The great big City's a wondrous toy/Just made for a girl and boy...

It happens every summer, but not always in New York. But this year it’s the Big Apple’s turn to play host to thousands of authors and publishing professionals convening for Romance Writers of America’s annual conference, the 31st since the event was initiated. It will take place at the Marriott Marquis from Tuesday June 28th through Friday July 1st and culminate in the 2011 RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony emceed by Meg Cabot. Madeline Hunter will give the keynote address, and Sherrilyn Kenyon will be the Awards Luncheon speaker.

For details visit the RWA website conference page.

I lost a client last week; no, I lost a treasured friend. And the writing community lost an author who was the very definition of professional.

“BB”, as she always signed her emails to me, was Beverly Barton. Prolific, organized with almost military precision, a Southern belle with an accent to match and a heart of pure gold, Beverly was for me the rarest of breeds: a happy author. I don’t know anyone who loves writing as much as Beverly did, who loves her editor, her publisher, her colleagues and her industry as much as BB.

I can’t imagine a Romance Writers of America conference without her. Beverly was my client for almost two decades and we shared countless social and business occasions, but when it came to the national conference she went into overdrive, a fountainhead of vivacious charm. She was passionately dedicated to her writing community, and her hand was perpetually extended to assist young authors. Among my younger clients, there are those who will never forget her warm and giving nature, her eagerness to help them share the profession she so adored.

Among the many tragic ironies of her shocking and untimely death at the age of 64 is that today is the publication date of her new novel Dead by Morning. Beverly, this one’s for you. We salute you for all you have given to us and mourn all that we have lost.

Richard Curtis

Here are links to her obituary and a lovely tribute by Barbara Vey.

Like kick-ass heroines in a Harlequin Bombshell romance, the Romance Writers of America brass put Plan B into effect with Predator Drone speed and efficiency after floods damaged the Nashville hotel and conference facilities hosting RWA’s annual conference in July. Within days they’d transferred the venue to The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, same dates: July 28-31.

Expressing sadness and well wishes to friends and businesses in Nashville, and the hope of returning to the Gaylord Opryland (whose lobby was sickeningly inundated), the organization’s directors said they have “made arrangements to contribute a portion of our charitable donations from the 2010 Literacy Autographing event to Nashville Adult Literacy Council.”

Personally, we were keenly looking forward to hearing some good pickin’ in Nashville, but it looks like we’re stuck with “When You Wish Upon a Star”. And drinks with authors and editors may get a little weird with children clamoring for their mommies to take them to Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm. Nevertheless, the conference must go on, and we take our hats off to RWA for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, and doing it compassionately as well.

Richard Curtis

E-Reads has learned that at a specially convened board meeting of the Romance Writers of America, the organization reaffirmed its stand against allocating conference space to publishers promulgating subsidized, vanity or similar self-publication programs.

After a controversy erupted last fall about granting permission for conference space to a publisher that had recently announced formation of a self-publication venture for romance authors, RWA formed a task force to evaluate the emerging publication landscape, review definitions and recommend options. These options are limited by the organization’s non-profit charter, which some officers feared might be compromised by permitting subsidy publishers a seat at the table.

Fiduciary obligations notwithstanding, there were strong moral grounds for RWA’s opposition, some of it bordering on outrage. Those sentiments were supported by the Mystery Writers of America and the Science Fiction Writers of America.

Though the task force and RWA board deliberated diligently and judiciously they were under some pressure to clarify their position in view of the impending annual conference taking place in Nashville in July, where the publisher in question and possibly others in the self-publication field need to know their status. Also, it was incumbent on the board to clarify whether self-published books qualified for RWA’s prestigious Rita awards.

The task force modified or expanded some definitions but RWA’s fundamental position is unchanged.

Michelle Monkou, the organization’s president, announced its findings thus:”RWA will extend invitations to a wide pool of publishers. Invitees may only represent their non-subsidy/non-vanity publishing programs (imprints, divisions, or lines) at RWA’s conference. Space for spotlights, workshops, and booksignings will be allocated to lines, imprints, or divisions that best meet the requirements for ‘Qualifying Markets’. This new process of evaluation will likely increase opportunities for small presses and e-presses that previously have been excluded.

“The potentially broader array of publishing companies present at RWA’s national conference in no way signals a change in our mission or core values. RWA has no intent to tell publishers how to conduct their business, but as a professional writers’ association, RWA stands firmly against any attempts to directly solicit RWA members to pursue vanity/subsidy publishing or other author-financed forms of publication. Members can be assured that publishers and agents allowed to participate at our national conference will have met this criterion.”

