jhetley | Moderate jaw-drop

Moderate jaw-drop

Okay, we're browsing down the aisles of a local Brooks Pharmacy for this and that, and pass the paperback-and-magazine rack. And what does Wife spot?

Copy of DRAGON'S EYE mass-market edition. In with the assorted bodice-rippers and best-sellers.

Must be the beefcake Gary on the cover...

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Don't complain! Any exposure is good exposure, and you might pick up some mainstream fans.

And it was faced out...

Of course, all the drugstore books are faced out. How else to snag the unwary marks?

I loved your novel Dragon's Eye (am currently reading Dragon's Teeth) and came to this journal by way of a blurb you wrote about my fav author, Charles De Lint, and thought "Well, if they like each other...".
My only comment on the cover of Dragon's Eye was "Well, that was an unfortunate choice in cover..." Feel free to pass that along to the publisher or not. I got some odd looks from people in the library when they saw what I was reading. Oh well. Story was great, and I look forward to the rest of your work.
I am a librarian and I guarantee that cover will cause my romance addled patrons to pick it up, and I am sure that I will have to deal with some complaints eventually. C'est la vie.

The Niles Librarian

Don't know if you'll ever read this, but authors rarely have any say in the cover art concealing our words. There's even a famous little ditty about it:

"There's a bimbo on the cover of the book,
There's a bimbo on the cover of the book,
She is blonde and she is sexy,
She is nowhere in the text, she
Is the bimbo on the cover of the book."

Five or six more verses of the disconnect between covers and contents...

Is that Niles, as in Michigan?

I knew that about the the choice in cover art, and that's a great little ditty, I'll be passing that along... My wife is an academic writer and she just had a ~wonderful~ time in a three way discussion about the title of the forthcoming book with the editor and the agent. Sigh...

Yes, that would be Niles, MI, not to be confused with those North of Chicago Nile-ists that people calling my library are often confused with.

I like your journal, read about 80 entries worth yesterday. Hope that you find a publisher. FWIW, I have directed my fiction buyer to make sure we have your backlist as well as our current holdings, and have added you to my "try this author out" list.

Fight the good fight and I'll keep reading.

The Niles Librarian

Regarding the backlist, I don't know what your library's policy on paperbacks might be, but SUMMER COUNTRY and WINTER OAK are now available only in the mass-market editions. I have copies of the trade paperbacks available, or some friends have an online web site with autographed trade-paperback copies and a system for ordering and mailing set up.

Wife and I lived in Ann Arbor for five years or so, back in the Jurassic Era, and my family pretty much settled Traverse City. That's why I asked about Niles.

Well, we would prefer trade paperbacks over mass market, and I would be happy to pay either you or your friends for copies (direct money always better than royalties I say). You can send relevant information to contactndl *at* gmail.com. Autographs are optional, but we are running a Winter Reading Program for adults and they would make good giveaways, so I might have to buy a few...

Went back to read the Green Man reviews of WINTER OAK, now I !really! am looking forward to reading them.

My dad was at Michigan back in the day, and my wife got her doctorate from there too, and I have in-laws living in Ann Arbor these days as well. We get over there about every three months for a restock from Trader Joe's (Niles is somewhat lacking in the interesting food areas). Haven't been to Traverse City yet. I am a Canuck transplant from Montreal by way of Fort Wayne, IN. Loong story. May have to start a LJ log to tell it...

The Niles Librarian

Well, the web-based order site is:

http://korval.com/hetley.html

From which I get a larger percentage than royalty sales -- Steve and Sharon handle my books on consignment, since they're set up for web commerce.

If you don't think that will work out, email me at my public address and I'll send you snail-mail contact and prices:

jhetley AT hotmail DOT com

Order in and paid for. I love discretionary spending. Thank you very much for the info, and I'll do my best to find the giveaway books a good home.

As you can see, I decided to slip into the LJ waters as well... I am too impulsive by half. I blame the Nerds-TM that my Secret Santa has been slipping me all week...

Have a good rest of the week.

"Be sure to post when Walmart has you under one of their manic yellow smily-faces..." remarks Pernicious the Musquodoboit Harbour Farm Cat...

I've never looked.

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Moderate jaw-drop

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Hey, just dropping by

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Done and done

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