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Update for my Harlequin blog last week...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:34:00 -0500

Guess the blog didn't post for some reason last week...

Update for my Harlequin blog last week...

Harlequin has gone along and enteredthe self publishing world. They did do what they said and changed thename. They are now Dell Arte Press.

I did chat with a friend of mine who knows several H authors. Apparentlynot all are happy with the self publishing route H has taken.

Not being an H author, I guess I can view the issue from both sides of the road.

1.H wants to expand their business, that's what it is, A BusinessDecision. I mean come on, the economy isn't the greatest, everyone outthere is looking for a way to keep bringing the bucks in.

2.Published authors with them can feel a bit put off. It takes a lot ofhard work getting picked up by H and now you can - self publish...Hmmmm.

Here's the article for you all to read.

Harlequin responds to criticism of its self-publishing arm with a new name

By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 11/25/2009 8:09:00 AM

In the wake of widespread criticism over its self-publishing imprint,Harlequin has changed the imprint’s name from Harlequin Horizons toDellArte Press. As Harlequin publisher and CEO Donna Hayes said itwould, the company renamed the imprint to a designation “that [does]not refer to Harlequin in any way.” There is no mention of Harlequin onDellArte’s Web site.

Late last week, Romance Writers of America and other writers' associations spoke out against the November 17 announcement that Author Solutions had teamed with Harlequinto form Harlequin Horizons, an imprint for self-published romanceauthors. RWA deemed Harlequin no longer eligible for RWA-providedconference resources—meaning the publisher would not be entitled toenter any award competitions. Harlequin publisher and CEO Donna Hayessaid the company was “surprised and dismayed” at RWA’s actions and saidit would change the imprint’s name.

Harlequindid not respond to a request for comment this morning on the namechange or if it was back in the good graces of the RWA. The ScienceFiction and Fantasy Writers have called for Harlequin to completely cutties to the self-pub program.

So tell me, what are you thinking? Several major writing organizations are now blackballing H for this decision.

Personally, I don't think it's fair at all to the wonderful authors published with H.

BUT, if it's listed in the organizations guidelines, then maybe H should have thought about that while making their decisions. Andif they are in the guidelines out there for all to read, then can Hreally be OMG, I'm soooo surprised to hear this....Ah, that would be abig resounding, NO.

And now, will this decision keep authors from submitting to H??? Only time will tell.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:24:00 -0500

Wishing all a great Thanksgiving:D

I've Finally done It :-)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:54:00 -0500

So, I've finally bought a netbook. Yep, I did it. I went to bestbuy yesterday and played with all the netbooks they had in the store, plus a few other things. Come on admit it, you can't just walk into a best buy and not play with the stuff, it's like a toy store for adults!! LOL.

Anyways, after I found the one I wanted I came home and with the help of my honey (Mr. Technology) I compared what I wanted to others I'd seen to make sure I was getting the best price.

So with that said...I've gone with the Dell mini 10V. Yep, I like the keyboard a whole lot better than the others out there, although the HP mini was a close comparable with the way the keys were, but I haven't read to many good reviews on the HP and I have two Dell's now.

Here's a picture of what my netbook looks like...

It was all about the way my fingers felt on the keys to me, that was the major deciding factor in the choosing. Then the other smaller stuff.

I also have some great news on my finished sequel to A Slave's Way Out...

I have signed a contract for A Lady's Challenge with WCPT!!!! I'm stoked!!!! I can't wait to start the edits and then I can start on one more story line for this adventure out in space. :-)

Tell me, what did you do this weekend? Anything interesting, fun, shopping, or did you have a quiet one at home just lounging?

Signed!!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:45:00 -0500

YAY, I signed the contract for A Lady's Challenge (sequel to Slave's) last night with WCPT!!!! I'm ECSTATIC!!!!

Sequel Finished!!

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:04:00 -0500

Finally!!!! The sequel to A Slave's Way Out is Finished!!

