IT'S A CRIME! (OR A MYSTERY...)

Crime Fiction Week 14-20 June 2010

The UK's Crime Writers' Assocation is holding a Crime Fiction Week during 14-20 June and has set up a dedicated site for it.  The site lists all the events taking place during the week, by date schedule and by location so you can see what's going on.  Whether author, an aspiring writer, in publishing, a bookseller, a blogger or anything else, you can also load up your contribution to the week.  To date, I have two contributions on there:

1. Along with Roger (R.N.) Morris, I have agreed to judge the Meldrum Writers' Group's Short Story Competition.
2. During the week, I am planning to run an auction on this blog for a collectible book.  As Crime Fiction Week immediately follows The Book Trade Charity's Action Week, the purpose of the auction is to raise money for The Book Trade Charity.  I am working on getting a real beauty for the auction right now, so please return for more information.

How good to have a Crime Fiction Week to celebrate the best in crime fiction in the UK.  There are already plenty of events posted up the site, so do take a look!

Book Posts Coming Up

I was pleased that I caught up with a couple of book blog posts earlier today.  Also, I hope to get these out, in order, before we break for the festive holidays:

• The Frugal Life – Piper Terrett (non-crimefic book on watching your pennies in these times of austerity from an author who practises and does not preach)
• Dead Tomorrow – Peter James (the proof copy could double up as a door stop, but when reading this thriller those pages go flickety flick, flick, flick and faster than the cars he likes to race)
• City of Thieves – Cyrus Moore (City-based thriller that lifts the lid on insider trading and corruption)
• Blacklands – Belinda Bauer (an engaging début coming in January 2010 written from the point of view of a boy seeking resolution for his family after a tragedy).

I also have some comments to come on the 2010 Book Club TV programme in the UK: that is the follow-on for the previously successful Richard & Judy incarnation.  I believe phase two may be both missing the point and missing a trick...

Finally, there will be a post on academics seeking your help in the world of crime fiction, especially in relation to WWII and the Nazis.  I know some of you are experts in this area, so please keep your eyes peeled for this post before we see in the new year.

Comments left on 09/12 are likely to see a delay in publication as I will not have access to the internet for the most of the 24hr period.  I'll catch you later in the week. Enjoy your reading!

Link Update & Book Sites

I've created another set of links in the sidebar for 'Book Sites'.  Flashlight Worthy is my first add.  I like them because they are different: they provide book recommendations in the form of lists.  Do check them out.  I've been asked to contribute a list and I'm thinking about it right now.

Also - with apologies to Bernadette for an overlook on my part the last time I updated my links - I have added Reactions to Reading to the Australian Crime Blogs section.  Do pay a visit!

Bloggers Must Disclose Payments for Reviews

From December 1,this rule from the Federal Trade Commission in the US applies.  The New York Times reports:

'...The Federal Trade Commission will require bloggers to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products...'

and

'...Penalties include up to $11,000 in fines per violation.'

In respect of the UK, this requires some further investigation, e.g. what if a UK-based blogger has received a book from a US publisher/PR company/author?

Any thoughts, folks?  Immediate reaction?

Update: You can see the FTC press release here (you may need to click on your IE compatabililty button to scroll down).  It includes the text:

'...The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization. And a paid endorsement – like any other advertisement – is deceptive if it makes false or misleading claims...'

Agatha Christie Week

During the week of the Agatha Christie Festival in Devon we have two sets of fine celebratory blog posts from Norm here and Kerrie here.

Google matters are resolving, while searches can be intriguing...

Well, I stuck it out with a combination of (enforced) patience and not having a clue what to do next, the former also being a product of the latter.  But in the last 24 hours, matters seem to be resolving and random Google searches for books and other info are creeping back.  Yippee!  On what went wrong and how it is resolving is beyond my ken.

It's interesting to see emerging searches in Sitemeter as it indicates what others are working on in other parts of the world.  I've seen Mo Hayder's Pig Island searched for "crib notes" (go on, admit it, whoever you are, that's a bit lazy...) and "explain end" (this has come up many times before in various forms and has been discussed in the relevant post).  Also, probably due to the recent release of The Information Officer by Mark Mills, people in Malta are searching for info on Mills.  I recently read this one and will post on it soon.

But it's great to see the searches back, even if I was surprised at the level of return readers through their various sources.  I had no idea it was as high as it was.

No apologies for drawing your attention to this one, but it came from my blog contributor friend Chris, not me - Laurie R King's The Language of Bees.  That one seems to have disappeared off the radar.  Perhaps I could ask Dr Who to investigate?  Mari Strachan's The Earth Hums in B Flat - a book I love - is also proving tetchy in searches.  You can read more from Mari, talking about her novel, live, as it was, on Lizzy's Literary Life here.

That's me over and done with for now.  One downside in the life of moi has taken an upturn.  However, I am still looking for a job.

Blogger anonymity & what has The Times newspaper group got against it?

Earlier today there was a landmark decision in our courts when Mr Justice Eady refused to grant an order to protect the anonymity of police officer Richard Horton who is the author of a blog called NightJack.  According to The Times, Horton "began the NightJack blog in February last year" and "at one stage he attracted nearly 500,000 readers a week with his pithy observations of life on the front line of policing."  Horton won the Orwell Prize for blogs in April of this year.  (The Times claims it was for "political writing".  They seem to lack a bit of attention to detail there.)

The 4-Play Meme (as book and crime related as possible...)

For a little light relief, I compiled my lists earlier today.  Maxine has mentioned somewhere that she prefers memes that concentrate more on the world of books, so I have tried to make this as connected as possible, including related to crime and crime fiction.  (The food bit being the most difficult!)  Here are my results:

Future developments:

Because of a problem with Google no longer recognising my posts in its searches and because I like to support authors, especially debuts and those with little to no publicity budgets, I have decided that for an interim period all future posts will also be made on another blog site at Blogger, here.  If it looks as though the issue will take some time to resolve, I will also start uploading my previous book blog posts to that site too.  Should the matter prove to be beyond my ken, and that of Typepad's Help Team, I will then consider moving over completely.  Apologies to all for the inconvenience, especially to those whose books I have covered here, where the posts no longer appear in Google searches.  If you are seeking a book I've previously covered, I suggest, for the moment, that you try using Yahoo or alltheweb.com.  (But if you've managed to land here to see this message, there is a list of books below on the right.)  Again, my apologies.

A Survey of Book Bloggers

Do you blog about books?  If yes, then please click on the link below to participate in a survey of book bloggers.  Some of the questions have come from publishers.  I intend to review the results and write an article that will hopefully lead to a better understanding of the book blogging world and promote more dialogue between publishers and bloggers.

I'd also be grateful if you could promote the survey on your blog.  Many thanks, in advance, to those who complete it.  It's open for a few days, (closes on 19 April), but please reply soon.  Click Here to take survey.

UPDATE 10/4: I am aware of one person who has completed the survey but the results have not logged.  Please leave a comment here if you complete the survey (so I can check delivery) and I suggest saving your answers in another media, just in case the same happens again.  Thanks.