Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Adventures in bad Photoshopping make for great covers and they make for even better contests. The winner of the “Caption That Cover: Turkey Edition” contest is, without a giblet of a doubt, TeddyPig for Butterballin’.

Honorable Gobble mentions go to: Judy for “Turfucken for dinner again??” and Becky for referencing the joke that will NEVER get old, “Stuffing the turkey, saving its life!”

Thanks to all who posted a caption, and to whoever designed that cover for perfectly balancing the creepy and the hilarious in one image. Happy Thanksgiving, folks! 

Thanks to Rebecca, here’s a thoughtful article from The Guardian about the value of reading bad books. Self-absorbed books, pretentious books, poorly crafted books - they all combine to help you appreciate the miracle of a great book when you encounter it, according to Stuart Evers.

There are only a finite amount of books you can read in one lifetime, so spending time with one that you know within 50 pages is going to stink like two-day-old roadkill in the sun seems counter-intuitive. It makes far more sense to put it down and pick up something else from the ever-increasing to-read pile. Yet I feel somehow incapable of doing so.

This isn’t because I’m one of those readers who have to finish anything they start, rather that I think that bad books can be almost as instructive as good books. They show you what fiction looks like when it’s malfunctioning, when all its wiring is hanging out.

What I really like about the article, especially as someone who is always asking herself what worked, what didn’t, and why why why, is that the comments take issue with the books that Evers lauded as near perfect experiences of fiction reading. Love that. One woman’s perfect is another woman’s puerile. Same with romance. I’m always so curious about reviews that laud books I couldn’t stand, or vice versa.

According to Yahoo!News, burlesque star Dita Von Teese is suing Macmillan Publishing and a photo agency due to use of her image on Patti O’Shea’s In Twilight’s Shadow.

The papers filed on Friday claim that Dita’s face is “a valuable and integral portion of her celebrity persona” and that the company “commercially exploited her image and likeness to their own gain.”

Looking at the cover ( Larger popup version here) I wouldn’t have guessed that was Von Teese, though I’m reasonably familiar with what she looks like. She, or someone who alerted her, must have recognized the image and known she was the source.

I personally think it’sunderstandable for Von Teese to pursue damages if her image was used without her consent for profit, and if a photo agency sells images they don’t have the rights to sell, then, well, ruh roh indeed.

However, you and I and other members of the Bitchery know that Authors Are Not In Control Of Their Cover Images - but does the average person reading E!Online know that? My hope is that O’Shea doesn’t suffer any fallout from ignorant dipshits saying she oughtn’t have used Von Teese’s image. Patti O’Shea likely didn’t have a thing to do with the decision. Will her name and book title in the press under these circumstances be a good thing or a not so good thing? Let’s hope the “any press is good press” adage holds up for her. Good luck, Ms. O’Shea.

Kate Rothwell invited me a to join a Facebook group that cracked me up but seems very apt and savvy: How to Promote Your Book if You’re Introverted, Socially Inept.

It’s not a group for promotion itself, but to share ideas for book promotion: what works, what was a waste, and what does a new author need to do to navigate the world of sales with exactly 0 experience? Good idea, Kate!

Here’s a twist on the free/cheap ebook trend.

LBF Books is giving away the first 25 copies of the ebook of LeeAnn Burke’s Deadly Secrets today. Proceeds of the print book order will be donated to the American Breast Cancer Foundation.

What totally tickles me about this book is the name of the heroine: Roxanne St-Clair. Whoa! Seems that Burke wrote the first draft of this book over 10 years ago, long before she knew of the Other Roxanne St. Clair. Seems the Other Roxanne is down with the name thing.

Mad props to Burke and to LBF for donating proceeds to the ABCF.