It's been what 2 years...finally, finally, done, done, done!! *See me doing the happy dance.*

I fiqured out why it took me so long. I actually had started the manuscript before Slave's was published and had it finished about six months after. But I didn't like it, so the self editing started and it came up short on word count and then life's little adventures kicked in and writer's block occured and well two years later, LOL.

This past week as I finished with over the word count, liked what I had written and hit that send button, it came to me...

1. That while there's still stress with the day job, in a way it's lessened.

2. If the men in the house don't like that I hit the keys hard (My computer's in the living room) and they have to listen to clack, click, clack...to bad, they can go into the other two rooms that have TV's until I get my netbook *Grins*

3. The stories are coming to me again!! YAY!!

So not only have I finished the Sequel to Slave's, I've started on another and last of that line, I've started plotting two sequel's to Destined to Mate.

Okay, so here's an inside scoop on the sequel which can stand as a story alone from Slave's and you won't miss nay of the action...

Daniel Hedden, First Commander of the War Ship Catalyst and Trea Padame, Second Security Officer to the War Ship Catalyst. This is their story.

Oh Ya and I've finally joined Twitter, LOL. http://twitter.com/AuthorCASalo

Submitted

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:15:00 -0500

The sequel to A Slave's Way Out has been submitted to Whiskey Creek Press Torrid!!

YAY!!!! It's been so long in coming, I'm psyched!!!! :D

I've joined Twitter

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:06:00 -0500

Okay, I've finally broken down and have joined the Twitter Movement, LOL

You can find me here: http://twitter.com/AuthorCASalo

Hope to tweet with you :D

A Little Bit of Everything

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:03:00 -0500

Wildflowerafternoons

Okay, so it's the day after Halloween. For the first time in thirteen years, I had a quiet, I don't have to go out, fight traffic, crowds and the fright of a little kid running out infront of my car night. Yes, the teenager went off to do his own thing, not trick or treating, all he wanted was the candy, admitted he's really not into it anymore, so I told him I'd buy a couple bags today to satisfy the candy hunger and he was happy with that, LOL. So now it's time to start having Halloween Parties. *YAY*

So not sure about the rest of you, but my butt was up at 7:23 AM (Damn turning back the clocks) :-) What did I do, well, I jumped right back into bed until 8AM, LOL.

I do feel fully refreshed and rested though.

Florida's starting to cool down a bit, *YAY* it's to be in the low 80's today with less humidity and in the upper 50's tonight!! I've waited so long!! (Hand brushing across forehead)

jorge1782

I'm also in the market for a mini netbook. I've played with a few here and there, messed around with a Acer and A dell mini inspiration last night at Wal-Mart and went to read several reviews. I really like the key board on the dell. The buttons are just a bit larger, and felt more comfortable.

It seems the Toshiba mini has had a lot of negative feed back about the keypad being really sensitive and the mouse jumping around. That is one thing I want to avoid big time. I can't stand that.

Anyone out there have a netbook they want to share the scoop on? I'll take the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

I need more coffee so I'm going to end here and say, Good Morning to Happy the Clock has been turned back day! You all got to sleep an extra hour and wake up earlier, LOL. :-)

Aldiko's Andriod Phone Partnered w/ARe

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:08:00 -0400

Thanks to: mitraselcom / photobucket

Has anyone heard of the android phone? ARe sent the following email to me last month and I was wondering if anyone had the pleasure or fright of using one.

We wanted to give you notice of a press release that was issued yesterday to the public. Feel free to let your readers know - this is one more way they will be able to purchase and enjoy your books. Smartphone sales are up with a very impressive show of growth for the Google-powered Android phone. Android owners (like iPhone/iPod Touch owners) will be able to download an app that will contain the All Romance catalog providing instant access to thousands of ePub titles.

