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5/11/2008:  Agent Lucienne Diver has joined The Knight Agency after fifteen years at Spectrum Literary Agency, where she specialized in fantasy, science fiction, romance, mystery and suspense.

4/27/2008:  Are you a NASCAR fan? Do you love romance? Harlequin Executive Editor Marsha Zinberg, in this blog, http://isabelswift.blogspot.com/ shares that she's "always on the lookout for authors with particular knowledge of the NASCAR world and the ability to craft a romance that fits comfortably in that world. At present, we are producing NASCAR stories that are shaped by a bible, but authors able and willing to write this specific type of story are people I would be happy to be in contact with."  Contact Marsha at Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd., 225 Duncan Mill Rd, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9  (Courtesy of Cynthia Sterling Market News)

3/26/2008:  RWA has announced the 2007 Golden Heart and RITA finalists.  Visit their website for details.

2/27/2008:   Predators and Editors, that wonderful site that helps separate the good from the bad in the world of publishing is being sued by Barbara Bauer and by Victor E. Cretella, III, Esq. for libel.  You can read more here and donate to P&E's defense fund.

2/1/2008: (from Publisher's Lunch) 
Harlequin Features Editors in New Podcasts 
Harlequin has started posting 20-minute Meet the Editors podcasts, adding new episodes every two weeks. The first features Melissa Jeglinski and Diana Ventimiglia. The company says in the release they are "designed to demystify the concept of the editor as an inaccessible resource for aspiring authors. Meet the Editors brings the personalities of the various Harlequin Enterprises editors to the fore and offers listeners the opportunity to get to know the people that shape the books they love to read."  Read more here.

2/21/2008: (from Publisher's Lunch) Kensington Buys Street Lit List
Kensington announced the acquisition of the publishing assets of Holloway House, "the pioneers of original street lit fiction." Kensington will publisher the company's backlist as a new imprint, Holloway House Classics, and will distribute the Robert "Iceberg Slim" Beck books. They add that they will be "reissuing and distributing existing Holloway House titles in mass market and new trade formats as well as looking for new urban fiction which complements their publishing program." Those efforts will not affect Kensington's Dafina Books imprint, which continues as a separate unit.

2/15/2008: (from Cynthia Sterling's Market News)  Mills and Boon, Harlequin Enterpises' venerable British subsidiary, will launch Black Star Crime in August -- a new series featuring thrillers and crime fiction. After one hundred years of publishing romance, Mills and Boon plans to release five crime and thriller titles every two months. Following its successful category romance model, Black Star Crime will be heavily branded and priced at 3.99 British pounds each (the same price as Mills and Boon Historical Romance). The books will be racked together in stores -- away from romance titles. Mills and Boon expects the series to sell 250,000 to 500,000 units a year (no word on whether that is world-wide or solely in the UK.) Black Star Crime will feature a wide range of stories, from cozy mysteries to thrillers. Editors will be working with both new and established authors. No word on names of acquiring editors, but the address for the Mills and Boon offices is Harlequin Mills & Boon Ltd, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1SR

2/13/2008: Another publisher is closing it's doors...Here is the Press Release:

Aphrodite's Apples is closing, effective February 13, 2008. It was a difficult decision to make on our part, but we feel it will be best for all parties involved. We are not having financial issues, and final royalties shall be calculated and paid out in a timely fashion. Please contact [email address omitted] to obtain your release of rights. We appreciate all the time you've spent on this company, and consider it a privilege to publish your work. Thank you,

H.S. Kinn
President, Aphrodite's Apples Press
http://www.aphroditesapples.com

1/17/2008:  Editor Erin Numiata is leaving Avalon books as of February 29, 2008. She will concentrate on her duties as a literary agent with Folio.

11/7/2007:  From Publisher's Lunch: 
Writers Guild Strike: But What About Us?
The impact of the Writers Guild strike is already being felt in the expected ways: Optioning of film rights to books may dry up except for the biggest properties, and agents are already receiving force majeure letters from studios invoking their right to extend existing options. And out of work screenwriters are expected to start dusting off their book proposals.

Meanwhile, the big Hollywood agencies are also scrambling, since Variety expects that as much as 75 percent of their income comes from film and tv work, "most of it derived from the scripted projects now in jeopardy." Variety adds, "agents who sell books say they are unsure whether studios will buy them when they are unable to attach writers." Plus, "Of the majors, CAA is surprisingly listed as most vulnerable because of its sheer size, and the costs of its new headquarters and sports business."

If you're a big Joss Whedon fan like I am, check out his blog entries on the strike and help support the striking writers along with the Los Angeles gang in bringing pizza to the picket line.

Plus keep checking back for how you as a reader and/or writer can let the networks know you support these writers who are blazing trails for all of us authors.

10/30/2007:  Meredith McGuire's THE SHADOW'S KISS and runner-up Starr Toth's TRUST ME will be published through a Simon & Schuster imprint as a result of the First Chapters Romance Writing Competition at Gather.com, also sponsored by Borders.  Read more.

10/26/07:  Kate Collins has joined Ballantine Books as a senior editor, reporting to editorial director Linda Marrow. She was at Pocket, focusing on women's fiction, historical romance and romantic suspense.  From Publisher's Lunch.

10/3/2007:  Harlequin announced the discontinuation of their Everlasting and NEXT lines effective February 2008.

8/23/2007:  From Publisher's Marketplace.  Next month Avon will sell an original e-book by Victoria Alexander (for $3.99), LADY AMELIA'S SECRET LOVER, that includes an embedded author video original.

8/7/2007: At the Prospect Agency, Rachel Orr has joined the team along with Emily Sylvan Kim as an agent. She has been at Harpers Children's for the past nine years, most recently as an editor. Also, Becca Stumpf has been promoted to junior agent.   From Publisher's Marketplace.

8/1/2007:  Torstar Corporation Reports 2007 Second Quarter Results

7/20/2007:  One interesting note from many publishers at the RWA National Conference just finished in Dallas, TX.  In addition to asking for the "good book," editors mention a unique, strong voice as a determining feature in purchasing a book.

7/15/07:  RITA and Golden Heart winners are announced on the new RWA National website.  Congratulations, all!!

7/7/07:  Condolences to the family of Kathleen Woodiwiss who passed away on Friday, July 6, 2007.  I consider her the mother of modern romance and I still have THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER and THE WOLF AND THE DOVE on my keeper shelf.  She was working on a new book called EVERLASTING to be released by Avon in October 2007.   She will be very much missed.