As consumers, at times it feels we’ve lost our innocence. Dog food from China might be poisoned. The meat in the store might be contaminated by Mad Cow. I think many of us used to trust that what we bought on store shelves was safe, quality, approved by some regulatory body that was actually doing its job. One could argue that every time we exchanged money for a product we were trusting in its approval.
All too often, we learn otherwise through our own negative experiences. I can think of many occasions where I’ve banned a product or business personally* but I can also think of many times when I’ve complained about extremely unprofessional service or an issue and had just as many people reply with, “I’ve never had any problems with them.”
Should the limits of our own experience be the benchmark for deciding who we do business with? In this day and age, probably not. It’s hard to separate politics from car purchases, when the federal government is loaning billions to manufacturers. In fact, Ford’s decision to not borrow money from the US government has been cited as the main factor their sales have jumped in recent months, despite the recession.
The real question is, how does this relate to publishing, and more specifically, to readers and what makes it to their shelves?
With the rise of self publishing and vanity presses, many organizations have taken steps to separate the wheat from the chaff. Most professional organizations have clear rules about standards for author membership, which include being published by a recognized publisher, and the publishers must adhere to certain business practices in order to be approved.
Only books published by approved publishers can be considered for the leading industry awards.
This makes the delisting of Harlequin by MWA significant in ways that I’m sure many readers don’t feel affects them… but the reality is that this decision will ripple through the book selling, publishing and reviewing world in a way that could forever alter the publishing landscape at a time when thousands in print media have lost their jobs, with no sign of a print media bailout in sight.**
The Board of Mystery Writers of America voted unanimously on Wednesday to remove Harlequin and all of its imprints from our list of Approved Publishers, effective immediately. We did not take this action lightly. We did it because Harlequin remains in violation of our rules regarding the relationship between a traditional publisher and its various for-pay services.
A few years ago, I was a debut author. I was also part of a group that formed to promote themselves as debut authors. The concept was winning, and one of the industry organizations wanted to adopt the group and help promote the authors in it. It sounded like a win-win…
However, I had concerns that I wouldn’t be eligible, because I was being published by a new publisher, POD, and wasn’t being paid the required $1000 advance to make the publisher eligible under the organization’s guidelines. I voiced my concerns and was assured it wouldn’t be an issue, I’d be eligible for membership and the same support given everyone.
When I applied for membership, that assurance proved to be false. I was not eligible for full membership, and therefore not eligible for the same rights and privileges and support as all author members. Ultimately, I left the group.
I’d like to stress this is not about me. I do mention it, however, because I have the rare experience of being denied author membership initially, and later moving to an approved publisher and becoming a full member of the same organization. What the Harlequin/Mira authors are facing now with MWA is similar to what I faced just a few years ago with my debut novel, and at the time I felt persecuted and alienated.
When I published my first book, I made a choice. Yes, I made a choice. I had trouble getting publishers to seriously consider my work, in part because one of my manuscripts was a dark portrayal of crime in Canada. Some Canadian publishers didn’t send form rejections - they sent rejections that made it clear they didn’t want to tarnish Canada’s crime-free image. I had some serious interest from an internationally-known agent, but she was in the midst of leaving the agency and forming her own company, which left me hanging. It seemed to be impossible to get anyone to take me seriously without an agent, and I’d hit dead end after dead end. In fact, the first agent who signed me (following publication of my debut) had originally rejected me because they were focusing on non-fiction.
I made a choice to take an offer and worked hard to build a profile that enabled me to turn a POD deal into representation by an agent who was able to sell two books to a NY publisher, a reputable publisher.
I also made a choice that at the time, I didn’t fully understand the ramifications of. No, I would not be eligible for the Edgar or an ITW award; industry awards are limited to publishers on the approved list.
This is part of the reason this matters to everyone. A number of best-selling, reputable authors published by Harlequin imprints have just been delisted… in the future their books can’t be considered for the Edgar. Many don’t give value to the awards, or consider them when purchasing books, but many others do, and there are the subtle realities of the industry - extra marketing money given to an award-winner, willingness to sign the author and push them to break through and build an audience, willingness on the part of bookstores to stock the book and promote it within the store - that are going to have an impact on that author and their sales.
Like it or not, awards matter. Especially industry awards.
However, in all of this, do you notice what isn’t discussed? What is and is not eligible is determined by guidelines involving advances and ethical treatment of authors.
Nobody’s talking about the caliber of writing, the quality of the books.
