New Harlequin Blog

A new Harlequin blog launched today! Publisher Donna Hayes has written the first post. We’ll be covering all kinds of inside stuff at Harlequin and about books and authors!

Could I write!!! with more quotation marks?!

Harlequin Gets It — Libraries and eBooks

Motoko Rich from the New York Times wrote about libraries and eBooks and gave kudoes to Harlequin for making eBooks available to libraries, as opposed to what some other publishers advocate.  Mobility Site  also blogged about the same article with focus on romance and eBooks.

I had posts at Romancing the Blog and the Pink Heart Society today. At RTB I offered 5 tips on how to comment effectively and at PHS I introduced the Harlequin digital team.

Harlequin Vintage Collection

Total coolness: The Harlequin Vintage Collection. Some of the books that we published way back when…1949, to be precise. Harlequin wasn’t always romance. We published a wide variety of books including cookbooks but we kind of love these pulpy novels. The reprints include the red ink at the border of the pages…remember that? If yes, you’re old!

This

Compare eBook Readers

Crunch Gear compares eBook Readers with this handy comparison chart.

Is an eBook reader something you will be including on your holiday gift wish list this year?

Work and Play

I adore working on the digital & Internet team at Harlequin because we work really fast and on a wide variety of projects. We also like to play. To this end we ensure that our fearless leader celebrates his birthdays in style. We had a bobble head made of his likeness and unveiled it and the bobble boss’s blog today. Click and enjoy!

5 Twitter Tips to Success

Twitter, twitter, twitter. Twitter, the microblogging platform, has hit the mainstream. It’s constantly in the media and everyone seems to be tweeting.

I love twitter because it suits my style of communication and connection…read more at my post at Romancing the Blog today.

Do you like twitter? Do you have questions about twitter?

Branding Lessons from The Princess Bride

I have copied this post in its entirety from Beg to Differ.com:  10 Brand Strategy Lessons from “The Princess Bride” by Dennis Van Staalduinen. How perfect is this for romance writers! My thoughts on how Princess Bride brand strategy connects to my previous articles on author branding is below.

Branding lesson 1:  Names matter.

Westley: No one would surrender to the Dread Pirate Westley.

Making your business into a “Dread Pirate Roberts” is the subject dealt with in the blog post mentioned earlier. But in branding terms, note that the intangible qualities of your name are very important to set the stage for your branding conversation with a customer – or to “inspire the appropriate terror” if that’s your objective.

Branding Lesson 2: Persistence Pays.

Inigo: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

Repeat your brand promise to yourself over and over as a mantra. Craft the mission as a conversation starter, so a listener simply has to find out the story of your brand. And when it comes down to the final fight, have that mission on your lips as you ruthlessly carry it out.

Branding lesson 3: Got a miracle pill? Help your customers swallow it.

Inigo Montoya: That’s a miracle pill?
Valerie: The chocolate coating makes it go down easier.

It doesn’t matter how miraculous, how sexy, or how “game-changing” you think your product is. If customers don’t recognize it as such, you won’t sell a single unit. Learn what simple things you can add to your whole-brand package to help your customers “get it” as quickly as possible.

Branding lesson 4: Know their pain.

Man in Black: Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.

But remember that helpful chocolate coating in one market may look like manipulative “sugar coating” in another – and that looks like empty marketing hype and that’s a bad thing.

Keep it real. Use a straightforward tone of voice, and tell the truth. Don’t gloss over customer objections, customer hang-ups, or your own shortcomings. Customers are smart enough to know where the real pain is, and they’d prefer that it not be you.

Branding lesson 5: Building a strong brand takes time.

Miracle Max: You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.

You can’t cut corners. So even if the end result seems like a miracle pill to your customers, you have to patiently build your equity and their trust over time.

Branding lesson 6: Always a) expect the inconceivable and b) respect your competition.

Inigo Montoya: You are sure nobody’s follow’ us?
Vizzini: As I told you, it would be absolutely, totally, and in all other ways inconceivable…incidentally, why do you ask?
Inigo Montoya: (later in the scene) He’s right on top of us. I wonder if he is using the same wind we are using.

If you are in the lead in your market, congratulations. That’s great. But don’t get so cocky you forget to analyze what’s happening behind you. Otherwise, your competitors (who are also smart and dedicated) may “find a different wind”.

