Harlequin’s Self Publishing Line: Shot Down by a Shortsighted Industry

There is a poll at the end of this post – vote!

Let’s be honest – self-publishing has always been the red-headed step child of the industry. And even though it has garnered some attention and its unsavory stigma has somewhat lessoned, there are still those that view self-publishing as second rate.

Okay – it is second rate. But occassionally a self-published title gets picked up. In fact, I’m working on one right now.

But it’s when traditional publishers begin to derive a revenue stream from self-publishing that the shit really hits the fan.

Harlequin has started its self-publishing line – Harlequin Horizons to help aspiring romance writers who otherwise would be less likely to…get published.

But Harlequin has pretty much been flayed for this decision. The Romance Writers of America (RWA) has decided to remove the company from its list of publishers eligible for use of RWA-provided conference resources. (In case you were wondering, conferences are a big thing in the romance world). Oh yeah – and the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) have threatened the same thing.

Nora Roberts said – “You’re paying for your ego. That’s fine, dealer’s choice. But it’s a different matter when a big brand publisher uses its name and its resources to sell this as dream fulfillment, advertises it as such while trying to claim it’s not really their brand being used to make money on mss they’ve rejected as not worthy of that brand in the first place.” (If that’s not a run on sentence, I don’t know what is).

Get off of your high white steed Ms. Roberts (and RWA and MWA and any other “blank” WA). GO Harlequin for finding a way to keep up with the times and create a new revenue stream. Because in case others haven’t noticed, the margins in the publishing industry aren’t exactly enormous. And the old publishing model certainly doesn’t work.

But hell, Nora Roberts gets her money in extremely large advances – the type that are sucking the life out of this industry. Maybe if she were to take a higher royalty percentage instead…

The Result – Harlequin is giving the self-publishing line a new name (sans Harlequin).

Do you think Harlequin is selling out by including a self-publishing line, being hypocritical? I want to know! Vote now (and maybe add a comment).

-Emily

Vladimir Nabokov – Covers Redesigned

I’m trying to get into the habit of keeping up on industry news. While it’s certainly a task that everyone in publishing should do I’m sad to say it is not one of my strengths. Too many good romance novels to read instead.

But I’m proud to say that I was reading Publishers Lunch (yes, while enjoying my lunch) and came across some of the coolest book jackets ever. Thought I’d share.

These 21 covers are designed by 21 different artists and authors, Chip Kidd being one, for Vladimir Nabokov’s backlist . Some are better than others – not everyone can be Chip Kidd.

Nabokov died in 1977, leaving behind an unfinished manuscript, The Original of Laura (Dying is Fun). The reason for the redesign of his backlist is due to the unfinished novel being published posthumously. No, an author was not brought in to finish the work. The editor and agent just published what was already written, only about 9,000 words. Keep in mind that Nabokov order the manuscript be destroyed.

But I digress. Nabokov had a fascination with butterflies so each new cover is made to look like a speciman box – complete with pins and paper cutouts. I love it!  Here is an example of the cover for Ada, or Ardor.  If you want to see more – go to the Wall Street Journal’s slide show.

-Emily

About Young Publishers Today

Finally, read about the authors of this blog!  Go to our YPT PYTs page to find out more about us. 

Our “contact us” page will be coming soon as well.

-Emily

Friday Book Art – Takeshi Ishiguro

 Finally – a coffee table book that can be used in a practicle manner.  Although, really I don’t buy coffee table books for practicality; I buy them because they’re gorgeous.  So maybe a better way to put it is “a coffee table book with a hidden use” or something similar.

Takeshi Ishiguro, a Japanese artist/designer, runs his own studio in Tokyo.  But he doesn’t create just art – he also focuses on conceptual products as well.  In this piece – he combines the two.  And yes, this is now available to purchase.  :) 

The Book of Lights

 

It’s powered by a low voltage adapter.  Go to Unica for more info.

-Emily

HuffPost Book Section: A Publicist’s Thoughts

Well – I can tell you that there was a ton of buzz about the Huffington Post’s recent book section addition on my floor.  As I work in publicity, you can imagine how all those publicists took the news that a major publicity outlet was going to increase its book coverage.  And then we read Amy Hertz’s (Editor of HuffPost Books) post about how us lowly publicists can achieve a coveted spot for our books. 

She is very adamant that this new section is NOT a book review section.  That was number one on her list. 

Also on her list:

• We should all blog – publicists, authors, authors’ friends, and especially editors.  We have to prove that we fell in love with this book for a good reason.

