![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So, Harlequin Books has just shot itself in the foot. Big time.
Everybody knows Harlequin as the publisher of the cheesiest of cheesy romances. They're also pretty much one of THE biggest names in fiction publishing in general. Whatever you think of their product (And I'm not Harlequin-inclined myself), you can't deny their size, their market share, or their household-name position.
They're also apparently the ONLY branch of Torstar, their parent company (unrelated to Tor books or any other publishing company, for those easily confused and/or unfamiliar with the industry), currently making a profit rather than crashing in the current economic climate.
So why, oh why would they shoot themselves in the foot?
They just opened two new initiatives. Carina is an e-book press. Nothing wrong with that. E-books are smaller presses, but they're also generally places, like other small press, where things that are a bit more experimental can go. I repeat, nothing wrong with Carina. (I say this because, having been introduced in tandem with the self-destructive mess below, they're liable to accidentally get splash-back. From what I've heard, Carina's new editor is already worrying about this.)
The other initiative, Harlequin Horizons, is being labelled as a self-publishing initiative. One of their own quotes on why someone rejected from Harlequin would choose self-publishing is actually fairly correct: "Many aspiring authors choose self-publishing as a way to see their work in print – to give copies as gifts... or simply as a keepsake." (Although, note, the bit I ellipsized is "to have a bound copy to help in finding an agent" which is absolute BS: agents want manuscripts at most, an usually want a query or a sample chapter only to start.)
More to the point, though; Harlequin Horizons isn't a self-publishing venture like Lulu. It takes not only all printing and packaging costs, but it demands a percentage of profit. Which instantly puts it into the category of Vanity Press.
Which is, in short, SCAM territory.
Vanity Press doesn't sound so bad as a term. It sounds like it's describing what self-publishing does; if you want a copy in print and don't care about the editorial process, you can just print it yourself. It's a bit of vanity, maybe, to publish your family genealogy ro your amazingly obscure bit of local history, or a story for friends for Christmas.
That;s not what it means. It means that it pretends to be a legitimate publisher, promises that it is a step into the great world off getting your beloved book into bookstores and from thence to readers. And instead makes you pay to get published (something no legitimate publisher does; all the money they make is received after the fact, in seeing your book sell big in the bookstores) and demands a chunk of the profit as well. (Something no self-publishing endeavour does; you pay the opening costs yourself, but then, you don't have to share the profits are all). It makes money off you twice, without getting you one inch closer to the real book in bookstore effect.
And mroe to the point, where will they be marketing this option? In REJECTION letters from authors they didn't deem good enough to publish. In ALL rejection letters, from the sound, not just the ones for "Almost right", "Good quality but doesn't fit our guidelines" type rej3ections. The ones for misspelled incoherent stuff that makes Atlanta Nights look good. (Speaking of scams and whistle-blowing on same.)
Yes. One of the biggest fiction publishers out there just decided that legitimate profit wasn't enough.
They're very clear that these books won't be marketed beside their real imprints, and won't sully their brand in bookstores. And won't even have the name Harlequin on them. It's like they know that what they'd be doing is dishonest.
The cost within these last few DAYS? They've already been declared by the Romance Writers of America to no longer qualify as eligible for their support at their conference. (And the question is already coming up as to whether this will dock all Harlequin imprints from their awards.) This is HUGE. And gutsy. And even many writers published by Harlequin and likely to be hurt personally by the RWA's stand are cheering for RWA, if only in hopes it will make Harlequin back down and go honest. (SFWA, for a counterexample, would be whinging behind closed doors, probably never come out with a statement stronger than a wishy-washy consequence-free "you shouldn't ought to have done that". Writer Beware, which works under their banner, would be condemnatory, but that would be all under the self-motivated auspices fo the ones who do that work, not SFWA as a group.)
Jackie Kessler has the best breakdown of the whole thing for people not familiar with the industry (Here). But her money quote is this:
To reiterate: if your work isn’t good enough for Harlequin to pay you to publish your book, you can still pay Harlequin to print your not-good-enough book and then not distribute it. And hey, to make it easy, you can do this through Harlequin’s website. So they won’t brand these books, they won’t edit them, they won’t market or distribute them, but they sure as hell will point authors there and take their money. Again I call foul: conflict of interest.
______________________
*ObSF reference and bad pun courtesy of Paula Lieberman, commenting at Making Light's thread on this same topic, here. I couldn't have made that one up if I tried, but I did love it.
