RWA Changes, Pt 2

Okay, there's very little good in this post today. let's just get right to it, shall we?

Some of your favorite publishers are now Vanity presses, according to RWA.

Here's RWA's new definition of vanity and subsidy presses:

The Board updated the definition of Subsidy Publisher or Vanity Publisher to: “any publisher that publishes books in which the author participates in the cost of production or distribution in any manner, including publisher assessment of a fee or other costs for editing and/or distribution.” This definition includes publishers who withhold or seek full or partial payment of reimbursement of publication or distribution costs before paying royalties, including payment of paper, printing, binding, production, sales or marketing costs; publishers whose authors exclusively promote and/or sell their own books; publishers whose primary means of offering books for sale is through a publisher-generated Web site; publishers whose list is comprised of 50% or more of its books written by authors who are principals in the publishing company; and publishers whose business model and methods of publishing are primarily directed toward sales to the author, his/her relatives and associates.

That's right, dear readers. Thanks to that sneaky little clause (that most people probably skipped over because hey, we all know what a vanity/subsidy publisher is) houses like Ellora's Cave, Samhain Publishing, LooseID, and other epublishers are all now considered vanity/subsidy presses. Why? Because their primary means of distribution is through their websites.

So all of us who thought this opened the door to epubbed authors finally getting their due, I'm sorry to report that as it stands now, the door has been once again firmly shut in your faces. The only way to get around this is for epublishers to not sell any of their books on their websites, but have everything link to FictionWise, eBooks.com, or other places.

This is stupid because: publishers have to pay those distributors, which means less money coming to the publishers. Less money coming to the publishers mean lowered royalty rates because they have to recoup their monies somehow. Or they'll just sign less authors to contracts. Or they'll just not give a rat's patootie because they obviously aren't hurting for submissions so not being able to take editor appointments at National will not faze them. It just means that the author is, once again, shut out--not being able to compete in the Ritas, not being able to be in PAN.

Oh, and some publishers whose owners are also authors might want to look at their author stable. If more than 50% of your books are from the owners, you are a vanity press.

I find it ironic that based on these definitions, EC, Samhain and LooseID are out, and Genesis Press is back in.

Of course, I could be wrong, and the RWA board didn't mean for it to include legitimate epublishers. After all, they've told us again and again that they aren't against epublishers or epubbed authors. I sincerely hope that the scuttlebutt from National is that this is just a misprint/miscommunication and will be corrected shortly. I also hope the houses impacted have already cornered board members and the Executive Director and asked for clarification.

For the curious, here's how Science Fiction Writers of America defines vanity and subsidy publishers. Somehow they forgot to include that whole selling from a website thing.

RWA Changes, Pt 1

Romance Writers of America announced their decisions regarding several major categories of importance to its membership today. If you are a member, log in, then click on the board decisions link. Among the changes were:

• Publisher eligibility


• Published Author Network (PAN) and PRO (career-focused unpublished writers) eligibility


• Rita and Golden Heart contest categories.

There's so much to go into with these changes that it's going to take a while to sort through and organize my responses. But let's start with the easiest ones, the contest changes:

1. Novella is still in for the published author contest


2. There's still no multicultural category


3. There's still no erotic romance category


4. Word counts were eliminated. Instead you now have Contemporary Series Romance, Contemporary Single Title, and Contemporary Series Romance Action/Adventure.

I'm not sure what to think about categories that were changed in which the rationale for the change mentions one publisher in particular, especially when they are the only publisher mentioned by name in these rules. Like the changes were made for them. They may be the largest publisher of romance fiction in the world, but really, it just seems a little...odd.

MC didn't get a category because people didn't clamor for one, certainly not as much as EroRom writers clamored for a category. Erotic Romance didn't get a category because erotic romance is indefinable. Their word, not mine. I would suggest that the erotic romance writers hijack the Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category, based on this definition:

"Novel With Strong Romantic Elements: This category was retained in both the Golden Heart and RITA contests; however, substantial changes were made. The definition and judging guidelines of this category were edited to read as follows:

Definition: A work of fiction in which a romance plays a significant part in the story, but other themes or elements take the plot beyond the traditional romance boundaries.

Judging guidelines: Novels of any tone or style and set in any place or time are eligible for this category. A romance must be an integral part of the plot or subplot, and the resolution of the romance is emotionally satisfying and optimistic."

That whole "beyond the traditional romance boundaries" is what erotic romance writers have been saying their stories are all about. Okay then, you now have a category that you can flood with entries.

~~~

Tomorrow, I'll talk about how the Rita contest is now opened to all authors who have published a romance book, regardless of the publishers' RWA-recognized status.

Or is it?