by Olga Kwak, Harlequin Digital

Maria’s daughter, Jenna, shows us how to enjoy Inside Out.

Yesterday we launched the official trailer for Inside Out, Maria V. Snyder’s new release from Harlequin Teen. Jayne, our fabulous Community Manager arranged a debut that spanned the book blogger world. Here’s a selection of the blogs involved in the launch:

La Femme Readers
Ellz Readz
All Things Urban Fantasy
The Book Butterfly
Janicu’s Book Blog
Fantastic Book Review
Frenetic Reader
Fiction Fanatic
Page Turners
Reading Rocks
Pirate Penguin’s Reads
The Story Siren
WORD for Teens
Teen Blips
YA Reads (Inside Out is the BOOK OF THE MONTH for April, thanks YA Reads!)
VodPod.com
Today’s Adventure
Parajunkee’s View
Presenting Lenore
YABookNerd
Monster Librarian
eHarlequin Community
Paranormal Romance Blog

Thanks to everyone who participated in our book trailer launch!

Editor’s Note: Today we launch the book trailer for Maria V. Snyder’s brand new release from Harlequin Teen, Inside Out. Maria V. Snyder will credit her daughter, Jenna, for  keeping her in touch with the teen mind. Happily, though, her characters and Jenna lead very different lives. After all, Jenna doesn’t live in the future, or in a world filled with magic. But she does cast a critical eye on the pages (hot off the printer!) and is willing to give some advice to her mom when it’s needed. We asked them the same questions to see how much they are alike—and exactly where the differ. But before you read their responses, have a look at the spooky new trailer.

If you could live 500 years in the future would you?

M: Yes. I’m curious what technology and society will be like by then. Will they even be recognizable? Or will we cast aside all the technology and our frantic stressful lives and return to living simply? It would be fun to find out.

J: Yes, because it would be really cool to see all the new inventions and improved world.

What would you be if you lived in the lower levels of Inside?

M: I took the scrub quiz that’s up on the Inside Out website, and found out I’m most suited to be a Hydroponics scrub since I enjoy working with my hands, don’t mind dirt under my nails and like watching things grow Probably good qualities for a Care Mother as well.

J: I would be a Care Mother because it would be nice working with little kids and helping them.

Why do you think the need for family is so important even here?

M: People are social creatures. We need others to talk to, to commiserate with, to celebrate with, and to help. In the world of Inside, the Pop Cops and the Trava family know that people are stronger when they’re linked in groups and form bonds. They strive to keep everyone separate and to instill jealousy between the uppers and lowers so they wouldn’t band together.

J: Families are important everywhere. They help and support you. Without a family you would be very alone and everyone should have someone close to them who can help.

Living in crowded conditions leaves no privacy. How would you cope with that?

M: I’d probably be like Trella and hide out in the air ducts whenever I was overwhelmed. I’d probably also be more quiet about my thoughts and feelings – it would be bad enough everyone knew everything I was doing – I wouldn’t need them knowing what I thought or felt over a situation.

J: To cope with the crowded places, I would try to always find a corner to stand in or
live in because I don’t feel as crowded if I’m in a corner.

What qualities of Trella do you see in yourself/your daughter?

M: I think Trella and I are both persistent. As a writer, I receive a ton of rejections for my stories and story ideas. My first book, Poison Study was rejected a bunch of times, yet I didn’t give up. I kept sending out the manuscript until the book found the right editor and publisher I also stick with a project until it’s done – no matter how crazy it gets. Which is the same with Trella. As the stakes get higher, she stays the course and is very determined and stubborn.

Trella and Jenna are similar is a number of ways. They’re both intelligent and both have long brown hair Both would go out of their way for a friend. But while Trella doesn’t bat an eye at breaking a few rules, Jenna wouldn’t. She’ll probably get mad at me for saying this (good thing we answered our questions separately), but Jenna is a by-the-book, law-and-order type. If her teacher tells her to do X, Y and Z – that’s what she does. She’s an excellent student and very easy to coach, because she listens. But ask her to do Y, Z and X and she won’t – or if she does, she’ll get a stomach ache.

J: There isn’t really that many connections. But I see the one same quality in Trella, Opal, and Yelena, they all have the same tone to me. They are all somewhat sarcastic to me. But I don’t see Trella like my mom – she is too nice.

Visit the official Inside Out website for a FREE sneak peak of Chapters 1-3!

by Sulemaan Ahmed, Olga Kwak, Lori Meyers, Karen Queme, and Michelle Renaud

How do you celebrate sixty years of pure reading pleasure?  All year, of course!

And you’d better believe that we did—there were so many ways that we celebrated in 2009 that I had to enlist the help of several people to write this post.  Like all good families, we gathered together and put together a celebration of our sixty years in publishing that won’t soon be forgotten.  It took blood, sweat and tears, it filled our heads day and night, but ultimately, it was worth it.  It’s not every year you get to celebrate such a milestone, after all.  It’s hard to see how we’ll top this anniversary off, but I suppose our centennial is coming along…

And I’m sure you’re not entirely surprised.  After all, we did mention it (once or twice…).  In honour of the end of our celebrations, I’d like to take the time to show and tell you just how much celebrating we did.

Come along…

As always, it should begin with the books.  We began 2009 with a monthly series spotlight.  Each month we chose a different book series to spotlight in order to showcase the variety of great reads Harlequin has to offer, starting with Silhouette Desire.  If you saw that little red sticker on your book, chances are you purchased a book in the month we were spotlighting it!

