NEW BOOKS:

JANE PORTER released She’s Gone Country earlier this month. I got to read this book months ago and loved it. AUTHOR WEBSITE BONUS: Check out the Readers’ Guide for the book — a great tool for book clubs! Even better: be a cover girl yourself! (Seriously, check this thing out. It’s easier than it looks, super fun, and a cool prize. How do I know it’s easy? Er, that’s me in the example photo.)

SUSAN ANDERSEN released Burning Up today. AUTHOR WEBSITE BONUS: Catch the story behind the story in Susan’s Between the Covers feature. If you enjoy finding out where ideas originate, this is a great, quick read.

MONICA MCCARTY released The Hawk, book two in the Highland Guard series, also today. AUTHOR WEBSITE BONUS: Loads more fantastic info in Monica’s Special Features section for the Highland Guard series. You haven’t checked this out yet? Wow. Are you in for a treat!

NEW-AGAIN BOOKS:

SUSAN ANDERSEN’s Obsessed was re-issued for the second time on August 1. It was originally published in 1993, and was re-issued for the first time in 2001.

LORI FOSTER’s The Watson Brothers got a second life when it was re-released on August 3. Originally published in September 2008, it contains the stories of Sam, Gil, and Pete Watson. My House, My Rules, Bringing Up Baby, and Good With His Hands.

HOPE TARR’s A Rogue’s Pleasure, originally published in 2000, was re-issued as an e-book on August 16.

NEW EXCERPTS:

DIANE GASTON posted an excerpt from Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Mistress, Book Two in Diane’s Three Soldiers Series, due out in September.

MAYA BANKS posted an excerpt from The Darkest Hour, due out in early September. It is the first book in her Kelly series. She also posted a new sneak peek for Four Play, due out in October.

GERRI RUSSELL posted a sneak peek excerpt from her novella The Border Lord’s Bride, which will be published in the anthology The Betrothal, headlined by powerhouse Mary Balogh, due out in late September.

JENNIE LUCAS posted an excerpt from The Virgin’s Choice, due out in the UK in October. It will be released in North America under the title The Bride Thief in January 2011.

STEPHANIE TYLER posted an excerpt from Lie With Me, the first book in her new Shadow Force series. It is due out in late October. She also posted a new sneak peek for Promises in the Dark, book two in the Shadow Force series and is due out in late November.

LAURA LEE GUHRKE posted a sneak peek from Wedding of the Season, due out in late December. It is the first book in her new series, Abandoned at the Altar.

More coming next month!

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Jodi Picoult

The past week sparked controversy as Jonathan Franzen’s latest book approaches release and the critics work themselves into a frenzy over it. Why do the “white male literary darlings,” as New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult puts it, get so much praise while writers of commercial fiction are largely ignored? Picoult and Jennifer Weiner, also a #1 New York Times bestselling author of women’s fiction have been tweeting (check out their twitters here and here) and commenting to the press that critics’ acknowledgment is completely uneven. Today, they were interviewed by Jason Pinter on The Huffington Post. Weiner notes:

If you write romance, forget about it. You’ll be lucky if they spell your name right on the bestseller list.

Jennifer Weiner

It’s a very good read. Both women’s comments are intelligent and witty and not at all whiny, as it is so easy to be when getting into this subject.

For related reading, please check out my blog post from last summer, when Eloisa James and Julia Quinn were extensively featured in USA Today. Such focus, though richly deserved, is still very rarely given.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Yesterday, when I wrote most of this post, there were stunningly beautiful creations in progress on the monitors across the room. The designs had been unfolding, layer by layer. These things take time, and experimentation, and a lack of interruption. Estella worked for about a half hour trying to create an impression of light without actually going for a literal shaft of light. It had been coming from different directions, and at different intensities, and by different techniques. She finally found one that sat well with her and quietly moved on. It’s so sublime, and it looks effortless, but I know she churned the brain cells on it.

While this was going on Misono created a curve, then adjusted it, then tilted her head to the side and moved it. She straightened her head and moved it again. Then moved it back. Then she did did nothing for a whole minute, fingers poised on her trackball. Then she started creating again, adding dimension, and now she is blurring only parts of the edge. It’s — oh, there’s that word again: sublime.

I love that word. And it’s so hard to achieve. Beautiful things being created here this week.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Back in February of 2010, one of the CEOs quit, and it was seen as a really bad sign. Back in the heyday of MySpace, bands flocked to MySpace music in an effort to connect with their fans in a medium their fans were already using. Today, I know many people who only go on MySpace to find new music and tour dates from their favorite artists. The powers that be over at MySpace have been saying that they’re going to refocus according to that trend. They recently acquired iLike, a music service, and revamped their music section. However, they have been talking about moving away from social networking and focusing on entertainment for years without much follow-through, so time will tell. It’s also important to keep in mind that there are plenty of other places to get your music and if someone goes to MySpace for a music page, there’s nothing making them browse around the rest of the site.

In July 2010, MySpace started to beta test a cleaner (and more Facebook-like) profile template and bought out another social networking service: Threadbox. This seems to indicate that, no matter their claims to focus in music, they’re still trying to resuscitate a dying form of social media. They’re trying, but nobody’s optimistic and, more importantly, nobody is excited, which is what MySpace needs to get any popularity back.

