Dear Author’s Jane Litte: Newest TeleBlog contributor
Some of the most honest and useful commentary on e-books, including serious thoughts on DRM and e-formats, comes from the Dear Author site devoted mainly to romance novels.
No stereotypes. We’re even in Geek Girl territory since Jane Litte, one of the Dear Author blog’s two mainstays, does a little PHP. More importantly, Jane loves and cares about e-books, and while never hesitant to give a consumer perspective, she seeks out publishing insiders to get their side. Recently, for example, Jane interviewed Claire Israel of Simon & Schuster and Ann Allessi of HarperCollins.
So in our new incarnation, we’re especially pleased to add Jane to the list of TeleBloggers.
Including an explanation of the “Dear Author” name, here are a few details from Jane—who lives in the Midwest with her husband Ned and a young daughter:
I’m an avid reader who generally goes for pulp fiction although I’ve been known to read a biography now and again. I became interested in e-books back when Adobe Reader was about the only format choice and only on your laptop. Now I’ve cut the ties to my laptop and enjoys reading in every traditional and non traditional reading nook with my trusty IPAQ and occasionally with the Sony Reader. My Dear Author blog offers up reviews stylized in the form of letters to the authors and Sunday articles about the e-reading technology with a decidedly consumerist slant.
My favorite novel of all time? Many of my childhood favorites have remained with me as regular re-reads: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Gene Stratton-Porter’s A Girl of the Limberlost. My favorite romances would include Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels, Jennifer Crusie’s Welcome to Temptation, Nora Roberts’ Carnal Innocence. Nonfiction? Does Jerry Seinfeld’s Seinlanguage count? If not, I love John Feinstein and his sports books. A Good Walked Spoiled is my favorite of his books. Thomas Friedman’s World is Flat. David McCullough’s John Adams. John and Abigail Adams had one of the most marvelous romances recorded in the epistolary format.
Detail: If any offended author has homicidal thoughts in the wake of a DA review, then he or she will have to do a little research. “Jane Litte” is a pseudonym.
January 31st, 2007 at 10:33 am
Thanks, Dave, for the very kind introduction and I hope to live up to whatever preconceived stereotypes there may be about my pink blog!
January 31st, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Congratulations on the new gig, Jane! That’s a big win for TeleRead… you do an fantastic job and are always an interesting read. Look forward to reading your posts in the months and years to come. Best wishes, Bob.
January 31st, 2007 at 3:03 pm
The diligent Jane already has some items on the way, Bob, and remember, the pages of TeleRead are also open to you and Alex, including for times when you want to point to the very hottest just-off-the-press items. I suspect that TeleRead is already one of the leading traffic generators for MobileRead via our linking, and I hope that continues. I’ll be happy to provide you both with PWs. Best right back. David
February 11th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Along with the color pink, let’s hope that Jane leaves some other things back at the DA ranch: the condescension, the gleeful, gotcha! tone, and the self important National Enquirer-like seeking for negative attention.
February 11th, 2007 at 11:46 am
Dear “Dear Reviewer”:
Jane loves the romance genre and her reviews seem far, far more balanced than your note suggests.
Besides, her mission isn’t to stroke writers’ egos but to give her honest opinions.
As it happens, however, authors do write in with thank-you notes, and you’ll also notice that Jane has interviewed people at leading publishers for their side.
Simply put, Jane’s is a truly public-spirited effort, and I’m proud to have her among the TeleBlog’s contributors.
Thanks,
David
February 11th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
You can fool some of the people some of the time.
December 24th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
I know how others and you think you know me and how evil I am, accused of plagerism, without documented proof, but the Christain thing to do is turn the other cheek, in saying this, I congratulate you on your new endeavor, and Merry Christmas and good luck, throughout the year.
Lanaia
[Moderator's note: Jane is on vacation and can't reply. - D.R.]