Branding Lesson 7:  Choose your words carefully.

Vizzini: HE DIDN’T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

If you try to sound intelligent and savvy without also being a student of your customers’ language, you can quickly lose the respect you are trying so to win. Make sure you mean what you think you mean.

Branding lesson 8: Use the right strategy for the situation.

Inigo Montoya: You are using Bonetti’s Defense against me, eh?
Man in Black: I thought it fitting considering the rocky terrain.

Know your opponent and your terrain. But don’t get too set in your ways. Your opponent may only be pretending to be left handed, so if you have to switch, be flexible enough to do so quickly.

Branding lesson 9: Watch out for the R.O.U.S.’s

Buttercup: Westley, what about the R.O.U.S.’s?
Westley: Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don’t think they exist.
[Immediately, an R.O.U.S. attacks him]

Every industry has a few Rodents Of Unusual Size doesn’t it? And some more than others (no names here).

But beyond the obvious point about hidden dangers we choose not to see, the author of the original novel is having some fun here with our propensity for using jargonny abbreviations and acronyms - even when effective communication could mean the difference between life and death. Just call them Monster Rats and watch your back! (for more on this, see our July 31 post the 25 worst acronyms).

Branding lesson 10: Love conquers all

Buttercup: You can’t hurt me. Westley and I are joined by the bonds of love. And you cannot track that, not with a thousand bloodhounds, and you cannot break it, not with a thousand swords.

As the grandson in the movie might say, “yuck, is this a kissing blog?” But seriously. In human or brand relations, the bonds of human affection, attachment, and commitment are awsomely powerful forces. So if you’re looking for a happy ending for your brand, focus on building those real human links that will help you and your customers survive a thousand swords.

Malle’s take for writers:

Names matter. Think how obsessive you are about finding the right name for a character (I currently have a hero whose name I have changed at least 5 times while writing the ms, and it is still not the right fit). Do you spend as much time paying attention to your name? Updated bios, photos, links, etc.

The chocolate coding. Your novel can be incredibly complex, unusual, unique but is there some easy entry way for readers? You don’t have to do this, Alice Sebold did not in The Lovely Bones but I must have had 20 people recommend this book before I would even open it to the first page. And then of course her voice won me over in the first paragraph.

Keep it real. Be genuine to what you love. If sexy hot vampires are all the rage but you love writing historical cowboys, keep writing historical cowboys. Times will change.

Developing a brand takes time. Yes, it does. Several people asked me how long it takes to build an author brand and I do not have a good answer. I think it takes more than 4 books.

Be aware of your competition. This doesn’t mean you should copy your competition, but if someone has done something new in an interesting way, is there any part of it you could adapt. That does not mean you need to write the next Twilight book. But if part of the apeal is from multiple books aka a miniseries, can you do something with a miniseries? Is there a learning and a differentiator you can use?

Author branding helps you find new readers. I hope the above 10 tips help!

Your Novel is being Published! Scared yet…?

Excellent blog post by writer Barbara Samuel, Preparing for Publication Anxiety. If you think the hard part is writing, revising, selling your manuscript, there is a lot more to the story…

Sony’s New eBook Readers including 3G

Sony announced a December release of their 3G wireless reader called the Reader Daily Edition priced at $399

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125121418474557227.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Their complete press release is below. Some highlights:

• 3G wirless Reader Daily Edition is $399
• Reader Pocket Edition™  has a 5″ screen and is available in many colors (Yeah! Do I get a commission?) for $199
• Reader Touch Edition™ has the 6″ touch screen, 3 colors and will retail for $299
• the ability to borrow digital books from libraries! The titles expire automatically after 21 days (finally a solution to my inability to return books. It’s why I had to start working in publishing so I could own the books and never have to return them.)

Great on Sony for their many product choices and I have to say the $199 price point is getting close to mass market adoption. Are you tempted?

XTRA, EXTRA: SONY’S DAILY EDITION ROUNDS OUT NEW LINE OF DIGITAL READERS

Wireless 3G Reader Extends Sony’s Commitment to Bring Open Digital Reading to Mass Audience

NEW YORK, August 25, 2009  Delivering on its promise to give consumers a variety of choices, Sony today announced the third member of its new Reader family – the Reader Daily Edition™, a highly-anticipated wireless model with 3G connectivity.  The Daily Edition caps its new line of Reader products, joining the Reader Pocket Edition™ and the Reader Touch Edition™ which were announced earlier this month.

