A couple of folks have asked me when Spider’s Bite is coming out. Since my new publisher, Pocket (part of Simon & Schuster), does things a little differently, I thought that I would address that here on the blog.

Technically, Spider’s Bite is a February 2010 book. But the on-sale date — the date the book is supposed to be on the shelf at the bookstore for you to buy — is Jan. 26, 2010.

Why? Well, Spider’s Bite is a mass market paperback, and Pocket has a policy of releasing all their mass market books the last week of the month before they’re supposed to come out.

New books usually come out on Tuesdays, like new DVDs do, and most books usually come out on the first Tuesday of the month. So really, the release date for Spider’s Bite should be Feb. 2, 2010. But because of Pocket’s policy, folks get the book a week early on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010. At least, they should — sometimes bookstore don’t put out the books when they’re supposed to for all kinds of reasons (the books didn’t arrive on time, Johnny called in sick that day, whatever).

So why does Pocket release the books a week early? I’m guessing here, but I would assume it would have something to do with sales. Most mass market books don’t stay on the shelves that long — a couple of months if you’re lucky. So Pocket is getting an extra week of sales in by releasing their books a week early.

I also think it could have a little something to do with helping an author get on a best-seller list. Since most new books come out at the beginning of the month, I would think the competition to make a list wouldn’t be quite as strong at the end of the month. In other words, everyone eager to get their hands on their favorite author’s latest book would have bought it the first week it was out at the beginning of the month, not necessarily during the last week of the month. At least, these are my theories — I could be completely wrong. (And if I am, someone please let me know).

But more and more, I’ve been noticing publishers who are releasing new books in the middle of a month. For example, the release date for Kresley Cole’s latest Immortals After Dark book, Pleasure of a Dark Prince, is Jan. 19, according to Amazon — which is in the middle of the month instead of at the beginning. (And yes, Cole is published by Pocket just like I am).

And this same thing will happen with the next two books in my Elemental Assassin series. Web of Lies, a June book, will be out on May 25, while Venom, an October book, will be out on Sept. 28.

So that’s the deal with the release date. You should be able to get Spider’s Bite as early as Jan. 26 — which is only a little more than a month away now. Not that I’m counting down the days or anything … 😉

Several folks were nice enough to let me know that Spider’s Bite has been reviewed in this week’s Publishers Weekly. Here’s what the reviewer had to say:

Bodies litter the pages of this first entry in Estep’s engrossing Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series. In the corrupt Southern metropolis of Ashland, weather witches mingle with vampires, giants, and dwarves. A mysterious client hires assassin Gin Blanco, known as the Spider, to murder a whistle-blowing financial officer named Gordon Giles. Then the client attempts a double cross and brutally kills Gin’s mentor. Now Gin, a stone elemental with a hard-boiled attitude, a closely guarded heart, and a penchant for throwing knives, has to join forces with one of the few honest cops in Ashland, sexy detective Donovan Caine, who hates her for killing his partner. Fans of Estep’s humorous paranormal romances (Jinx; Hot Mama) may be taken aback by the gritty violence and steamy sex, but urban fantasy fans will love it. (Feb.)

Engrossing! Urban fantasy fans will love it! That’s a solid sentence-and-a-word of like. Huzzah! It’s really sad how jazzed a good review makes me. Writers … it takes so little to make us so very happy. 😉

Although there’s actually one little thing that’s wrong in the review — there are no weather witches in Spider’s Bite. None at all. What the review should say is that elementals mingle with vampires, etc. There are four main kinds of elementals in my book — Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone. And really, elemental is just a fancy word for magic user.

Still, a sentence-and-a-word of like — I’m doing the happy dance! 😉