Thinking about self-publishing a book? Wondering what a publishing house really has to offer you, if you’re digitally savvy and know your XML from your epub, and already know marketing and promotion are on your shoulders?
To hell with apps: say it with me now. There’s a Harlequin for that.
Harlequin announced today that they’re launching Harlequin Horizons, a self-publishing enterprise in partnership with Author Solutions, Inc.. From the press release:
Harlequin, Book Business Magazine’s 2009 Publishing Innovator of the Year, regards the self-publishing venture as an accessible opportunity for emerging authors to bring themselves to the attention of the reading public….
Through this strategic alliance; all sales, marketing, publishing, distribution, and book-selling services will be fulfilled by ASI; but Harlequin Horizons will exist as a division of Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Harlequin will monitor sales of books published through the self-publisher for possible pickup by its traditional imprints….
Harlequin Horizons is the second such partnership ASI has launched with a leading trade publisher in the last two months. The parent company of industry-leading self-publishing imprints AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing, and Xlibris, ASI brought to market more than 21,000 new titles in 2008.
The packages offered online range from $599.00 to $1599.00, and can include various services from editorial to copyright registration. The basics includes an ISBN number, softcover, and several other services, but every package includes softcover and ebook formatting for Kindle and Sony Reader.
I’m going to order some custom socks from Etsy with the Harlequin logo on them, because they keep knocking my current socks off. It is November, people, chill already. Seriously, this is some ground-breaking news that makes me think and rethink and rethink again about the viability of self publishing, print on demand services, and the opportunities that exist at present for authors looking to market their work.
Now that Harlequin has entered the self-publishing market, after having gone DRM-free with Carina, what’s next? And does this make you interested in or curious about self publishing?
—synde
—Chrissy
Phone psychic is synonymous with being taken advantage of and ripped off in my mind so I found it ironic considering all the—take advantage, this makes me ill, set more new writers up to lose money and have their dreams crushed, fall for the sales pitches of self-publishers, ended up hurt and broke, with their dreams destroyed, who lost years of their lives and thousands of dollars—BS I was reading.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=phone+psychic
And this is an *excellent* point. When it becomes more profitable for them to reject you than to accept you…
Nice ad hominem, Tabetha.
You do the term “forum troll” great justice.
Agreed. So let me repeat:
“All this talk about an “empty bank account and a broken heart” just because HQ is offering a service for a fee seems pretty far fetched. I get that the authors who’ve posted here don’t like the direction HQ is taking the publishing world with this new venture but spare me the poor-stupid-author-scammed-by-harlequin outrage—I’m not buying it.”
I think everyone is adding on the “poor author” bit to pull at peoples heartstrings…not because they care. Just my opinion.
I should also put out here, considering some of the comments that came after mine, that to date – I have paid less than $500.00 out-of-pocket to publish my first novel. And that figure includes everything from the cost of registering my own ISBN’s and business name w/my state, to paying for promo materials and ads on various romance sites. To date, I have earned just over $6,000.00 in profit. Self-publishing worked for me because I easily made back every penny I’d spent, but that’s not the case for everyone. And, I didn’t take out ads or buy fancy chocolates as promo items until I’d already made the profit to pay for them.
Under no circumstances would I ever encourage a new author to spend literally THOUSANDS of dollars on publishing with any press, be it a vanity press or some other cleverly disguised self-publishing entity. You don’t have to. Period.
And I agree whole-heartedly with what others here have said, no matter which direction you go in publishing, there is absolutely no substitute for doing in-depth research. You have to take responsiblilty for arming yourself with best information available, you have to know what you’re getting yourself into, and more than anything, be able to read beyond all the promises of fame and fortune and really look at the numbers that will potentially make up your bottom line.
Because unless you’ve written the next “The Shack”, you’ll most likely never make back the thousands of dollars you pulled out of your bank account.
I know it sounds cheesy, but in this case, knowledge really is power.
