APRIL NEWS

AUTHOR GROUP EVENTS:

In April, a number of COFW authors, including Lori Foster, Marcia James, Rosemary Laurey/Madelaine Oh, Donna MacMeans, Erin McCarthy, Linnea Sinclair, and J.C. Wilder/Dominique Adair, attended the Romantic Times convention and signed at their 400+ author book fair. Most of the attending COFWers were on panels during the convention, and some co-hosted events. And Erin, along with author Kathy Love, sponsored the band, The Impalers, which played at several parties.

Hundreds of authors and readers, as well as editors and agents, have donated items to author Brenda Novak's annual online fundraising auction for diabetes research in May. Jules Bennett donated a “Pamper Me” gift basket. Lori Foster donated several autographed copies of her books and other gifts. Marcia James donated a tote bag filled with stuffed dogs, each wearing a piece of sterling silver jewelry. Donna MacMeans donated a critique of three chapters of a historical manuscript. Kay Stockham donated a goody bag and breakfast with her and a New York-based agent at the July RWA national conference in San Francisco. Patricia Sargeant donated an autographed copy of her book, On Fire, and a box of Godiva chocolate. For more information, check out www.brendanovak.com.

Several COFW authors will be attending the May 16-17 Northeast Ohio RWA chapter “Cleveland Rocks” conference, including Mary Campisi, Debby Conrad, Jaime Denton, Donna MacMeans, and Erin McCarthy.

AUTHOR NEWS:

Becky Barker's e-book, Cade's Challenge, will be released in trade paperback in May from Samhain Publishing.

Jules Bennett's romantic suspense, Naked Vengeance, debuted in e-book in April from Samhain Publishing. Naked Vengeance, which is written under her pen name, Sophia Rae, received a 4.5 rating in its first review. The reviewer praised the book, stating, “I highly recommend Naked Vengeance for all romantic suspense readers. You will not be disappointed in this book. I anxiously await Sophia Rae's next saga.” In addition, in April, Jules was interviewed by Long and Short Reviews and chatted about Naked Vengeance in the Samhain Café chatroom and the Romance Junkies chatroom.

Brit Blaise has an ad in both the May and June issues of Romantic Times BOOKreviews (RT). And her erotic paranormal romance, Slayers, Inc., received a 4-star review from RT, which stated, “Blaise will blow you away with her dynamic book.” The book also received a 4 1/2-star review from The Romance Studio and a 5-hearts review from Loves Romance.

Dianne Castell guest-blogged on the Running With Quills blog on March 28th.

Billie Warren Chai and the other authors (Michele Ann Young and Kimberly Ivey) in her Brides of the West anthology were interviewed for the Novel Sisterhood blog in April.

Historical romance author Janet Lynnford was interviewed for “Book Talk”, a column in the March 27th issue of onCampus, the newspaper distributed to 22,000 faculty and staff at The Ohio State University. The interview also appears on line at http://oncampus.osu.edu/article.php?id=2015.

Paige Cuccaro's Ellora's Cave novella, Amethyst Rain–written under her Alison Paige pen name–received two great reviews recently. Reader Views Reviews wrote, “Amethyst Rain is…highly erotic and made me very happy that amethysts are my birthstone.” Simply Romance Reviews gave it an “Outstanding Read!, Grade A” rating, stating, “WOOHOO boy is all I can say. This was a great book. The writing was vivid–you could almost feel Katie's sexual frustration (and ultimate satisfaction) leap off the page. The encounters between Mark and Katie are explosive and when Jarrod enters the mix–oh wow!” And her Alison Paige Harlequin Spice Brief, Dark Moon Gathering, got a four-coffee-cups' review from Coffee Time Romance Reviews. The review's praise included, “This may be a short story, but it's definitely big on hot and sexy....The storyline is fun, the sex very steamy, and the reader extremely satisfied.”

Nell DuVall announced that Thorndike Press will issue a large-print edition of her novel, Train to Yesterday, in mid-September as part of their “Clean Reads” line.

Lori Foster did an interview for a Pittsburgh magazine, Lux, which was posted on its blog (luxmagz.com/lux_blog) as part of a countdown to the April Romantic Times convention. While at the RT convention, Lori did interviews with RomanceNovel TV, with Michelle Buonfiglio for Lifetime.com, and with a Rutgers University PhD student in Sociology for her doctoral dissertation on the current state of the romance novel industry. Lori also did a special reader event for Lifetime.com and attended “A Little Night of Romance,” an event organized outside of the RT convention hotel by the Mystery Lovers Bookshop. And in late March, her book Fallen Angels received air time on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, when the host read part of it aloud. Then a Cincinnati radio station (Janeen “Queen Janeen” Coyle from WGRR–103.5) called her about The Ellen DeGeneres Show and did an informal 4 to 5-minute live interview with Lori. “Queen Janeen” also invited Lori to be her featured guest at her monthly book club in late April. And Lori did an interview for the Hamilton Journal to promote her keynote for the Mad Anthony Convention held at a local college. She also was the keynote speaker at the recent Dallas RWA chapter conference and will keynote and present workshops at May's Wisconsin RWA chapter conference.

