This was a question that Bonnie Dee posed to me the other day, and my answer is…I’m not sure.

Bonnie wrote in an email to me:

… I realize m/m romances haven’t made strong inroads into brick and mortar stores, so the question might not apply there. I actually have no idea where they’re shelved in a regular bookstore. The question arose from my own website. I was redesigning my backlist library, which is separated by genre since I write in many different ones.

I realized I had the m/m books in a group of their own even though the titles could be classified under scifi/fantasy, contemporary and anthology (and soon some historicals). I started to consider whether I shouldn’t shelve them with their correct genre, but it doesn’t seem to make sense since some readers are specifically looking for same sex books. Why make it hard for them to locate them?

Anyway, that’s what brought to mind the whole issue of separation by shelving and what it says about the way we view certain groups, whether it be by race or sexual orientation. When is it all right to group separately as simply a sensible business move and when is it insensitive?

Certainly it would be easier for MM readers to find MM books if they were shelved separately, but isn’t that the same argument that people use in the shelving-by-colour debate? Doesn’t this otherise (made-up word alert!) gay and lesbian relationships, and how is segregating by sexual preference any different to segregating by colour?

I would love to ruminate longer on this, but quite frankly, I don’t have the time right now, so I’ll open the floor to you guys. What do you think? Does it genuinely make good business sense to shelve gay romance books separately?

Shiloh Walker is offering to dedicate her next to book to a reader, in exchange for them donating to the Haiti Earthquake fund:

Okay, so I want to do something to help raise money for Haiti.

Here’s the thing… I try to do auctions thru ebay sometimes, but that’s not going to work this time… I’ve only got one ARC in the house and it’s already got an owner-just haven’t mailed it out.

ARCs are the best way to generate money on ebay and it will be months before I have another one.

So how about this instead…

I can dedicate a book to anybody I want.
And if you’ll help out Haiti, you can get a chance to have your name mentioned in the book’s dedication.

How?

Like this…donate a minimum of $5 to your online disaster relief charity of choice. Please note, this is for disaster relief… while I love the polar bear, the polar bear isn’t affected by the crisis in Haiti. If you’re not sure where to start, you can check out the charities listed at Charity Navigator:

Helping the Victims of the Haiti Earthquake

I love Charity Navigator-I like seeing how much money is actually going to the programs and stuff-the site is awesome for that.

Post HERE that you donated…all you gotta say is I DONATED! Or along those lines…*G* It helps stir up fun when people see who all is getting involved. But you also need to email me the info at contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com. A PDF of the receipt or a screen cap works (block out sensitive data) or you can XXX out the personal data and forward the email receipt to me, however you prefer. I don’t share emails and once the contest is over, I delete them. Please put Help out Haiti in the subject line.

Everybody who donates and follows the above guidelines will entered into a drawing and if your name is drawn, your name (first name only if you wish, first and last, first name, last initial-we’ll discuss that with the winner) will be mentioned in the dedication of Hunter’s Fall, and the winner will receive a signed copy when the book comes out. But since it’s going to be a while before Hunter’s Fall is out and I think the winner should get something a little bit sooner, I’ll also send the winner 2 signed copies of Broken-one of the winner, and one personalized for the friend of their choice, once I get my author copies.

This is what it says on the site:

Romancing The Blog launched on Tuesday, January 5, 2005, with a post by Katie MacAlister. Nearly five years and over 1500 posts later, the team of volunteer “Kates” has decided to put RTB on hiatus. If things go as planned, RTB will return mid-year with a new look, a new mission, new management, and even more insight into the romance industry. But for now, we say good-bye.

Oh what a shame. Really, I mean it. Uh huh.

They are M.I.A, and have been for over a week.

Because I still love this version so much, I’ll leave you with Mairi Campbell’s Auld Lang Syne from The first Sex and The City movie.

And because I’m mega excited about the new Sex and The City movie, here’s the trailer to whet your appetites. Roll on May 28th 2010!

So I hear that MWA (Mystery Writers of America) delisted the much-maligned Harlequin over the whole self-publishing/vanity press hoopla.

Lee Goldberg writes:

Any author who signs with Harlequin or any of its imprints from this date onward may not use their Harlequin books as the basis for active status membership nor will such books be eligible for Edgar® Award consideration. However books published by Harlequin under contracts signed before December 2, 2009 may still be the basis for Active Status membership and will still be eligible for Edgar® Award consideration (you may find the full text of the decision at the end of this bulletin).

Although Harlequin no longer offers its eHarlequin Critique Service and has changed the name of its pay-to-publish service, Harlequin still remains in violation of MWA rules regarding the relationship between a traditional publisher and its various for-pay services.

Poor Harlequin, I wonder what action they’re gonna take after this? There’s a letter from Harlequin too if you can be arsed to pop over and read it.

Moving on, (more…)

I mean since the election of President Obama that is.

I guess I was shocked to see so many American people happy that you guys didn’t get the Olympics, and the backlash against him when he got the Nobel Peace Prize.

Firstly, I can’t bear our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, but I can’t imagine ever being happy at losing a major honour like hosting the Olympics, just because he happened to be on the committee trying to help us win the damned thing. It really doesn’t make sense.

Secondly, I still feel that the American president being awarded the Nobel Prize was an amazing thing, not something to be pilloried for. Yeah, sure it was wholly unexpected, but wow, what an honour. For God’s sake, this time, eighteen months ago, America was probably the most hated nation in the world, mainly because of the previous president. Obama getting the the Nobel Peace prize was like a vote of confidence in America, I thought that was a pretty big deal, but it seemed that many Americans felt embarrassed by the win.

With both of the above occurrences, it was a little like watching people dancing on graves in a cemetary. It was just…weird.

It’s been a busy old day today, so I’m probably the last person to find out that Quartet Press are disbanding

Is that the quickest e-press death in history? I wouldn’t mind, but they had a much nicer welcome than most new e-presses get.

I wonder what happened? Anybody?

And what about Angela James?

Yep, nothing wrong with taking the wait and see approach at all.

UPDATE:

I just thought I’d add the link to the post I wrote re the initial fanfare that greeted Quartet Press when they arrived.

Mrs Giggles called it right wouldn’t you say?

Hey, I did say I wouldn’t be slow in shining a torch on them if they went tits up. I pride myself on my consistency, dontcha know. *g*

….

Second update–azteclady here. Found in the comments at Dear Author, a link to the Publishers’ Weekly piece on this.

Would you stick to the same career if you could have a do-over?

If I could have a do-over, I think I would go into the fashion industry. Not making the clothes. I think I’d fancy being a fashion buyer for one of the big houses.

What career would you choose if you could go back?