It’s not making a publishing dream come true; it’s paying an expensive printer to put your book between two pieces of cardstock. Anyone with a bank account can do it. There’s no skill, no effort involved. It works just as well with a book that’s been through twenty rounds of revision as a book that was churned out with a robot generator on the Internet. It cheapens the Harlequin brand and the authors who put real effort into trying to get published, because most of those books are simply not ready for publication.
@Tabetha:
I’m sorry you feel that way, Tabetha, and sorry you felt it necessary to insult my character in such a fashion because of a job I performed honestly and to the best of my ability almost fifteen years ago. (I stole a lipstick from a Kroger store when I was twelve, too; does that also mean I am unworthy to speak about publishing or have an opinion on this aspect of it?)
I read tarot cards professionally, over the phone and by email. I gave people honest readings, and honest advice. Many, many people who call those lines are in pain and just want someone to talk to or to tell them it will be okay, and for whatever reason they are not comfortable talking to people close to them or have no one close to them. I told them what the cards I laid out for them said, in as much detail as I could. I encouraged them to believe in themselves, and to work for their dreams. I encouraged them to leave abusive relationships and gave them numbers for shelters. I encouraged them to seek professional help. I reassured the woman who called twice a month to cry over the baby she’d lost to SIDS that it wasn’t her fault and urged her to speak to a professional, and cried myself every time I did so. I told them honestly that tarot cards are not infallible and that their choices were what made their lives.
If the fact that I once did that job, as honestly and as professionally as I could, infuriates and upsets you to the point where you feel I am not trustworthy and am simply spewing BS, and could not possibly believe what I’m saying or care about anyone but myself (since that is what you’re actually saying; that I’m a selfish hypocrite because at the age of 21 I read tarot cards for a few months and that makes me a liar who took advantage of people), perhaps you could listen to many of the other professional writers who’ve agreed with me, and made their own comments?
Or perhaps you could actually discuss/refute what I said on this topic. You seem to disagree with my comments, but haven’t yet really said why aside from your personal attack on me. You are of course welcome to think whatever you like of me, and to say whatever you like about me, but I think you’d do your position more good by expressing some logical thoughts or points, aside from simply saying, “Stacia Kane’s a big old hypocrite and is obviously not to be believed about anything at all because she was a phone psychic once.”
Just my opinion, of course.
So what you’re saying Stacia K is you offered a service to people who were willing to pay for it and they valued that service? Were happy with it even? Why is that ok for you but not for Harlequin?
?
Because I wasn’t promising them I could make their dreams come true. I wasn’t misrepresenting myself. I wasn’t telling them that by paying the company I worked for $2.99/minute for a max 30 mins they could achieve all of their goals. I didn’t tell them spending 20 minutes on the phone with me made them professional writers, or would earn them money, or would make their boyfriends love them, or solve all their problems. I didn’t tell them that if they paid that money they would make successes of themselves or that it would get them noticed by People Who Mattered, or that they could, by making that phone call, be the Star at their Very Own Book Signing (caps for emphasis) and get credentials they hadn’t earned.
And I’m done discussing this with you. You obviously have no real points to make on this subject, and instead simply want to malign my character. Like I said, you’re welcome to do so, but I’m not responding to you any longer. If you want to talk about all the reasons why HQ’s new line is unethical and disturbing, and the implications it presents for writers and readers both, great. If not, I have nothing further to say to you, and I wish you the best of luck.
Because a phone psychic does not promise you “a chance” at becoming a Harlequin author by paying to have your book published with them.
Exactly. I self-pubbed one novel because I had (foolishly) put huge chunks of it online, thus killing my first publication rights. OK, learned my lesson on that one.
It cost me exactly $99 to publish my book through Lulu. Now, I’m lucky because I’m a graphic designer now and have been a copy editor in the past, so I was able to take on production duties that a lot of other people have to farm out. I won’t tell anyone not to self-publish because that would make me a hypocrite, but if do your research you’ll find that it can be done economically, should you decide to go down that road.
