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dr_phil_physics) wrote2009-11-20 03:34 pm
dr_phil_physics) wrote2009-11-20 03:34 pm
Entry tags:
Harlequin Steps In It Big Time -- RWA Slaps Back
A Horrifying Development
Lots of people read romances. And the paranormal romances are clearly a cousin of genre writing -- and sometimes it is a pretty artificial division. I read Marjorie Liu's stuff, and Meljean Brook -- these are authors I know from Clarion and online, respectively.
Growing up, the brand name Harlequin seemed synonymous with Romance to me -- I guess in terms of sales, for good reason. But recently Harlequin decided to announce a new venture, essentially mining their slush pile for an in-house vanity press operation. For God's sake, Publisher's Weekly ran a news flash with a straight face. I heard about this first via Nick Kaufmann via Nick Mamatas.
But now Scalzi and Making Light have lit in, because -- Thank God! -- the RWA (Romance Writers of America), MWA (Mystery Writers of America) and SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) have all condemned the move. In particular, RWA is to be commended, seeing as they have the most to gain and lose in this effort:
So far, it sounds as if Harlequin sounds hurt, but has removed the name Harlequin from the new venture. It has not, however, decided to skip becoming "Romance Publish America".
Why This Is Evil
Self-publishing is when you hire someone to print your work -- it is very useful for certain limited interest publications, gifts and small runs of things for family & friends. Vanity publishing is when you hire someone to pretend you're a professional author -- they make you believe that your book is "just like" something which has been vetted and marketed by a real publisher.
As annoying as rejection is and as big as slush piles get at real publishers, you really can't judge your own work all that fairly. For someone else to say, "hey, this is good, we can work with this, and we'd like to pay you this much to publish your work", is setting the minimum bar level.
In real publishing, money goes to the author.
If I put up a story on this LJ or on my website, http://dr-phil-physics.com , I'm doing this for fun and/or to give people a taste of my writing for free -- especially given that some of my real publications are hard to get. And I've been using unpublished stories so as not to interfere with those who have published me. But I know these are not vetted, edited works. They are my words and I can give them away if I feel like, provided they're not under contract elsewhere.
For you to pay Harlequin, or its minions, hundreds or thousands of dollars to produce books that likely will not sell and will never get promoted to "the real publishing arm" is a scam. The bait-and-switch aspect of slush piles and rejection letters is just too vile to support. Harlequin's management should be ashamed of themselves and grovel at the feet of their authors, their readers and the writers' organizations like RWA and beg their forgiveness and vow to sin no more forever. Period.
So far, no. Clearly we are misunderstanding Harlequin.
And this has to be CRUSHED IN THE BUD, lest in these dangerous financial times, other legitimate publishers begin to start thinking -- hey, I've got this fucking big slush pile, too, and maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be so bad if I followed Harlequin's lead. And don't get all sanctimonious that hey, it was Harlequin that did this, one of those Romance publishers, complete with the eye rolling of superiority. Because it could happen to anyone in any genre. No, really. It could happen elsewhere.
NO. It'd be BAD. It's not RIGHT. And you people all know it. Preying on the wallets of those with hopes and dreams of becoming published authors is WRONG. And EVIL.
So just STOP IT. NOW.
And please, PLEASE, PLEASE... Don't Fall For This Shit Yourself.
Dr. Phil
Lots of people read romances. And the paranormal romances are clearly a cousin of genre writing -- and sometimes it is a pretty artificial division. I read Marjorie Liu's stuff, and Meljean Brook -- these are authors I know from Clarion and online, respectively.
Growing up, the brand name Harlequin seemed synonymous with Romance to me -- I guess in terms of sales, for good reason. But recently Harlequin decided to announce a new venture, essentially mining their slush pile for an in-house vanity press operation. For God's sake, Publisher's Weekly ran a news flash with a straight face. I heard about this first via Nick Kaufmann via Nick Mamatas.
But now Scalzi and Making Light have lit in, because -- Thank God! -- the RWA (Romance Writers of America), MWA (Mystery Writers of America) and SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) have all condemned the move. In particular, RWA is to be commended, seeing as they have the most to gain and lose in this effort:
One of your member benefits is the annual National Conference. RWA allocates select conference resources to non-subsidy/non-vanity presses that meet the eligibility requirements to obtain those resources. Eligible publishers are provided free meeting space for book signings, are given the opportunity to hold editor appointments, and are allowed to offer spotlights on their programs.
With the launch of Harlequin Horizons, Harlequin Enterprises no longer meets the requirements to be eligible for RWA-provided conference resources. This does not mean that Harlequin Enterprises cannot attend the conference. Like all non-eligible publishers, they are welcome to attend. However, as a non-eligible publisher, they would fund their own conference fees and they would not be provided with conference resources by RWA to publicize or promote the company or its imprints.
Sometimes the wind of change comes swiftly and unexpectedly, leaving an unsettled feeling. RWA takes its role as advocate for its members seriously. The Board is working diligently to address the impact of recent developments on all of RWA’s members.
