And Stacia, don’t know if you’ll see this, but really enjoyed your post about sex scenes on your LJ.

Sorry, couldn’t help myself. This whole mess makes me furious, both as an agent who receives royalty statements on behalf of authors who write for e-pubs (and therefore know that there’s good money), and as an author writing for Samhain (and therefore know there’s good money.)

And that’s not even mentioning authors like Jaci Burton, Joey Hill, and Rhyannon Byrd, just three terrific writers who came to me after an e-publishing career was established and then were able to make a very successful leap to NY publishing houses, in part because they had a good track record with digital publishers.

Thanks for the great post.
Deidre Knight

And the fact that they did not allow for Workshops at the conference to cover this is truly telling.

Again this “explaining” of crap is outrageous. I chose epublishing on purpose so I could grow my career. Then about 2 years ago I decided to try RWA’s vision and again sub to trad pubs. Any luck in 2 years? No. Great comments with most of the rejections, invitations to sub more, but no offers from any trad pub. What do they expect, a completed polished ready-to-submit novel every month?

Riiiiight. Like I could turn out 12 full-length stories per year and have a family and responsibilities and obligations and a LIFE.

How am I supposed to build my career if I don’t get an offer from a trad pub? Easy: go back to epubs, which this year I did.

RWA wants our $$ but they are NOT willing to give e-authors the time of day. I’d love to know exactly why they feel so threatened by so much electronic success. Hello! Even most of the trad pubs are releasing ebooks now.

RWA’s “come-here-no, wait-you’re-not-good-enough” attitude gives me a headache that interferes with my writing.

And I’m going to write. Now. And submit to an epub.

~Raquel

I agree wholeheartedly and would even go so far as to say that neither you nor i, nor (probably) dozens of other authors would be NY published today if it hadn’t been for epublishing. (Or at least, it would have taken us LONGER if epublishign hadn’t opened the door for erotica and erotic romance).

I said over at WAP that neither system is perfect, and I stand by that. Otherwise you and I would be able to quit our jobs and be full time writers–right?

I find the $1000 “line” that RWA uses, laughable in this context. Instead of picking on epubs, why don’t they do something about those NY publishers who still refuse to cough up a decent % of royalties on e-book sales???? WHy aren’t they up in arms about that?? And don’t tell me it’s not the same, because I’ll be damned if it isn’t!

I think what bothers me most, and what you touched on, is the inference that books NY won’t buy aren’t “Good Enough”.
To which I cry BULLSHIT!

Yes, authors make mistakes, they sign contracts without asking questions, they sign with less than stellar pubs but is it RWA’s fault? NO it’s the author’s fault for not doing their homework, for not asking around and vetting a publisher before they sign on the dotted line. It’s the authors fault for not reading their contract and not asking questions before they sign. There’s only so much RWA can do in that regard. It’s up to the author to go to google and type the right words and to that end, the buck stops with the author, just as the buck stop with the author regarding “NY” contracts and agency agreements.

Ok I think I’m done now

All of those things are true for NY published authors. The pressure to perform is huge and the fear you may not get another contract hangs over your head all the time.

Epublishing there is only pressure from MYSELF. If I want bigger sales and a wider audience I’d better learn how to write better, plot better, etc. Epublishing teaches you how to read the market and provide what the audience wants…if you want better sales.

If you just want to write what pleases you, you can do that, too. No guarantees of good sales, but sometimes your books just happen to hit regardless of any planning on your part.

I see epublishing as the ‘incubator’ for a writer. Instead of stuffing book after book under your bed b/c it didn’t meet the very tight NY market, you can take those books and sell them elsewhere, getting some editing help and learning how to write better, AND making a little bit of money…whether that be $100 or $1000. Then many epubbed writers take what they have learned and find agents and publish with the bigger, harder-to-break-into NY publishing world.

Why RWA would want to discourage the route is beyond me. I think the idea that RWA is very closed-minded beyond Harlequin is a very valid point….

Honestly, Jackie, I’ve been getting that impression from Ms. Pershing’s letters, hints that e-publishers are at best taking advantage and at worst borderline (or beyond borderline) criminal.

A book not being NY-style doesn’t mean it’s a bad book. That’s one of the common misconceptions about small press. It means NY editors think its audience would be too small to cover the large publisher’s costs, with interest. A small press can take chances on quirky yet *quality* fiction NY cannot (particularly not NY genre publishers). The best analogy I’ve seen is large press=American Idol and small press=Pushing Daisies. Amazing show! Insufficient audience for the type of profit desired.

HOWEVER. As we all know, this doesn’t mean small presses have zero financial commitment even with a small or no advance (another frustrating misconception), it just means their financial commitment is smaller. You know, kind of like their company?

As far as RWA’s stance, I understand part of it, and sure, I’d rather have a fat advance–but when a book isn’t a NY book, should I just leave it under the bed, hiding its papery little head in shame just because it didn’t fit in with the popular crowd? I can publish with small press, gain experience, make MONEY, increase my momentum and motivation, all while taking another whack at a mainstream novel. And another. And another.

Not every actor is Hollywood movie material. But should she stick to waitressing while refusing anything but the BIG break? Maybe she’d find community theater or independent cinema a better fit than, “Can I get you some fries with that?”