Book Store Closing

I posted earlier this week on Facebook about my Monday visit to the Pasadena, California, Barnes and Noble.

 

I'd been to a couple of bookstores the week before, after December began, but my December Harlequin Romantic Suspense COVERT ATTRACTION wasn't yet on the shelves.  It was there, though, at the Pasadena B&N, three copies that I got to sign.  Also on the shelves were several copies of my Pet Rescue Mysteries.  I was thrilled. 

 

 

I was also sad.  This Barnes and Noble is closing as of December 31. 

I enjoy going to Pasadena for different reasons, including its bookstores.  Vroman's is always fun.  So is Book 'Em Mysteries, which I visit before each of the Sisters in Crime Los Angeles meetings since the South Pasadena library--venue for the SinCLA meetings--and Book 'Em are within close walking distance of one another.  As far as I know, both of those stores are doing okay. 

But not that B&N.   

I admit that, although I have a Kindle and enjoy using it, I'm still hooked on physical books.  That means I'm also hooked on brick-and-mortar bookstores, although I have been known to order books online, too.   

It's sad to realize that my next book, TEACUP TURBULENCE, the fifth Pet Rescue Mystery, won't ever see the inside of that particular B&N since it's a January 2014 release.  I won't get to sign copies there.  I won't get to buy other books there unless I hurry back before the end of this year.

 

Sigh.

 

There are other B&Ns around, and some are closer to me.  I won't have to totally wean myself from Barnes and Nobles, just that one.  But that still makes me sad. 

So how about you--how are bookstores in your area doing?  And what's your opinion of them?

An Experiment and an Invitation

I've had a busy week. On Thursday, I finished my rewrite of Death of a Schoolgirl: The Jane Eyre Chronicles, and sent it to my editor at Berkley.

It's a big baby at 98,264 words. The release date is August, 2012. The editor's corrections should come to me on Monday (tomorrow) and I plan to have them back to her within the week. I think the cover is absolutely out of this world! I've been working on the second book in the series Death of a Dowager Lady by doing my research reading at night. That book is due in March.

On Friday, the galleys for Ready, Scrap, Shoot arrived.

They are due to Midnight Ink in January. I'm a third of the way through reading those. I'm dedicating that book to a bookclub that meets at the Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Fenton, Missouri. Those ladies are really excited about the dedication--and we plan to have a big book launch at that store when the book is out in May, 2012.

On Saturday, I got a wild and crazy idea: what if I wrote a Kiki Lowenstein short story every month for a year and made it available to my readers for 99 cents on Kindle? I noodled around a story idea with my sister, Jane. Saturday night, I created a cover for Kiki Lowenstein and the Secret Santa. I hope to have it available on Kindle later this week.

Today (Sunday) we loaded onto Kindle the new Ink, Red, Dead: A Kiki Lowenstein Mystery that features two novellas, one a Kiki Lowenstein mystery and the other the progressive story that my blog sisters and I wrote. It should be available for sale within the next 48 hours. I priced it at 99 cents. I plan to keep the 99 cent price point for everything I offer on Kindle for a while.

I'm curious to see how this works. Here's my hunch: Readers who love my characters will want to have a monthly "fix." I know that I love tuning into my favorite TV shows. And basically, we're in the entertainment business, right?

Will it work? Or will I drop dead trying? We'll see!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

On December 22 from 9 p.m EST to Midnight EST, I'm hosting an online Holiday Party on my Facebook page http://www.Facebook.com/JoannaCampbellSlan   There will be fabulous handmade prizes, signed books given away, and the chance to chat with your favorite authors including Diane Orgain (The Maternal Instincts Mysteries); Betty Hechtman (you know her! and she's giving away a crocheted scarf!); and Monica Ferris. More to come...

Will it work? I dunno. Here's hoping.

This Week

What a week!

My son’s wedding was Sunday. The food was wonderful, and I think everybody had a great time. I got through the dance with my son without tripping over my feet. I gave my toast and got a laugh from the audience and a hug from my new daughter.

