pike’s Peak Writers Conference, Colorado Springs, CO
Mar 11 – Toby Devens: Bibliobabes, Howard County, Maryland
Mar 29 – Toby Devens: Brandeis University National Women's Committee Book and Author Luncheon
April 18—Toby Devens: Gerber Mini College, Rockville, Maryland

Book promotion tips of the week: When you schedule a signing request that a sign with some copies of your book be put up in the store a few weeks ahead of time. Also ask if you can sign any unsold copies and add a "signed" sticker to the books. This will extend interest in your book and sell more copies--before and after your signing.