First, let me say that I’ve had a dif­fi­cult time read­ing any­thing of late. My prob­lem is that I can’t seem to focus on any­thing right now but I am finally read­ing again thanks in part to San­dra Brown’s newest book, Rain­wa­ter, a his­tor­i­cal fic­tion novel. I’m told it’s a tear­jerker and I really don’t care for tear­jerk­ers but I will per­se­vere anyway.

While brows­ing the ‘net, there were some inter­est­ing sto­ries that grabbed my atten­tion that you might want to read about as well (or maybe not).

Dis­con­tin­ued Series

Accord­ing Book Binge, Susan Andersen’s Sis­ter­hood Diaries Tril­ogy has been dis­con­tin­ued. The author has already writ­ten two books in the series, Cut­ting Loose and Bend­ing the Rules with the third book prob­a­bly never to be pub­lished. I’ve been down this road before, how about you? This prac­tice is a slap in the face to the audi­ence who are read­ing these sto­ries. Unfor­tu­nately, pub­lish­ing is a busi­ness and if the sales aren’t there, then well what you have is a unfin­ished series.

Ama­zon Vine Program

PW decided to shed some light on Amazon’s Vine Pro­gram. What I found inter­est­ing was this part:

A PW exam­i­na­tion of Ama­zon Vine found answers to some of those ques­tions. It turns out that pub­lish­ers do pay Ama­zon to be in the Vine program—a fact that’s not men­tioned on the online bookseller’s site.

I’ve writ­ten my thoughts about Amazon’s review pro­gram. Will leave it at that.

Online Pric­ing Wars = Con­sumer, Win-Win

I’m all for what’s cheap­est for the con­sumer. Publisher’s wor­ries are not my wor­ries. Yet, the pric­ing wars between Ama­zon, Wal-Mart and Tar­get is an inter­est­ing one. When all is said and done, it’s a win-win for the consumer.

Jim Cameron’s Next Big Hit: Avatar

My sis­ter told me about this movie called “Avatar” the other day. What? What is that? Avatar? Never heard of it. I was told that it was being directed by Jim Cameron. Oh-OKAY then. Yes, let me see what this is about because I’ve enjoyed his films (Abyss and all of his Ter­mi­na­tor movies and of course, Aliens). Big bud­get (check) and here is a teaser. I don’t know what to think but it looks inter­est­ing! Due out next month.