Monthly Archives: February 2010

Now in Stores: Dream of the Blue Room

February 21, 2010
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Now in Stores: Dream of the Blue Room

My first novel, Dream of the Blue Room (2003, MacAdam/Cage), was re-released by Random House this week in a new paperback edition. I can’t tell you how excited I am to have this book back in stores again. The first time, the distribution was limited, and for the first couple of years it was available only in the more expensive hardcover edition. After several months out of print, it is now available through your favorite independent bookstores, Barnes and Noble (look for it on the Reading Group Favorites 3 for 2 table, the Paperback New Releases table, and the...

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Books in Berkeley

February 9, 2010
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Frances Dinkelspiel did a nice write-up for Berkeley Inside about the 8th Annual Author’s Dinner at the Berkeley Public Library on Saturday. The food and wine were over-the-top wonderful (especially the homemade banana ice cream), and I had a great time catching up with Rabih Alameddine (The Hakawati), Daniel Mason (The Piano Tuner), Alan Black (Kick the Balls), Frances (Towers of Gold), and lots of other writer folks I tend to only see when I come out of hiding for literary events. I had a chance to chat with Tom Leonard, head of the UC Berkeley Libraries, about e-books,...

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Who Moved My Buy Button?

February 7, 2010
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The Authors Guild has launched a website, WhoMovedMyBuyButton.com, “which allows authors to keep track of whether Amazon has removed buy buttons from any of their books.” Although we’ve launched WhoMovedMyBuyButton.com in response to Amazon’s wholesale removal of buy buttons from Macmillan titles, we believe Amazon should be monitored for years to come. Amazon’s developed quite a fondness for employing this draconian tactic (there’s a chronology at the website); it’s only grown bolder with its growing market clout. Interestingly, the new kid on the e-reader block, ipad, has changed the game by allowing publishers to set their own prices for...

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A note to readers, regarding Amazon

February 5, 2010
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I have long used the Amazon widget on this page because it offers the cleanest graphics and is the easiest way to create a linked, text-enriched slideshow of one’s books–capabilities which, unfortunately, are not yet available to authors through indiebound. For the moment, however, the Amazon widget has been removed from this page as I consider the implications of Amazon’s recent decision to remove “buy” buttons from books published by MacMillan. In response to MacMillan’s concern over bargain-basement e-book pricing by Amazon, the online retail giant emerged as the bully of the literary marketing playground, denying consumers access not...

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