The Hard Case strikes back

Hard Case Crime are back and so I hand you over to 

headman Charles Ardai.

First of all: We're back!  After more than a year,

 Hard Case Crime has new books 

in stores.  GETTING OFF by Lawrence Block is the 

story of a beautiful young woman 

who sets out to murder every man she's ever slept 

with,while QUARRY'S EX by Max 

Allan Collins is the latest installment in his popular

 series about the hit man 

known as Quarry.  In two weeks, two more new titles

 will arrive in stores: 

THE CONSUMMATA, begun in the 1960s by the legendary 

Mickey Spillane and completed 

after his death (at Mickey's request)

 by Max Allan Collins,

 and CHOKE HOLD by Christa Faust, 

the second story about Angel Dare, 

who first appeared in the Edgar Award-nominated 

MONEY SHOT.
 
You can find out more about each of these books on our Web site,

 www.HardCaseCrime.com.  While you're there, you can also get a 

taste of our first two 2012 titles: THE COMEDY IS FINISHED by Donald E. Westlake

 and BLOOD ON THE  MINK by Robert Silverberg.  (The Westlake has never been

 published before; the Silverberg hasn't been published in any form for 50 years!)

 You can order any of these books online or -- better yet -- by requesting them at

 your favorite local bookstore.  Whichever way you choose, we very much hope you 

will get yourself copies of these books. Heck, get extras for your friends --

 they make great gifts for the crime fiction fans in your life.
 
Later in 2012, we'll be bringing you Edgar Award finalist Joseph Koenig's first 

new book in 20 years, FALSE NEGATIVE, a tale of a true-crime writer investigating

 the death of beauty pageant contestants in 1950s Atlantic City; 

and a very unusual first novel called THE TWENTY-YEAR DEATH by Ariel S. Winter. 

THE TWENTY-YEAR DEATH is three times the length of our usual books, and for an 

important reason: the story is told in the form of three separate pulp

 crime novels, each written in the style of a different famous mystery writer! 

These two books aren't up on our Web site yet, but we'll be unveiling 

the cover of FALSE NEGATIVE (by the inimitable Glen Orbik) around October 7 -- 

so mark your calendar...
 
And what's coming after those two?  We've got something very, very special to 

announce.  After hunting for more than 9 years, we have located and 

secured the rights to the final, never-before-published novel by noir

 master James M. Cain, author of MILDRED PIERCE, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, 

and THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE.  The new book is called 

THE COCKTAIL WAITRESS, and it may be the single most important discovery 

we've ever made. 

It's the story of a beautiful young widow whose first 

husband died under suspicious circumstances and who finds herself pursued 

by two new men, each of whom has something she wants.  But she can't have 

both of them...or can she?  It's steamy, gritty, suspenseful, and altogther 

worthy of the legacy of this great writer. We can't wait to show it to you.
 
Alas, we do have to wait for that one.  But happily you've got plenty 

of good books to read in the meantime.  This is a good time to be

 a Hard Case Crime fan, for the first time in quite a while, 

and I want to thank you sincerely for keeping the flame burning all these months

 while we were away.  If you get a chance, please tell a friend about our books. 

 If you read our new titles and like them, please post a review somewhere online 

to let people know. 

  
Best,
Charles

Western eGreats

In celebration of the forthcoming eBook of my novel, Arkansas Smith I plan to,from time to time  point you towards some great western writers who have made the transition from print to the new digital format, and first up we have western great, Chap O'Keefe who has now built up an impressive backlist of titles available for the Kindle. The majority of the titles were originally published  in hardcover from Black Horse Westerns and all have received many strong reviews from fans of the genre that is just too tough to die.

Readers can find the complete list of available titles  HERE.

As Keith Chapman, Chap O'Keefe was an editor and contributor to various fiction publications in London in the 1960s before shifting to New Zealand and spending nearly 35 years in newspaper and magazine journalism. He returned to fiction writing in earnest in 1992 with the O'Keefe westerns and edits the Black Horse Extra online magazine. Keith is a special friend to the Archive and is the man responsible for many of those entertaining Sunday Comics we've been running.

