One children's book and stacks of romance

Indie bestseller lists for the week are monotonous, with one interesting exception

From GalleyCat at MediaBistro.com


Amazon Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of June 17, 2013
1. Forever Too Far by Abbi Glines: “Rush promised her forever… but promises can be broken. Torn between his love for his family and his love for Blaire, Rush has to find a way to save one without losing the other. In the end one has to be more important. Letting go isn’t easy.”
2. Conquer Your Love by J. C. Reed: “Brooke Stewart, a realtor in New York, finds forgetting is hard, but forgiving is harder. When the man she trusted, betrayed her, the only way to forget is to move on. Brooke is determined to start a new life, until she meets him again: the green-eyed, sexy as sin, six foot two sex god.”
3. Surrender Your Love by J.C. Reed: “Meeting Jett was like lightning. Dangerous. Better left untouched. And better forgotten. But lightning always strikes twice.”
4. Before Now by Cheryl McIntyre: “Park Reed is a bastard in every sense of the word. He hasn’t always been this way. But after his heart was broken by the only girl he ever loved, being heartless gets him through the day and allows him to fill his nights with the nameless girls he has no intentions of seeing again.”
5. Beauty from Surrender by Georgia Cates: “How do you move on when he’s every song you sing? After Laurelyn Prescott walks away from the love of her life, she returns to Nashville to pursue the only dream she has left.”
6. Delayed Penalty by Shey Stahl: “I am Evan Masen, a hockey player for the NHL. I spend my nights roughing up two hundred pound defensemen and spend more time in the penalty box than I do on the ice … One night changes everything I thought I once knew about my life on the ice.”
7. Fallen Too Far by Abbi Glines: “To want what you’re not supposed to have… She is only nineteen. She is his new stepfather’s daughter. She is still naïve and innocent due to spending the last three years taking care of her sick mother.”
8. Beauty From Pain by Georgia Cates: ”Jack McLachlan is a winemaking magnate and easily one of Australia’s most eligible bachelors. His success and wealth makes him no stranger to the complications of romantic relationships and that’s why he goes to extreme measures to avoid the hassle.”

9. Off The Record by Sawyer Bennett: Ever Montgomery suffered the ultimate betrayal … It has left her hurt, jaded and incapable of forming relationships, but it also means that she can spot a liar a mile away. These traits are earning her a reputation as a reporter with a keen nose for a good story and a complete understanding of the extreme power of the written word.”

10. The Impact of You by Kendall Ryan: “Needing an escape from her past, Avery chooses a college where no one knows her. Keeping a low profile was the plan, falling for the intense frat boy, Jase wasn’t. Yet she can’t deny how alive she feels when he’s near. Even as common sense implores her to stay away, her body begs her to get closer.”

Barnes & Noble Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of June 17, 2013
1. Forever Too Far by Abbi Glines
2. Don’t Leave Me by James Scott Bell
3. Return to Paradise by Carol Grace
4. Mine To Take by Cynthia Eden
5. Conquer Your Love by J.C. Reed
6. Snatched by Pamela Burford
7. Taken By Chance by Chloe Cox
8. Family Pieces by Misa Rush
9. The Ninth District – A Thriller by Douglas Dorow
10. The Impact of You by Kendall Ryan

Smashwords Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of June 17, 2013
1. Beauty from Surrender by Georgia Cates
2. Jocomo by Timothy Cohorst
3. Salvation by Erica Stevens
4. Forged in Blood I by Lindsay Buroker
5. Elysian by Addison Moore
6. A Fair Prospect: Desperate Measures by Cassandra Grafton
7. Tales of the Were: Grif by Bianca D’Arc
8. Notice Me by Lili Lam
9. Dangerous to Know & Love by Jane Harvey-Berrick
10. Running from Romeo by Diane Mannino

Bestselling Self-Published Books at Apple for the Week of June 17, 2013
1. Forever Too Far by Abbi Glines
2. Forever Black by Sandi Lynn
3. Forever You by Sandi Lynn
4. Fallen Too Far by Abbi Glines
5. Never Too Far by Abbi Glines
6. Dirty Little Secrets by Liliana Hart
7. Lily’s Mistake by Pamela Ann
8. Mine For Tonight / Mine For Now / Mine Forever / Mine Completely by J. S. Scott
9. Let Me Love You by Morgan Rayne
10. Salvation by Erica Stevens

These four eBook lists were recorded on June 17, 2013.

MediaWorks in receivership

Shock news bulletin

June 17 (BusinessDesk) - MediaWorks New Zealand, the broadcaster whose stable includes TV3 and Four, and radio stations including Radio Live, the Rock and MoreFM, is expected to be put into receivership today after a planned recapitalisation failed to win over its lenders.

It is understood KordaMentha will run the receivership as part of a restructuring plan to switch assets into a new entity, write down the company's debt, and allow the broadcaster to continue operating.

Story by Paul McBeth

Matthew Crawley reinvented?

The BBC reports that Dan Stevens looks hauntingly familiar in his big screen role

As Summer in February arrives in cinemas, Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens explains why his latest period drama has been years in the making.

