HOW AMAZON BLINDSIDED THREE DEBUT HACHETTE AUTHORS

I’ve been living in a happy bubble for the last few months as I prepared for the July 1^st release of my debut, DARK PARADISE. The contract negotiations between my publisher, Hachette Book Group, and Amazon were barely a blip on my radar.

I should have paid more attention to the news about Amazon discouraging customers from buying Hachette titles and delaying shipment of some books, as reported in the New York Times by David Streitfeld.

If I had, I would’ve known that many popular Hachette authors like Malcolm Gladwell, Stephen Colbert, James Patterson, J.K. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith, and others have been affected by these tactics. 

Maybe I wouldn’t have been blindsided on Thursday night when I went on Amazon and searched by title for DARK PARADISE, and discovered it’s missing.

 

The only way to find DARK PARADISE is to search by author, ANGIE SANDRO.

Not that it does a potential buyer any good, since my novel is currently UNAVAILABLE! Amazon even removed my beautiful covers.

 

I’ve had a few days for this to sink in, and I’m still writing this post with a rage cloud hovering over my head. I despise bullies! Amazon's actions made me feel helpless and spat upon. I may be just a little voice in this fight, but I will YELL as loud as I can until I'm heard.

I always root for the underdog, and I'm not the only author whose publication dreams are being stomped on.

Hell, I don't even have it the worst out of the Grand Central/Forever authors debuting in July and August. 

Lia Riley's novels, UPSIDE DOWN and SIDE SWIPED, are missing. As in, the only thing remaining on Amazon is her author profile. 

 

 

 

Eliza Freed still has her gorgeous covers, but her novels, FORGIVE ME, REDEEM ME, and SAVE ME, are also unavailable. How random is it that three authors have been slammed in three different ways?

 

 

It was an eye-opener for me to realize how often I purchase books on Amazon. I would check my author ranking on Amazon and do a little dance every time I had a pre-order listed. My mindset in this regard has changed.

I linked the novels listed in this post to Barnes & Noble, but there are a lot of stores out there supporting Hachette authors. Books-A-Million and Zola Books are offering 30% off Hachette titles.

Also check out THE BOOK WHEEL #ReadHachette campaign to support your favorite Hachette authors.

I said earlier that my voice is small, but it is amazing what can happen if we all yell together. My thanks to everyone who has supported me by pre-ordering DARK PARADISE through other vendors. I appreciate your words of encouragement by tweet, email, and FB like. You've turned a stressful time into one of hope.

Thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

LOST SOULS SERIES TRIPLE COVER REVEAL- ELIZA FREED

Today I'm pleased to participate in my Grand Central/Forever Yours Pub Sister, Eliza Freed's triple cover reveal for her LOST SOULS SERIES. Aren't they gorgeous!

 

 

 

FORGIVE ME (July 1, 2014; Forever Yours E-Book; $3.99)

Some things can't be forgiven...Charlotte O'Brien should forgive God for her parents' death. She should forgive her boyfriend for his one horrific mistake that separated them, and she should forgive herself for cutting them both off, but instead she hates everyone.

But when her childhood friend Noble Sinclair arrives, his passion reignites the spark that had vanished so completely in Charlotte's gray existence. And in Noble's arms, Charlotte finally begins to wonder if she might be ready to choose the future with Noble over her shattered past.

 

Pre-order links:

Amazon

B&N

 

About Eliza Freed:

Debut author Eliza Freed writes new adult romance novels with a New Jersey wit and a hometown charm. The first book in her Lost Souls series will be released in 2014 by Forever Yours.

Social Media Links:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

UPSIDE DOWN (OFF THE MAP #1) GIVEAWAY- LIA RILEY

Mmm, a variety of sweets, the kind you eat and the kind you enjoy in other ways. 

 

The prize IF you enter and win: An UPSIDE DOWN gift bag, which includes: University of Melbourne tote and pen, scratch-off-where-you-have-travelled World Map, TimTams (Australia's famous chocolate biscuits), caramel Koalas, and a $25 Amazon gift card.

 

Wicked cool, right? So what are you waiting for?

 

 

 

 

 

If You Never Get Lost, You’ll Never Be Found

 

 

Twenty-one-year-old Natalia Stolfi is saying goodbye to painful memories—and turning her life upside down with a trip to the land down under. For the next six months, she’ll pretend to be a carefree exchange student. Everything is going to plan until she meets a surly surfer with hypnotic green eyes, and the troubling ability to see straight through her act.

 

Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he slunk back to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defenses. He’s never wanted anyone the way he wants Talia. A single semester abroad won’t cover something this serious. But when Bran gets a stark reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once-in-a-lifetime . . . or if there’s a plane to California with her name on it.

