Harlequin Catches Royal Wedding Fever

When news of Prince William proposing to longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton broke here in the States, I told myself I was not going to get sucked into royal wedding goo-ga.

Yeah, wanna guess how well that is working out?  And other than the excuse for women to wear a pretty dress, I'm really not a "wedding person" by any stretch of the imagination (I say save the money for a down payment on a house and elope to Vegas.  Why yes, I love romance novels, why do you ask?).

To help feed into the royal wedding frenzy, those clever folks at Harlequin have announced a series of digital short stories called, what else?, Royal Weddings.  If you're a fan of the Harlequin Historical Undone line, these sound like they might be right up your alley.

Lionheart's Bride by Michelle Willingham

Description:

King Richard and Princess Berengaria, 1191
Princess Berengaria's lady-in-waiting, Adriana, takes her duty to the future Queen of England seriously—she will defend her to the death! When their sea voyage to the Holy Land ends up in shipwreck and capture Adriana knows her only hope lies with the mysterious Irishman, Liam MacEgan.

Liam escapes to reach Richard the Lionheart and together they plan a rescue mission. Nothing will stop these warriors from succeeding—their future brides are captive on Cyprus and they'll raise hell to claim them!

Prince Charming in Disguise by Bronwyn Scott

Description:

Prince George and Caroline of Ansbach, 1704
He might be the future King of England, but Prince George seeks a marriage that's more than a mere political alliance. Masquerading as a lowly nobleman, George heads to the court of Ansbach to woo the renowned beauty, Caroline!

Caroline has no knowledge that he's the most sought-after bachelor in Europe. But however much she's charmed by the mysterious gentleman, her duty is to accept a blue-blooded proposal... Still, she cannot deny she's wickedly tempted by his red-hot proposition!

A Princely Dilemma by Elizabeth Rolls

Description:

George, Prince of Wales (future Prince Regent/George IV) and Princess Caroline of Brunswick, 1795
 
George, Prince of Wales, with his mistress in tow, only lays eyes on Princess Caroline of Brunswick three days before their wedding, and his resentment is palpable. Christopher, Duke of Severn, knows all about arranged marriages—his new wife's fortune is the reason plain Linnet is wearing his ring!

Severn and Linnet must persuade the spoilt princeling and his soon-to-be bride that a paper marriage can become something more. But in trying to convince the royal couple, a tantalizing spark ignites between the duke and his convenient duchess...

Princess Charlotte's Choice by Ann Lethbridge

Description:

Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold, 1816

As Princess Charlotte prepares to marry Prince Leopold, her most trusted lady, Isabelle Fenwick, must remain chaste and beyond scandal. Yet she has never forgotten darkly handsome Count Nikkolae Grazinsky and the kiss he stole...

She later discovered the Russian had only used her for a wager, so why does he still seek her company? And why does the air tingle with anticipation when they are together? Surely this rake cannot be thinking of following Prince Leopold's example and making a love-match?

The Problem with Josephine by Lucy Ashford

Description:

Napoleon and Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, 1810

It's springtime in Paris and Emperor Napoleon is about to marry Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria. All around the city Napoleon's courtiers are preparing for the spectacularly lavish wedding. Everything must be just right...

Ordered to remove all portraits of Josephine, the Emperor's first wife, seamstress Sophie has to track down a talented artist called Jacques. He promises to carry out the commission, but only in return for a kiss for every hour he works...

What the Duchess Wants by Terri Brisbin

Description:

Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine and Henry of Anjou (future Henry II), 1152

 As one of Europe's most powerful women, Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, has a chance most can only dream of—to choose her own husband! One glance at the young, forceful Henry of Anjou and her choice is made.

Able to match her wit for wit, Henry's a true warrior and not afraid to disobey a royal command... But his love of life—and the bedroom—promises Eleanor a brand-new world of excitement!

With Victoria's Blessing by Mary Nichols

Description:

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, 1840
 
Preparations for the young Queen Victoria's wedding have thrown all of London into a frenzy—but for Lady Emily Sumner, her own marital dilemmas eclipse all the excitement!