I’m not advocating self-publishing. I’m not even advocating POD. I’ve had writers contact me and ask about my first publisher and I’ve been frank and honest about the problems they’ll face, and I hope people make different choices. It was a combination of factors that enabled me to turn a POD publication^ into a “legitimate” publication deal. Where I succeeded many others have faltered.
However, I think some of the organizations are missing the real point. If our intent is to protect authors from being mistreated, from being forced to pay for services that publishers who want to make money from our product should provide, we have noble intent. The question is, how do we go about that? What does delisting Harlequin accomplish? These organizations all clearly state on their approved publisher lists that the list is in no way an endorsement of any publisher, but if it isn’t, then what is the point? Why not allow authors from other publishers to be eligible? After all, the organization can make more money from their memberships. And what difference does it make to the awards?
If we really believe that the cream rises to the top, what threat are POD or vanity or self-published titles when it comes to the awards? Those books would surely be eliminated quickly if they weren’t good, so they wouldn’t even make the nomination lists.
So, why does it matter?
The thing is, I’m not sure it does.
The MWA has a rule, that publishers that have self-publishing branches be wholly separate, and that they share no staff. But… why? What if your NY publisher by day is secretly providing editorial services for hire through Lulu by night? Does that make them any less credible?
What I actually think is that some of the organizations have exceptionally good intentions, but that they’ve misdirected their efforts. There are problems in publishing, but the problems in publishing are bigger than POD technology. There are some people out there who are going to pay to be published; that’s a reality that’s been proven by the rise in pay-for-publishing services offered by everyone from Amazon to Harlequin. Believe me, there’s been the odd moment when I’ve been wasting yet more time on some knucklehead who keeps submitting and resubmitting to Spinetingler without actually fixing their writing problems, that I’ve thought it would be nice to charge for editing services so that I could get something more for my trouble than just a headache.
I understand that the idea of suggesting to the writers of mediocre submissions that they pay for publishing is not good, and using a traditional publishing venue for this purpose is the real issue that I can’t justify. Fishing for clients through rejection letters is not appropriate. That said, I think there are bigger issues facing authors that nobody is tackling, and part of the reason is because nobody wants to take on big publishers who are vital to our genre. It was the authors guild who challenged Simon & Schuster over the issue of reversion of rights - not MWA. I almost hate to say it, for fear someone will think I’m endorsing a bias, but I do think prejudice against Harlequin is a major factor in the move to delist them, and that if the publisher in question hadn’t built its reputation on romance fiction more time would have been given to work out any issues with the publisher to avoid making the move to delist them and their imprints.
Frankly, what does this mean for MIRA and Harlequin? Precious little right now. Harlequin is a machine. They have international reach, and I know authors with MIRA who make a lot of money from their contracts, more than enough to write full time. Believe me, if MIRA was offering me a contract today my inability to be eligible for an Edgar wouldn’t even be a blip on my radar screen.
Harlequin’s other business interests do not say anything about the quality of the books they’re publishing, and because I’ve not commonly seen MIRA books nominated for Edgars I doubt this will have much of an impact on Harlequin’s bottom line.
In other words, the MWA may feel they’re spanking Harlequin, but all they’re doing is slapping Harlequin authors across the face.
Over the years, more and more aspects of book publishing that used to traditionally fall to the publishers has been shifted to the authors. We’re now largely responsible for arranging our own events, paying our expenses for public appearances, and in some cases mailing out our own review copies. I provide my own author photo, and I maintain my own website. You’ve got to be George Pelecanos before your publisher’s handling that for you.
Where have organizations been as the roles have shifted? Who’s been fighting against the layoffs of copy editors and promotional staff and shrinking promotional budgets? We’re upset because Harlequin is going to make some money from editing and manufacturing some self-publishing books… but we aren’t upset about changes in business practices that will have a direct impact on our own finances. Frankly, what good is a $1000 advance if I have to spend $985 for Authorbuzz?*** Frankly, if you did away with reserves against returns I could be persuaded to go with straight royalty payments alone.
Although I’ve stated that I don’t see the MWAs decision having much of an impact on Harlequin, I am concerned about it, and I do see it having an impact on readers eventually. More and more publishers could follow Harlequin’s lead on this, and in the past few years, as technology has changed, we’re seeing companies like Simon & Schuster and Harlequin test the waters and move in new directions. There’s going to be a point where an MWA stamp of approval isn’t going to mean as much to the bottom line as some other possible business options, and more publishers will have to be delisted as a result.
