October 5, 2012

What’s new! 42

by Beverley Kendall • eBooks, eSteals, self-publishing • Tags: ,

Okay, just a couple of changes I’ve made with the blog and giveaways. The last 7 giveaway and winner posts are featured scrolling at the bottom of the blog. So if you’re just looking to eyeball just the giveaway or winner posts, it’s a fairly easy and visible way to do it.

Second, I just made my life tons easier when it comes to giveaways by creating “stash pages”. The pages are separated by genres. The first page is historical, the second is mysteries, the third is paranormal and the last page is a combination of contemporary romances, romantic suspense and mainstream novels. Going forward, the majority of books I give away will be coming from “the stash”.

Actually today, I’m going to be giving away 2 books from “the stash” so check out the pages and see if any of the books pique your interest.  Just comment on this post to enter to win. 

If anyone is interested, I’m currently running a 3 book give away on The Season Blog Facebook Page. Winner will be announced Saturday.

In other news. I received this announcement from Penguin Group yesterday:

BERKLEY BOOKS AND PENGUIN YOUNG READERS GROUP TEAM UP

TO PUBLISH BESTSELLING SELF-PUBLISHED NOVEL

Tammara Webber’s Easy Generating Major Online Buzz

for Hot New Genre Dubbed “New Adult”

 

Novel Appeals to Adult and Teen Readers and has Landed on

New York Times and USA Today Bestseller Lists

New York, NY, October 4, 2012—Berkley Books and Penguin Young Readers Group, two divisions of Penguin Group (USA), have teamed up to acquire Tammara Webber’s bestselling self-published novel Easy.  The unique partnership between the two divisions is a nod to the wide range of readers—romance and YA fans alike—who have embraced Easy since the release of the self-published edition.  Penguin Group will take over the e-book rights next week on October 9th, with aBerkley trade paperback edition hitting stores on November 6th.

Don Weisberg, President of Penguin Young Readers Group, acquired North American rights to Easy and a second novel by Webber in a two book deal with Jane Dystel of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.  Foreign rights for Easy have also been sold in theUK,Germany,Italy,Spain,France,Hungary,Israel, andBrazil.

Weisberg commented, “The moment we read Easy, we knew we wanted to publish it. We are big fans of Tammara Webber’s books and we are thrilled to offer her a home at Penguin.”

Easy follows two characters on the cusp of adulthood and reflects a growing trend in publishing that media outlets and readers have dubbed “new adult.”  In new adult novels, the characters are often in their late teens or college age and are facing the coming-of-age issues that accompany the move from teen to adult life.

In Easy, 19-year-old Jacqueline grapples with both the aftermath of a sexual assault and the excitement of a new love interest.  Similar to such bestselling novels as Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire and Colleen Hoover’s Slammed, Easy features an intriguing love story and deals with themes that resonate with both older teens and adults.

“We’ve had great success this year in identifying, acquiring, and re-releasing several self-published novels,” Leslie Gelbman, President and Publisher of Berkley Books, said.  “Everyone at Berkleyhas fallen in love with Easy, and we’re excited to expand on Tammara Webber’s impressive work, introducing the novel to new readers and making the book available through even more retailers.”

Since its release in May, the self-published edition of Easy has spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, landed on the USA Today bestseller list, and sold more than 150,000 e-book copies.

“I’m so excited to team with Berkley Books and Penguin Young Readers to republish Easy, providing it with a wider distribution to a more diverse audience than I could have accomplished through self-publishing channels alone,” Webber said.

As some of you may know, I absolutely LOVED this book and had mixed emotions learning that Tammara decided to sell the print and digital rights to Penguin Group. I’m happy that the book is doing so well and so many other readers will get an opportunity to read it because as we all know, Penguin will give it more exposure both in digital and big time in print. I’m sure the deal was an extraordinary good one and in Tammara’s best interest in the long run.

The other part of me wanted EASY to remain self-published because then it would have made it much cheaper to purchase for everyone who was going to stumble upon it in the future. As it is, the book will more than likely take a $6.00 jump and I know for myself, there are VERY few books I’m willing to purchase at $7.99 much less $9.99. That’s what I do love about really great self-published books, readers can usually get them at a very good price and it’s a huge reason readers are so willing to try them, which is of course a big reason they do so well. Let’s face it you can’t beat a great story at a great price. I’m sure there are a number of books I’ll never read simply because I won’t pay that much for the book.

Anyway, I’m ecstatic that I was able to read and enjoy EASY before the big price jump, which will go into effect Oct 9th.