Forbidden to marry her beloved Lieutenant Richard Lawrence by her strict, status-conscious mama, Emily's chance at wedded bliss seems out of reach... But as Maid of Honour to the Queen, Emily discovers she has a secret weapon—royal approval! And with Queen Victoria's blessing, surely Emily's happy ending can't be too far behind...?

All titles are now on sale at a variety of e-retailers for under $2 a pop. 

Bon Voyage Silhouette!

News broke on Twitter a week or so ago that Harlequin is going through another round of re-branding mojo. This go around? They're dumping the Silhouette name and will "rebrand" those lines as Harlequin. So instead of Silhouette Desire, you'll now have Harlequin Desire. This bit of memo leakage came from a reliable source, but I had been waiting to see it posted somewhere else online before discussing my opinion on the matter and now? Yeah, here it is. Along with the memo that went out to Harlequin authors.

What does this mean? Honestly? Not a whole helluva lot. It's simply a matter of time marching on.

For those of you who aren't up on your category romance history, let me give you a (very) quick and dirty lesson. Back in the olden days, Harlequin published one American writer (Janet Dailey). However, the American market place was a big buyer for category romance, and in response to that demand, Simon & Schuster launched Silhouette (founding editor was the late Kate Duffy) - which gave us American authors writing in American settings. Yes, this would be why Nora Roberts was originally published under the Silhouette banner. Eventually Harlequin caught a clue and bought Silhouette in 1984 - giving us the company we know today. But over the years these two names have blended. American authors are no longer "corralled" under just the Silhouette name and vice versa.

From a nostalgia standpoint - I get it. Even though I missed out on what many consider the "golden age" of category romance, I totally "get" how some readers feel about those early Silhouette offerings. It was a bit...well...revolutionary. The stories were different, the heroines were different, the sex was...well...sexy. For the first time ever you, as the reader, were no longer limited to just the "traditional" model of romance storytelling. But from the standpoint of a reader today? Right now? Yeah, I'm honestly surprised Harlequin hadn't made this move sooner.

Harlequin is a global brand. It's huge. People who don't know a damn thing about books or publishing know Harlequin (even if it is only to make fun of those trashy, cookie-cutter books ::big sigh::). Silhouette? Yeah, some name recognition, but not nearly on the global scale of Harlequin. And before you argue with me, I contend that it's really only hard core romance readers living overseas who have any inkling of the Silhouette name. But yeah, everybody knows Harlequin. So from an author/book/line marketing standpoint? This is nothing but good news in my opinion.

And really, that's what we're talking about here - a name. Harlequin has said nothing about reworking the lines, other than a name change. So if you like Silhouette Desire now? Yeah, you're still going to like them as Harlequin Desire. Karen Templeton is still going to write good, solid, enjoyable Harlequin Special Editions, as she did Silhouette Special Editions. If anything, this name switcheroo might actually help sales, especially overseas. That's my hunch anyway.

What I'm not so sure about is if this will result in any kind of internal shake-up at the HQN offices. I'm not sure why it would - but I never try to pretend to understand business decisions, especially these days. However from a reader standpoint? I'm not seeing this as giant, massive news. Well, yet anyway. We'll have to wait and see how it shakes out of course.

ETA: More press release lingo via RT. In another bit of news, the Love Inspired Historical line is going from 2 releases a month, to 4. A move that does not shock me at all.

Wendy's Talking Romance. Again. Geesh.

In a moment of pure insanity, I put in a 10 hour work day yesterday and gave two presentations on the romance genre. It seemed like a good idea at the time, which I really can't explain. I'd say I was high, but the hardest drug I do is caffeine.

The morning started with a presentation about Harlequin that I gave to our library assistants. In the library world we call these happy folks "para-professionals." They don't have a library degree, but maybe they're working towards one, or they have comparable job experience. The goal of this presentation was to educate them on category romance (No, it's not all Harlequin Presents), make them aware that cover art and lines change, and to discuss tips on how to "deal" with paperbacks in general at their individual branches.

I think this presentation was very well received by most of them. Some of them were likely bored out of their minds. Wendy's talking about romance novels. Again. Blah, blah, blah. As an added bonus, I also discussed Harlequins single title lines (Mira, HQN, Spice etc.) and got a lot of really good questions. A couple enlightening moments:

• Harlequin publishes in the ballpark of 120 titles every month. Yeah. Take it from the librarian, this is an obscene number. Some of the administration folks in the audience actually gasped out loud when I told them that.