The Reader Pocket Edition and the Reader Touch Edition are available immediately, and the Reader Daily Edition will be available this December in time for the holidays at SonyStyle stores and SonyStyle.com.

“We firmly believe consumers should have choice in every aspect of their digital reading experience,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s Digital Reading Business Division. “Today, we take another large stride to deliver on that promise.  We now have the most affordable devices on the market, the greatest access to free and affordable eBooks through The eBook Store from Sony and our affiliated ecosystem, and now round out our Reader offering with a wireless device that lets consumer purchase and download content on the go.”

A Family of Three Readers

The Reader Pocket Edition sports a five-inch electronic paper display packaged in a stylish chassis and is available in a variety of colors, including navy blue, rose and silver. It is available for the ground-breaking price of $199, making it the most affordable dedicated reading device on the market.

The Reader Touch Edition features a responsive, menu-driven six-inch touch screen panel that enables quick, intuitive navigation, page turning, highlighting and note taking with the swipe of a finger or by using the included stylus pen. It comes in red, black or silver and retails for about $299.

The Reader Daily Edition gives consumers wireless access via AT&T’s 3G mobile broadband network to Sony’s eBook store from just about anywhere in the U.S.  Book lovers will be able to browse, purchase and download books as well as select newspapers and magazines when and where they want. There are no monthly fees or transaction charges for the basic wireless connectivity and users still have the option to side load personal documents or content from other compatible sites via USB.

The seven-inch wide, touch screen display provides for intuitive navigation and comfortable layout of content, including newspapers and magazines, whether you’re reading in portrait or landscape orientation. In portrait mode, about 30-35 lines of text are visible, making the experience very similar to that of a printed paperback book. A high contrast ratio with 16 levels of grayscale ensures that text and images are crisp and easy to read. The Daily Edition also boasts an attractive aluminum body with an integrated cover for durability. It has enough internal memory to hold more than one thousand standard eBooks and expansion slots for memory cards to hold even more. It will sell for about $399.

All three models feature Sony’s award-winning industrial design and an E Ink® Vizplex™ electronic paper display that emulates the look of ink on paper. Sony’s eBook Library software 3.0, which now includes support for many Apple® Macintosh® computers as well as PCs, makes it easy to transfer and read any Adobe® PDF (with reflow capability), EPUB, Microsoft® Word®, BBeB® files, or other text file formats on the Reader.

Access to Even More Content at the eBook Store by Sony

In addition to announcing a new family of Readers, Sony has also made several changes and improvements to its eBook Store to provide better access to an even greater variety of ebooks. Earlier this summer Sony announced the availability of more than one million free public domain books from Google, and the company made new releases and New York Times bestseller titles available for $9.99.

Today also marks the launch of Sony’s Library Finder application.Sony, working with OverDrive (www.overdrive.com), the leading global digital distributor of eBooks and to libraries, will now offer visitors to the eBook Store by Sony easy access to their local library’s collection of eBooks.  Thousands of libraries in the OverDrive network offer eBooks optimized for the Sony Reader, and visitors can now find these libraries by typing their zip code into the Library Finder. Through the selected library’sdownload website, visitors can check out eBooks with a valid library card, download them to a PC and transfer to their Reader. At the end of the library’s lending period, eBooks simply expire, so there are never any late fees.

The Reader Pocket and Touch Editions, as well as available accessories such as AC adaptors, cases and covers with reading lights, are available now at SonyStyle.com and SonyStyle stores. Book lovers interested in trying out a Reader in person will also be able to find them for sale at Best Buy, BJs, Borders, Sam’s Club, Staples, Target, Toys“R”Us, Wal-Mart and other authorized retailers nationwide.

XTRA, EXTRA: SONY’S DAILY EDITION ROUNDS OUT NEW LINE OF DIGITAL READERS

Wireless 3G Reader Extends Sony’s Commitment to Bring Open Digital Reading to Mass Audience

NEW YORK, August 25, 2009  Delivering on its promise to give consumers a variety of choices, Sony today announced the third member of its new Reader family – the Reader Daily Edition™, a highly-anticipated wireless model with 3G connectivity.  The Daily Edition caps its new line of Reader products, joining the Reader Pocket Edition™ and the Reader Touch Edition™ which were announced earlier this month.

