Friday, August 14, 2009

Changes and a contest

So have you got the idea of the new M&B scheduling system yet?


No - me neither - but then it's only really just starting up. But I'm thinking about the new 'two tier' system as I just realised that we're now a couple of weeks into August. Which means that next Friday will be the mid month changeover point, the time when the second set of books, the new titles for 21st August should appear on the shelves.



It's going to be interesting to see if this actually happens in the shops and whether the new books will go out, and the books from mid July will come off the shelves. Everywhere I've looked, the mid July books and the beginning of August books are all shelved together, with no indication of which is which.

You can tell the new Romance, Medical etc books though, because they have the new design covers and some of the 2 in 1 books that are a new format. Have you seen these new covers around? What do you think of them?


nd what about readers in America? You've had more time to get used to the mid month publication of the new Presents titles in the Presents Extra scheduling. How is that working for you? Can you find the Presents Extra titles easily - or are there some shops that don't yet stock all the Presents titles? Obviously I'm interested in the because my next title Kept for His Baby will be published in Presents EXTRA in October. But I'm interested anyway in what's happening in the readers' world as these changes and new developments take place.



One of the way that this has affected me is that last year , as you may remember, Michelle Reid and I both had a book out in September and we ran a small joint contest to mark the event. The Super September contest. When we discovered that we had books out in - we thought - September again this year we decided to run the contest again. But we hadn't reckoned with the new scheduling sytem.


So now we both have new titles coming up, but the books are actually published in a slightly different schedule. Michelle's book - Marchese's Forgotten Bride is out in the first run of September books which are published August 21st (are you confuzzled yet? Me too!)

And my next title - Kept for Her Baby - is out in the second run of September books - on September 4th.


So we had to do a bit of rethinking and we decided we'd still like to run the contest - but this time we're calling it the Summer Sizzler (if the summer isn't exactly sizzling where you are, then don't worry - these books will warm you up instead.)

Details - prizes first -
We're offering two prizes of a signed copy of each book - one of Marchese's Forgotten Bride and one of Kept For Her Baby for each winner.


And here's what you have to do
Just go to my website or to Michelle's - or the M&B web site - and find the answer to this very simple question:

What are the names of the hero and heroine of each book?


Put your answers on an email with the title Summer Sizzler in the subject line and send your entry to me or to Michelle by the last day of this month - that's 31st August.

Good luck!


Readers in America - don't forget to look out for the Presents EXTRA edition of Kept For Her Baby in October. The USA date for Michelle's book is yet to be announced. Australian readers are lucky, you don't have to work out any different dates or scheduling - you'll just find Kept For Her Baby and Marchese's Forgotten Bride in the normal run of Sexy Romances for October.
And I expect that we'll all get used to the new publishing schedules - eventually. If you can;t spot the titles you want in the shops - ask! Or order from the M&B website where Kept For Her Baby is already on sale now.

5 comments:

juliemt said...

Hi Kate,

I don't know about the UK, but over here, the ten Modern books have all been on sale since last week, so maybe the changeover is only in place in the UK and not the foreign markets.

I've seen the new covers and have liked some more than others, but I am still not a fan of 2 in 1s.

Looking forward to yours and Michelles books!

Julie

Lacey Devlin said...

I'm one of those lucky Australian readers who don't have to try to work out the new system ;) Thanks for the comp Kate!

Jan Jones said...

Not a fan of the 2-in-1s at all!

I'm potentially spending MORE money for a book I don't want. (Despite Mr Hallowes saying they are promoting the brand not individual authors, I buy by author, not by rote.)

Room I don't have is being taken up on my shelf.

AND the books don't fit neatly into my already crowded handbag. Grrr.

Oh - and I don't like the washed-out look of the covers either.

Jill said...

I live in the U.S. and don't have strong feelings about the look of the new covers, but I agree with Jan that 2 in 1 is usually a mistake. Unless it is two authors I like, I want one story per book ;-)
I also think that Harlequin could do a lot more to distinguish Presents and Presents Extra in North America. They have very different "feels" and that is not reflected in the covers or the titles.

EllenToo said...

I live in the US and I don't like what I have seen of the new covers. I don't usually buy Harlequin's books off the shelf but order them through the online site so when they come out doesn't bother me one way or the other. I am not a fan of the 2 in 1 simply because I don't always like to read both authors.

 

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