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Author Bio:

Lia Riley writes offbeat New Adult Romance. After studying at the University of Montana-Missoula, she scoured the world armed only with a backpack, overconfidence and a terrible sense of direction. She counts shooting vodka with a Ukranian mechanic in Antarctica, sipping yerba mate with gauchos in Chile and swilling fourex with stationhands in Outback Australia among her accomplishments.

 

A British literature fanatic at heart, Lia considers Mr. Darcy and Edward Rochester as her fictional boyfriends. Her very patient husband doesn't mind. Much. When not torturing heroes (because c'mon, who doesn't love a good tortured hero?), Lia herds unruly chickens, camps, beach combs, daydreams about as-of-yet unwritten books, wades through a mile-high TBR pile and schemes yet another trip. Right now, Icelandic hot springs and Scottish castles sound mighty fine.

 

She and her family live mostly in Northern California. Her debut New Adult romance, UPSIDE DOWN, releases August 5, 2015 from Grand Central/Forever.

Query Letter- JUJU'S CHILD

This is the pitch letter for Juju's Child, my debut New Adult novel, coming from Grand Central/Forever Yours. 

 Black mud oozes between my toes as I shift my weight and jerk on the rope, sending up a cloud of midges and the rotten-egg stench of stagnant swamp water…

Ripples undulate across the surface of the water, spreading in my direction. My breath catches, and I fumble for the knife. Those aren’t natural waves. Something’s beneath the surface. Something big. I jerk on my leg, panting. With each heave, I sink deeper, unable to break the suction holding me prisoner. If it was a gator I’d already be dead. But, I’m not. So what is it? Why hasn’t it attacked?

 

A flash of white from the corner of my eye—

When twenty-year-old Malaise LaCroix finds a dead girl floating in the bayou, she makes the mistake of reporting the murder to the police. She’s naive enough to think the girl’s parents will be grateful, but Mama warns her otherwise and hints at a darkness to come. Mala has always written off Mama’s interest in hoodoo as a quirk, more comical than some of her other habits. Unlike Mama, Mala thinks that believing in magic is for weak-minded fools. Until the dead girl starts haunting her.

The town believes that Mala’s great aunt was a New Orleans Hoodoo Queen, a descendent of the famous Seven Sisters. Cruel rumors have followed Mala her whole life, but now that she’s considered a suspect in the murder case, the rumors don’t seem so harmless. Even Landry, who’s had a crush on Mala for years, seems afraid to stray too close.

The girl’s desperate spirit needs Mala’s latent psychic gift, willing or not, to expose her murderer. And once the girl’s father, Reverend Prince, learns his daughter’s body has been drained of blood in what he assumes is a satanic ritual, he sets out on an old-fashioned witch-hunt. Mala knows the killer is still lurking nearby. To keep from becoming the murdered girl’s possession, or worse, Mala must accept the mysterious aspects of her family’s blood-stained hoodoo lineage. Landry proves to be an unlikely source of help. Trouble is, he seems to have his own agenda.
 

This is the query letter: 

When seventeen-year-old Malaise LaCroix finds a dead girl floating in the bayou, she crosses her mama by reporting the murder to the police. She’s naive enough to think the girl’s parents will be grateful, but Mama warns her otherwise. Of course, once folk start dying, Mala wishes she’d listened and left the girl for gator–bait.


Mala’s innocence becomes overshadowed by the pesky rumors that her aunt is an infamous New Orleans Hoodoo Queen and her mama can shrivel a guy's, well, man-parts. Even the boy Mala’s in love with is afraid to stray too close. Thing is, Mala thinks believing in magic is for weak-minded fools, until the dead girl starts haunting her.

The desperate spirit crushes the minds of those she influences and needs Mala’s latent psychic gift, willing or not, to expose her murderer. And once the girl’s father, Reverend Prince learns his daughter’s body has been drained of blood in what he assumes is a magical ritual, he sets out on an old-fashioned witch-hunt.

To keep from becoming the soul’s possession, or worse, being burned at the stake, Mala turns to the two guy’s whose own agendas don’t include helping an outcast such as herself—the cop she’s pined after since ninth grade that is investigating the murder and the ghost’s grief-crazed brother who uses Mala’s attraction to him as a weapon for revenge.

In JUJU'S CHILD, a 79,000 word young Southern Gothic, Mala Lacroix is a teenage, African-American Sookie Stackhouse who gets caught up with the supernatural--ghosts instead of vampires--romance and murder This manuscript was inspired by my rich, Louisiana Creole cultural heritage.