Monday was Halloween. The neighbor down the street who rents his house out for movie and film productions had gone over the top decorating for Halloween. I mean really over the top. The whole front yard is hidden from view by extensive greenery and they had created a creepy entrance by putting a castle sized gray gate over their driveway. Next to the entrance there was a car up on the curb as if it had been in an accident. There was a fake dead cow underneath the car. I didn’t actually go in their yard, but I saw a lot of life sized skeletons. Out front, a cherry picker held up a big screen that something was being shown on.

Their house must have gotten on one of the TV news shows or all over Facebook, because the crowd this year was a record breaker. We had 683 trick or treaters. I handed out candy and my husband kept track. For the first time in our personal Halloween history, we ran out of candy - and it was only 7:45.

Later that night we began to notice Goldy, or Blondie as she is called in my books, wasn’t well. She kept skittering around all night, going from one spot to another and then back again. When I got up in the morning, I found her laying in my closet. Anyone who has pets knows that isn’t a good sign. I wrapped her in a towel and we took her to the vet. I was afraid it was going to be a one way trip. We had to leave her because the vet was in surgery and we had to take my brother to the airport. We got the call just as we reached Burbank airport. Thank heavens Goldy wasn’t as bad as she seemed. He thinks she had some arthritis in her spine and gave her some medication.

She is back home and seems okay. I have written about Goldy before and what an unpredictable dog she is. Apparently she liked that first night she spent in my closet because now it has become her sleeping place of choice.

Tuesday Behind the Seams came out in hardcover and You Better Knot Die came out in a paperback edition. Wednesday I began making the rounds of local bookstores to sign stock. I have to say it was pretty cool when I walked in Bookstar in Studio City and saw Behind the Seams on display right by the cash register.

Starting on November 7, I’m going to be one of the featured authors on the Barnes & Noble Mystery Forum. I would love to have you stop by and leave a comment. To get there you go to BarnesandNoble.com. If you click on books, a menu drops down. At the bottom is Blogs and Forums. Click on that and look through the list until you come to Mystery Forum.

I am also guest blogger today at Cozy Chicks www.cozychicksblog.com and Dru’s Book Musings http://notesfromme.wordpress.com.

Down to the Wire

I have this unfortunate habit of forgetting that the future eventually becomes the present. All of a sudden as I was flying home on Tuesday I realized a bunch of things I’d agreed to do had gone from being somewhere in the foggy future to being in the next few days.

I’m going to be a guest blogger on www.mysteryloverskitchen.com on Sunday. You can kind of guess by the name the blog is going to be something about food. I’m going to write about a new version of a chocolate chip pan cookie, but I have to bake it first and keep my fingers crossed that it turns out. My family is very excited about the prospect of fresh cookies. If you want to find out if it turns out, check in on Sunday.

I’m also writing something for www.crazy-for-books.com. I’m writing about a holiday tradition which is supposed to show up some time in December, and I promised to turn it in tomorrow. Luckily, my son was happy to use his new camera to take a last minute photograph for me to include.

Sunday I’m going to be at the Barnes & Noble in the Westside Pavilion in Los Angeles from 2:00 to 3:00. Apparently I’m supposed to speak. Geez I’m going to have to think about what I’m going to say. I don’t know if I can fill an hour.

I’m sure glad I took care of describing the holiday gifts I’d give Molly. It’s already up on the Mystery Scene site www.mysteryscenemag.com.

And I finished writing the piece for Mystery Reader’s Journal about hobbies and mysteries and turned it in days before the deadline. It should appear in an upcoming issue. Information can be found at www.mysteryreaders.org/journal.html.

Are you ever surprised to find that the future has become now?

Me and Justin Bieber

I am still making the rounds of bookstores - this time in the L.A. area. With the holiday shopping gearing up, though, I think bookstore personnel are going to be too busy helping customers to want to deal with a wandering author. So, other than a booksigning at the Barnes & Noble at the Westside Pavilion shopping center on December 12, I will probably only go in bookstores to buy books.

