So it turns out that my final cover for Proof was merely penultimate, not ultimate.
Here’s the final cover–they changed the font for the title so that it would be easier to read from across a room:
And in other news, I am still crazily busy.
There are three ways I can think of that you can win a copy of my October 1st debut novella.
1. If you are Catherine Gayle, you have already won a copy from my last contest. Congratulations!
2. If you are not Catherine Gayle, I am giving away three copies on my website, along with other fine merchandise. Visit here for details–it’s really easy to enter.
3. Also, Sherry Thomas is giving away three autographed copies on her website as well.
Note: In a fit of brilliance, I decided I would make a “schedule” of things I was going to do leading up to the release of this novella. Ha ha ha! That was funny. It was so funny, I am still cringing in horror. I am never going to do that again. Why? Because it is now an unending source of guilt…and yet I have so many more important things to do, like working on my next book. One of these days, I will be intelligent. That day is not today.
Yesterday was a very exciting day for me.
First, I got an e-mail containing the cover for Proof by Seduction. I know; I already have posted a cover for PROOF. But this was the final cover. So let’s do that comparison thing again:
Wow. Look how different they are! It’s like, they changed the alignment of the Julia Quinn quote. But what you do have, attached to this, is a much larger version of the cover. And now you can finally see how that locket actually stays up: my heroine does, in fact, defy gravity. (Needless to say, this ability of hers drives my scientifically-minded hero completely mad).
BUT in any event, yesterday I also got my very first author copies. With my name on them. Admittedly, my name is underneath “Mary Balogh” and “Nicola Cornick.” Still, it is there! My husband opened it up and began reading, making snide commentary which totally didn’t help matters at all (even though it was funny). Naturally, I did what all authors do when they receive their author copies: I built a fortress.
Notice the large black beast in the wild . . . uh, wild tan carpeted yonder. That foul beastie is about to come and breathe a hurricane gale upon my author copies, causing my impenetrable fortress to collapse into a sad pile of books. Which makes it a not very impenetrable fortress. (But then again, I don’t suppose I would have much luck writing a romance novella that had no penetration, so it’s probably all for the best. Good cat.)
This was more than enough excitement for me, so I shall have to share it with you! One of the commenters to this post will win a copy of the anthology.
Happy September! It’s September on courtneymilan.com, and that means that the color of the month is . . . blue! Also, that means it is officially one month from my very first release, a novella in The Heart of Christmas, an anthology with stories by me, Mary Balogh, and Nicola Cornick. The other stories are reissues of classics, but my novella is brand-spanking new. And it will be out in a month. In fact, if the past is any guide at all, it will probably be in stores in a couple of weeks. The thought of having a novella out makes my stomach clench and my legs wobble. I am not hyperventilating at all.
But at least I am so busy right now that I don’t even have time to think. In fact, I am so busy I completely forgot I had a contest going on on my blog.
The winners of Tessa Dare’s Surrender of a Siren: Booklover1335, Bonnie Ferguson, and Stephanie J. Send me your snail-mail address (courtney@courtneymilan.com) and I’ll get the book right out to you.
The winner of the other new release is: Jane. Jane, let me know whether you want Diana Peterfreund’s Rampant, Gena Showalter’s Intertwined, Victoria Dahl’s Highland Beast, or Tracey O’Hara’s Night’s Cold Kiss, and also send me your snail-mail address.
My website contest is still ongoing. You can win Tessa Dare’s entire trilogy, some lovely hot chocolate, and a $25 gift certificate to Borders.
At some point in the next week, there may actually be a blog post with Actual Substance. Oh, yes. It’s coming.
So, today it is officially a holiday on courtneymilan.com again, and the holiday it is, is Buy a Book Written by Tessa Dare day. Of course, since you already bought Goddess of the Hunt (you bought Goddess, right?), you already know that, and you are already holding a copy of Surrender of a Siren in your hot little hands. And you have probably not been able to stop yourself from starting it, and marveling both at the amazing beginning (bar fight!) and the phenomenal use of language (“squared-off tea tin of a building”). So I don’t see why I need to tell you that this book is amazing. It’s very different from Goddess of the Hunt–set on the high seas, instead of at a hunting lodge, with characters who are just meeting, versus characters who have been friends forever–but it is every bit as good . . . in fact, I think it might be better. I tried to explain why when I was explaining why today is a holiday. I don’t think I managed to capture how I feel about this book.
At this point, I feel that I can’t do much more than beat you over the head with the awesomeness that is Tessa Dare. If you haven’t read her yet, it’s not for lack of my trying. So I’m just going to do what we both know is going to happen: I’m going to give away a handful of copies (three, to be precise).
But there are a bunch of books that also come out today that I can’t wait to read:
Many of you know that Surrender of a Siren’s alternate title is “Goats on a Boat.” Leave a comment today telling me what animal you would take on a boat (and if you would eat green eggs and ham with it) if you had to go on a boat. Three lucky commenters will get a copy of Goats on a Boat–uh, I mean, Surrender of a Siren, and a fourth commenter will get her choice of one of the three books listed above! This contest will be open until August 27th, and your chances of winning depend on the number of people who comment.
Last week, Scott Gant, an author (also a lawyer), filed an objection to the Google Books Settlement. His objection is very interesting; you should read it yourself if you are into this kind of thing. Gant wrote a book called We’re All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age. As you may be able to guess from the title, Gant is not a Luddite. He is not the kind of person who believes that things should go back to the good ol’ days when books were on paper and whippersnappers like Google didn’t digitize anything. He raised several points about the settlement that I found interesting.