It's Holmes versus Sherlock

This November will see Sherlock Holmes squaring off against Sherlock Holmes - he BBC’s Sherlock will go head to head with the Sherlock Holmes movies of Guy Richie in a live worldwide debate on 10th November. Two panels of leading Holmes experts and historians from the UK, USA and Australia will argue which is making the most contribution to the Sherlock Holmes legacy. Both have millions of fans but which is best for the Holmes character? It’s the number one topic amongst serious Holmes fans and the debate will pit two teams against each other - live (MX Publishing, London). Within the first 24 hours of asking for participants a dozen major experts have already applied to be on the teams including the editor of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London’s journal, Roger Johnson and experts from the UK, USA and Australia. Already the debate is set to be the biggest Holmes event of the year. As it is an online debate, some lucky Holmes fans from around the world will be able to participate. There will be around 90 free audience places that will be released some time in October on the Facebook Page for the debate. The event is being hosted by Sherlock Holmes publishers MX Publishing, who have promised that all audience members will receive something special for taking part. Managing Director Steve Emecz explains what prompted the event: “One of our new authors, Charlotte Walters (Barefoot on Baker Street) starts a very tough challenge today – to review each of the 56 Sherlock Holmes stories, one a day for the next 56 days. This prompted us to bring forward The Great Sherlock Holmes Debate to the eve of the last day of her record attempt. We speak to thousands of Holmes fans and they all have an opinion on the BBC’s Sherlock and the Guy Richie movies. The debate will give the experts a chance to tackle the subject in detail”. Each team will present their case and then there will be an open debate. The proceedings will be recorded for release in a number of formats. On the subject of participants Emecz confirms that they would be delighted to have cast members take part. “We would be very pleased to have those involved with Sherlock and the films, whether on the production side or the actors themselves participate. Whilst the majority of team members will be Holmes experts and historians, it would be fun to have Robert Downey Junior, Jude Law , Benedict Cumberbach or Martin Freeman join in." - Steve Emecz, MX Publishing Other team members include modern day Holmes authors like Dan Andriacco (No Police Like Holmes) arguing for the BBC, and Kieran McMullen (Watson’s Afghan Adventure) on the side of Guy Richie. Mcmullen explains why the films are important “The Holmes of Guy Ritchie is the multi-layered man of thought and action who lives in a real world of adventure unhampered by Victorian restrictions," - Kieran McMullen, Holmes author. Andriacco disagrees saying that the more traditional BBC adaptation is better as it’s more true to Holmes “It’s a fun look at who Holmes would have been if born in the late 20th century without changing his essential character,” - Dan Andriacco, Holmes author. Why did Charlotte Walters choose to mark the launch of her novel with the 56 day challenge? After finishing her debut novel, she simply missed Holmes. "Now that my novel is complete, I miss my daily dose of writing about Sherlock Holmes and have decided to take on the challenge of reading and blogging about one short story every day until I have covered all 56. Though it will be a pleasure to re-visit the stories, almost like popping around for a cup of tea with an old friend, trying to do this and write about it on top of my frantically busy full-time job and promoting my novel at book signings etc will be a challenge indeed (Charlotte Walters, Holmes author)." The Great Sherlock Holmes Debate takes place at 8pm UK time, 3pm Eastern Standard Time on Thursday 10th November.

Arkansas eSmith

First there was the hardcover from Black Horse Westerns and then the large print paperback from The Linford Library, and today I was pleased to recieve an offer from my publisher Robert Hale for the book to be included amongst it's April 2012 eBook releases. Needless to say I accepted the offer immediately as I've long been keen to see Jack Martin available in the new hip digital format. Arakansas Smith will be released as an eBook from Robert Hale next April at the price of £3.99. The eBook will be available for all eReaders including the Kindle, Sony and iPad


Good news indeed for my Jack Martin persona with there now being three books in the pipeline - the large print version of Delta Rose, the eBook version of Arkansas Smith and next July will see an all new western adventure when Wild Bill Williams sees print.

