Book Covers; Amazon Contest, Favorite Book of 2011 and Gift Ideas :)

This Saturday we'd like to share FOUR pieces of news for you....

WE ARE OFFICIALLY JUDGING BOOKS BY THEIR COVERS!

In response to more and more readers using e-readers and not caring at all about the cover of a book, publishers have decided that it's time to make covers A LOT fancier. 


Many new releases are coming out with covers that would usually be reserved for "special occasion" books. They have deckled edges, or higher-quality paper, or fancy schmancy jackets. The idea is that the publishers want to give you a nice enough reason to purchase the physical copy of the book. If this cover is done well-enough, than maybe you'd want to have it in your home. 


Paul Ingram, a book buyer in Iowa, stated, "These extra fancy covers, if tastefully done, cause customers to notice the book, pick it up and look it over."

What Do You Think Of This New Plan? Will It Help     Print-Book Sales?  

AMAZON BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL CONTEST!

On December 6, 2011, Amazon.com and Penguin Group (USA) announced the 5th Annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. The competition will award two grand-prize winners: one in general fiction, and one in young-adult fiction. Each grand prize winner will be published by Penguin! 


You can start submitting your manuscript on January 23, 2012 up until February 5, 2012. 

For the complete Official Rules for the contest, you can visit www.amazon.com/abna

This Is So Exciting! Are Any Of Our Followers Going to Enter? 

GOODREADS MEMBERS PICK THEIR FAVORITE 2011 BOOK!

With over 10,000 votes, GoodReads.com members have chosen Veronica Roth's YA Debut novel, Divergent, as their favorite book of 2011. (And it wasn't only YA readers, 50% of the members who chose the book were 25 or older!)


Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 was chosen as the Fiction favorite, and Alexandra Robbins' The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth was the Non-Fiction favorite. 


Click Here to read GCR Damaris' review of Divergent :)

Congratulations Veronica!!

CHRISTMAS IS A'COMING! 

Every Saturday in December, I'm going to try to put up some great gift ideas for the book-lover in your life....or for yourself, whichever :)


This holiday book list comes from The Calgary Herald, and it is a list of gift ideas for the Comic Book Fan in your life! 


Dark Tower Omnibus by Peter David, Marvel Comics, 1480 pgs ($170)
Stephen King's Dark Tower sci-fi novel series is epic; and now, so is the graphic-novel continuation of gunslinger Roland Deschain and his hunt through Mid-World for the Man in Black. 


Morning Glories, Volume 1 by Nick Spencer, Image Comics, 352 pgs ($43.75) 
Twelve issues, six students and one prep school that is seriously sinister, all in a new hardcover collection. Mixing the mystery of Lost and the teen drama of Gossip Girl, Morning Glories sticks a group of disparate kids in the elite Morning Glory Academy, where the term "bad teachers" is an understatement. 


100 Bullets, Book One by Brian Azzarello, Vertigo Comics, 456 pgs ($57)
Crime books don't get a whole lot better than this blood-soaked noir series full of flawed characters. For those who missed the 1999-2009 comic, begin with this hardcover collection of the first 19 issues, introducing the shadowy Agent Graves and his modus operandi: giving a victims a handgun and 100 bullets for their individual acts of vengeance. f


Star Wars Omnibus: The Complete Saga by Archie Goodwin, Bruce Jones and more, Dark Horse comics, 608 pgs ($27.50)
Star Wars fans have watched George Lucas's universe expand in novels, comics, toys and TV shows. This omnibus revisits the exploits of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in comic-book form and watches the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker on his way to becoming Darth Vader. 

I hope you got some good ideas from this! 
Happy Shopping!!