The Future of Books?

I don't know where I got this, it originated on some other blog I think. If you identify it, please let me know. Nine authors were asked "In three words, what is the future of books?"

Old-fashioned souvenir editions ~ Seth Godin
EBOOKS ~ J.A. Konrath
Authors in control ~ Mark Coken
The Reader is ~ Barry Eisler
Story not Format ~ Dan Blank
More Diversity, Faster ~ Guy L. Gonzalez
Beyond the Page ~ Jane Friedman
Refuge from Social ~ Porter Anderson
Reader commissioned stories ~ Matt Gartland

Obsidian Winners!

Wow, there were so many comments, and everyone had intriguing thoughts on the covers. So we ended up selecting six - sorta randomly, but also to be fair to all the covers.

Bobbie
J.J. Silver
Alicia White
Eranodonnal
Monique
Casey Pattison

Ladies, please email redlinesdeadlines@gmail.com . Tell us your email address and what format you want the ebook in (ePub, pdf, html or prc). Oh, and a choice of ebook. I know we'd said Obsidian, but we don't have a release date for that yet. You can wait for that, or you can choose to have Tiger, and it will be emailed to you on April 9.

Gotta See That Cover! Obsidian by Laurann Dohner

Okay, all you New Species fans! We can't reveal a release date yet for Obsidian, the next book in Laurann Dohner's mega-popular series, but we do have a cover! Many thanks to the Ellora's Cave Art Department.

So we're running a little contest here. Tell us which New Species cover is your favorite and WHY. Post your remarks in the comments here.  We'll pick our favorite comment or two, and email you the Obsidian ebook at 5:00pm (U.S. Eastern time) the day before the official release. Whoo, hoo, be the first amongst your friends to read it!

And remember that ebook 7, Tiger, releases April 10 at Barnes&Noble and Kindle (it's available now for pre-order in both those places) and April 11 on the EC webstore and all other vendors.

Oh, and stay tuned... We might just be able to pry another upcoming New Species cover from the Art Department supersecret storage vault soon.

Fifty Shades of BDSM

As the premier publisher of erotic romance in its many colors and flavors, EC editors know quite a bit about the shades of BDSM. We've been contributing to the discussions about the Fifty Shades trilogy going on at the USA Today Happy Ever After blog.

The HEA article "Fifty Shades of Grey: Who knew women like erotica?!?!?" (yes, she's being sarcastic) includes an interview by blog host Joyce Lamb with EC Publisher Raelene Gorlinsky. Joyce's inquiring mind wanted to know what makes erotica, erotica. According to Raelene, "Erotica is designed to make the reader pleasurably sexually turned on. Of course, what is "pleasurable" can be different for every person. But the current use of erotica to describe a category of fiction is intended to have a positive connotation — it's not porn, it's not skanky, it doesn't make you feel "dirty". So much current erotica is aimed at women readers, to give them not just excitement, but a positive and empowering view of sex."

And if you liked Fifty Shades and want to try some more BDSM erotica, check out our recommendations of some great books:
Beyond 'Fifty Shades of Grey': Recs by Ellora's Cave editors

So tell us--have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? And the second and third (Fifty Shades Darker, Fifty Shades Freed)? Are you in agreement that these are erotica, but not erotic *romance*? Did you like the stories, did you consider them well-written?

We're Baaack

Yes, the Ellora's Cave editorial staff behind Redlines and Deadlines sometimes gets so swamped with--gasp!--editing, that we have to let a few other things slide. But we're back to our blog with some great upcoming posts. BDSM, cover reveals, bottles of booze, contests and commentary...stick with us, starting Monday, March 26.