• Harlequin sells 20 million copies (worldwide) of Harlequin Presents titles each year. Yes, I found this number from Harlequin promo material. 20 frackin' million! Each frackin' year! No wonder Harlequin claims those dopey titles sell books. You can't really argue with 20 million! Wowzers.


• I got asked about trends in the romance genre in general. My answers were urban fantasy (separate genre altogether, but lots of romance readers are reading it) and historicals. Mark my words people, I think we're in for a massive historical resurgence. Let's see if I'm right.

The second presentation was a much more general discussion on the romance genre at one of our smaller libraries. This was an evening program at a smaller branch, so I was honestly hoping at least one warm body would show up. For any librarians reading this, you'll relate that programming tends to be a crap shoot. You just never know what's going to happen. So color me pleasantly surprised when 13 people showed up! And it would have been closer to 18, except people called to cancel because of being sick.

I think the program went well, and I hope I didn't bore them. Everybody in the audience was already a romance reader, so we covered all the basic sub genres (contemporary, historical, paranormal, inspirational etc.) and talked books in general. I promoted the heck out of my library's upcoming literary event, talked up the authors that were going to be there (Linda Wisdom, Tessa Dare and HelenKay Dimon) and got them to check out some books. Hopefully they liked it and I didn't suck. Programming is hard for small libraries, and I wanted to do well for the staff at that branch. They're good peeps.

A couple things of note about these presentations, I think my secret blogging identity is getting to be less of a secret. I've never "hid" my true identity online, but I've also never willy-nilly discussed my blog with my employers. I just don't. Period. However, seems some of my fellow employees have found me. The attendees at the library program last night wanted my blog address (Uh, hi ladies!) and my boss made me show the library assistants the Blogger Bundles I suggested to Harlequin. Sigh. I'm not sure how I feel about this. OK, I guess. But maybe this means I need wash out my mouth with soap, and watch my language more closely. I know my father would certainly approve of that.

Harlequin + Super Librarian = More Awesome!

Remember when I posted about the upcoming Cheryl St. John ebook bundle I proposed to Harlequin? The one coming out in January 2010? I mentioned in that post that I had proposed three different ideas for ebook bundles, hoping one would "stick." Turns out - they liked them all!

Coming in February 2010 is the Love, American Style Harlequin Historical bundle! My goal for this bundle was to showcase the diversity that can be found if readers would just Please For The Love Of My Sanity Read Some American Historicals Already. In this bundle are three books that have previously been unavailable in electronic format.

Prairie Wife by Cheryl St. John - Yes, more St. John. But really, you cannot go wrong with this woman! This is my favorite of her books, an emotionally gut-wrenching, western-set, marriage in trouble story (which I normally don't care for - but holy cow is this a good one!).

The Bride Fair by Cheryl Reavis - Reavis is one of my very favorite Harlequin authors who consistently delivers in her historicals as well as her contemporary-set stories. This one takes place post-Civil War, in the South, and features a Southern heroine with a real dilemma on her hands and the Northern, former POW, commanding officer who has commandeered her family home for the occupying troops.

Married By Midnight by Judith Stacy - This is the story that will lighten up the bundle. Set in late 19th century Los Angeles, the heroine finds herself a bridesmaid for the third time in three months, when she runs up against our hero, a man who broke her heart as a young girl. The hero has entered into a wager with his best friend, and ultimately falls under the heroine's spell - but what happens when the heroine finds out about the wager? Yeah, it doesn't bode well for our hero. Stacy is kind of hit or miss for me, and this one was a major hit. It's charming, it's funny, and it's set in Los Angeles. More historicals need to be set in L.A. Says me.

Also, good news via an e-mail bud of mine - she has discovered both of these bundles at the Kindle Store over at Amazon. Just go to the Kindle Store and search "super librarian" and they'll both pop up, available for pre-order. Amazon is retailing both bundles for $9.99 and if their list price is anything to go by - they'll be around $14.00 at other ebook retail outlets. Woot!