So far, it sounds as if Harlequin sounds hurt, but has removed the name Harlequin from the new venture. It has not, however, decided to skip becoming "Romance Publish America".
Why This Is Evil
Self-publishing is when you hire someone to print your work -- it is very useful for certain limited interest publications, gifts and small runs of things for family & friends. Vanity publishing is when you hire someone to pretend you're a professional author -- they make you believe that your book is "just like" something which has been vetted and marketed by a real publisher.
As annoying as rejection is and as big as slush piles get at real publishers, you really can't judge your own work all that fairly. For someone else to say, "hey, this is good, we can work with this, and we'd like to pay you this much to publish your work", is setting the minimum bar level.
In real publishing, money goes to the author.
If I put up a story on this LJ or on my website, http://dr-phil-physics.com , I'm doing this for fun and/or to give people a taste of my writing for free -- especially given that some of my real publications are hard to get. And I've been using unpublished stories so as not to interfere with those who have published me. But I know these are not vetted, edited works. They are my words and I can give them away if I feel like, provided they're not under contract elsewhere.
For you to pay Harlequin, or its minions, hundreds or thousands of dollars to produce books that likely will not sell and will never get promoted to "the real publishing arm" is a scam. The bait-and-switch aspect of slush piles and rejection letters is just too vile to support. Harlequin's management should be ashamed of themselves and grovel at the feet of their authors, their readers and the writers' organizations like RWA and beg their forgiveness and vow to sin no more forever. Period.
So far, no. Clearly we are misunderstanding Harlequin.
And this has to be CRUSHED IN THE BUD, lest in these dangerous financial times, other legitimate publishers begin to start thinking -- hey, I've got this fucking big slush pile, too, and maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be so bad if I followed Harlequin's lead. And don't get all sanctimonious that hey, it was Harlequin that did this, one of those Romance publishers, complete with the eye rolling of superiority. Because it could happen to anyone in any genre. No, really. It could happen elsewhere.
NO. It'd be BAD. It's not RIGHT. And you people all know it. Preying on the wallets of those with hopes and dreams of becoming published authors is WRONG. And EVIL.
So just STOP IT. NOW.
And please, PLEASE, PLEASE... Don't Fall For This Shit Yourself.
Dr. Phil
no subject
Note that other publishers are doing this as well. Thomas Nelson Publishers, a major independent Christian publisher, launched West Bow Press. The thing is, Thomas Nelson won't actually have much to do with West Bow Press, as the books will be will be designed, printed, and distributed by Author Solutions, the self-publishing mega-company whose brands include AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford, Xlibris, and WordClay. What chafes my chaps about this deal is that Thomas Nelson will be offering a referral fee to agents.
In a blog post (http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/10/should-you-consider-self-publishing.html) Thomas Nelson CEO wrote that the company was looking "to work with agents and consultants as 'WestBow Press Affiliates,' so that they can help more authors realize their dream of getting published. Rather than simply send a rejection letter, they can now offer a legitimate alternative and earn a referral fee in the process."
Thomas Nelson has also been reported as saying that while their editors won't edit the self-published manuscripts, they'll monitor sales to identify potential big sellers.
I know publishers are doing this because of the economy, and you do what you gotta do to stay in business. But the problem is that a lot of people will be misled into thinking this is an end run around the normal submission process with a major book publisher. And you and I both know that while it's true that it's not unusual for a book to be rejected by major publishers but eventually get accepted, and even do well ("Jonathon Livingston Seagull" anyone?), the odds are still not good. And going the route from self-published to book publisher published is even more difficult.
I think some technical books are better off being self-published, because they (usually) have a smaller audience and the author may do much better in terms of sales IF they have some reputation in the field or easily demonstrated competence and IF they have some or can get some marketing know-how. But again, self-publishing is NOT vanity publishing.
no subject
The possibility of being misled, unreasonable expectations, infatuation with all the lovely "extra services" you can buy (someone mentioned a $19,999 Hollywood produced book trailer????), all conspiring to drain the bank accounts of prospective authors is unconscionable -- especially in this economy.
I think we are in complete agreement -- statistics alone suggest that there will be outliers, i.e. success stories. And the authors usually cited by vanity presses as having "made it" self-publishing were mostly over a hundred years ago (Whitman, Dickens, etc.) and at a time when there were plenty of small independent presses you could cheaply hire to print your book. It was a totally different distribution and publishing situation then, and not the preying-for-profit we see today.
Dr. Phil
no subject
The Anonymous comment is only very tangentially related to my posting here on my LiveJournal, insomuch as it "may" have to do with self-publishing. But it's not my job to let you Anonymously advertise on my blog, I'm uncomfortable with email addresses which don't match names, and the whole meandering thing looks like someone Googled the phrase "Publish America", which tangentially appears in my posting, and then spammed any blogs that hit.
Being as there was no communication from Anonymous to me, and I hate spammers, I am going to not allow this Anonymous comment. Anyone who wants to know more or actually bother to try to talk to me about this, can contact me.
Dr. Phil
no subject
Dr. Phil