INTERVIEW: Riverdale Avenue Books' publisher Lori Perkins

On December 17, 2012, veteran literary agent Lori Perkins launched Riverdale Avenue Books, a new pop culture e-book publishing house. I was able to talk to Lori and ask her about the new venture and what it will mean to writers.

Q: Why pop culture? What is the attraction?

LP: Pop culture drives publishing, just like romance does. If you look at the bestsellers lists, you’ll find at least eight books on pop culture and all are doing very well. Riverdale Avenue Press is the first full service digital publisher to launch a pop culture line. RAB will give readers the same immediate gratification that they have come to expect from all forms of media and entertainment. Each RAB imprint represents a genre that we believe is consumable, and will keep our readers coming back for more. Simply put, we will give readers the books they crave.

The Riverdale Avenue Books imprints are:

• Riverdale/Magnus books – a LGBT line with Magnus Books, created by Donald Weise

• Riverdale Pop – pop culture titles, like unauthorized biographies of such stars as the late Jenny Rivera, Katie Holmes, and Justin Bieber

• RAB HSF – a horror, science fiction and fantasy line

• RAB Truth – an erotic memoir line

• RAB Desire – an erotica and erotic romance line


Q: How soon will your books be available?

LP: RAB has purchased about 50 books and has inventory through April 2013. We’ll publish four books a month to start with, and will add more as we grow. At RAB, we don’t see a reason why it takes a year and a half to publish a book. That is how traditional publishers miss opportunities. RAB books will be up in at least two months. For example, we are doing an unauthorized biography of the late Jenny Rivera, which will be out in late January.


Q: Will RAB offer print books?

LP: Yes, all the e-books will be available through POD – print on demand.


Q: Are the other three lines, HSF, Truth and Desire, open to new writers?

LP: All five lines are open to new writers, published and unpublished, fiction and non-fiction. Please see the RAB website for our guidelines. The website is www.riverdaleavebooks.com. To submit, send a query to submissions@riverdaleavebooks.com. Expect a response within 30 days.


Q: You had another publishing venture, Ravenous Romance. Is the goal for Riverdale Avenue Books the same?

LP: Ravenous Romance is publishing erotic romance. RAB has five imprints with a larger distribution through Ingram. RAB is the first full service digital publisher to launch a pop culture line, with a foreign rights department and a Los Angeles-based film agent. We are also working with Audio Realms to produce simultaneous audio books on most of our titles.


Q: How do you do it all?! You are an agent, publisher, host of a reading series, mother, partner, etc. What is your secret?

LP: I’ve been an agent for 25 years. I work a lot of 16-hour days. Right now, is the most exciting time in publishing. I want to publish books that make people feel better, and, luckily, I am in a position to be able to do so.♥



Maria C. Ferrer is the president of the Romance Writers of America / New York City Chapter.  This interview was first published in the RWA/NYC newsletter, Keynotes, and on the RWA/NYC blogsite, www.rwanycblogginginthebigapple.blogspot.com. 

PICTURE FRIDAY: I♥NY - WINDOW DRESSING

I love taking pictures.  In fact, once I toyed with the idea of becoming a professional photographer.  I did weddings, portraits, candids, and even sold some pictures at a tradeshow.  I became a writer instead, but I still love to take pictures of ...well, everything. 

Join me every week for Picture Friday, when I'll share with you some of my favorite photos.  Today's photos are some I took in January 2013 of the NYC windows on Fifth Avenue.  Enjoy! 

Ladies in Waiting

Mr. Metrosexual

Miss Cupcake 2012

(Her dress is made from cupcake wrappers!)

Shall we dance?!

I Am Unlimited!

Feel free to use these photos on your blog, with proper credit. 

TUESDAY TALE: A SMALL PACKAGE

NOTE:  Every week several authors compose a short story or take a scene from a WIP - all based on a word prompt.  And this week's prompt is ..... PACKAGE.  Let me know what you think of my "tale."

It was a small package. Brown casing. Gold ribbon tied very carefully to give it an elegant look, but still a very manly look.
     She sat and stared at that package.
     It had been wrapped with love, with excitement, with anticipation.
     She got up and walked to the other side of the room. She leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
     If she had stayed in her seat she would have torn that package to shreds.
     Hate boiled within her. A killing rage.
     She turned her face to the wall; its coolness against her forehead. Her arms hugged her body. Tears ran down her cheeks onto the floor.
     She was such a fool.
     When was she going to learn? When? How many times was she going to be a doormat? Where was her pride?
     But he said he loved me. A small voice cried out.
     He lied. A harsher voice answered.
     It was all a lie. The small voice whimpered.
     It was all a lie. The hard voice agreed.
     She pushed herself from the wall. For a moment she swayed. Shock, hurt, resignation swirling within her.
     She took a deep breath and her resolved harden. She stood tall and firm.
     She looked at that package on the counter.
     She could throw it away, return it or forget it.
     No.
     She was going to keep it, as a reminder of lies and betrayal; as a reminder of her stupidity; as a reminder of her new found strength.
     In fact, she’d show him.
     She looked in the bathroom mirror and didn’t recognize herself – blotched skin, running mascara, wild curls sticking out of her head.
     She shook her head and looked away.
     She stripped and showered. The water as hot as she could bear.
     She looked through her closet and found her favorite red dress.

