NetGalley Goes to Comic Con

New York Comic Con is next weekend (Oct. 13-16) and I couldn’t be more excited! I always look forward to seeing cos players on the subways and in the streets of NY… not to mention all of the amazing guests and exhibitors that will actually be inside the Javits Center.

I hope that some of the 4,000+  NetGalley members who tell us they read comics and graphic novels can make it to New York for the convention. If you’re attending, don’t forget to stop at the publishers’ booths and show them some love! Dark Horse, Legendary Comics, ONI Press,  Lerner, Lee & Low, and Carina will all be there, in addition to many others. Be sure you check out the Comic Con preview on our NetGalley Features page and read up on some of the new comic and graphic novel titles!

I will be walking the floor on Friday, October 14, meeting some of the publishers and taking lots of photos. I won’t be in costume, but I will be wearing an I HEART NG sticker. If you see me, stop and say hello… I’ll gladly give you a sticker too. You may also catch me in the Carina booth (#2021) getting “zombified” on Friday. Keep an eye out for the after-photos!

Check out The Gothamist’s favorite costumes from NYCC 2010 and if you go to NYCC 2011 in costume, please share your photos with us on the NetGalley Facebook page.

May the force be with you…

Kristina, NetGalley Community Concierge

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RWA 2011–Welcome to NYC!

Romance Writers of America are in New York this week for their 31^st Annual Conference, and I’d like to take a moment to welcome all the visitors to my home turf! Hopefully you’re taking time to sight-see between workshops, networking events and meetings. If you’re looking for something to do, there are always plenty of book events going on in and around the city—check out New York Magazine’s list for this week.

Last month we announced a partnership with Library Journal, who is now considering book-length romance e-originals for review, and this month I’m happy to report that NetGalley now has over 6,000 members who have listed Romance as one of their reading genres and 175 romance titles listed in the catalog from publishers and imprints such as Harlequin, Carina Press,  Avon, Berkley Romance, Forever, Red Sage and Entangled. That makes romance one of our hottest genres on NetGalley, pun definitely intended! Not to mention that YA + Romance=some of the most requested titles on NetGalley right now. Five of the top ten requested titles are YA/Romance cross-overs!

We’re very sad that we couldn’t be in attendance at RWA this year, but we know there are lots of great conversations happening virtually as well as physically at the Marriott Marquis. We’re watching #RWA11, but are there any other hashtags we should be following? Off the top of my head I know that Angela James of Carina Press is moderating a panel with book reviewers on Thursday. I hope there are lots of tweets! Let me know which hashtags you’re following in the comments, or tweet them @NetGalley!

Lots of love to all you romance readers,

Kristina, your Community Concierge

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Recap: #FollowReader Nov. 20, 2009: Angela James and Carina Press

 

Good question about formats @bradmacl Epub and PDF (DRM-free of course) are the ones we know. Still working out the rest. #followreaderPosted by angelajames

Last Friday we had a lovely TwitChat with Angela James, editorial director of Harlequin’s new digital press, Carina. You can read through the full transcript by clicking here (archived TwitChat).

Angela shared some basic info about Carina Press including:

• They will be digital first, no advance, higher than usual royalty
• They are interested in publishing a number of romance subgenres including: historical, paranormal, and fantasy/sci-fi
• Distribution will be both direct from Carina site & through 3rd party sites
• They are aiming for an early summer 2010 launch of titles
• Titles will be DRM-free

Some highlights from the chat:

RT @angelajames: Lit agents can (&do) have a role in @CarinaPress We’ve had agented subs already & they are enthusiastic. Posted by GalleyCat

any plans to work with bookstores (specifically indies) to promote and distribute? Posted by AaronsBooks

That’s a great ? @AaronsBooks we wld love to innovate something with bookstores for digital & work with booksellers.Posted by angelajames

What about the tech end? Will @CarinaPress Books be available on a variety of ereader platforms? Posted by bradmacl

Good question about formats @bradmacl Epub and PDF (DRM-free of course) are the ones we know. Still working out the rest. Posted by angelajames

@angelajames I’m excited to hear you’ll include back copy copy in ebooks – any other features you’ll be adding? Posted by CheekyReads

We’re still in early days of planning formatting, so no definitive plans yet @CheekyReads Posted by angelajames

I hope that people stop using the term “real books” in regards to print  & realize that digital is just as “real”! Posted by angelajames

I would also like to see the fear of digital go away in the publishing industry (along with current DRM on most platforms) Posted by angelajames

I’ll continue to answer questions on Twitter or our blog www.carinapress.com if there are more that come up! Posted by angelajames

 

Just a reminder: Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, there will not be any #FollowReader this week. But, we’ll be back in full force on Friday, December 4th.

~ Kat

 

 

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This Friday’s #FollowReader with Angela James: Dragging the world to the digital dark side, one reader at a time

Angela James of Carina Press

This Friday on #FollowReader, we’ll be Twit-chatting with the fabulous Ms. Angela James (@AngelaJames), the newly appointed Executive Editor for Harlequin’s soon-to-be on-the-e-reading-scene Carina Press (@CarinaPress). Launching the summer of 2010, Carina will be a digital-only publishing house,  operating independently of Harlequin’s traditional publishing businesses.

Angela James is a long time key player in the e-romance world, and a well-known (and delightfully outspoken) advocate for digital publishing. Among the topics we’ll be discussing with Angie on Friday’s #FollowReader:

• Carina’s decision to go digital only (or at least, digital-first, for now)
• No DRM – did we hear that right? And, what does that really mean?
• Beyond women’s fiction — what subgenres can we expect to see from Carina?
• Author compensation: Carina’s is going the no- advance/higher royalty route. What does that approach means for authors, publishers and readers?
• What are Angie’s predictions for the future of publishing/books/reading?
• And, just how cool is it to be launching a brand new publishing house for HARLEQUIN?

So, hope you can join us Friday, November 20th at 4pm ET.

• Learn more about Angela James at Angela’s own blog: Nice Mommy/Evil Editor Blog
• Learn more about Carina Press

To join the #followreader conversation on Friday, here’s what to do:

1. Just before 4pm ET, log in to Twitter or whatever interface you use (e.g. Tweetchat, Tweetdeck, Twitterific, etc.)
2. To follow the discussion, run a search for #followreader
3. I’ll start by asking Angie (@AngelaJames) a few questions, before opening up the discussion to the group.
4. To post to the discussion, type #followreader in each tweet

NOTE: You might want to experiment with TweetChat, which refreshes quickly and automatically loads your hashtag when you are in the discussion.

Looking forward to tweeting with you on Friday! And, for those of you who can’t make it on Friday, watch this space next week for a recap of the highlights. Also, please feel free to suggest topics for future #followreader chats in the comments below.

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