Want to win a Kindle 2? Deanna Raybourn is giving one away to a lucky winner. Enter at http://www.deannaraybourn.com by May 31, 2009.
The Best Reviews is offering one lucky reader their choice of a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com or BN.com. Just visit http://www.thebestreviews.com/contest.php to enter the contest.
Win a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card from author, Sheryl Woods. Enter at her website http://www.sherrylwoods.com
Christina Dodd is giving away the four book set of her Darkness Chosen series. Just sign up at http://www.christinadodd.com for a chance to win!
To celebrate the upcoming release of LUCKY STREAK, the second in Carly Phillips‘ LUCKY series in stores May 26, Carly is offering a chance to win a gorgeous double pendant, clover stamped 18k gold-plated bronze disc with the word “lucky” on a matte sterling-silver charm behind it. 16″ chain; 1/2″ diameter pendant from www.redenvelope.com.To enter the contest, just CLICK HERE and then fill out the entry form.
Are zombies the new vampires? Seth Grahame-Smith’s hit novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombieshas landed him a six figure book deal from Grand Central Press. The first book slated for him to release via GCP is Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I think the Lincoln book sounds awesome since I’m not much of a Jane Austen fan.
The New York Times posted an article online today titled “Recessions Fuels Readers’ Escapist Urges”. I’m not sure I completely agree with the premise of this article. The romance genre has always enjoyed strong sales and I think that people are lessing willing to cut back their spending on books when it gives them a lot of enjoyment at a relatively small cost. I don’t think anyone is deliberately going out and buying romance novels to take themselves away from having to think about their dwindling 401ks. Here’s an excerpt of the article, you read the full text here.
In a recession, what people want is a happy ending.
At a time when booksellers are struggling to lure readers, sales of romance novels are outstripping most other categories of books and giving some buoyancy to an otherwise sluggish market.
Harlequin Enterprises, the queen of the romance world, reported that fourth-quarter earnings were up 32 percent over the same period a year earlier, and Donna Hayes, Harlequin’s chief executive, said that sales in the first quarter of this year remained very strong. While sales of adult fiction overall were basically flat last year, according to Nielsen Bookscan, which tracks about 70 percent of retail sales, the romance category was up 7 percent after holding fairly steady for the previous four years.
At Barnes & Noble, the country’s largest book chain, where its chief financial officer, Joe Lombardi, recently warned that overall 2009 sales were likely to fall between 4 percent and 6 percent, sales of romance novels are up. And in the first three months of this year Nielsen Bookscan tracked a 2.4 percent rise in romance sales compared with a slight decline in sales of general adult fiction for the same period. Those figures may underestimate the demand for romance, since a significant portion of sales come from retailers like Wal-Mart that are not tracked by Bookscan.
Like the Depression-era readers who fueled blockbuster sales of Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind,” today’s readers are looking for an escape from the grim realities of layoffs, foreclosures and shrinking 401(k) balances.
Three Brava authors HelenKay Dimon, Jill Shalvis and Alison Kent are doing a great giveaway: first prize is a Sony Reader, second prize is nine autographed books, and third prize is Amazon and iTunes gift cards. Click here to read the rules and enter.
Sign up for the Writerspace newsletter and get notice of a ton of giveaways each month. It’s also a great way to keep up with new releases of your favorite authors.
In the Not Quite Free But Pretty Dang Close category: Ereader.com is offering Larissa Ione’s Pleasure Unbound for only a dollar; and Orbit Books is offering Brian Ruckley’s Winterbirth for only a dollar.
Want to win a Kindle 2? Deanna Raybourn is giving one away to a lucky winner. Enter at 
Are zombies the new vampires? Seth Grahame-Smith’s hit novel 
The New York Times posted an article online today titled 