Fans of actor Dan Stevens left heartbroken by his shock exit from Downtown Abbey at Christmas might find some comfort in his latest big screen role.

In Summer in February, Stevens is back in period costume as Gilbert Evans, an army officer in Cornwall in the years leading up to World War I.

As the 30-year-old actor points out, his latest character bears more than a passing resemblance to his aristocratic alter-ego in ITV's hit drama.

"We shot this film between series two and three of Downton, so Gilbert Evans does look suspiciously like Matthew Crawley a lot of the time!"

Adapted by retired teacher Jonathan Smith from his own novel, Summer in February tells the story of a tangled love triangle among a colony of bohemian artists, known as the Lamorna Group, on the Cornish coast in 1913.

Story by Tim Masters

Quote of the day

 

“I also pledge that from this day on I'll slaughter all unruly dragons, and rescue any damsels in distress who request my help”

--Actor Tony Robinson, on learning of his knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours List

Art forgery ring busted

The BBC reports that German police have succeeded in halting an art forgery operation

Police have arrested two suspects alleged to be leaders of a group of six artists.

A series of searches were carried out at art galleries, businesses and homes in six German cities, as well as Israel and Switzerland.

Since 2005 the ring is believed to have produced and sold more than 400 faked paintings.

They were passed off as "previously unknown" works by such Russian avant garde artists as Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov.

The police say they were sold for sums ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of euros.

The arrested men, aged 41 and 67 respectively, are accused of selling forged artworks to customers in Germany and Spain for a total of more than £1.5m (1,7m euros) over the past two years.

The suspected counterfeiters are thought to be of Russian, Israeli and German-Tunisian nationality.

Tan Twan Eng wins another prize

From the BBC

Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng has won the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction for his second novel The Garden of Evening Mists.

He travelled from his home in South Africa to be at the ceremony in Melrose in the Scottish Borders.

He received his prize from the Duke of Buccleuch at a special event during the Borders Book Festival.

The Garden of Evening Mists is the first novel by an overseas writer to have won the four-year-old prize.

A new rule was introduced last year making books by authors from the Commonwealth eligible for entry.

The novel prevailed over a strong shortlist including Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, which has already carried off some of the UK's most prestigious literary awards, and novels by English writers Rose Tremain, Pat Barker, and Anthony Quinn, and by Australian author Thomas Keneally.

Earlier this year Tan Twan Eng won the Man Asian Literary Prize with the same book.

The Scott Prize judges commented: "All the authors on this year's shortlist have written wonderful books, illuminating times and breathing life into personalities in a way that is enlightening and which brings lasting pleasure to the reader.

"However, The Garden of Evening Mists is the book that left the deepest imprint on us.

"The poignancy of both remembering and forgetting is what this book is all about."

What about the Man Booker?  It's easy to see this book winning the biggie....

Cat runs for mayor

Does he look combative enough?

The aggro is necessary.

He's running for mayor...

A mayoral hopeful in Mexico promises to eat, sleep most of the day and donate his leftover litter to fill potholes.

Morris, a black-and-white kitten with orange eyes, is running for mayor of Xalapa in eastern Mexico with the campaign slogan "Tired of Voting for Rats? Vote for a Cat." And he is attracting tens of thousands of politician-weary, two-legged supporters on social media.

"He sleeps almost all day and does nothing, and that fits the profile of a politician," said 35-year-old office worker Sergio Camacho, who adopted the 10-month-old feline last year.

Put forth as candidate by Camacho and a group of friends after they became disillusioned with the empty promises of politicians, Morris' candidacy has resonated across Mexico, where citizens frustrated with human candidates are nominating their pets and farm animals to run in July 7 elections being held in 14 states.

Also running for mayor are "Chon the Donkey" in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, "Tina the Chicken" in Tepic, the capital of the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, "Maya the Cat" in the city of Puebla and "Tintan the Dog" in Oaxaca City, though their campaigns are not as well organised as that of Morris.

Politicians repeatedly rank at the bottom of polls about citizens' trust in institutions.

Morris' cuteness, the clever campaign and promises to donate money collected from the sales of campaign stickers and T-shirts to an animal shelter has attracted cat lovers, but Camacho said most of his supporters were citizens tired of corrupt politicians and fraudulent elections.

"Morris has been a catalyst to show the discontent that exists in our society," Camacho said.

"Our message from the beginning has been 'if none of the candidates represent you, vote for the cat' and it seems people are responding to that."

Xalapa, a university city of 450,000 people, is the capital of the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, where residents have in last two years been beleaguered by drug violence, corruption scandals and the killings of at least nine reporters and photojournalists.

Morris has a website, a Twitter account and a Facebook page with more than 115,000 "likes", that makes him more popular in social networks than the five human mayoral contenders.

His website has a collection of memes that picture Morris yawning while describing his "ample legislative experience," an image that mirrors photographs of lawmakers sleeping during congressional sessions.
Morris' campaign managers are asking supporters to write-in "Morris" or draw a cat's face on the ballot to send a message to authorities, who are not taking the cat's growing popularity lightly.