It is notable that the name of the publisher that started the fracas was not specified in Ms. Monkou’s memo (you can refresh your memory here), but we hope that the underlying message is that the parties have reached an accommodation that will enable the Nashville conference to proceed without distraction.

Richard Curtis

Frankie Y. Bailey, Executive Vice President of the Mystery Writers of America, issued a statement to the organization’s membership stating that its Board “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.”

The decision and Bailey’s covering letter are reproduced in full below. The Board’s statement says it will keep the door open to readmittance of Harlequin as an Approved Publisher: “MWA’s Executive Vice-President, and her or his designates, are directed to continue discussions with Harlequin in an effort to reach an agreement that would allow for Harlequin to be an approved publisher according to MWA’s rules.”

For background on the dispute over Harlequin’s self-publication program, now called DellaArte Press, click here. And to read about MWA’s original action, now confirmed by today’s statement, click here.
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Dear MWA Member:

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.

What does this mean for current and future MWA members?

Any author who signs with Harlequin or any of its imprints from this date onward may not use their Harlequin books as the basis for active status membership nor will such books be eligible for Edgar® Award consideration. However books published by Harlequin under contracts signed before December 2, 2009 may still be the basis for Active Status membership and will still be eligible for Edgar® Award consideration (you may find the full text of the decision at the end of this bulletin).

Although Harlequin no longer offers its eHarlequin Critique Service and has changed the name of its pay-to-publish service, Harlequin still remains in violation of MWA rules regarding the relationship between a traditional publisher and its various for-pay services.

MWA does not object to Harlequin operating a pay-to-publish program or other for-pay services. The problem is HOW those pay-to-publish programs and other for-pay services are integrated into Harlequin’s traditional publishing business. MWA’s rules for publishers state:

“The publisher, within the past five years, may not have charged a fee to consider, read, submit, or comment on manuscripts; nor may the publisher, or any of the executives or editors under its employ, have offered authors self-publishing services, literary representation, paid editorial services, or paid promotional services.

If the publisher is affiliated with an entity that provides self-publishing, for-pay editorial services, or for-pay promotional services, the entities must be wholly separate and isolated from the publishing entity. They must not share employees, manuscripts, or authors or interact in any way. For example, the publishing entity must not refer authors to any of the for-pay entities nor give preferential treatment to manuscripts submitted that were edited, published, or promoted by the for-pay entity.

To avoid misleading authors, mentions and/or advertisements for the for-pay entities shall not be included with information on manuscript submission to the publishing company. Advertising by the publisher’s for-pay editorial, self-publishing or promotional services, whether affiliated with the publisher or not, must include a disclaimer that it is advertising and that use of those services offered by an affiliate of the publisher will not affect consideration of manuscripts submitted for publication.”

Harlequin’s Publisher and CEO Donna Hayes responded to our November 9 letter, and a follow up that we sent on November 30. In her response, which we have posted on the MWA website, Ms. Hayes states that Harlequin intends as standard practice to steer the authors that it rejects from its traditional publishing imprints to DellArte and its other affiliated, for-pay services. In addition, Harlequin mentions on the DellArte site that editors from its traditional publishing imprints will be monitoring DellArte titles for possible acquisition. It is this sort of integration that violates MWA rules.

MWA has a long-standing regard for the Harlequin publishing house and hopes that our continuing conversations will result in a change in their policies and the reinstatement of the Harlequin imprints to our approved list of publishers.

Frankie Y. Bailey,
Executive Vice President, MWA
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MWA’s Official Decision: That because Harlequin’s for pay publishing business violates MWA’s rules for approved publishers, MWA takes the following action: First, Harlequin shall be removed from MWA’s list of approved publishers upon the adoption of this motion; Second, that all current active status members of MWA whose status is based upon books published by Harlequin shall remain active status members; Third, that MWA decline applications for active membership based upon books published by Harlequin pursuant to contracts entered into after the effective date of this motion; Fourth, that books published by Harlequin pursuant to contracts entered into prior to the adoption of this motion shall be eligible for the Edgar® Awards, except that books published by DellArte Press shall not be eligible for the Edgar® Awards regardless of when such contract was entered into; and Fifth that books published by Harlequin pursuant to contracts entered into after the adoption of this motion shall not be eligible for the Edgar® Awards.