On top of that, we did something extraordinary—we started giving away free books.  If you’re a member of our Readers Service, this is not news to you. We’ve been sampling books for almost as long as we’ve been in business. Probably because we’re so confident that you’ll love our books, we don’t mind giving you a couple to try at your leisure.  That said, we launched HarlequinCelebrates.com (now rebranded as TryHarlequin.com), an online library of sixteen free downloadable Harlequins, one from almost each series we carry. They were also available on eHarlequin.com and through various online retailers, eBook and mobile partners.

We wanted to provide a free book to every woman in America and Canada and to highlight the breadth and depth of the Harlequin Series editorial with no strings attached. No DRM. No purchase necessary. No registration. No email sign-up. Just click and download a book.

Our goal was 2 million downloads for the year. We did better than that. We had over 3 million downloads. And that 3M figure is just for the downloads we can track. That does not take into account the pass-along or viral factor.

We would be remiss not to mention the great support generated by the various bloggers, authors and Harlequin fans out there who spread the word about the 60th anniversary.  When you blow by your download target and things go viral there is a reason for that.  We thank each of them for it.

We also had terrific media partners such as MSN and Women’s Day where the 16 titles were promoted to their customers.  On the other side we had digital partnerships with Kraft and Harrah’s to promote our 60th anniversary.  In fact, the Harrah’s online relationship resulted in an offline partnership where our 60th art exhibit ended up as a main attraction in the Paris Las Vegas hotel (but more on that in a minute).

In March, June and September we published the Harlequin Famous First Collection. It featured some of the first Harlequin books by New York Times bestselling authors of today such as Debbie Macomber, Diana Palmer and Linda Lael Miller.

In October we published the Harlequin Vintage Collection—a selection of six vintage books from earlier Harlequin days. And, because we could sense that everyone was feeling the vintage vibe, our Digital Commerce team created a stationery collection based on vintage covers. So now anyone can have a keepsake of their own for the 60th anniversary.

But, of course, we didn’t make it all about the books. We love parties, and what’s a better cause to break out the bubbly than sixty years of sexy, romantic, sometimes suspensful, and always pleasureable books?

In May we kicked off the festivities with an art exhibit in New York entitled The Heart of a Woman: Harlequin Cover Art 1949-2009.  The exhibit includes over 100 works of art, some pieces which have not been seen in close to sixty years!  By presenting sixty years of cover artwork, the exhibition offers a unique insight into the profound changes that have occurred in women’s lives over the past six decades—changes that have been captured and reflected on the front of harlequin novels—from shifts in private desire to the politics of gender.

Isn’t she a beauty? The entrance to The Heart of a Woman exhibit in New York City.

If you missed the show in NYC, it’s not too late.  Currently, the exhibit is showcased at Paris Las Vegas, in partnership with Harrah’s Entertainment Inc.  Las Vegas is known as a place for quick escapes so the tie-in to Paris Las Vegas and Harlequin was a natural match—after all, we’re the kings and queens of quick escapes!  The exhibit will run until the end of February 2010, so do check it out if you happen to be in the area.

In Toronto, Canada, we sweetened the deal even more: Harlequin teamed up with Peek Freans Lifestyle Selections to take a Taste of Mischief with our very sexy cover models.  The boys took to the streets in the heart of Toronto at Yonge & Dundas square, dressed as the dashing heroes straight off of Harlequin Intrigue covers, to hand out Peek Freans cookie samples with a coupon for a free ebook download.

Two of our sexy Harlequin Heroes pose for a candid shot on the streets of Toronto.

As you can see, we went whole-hog on the festivities.  Thank you to everyone who helped us put together an anniversary celebration we won’t soon forget.  I leave you now with one final reminder of why Harlequin is pure reading pleasure: celebrity book readings.

By Margie Miller, Creative Director, Single Titles

Women fall in love with them. Men want to be them. Everybody loves a cowboy.

The ultimate strong silent type—fearless, honest and hard working. They’re never afraid to roll up their sleeves and jump in when a crisis hits. They’re tough to pin down, but once you do, you have a friend and partner for life. They are an American icon, the epitome of what it means to be an honorable man, and as Linda Lael Miller puts it. They are “the equivalent of the British Knight”.

Last June, on a ranch outside of Los Angeles, and together with a team that included a photographer and his assistants, a wardrobe stylist, an animal trainer, and other really helpful people from the ranch, we began the task of bringing Tate, Garret and Austin McKettrick to life for the covers of the new, upcoming Linda Lael Miller books. This year, we added film to the mix, in order to provide the readers with an added glimpse into these characters.  John Logsdon of Blind Vision Films came on board to join in a really long and exceptionally fun day of shooting.

I hope you enjoy watching and reading about these three cowboys as much as I did bringing them to life!

Visit Take A Cowboy Home for the full-length version of this documentary. For more info on the McKettricks of Texas and the Take A Cowboy Home website and sweepstakes follow the McKettricks blog tour to:

Beyond Her Book – Jan 18 (that’s today!)

Super Librarian – Jan 19

Petticoats and Pistols – Jan 21

Dear Author – Jan 21

And don’t miss the spotlight on Linda Lael Miller and the McKettricks men at Love Western Romances in March!