I’ve been semi-following the Harlequin Horizons (aka DellArte Press as it’s now known) debacle, just watching with horror. I can’t possibly put into words how I feel about it so I will simply point you in the right directions of some of the authors who have spoken out against the newest vanity publishing scam. I know it’s hard for writers to break into the publishing industry. I know, because I’m there, still trying to get in. But now, there’s commercial publishers out there waving shiny new books with our names on it, playing with our hearts and desires and asking us to pay them for the right to see our names on the cover of a shiny new book.
John Scalzi starts us out with a post on his blog, Whatever. I enjoy his blog a lot because he makes the effort to keep comments on his blog actually related to the post instead of letting them run wild. He has a great post on self-publishing here and an even better post on the whole RWA/SFWA/MWA vs. Harlequin Horizon mess here.
There was quite the debate on the whole vanity/self/traditional/commercial publishing thing over at Online Book Review, complete with comments from Jackie Kessler who has several posts on the whole HHz/DellArte Press (start with this post about RWA’s swift response and keep reading the week after it. She has too many great blog posts to name individually.)
Jackie Kessler is my hero. I don’t say that lightly. Really. Her strong and vocal response to the scam that Harlequin Enterprises has revealed has totally elevated my respect for her. Not that I didn’t before, but now, wow. I’m going out and buying the rest of the books I don’t have by Jackie Kessler this week because I am so proud of the way she’s advocated for the inexperienced authors that might have paid that money, not understanding that publishing is a business that should be paying the author, not the other way around. It’s the only way I can think of to support her beyond telling her… but she told me she wasn’t worthy.
One thing to leave you with. I happened to come across this blog today that broke down the math on vanity publishing using Harlequin Horizons as an example. Needless to say, my head’s still spinning. I’m so not a math person.
So there you have it. Read up and decide for yourself if you think vanity publishing is okay. Me, personally? I’ll never go that route. I’d rather be paid for my work, than pay for it.
Other People’s Ramblings