MWA’s Executive Vice-President, and her or his designates, are directed to continue discussions with Harlequin in an effort to reach an agreement that would allow for Harlequin to be an approved publisher according to MWA’s rules.

This e-bulletin was prepared by the MWA national office on behalf of the MWA National Board of Directors.

Robert S. Miller, President and Publisher of HarperStudio, has been following the recent Harlequin/RWA controversy and, in a statement offered to E-Reads, suggests the author and publishing communities should keep their minds and options open on the matter of self-publication. “Just because a writer is paid an advance in a traditional way doesn’t make a book ‘good’, and just because they may be sharing the risk with their publisher to some degree doesn’t make a book ‘bad’.”

Here’s his statement in full:
RC
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“I was surprised to read here about how antagonistic the various writers’ associations (SFWA, RWA, MWA) have been toward the announcements by several large publishers that they are launching “self-publishing” divisions. While it seems fair to ask those publishers to make a clear distinction between those imprints and the others that they operate, and to make the differences clear to prospective writers, I don’t see what’s wrong with publishers offering a continuum of various services to writers. There are so many forms of publishing proliferating now; does it really threaten the writers in these associations that these publishing houses would have different publishing models under the same corporate roof? Just because a writer is paid an advance in a traditional way doesn’t make a book “good,” and just because they may be sharing the risk with their publisher to some degree doesn’t make a book “bad.” I say, let many flowers bloom.”

In my haste to report the story of the Romance Writers of America’s response to the self-publishing venture launched by Harlequin Enterprises, I selected some photo illustrations that were in poor taste. I regret it and have deleted them from my postings. They were inappropriate and, I realize, belittled the grave issues that are being aired by all people of good will who are working to find a way to resolve the dispute. In particular they were offensive to women including my wife, to whom I should have listened before giving in to an unworthy impulse.

Richard Curtis

Russell Davis, President of Science Fiction Writers of America, has issued the following statement on the ever-widening controversy surrounding Harlequin Enterprises’ launch of a self-publication website. Here’s the essence:

“Until such time as Harlequin changes course, and returns to a model of legitimately working with authors instead of charging authors for publishing services, SFWA has no choice but to be absolutely clear that NO titles from ANY Harlequin imprint will be counted as qualifying for membership in SFWA. Further, Harlequin should be on notice that while the rules of our annual Nebula Award do not expressly prohibit self-published titles from winning, it is highly unlikely that our membership would ever nominate or vote for a work that was published in this manner.”

Full statement below.

We haven’t heard from the Western Writers of America…yet.
Richard Curtis
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SFWA Statement on Harlequin’s self-publishing imprint

November, 2009, Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd. announced the launch of a new imprint, Harlequin Horizons, for aspiring romance authors. Under normal circumstances, the addition of a new imprint by a major house would be cause for celebration in the professional writing community. Unfortunately, these are not normal circumstances. Harlequin Horizons is a joint venture with Author Solutions, and it is a vanity/subsidy press that relies upon payments and income from aspiring writers to earn profit, rather than sales of books to actual readers.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA) finds it extremely disappointing that Harlequin has chosen to launch an imprint whose sole purpose appears to be the enrichment of the corporate coffers at the expense of aspiring writers. According to their website, “Now with Harlequin Horizons, more writers have the opportunity to enter the market, hone their skills and achieve the goals that burn in their hearts.”

SFWA calls on Harlequin to openly acknowledge that Harlequin Horizon titles will not be distributed to brick-and-mortar bookstores, thus ensuring that the titles will not be breaking into the real fiction market. SFWA also asks that Harlequin acknowledge that the imprint does not represent a genuine opportunity for aspiring authors to hone their skills, as no editor will be vetting or working on the manuscripts. Further, SFWA believes that work published with Harlequin Horizons may injure writing careers by associating authors’ names with small sales levels reflected by the imprint’s lack of distribution, as well as its emphasis upon income received from writers and not readers. SFWA supports the fundamental principle that writers should be paid for their work, and even those who aspire to professional status and payment ought not to be charged for the privilege of having those aspirations.

Until such time as Harlequin changes course, and returns to a model of legitimately working with authors instead of charging authors for publishing services, SFWA has no choice but to be absolutely clear that NO titles from ANY Harlequin imprint will be counted as qualifying for membership in SFWA. Further, Harlequin should be on notice that while the rules of our annual Nebula Award do not expressly prohibit self-published titles from winning, it is highly unlikely that our membership would ever nominate or vote for a work that was published in this manner.

