Comments on: The Cinderella Deal’s Evil Twin

By: Venus Vaughn

Venus Vaughn — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 10:47:26 +0000

I just thought you should know that I picked up TCD this afternoon and finished it tonight. (It’s been in my TBR since the week of its re-release.). Great read.

I laughed so hard that I cried when Linc said, “Rat snacks.”. Thank you SO much for that scene.

By: Megs

Megs — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 05:50:21 +0000

Hey! That coworker is me!

By: Gloria Vargas

Gloria Vargas — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:09:52 +0000

I feel in love with Bet Me. I don’t know what it is about it, it just pulled me in as soon as I saw it on the shelf. And after fast reading it while standing there…I was hooked. This past Wed. I was in the book store looking for a book to keep me busy thru this weekend because of bad weather that was perdicted. And sure enough I found one, and it couldn’t have been better. TCD was a very good book. Although I read it all in one evening….hehe, once I started to read it, I was so hooked. Thank you for such a good book. Although Bet Me will forever be my favorite.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:06:06 +0000

Yes. Your best bet is to go to Teach Me Tonight, the great academic romance blog, and look there. They’re a great resource and can point you toward other sources.

By: Herdys

Herdys — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:26:20 +0000

Oh that would be so cool!! But.. I would love to read about Eve too!! It would be great if she ended up with Simon!! *_*

By: Berni

Berni — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:18:44 +0000

_Bet Me_ is my favorite of your books. I plan to go to the bookstore tomorrow and will look for _The Cinderella Deal_. It sounds like someone could make an interesting paper out of the evolution of your idea into the two books, _Strange Bedfellows_ and _The Cinderella Deal_. Is there any litcrit out on your works?

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:18:43 +0000

This book was published in 1996 and hasn’t been proofread since. If there are only two mistakes, it’s a miracle.
Comment form fields: I’ll ask the webmistress. Thanks.

By: S.R.

S.R. — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:32:59 +0000

Dear Ms. Cruisie,

It is easier spotting anybody else’s typos, that to spot one’s own. However you are paid less because you clearly overpay for help spotting them!

On the very first page of C.D. there is a typo:

“Ideas Illminated”

and on page 59:

“and he’d though that”

Also on this webpage in the comment form fields, it says “will not published”

Just a friendly bit of proofreading help from a big fan, may you thus be able negotiate for better help,

By: Joanna

Joanna — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:21:36 +0000

The best part of Strange Bedpersons (for me) has to be the friendships. I liked the book a lot, but more for the friendships than the romance. And I loved Lenny!

By: Joanna

Joanna — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:19:25 +0000

Foul fiend, repent! Ye shall burn!
On the other hand, I totally agree, but I still read everything she writes! Every love story is basically the same, when you get down to it, but nobody’s story is like mine…

By: CrankyOtter

CrankyOtter — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:49:08 +0000

Huh. I guess we readers assume there’s overhead but that the majority of the cost and risk is in printing a bunch of things no one buys. Why else would magazines routinely sell subscriptions for 10-15% of the newsstand price if they weren’t expecting to lose 50% of the product on the newsstand? Working in manufacturing, I do understand having predictable customers like subscribers in reducing risk and calculating inventory, but still, our material/production costs range in the 65% and overhead is supposed to be kept under 20%. (It may matter whether or not R&D comes out fo the manufacturing or the overhead budget bin for comparative purposes. This varies from company to company and I’ve fudged those numbers a skosh to avoid liability, but they’re real enough to work with.)

So from *my* mental model, 65% is paper, ink, printing equipment, art, transportation, and people to do all that and 20% to run the business. If the 65% for publishing is in editors, and marketing, the publishers should be making that case to the public because (a) we don’t currently believe that and (b) we assume they’re saving roughly 60% of their costs by going to eBook. (By we, I mean me.) So for something that used to go (on sale) for $19 when we assume their costs have gone from $16 to $6 and their risk of overproduction has been cut by 2/3, and has possibly lower value to the consumer? $15 is ridiculous. But if my/our assumptions are not true, they should let us know why it’s not cheaper to make ebooks because it appear to be a LOT cheaper to make ebooks.