As for that third bundle I proposed? Given the theme of the bundle, Harlequin has told me they're holding it back for a Summer 2010 release. And no, I'm not spilling the beans on that one just yet. You'll have to be patient and wait.

Harlequin + Super Librarian = Awesome!

Massive Bat Cave news. Huge, colossal Bat Cave news.

Several months back, the digital team over at Harlequin contacted several bloggers about the possibility of putting together some ebook bundles. One of the bloggers they contacted was none other than lil' ol' me. Naturally, I practically fell all over myself saying yes. Which means I now had to come up with some ideas. I started out with two goals:

1) Create bundles featuring books I personally enjoyed.

2) Try to concentrate on books that currently are unavailable electronically.

I came up with three different bundle ideas - sending them all off to Harlequin hoping there would be one set they didn't think sucked. Well, I recently heard back from them. They selected my Cheryl St. John bundle!

Wahoooooooey!

As you are all well-aware, here at the Bat Cave we lurve us some Cheryl St. John. She is not only our very favorite Harlequin Historical author, but now that Maggie Osborne is retired, she also may be our favorite western romance author. The Doctor's Wife, The Lawman's Bride and The Preacher's Wife are all connected books in the author's Harvey Girls trilogy. The first two titles have never been available electronically, and all three have been out of print for some time.

Wahooooooooey!

The first round of Blogger Bundles are set to launch in January 2010. They'll be available to purchase over at eHarlequin, and one would assume at other ebook retail outlets. I have no idea on cost yet, but going by other historical bundles they offer, my guess is somewhere in the ballpark of $20.

My Spin On Carina Press

Monday mornings can sometimes bring really interesting e-mails to the Bat Cave in-box. Today it was an e-mail from Malle Vallik (one of the awesome folks over at Harlequin) announcing the arrival of Carina Press. Carina Press is a brand spankin' new digital-only press under the Harlequin umbrella. The plan for the official launch is set for sometime Spring/Summer 2010. Angela James has been hired as Executive Editor (welcome back to the Land Of The Gainfully Employed Ange!), and they're already accepting submissions.

So what does this all mean? Well, first off I'm going to direct you to Jane's post over at Dear Author (which includes a guest post from Angie) and Sarah's post over at Smart Bitches for some of the more "technical" talk like no DRM, submission guidelines, business model etc. I'm not an author, nor an aspiring one, so a lot of this stuff goes right on over my head. I'd also encourage you to check out Carina Press's web site, which has even more information (including a blog!).

But since you are all here visiting the Bat Cave, I'm going to give you my spin on this.

It's huge. Big, huge colossal news. If only for the fact that Carina Press is under the Harlequin Enterprises umbrella. Certainly Harlequin has already readily embraced digital, but with the formation of this new press, they've effectively kicked open the door. It's huge. It's unprecedented. And it puts every other "major" traditional print publisher on notice.

All this being said, I have never been the reader (or librarian) who is a zealot for e-publishing. I don't think Dead Tree books are going anywhere in my lifetime (sorry, just don't), and until the electronic format is more affordable, easy to understand, stream-lined, and idiot-proof, I just don't see the world takeover that so many others are predicting.

However, I think I speak for all librarians everywhere (well, at least the awesome ones) when I say we're all a big ol' bunch of Format Hos. While it's highly unlikely I'll ever give up Dead Tree books 100%, I love the ability to be entertained in a variety of formats. I love my Dead Tree books. I love audio books on CD. I love downloadable audio books (OMG! Heaven!). And I love ebooks. I love them all. I love having options. Gimme, gimme, gimme lots of options and I'm a happy, happy girl.

Ultimately what the formation of Carina Press does do is put the naysayers on notice. While I certainly don't feel that digital publishing is going take over the world, I do think it's short-sighted of traditional print publishers to ignore it. Now we have a major player in the publishing industry (Harlequin) further embracing the digital model and medium. It's huge (have I said that already?), and I'm fully expecting I'll be bombarded by news, editorials etc. in all the Industry-Type Stuff I read for my job. It's certainly intriguing, and I for one am very curious to see what's going to be offered up in the way of their launch titles.