Already the world’s largest romance publisher, Harlequin should know better than anyone else in the industry the importance of treating authors professionally and with the respect due the craft; Harlequin should have the internal fortitude to resist the lure of easy money taken from aspiring authors who want only to see their work professionally published and may be tempted to believe that this is a legitimate avenue towards those goals.

SFWA does not believe that changing the name of the imprint, or in some other way attempting to disguise the relationship to Harlequin, changes the intention, and calls on Harlequin to do the right thing by immediately discontinuing this imprint and returning to doing business as an advance and royalty paying publisher.

For the Board of Directors,
Russell Davis
President
SFWA, Inc.

Romance fiction icon Nora Roberts weighed in on the soon-to-be-name-changed Harlequin Horizons controversy, in a comment on the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books website. Ms. Roberts is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at next summer’s Romance Writers of America national conference. Harlequin publishes many of her books, so we’ll be all ears for that speech!

Richard Curtis
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Nora Roberts said on…11.19.09 at 03:40 AM

~Professional” authors are already paying for packaging, editorial, promotion and admin (copyright and such) through the rather huge chunk the publishers take from the revenue pile. FACT: The author gets what… 6 – 8% of the take? That means the traditional publisher gets 92 -94%.~

Just no.

When a publisher BUYS the rights to your book, they PAY you an advance on royalties. You do not PAY them. You get a check for the SALE of your rights. You have sold your book, you have not paid to have your book published.

The publisher then shells out the money for all the areas of publication, invests considerable time and money into that publication as it has bought the book and paid the author an advance on royalties. When the book is published, the author will receive more money when that advance earns off. The author does not pay, but is paid.

In addition to getting a check rather than giving one, the author receives the support, experience, muscle, editorial input, etc, etc, from the publisher.

Vanity press is called vanity for a reason. You’re paying for your ego. That’s fine, dealer’s choice.

But it’s a different matter when a big brand publisher uses its name and its resources to sell this as dream fulfillment, advertises it as such while trying to claim it’s not really their brand being used to make money on mss they’ve rejected as not worthy of that brand in the first place.

Donna Hayes, Publisher and CEO of Harlequin Enterprises, issued a statement today expressing disappointment that Romance Writers of America went to its membership over the Horizons self-publishing issue, rather than “allowing Harlequin to respond or engage in a discussion about it with the RWA board” Ms. Hayes reminded us of the many and abundant ways Harlequin has supported RWA over the years. And, finally, she announced that “we are changing the name of the self-publishing company from Harlequin Horizons to a designation that will not refer to Harlequin in any way. We will initiate this process immediately.”

Ms. Hayes concluded by saying, “We hope this allays the fears many of you have communicated to us.” Whether it does or not, Harlequin now has another fire to put out: Mystery Writers of America. See MWA’s statement published earlier today.
RC

Below, the full text of Donna Hayes’ statement:
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Harlequin was very surprised and dismayed to receive notice late yesterday that the RWA has decided that Harlequin is no longer eligible for RWA-provided conference resources. We were even more surprised to discover that the RWA sent a notice to its membership announcing this decision, before allowing Harlequin to respond or engage in a discussion about it with the RWA board.

Harlequin has been a significant supporter of the RWA for many years in several ways, including:

• financial sponsorships at the annual conference

• sending editors to the national and regional chapter conferences throughout the year to meet with and advise aspiring authors and participate in panel discussions on writing

• celebrating our authors, most of whom are RWA members, annually with the largest publisher party at the conference.

It is disappointing that the RWA has not recognized that publishing models have and will continue to change. As a leading publisher of women’s fiction in a rapidly changing environment, Harlequin’s intention is to provide authors access to all publishing opportunities, traditional or otherwise.

Most importantly, however, we have heard the concerns that you, our authors, have expressed regarding the potential confusion between this venture and our traditional business. As such, we are changing the name of the self-publishing company from Harlequin Horizons to a designation that will not refer to Harlequin in any way. We will initiate this process immediately. We hope this allays the fears many of you have communicated to us.

We are committed to connecting with our authors and aspiring authors in a significant way and encourage you to continue to share your thoughts with us.

Sincerely
Donna Hayes
Publisher and Chief Executive Officer
Harlequin Enterprises Limited