Asian Publishing Awards winners announced

Manila, June 13, 2013 - (ACN Newswire) - The Asian Publishing Convention (APC) 2013, a two-day event for publishing professionals, is pleased to announce the GOLD and EXCELLENCE award winners for the Asian Publishing Awards 2013. A panel of international judges selected the winners in 18 categories. A total of 31 media companies from 8 countries submitted 171 entries.

The top line / overall winner award is the GOLD Award - followed by the EXCELLENCE Award. Winners of the GOLD and EXCELLENCE awards will be officially announced and awarded on the second day of APC 2013, during the Gala Dinner Ceremonies on Friday, July 12, 2013.

The Asian Publishing Awards recognizes best multimedia practices in magazine, book and corporate communications sectors.

For a full list of winners, click HERE

A sampling ....

CATEGORY 1: Best Cover Design

• Asian Geographic Magazines Pte Ltd – “Disease & Decay”
• C! Magazine Group – “Calibre (POCKET COMPLICATION)”
• MediaCorp Pte Ltd – “CPA Singapore Jan’13”
• Rogue Media Inc. – “Iza Calzado Cover – July 2012 issue”
• SPH Magazines Pte Ltd – “SilverKris Dec 12”

CATEGORY 2: Best Use of Typography

• Magazines Integrated Pte Ltd – “Fairy Tale Feasts”

CATEGORY 3: Best Use of Illustration

• INK – “Bards of Burma”
• Rogue Media Inc. – “Rogue Magazine “House of Cards”

CATEGORY 4: Best Photo Documentary

• INK – About Face
• C! Magazine Group – “F1 Dreams to reality Lotus and Marlon”

CATEGORY 5: Best Feature on Asian Fashion

• L’ Officiel Thailand – “Mae Fah Luang (Queen Mother)”
• SPH Magazines Pte Ltd – “Female Brides LookBook 5”
• ABS-CBN Publishing Inc – “Pomp and Splendor” as seen in Metro
• Blu Inc Media Sdn Bhd – “Total Recall”
• Blu Inc Media Sdn Bhd – “WALK OF STYLE 2012”

CATEGORY 6: Best Feature on Asian Travel

• Expat Living Publications Pte Ltd – Expat Living November 2012
• Eastgate Publishing Corporation- “Of Party Animals, Wildlife, & History”
• INK- ” Scoot – Old School Thai”

About Asian Publishing Convention

The Asian Publishing Convention (APC) is an annual 2-day convention for magazine and online publishers, to be held on July 11 & 12, 2013. It completed its 5th cycle in Bangkok. APC travels across ASEAN: Kuala Lumpur (2007), Singapore (2008), Manila (2009), HCMC (2010), Bangkok (2011) and Kuala Lumpur (2012).

APC's program includes a combination of plenary and bootcamp sessions featuring widely recognized multimedia industry leaders and gurus from around the world, workshops and demonstrations on topic-specific innovations and up-to-date best multimedia publishing practices. In just two days, the delegates to APC 2013 will sharpen their skills, expand their thinking, increase their expertise and become inspired to achieve a higher level of excellence. Plus, they will experience a rare opportunity to network with fellow senior publishing professionals and solutions suppliers from all over the region.

The principal organizer of the APC is EXEDRA EVENTS, event management specialists. EXEDRA EVENTS organizers of the Asian Publishing Convention, the Asian Publishing Awards, the Hospital Management Asia and the Asian Hospital Management Awards. For more information, please visit http://publishingconvention.com.

Oprah Winfrey backs new museum

From the BBC

American talk-show host Oprah Winfrey is donating $12m (£7.7m) towards a new museum in Washington DC dedicated to African American history.

After previously giving $1m (£640,000) to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, her total contribution is its biggest so far.

The museum on Washington's National Mall is due to be completed in 2015.

It will house a 35-seat theatre named after Winfrey, who is also a member of the museum's advisory council.

Lonnie Bunch, director of the museum said the media mogul had been very much involved in its creation and talks were taking place to acquire memorabilia from her career.

Is the word "thank you" doomed?

A grandparent asks an increasingly common question

There is a sort of agony aunt in the Wellington Your Weekend by the name of Peta Mathias (who is also a chef).  The questions she gets are the usual ones, on the whole, about boyfriends, lovers, sex, and marriage.  Her answers are sensible and occasionally hilarious.

Maybe she was surprised to get this one:

Dear Peta, I am a grandparent with several grandchildren.  I am quite doting, always remember their birthdays and special occasions with presents, but never get any thank yous.  I know times have changed and one doesn't send thank you notes any more, but don't you think they could zip off an email, text, or even make a phone call to acknowledge my gifts? I have gently brought this up with my son and daughter-in-law and they say "yes yes", but nothing ever changes.  What do you think? Evan, Akaroa.

What I think is that it is significant that the writer is a man.  What Peta suggests:

Dear Evan, There is no excuse not to say thank you to someone who loves you and has been kind and generous to you. If these children do not learn this basic politeness now, they will be miserable adults because saying thank you is the most elementary of social skills. Stop giving presents and see what happens -- they will learn that entitlement is a sad attitude.

Will Evan take her advice?

Somehow, I doubt it...