Lori James

COO, All Romance eBooks, LLC

Download and Read Thousands of All Romance™ eBooks Right on Your Android™Smartphone with the Aldiko Application

All Romance eBooks (ARe) has partnered with Aldiko to make their eBook catalog available to Google's Android-powered mobile phones.

Palm Harbor, FL (

PRWEB) October 8, 2009 – Readers will now be able to browse, search and seamlessly download more than 10,000 http://www.allromanceebooks.com [eBooks], including free reads, to their Android phones directly from ARe without a computer, cable or subscription using the Aldiko application.

With the Aldiko app readers can easily browse ARe's extensive online book catalog, read detailed descriptions and book reviews, and quickly find the books they are looking for using a powerful search tool right on their Smartphone. They can organize their purchases by criteria such as title, author, or subject, edit detail information, tag, bookmark and search—all on a fully customizable display. New features include a full text search that allows readers to find words globally within the book, and a look up feature, which lets users search for a word in the dictionary, Wikipedia, or on Google.

"Readers love the convenience of being able to download ARe's eBooks anytime, anywhere," said Julie Cummings, ARe's manager of Publicity and Marketing. "Earlier this year we launched an iPhone compatible catalog and it's been hugely popular with our consumers who use ATT. We're really excited to now bring that same service to customers who use other cellular carriers," Cummings added.

"Our mission at Aldiko is to provide an open platform where users can discover, access, read and manage a wide variety of digital publications instantly and seamlessly" said Tiffany Wong, co-founder of Aldiko. "The partnership with ARe will help us offer the best and broadest selection of titles to our users."

Aldiko is available worldwide and is free on the Android Market as well as available as a paid premium app for Android open platform phones. To learn more visit Aldiko athttp://www.aldiko.com and Android at http://www.android.com.

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

Aldiko Limited was founded in 2009. The company has developed an ebook reader application, "Aldiko Book Reader" for use on Android-powered devices. . With Aldiko, users can build and organize their digital library, read on the go and wirelessly browse and download from a broad range of digital publications right on their Android-powered devices.

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So what do you think? Does anyone have any reviews out there of knowledge of this gadget?

Amazon VS. Wal-mart

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:41:00 -0400

Have you guys heard of the price wars Amazon and Wal-mart are engaging in over books? I've been following it briefly, but I have to say YAY for authors! With spending down abit because of the economy, retailers are fighting to keep their customers. So they're slashing prices or offering deals. Nothing like good healthy compatition to keep you going, LOL.

Here's an article I read at Publisher's Weekly

Retailer offering same-day delivery in seven major cities

By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 10/16/2009 7:55:00 AM

Amazon has fired the most recent shot in the pricing war with Wal-Mart that broke out Thursday, by introducing same-day delivery in seven major cities and expanding its Saturday delivery options. After Walmart.com cut the price of its top 10 pre-ordered titles to $10 (which includes free shipping) on Thursday, Amazon followed suit, and yesterday, both retailers dropped pricing on those 10 titles down to $9. Now, Amazon has announced it will begin offering same-day delivery in Baltimore, Boston, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington, D.C. (it already offers the service in New York).

Amazon’s same-day shipping charge is $14.99, plus $3.99 per book. The cut-off time for ordering with same-day delivery ranges from 10:00 a.m. local time in New York and Philadelphia, to 1:00 p.m. local time in Seattle. Girish Lakshman, v-p of transportation at Amazon, said “We want to make online shopping as convenient as possible.” In addition to the same-day delivery service, the retailer will now deliver items ordered before the cut-off time on Thursday using two-day shipping on Saturday (instead of Monday).

Among the $9 titles is Going Rogue by Sarah Palin, due out from HarperCollins November 17. Amazon and Wal-Mart offer the book for $9, while BN.com and Borders.com are selling it for $17.39. The book's list price is $28.99. Other $9 hardcovers include Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb (Putnam), The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper) and Ford County by John Grisham (Doubleday).

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6702373.html?nid=2286&rid=#CustomerId&source=link