I guess my hope is that this discussion will propagate across the internet, and that people who were considering going with Harlequin Horizons just because of the name will do more research so they can choose the option that works best for them.
Oops sorry Stacia that was such an easy one.
But they’re not promising that at all, Teddypig. I’m sorry but I just don’t believe that any reasonable adult would read this section from their website and think that. And frankly, if I was a new author trying to get/be published I would be insulted by this thread. Just because people have hopes and dreams doesn’t mean they’re idiots. And just because someone is willing to pay for something they can do themselves for less doesn’t mean they’re being victimized.
Speaking of RWA, how is this venture different than RWA’s selling for the price of membership the dream of New York publishing, which so very few of its members will ever achieve?
Also, I’m completely confused by some of the differences articulated between fiction and non-fiction publishing. I do believe that there’s a perception held by some that fiction is more “special” than non-fiction but not sure if that’s what’s operating in some of the comments here and elsewhere.
Also, given the general disdain aimed at self-publishing, are there any circumstances under which self-publishing would be perceived as a legitimate, respectable avenue to publication?
Tabitha,
I believe it is this paragraph under their “Our Advantages” page that is offensive and misleading:
As an aspiring writer and long time romance reader, I am sad to see Harlequin lending their name to this endeavor. To lure aspiring writers who have not been fortunate enough to discover the wonderful online communities of writers who so generously share knowledge and wisdom of the craft and the industry, with the above language, is underhanded and sleazy at best.
Oh, sorry guess you had the right qoute. Must have misread, but my comments still stand.
JS – I’m with you all the way.
I’m not exactly the most compassionate being on the planet, and truth be told, I rarely care about what anyone else is doing unless it directly effects me or what I’m interested in. However, I do hope this discussion gets around just so no newbie author mistakes Harlequin’s name being attached to a vanity press for instant and credible success.
I expect that anyone who’s truly serious about publishing, in whatever format, would call on their own good common sense and take the time to research and learn what’s too good to be true and what’s not. And if they don’t do the proper research and end up whining about it later, I assure everyone reading this that you’d probably be able to collect the tears I’d shed over their self-imposed misfortune in an upended contact lens.
“And frankly, if I was a new author trying to get/be published I would be insulted by this thread. Just because people have hopes and dreams doesn’t mean they’re idiots. And just because someone is willing to pay for something they can do themselves for less doesn’t mean they’re being victimized. “
The problem is, not everyone is as brilliant as you are.
There’s a reason why author advocates like Writer Beware and the Absolute Write forum exists – to help writers avoid the sweet-talking scammers that are out there, using vague phrases and words to promise anything and take everything.
You might as well ask why any organization exists to help anyone, with that thread of logic…
I can only speak for myself, Robyn, but these are my thoughts:
The difference is, lots of non-fiction has a built-in audience. Say for example you’re a model train enthusiast, and have written a book on model trains. A major house may not want to take on that book, given the relatively small audience (no offense to model train fans), but if you self-published the book that audience, while perhaps too small for NY numbers, may be very interested in your book, because they’re specifically looking for books on that topic.
It’s got nothing to do with being “special” and everything to do with subject matter (and to a lesser extent, platform). A nonfic book on a niche topic with an enthusiastic group of followers/fans/enthusiasts/whatever has a shot, self-published or not. A novel doesn’t have that same built-in audience, and has tons more competition; those nonfic readers WANT to learn about that particular topic and seek out books on it, whereas fiction readers have thousands of other stories they could be reading—and those stories are on bookshelves, in stores and libraries, with the names of familiar and trusted publishers on the spines, for a better price.
See my answer above. Self-publishing isn’t illegitimate, it just generally isn’t a good choice for fiction.
@Selah March
> The author, on the other hand, paid to submit to
> Harlequin’s own, private, profit-generating slushpile.
When you look at it like that, it does have a certain evil genius to it.
(I’m honestly still boggling at anyone having the brass neck to charge $204 to register copyright. $35 to register online, plus, say, $15 to post the deposit copies. That’s $154 left over for Harlequin/ASI. They must pay their admins really well.)
