Foreign Covers!

So I checked my email yesterday, and my agent sent me the link to Random House Mondadori's page for the Spanish version of PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS. And it's got a cover! In publishing, nothing's more interesting than covers.


I was totally tickled. Like my friend Michelle said, it's like a Jane Austen book with my name replacing Jane's! :-) Spanish PA goes on sale February 13, 2009.

So then I pestered Kristin about the Russian PA, because that was the first foreign rights sale we ever made, and should have come out already. And it was, and Kristin got a cover from Whitney, her foreign-rights co-agent. And behold:


My first Barbara Cartland cover!

Seriously, I couldn't stop looking at this cover. I mean, what a couch. Now I've got to have one like it. And of all the ladies who've graced PA's cover, this one actually looks most like what Gigi might--and with that attitude too.

If you look closely, you'll see that the front cover and the back cover are actually mirror images. The woman is painted over where the couch would have been on the right side. And if you look even more closely, you'll see that the it's the top curve of the same throw pillow under the plant on the right, they just painted out the buttons on it!

I am enthralled. ENTHRALLED!

P.S. The Russian title Idealnaya Para, means The Ideal Couple. (Or so I gather from googling.) And it is already available. Inform all your Russian friends! :-)

P.P.S. If there are any art history majors out there, I'd love to know what painting they used for the Spanish PA. It looks like a Victorian era artist, but I tried Leighton, Tissot, and a few others and came up empty.

Update 1: Thanks to Seton, now we know that the cover is based on a painting by Tissot, named "Study For."


Update 2: Thanks to Courtney Milan, I now know that the Russian PA is coming out in two different editions.

For 240 rubles, you can have this, same as above.


If you have only 200 rubles to spare, you still can have it, albeit in a slightly more somber package. :-)


Will wonders never cease? :-)

My Favorite-est Game Ever is Free

But only until December 27.

Ah, Wonderland.

I totally luuurve this casual game series. It is the cutest thing you've ever seen until you realize how challenging the harder levels are.

How much do I love it? With my club membership, I can buy any game I want from a game portal for $6.95, but for these games I go to the original publisher, Midnight Synergy, and pay $20 because I want the company to prosper.

Now they are giving away the game that started it all. If you want one, go here and scroll down. Happy Holidays!

No Rest for the Deadline-Addled

It's been a week since I turned in a pseudo-complete draft of NOT QUITE A HUSBAND and I feel completely out of breath. I've been running around the house trying to put some organization into our sadly disorganized existence, in front of the computer replying to all the accumulated emails, updating my website, and making a Xmas newsletter, and doing the usual mommy stuff, including freezing my rear off on the coldest day of this season--so far--helping out at the junior kidlet's school trip.

And after a whole week of rushing about (okay, there was a day of writing in my contemp romp and a half-day of frowning over the next historical project), I look around and these are the things I have not done:

1)Send Christmas presents to agent and editor
2)Read either of the manuscripts I promised I'd read for possibly blurbing
3)Sort and shred the mountain of statements that have been accumulating since I was still in grad school
4)Put up our paltry few strings of Xmas lights, b/c junior kidlet delights in them
5)Laundry (His Hawtness dealt with the previous load, and since I'm not currently on deadline, I feel like I should do more.)

Boy, more and more I'm beginning to think people love historical romance for the abundance of servants! And maybe they read Harry Potter for the house elves. :-)

Before I rush off to fight the neverending War on Dirty Clothes, let me point you to RT's website, where you'll find the video interview I did with the awesome Morgan Doremus during RWA San Francisco. You can also see the videos here and here.

I was rather wondering about the timing of the videos being featured on RT. Morgan Doremus had told me that usually they'd haul out the clips when there's some news about me or my book. And then Meredith Duran told me that PA has been nominated for a RT Best Historical Debut award. I haven't seen it posted anywhere so I'm going to have to trust that Meredith wasn't just having fun with me. :-)

Okay, off to the seasonal frenzy again.

Dec 10 Update: Sent presents. Put up lights. And did laundry. :-)

Christmas Giveaway

Jan 2, 2009 Update: Did I say I was going to announce the winner on Dec 25? Well, Christmas day saw me snowed under revisions. But finally I found some time to visit my dear friend the random number generator, and here is the winner: Jenny Schwartzberg. Congratulations Jenny!

Yay, free stuff!

I recently chucked over a $25 Christmas bonus to my web designer, Frauke Spanuth of Croco Designs (whose latest showpiece is the Dear Author overhaul). And Frauke, as fabulous a woman as she is a graphic designer/code master, offered me a $25 X-mas voucher to giveaway.

What can you do with a $25 design voucher? Well, you can get yourself a set of banner/badge ads designed for All About Romance, for instance, which she has done for me recently. I think my bookmark design was for about that much too. Throw in a bit more cash, and you can get yourself a web template, which I got at the beginning of 2008 for $75, if memory serves. (Of course prices are subject to change without prior notice, etc.) And if you don't have a webpage, she does great myspace layouts too--I'm going to have her do mine next year.

(I host my newsletter through Frauke's other company, Janus Portal, and let me tell you, a more economical deal on e-newsletter hosting I couldn't find.)

Sooo, what do you have to do for a chance to win this fun little prize? Well, since I've recently said that I should do more for my publisher, I'm going to do just that. Tell me about your favorite Bantam author(s) in the comment. (And since this is already my blog, you can leave me out.) :-)

I'm going to start.