     A little makeup, a bold lipstick, tamed curls.
     The woman looking back at her in the mirror was no victim, and would never be again.
     The club lights were bright, the music loud, the chattering higher still.
     She walked with confidence. Shoulders back. Long legged stride.
     She turned heads. Nodded to a few but stopped for no one.
     She knew his favorite spot. And there he was, just where she knew he’d be.
     Tall, dark, handsome with wavy black hair, laugh lines around a wide mouth made for sin. And his arm around another’s.
     She watched. She waited. She followed them back to his apartment.
     And at dawn, when her rival left his bed, she used the key he’d forgotten he’d given her. He lay sprawled on the bed. The sheets tangled around him. Sated. Satisfied. Selfish.
     Love and hatred warred within her.
     She remembered his kisses, his embraces, his whispered promises against her heated skin.
     So with one blow she ended his lies, his disdain, his life.
     His eyes opened and for one brief moment she saw recognition in them. And, she was glad.
     She left him where he so often played.
     She didn’t remember the trip home, just the small gift wrapped package on the counter.###
    


To read more Tuesday Tales, visit http://tuesdaytales1.blogspot.com.

Photo Credit: painting by Tamara de Lempicka.

TUESDAY TALES: DADDY LOST

This is from a work in progress.  Let me know what you think. ---mcf

The girls loved the cabin, the snow, the fireplace and the two weeks away from school. They were ecstatic, and having fun running around looking into rooms and closets with equal zeal. The girls. His daughters. Twin bundles of joy that had turned his life upside down less than four months ago.

His chest still tightens whenever he thought of them.

Jon was sterile, had been for the past ten years. Thoughts of having a child of his own had died a hard death when he’d been diagnosed with chicken pox and came out of it well, but sterile.

He had met some nice women with children. There was one in particular that he thought may have been the one. He knew now that it was the boy he had wanted and then the mother. It would not have been fair to her, but Jon would have been a good father and husband.

Now, it turns out, that he was a father-- a father of twins.

They had changed his life with that one phone call.

He remembered it vividly. He’d been packing. He’d lost the child and the woman he wanted so he had applied for a transfer at his accounting firm, and had tendered his resignation at the grade school.

He was packing when the phone rang. He thought to ignore it, but then changed his mind in case there was an emergency at work, at the school where he coached pee wee soccer, or in case his ex-girlfriend had changed her mind and wanted him back.

“Are you Jonathan Cruz?” A small voice had asked over the phone. There had been some rustling, and then another small voice got on.

“Did you go to Platt High School? Do you know a Helen Soto?

“Are you our daddy?”♥




To read more Tuesday Tales, visit http://tuesdaytales1.blogspot.com.

TUESDAY TALES: 27 WEBB AVENUE

I am proud to join Tuesday Tales -- a group of writers who write to a word prompt every week.  Our stories are either from a work in progress or original tales, and best of all they are FREE!  Happy Reading. --mcf

George Stuart pulled the legs apart and arranged them against the white fabric. The red blood provided a good focal point, which he liked. He stepped back and looked at his creation – stoic, still, lifeless.

He walked down the stairs to the edge of the sidewalk and turned to look at his new home.

Ghosts in the windows, check.

Giant spider web on porch, check.

Vampire bats, pumpkins, Frankenstein monster, check, check, check.

George smiled with satisfaction. It was his first Halloween in his Victorian home and he was finally opened for business.

Yes, the whole street was full of bed and breakfasts but George was not daunted. He knew it was a risk, but the market was down, his job downsized and this house was all he had left. It was this or a job at Mickey Dee’s. But the Jersey Shore had always been popular with out-of-towners in good times and bad, and it retained its popularity thanks to Snooki and her posse. George was counting on the Shore’s continuing attractiveness, now more than ever.

Just as he stepped toward the house, a cab pulled up in front, and four women stepped out of its multiple doors – a tall blonde with straight hair, a brunette with short hair and a quick smile, a buxom beauty with dark skin and wild curls, and a short exotic beauty in gothic black.

“This is it,” said the tall blonde, as the cab driver unloaded suitcases from the back.

“I love it,” cried the exotic beauty, clasping her hands against her chest.

“You love everything,” said the dark skin lovely with familiarity.

“Do you think there are enough ghosts?” asked the cute brunette, as she scanned the face of the house.

“There can never be enough ghosts in a haunted mansion,” answered George, as he walked up to greet his first clients – romance writers on retreat. ♥


For more Tuesday Tales, visit http://tuesdaytales1.blogspot.com.