ChiCon and Blog Tour Schedule

There's still some of the blog tour left this week....


8/27-- I'm at DemonLover's Books & More with Remy Says: Remy's Guide to Demons
8/28-- RELEASE DAY! I'm celebrating with an interview over drinks with my editor of awesome, Skyla Dawn Cameron. (GIVEAWAY HERE)
8/29-- Today I'm at PonyTails Reviews with another edition of Remy Says. Today he's talking about pets. And since this is Remy, it might not be what you're expecting :P
8/30-- Remy Says at Keri Stevens' place. Today he'll be talking about Alphas versus Doms.
8/31-- Finishing up the official tour with an interview at the home of author Steve McHugh! In addition, I'll be talking about ChiCon and panic attacks at Steamed! (Not really related to this book, but... Also, for those of you who will be at ChiCon, be sure to look me up! Panel, KoD reading, and beer, oh my! More on this in a sec.)

9/3-- I'm home from ChiCon and at the ParaPosse today!
9/7-- Doing something a little different. I'm at Romance eBook Haul, but I think I'm going to have my characters play along for the post. It should be... entertaining :P

As for ChiCon. If you want to find me, I'll be bopping around like my normal half-awake-half-crazy self, but I will DEFINITELY be at the following events:

Saturday 10:30-noon (in Wrigley): Why I Love My Editor panel

Saturday 7-7:30 (in Addams): Reading (definitely Kiss of Death, possibly a bit of something else if there's time)

Sunday 5-6:30 (in Toronto): Literary Beers with Seleste deLaney (where I'll talk magic, urban fantasy, corsets, steampunk, sex, and romance--and there will be beer)

The Blog Tour Is Coming! The Blog Tour Is Coming!

I need it to not be summer break anymore so I have some idea what day of the week it is. Sorry for the very late post. Anyway... the blog tour for Kiss of Death starts next Monday. So there will be no post here other than to remind you to stalk me elsewhere the following week. For those who like to know what's going on in advance, however...

8/20-- I'm at Wicked Lil Pixie with a game to celebrate the awesome man flesh on my cover. Trust me, you'll like the game.
8/21-- I'm at Insane Hussein Reviews with the first post of the Remy Says series. For those of you who don't know, Remy is my favoritest character of mine ever, so he's getting a bit of play during the tour. Here he'll be talking about sex with vampires.
8/22-- I'm at Yummy Men & Kick-Ass Chicks with another bit of Remy Says. This time he'll be talking about the best ways to kill a vampire. As well as at the Evil League of Evil Writers talking about something bookish or ranty... or both.
8/23-- First interview of the tour at Hennessee Andrew's blog. She asked some interesting questions. I love those :)
8/24-- Today I'm at Smexy Books with post three of Remy Says. Today it's Top 10 Ways to Infuriate the Vampire Council.

8/27-- I'm at DemonLover's Books & More with Remy Says: Remy's Guide to Demons
8/28-- RELEASE DAY! I'm celebrating with an interview over drinks with my editor of awesome, Skyla Dawn Cameron.
8/29-- Today I'm at PonyTails Reviews with another edition of Remy Says. Today he's talking about pets. And since this is Remy, it might not be what you're expecting :P
8/30-- Remy Says at Keri Stevens' place. Today he'll be talking about Alphas versus Doms.
8/31-- Finishing up the official tour with an interview at the home of author Steve McHugh! In addition, I'll be talking about ChiCon and panic attacks at Steamed! (Not really related to this book, but... Also, for those of you who will be at ChiCon, be sure to look me up! Panel, KoD reading, and beer, oh my!)

9/3-- I'm home from ChiCon and at the ParaPosse today!
9/7-- Doing something a little different. I'm at Romance eBook Haul, but I think I'm going to have my characters play along for the post. It should be... entertaining :P

WTF Barnes and Noble?

So, I went into my local Barnes & Noble last week to pick up Thirteen by Kelley Armstrong. Now, this book is ranked pretty high on the NYT bestseller list (#15 for hardcover last I checked).  That means that for a store that claims to discount bestsellers, it should have been a good price. And, I like to buy from brick and mortar stores since I hope to have some of my books in them one day. Buying from Barnes and Noble online won't encourage them to keep their stores open.

After hauling my kids to the store and hunting for the book (really--why the hell was it so hard to find?), I discovered it was only 20% off.

Now, 20% off isn't anything to sneeze at, but at $26.95 cover price that comes to $22.85 (including tax). As much as I want to support brick and mortar stores, I had to go online and see what the price at Amazon was. At the time, it was $17.39 (~35% off). With free shipping at $25, that meant I could buy another paperback I'd been wanting and only spend $25.38 total. So, for $2.53 I got a second book.

That second book? My Barnes & Noble didn't even have it in the store. They'd sent their copies back to the publisher... less than six months after the book was released. And they sent back all their copies. Sorry, but even more than supporting brick and mortar stores, I want to support authors which means the more authors I can buy from, the better.

Here's the funny part. Just to make sure I was getting the best possible deal, I checked Barnes & Noble online too. Funny, but if I bought from their online store, I could get the same deal as I could from Amazon. At the time though, I wasn't so amused.

I want to support their stores, and I get that it costs more to operate the store, blah, blah, blah. The problem is if buying at the store consistently costs me more than buying online, why would I ever go there other than to browse? Online, I can get any book I want (save out-of-print, etc) and I can get them for less money and without dragging my kids out and having to hunt them down in the store when I'm done.

The pricing difference between the physical store and their online counterpart is absurd. To me, it's a clear sign that Barnes & Noble wants their brick and mortar stores to fail. But I don't browse online. I don't impulse buy online. My kids? Their books will mainly come from the Scholastic flyers and school book fairs if there's no reason for me to drag them to a bookstore where they'll beg me for new books (which is a very difficult request for me to turn down). I start buying all my books online and I won't pick up that extra book I found next to the one I was looking for or the one for each kid or that computer humor book that I found mis-shelved in the SF/F section that my hubs would just love. Nope, I'll spend my $25 for free shipping and be done.

Stop screwing your stores and your customers, Barnes & Noble. Fix your pricing strategies.