Publishers generate 10% eIncome

Trade magazine  Printing Impressions  recently published a report which stated that many publishers are now earning 10% of their income from eBooks - The results of Aptara’s third annual eBook survey of publishers provide unprecedented insight into eBooks’ real impact on book publishers’ production and business models. Representing more than 1,300 book publishers from the trade, education, professional and corporate markets, the report documents eBook trends, challenges, and strategies that have emerged since Aptara’s first survey in 2009.

“Aptara’s eBook survey series is unique in its collection of market intelligence direct from publishers,” said David Blansfield, president of F+W Media, parent company of Digital Book World. “To understand who is producing eBooks, how, why, to what extent—and which platforms and sales channels are the most targeted versus the most lucrative—is an advantage to any publisher looking to capitalize on this market’s incredible potential.”

Here are some significant findings from the three Aptara surveys conducted over two years:

• One out of five eBook publishers generate more than 10 percent of their revenues from eBooks. This is a strong statistic for an early-stage market. Considering the increasing rate of consumer sales projections, it confirms that the eBook market still has plenty of room for growth.

• Trade, more than any other publishing market segment, has aggressively increased its eBook pursuits. Trade publishers’ rate of eBook production rose from 50% to 76% in two years.

• Two out of three eBook publishers have not converted the majority of their backlist (legacy) titles to eBooks. With higher profit margins than frontlist titles, these digital assets hold significant untapped revenue potential.

• Amazon still dominates distribution...but by a steadily decreasing margin. Publishers still rely most heavily on Amazon for distribution, but do so less and less. This trend is more attributed to the proliferation of other platforms and channels, particularly EPUB-based, than a decline in actual sales for Amazon. The result is a larger eBook sales and distribution market.

• Amazon generates the most eBook sales for Trade publishers, even though a comparatively small percentage of Trade content is distributed through Amazon. Despite Trade publishers using all of the main eBook online retailers, Amazon is the one producing sales—and, presumably, revenue—by a disproportionate margin (43%).

• Publishers’ own eCommerce sites generate the greatest percentage of sales for all publishing market segments other than Trade. Despite a decrease in publishers’ reliance on their own eCommerce sites for distribution, these sites are producing the most sales for publishers by a significant margin (up to 18%).

The eNews

The hot rumours are that Amazon are to release a Kindle Tablet, with industry insiders predicting an announcement by late November. This probably means that Amazon will miss the lucrative Christmas season with the device. A recent report on Tech Crunch confirmed the exitsance of the tablet which will use the Android OS. Reports are that the Kindle Tablet resembles the Blackberry Playbook

George R. Martin joins the Kindle Million Club -
Amazon announced Monday that George R.R. Martin, author of the Song of Ice and Fire series, has become the 10th author to sell 1 million Kindle e-books. The popular series, the basis for the HBO television series "Game of Thrones," has just five, fairly massive books: "A Game of Thrones," "A Clash of Kings," "A Storm of Swords," "A Feast for Crows," and "A Dance with Dragons." The long-awaited "A Dance with Dragons" was published in July to an enthusiastic reception, debuting at #2 on Amazon. It remains on the LA Times bestseller list after spending five weeks at No. 1.

With the development of electronic technology and the popularity of 3G, eReading has to occupy in people's lives more and more important position. IT consulting firm Analysys International recently released a report, 45% of users use mobile phones every day to read. The consumption of reading by mobile phone is expected to become the new hot spot of Mobile Internet. The rise of electronic reading brings diversity to reading styles. On the one hand is the brand of electronic readers at home and abroad are faced with intense competition; other hand, on the other hand, the function of the increasingly powerful smart phone has become an electronic reading choice of large number of users.

Black Horse alert - Howard Hopkins

Prolific Black Horse author, Howard (Lance Howard) Hopkins has been interviewed HERE