Everybody knows Harlequin as the publisher of the cheesiest of cheesy romances. They're also pretty much one of THE biggest names in fiction publishing in general. Whatever you think of their product (And I'm not Harlequin-inclined myself), you can't deny their size, their market share, or their household-name position.
They're also apparently the ONLY branch of Torstar, their parent company (unrelated to Tor books or any other publishing company, for those easily confused and/or unfamiliar with the industry), currently making a profit rather than crashing in the current economic climate.
So why, oh why would they shoot themselves in the foot?
They just opened two new initiatives. Carina is an e-book press. Nothing wrong with that. E-books are smaller presses, but they're also generally places, like other small press, where things that are a bit more experimental can go. I repeat, nothing wrong with Carina. (I say this because, having been introduced in tandem with the self-destructive mess below, they're liable to accidentally get splash-back. From what I've heard, Carina's new editor is already worrying about this.)
The other initiative, Harlequin Horizons, is being labelled as a self-publishing initiative. One of their own quotes on why someone rejected from Harlequin would choose self-publishing is actually fairly correct: "Many aspiring authors choose self-publishing as a way to see their work in print – to give copies as gifts... or simply as a keepsake." (Although, note, the bit I ellipsized is "to have a bound copy to help in finding an agent" which is absolute BS: agents want manuscripts at most, an usually want a query or a sample chapter only to start.)
More to the point, though; Harlequin Horizons isn't a self-publishing venture like Lulu. It takes not only all printing and packaging costs, but it demands a percentage of profit. Which instantly puts it into the category of Vanity Press.
Which is, in short, SCAM territory.
Vanity Press doesn't sound so bad as a term. It sounds like it's describing what self-publishing does; if you want a copy in print and don't care about the editorial process, you can just print it yourself. It's a bit of vanity, maybe, to publish your family genealogy ro your amazingly obscure bit of local history, or a story for friends for Christmas.
That;s not what it means. It means that it pretends to be a legitimate publisher, promises that it is a step into the great world off getting your beloved book into bookstores and from thence to readers. And instead makes you pay to get published (something no legitimate publisher does; all the money they make is received after the fact, in seeing your book sell big in the bookstores) and demands a chunk of the profit as well. (Something no self-publishing endeavour does; you pay the opening costs yourself, but then, you don't have to share the profits are all). It makes money off you twice, without getting you one inch closer to the real book in bookstore effect.
And mroe to the point, where will they be marketing this option? In REJECTION letters from authors they didn't deem good enough to publish. In ALL rejection letters, from the sound, not just the ones for "Almost right", "Good quality but doesn't fit our guidelines" type rej3ections. The ones for misspelled incoherent stuff that makes Atlanta Nights look good. (Speaking of scams and whistle-blowing on same.)
Yes. One of the biggest fiction publishers out there just decided that legitimate profit wasn't enough.
They're very clear that these books won't be marketed beside their real imprints, and won't sully their brand in bookstores. And won't even have the name Harlequin on them. It's like they know that what they'd be doing is dishonest.
The cost within these last few DAYS? They've already been declared by the Romance Writers of America to no longer qualify as eligible for their support at their conference. (And the question is already coming up as to whether this will dock all Harlequin imprints from their awards.) This is HUGE. And gutsy. And even many writers published by Harlequin and likely to be hurt personally by the RWA's stand are cheering for RWA, if only in hopes it will make Harlequin back down and go honest. (SFWA, for a counterexample, would be whinging behind closed doors, probably never come out with a statement stronger than a wishy-washy consequence-free "you shouldn't ought to have done that". Writer Beware, which works under their banner, would be condemnatory, but that would be all under the self-motivated auspices fo the ones who do that work, not SFWA as a group.)
Jackie Kessler has the best breakdown of the whole thing for people not familiar with the industry (Here). But her money quote is this:
To reiterate: if your work isn’t good enough for Harlequin to pay you to publish your book, you can still pay Harlequin to print your not-good-enough book and then not distribute it. And hey, to make it easy, you can do this through Harlequin’s website. So they won’t brand these books, they won’t edit them, they won’t market or distribute them, but they sure as hell will point authors there and take their money. Again I call foul: conflict of interest.
______________________
*ObSF reference and bad pun courtesy of Paula Lieberman, commenting at Making Light's thread on this same topic, here. I couldn't have made that one up if I tried, but I did love it.