The fight about who sets the prices isn’t ridiculous, I agree there. But from my perspective as a person who manufactures things for a living, one reason I haven’t bought an eBook yet because I feel like I’m getting ripped off still. If I better understood how publishers make and spend their money, I might be more sympathetic. (I’m including author payements in the publishers’ money.) I don’t have a problem with people making a profit on their efforts, I do have a problem with people trying to rip me off by charging me a premium for a lesser good. Although technically the good is “story” not “paper” or “electrons” or “CD”, I want good story AND good paper/electrons/CD for my money.

By: SnarkMaiden

SnarkMaiden — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:32:16 +0000

oh, my inner nitpicky proofreader says on about p270, the printed page says he pulls her onto his slap (rather than his lap); unless I’m seeing double…

By: Carol Anne

Carol Anne — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:44:52 +0000

“Life is not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes a difference.” ~ Virginnia Stair

A woman without sleep is very cranky indeed. A woman without a Jennifer Crusie to read is even crankier. My other self who is very gracious, gave me a good talking to for being rude while people have it far worse in life and I bitched all over someone else’s blog. Off to see if the grocery store has a TCD in the book section. So glad it is Number 11 and you were surprized.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:36:28 +0000

I just had an idea: Nadine + Dillie in a book.

Yeah, I know, not happening, but it’d be fun.

By: Kira

Kira — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:26:33 +0000

Is it possible that Nadine’s book might be suitable for a younger audience? I would love my daughters to read your books, but the sex scenes are TMI for them at this point…

By: Meredith B.

Meredith B. — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:29:51 +0000

If you want a really funny, snarky take on it, try John Scalzi’s latest blog entry: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/02/01/all-the-many-ways-amazon-so-very-failed-the-weekend/

By: Deborah Blake

Deborah Blake — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:36:12 +0000

That was the clearest, most succinct summation of the Amazon debacle I have seen. And I’ve seen a lot. Damn, you rock. And I just found (and bought, of course) Cinderella Deal at my local mini-B&N. But I am FORCING myself to wait to read it until I am on the plane to CA on the 11th. I don’t like to travel–especially alone–so this is going to be my reward and my consolation for doing so. Whew. Thank goodness for a new Crusie!

By: Courtney

Courtney — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:41:33 +0000

Well, I had to go and re-read Strange Bedpersons so I could adequately respond to this discussion. I can see the similar seeds, certainly, but I don’t think that they’re too similar by any means. However, I now understand the strong sense of deja vu I had while reading the first chapter of The Cinderella Deal: they are the most similar parts of the books, with the descriptions of the apartment, the cat, and conversations with best friends. The Strange Bedpersons opening is funnier though, with the back and forth with Nick through the door. And it has better cover art. At any rate, I loved them both, and can attest that they’re not so much evil twins, as close siblings.

By: Savvy2

Savvy2 — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:39:10 +0000

I’m sorry to hear about no Suze and Riley, but mostly I’d love to see a Riley story. He’s such a great character. And hearing there’ll be an Ethan story is super.

By: CrankyOtter

CrankyOtter — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:22:16 +0000

I read every Loveswept my library had from number 1 to about 600 when I went off to college and lost touch. Once I found them, I dumped harlequins almost utterly. (At the time I read only category and no single title.) They did have some very good authors including Kay Hooper – who I remember as being fantastic, but have not liked the last 3 of her books I read for various reasons so I’ve given up on her. But for a teen looking for safe spice, with some realism I could relate to (aka not 42 year old doctors marying their 19 yr old nurse after a close mouthed kiss…) that Loveswept line was manna. I’m forever grateful to Bantam for it.

I think a couple of my very favoritest authors, like Jenny, whose work I read and re-read, were picked up by Loveswept just after I stopped reading them in favor of not failing at higher education – I always wonder if I would have seen them for the gems they were or if my “I don’t read books twice” mentality would have driven me right through them and on to the next without a thought.

I seem to have lost several of my Crusies in my move, including “The Cinderella Deal” and “Manhunting”. I still have “Trust me on this” (ebay acquisition) which shared shelf space them both so I’m at a loss as to what happened to them. Yay for reprints!