Except I don’t think for one minute Harlequin is trying to scam anyone. I think they’re a legitimate business offering a legitimate service. I guess time will tell.
I’ve received too many emails and letters at Preditors & Editors from distressed writers over the past 13 years to view this as anything other than a wrong move on Harlequin’s part. They are diluting their brand and when enough time has passed and the word gets around to their customers, they’ll have a difficult time remaining number one in romance.
As others have pointed out, the new imprint is clearly vanity and as many here may very well know, there’s no such thing as a little bit pregnant. Either you are or you aren’t and businesses can’t be only a little bit vanity. It affects the entire business. This is how P&E sees it and how we’re listing Harlequin now.
Also, given the general disdain aimed at self-publishing, are there any circumstances under which self-publishing would be perceived as a legitimate, respectable avenue to publication?
If you’re a professor and you want to produce your lecture notes in a nicer form, and charge for it, ie you have your captive audience
For niche markets like poetry and some short stories, where traditional publishing outlets are few.
For local history, where bookstores will actually accept books (at least they will where I live).
For family histories, genealogy studies, etc.
In all the above cases, self publishing is a good choice. But we’re not even talking about self publishing here – it’s vanity publishing.
When you’re discussing something like romance, where hundreds of books are released every month it’s not the best choice. Bookstores refuse to take them, and you have no synergy behind you.
The publisher promotes, you promote, and you are in a ‘stable’ with some really great authors. The stores have enough romances already – why should they bother with another one, especially one that has a lot more risk attached to it?
That’s in, it’s snowing in Hell. I totally agree with Robin.
>This is how P&E sees it and how we’re listing Harlequin now.
Excellent, Dave. I hope you’ve emailed their execs with this information.
I understand and respect your logic completely, Lynne. But in a world where many fantastic authors are published exclusively in digital format, I’m not sure being on the bookstore shelves is a viable “point” against self-publishing fiction anymore. I think in terms of impluse buying, you’re absolutely right. I’m sure many traditionally published authors get a boost in sales because someone sees a book in Wal-Mart and decides on a whim to buy it. However, I’m not sure that having your work on a bookstore shelf is the definition of a successful author any longer.
The more I think about this, the more I wonder why Harlequin didn’t just put all its ‘new endeavor’ energy behind their debut digital imprint, Carina Press, and back it HQ brand and all. As far as I know, upon acquisition, Carina buys ALL rights to the submitted work, including print, even though they openly state they’re a strictly digital publisher. So why not just print the bestselling e-books from Carina in mass market paperback form, where the cost per book for the customer would still be reasonable? THAT would be way more beneficial to up and coming new authors than backing a vanity press, and it would leave the integrity of Harlequin’s name intact.
Now I’m just all confused.
RWA says: “If you learn X, Y, and Z about craft, keep writing, get critiques, and perservere, then your writing will improve to the point where you can get published.”
Harlequin Horizons says: “If you pay us $X, and then convince lots and lots of people to buy your book at inflated prices, then you can get published.”
There’s a difference between teaching someone the steps to follow to help make the dream attainable, and implying that there is a magic bullet which can be purchased with money to attain your dream.
Actually Anon, what they say is that if you pay them $599 or more, you will be a published author. (Read through their Book Publishing Process Overview page. The very last thing they say is “Congratulations! You are finally a published author.”)
If a bunch of people a bunch of books HQN *might* consider you for one of its “traditional publisher” lines. And pay you. Maybe.
Nothing new to add, but I’m in the camp with those who are thinking “OMG NOES”. Not only does it dilute the brand, but it’s made me rethink my opinion of Harlequin and how it values its relationship with readers.
As someone pointed out above, not everyone who chooses to self-publish does so because their book sucks, or because they’re lazy, or because they were scammed. So I have little reservation when it comes to the publisher/author relationship. If an author has done her research, considered both the pros and cons, and chooses this option, then that’s her choice to make, and it’s none of my business.
