Samhain Publishing is winding down and will close

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

In the end, I think that it doesn't exist the standard "romance reader" or something valid for everybody. After more than thirty five years reading romance (yes, I began to read Spanish romance novels -Corín Tellado- when I was around 12 years old...

Speaking of those, do you know if there's an ebook source for them?
(I've searched online with no luck.)
My mom mainlined those like crazy back in the day. She'd probably get a kick if I could track her a couple.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

You asked me for suspense writers with bed scenes. Those were the first two that came to mind.
Note I am a little slow at times when it comes to the romance aspect.
And not just in my reading.

Which series are you talking about mixing Christine Feehan and suspense? I must accept that I'm a bit of touch with the different series, but all of them, although with a suspense story, are more paranormal (in my view, that's all) and definitely romance with alpha males.

And let's focus in reading

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

So there are a lot more indie books on sale. Have total indie sales stay static, risen or fallen?

Risen.
Total indie sales have grown ridiculously over the last ten years. Even last year saw growth. The pie is still growing but the party has alot of gate crashers.

But, as I pointed out above, the indie game is no longer just about sales, so it's harder than ever to judge the size of the market. You can't go by retail dollars because of the pricing differential between Indie and tradpub and even among Indies when crossing genres. And with KU in the mix you can't go by unit sales either.

That's probably why Author Earnings normalizes their reporting to net author income, aggregated by path to market.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Speaking of those, do you know if there's an ebook source for them?
(I've searched online with no luck.)
My mom mainlined those like crazy back in the day. She'd probably get a kick if I could track her a couple.

Kobo Spain You can find a lot. Or Casa del Libro.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

Which series are you talking about mixing Christine Feehan and suspense? I must accept that I'm a bit of touch with the different series, but all of them, although with a suspense story, are more paranormal (in my view, that's all) and definitely romance with alpha males.

And let's focus in reading

Ghostwalkers.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Ghostwalkers.

I have guessed so. And yes, I bought them as romance, the first couple or three ones I liked but, later? Too much angst, and alpha male for my tastes. But my opinion about genre is prejudiced because of the way I discovered Christine Feehan (Carpathians). Anyway, I agree that her books have more sex scenes than J.D. Robb

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I saw a story by an author who went through heck trying to get one of those through the establishment, with no takers. "Readers want somebody they can relate to."

She self-pubbed and hit jackpot.

Apparently the idea of lifestyle fantasy is lost on the romance aquisitions editors.

Her writing must have not been according to guidelines. rock romances are still being published by the big houses. Two just came out this month. Publishers have strict rules though. Had S.C. Stephans, Jamie McGuire or even the awesome Tiffany Snow not published indie first we would have never seen their books mainstream. Maybe another story but there would be no Travis, Kade or Kellan. Their books do not fit into the traditional romance publishers idea but these authors widen the guidelines for others.

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[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Their books do not fit into the traditional romance publishers idea but these authors widen the guidelines for others.

So, as the books sold a lot, traditional publishers saw a gold mine.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

So, as the books sold a lot, traditional publishers saw a gold mine.

Yep they sure did. A huge gold mine. Look at Kristen Ashley. I think her stories was better before she got picked up but she had a large following she brought with her.

The thing is indie author if you are good you are going to be discovered by people. Jamie sent her story around in the Amazon forums before she ever put it up for sale. If you have talent you will succeed if not you can promote your book all you want if there is mediocre to bad writing in it and you are using Amazon readers to test your skills for you more than likely you'll just end up in the slush pile.

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[Terisa de morgan]

Well, as I've got my pick of slush pile with traditional publishers... Let's say I trust very few...

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

Well, as I've got my pick of slush pile with traditional publishers... Let's say I trust very few...

I felt that way for awhile especially after 50 Shades but the traditional publishers are starting to put out really good quality stories again especially in the historical category.

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[Atunah]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I felt that way for awhile especially after 50 Shades but the traditional publishers are starting to put out really good quality stories again especially in the historical category.

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Which is of course totally awesome for me since that is my favorite subgenre of romance.
Although I just read a lot of "older" titles if my favorite authors didn't have anything coming out, or didn't put out stuff I liked reading. There are still so many I haven't read published in the early 90's and on.
What I am finding is that some of the newer stuff now being published by trade is giving me the same "epic-ness" the older stuff had. It was missing a bit in the last few years. The depth was missing, I think you know what I mean Blossom.

I also noticed some authors coming back to mama so to speak and writing HR again after jumping ship to contempo. And others after releasing their back list titles have caught the writing bug again and putting out new stuff after a long hiatus.

Samhain had some nice back list titles but I think you mentioned it upthread, it was a tad overpriced. I hope those authors get their rights back and just put it out on their own and price it attractively.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

Kobo Spain You can find a lot. Or Casa del Libro.

Much obliged, ma'am. I'll have to see if Kobo has georestrictions in place on those.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Atunah

Samhain had some nice back list titles but I think you mentioned it upthread, it was a tad overpriced. I hope those authors get their rights back and just put it out on their own and price it attractively.

What I've heard is Samhain is trying to do an honorable wind-down; pay all debts and royalties in full, revert all rights, and fold the tents without bankruptcy.
Might not happen but that's their stated intent.

Hopefully they won't have to go through a Nightshade deal at authors' expense.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Atunah

Which is of course totally awesome for me since that is my favorite subgenre of romance.
Although I just read a lot of "older" titles if my favorite authors didn't have anything coming out, or didn't put out stuff I liked reading. There are still so many I haven't read published in the early 90's and on.
What I am finding is that some of the newer stuff now being published by trade is giving me the same "epic-ness" the older stuff had. It was missing a bit in the last few years. The depth was missing, I think you know what I mean Blossom.

I also noticed some authors coming back to mama so to speak and writing HR again after jumping ship to contempo. And others after releasing their back list titles have caught the writing bug again and putting out new stuff after a long hiatus.

Samhain had some nice back list titles but I think you mentioned it upthread, it was a tad overpriced. I hope those authors get their rights back and just put it out on their own and price it attractively.

Especially Patricia Hagan. I have a couple but I couldn't afford to pay $7 a book for a backlist title once they went up. I hope she does release hers. I remember being so excited about Retro Romance when it came out but then I saw the prices go up. I'm only willing to pay so much for a book that was published in the 70s-80s (Judith McNaught I'm looking at you) $7 is way too high.

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