Marcia James co-presented a PR workshop and participated in a multi-author booksigning in late April at the Chicago-North RWA's Spring Fling conference. And she was interviewed for a member profile in the Ohio Valley RWA chapter's newsletter.

Laurie Kingery's Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical, Hill Country Christmas, will be out in October.

Toni Leland wrote an article, “Balancing the Bugs”, which was featured in the May/June issue of GRIT Magazine.

Donna MacMean is speaking at Cincinnati's Greenhills Public Library on May 19th. She graduated from Greenhills High School, which no longer exists. The library's publicity poster states “Donna MacMeans (known as Donna Lutz when she lived here) is coming to speak.” And her book, The Education of Mrs. Brimley, received the top rating from the legitimate but unfortunately named Smut & Stuff review site.

Janie Mason sold a second sexy contemporary novella, “Model Behavior”, to Samhain Publishing. Her Web site (http://www.janiemason.com/) recently launched, and as a tie-in to her contemporary romance brand and tag line (“Writing Today's Happily Ever Afters.”), she's featuring photos of authors and their spouses on her site's Happily Ever After page.

Erin McCarthy's May release, Fallen, was reviewed by RT, which stated, “This is a well-written novel with an intriguing concept…”

In April, Jenna Petersen presented the class, “Write Like You Mean It”, for the RWCList email loop hosted by Charlotte Dillon, and she signed copies of her books at the Chicago-North RWA chapter's Spring Fling conference. Her April historical romance, Something Reckless (Avon Red), written under her Jess Michaels' pen name, received a 4-star review from Romantic Times BOOKreviews, which included: “Good character development makes this a seductive and satisfying story.” Her November 2007 Jess Michaels' release, Everything Forbidden, tied for first place in the Erotic/Steamy category of the RWA From the Heart Romance Writers chapter's Lories Published Contest. And from April 10th through mid-May, Jenna (as Jess Michaels) will be the first featured romance author on fictionreaders.gather.com.

Anne Rainey's contemporary erotic romance, Touching Lace, hit Samhain Publishing's top ten bestseller list within a day of its release. Touching Lace received a 4 ½-heart review from The Romance Studio, and the reviewer wrote, “This book is a great example of friends turning into lovers scenario. I can't wait to read more about the Vaughn family.” Touching Lace also survived a review by the infamously snarky Mrs. Giggles, who pronounced the book “pleasantly readable”. Anne's e-book, Forbidden Fruit, was featured in a Red Sage ad in the May issue of the RWA Romance Writers Report. In addition, she was interviewed for the April issue of the eRed Sage Publishing newsletter and the April issue of the Just Erotic Romance Reviews' e-newsletter, as well as by the Fierce Romance author group blog. And Anne participated in a Red Sage Publishing chat on Writerspace.

Patricia Sargeant was interviewed in April for Kay Stockham's blog. And from April 30th to May 4th, she participated in the Romance Slam Jam in Rosemont, IL.

Linnea Sinclair's Games Of Command is a RITA Award finalist for Best Pararnomal and also won the PEARL Award for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy. Linnea's novel, The Down Home Zombie Blues, took Honorable Mention in the PEARL Awards for Best Futuristic Romance and was a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award nominee for Best Futuristic/Fantasy Romance. Speaking of RT, Linnea did more than attend the RT convention, she taught at the pre-con, hosted the Intergalactic Bar & Grille Party, captained the SF/F panel, and presented a specialty workshop titled, “Pissing Off Editors.”

Kay Stockham's Another Man's Baby received a glowing review from Fresh Fiction, which stated, “Setting the stage for a new series on the Tulanes of Tennessee, Kay Stockham has spun a terrific lead in story with an intriguing double love triangle that is captivating, yet realistic.” In late April, Kay signed copies of her latest book at the Chicago-North RWA chapter's Spring Fling conference. In addition, she signed at the Ohio Valley RWA chapter's April 12th and May 10th meetings.

Sandy Wickersham-McWhorter was the guest on the Wild Rose Press readers' email loop the week of April 14th.

Gwen Williams sold her Young Adult novel, House of Wacks, to Wild Rose Press for their Climbing Rose line. The book will be released under the pen name Denise Gwen.

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A QUICK GUIDE to Book Promotional Opportunities for Authors at COFW
By Jacki Bentley

1) To be included on the monthly new releases column in COFW newsletter, Write from the Heart, (all our member books: print book, e-book or small press books)  -- A call for book details will come from the COFW-PAN liaison once a month, the 10th,  on the COFW-PAN loop.  Deadline is the 20th of each month. This information will then be shared with the web-mistress and also read at the monthly meeting.

2) Upcoming Releases Book News PDF  --  Print books information for our book buyers and booksellers at our Yahoo loop 3-4 months out.  We invite book buyers and sellers to subscribe to the e-newsletter at: COFWbooknews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com   The only loop mail is the PDF.   The call for Upcoming Releases will come on the COFW-PAN loop the first of every other month.  Deadline by the fifteenth. 

3) Every six months, promo printed postcards of our member's newest releases. Contact Patricia Sargeant-Matthews  for details at sargtaz@yahoo.com. A call will come from Patricia on the COFW-PAN loop.

4)  Our Fall Readers and Writers conference book signing.   Contact Toni Leland at   tonileland@romancingthehorse.com

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