Where my concerns come in is at the point of sale, when a reader picks up what they think might be good, and realizes too little too late it’s a poorly written Buffy fanfic with (almost all of the) names changed. (This actually happened to me once.) Not every book will be this way, that’s true, but self-publishing is not new, and I think most of us know by now that for every good self-published book, there are twenty other really bad ones. I don’t see how this endeavor will be any different.
Sure, everyone here will be able to tell the difference. But people like my friend Robin, who doesn’t follow publishing trends, will not. She’ll see the Harlequin name and make an assumption, and that’s what bothers me.
I understand and respect your logic completely, Lynne. But in a world where many fantastic authors are published exclusively in digital format, I’m not sure being on the bookstore shelves is a viable “point” against self-publishing fiction anymore.
Because most self-published/vanity published books are print, and print doesn’t sell as well online as it does in the bookstores and supermarkets.
And the synergy still holds. I’m published by Ellora’s Cave, Samhain and Loose-Id next to authors like Deidre Knight and Joey W Hill. I get that benefit, something a self-pubbed author doesn’t have. It’s harder, it’s far more expensive and to make a success of self-publication requires a level of expertise and an investment I don’t have. And I have an MBA.
However, I’m not sure that having your work on a bookstore shelf is the definition of a successful author any longer.
Well, I’m doing fine, but I’d still hate to do without the support and expertise of the people I’m published with. And I know for sure that’s made a difference to my sales.
The more I think about this, the more I wonder why Harlequin didn’t just put all its ‘new endeavor’ energy behind their debut digital imprint, Carina Press, and back it HQ brand and all.
That puzzles me too. As you’ve said, people can be a success without the bricks and mortar stores, and they’ve recruited Angie James, who is well known and experienced. She’d be an asset to the Harlequin brand.
As far as I know, upon acquisition, Carina buys ALL rights to the submitted work, including print, even though they openly state they’re a strictly digital publisher.
Publishers will tend to ask for everything they can get in a contract. It’s up to the writer or her agent to negotiate.
So why not just print the bestselling e-books from Carina in mass market paperback form, where the cost per book for the customer would still be reasonable? THAT would be way more beneficial to up and coming new authors than backing a vanity press, and it would leave the integrity of Harlequin’s name intact.
I am so with you there.
Now I’m just all confused.
I have bought, both for my library and my own collection, any number of self-published works.
Most of these are non-fiction, for niche subjects, as discussed above. Some of these even become quite popular, locally or even nationally, when the subject matter makes national news (e.g. a gruesome true crime book).
I have bought a very very small amount of self-published fiction for my library. Mostly this is either because of local interest again (e.g., the ex- mayor’s novel) or because of truly overwhelming demand (I’m talking about pounding on the doors, dozens of requests from people I know personally, not mass e-mail “requests”)—THE SHACK being an example of the latter (and notice I say nothing about quality there).
I have bought some self-published fiction, generally that touches subjects that mainstream publishers won’t pick up (less and less of that these days) and always from authors who come with detailed, overwhelmingly positive reviews from authoritative sources, AND who offer generous online samples (at least a third of the book) so I know what I’m getting.
I have never bought vanity press offerings for either my library or myself. This doesn’t stop the dozens and dozens of donations I receive every month from the authors who were convinced that this was the way to make their dreams come true. I have never received one worthy of adding to the collection—even if there is a good story or writing in there, the editing and binding is so shoddy that I simply can’t add it. Every one I consign to the discard pile lands with the sharp sound of shattering dreams.
I *am* angry at Harlequin, for cynically selling their brand prestige to add to that pile of broken hopes. And, frankly, for making the likely flood of useless donations that I have to cope with that much deeper.
[verification word: beyond74. That was WAY beyond my 74 cents worth!]
That’s not the case with RWA at all.
Membership fee
Contest fees
conference fees (food, clothes, airfare)
chapter fees
Conference fees alone can run you over 1k-WELL over 1k.
