Tagged: E-book

Martha Thomases: Salaam Reads

Salaam Reads

It’s been brought to my attention that I can be something of a downer in these columns. Therefore, I am thrilled and delighted to be able to report on some good news this week.

Book sales are up. In bookstores.

Just a few years ago, the debut of e-books and the success of Amazon were supposed to doom the book business, especially at the retail level. That hasn’t happened, and, in fact, e-book sales have leveled off.

Personally, I’ve never considered e-books to be either morally superior or inferior to hard copy books. I like to read, and I’ve liked to read in every format I’ve come across. I love my Kindle because it’s easy to take an entire library with me when I travel, and because I like lots of pop fiction that I don’t need to display on my bookshelves. I love physical books, too, especially if they are signed, or if they have lots of illustrations. I have some of the storybooks my mother read when she was a girl. I doubt my grandchildren will want to access my (then outdated) Kindle menu.

It may be that book sales are up because all the poorly run bookstores went out of business, leaving only the ones who know how to sell books. It may be that, recently, there have been more books published that customers want to own.

Or it may be that the people who market books know how to reach out to new book buyers in a way that suggests how we can further expand the audience for comics.

To be clear, graphic novels remain a growth sector in the book business. However, the very fact that booksellers embraced a new product category like graphic novels early in this century shows how open the business is to new ideas.

Here’s another way that the book business is nimble: They welcome customers who might be turned away elsewhere, especially in today’s political climate. Simon & Schuster just backed a line of children’s books about being Muslim because one of their editors noticed she had nothing to read to her nieces and nephews that reflected their experience. I’m a Jewish adult, and I want to read all the books described in the link. I wish I’d been able to read them as a child.

The book business is different from the comic book business because it does not rely on its customers to return every week for new product. There are some rabid fan groups (such as those who read four or five romance novels a week), but there are not, to my knowledge, any bookstores dedicated to romance fiction. I do know that there are certain specialties (for example: mystery, science fiction, travel, cooking) but none rely on customers who must have first printings, or mint condition. These stores exist for the reader, not the collector.

Obviously, antiquarian bookstores are different.

In the last decade or so, we’ve seen more comic book stores that resemble bookstores, even as more bookstores stock graphic novels. We can get more stories in more places in more formats.

Life is good.

Apple settles e-book antitrust case with U.S. states, others

Apple settles e-book antitrust case with U.S. states, others

This may finally be done, just in time for Amazon to take over the market.

(Reuters) – Apple Inc reached an out-of-court settlement with U.S. states and other complainants in an e-book price-fixing class action lawsuit, effectively avoiding a trial in which the iPad maker faced as much as $840 million in claims.

U.S. District Judge in Manhattan Denise Cote ordered the parties to submit a filing seeking approval of their settlement within 30 days.

The terms of the settlement, reached on Monday, have not been revealed. It still needs court approval.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple and five publishers in April 2012, accusing them of working together illegally to increase e-book prices.

via Apple settles e-book antitrust case with U.S. states, others – Yahoo News.

Wild Marjoram EPulp Arrives!

N.R. Grabe has released a new e-pulp called Wild Marjoram. Wild Marjoram is set in glorious Chicagoland in a world where The Great War has never ended and a mechanic gets caught in the underground world of crime, odd inventions and the mystery of the Slates.

The Vote is a tale of Marjoram and Jerry as they cruise into the lion’s den in The Broken Apple, what New York City is know called. But this journey turns into chaos for the couple, as they find themselves in the backroads of occupied America.

Learn more about Wild Marjoram here and here.

PRESS RELEASE:

This leading lady, doesn’t look for trouble, but she sure seems finds it…

Wild Marjoram is a blonde haired blue-eyed mechanic with a locket that holds the key to her past. This perfect Aryan specimen lives in hiding from the Nazi occupation of the United States of the 1930s. If they discovered her, she’ll be condemned to the fate of a broodmare. But she’s not the type of girl to give up without a fight.

In “Wild Marjoram: The Vote”, Marj and Jerry go on a road trip to hookup with members of the underground resistance. All seems fine until the rug is pulled out from under our heroes in a bait and switch move where allies turn enemies. The free spirited city girl becomes the prisoner of a country folk tribunal looking to punish an outsider’s sins. Majority rules in their life or death vote!

Wild Marjoram’s explosive recipe appeared in the dreams of N.R. Grabe. Its pulp lineage arrives from the likes of “Astounding Stories”, “Gangster Stories” and speculative-fiction descendants like “The Handmaids Tale”. N.R. has baked her if-it-had-happened-otherwise story with action, intrigue and a cavalcade of colorful characters. We hope you enjoy each bite.

Now, throw away your school books because this Alternate History is uncharted. Keep your eyes open and your head down. You’d better pack an extra drum for your Tommy gun, just in case…

“Wild Marjoram: The Vote” is currently available at your favorite eBookstores.
Download your free preview today!

Coming September – Four Summoner’s Tales

What if the dead could be summoned from their graves- for a price? What if a quartet of distinctive storytellers took a stab at this deceptively simple idea- on a date? The answers lie here, in Four Summoner’s Tales, as Kelley Armstrong, David Liss, Christopher Golden, and Jonathan Maberry accept the challenge in uniquely chilling ways. Available September 17 in print, EBook and audio. (NOTE: This book includes a never-before-published Joe Ledger novella by Maberry)

Can the Dead Man Survive the Crucible of Fire?

Best-selling author, Mel Odom chronicles the latest adventure of The Dead Man as Crucible of Fire ebook adventure is released.

