Harlequin figures out how to make money off its rejects
So ... for those who haven't heard, Harlequin recently decided that it would start a vanity press, whereby aspiring authors would pay them somewhere between $600 and $1600 to print their books, but wouldn't get any kind of marketing support from Harlequin, not even having some variant of the Harlequin logo appearing on the book.
If you're someone who takes "money flows to the writer" to heart, this is distressing, especially since it seems Harlequin's rejection letters may now include a recommendation that the aspiring author pony up the dough to have their book printed by Harlequin's vanity press. Which translates to, "You're not good enough for us to pay you money, but we'll happily take more of your money." (And honestly, I'd point someone towards Lulu if they kept getting rejection letters; Lulu has a very decent reputation.)
As you may expect, professional writer organizations have spoken, and they are very, very disappointed in what Harlequin is doing:
Jackie Kessler's analysis of Harlequin's actions and RWA's response
SFWA's official statement
An agent's discussion of Harlequin's actions and RWA's reaction
MWA hasn't issued an official statement on its website yet (that I could find, anyway), but they're essentially standing with SFWA and RWA on this, and it sounds like they're prepared to go a bit further than SFWA is. As Russell pointed out in his statement, SFWA can't prohibit any self-published or vanity-press-published works from getting on the Nebula ballot, but it doesn't usually happen. (I seem to recall a couple of self-published novels that have been recommended for the Nebula, but I can't remember if they made it to the final ballot or not, and in any case, the novels in question were by already established writers who were exercising a self-publishing option on a novel that was too quirky to fit into a traditional marketing slot. It would be nearly impossible for a newbie writer to do even this much: not impossible but very very difficult.) MWA, OTOH, is getting ready to declare that no Harlequin books (none at all, not just "no books published via their vanity press") will be eligible for the Edgar. Ouch.
If you're someone who takes "money flows to the writer" to heart, this is distressing, especially since it seems Harlequin's rejection letters may now include a recommendation that the aspiring author pony up the dough to have their book printed by Harlequin's vanity press. Which translates to, "You're not good enough for us to pay you money, but we'll happily take more of your money." (And honestly, I'd point someone towards Lulu if they kept getting rejection letters; Lulu has a very decent reputation.)
As you may expect, professional writer organizations have spoken, and they are very, very disappointed in what Harlequin is doing:
Jackie Kessler's analysis of Harlequin's actions and RWA's response
SFWA's official statement
An agent's discussion of Harlequin's actions and RWA's reaction
MWA hasn't issued an official statement on its website yet (that I could find, anyway), but they're essentially standing with SFWA and RWA on this, and it sounds like they're prepared to go a bit further than SFWA is. As Russell pointed out in his statement, SFWA can't prohibit any self-published or vanity-press-published works from getting on the Nebula ballot, but it doesn't usually happen. (I seem to recall a couple of self-published novels that have been recommended for the Nebula, but I can't remember if they made it to the final ballot or not, and in any case, the novels in question were by already established writers who were exercising a self-publishing option on a novel that was too quirky to fit into a traditional marketing slot. It would be nearly impossible for a newbie writer to do even this much: not impossible but very very difficult.) MWA, OTOH, is getting ready to declare that no Harlequin books (none at all, not just "no books published via their vanity press") will be eligible for the Edgar. Ouch.