I don’t think the MWA had to take a stand on this in order to preserve their position on self publishing. I think if they want an approval process, then as long as the authors they approve are being published by someone paying that pre-set minimum advance, someone who does print runs and has distribution, they should approve the author. Right now, the authors are the only people paying the price for a business decision they have no control over.
The lines tend to blur with publishing. I see the debates between authors regularly - art versus commerce. Would you “sell out” and write a commercial book to make millions or would you hold true to your art? Publishers are in the business to make money. They’re interested in publishing commercial works they can actually sell. There’s nothing wrong with this, but people presume certain realities when they sign contracts that aren’t necessarily true. I see people mention the misleading info about self-publishing and how very few who self publish fiction make money, but what about the faulty assumptions about traditional publishers? We’d like to think all books will be marketed, but they won’t. You can’t even guarantee that because you have an MWA approved publisher that your book will be readily available in book stores. I can think of one example of an exceptional debut novel that was published this past year that isn’t being carried in Barnes & Noble or Borders; it is in consideration for the Spinetingler Awards and hopefully the people who’ve actually read it will vote for it if it does make the short list.
Sales don’t equal quality, having an approved publisher doesn’t mean your book will be on store shelves, and for all the wasted words and blather on the subject of the MWA and Harlequin, nothing will change.
If we really want to talk about fixing publishing, then we need (in the words of my very insightful partner) to deconstruct the business as it is and ask ourselves, if we were creating a publishing industry today, what would we want it to look like? How should it be run? What is and is not important? There needs to be a summit on publishing, with the greatest minds in the industry from around the globe participating. We need to decide which battles are the right ones to fight, and act accordingly.
Right now, a few of the people who I felt let down by three years ago are experiencing something similar. Their publisher is no longer approved by the MWA, and future books won’t be eligible for the Edgar. I could gloat, I could say what goes around comes around (and I should actually point out that even the fact that the publisher you’re signed by is approved today may not be true tomorrow) but I don’t think the MWA’s actions have helped anyone.
I think more attention is being paid to protecting aspiring authors from being misled by scam publishing companies than protecting existing author members from being abused by their own current publishers, and to be blunt, I think some organizations are letting their existing membership down by not fighting to protect them when warranted, and I don’t think this is doing a damn thing to ensure the health of the publishing industry as a whole. In short, it’s a waste of time that’s actually hurt some friends of mine, and in the long run could affect their careers. It may be possible to claim the moral high ground in this debate, but at what point will organizations stop holding the ethical or unethical practices of a publisher against the legitimately published authors? What if my editor refused to publish men or people of colour or Americans? Would there be an outcry against prejudice in publishing? Would any organization take a stand against blatant prejudice? Or what if my editor moonlights for Amazon’s self publishing line? What difference does that make to my legitimate contract?
I doubt this attempt to pull together my disjointed thoughts on the topic will do much of anything, other than infuriate some people with the MWA, and that’s assuming they’ll even notice what I’ve said. I’m not personally endorsing Harlequin’s choice, but I doubt the MWA would have acted if RWA hadn’t, and I do think that involving ourselves in the business practices of any publisher is a slippery slope. I think this decision was premature, at best, and I feel very uncomfortable with it.
I suppose this means the floor is open for anyone who’d like to try to persuade me I’m wrong.
* Best Buy being the latest to piss me off to the extreme - perhaps I’ll post the work order I have from them from when my computer was under warranty… the work order that they never filled, and they dragged it out until my warranty expired and now refuse to service my Mac. After several phone calls and visits to two different stores I’m now anti-Best Buy. It’s probably the worst customer service I’ve received since Chrysler, and that’s really saying something, but I’ll rant another day.
** Not that I’d support a bailout. I’m just saying this is an industry that won’t be shielded by the government in the way that some other industries have been, even if this is to our detriment in the future. I firmly believe the great nations of tomorrow will be the ones producing the readers of today. Reading encourages creativity, independent thought, connections and mental imaging in a way that television, computer surfing and video games do not.
^ Not a vanity one. Despite people’s confusion and abuse of the term, I never paid to be published and I have received royalties for that book.
*** I’m not knocking Authorbuzz. Not at all - it’s a respected tool I simply can’t afford based on the advances I receive. I’m just trying to use an example that allows me to show the costs involved in managing our own promotion as authors.