About The Dead Man: Crucible of Fire–
Matt Cahill was an ordinary man leading a simple life until a shocking accident changed everything. Now he can see a nightmarish netherworld that exists within our own. Now he’s on a dangerous quest for the answers to who he is and what he has become…and engaged in an epic battle to save us, and his soul, from the clutches of pure evil.
Matt Cahill is part of a team of smokejumpers who are dropped into the heart of a raging forest fire that is fueled by a flamethrower wielding madman under the sway of Mr. Dark. Almost every living thing in this hellacious inferno, including Matt’s fellow firefighters, are falling prey to Mr. Dark’s evil touch and bowing to his furious command: Kill the Dead Man!

The Dead Man series created by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin.
Learn more about The Dead Man here and here and is available for purchase here.

Mark Ellis Unleashes Sex, Blackmail and Murder

UPDATED!
New Pulp author Mark Ellis has released a sneak peek of his new upcoming book called Rag Baby, now available at Amazon.

SEX, BLACKMAIL AND MURDER IN THE DARK HEART OF THE SUNSHINE STATE!

Bonaparte “Bone” Mizell, formerly of the DEA, has a problem on his hands: Dale Bristline, his 400 lb. client with a beautiful ex-stripper wife needs help dealing with a blackmailer — Brandy’s first husband has returned from the dead and is making outrageous demands…and she mustn’t be told about it.

When drug-dealer turned sex club owner Bristline needs some help dealing with the blackmailer, cash-strapped Bone accepts the case…and he quickly learns that behind the sunshine and laid-back lifestyle is a dangerous jungle, where sex is big business and jealousy can lead to murder. Bone deals with bikers turned bodyguards, scorned strippers and a lovely Latina sheriff, all out to get him – in one way or another.

As a DEA agent, Bone was used to hitting all the wrong places at just the wrong time. Now a cast of bizarre characters and a storm of violence traps him in a mystery that will take all of his resourcefulness to solve – and survive!

Follow Mark Ellis on Facebook.

Piccadilly Publishing Promotes the Sergeant

Cover Art: Tony Masero

Piccadilly Publishing has added Gordon Davis’ The Sergeant to their ebook reprint catalog.

PRESS RELEASE:

I’m delighted to announce that we have acquired the ebook rights to one of the great series of the 1980s — THE SERGEANT by Gordon Davis. Beginning in October we’ll be issuing all nine books in the series, this time under the author’s real name, and all featuring covers painted by Tony Masero!

About Piccadilly Publishing:
Piccadilly Publishing is the brainchild of longtime Western fans and Amazon Kindle Number One bestselling Western writers Mike Stotter and David Whitehead (a.k.a. Ben Bridges). The company intends to bring back into ‘e-print’ some of the most popular and best-loved Western and action-adventure series fiction of the last forty years.

Series fiction (the most popular genre was always the Western, but it also encompassed war stories, tales of pillaging Vikings, life in the Roman arena and action-adventure set in the far-flung future) was at its most popular throughout the 1970s and 80s and is still fondly remembered and avidly collected by die-hard fans even today. Some books are now so hard to come by that it’s not unusual for them to change hands for astronomical amounts.

“We got to know a number of the authors when we were teenagers,” remembers Mike. “Although they mostly wrote Westerns, they often joked that they had never been further west than Piccadilly, in London’s West End.”

Thus Piccadilly Publishing was born. One of its aims is to bring back titles for new and old readers alike. Great care is taken over the production of each title, and each one has a specially-commissioned cover from Westworld Designs that recreates the feel of the originals, at the same time giving them a fresh and more modern look.

At the moment all Piccadilly Publishing titles are available for download from Amazon’s platforms in the UK, US, Spain, France, Germany and Italy, with more titles are set to follow on a regular basis. There are also plans to expand their availability on other electronic platforms.

“We’re adding authors and series to our catalogue almost every day,” reports Whitehead. “Over the coming years I think we’ll surprise and delight our fellow fans with what we have to offer.”

It’s a Brave New iPulp World

New Pulp Publisher, iPulpFiction.com shared their latest press release with All Pulp. iPulpFiction.com proudly presents Neworld Papers.

PRESS RELEASE:

HELP US CELEBRATE the launch of our new YA science fiction series, Neworld Papers, by downloading the Kindle Book for FREE on June 28th and 29th.

You don’t need a Kindle device to read the book. You can read Kindle eBooks on most computers, tablets, and smart phones using the Kindle App.

About Neworld Papers:
“The treason of these papers is not just in the actions they document, but in their very existence.”

The people of Neworld have no concept of war, or murder, or even love. Theirs is a world without hunger or strife. Yet the world is a fiction — based on lies and omissions. Fallon is a young man with secret talents and the willingness to explore and learn. Pulled from a sheltered life, he becomes a chronicler of discoveries that challenge the very fabric of Neworld’s society.

Is revealing the truth worth the disruption of a society?

Neworld Papers has action, adventure, and romance grounded solidly in thought-provoking science fiction.

Neworld Links:
Available on Amazon with preview here.
Facebook
GoodReads
Twitter: @iPulpFiction

Thanks,

Keith Shaw
Publisher, iPulpFiction.com

Jpe Ledger Returns April 30th!

New Pulp Author Jonathan Maberry announced that his fan-favorite character, Joe Ledger, will return for more action on April 30 in an eBook exclusive short story called BORROWED POWER.

Here’s what the author has to say about Borrowed Power.

Some secrets should remain hidden.

Some secrets refuse to die.

Something evil is buried beneath the streets of Paris.

Time is running out.

Thirty years ago the man known as Mr. Church and the assassin called Lilith teamed-up to stop a terrible weapon from being used against the innocent.

Now that same evil rises again and Joe Ledger teams with Lilith’s daughter, the beautiful killer Violin, to keep the world from falling into darkness.

BORROWED POWER is an original Joe Ledger adventure featuring an action cameo by Mr. Church. Available for Kindle, Nook, Kobo and all eReaders.

Learn more about Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series here.