That’s why we went to the Barnes & Noble at the Grove Wednesday night. The Grove is the current hot spot in L.A.. It’s an outdoor shopping area built to appear to be a town square in a perfect little place somewhere. There is a mini park and a pond with dancing waters and even a trolley - though it just goes in a circle. The Grove next to CBS studios and attracts both tourist and celebrity shoppers. The show Extra tapes there and a scene in You Better Knot Die takes place there. The Barnes & Noble is three stories tall and hosts celebrity authors. The latest teen pop sensation Justin Bieber signed his book there a couple of weeks ago and there were screaming girls and their moms lined up around the block. I don’t know what his book was - a memoir perhaps? How much can there be to memoir about at 16? But that’s another story.

Even though it was late, 8:30, on the night before Thanksgiving, the store was very busy. I found the New in Fiction table in the primo spot just inside the door on the first floor. I scanned the array of books looking for mine. It wasn’t there. I know my book is supposed to be on the New in Fiction table, but sometimes it ends up on the New in Mystery shelf. I rode the escalator to the third floor where the mystery section is and went to the information desk and introduced myself to the manager and offered to sign my books. He checked his computer which apparently said the books were supposed to be on the New in Fiction table. He went all the way down to the first floor and checked the table. No You Better Knot Dies. He came back up and checked the New in Mystery section. Again, No You Better Knot Dies. He got help from another manager and they checked around some more and came up empty handed. They apologized profusely and I left them with a stack of post cards with the book cover.

I was ready to shrug it off as a whatever sort of circumstance and went down the escalator to the first floor. Just as I was about to leave the store, I noticed a table on the other side of the front door from the New in Fiction table. It had a sign saying Merry Christmas. Even though the managers had already checked it, and in all the bookstores I’ve gone to, my book has never been on the holiday table, I looked anyway. And there it was.

I went back up to the third floor and found the manager who was now becoming my friend and told him of my find. I returned to the first floor with a two manager entourage and showed them the book. They were so happy I found it and so apologetic that they’d missed it, they offered to put them on the Autographed Book ladder. Guess who else’s book is there? I hope some of Justin’s fans like crochet.

Have you ever had something that seems like a problem turn into a positive?

And the winner of the drawing for a copy of You Better Knot Die is Janet. If you send your snail mail address to Hechtmanbooks@aol.com, I will send the book off to you.

Time Out

Ah, Chicago weather. Need I say more?

I’m here to get to as many bookstores as possible to sign copies of You Better Knot Die. The plan for today was simple. We would head north and go to a Borders and Barnes & Noble in the Lincoln Park area then after a brief stop at Costco we’d head toward Evanston and beyond.

When we left L.A. yesterday the temperature was hovering in the nineties and the long sleeve tee shirt I wore felt like overkill. My new favorite thing to crochet is a gaiter, which also seems to be called a cowl. The one I just made is wool and looking at it in L.A. made me sweat, but I packed it anyway. Good thing.

While it was sunny this morning and the sky blue with puffs of clouds, by the time we left, the sky had turned steel gray. When we got to Borders, the wind had started up. I signed the books quickly and when we came out, there were a few drops of rain. It was drizzling when we headed for Barnes & Noble, and then just before I went in the door, the sky opened up and dumped sheets of rain. Inside, I was happy to see You Better Knot Die on the New in Mystery shelf, and like at Borders, copies of each of my other books.

Since the weather keeps changing in Chicago, I figured by the time we went back outside the deluge would be over. No. As we headed up Clyborn toward Costco, the rain turned to hail. By the time we got into the parking lot, it had gone back to merely raining. Even though it was dark, you could see this giant dark cloud hanging over us. The wind lashed the rain right under my umbrella and the giant warehouse style store was a warm respite from the weather. We were still planning to continue on with our plans, but the second time we heard the pummel of hail on the roof, we decided not keep on going to the further bookstores.

By the time we were back on the south side, the rain had moved on, but the wind was coming through in gusts that made the large branches of the old trees above us creak. Wet leaves fluttered down and stuck to whatever they landed on. We dropped off our packages at home and decided to walk two blocks to a restaurant. The wind sailed around us and swirled into every open crevice in my clothes until I felt like I wasn’t wearing anything. The only warm spot was my neck thanks to my gaiter/cowl.

