I was trolling through a database this morning looking for upcoming bestsellers for August and September, and stumbled across these three:
An Unexpected Song by Iris Johansen
The Last White Knight by Tami Hoag
Golden Threads by Kay Hooper
All are due out in early August 2006 and all are hardcovers retailing for $15.00
Wait a moment, my spidey sense is tingling.
Further investigation confirms what I already was beginning to suspect. Yep, these are all reprints of Bantam Loveswept categories (#438, #561 & #348 respectively).
I always like to detail to non-romance readers how many Big Name Authors got their start writing in category. While Harlequin's poster girl is La Nora (they got Tess Gerritsen too), I find Bantam's former stable slightly more impressive with not only Johansen, Hoag, and Hooper - but Sandra Brown as well. Someone over there had an eye for talent. Or at least an eye for authors who had the potential to Make It Big.
I'm of two minds on these hardcover reprints. Part of me sees them as a shameless money grab on the part of the publisher. A chance to dupe readers who enjoy their newer suspense work into buying a romance that probably has not stood the test of time.
On the other hand, the librarian in me revels in the fact that these long out of print books are now is a friendly library-lending format. Hey, I love paperbacks but in the library world they are a pain in the ass.
Which means, I'll buy multiple copies of these reprints. But I'm thinking I might warn the librarians about them in advance. Golden Rule #1 for readers? Check the copyright date.
3 comments:
I find Bantam's former stable slightly more impressive with not only Johansen, Hoag, and Hooper - but Sandra Brown as well.
And Suzanne Brockmann, too.
::mental head slap::
I knew I was forgetting someone obvious. Thanks Rosario!
It might be a shameless way to cash in on bestselling authors, but some readers also collect hardcovers FWIW =)
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