Golden Palm Finalists Announced

 
The Florida Romance Writers have announced 
the 2011 Golden Palm Finalists
The final winners will be notified in January.

Historical Category
The Winds of Fate – Elizabeth Bysiek
Heart of the Phoenix – Barbara Huddleston
The Courtesan Duchess – Joanna Shupe

Mainstream with Romantic Elements Category
Forever – Alicia Leinhart
Walking Backward Off a Cliff – Linda Avellar
Seperated, Acting Badly – Barbara Flores

Paranormal/Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Time Travel Category
Dream of My Soul – Debra Rodensky
Medusa, a Love Story – Sasha Summers
Dancing with the Devil – Jean B. Newlin

Short/Long Contemporary Category
A Night at the Rosemont – Mary Oldham
Uncover Father – June Love
Home at Last – Janet Jones Bann

Single Title Category
Missing You – Tracy Roper w/a Brogan
Bid on Me – Micha Summers
Small Town Storm – Elise K Ackers

Romance Rolicks Through Recession

Romance is flourishing despite the recession, according to top-list editors who attended this month’s New Jersey Romance Writers PYHIAB conference.

Editors panel at the 2011 New Jersey RWA PYHIAB Conference

“Even in the recession, our romance genre is thriving,” said Latoya Smith, assistant editor at Grand Central Publishing. “We were doing two- to-three titles a month, but now we’re up to four titles a month. We’re always looking for new romance authors.”

Grand Central Publishing authors include Elizabeth Hoyt, Margaret Mallory and Amanda Scott.

Margaret Marbury, editorial director at Harlequin, says the rise of digital books has helped romance thrive. According to Marbury, who oversees MIRA Books, HQN, LUNA, Spice and Harlequin Teen, business is up, especially when you combine the print and digital sides of the business.

“We’ve always had strong distribution where women shop, so those are areas where we’re pushing really hard to maintain that space,” Marbury said. “And the backlist has been the real winner in terms of digital. It’s been a real boon to have access to those backlist titles.”

According to the Book Industry Study Group,  today’s ebook power buyer is a 44-year-old lover of romance who buys at least one ebook a week and spends more on books today than she has in the past.

“Romance books translate to ebooks faster than any other genre,” said Aubrey Poole, assistant editor at Sourcebooks, which publishes authors such as Grace Burrowes and Shana Galen. “People who read ebooks actually read more books.”

Poole adds that the easy access of ebooks, via online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, is a key reason people are buying more books.

Books-A-Million to Open 41 New Stores

Despite the demise of Borders, the news is not all bad for brick-and-mortar bookstores. Books-A-Million plans to open 41 new stores, and one of them is near me!

I’m waiting to see if BAM is taking over the space where my old Borders used to be. Every time we drive by there, my kids wonder when they are going to change the name, “Borders Plaza.” Maybe it’s going to be Books-A-Million Plaza? 

According to Publishers Weekly, beginning October 28 and continuing through mid-November, BAM plans to open 41 new stores.

BAM has been acquiring some of the old Borders spaces . Publishers Weekly reports some of those lease were acquired through auction process while the majority involved signed deals with a landlord.

Here’s a list of where the new stores will be, according to PW:

Ames, IA
Auburn, ME
Bangor, ME
Barboursville, WV
Butler, PA
Charleston, WV
Columbia, MD
Concord, NH
Cumberland, MD
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Davenport, IA
Dubuque, IA
Dulles, VA
Eau Claire, WI
Edwardsville, IL
Exton, PA
Hanover, PA
Harrisburg, PA
Merrillville, IN
Monaca, PA
Monroe, MI
N. Canton, OH
N. Conway, NH
Niles, OH
Pennsdale, PA
Rapid City, SD
Salina, KS
Sandusky, OH
Scranton, PA
Selinsgrove, PA
South Portland, ME
Southern Pines, NC
St. Clairsville, OH
Traverse City, MI
Valley Stream, NY
Vineland, NJ
Waldorf, MD
Waterford, CT
West Lebanon, NH
Westminster, MD
York, PA