Of course, who knows what might catch on, but it’s pretty well accepted at this point that unless you’re an indie band, a MySpace logo on your website looks antiquated and maybe even a little weird.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Pamela Palmer signing the back of a fan's Nook at the RWA big benefit booksigning in Orlando, July 2010. (Photo: me)

“Sign my Nook, please.”

Fans didn’t just buy books to support literacy programs, I saw a quite a few people handing over their Nooks for authors to sign. The backs are easily removed, and replacements come in different colors. One reader said her plan was to hang signature-filled Nook-backs in rows on her wall.

I love it!

And what’s on my eReader? I have a Kindle app for my iPhone, and I am slowly reading Edward Rutherfurd’s massive tome, New York whenever I find myself with a few minutes without a book in hand (I still love paper!). But Max has a Nook, and I just transferred my HarperCollins eARC of Kathryn Caskie’s The Duke’s Night of Sin to hers and plan to ensconce myself with it tomorrow afternoon. I am calling it “working” (I have the BEST job).

And in case you missed the previous post, Awesome Things, Part One lauded the incredible accomplishment of Julia Quinn hitting the RWA Hall of Fame. Let’s all take another moment to say “yea!”

photo courtesy of Barnes&Noble.com

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Best Snark: This year RWA was meant to be in Nashville, but due to flooding it was moved to Orlando, as in Disney World. And as if that Mouse and all his Princesses were not enough, Orlando claims Universal Studios, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Sea World, and more. From the conference hotel you could get to Epcot by pink-and-white striped water taxi and there were fireworks every night. Pretty much every person I talked either arrived a few days early, kids in tow, or admitted necessarily and abashedly (as I did): “My kids have no idea where I am.”

Best Fan Behavior: This was Kindle- and Nook-related. And awesome. And not yet downloaded off of my camera. Stay tuned.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

NEW BOOKS:

ELOISA JAMES released A Kiss at Midnight today, July 27. This is the first time in recent memory I have not gotten to read Eloisa’s book early, but I see Eloisa herself today so I plan to be ensconced with this Cinderella tale by dinner. AUTHOR WEBSITE BONUS: Right now, for about another week, Eloisa has a reader contest through which two lucky people are going to win B+N Nooks. What are you waiting for?

On July 1 HOPE TARR released The Tutor, a yummy historical featuring a returning character from Hope’s 2008 book, Untamed. AUTHOR WEBSITE BONUS: For pretty much the first time, animal activist Hope does not cast a rescue kitty in her book. Find out what rescue animal stars in this Tarr tale. And not quite on her own site, but this is special: Hope was mentioned earlier this month in The New York Times (scroll towards bottom of article).

On July 6 KARMA WILSON released The Cow Loves Cookies, a very-young-children’s book about a cow that can’t get enough of cookies! AUTHOR WEBSITE BONUS: Full spreads of a few of the inside pages… adorable!

RED GARNIER released The Secretary’s Bossman Bargain on July 13. AUTHOR WEBSITE BONUS: Free, gorgeous bookmark! (Link will take you to download option or for the actual piece, an address for an SASE).

ELIZABETH BOYLE contributed to The Mammoth Book of Regency Romance which released in the US today, July 27 (Available since June 24 in the United Kingdom). AUTHOR WEBSITE BONUS: Elizabeth’s first comic book / manga versions of her romances have started to arrive. Get the scoop. (And as an extra, scroll down to get the scoop on the sneak peek of her next novel!)

NEW-AGAIN BOOKS:

HOPE TARR’s My Lord Jack, originally published in 2002, was reissued as an e-book on July 12.

MAYA BANKS released Wild, a print anthology featuring two of her eBooks, Amber Eyes and Golden Eyes, on July 6.

NEW EXCERPTS:

HOPE  TARR posted an excerpt from A Rogue’s Pleasure, which was originally published in 2000 but is getting a second life as an e-book in mid-August.

MONICA McCARTY posted an excerpt from The Hawk, also due out in mid-August.

SUSAN ANDERSON posted an excerpt from Burning Up, due out in September.

MAYA BANKS posted a sneak peek excerpt from The Darkest Hour, due out on September 7.

DIANE GASTON posted a sneak peek excerpt from Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Mistress, due out in September.

ELIZABETH BOYLE posted a sneak peek excerpt from Mad About the Duke, due out in late September.

MICHAEL SPRADLIN posted a sneak peek excerpt from The Youngest Templar: Orphan of Destiny, due out in late October.

SUSANNA CARR posted a sneak peek excerpt from Wicked Wonderland, due out in November.

KATHRYN CASKIE posted a sneak peek from The Duke’s Night of Sin, due out in late November.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

As an author, when you ask a reader to select your book to spend many precious hours with, you are commanding a high price point. Your book may be only $6, or a $10 ebook, or it might even sell for $16 or more, but hours of someone’s time is far more valuable. Obviously if your book fails to enchant the reader they may feel cheated. But what else might be jarring about the experience of reading your book? What else might leave the reader thinking: “Really?”