And, in all actuality, there’s not much you can learn from RWA that you can’t learn online. You may get face schmooze time, but how many authors made deals on that face time in comparison to all of the authors that went to the conference? What about the ones that would have if they could afford it? How many authors are members as opposed to being PRO or PAN? -Meaning how many authors are down in the trenches still plugging away, making thier way to one more conference in hopes that THIS ms will get in front of the right editor/agent?
And now RWA is exploring it’s own publishing company? Isn’t that what I read in a minutes note somehwere? I could be wrong, don’t take my one braincell for carved in marble.
RWA is a business, just like HH is. Only you get some semblance of gratification thinking you paid for the lessons you can now learn online for free. So, you write it off as ‘school’ in hopes that I get published.
I can see the argument that says HQN will dilute their brand with this venture having some legitimacy. I think that whoever decided that Carina would be separate had the right idea and it’s not a new thing for large corporations to engage in business ventures that speak to different members of community. GAP has Banana Republic and Old Navy for apparel as well as Lexus has Infiniti, and Volkswagen has Audi—their brands for automobiles.
I’m still not condemining the venture and who knows? Maybe HQN will amend the name to only HORIZONS which will then be a ‘tell’ that anything published with that plate is not from the traditional lines.
From a business model perspective, it’s a good move especially since HQN makes so much money for Torstar, their parent company. An additional line should generate more jobs rather than taking them away. And with the precarious state of publishing in general, anything driving the bottom line so that traditional publishing can flourish is good.
But the branding issue does warrant closer scrutiny and perhaps a revisit.
I, for one, don’t regret a single cent I’ve tossed at RWA or its chapters. I’ve found it to be a tremendous resource for demystifying this extremely mysty business.
I joined early on in my writing *cough* career, and if I hadn’t I’d still be drowning in a sea of adverbs, isolated and confused, groping blindly for industry info and submitting manuscripts on grease-stained pizza boxes. I won’t pretend to understand all their politics or agendas, but I appreciate the information they’ve made available to aspiring writers more than I can express without getting sloppy-drunk on Bailey’s and composing a song about it.
And I don’t have time to write a song—I need to start promo for that serial coffee mug novel I mentioned. Better get to Cafe Press and order me up some personalized mousemats and organic cotton thongs, STAT.
Linz—keep writing!
Forget the coffee mugs, Cara. For $19,999 Harlequin Horizons will make you a “live-action, customized Hollywood-produced book trailer video” and if their agent thinks it turned out good enough, they’ll even send it along to some Hollywood moguls they know.
Or maybe you can get your coffee mugs to do the hamster dance. HH will also put your trailer on youtube for you.
http://www.harlequinhorizons.com/Servicestore/ServiceDetail.aspx?ServiceId=BS-6224
Listen, I know I’m probably going to get my hand slapped for this, but you don’t have to be a phone psychic to know that if Harlequin does come-a-callin’ to these vanity published authors, they’re not going to approach them as equals. When they call and say, “We found your manuscript through the Horizons partnership and we’d like to offer you a contract,” the unspoken is going to be, “and we know that you were desperate to be published, so you’ll take anything we offer.”
That’s great. I’m happy for you. I’ve learned all that for free at Romance Divas, PBW’s blog, Absolute Write, and the endless feeds of agent blogs I read.
Now, the PEOPLE of RWA, I do love my friends I’ve made though them, but I got all of that Romance Writer Skoolin for free-and most of it was better than RWAs.
A lot more RWA members get published than vanity press authors get traditional contracts. So that is one major way joining RWA is different from paying a vanity publisher. That being said, it remains to be seen how many Harlequin Horizons authors become traditionally published. Perhaps Harlequin Horizons will be different from every other vanity publisher in existence.
And perhaps not.
@ Laura Kinsale.
Oh dear. I can’t believe Harlequin is endorsing this. Wow. I am floored. That’s 40 % of what I earn in a year that would go up in smoke in 60 to 90 seconds. And I’m lucky, I have a good salary. No way.
Anyone laying bets on whether or not RWA will discuss this?