Earlier this week Linda wrote about managing time and deadlines. I am on the opposite side of that, for a few days, at least. I have turned in the manuscript for Behind the Seams. You Better Knot Die is out and if the stores I’ve gone to in L.A. and Chicago are any indication, is on the shelves everywhere. I have set aside the proposal I was working on, and for these few days I’m going to let myself go where the wind blows me. No to-do list. Just eat, sleep, crochet and run around the city going to bookstores.

Uh,oh, I forgot heat goes off at night - the disadvantage of being a night owl in a condo with central heating. I wonder how the gaiter/cowl will go with my pajamas.

What about you? Do you enjoy having some time when you don’t constantly have that nagging feeling that you should be doing something else?

E-Readers

Last week, I was in Orlando at the Romance Writers of America conference. E-readers were everywhere!

Barnes & Noble had a large room dedicated to selling physical books--but there were also people selling the Nook e-reader outside it.

I arrived on Wednesday morning too late to attend a morning program given by Harlequin for its authors on social networking, darn it. I need as much instruction as I can get, to learn everything I’m not doing. The afternoon Harlequin program was dedicated to teaching us about the different kinds of e-readers and what their differentiating features are. I unfortunately also arrived too late to see the demonstration, but the room was packed. Afterward, a few techy folks from Harlequin hung around to give individual instruction, but I hadn’t learned enough to know what to ask. Sigh. But it did intrigue me.

Other programs discussed the future of the publishing industry, and where new forms of publishing, and reading, may fit in.

But did all this convince me to run right out and buy an e-reader? No. Maybe I’d have been so inclined if I’d seen the demos and figured out which one was best for me. But I haven’t heard of any yet that would survive a good dunking in the bathtub--which is where I do a lot of my reading.

So, for now, I’ll wait. Although if anyone reading this happens to know of waterproof e-readers, let me know. I might jump in earlier than I’m currently anticipating.

A Sign of the Times

Although A Stitch in Crime officially was released Tuesday, I wanted to make sure the books were in the store before I started making the rounds to sign stock. So Friday evening, we set out. No matter that it was raining and the some of the leaks in the roof had started to drip again. We just left a lot of plastic bags and containers and hit the road. Recently we replaced Molly’s greenmobile with a sleek black Mercedes SUV. What a nice change. The car seemed to laugh at the rain.


So did we. It was useless to fuss with an umbrella walking from the parking lots to the various stores, so my husband and I sloshed through the puddles enjoying the adventure of being out on the Southern California version of a bad weather night. Of course, it was nothing compared to the blizzard hitting back east. Joanna, I hope you aren’t snowed in.

All in all, we went to the five closest bookstores. All but one had books. The one that didn’t have them was expecting them any day. The two Barnes and Nobles had them on tower display in the front of the store. Bookstar had them in New Mystery. The manager at Borders promised to put them in a special display of signed books. Everyone was very nice about my signing the books and thanked me for coming in. For once I remembered to stick a bookmark in each book.

We ended the evening with a late night dinner at an Israeli restaurant that has a menu option of a selection of salads. Not some small selection either. Twenty different kinds. It was a heavenly feast for vegetarian me with lots of left overs to take home.

There are more bookstores to visit. Maybe next week. And I finished updating my website www.BettyHechtman.com. After much ado about a fuzzy photo, I have pictures of the crochet projects from A Stitch in Crime posted on it.

Blooming Crochet

I got the copy edit of my third book, By Hook or Crook. So all work on book four stopped since I get too confused trying to juggle stories. Actually, it was just the writing part I discontinued. I did still keep working on the crochet items for the fourth book.

I have been playing with different yarn and pattern ideas and came up with a clue based on glow in the dark yarn. It’s made by Bernat and yes, it does really glow in the dark. The wrapper says that if you leave in the light for five minutes, it will glow for five minutes. I assume if you leave it longer, it will glow longer. In any case, in book four it glows longer.

I’m guessing everyone isn’t as excited about this yarn as I am since Joann’s doesn’t carry it, and Michael’s had it on closeout. The wrapper had a pattern for a kid’s hat. I’m using it for embellishments.

I used glow in the dark pink to made a rose. Even without the glow in the dark aspect, the yarn is satiny and the flower turned out quite pretty. In book four, flowers in the special yarn are going to be decoration on a pouch purse which Molly Pink finds because the flowers show up in the dark.

