Wednesday, February 10, 2010

You are invited to the 7th Annual CAPA Awards!


As is tradition at TRS, we're holding our CAPA Awards on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2010. It will start at 1 PM EST and last until whenever. =)

The CAPA's are the Cupid and Psyche Awards for excellence in romantic fiction and today, I have to be honest, and say that means more to me now than it ever has.

We have some really super talented authors at TRS, both those we review but haven't met and those we promote gladly and review. It amazes me with each new book I read how very lucky we are as a site to be able to offer fellow readers such talent. The authors and publishers in our community ARE TRS along with a dynamic staff that inspires me every damn day.

With all the growing concerns about ebook piracy, in the coming weeks, we'll be forced to make some changes at our site that I'd personally rather not make. But we're going to do our part to protect our epublished authors and their publishers because we want more books from these wonderfully talented people. I don't know about you, but I don't what I'd do without that small escape each day into worlds I'll never be able to visit in reality. I'm blessed to have a good life and family but even still, I enjoy those personal journeys. And life without them, because of ebook piracy hurting the authors and publishers I enjoy, is unimaginable.

So come on out to our celebration of romantic fiction! It's at our CAPA blog at http://trscapa.blogspot.com. The nominees are posting each day right now and it's great fun to read. We'll be announcing the winners over several hours on 2/14 and with all the posts, it's a lot of fun. We'll be doing giveaways....

Oh AND we'll be announcing the 2009 5 Heart Sweetheart -- the first time we've actually done a yearly vote.

So come join us! We'd love to see you there. And please remember to support the authors and publishers of the books we love. Buy your ebooks from the publisher or from reputable venues like Fictionwise and All Romance Ebooks (my personal favorite!)

Don't share your ebooks with friends. It IS different than passing your girlfriend a great paperback you bought. That's just one paperback. The ebook you share can in turn be sent to literally thousands of other people.

Don't post ebooks to file sharing sites like Altavista, Astalivista, and more. Same thing. That one copy you share can be downloaded by hundreds of people -- some of whom might not realize they are stealing to download it. Don't let people fool you into thinking you're actually helping the author gain popularity. You're not. You're hurting their sales and their means of support. Without that, why should they continue to write?

Only you are granted permission to read that ebook you bought. Recommend it to a friend if you love it. Write and tell the author that you love it. Post your good vibes on the book at Amazon.

But don't share. Please.

Thank you so much for your support!

Tina Pavlik

The Romance Studio ~ the romance genre today.
http://theromancestudio.com