How about an ugly bookmark? One that clearly says, “I spent as little as possible on this.” That bookmark might actually be a liability, leaving your customer with the feeling that you didn’t think that they were worth anything more than your cheapest effort.

Analogy:

When I bought my house last year I spent a few stressful hours in a title company conference room signing a massive stack of paperwork. For the privilege of doing so, plus the title company’s legwork to ensure that the title to the house was clear (very important), the title company charged a significant 4-digit figure, their regular price point.

At the end of the session I was handed a vinyl envelope as a “gift” — swag, as it were. A takeaway. The envelope was emblazoned with the company’s logo and is the right size to house some paperwork. In it was a heavy, substantial feeling key chain — appropriate for a title company, yes? I instantly saw it as my spare key set chain. Back in the car with the vinyl on my lap I held the key chain in my hand, rolled its weight from one hand to the other as I nervously contemplated the huge purchase I had just made. I then reached into the vinyl envelope and pulled out a couple of unimpressive one-color notepads and an incredibly cheap pen — one of those pens, the ones you never choose.

I sat there holding the pen thinking, “Really?” I expect a cheap pen when I walk out of a Home Depot, or the cash-strapped library. But at the title company’s price point (especially for as little work as I felt that they did), the pen felt wrong. The effort of the key chain was overshadowed by the obvious cheapness of the pens — the company would have been better off leaving the pen out of the mix entirely. And as a brand player, I now associated “cheap” with the that company.

One supposes if I had pulled out the pens before the key chain perhaps the key chain would have made up for the pens, but do you really want to have to make up for anything?

Segue to:

When we recently printed some bookmarks for a client (they are so pretty!) the printer accidentally grabbed the wrong paper and printed the whole stack of them on something far thinner than I had specified. The bookmarks looked beautiful, the color was so vibrant, the cover beautifully displayed, but the piece felt cheap.

They were reprinted.

Go for nice design and substantial paper for your bookmarks and business cards. It matters.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Look at a bunch of websites… look closely at the space to the sides of the images. Does the content goes too close to a cover graphic? Look at the space between the letters in the main titling. It should read beautifully.

In the site I have up on my screen (and no, I won’t link — I am not into bashing, but this is pretty ubiquitous around the web — I have recreated an example here) the I and the Z of “Elizabeth” are smushed too close together. I am willing to bet that this was not a conscious decision on the part of the designer, it’s just that her name was merely typed out (and yes, colorized with a drop shadow applied). This is not design. This is typing out a name and sifting through various options to make it pretty.

In the top example here, we simply typed out ELIZABETH and OLIVIA in a super fancy font, Aquiline. This is an exaggerated example as this font’s autokerning is way off, but it illustrates the issue well. The top version is merely typed out. The bottom version allocated a bit of designer time to eyeball the space between the letters and make adjustments. And also to drop the baseline of the initial cap on Elizabeth. Doesn’t the O in OLIVIA want to come down, too? These details are all in the name of seamless design.

On the complete other side of the spectrum, with Garamond (the Roman example), a near perfect font out of the box, simply typed out is still not smooth and even (though pretty close!). We adjusted the space between the Z and the A to tighten it, and the O and the L — due to the shape of the letters those spacings need attention. And then, to illustrate where we would take it a step further, we left the gap between the A and the B alone so you can see how that feels bigger now with the Z and the A tightened — we would tighten that, too.

The point is that a good designer will notice and kern text. You might not see the gaps if you are DIY. Or if you are hiring on the cheap, the cheap designer might not have the experience to see it, or she might not have the time in her budget for additional typographical attention, even though it just doesn’t take much extra time. It’s just something to think about, because it’s a little jarring. Even if the rest of the site is okay, it’s important to note that good design is never jarring. Because while the little detail might not be noticed, per se, the feeling of not moving smoothly over the site is, and this feeling is cumulative. Those minor, seemingly jarring experiences add up. You might not be able as a viewer to put your finger on it while you are viewing a site, but it just feels unprofessional.

And that is definitely not the feeling you want to project.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

If you are visiting this site for the first time, you might be impressed, even seduced, by the animation, or how it fills the browser window like a big, beautiful postcard.  But over subsequent visits, seeking information about the next book or an author event can become annoying in a “flash.”

As attractive as these Flash-based, high-concept websites might seem at first, we regularly counsel our clients against them. Consider that you’re trying to establish an enduring relationship with your readers, and your homepage needs to function as both a first introduction and an on-going and compelling welcome.

Here’s the problem: If your visitors become bored with the homepage that doesn’t change, or if they become irritated with a gateway/splash page that needs to be skipped over every time, what will bring them back? If confronted with a home page devoid of news and book info, what propels visitors onward?

Another factor to consider is that Flash is not good for search engine optimization, nor is it supported by sexy and fun mobile devices like the iPad. Limiting searchability and accessibility in favor of flourishes here will not support your ROI.

Bottom line, your website is a communication tool, not solely a high-concept art piece. Certainly, your web presence should convey a pleasing aesthetic, but rather than sacrifice your business goals in favor of stylish bells and whistles, we strive to build sites that offer substance with style and function beautifully formed.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.