India Black & The Widow of Windsor by Carol K. Carr~ Guest Post

From the author's website... "Black is back— Her Majesty’s favorite spy is off to Scotland in this new adventure. When Queen Victoria attends a séance, the spirit of her departed husband, Prince Albert, insists she spend Christmas at their Scottish home in Balmoral. Prime Minister Disraeli suspects that Scottish nationalists plan to assassinate the Queen—and sends the ever resourceful India and the handsome British spy, French, to the Scottish highlands. French will take the high road, looking for a traitor among the guests—and India will take the low road, disguised as a servant in case an assassin is hiding among the household staff. India is certain that someone at Balmoral is determined to make this Her Majesty’s last Christmas..."

Today is the publication date for the much-anticipated, India Black & The Widow of Windsor by Carol K. Carr. It is the second book in in The Madam of Espionage series. India Black is a fresh voice in the mystery (although, really... it is SO much more) genre and with her motley crew of "associates", this series has quickly become one of my favorites! Hopefully, the third installment is "in the pipeline". Congratulations, Carol on this great series!

Carol has, graciously, stopped by Bags, Books & Bon Jovi to offer her thoughts, as an author, on the "phenomenom" that we hold so dear... book blogs! Welcome, Carol...
"Thanks for inviting me to your blog, Kathy. It's bloggers like you who have made a significant contribution to making my first novel, "India Black," a national bestseller. Given how kind the book blogging community has been to me, I thought I'd share a few thoughts about the internet, bloggers, and publicity.

By the time I signed a publishing contract, I had read enough about the industry to know that as a new author I wouldn't receive much assistance in promoting the book. The book tours would be reserved for the people who were already gracing the New York Times bestseller list and had sold hundreds of thousands of copies of previous books. Publicists will send your books to all the institutional reviewers (Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus, and the like) and may have accumulated a list of bloggers who have reviewed similar books in the past. They'll send the books to these folks as well. That pretty well constitutes the publisher's commitment to promotion for a first time author.

This is not a complaint about the industry or my publisher. It's just the way things are in the publishing world. As an author, you're going to have to devote time to publicizing your work. And here is where we offer a sacrifice to the gods of commerce and thank them for the internet in general and the book blogging community in particular.

I spent months before the publication of my first book reading book blogs and deciding who I would contact directly about reviewing "India Black." My criteria for choosing bloggers was fairly simple: I looked for people who read a variety of genres (as India Black skates across several, including mystery, romance, thriller and the useful if somewhat ambiguous "caper novel"), who wrote thoughtful reviews and gave honest opinions, and who did so without getting personal or snarky. The blogging community is a generous group of people and I am grateful to those to accepted a copy of the book and wrote reviews. I was delighted to watch the word of mouth travel around the web.

Do publishers pay attention to bloggers? You bet they do. When I received the copy edited version of "The Widow of Windsor," I was surprised and pleased to see that along with the usual institutional reviewers, a couple of bloggers were quoted on the inside cover as well. I think that speaks volumes about the power and scope of the blogging world. Book reviews are no longer entrusted to a small, elite group. The individual reader now has the ability to express his or her opinion and actually influence how books are received by the public.

Do I pay attention to bloggers? You bet I do. I read all the reviews, whether they're good, bad, or indifferent. I don't mind if a review points out things I could have done better. How can you improve without someone pointing out your errors? And I look at reviews as free market research. Reader reaction to "India Black" indicated that people wanted to know more of India's backstory. I have duly drawn out an elaborate family history for her, to be revealed over the course of a few books.

In short, I owe a lot to the blogging community, and bloggers like Kathy. Literary criticism (not that I'm writing literature, mind you) is now a democratic exercise, open to the people who matter most - the readers themselves."

Thanks, Carol for your kind words. Best of luck with India Black and The Widow of Windsor.

I will be posting my review of it tomorrow. If you're new to this series... you are in for a treat! Here is my review of it... http://bagsbooksandbonjovi.blogspot.com/2011/02/india-black-madam-of-espionage-mystery.html
You can also head to Carol's website... http://carolkcarr.com/... and get acquainted with India Black. She's someone you definitely must get to know!