Thursday, December 27, 2012

We Love New York: A Hurricane Sandy Benefit Anthology

Those of you who know me, know that I love a good anthology.

And you also know that I love New York.  I have lived here my whole life and just can't imagine living anywhere else.  But Hurricane Sandy really knocked us back quite a bit.  I have never seen the city so battered, even after 9/11 (very different circumstances).

New Yorkers always band together and rise up, and so do romance writers.  Leave it to Trinity Blacio, one of the kindest, most generous women I have ever met to immediately call and ask if there was anything we could do to help New York.  Before the ink was even dry on my new publishing company's incorporation papers, Trinity had volunteered to rally the troops and help me put together a benefit anthology to raise money to help New York.

Below are the details:

WE LOVE NEW YORK: A Hurricane Sandy Benefit Anthology

All stories must be 2,000-5000 words,

The theme is love in New York.  This will be our Valentine's Day title,  ten percent of proceeds will go to the Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy.  Stories must be in by Jan. 15.  We will consider previously published stories.

We hope to publish 20 stories between 2000 and 5,000 words (might consider going up to 10,000 if the story is exceptional). Pro rata royalties split between the authors. Non-exclusive World rights.  We hope this will be an audio title as well.

This will be our Valentine's Day title pubbing 2/12.


Submit Stories as word doc attachments with a brief bio about the author to lori@riverdaleavebooks.com

Monday, December 24, 2012

From Dusk to Nightfall: A Vampire Romeo & Juliet

I edited this book three years ago when Lois Gresh's nonfiction companion guide to the Twilight series had made the NY Times best-seller list. She told me she knew what made the Twilight series so compelling and I double-dog dared her to put her fingers where her mouth was, so to speak. She wrote this book, originally titled DUSK and published in Dec. 2009, at my request.

When this manuscript came in, I read it in one night. Her star-crossed lovers were riveting to me. She had written a vampire Romeo & Juliet.  I loved it!!! When Lois told me there were additional books in the series, I wanted to read about what happened to her star-crossed lovers, so I re-published the first book in this series to see if other readers wanted more of this immortal Greek vampire and the young voodoo heiress.  I do hope you agree with me.


Thursday, December 13, 2012

RAB to Publish Jenni Rivera Bio in English and Spanish in Jan.



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RIVERDALE AVENUE BOOKS WILL PUBLISH BIOGRAPHY OF JENNI RIVERA IN JANUARY

NEW YORK CITY – (December xx, 2012) -  Riverdale Avenue Books (RAB), a new publisher specializing in e-books and audio books,  will publish a biography of Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera, who was killed this week in a plane crash.  The book will be written by New York Times best-selling author Marc Shapiro and journalist Charles Vazquez.

RAB will publish English and Spanish versions of the 65,000 word book simultaneously (in both e-book and paperback). RAB publisher Lori Perkins said she already has strong interest in foreign and subsidiary rights with international publishers.

The California-born Rivera was an iconic performer and Latina role-model, selling over 15 million albums worldwide. She was nominated for Latin Grammys in 2003, 2008 and 2010.  The Shapiro-Vazquez biography will take readers through her early life as one of five children in a tight-knit musical household, her teen-age pregnancy and the launch of her professional career.

The book will also tell the story of her early successes as a regional Mexican Banda artist and her skill as an entrepreneur who started enterprises that ranged from realty and cosmetics companies to The Jenni Rivera Love Foundation.

It will also include the background story of the December 9th flight of a U.S. registered private Learjet that crashed near Iturbide in Nuevo León, Mexico, killing Rivera and six others. 

With more than twenty-five years, covering film, television and music for national and international newspapers and magazines, Marc Shapiro is the author of J.K. Rowling: The Wizard behind Harry Potter, Justin Bieber: The Fever! and other bestselling celebrity biographies.

Charlie Vázquez is a Bronx-born journalist, novelist, poet and cultural producer. The author of two novels and a collection of bilingual poetry, he has edited two anthologies of new Latino literature. He has lectured at universities and cultural institutions in the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico and is the New York City coordinator for Puerto Rico’s “The Word/Festival de la Palabra.”

Press Contact:
Jackie Markham
212-687-1765
  

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Riverdale Aveneue Books to Launch Dec. 17


NEW POP CULTURE E-BOOK PUBLISHER RIVERDALE AVENUE BOOKS TO LAUNCH DECEMBER 17th

First Digital Publisher to Feature a Pop Culture Line

NEW YORK CITY – (Dec. 5, 2012) – Riverdale Avenue Books (RAB), a new publisher specializing in e-books and audiobooks, will launch December 18th.  Headed by veteran literary agent and publisher Lori Perkins, RAB will publish five separate imprints and will start with two titles.

“We are the first full service digital publisher to launch a pop culture line, with a foreign rights department and a Los Angeles based film agent,” according to Ms. Perkins. “We are also working with Audio Realms to produce simultaneous audio books on most of our titles.”

The five imprints are:

  • Riverdale/Magnus Books, a joint venture with award-winning LGBT publisher, Magnus Books, created by Donald Weise, which will publish 24 LGBT titles a year beginning with the Dietrich/Coward biography. Other books in the pipeline include an unauthorized biography of Gore Vidal’s love life, as well as a gay Twilight.
  • Riverdale Pop will publish a pop culture title each month. Its first title, an unauthorized EL James biography, already has foreign rights sales prior to publication.  Other celebrity subjects will include Katie Holmes and Justin Bieber.
  • RAB HSF is a horror, science fiction and fantasy line.
  • RAB Truth is an erotic memoir line.
  • RAB Desire will publish erotica and erotic romance.

The first two books are:

  • THE SECRET LIFE OF EL JAMES: An Unauthorized Biography, by New York Times best-selling author Marc Shapiro;
  • DEEPLY SUPERFICIAL: MARLENE DIETRICH, NOEL COWARD AND ME, by Michael Menzies

“RAB will give readers the same immediate gratification that they have come to expect from all forms of media and entertainment,” Ms. Perkins said. “Each imprint represents a genre that we believe is consumable, and will keep our readers coming back for more. Simply put, we will give readers the books they crave.”

RAB’s offices at 5676 Riverdale Avenue in New York City are the former offices of Baen Books, the first successful genre epublisher.

RAB hosts Between the Covers, a free monthly reading series in the East Village at Happy Endings Lounge, 302 Broome Street, on the first Friday of every month, Betweenthecovers.journurl.com.

Ms. Perkins, a leading New York literary agent, was formerly Editorial Director of Ravenous Romance. Prior to founding Magnus Books, Mr. Weise was the Publisher of Alyson Books.

Contact:

Jackie Markham
212-687-1765
jmarkham@markhamnovell.com