First up Shana Abe, one of the most lyrical writers working today.







Mary Balogh, who's going to have 4 books out back-to-back early next year.







Sarah Addison Allen, whose debut Garden Spells I enjoyed very much.





Linnea Sinclair, a fellow Nelson Literary Agency client, is published with Bantam Spectra.








Jill Sorenson will have her Bantam debut released January 27, 2009.












Sharon Page will have her Bantam historical debut released February 24, 2009.













And my agent keeps telling me that if I want to do a big martial art epic, then I need to read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander--and of course, Gabaldon is a Bantam Dell author too.




Wow. Pretty darn good covers one and all.

Now it's your turn. Tell me which BantamDell authors rock your world. And if you have testimonials of Frauke's fabulous work, feel free to gush also. :-)

Updated to add: The winner will be picked on December 25, of course. :-)

Repackaging!

The Smart Bitches happen to link to an article in Publishers Weekly on the clinch cover. And the verdict is, the clinch is here to stay.

One particular quote from Sue Grimshaw, Borders' romance buyer, struck me. “A tastefully done clinch is a must-have for debut authors,” said Ms. Grimshaw, which is more or less what she said when she had breakfast at RWA SF with a few of us Bantam authors.

So now my wonderful publisher is giving me the must-have clinch covers for debut authors. Bantam will reissue DELICIOUS and PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS with new covers to coincide with the release of NOT QUITE A HUSBAND. And here, without further introduction, are the preliminary versions of the new covers.


I do love the background on this. There is something very fairy tale-ish about it. I am not crazy about the mantitty--I'm never crazy about mantitty to start with, and this one is bigger than mine. So...wish he had some clothes on. But chest is de rigueur so I'll go with what sells.


Now this is much more my thing. Love the pose. Love the dress. Love the presence of the man without the actual mantitty. I'm, however, slightly torn about the color. On the one hand, I personally love it. On the other hand, there is something slightly poison apple-ish about it and rather startled the spouse when he looked at the high-def image. But there are certain colors that don't translate as well in jpeg and I trust Bantam to get it just right in print.

The Little Book That Could

This news is actually two days old, but I'm still going to consider it news. PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS made Publishers Weekly's Best of the Year list! It is one of the five books picked for the Mass Market category. Also on the list is my Levy Tour compadre Jordan Dane whose book NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM actually came out on the same day as PA. Congratulations, Jordan.

It's been years since I read PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS. And recently, during an online chat, when asked my favorite character of mine--Gigi's mother from PA--I misspelled her name. :-) So getting on the PW list has been fun and sweet rather than rolling-on-the-floor thrilling, like watching a childhood friend succeed from afar.

Now back to work on NOT QUITE A HUSBAND, which is, of course, going to be my best book EVA! :-)

Updated NOT QUITE A HUSBAND Cover

And here it is. Bigger, bolder, with a better tan on him and a fuller head of hair on her. (I specifically requested more hair on her, since her hair actually begins and ends the story, in a way. In fact, I requested a great deal more of hair on her--I wanted the old fashioned, will-engulf-small-villages-and-smother-unsuspecting-farm-animal kind of ginormous hair. But I was shot down, because the art department said that much hair might make the cover look muddy. :-P)

Not Quite a Husband Update

The good news is I have a rough first draft. The bad news is that I still have to write the bulk of the secondary romance and that the 2nd half of the rough draft is truly skeletal. So much work still remains, but oh boy, does this book have a fantastic epilogue. :-)

And here is the preliminary cover design for NQAH.

The cover isn't final. The border might go, since it juxtaposes rather weirdly with the rest of the image. The background color might change to make the red pop more. The art department thinks the cover will feel bolder and sexier if the couple take the whole cover. And I'm all for it. I write pretty darn sexy stuff. And my previous covers, although gorgeous, didn't reflect The Hawt.

So just a little news before I hunker down and go back to work. Until then, everybody vote! (And yes, I did already.)

One Last Post Before I Unplug

My wrap-up of my excellent Levy adventure is up at Dear Author.

The ladies at The Romance Roundtable review DELICIOUS.

And on Wednesday, October 1, I will be paying a visit to the Word Wenches, which is where the historical romance goddesses hang out. Mary Jo Putney, Patricia Rice, Jo Beverley, Edith Layton, Miranda Jarrett, Susan King, and Loretta Holy-@#$% Chase. Yes, I know I'm on deadline, but you tell me you have the will power to say no to THAT. :-)

And here's a picture of me signing. I love how harmless I look, given that my new nickname from the tour is the Imp from Hell. Hehe.

The Other September Offensive

Just want to mention that I will be on the Levy/Meijer READ THIS! Author Tour, barnstorming 9 Meijer locations in Michigan in mid-September.

Friday, September 19
10:30am Kalamazoo/5800 Gull Rd.
3:00pm Grand Rapids/Cascade
5:00pm Grand Rapids/Knapp's Corner

Saturday, September 20
10:30am Lansing/2055 W. Grand River Rd.
3:00pm Ann Arbor/5645 Jackson Rd.
5:00pm Canton/45001 Ford Rd.

Sunday, September 21
10:30am Rochester Hills/3175 Rochester Rd.
12:00pm Royal Oak/5150 Coolidge Hwy
4:00pm Monroe/1700 Telegraph Rd.

Please check here for updates.

Also, for folks who are on Google Read or other blog feeds and wonder why I haven't been updating on my writing progress, I have. They updates are appended to the original post.