One of them is this: Usually, in a class action lawsuit, there needs to be a serious effort made to provide all plaintiffs covered by the settlement with individual notice, to make sure that they have heard about it. Typically this is handled by mailing identifiable class members a piece of paper describing the settlement. This is a step that has allegedly not been taken at this point. For instance, Gant never received individual notice–even though he would be one of the unnamed plaintiffs who is easiest to find. If Gant’s allegations (both about the legal requirement and the lack of notice) are true, this is a serious defect.
I conducted a non-scientific survey on RWA-PAN. As of this writing, I’ve received 25 responses from people who I can verify are covered by the settlement (that means, I have affirmatively looked up their book(s) in the copyright registry, or they have a foreign copyright with a country covered by the Berne Convention). Eight of those people–a little less than 33%–have received individual notification. The remainder have not. Some of the people who have not received notification have addresses clearly marked on the Library of Congress copyright registration; almost all of them are still receiving royalties from their publishers. Edited to read: “have books still in print with their publisher,” as I did not inquire as to royalty status. I can only verify that I can get books through Amazon. Some of the people who have not been notified are still receiving royalties from have books in print with publishers who are named plaintiffs to the case.
This was not a scientific survey, and numerous objections to the bare statistics (authors may not remember receiving notice) as well as the legal conclusions (individual notice may not be required) Gant discusses can be raised. I don’t pretend to represent this as anything other than a set of interesting numbers.
Still, this interesting set of numbers definitely makes me sit back and say, hmm.
So, my article in the RWR (that’s the Romance Writers Report, the official publication of the Romance Writers of America), has apparently started arriving at people’s doors. I have already gotten mail telling me that I am scary. I have also already gotten mail telling me that I am funny. So apparently my article is like a plague of zombies, intent on brains and cracking jokes. I approve!
But more importantly, in my article I promise people that they can visit my website and see a brand-spanking-new contest which may or may not follow the laws of all fifty states. For some reason, I had planned to have my contest start in September. But I had forgotten that the RWR comes out somewhat earlier than the date printed on the spine. I have blog contests, and quite regularly. Mostly I have blog contests because I read books and really, really want other people to read them, so I give away copies.
But my website contest is actually much more selfishly intended: I want you to read my book. And so the prizes for my website contest will always include some very fun things, like chocolate or a gift card, and occasionally, books written by other people, and always, some other very fun things, like a book or a novella written by me.
One last thing: when you enter my website contest, you will also be signed up for my newsletter (if you are already signed up for my newsletter, don’t worry–you can still enter, and so long as you are using the same e-mail address, it will not sign you up twice.) If you don’t want to get my newsletter, you have two options: 1. Don’t enter the contest. or 2. Enter the contest, but then opt-out after the contest closes.
EDIT: Uh, yes. If you want to enter the contest, you can do so here.
Oops! Bad blogger. I completely forgot I hadn’t chosen the winner.
Random.org says…. the winner is RachieG! Congratulations, Rachie! Send me an e-mail with your mailing address and I will get this right out to you.
Today is a very special holiday. It is “Buy a Book Written by Victoria Dahl” Day! Now, as you know, most of the time it is “Buy a Book Written by Courtney” day, but that’s difficult to celebrate, as the best you can do is preorder a novella written by Courtney, and that just lacks a certain euphonious ring.
But today, you need to stop whatever you are doing and run to the store (or to the online outlet, whatever) and get yourself a copy of One Week As Lovers.
I’ve been a big fan of Victoria Dahl since her very first book, but her latest historical is probably my favorite. There are two reasons why this book works so very, very well for me.
1. Cynthia. Cynthia is a survivor. I say this in the best possible way, because she’s had a lot to survive. She is such a survivor, that rather than marry an abusive man, she’s faked her own death, and has plans to disappear and go to America.
2. Lancaster. Lancaster is also a survivor, and again, in the best possible way. He has what seems like a pleasant, laidback, sunny, unspoiled disposition–and that is all hiding one of the most tortured heroes I’ve seen in a romance novel.
This is a fantastic novel that mixes playfulness and humor with dark emotional complexity. There were times when I wanted to reach into the book and take Lancaster out to keep him safe. And even though Lancaster has survived by adopting a pleasant, sunny disposition, he has no favors done to him in the course of this book, and he is pushed and pushed until you find out every last heroic thing he’s capable of.
As shattered as these two were, the reason I believed in their happiness so strongly was because Victoria Dahl made me believe in their shared joy. I love this book, and I hope you will, too.
I’m giving a copy of ONE WEEK AS LOVERS away to one lucky person who comments on this entry. The winner will be drawn at random from all the commenters.
MaggieLRobinson: @TessaDare @courtneymilan Lucy told Michelle to stay in and read GOTH to Barack for inspiration #tessadare
arianna_skye: @ElyssaPapa Lucy and Jeremy nominated for Nobel Piece prize! #tessadare
DYockman: Lucy has a new line of lingerie at Victoria’s Secret called Goddess of the Hunt. Featured item? Crimson Velvet Robe! #tessadare
arianna_skye: #tessadare and the oscar for best couple in a regency goes to… drumroll please!… Lucy and Jeremy
AnimeJune: Goddess of the Hunt didn’t punch Chuck Norris out – Chuck Norris simply placed his adoring face in the way of GOTH’s fist #tessadareWanderingG: www.ehunting.com New online dating site run by the fabulous Lucy. You can read her own love-match success story in GOTH. #tessadarer8chieg: @TessaDare’s acclaimed GODDESS OF THE HUNT released TODAY; already solved my squirrel problem and made ice cream!! #tessadare
ElyssaPapa: @TessaDare Presidential seal of approval for GOTH. http://twitpic.com/bwj4a #tessadare