The Reader Pocket Edition and the Reader Touch Edition are available immediately, and the Reader Daily Edition will be available this December in time for the holidays at SonyStyle stores and SonyStyle.com.

“We firmly believe consumers should have choice in every aspect of their digital reading experience,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s Digital Reading Business Division. “Today, we take another large stride to deliver on that promise.  We now have the most affordable devices on the market, the greatest access to free and affordable eBooks through The eBook Store from Sony and our affiliated ecosystem, and now round out our Reader offering with a wireless device that lets consumer purchase and download content on the go.”

A Family of Three Readers

The Reader Pocket Edition sports a five-inch electronic paper display packaged in a stylish chassis and is available in a variety of colors, including navy blue, rose and silver. It is available for the ground-breaking price of $199, making it the most affordable dedicated reading device on the market.

The Reader Touch Edition features a responsive, menu-driven six-inch touch screen panel that enables quick, intuitive navigation, page turning, highlighting and note taking with the swipe of a finger or by using the included stylus pen. It comes in red, black or silver and retails for about $299.

The Reader Daily Edition gives consumers wireless access via AT&T’s 3G mobile broadband network to Sony’s eBook store from just about anywhere in the U.S.  Book lovers will be able to browse, purchase and download books as well as select newspapers and magazines when and where they want. There are no monthly fees or transaction charges for the basic wireless connectivity and users still have the option to side load personal documents or content from other compatible sites via USB.

The seven-inch wide, touch screen display provides for intuitive navigation and comfortable layout of content, including newspapers and magazines, whether you’re reading in portrait or landscape orientation. In portrait mode, about 30-35 lines of text are visible, making the experience very similar to that of a printed paperback book. A high contrast ratio with 16 levels of grayscale ensures that text and images are crisp and easy to read. The Daily Edition also boasts an attractive aluminum body with an integrated cover for durability. It has enough internal memory to hold more than one thousand standard eBooks and expansion slots for memory cards to hold even more. It will sell for about $399.

All three models feature Sony’s award-winning industrial design and an E Ink® Vizplex™ electronic paper display that emulates the look of ink on paper. Sony’s eBook Library software 3.0, which now includes support for many Apple® Macintosh® computers as well as PCs, makes it easy to transfer and read any Adobe® PDF (with reflow capability), EPUB, Microsoft® Word®, BBeB® files, or other text file formats on the Reader.

Access to Even More Content at the eBook Store by Sony

In addition to announcing a new family of Readers, Sony has also made several changes and improvements to its eBook Store to provide better access to an even greater variety of ebooks. Earlier this summer Sony announced the availability of more than one million free public domain books from Google, and the company made new releases and New York Times bestseller titles available for $9.99.

Today also marks the launch of Sony’s Library Finder application.Sony, working with OverDrive (www.overdrive.com), the leading global digital distributor of eBooks and to libraries, will now offer visitors to the eBook Store by Sony easy access to their local library’s collection of eBooks.  Thousands of libraries in the OverDrive network offer eBooks optimized for the Sony Reader, and visitors can now find these libraries by typing their zip code into the Library Finder. Through the selected library’sdownload website, visitors can check out eBooks with a valid library card, download them to a PC and transfer to their Reader. At the end of the library’s lending period, eBooks simply expire, so there are never any late fees.

The Reader Pocket and Touch Editions, as well as available accessories such as AC adaptors, cases and covers with reading lights, are available now at SonyStyle.com and SonyStyle stores. Book lovers interested in trying out a Reader in person will also be able to find them for sale at Best Buy, BJs, Borders, Sam’s Club, Staples, Target, Toys“R”Us, Wal-Mart and other authorized retailers nationwide.

Digital Initiatives Session at RWA, Thursday

There will be a digital initiatives panel at RWA on Thursday from  4:30 – 5:30 in Maryland B. Here’s the description:

Digital Initiatives

Speakers: Rachel Chou, Rachel Vincent, Malle Vallik,  and moderator Sarah Wendell

How are authors and publishers innovating and using technology to connect with readers? Come to this session to hear from Harlequin’s Director, Digital Content & Social Media, HarperCollins’ VP, Online Product Development and Operations, an author using technology to reach her readers and a blogger that excels at online marketing.

Hope to see you there!