All my flower making wasn’t confined to clues. I was to take part in a book fair put on by my chapter of Romance Writers of America at the Encino Barnes & Noble. I wanted to wear something crocheted, but it was too warm for a scarf. So, the night before I made a nice big burnt orange flower. I attached a pin back to it and had a perfect visual reminder of my craft.

Crocheted flowers are really fun to make and cool to wear.I got the copy edit of my third book, By Hook or Crook. So all work on book four stopped since I get too confused trying to juggle stories. Actually, it was just the writing part I discontinued. I did still keep working on the crochet items for the fourth book.

I have been playing with different yarn and pattern ideas and came up with a clue based on glow in the dark yarn. It’s made by Bernat and yes, it does really glow in the dark. The wrapper says that if you leave in the light for five minutes, it will glow for five minutes. I assume if you leave it longer, it will glow longer. In any case, in book four it glows longer.

I’m guessing everyone isn’t as excited about this yarn as I am since Joann’s doesn’t carry it, and Michael’s had it on closeout. The wrapper had a pattern for a kid’s hat. I’m using it for embellishments.

I used glow in the dark pink to made a rose. Even without the glow in the dark aspect, the yarn is satiny and the flower turned out quite pretty. In book four, flowers in the special yarn are going to be decoration on a pouch purse which Molly Pink finds because the flowers show up in the dark.

All my flower making wasn’t confined to clues. I was to take part in a book fair put on by my chapter of Romance Writers of America at the Encino Barnes & Noble. I wanted to wear something crocheted, but it was too warm for a scarf. So, the night before I made a nice big burnt orange flower. I attached a pin back to it and had a perfect visual reminder of my craft.

Crocheted flowers are really fun to make and cool to wear.

My Fourth of July Staycation

The end of the holiday weekend. I guess you could say I did a staycation. That word is going to wear thin soon. I keep hearing it on the news before they do a segment on people staying in town. Actually staying in L.A. isn’t without things to do.

When I was growing up we lived in a somewhat run down building. It had been built as a hotel for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. It only occurred to me later that was why all the rooms were the same size except our living room which was two rooms with a pocket door in between and must have been a suite.

Every summer I would fix up the back porch. Well, back porch was a generous term. It was more like a landing, so small there wasn’t even room for a chair. And so dark that the mother in laws tongue plant I put out there barely survived. Still, I would put my plant out and sweep the winter dirt away and sit on the steps and dream that someday I might have someplace a little bigger.

Now, I have a real backyard and even though it is many years later, every time I look at it, I think how lucky I am. There are orange trees and redwood trees and flowers and sun light and room for lots of chairs. So, the idea of staying home this weekend and spending it in my own backyard was nice.

It wasn’t totally a weekend off. I went into the city and signed HOOKED ON MURDER at a Barnes & Noble in a shopping area called The Grove. It looks like an idealized downtown of a small town. Last summer when I was in Iowa City, I realized it looked like The Grove, but it was real. The Grove has become the celebrity shopping area of choice.

I am still finishing creating the pattern for the filet crochet bookmark that will be in DEATH AND DOILIES along with a pattern for making a cuddle blanket. And there is the recipe. Putting the polish on the recipe is my family’s favorite part of my writing. They get to be the tasters. This time the recipe is for California Noodle Pudding, which I plan to make today. Even the cats and the dog are excited as they get to be tasters, too.

Instead of a barbecue, we went to a restaurant on the beach for dinner Saturday night. The drive to Malibu was a little eerie as there was a wildfire along the road the day before. We passed lots of blackened grass, but the fire was completely out. And all the smoke gone, which was a relief as it was blowing our way last night.

The beach is always refreshing and we had a view of the water from our table. Sometimes when we eat at this particular restaurant, dolphins swim by. None this time, but it was late. We got there just as the water and sky were melting together. The tide was coming in and a big waves crashed against the rocks right outside the window sending up a lot of something heavier than spray. Just a subtle reminder that in the past storms have sent the waves crashing through the restaurant.

I liked my Staycation. Did anyone else have one too?