I understand that blogging tends to be important (although only if you can create original content).  But, as you know, I can barely keep up with my own personal blogging.  And I guarantee you that I don’t have as much free time at work as I do when I’m off the clock.  If the book is important enough blogging should be part of the publicity campaign – but we deal with so many books at one time.  Right now I’m dealing with 6 books and I am, by far, one of the least busiest people on my team.  One can’t be expected to sustain a blog for each book and really, one post per book won’t make a huge difference.

• We can ask bloggers to review our books (but, let’s be clear, this is only if “you’re not willing to step out from behind your desk, if you’re not willing to let the world know how you feel personally about the books…).  And if you are going to pitch bloggers don’t send a generic pitch, personalize it – take a lesson from Jonathan Fields.

Uh – yes, I’m insulted.  The fact is: more blog reviews are better than one (even if it is my own blog doing the review).  I know that bloggers don’t respond well to generic pitches from experience.  I’ve done blog outreach and I sat down and personalized every single email.  Well, it was slow, I didn’t have any other books to work on and I’m an assistant.  This is not a practical solution so I would like all bloggers to please check their inflated self worth at the office door.  The following bit is from Jonathan Fields touting the need for personal interaction in today’s social media-evolving world:

When my book, Career Renegade, came out earlier this year… I hand wrote personal notes that were included in nearly every copy that went out. Then, I sent personal e-mails, not anonymous blasts, and DMed most on twitter. And…we only reached out to those I knew would be genuinely interested…

Was that hours of extra work? Yup! Was it worth it? (He goes on to say yes, it’s worth it).

What did I notice most in that paragraph?  The heavy use of “I”.  Of course he’s taking the time to send out personalized notes – it’s HIS book!  Expect it from the authors – not the publicists.  We send out press releases to gauge interest – (and, yes, we really do only send to those people we genuinely believe are interested) – and then we cultivate personal relationships from there.  Read his whole piece, I’m not saying he doesn’t have a point but I do think he’s being overly harsh on publicists.

• Forget the publication date.

It’s standard practice to time the majority of a book’s publicity around the publication date.  I agree that buzz starts early, especially on the Internet and that it’s good to start pitching even 2 to 4 months out.  This means that publicists will have to get especially creative since most of the time we just don’t have anything to show the media this far out if galleys (advanced reader copies) weren’t made for the title.

• “Start a conversation with our readers. …whatever you do, speak personally, authentically and from the heart because they can smell an adapted press release a mile away.”

News Flash – every press release I write is from the heart (for the most part).  I will sometimes spend hours, days on a press release making sure that the wording does the book and the author justice, that it truly tells the story and let’s others see why we chose to publish this book in the first place.  What more do you want from me!?  We come up with article and feature ideas, try to bring all the pieces together, make sure the media is happy, our authors are happy, the authors’ partners and friends are happy.  And you tell me it’s not enough?  My blood, sweat and tears go into my job – I love it!  And I’m the first to admit that there are things that could be better and that sometimes I slack on a title, but give me a break, the entire system, as has been suggested, is not broken. 

-Emily

Slackers

Ok – thanks to Kristina for pointing it out.  Yes, we’ve been slacking – and I’m aware that the cardinal rule of blogging is updating, updating, updating. 

So, I’ll apologize now for my lack of posts and promise to get one up soon.

Thanks!

-Emily

YPG – I Can Has Book Deal?! Panel

Okay, I followed up on my word – I went to a YPG event (Young to Publishing Group – if you haven’t read my previous post bout this group, here it is).  The topic of the panel was how to get a book deal from a blog - aptly titled “ICan Has Book Deal?!

The three panelists were Ben Huh, owner of icanhascheezburger.com and other websites, Erin Maloney, a literary agent at William Morris Endeavor and Patrick Mulligan, senior editor at Gotham Books. 

Honestly, I asked myself if I’m too critical – myself answered no.

Some trivial mentions: The turnout was smaller than I expected – about 40 people were in attendance.  And I got a free book which is always a plus even though I already have access to an ungodly amount of free books.

Now, for those of you who don’t know icanhascheezburger.com is a ridiculously popluar site, despite the pain of typing the url.  And Ben has several book deals to his name (count them – four) all based on blogs.  Two are bestsellers, two are in the works of being published.  That’s a pretty good track record for anybody and hey, if he can start 4 blog books, why can’t everybody start at least one?  I’m not going to go into the other two panelists – just know that they’re successful in their own right too.

First off, I’m a publicist, not an author.  Even if I were an editor, I’d be an editor, not an author.  I’m aware that many people in the publishing industry have gone on to write books.  But that’s not why I joined this group – I want to know how to be successful in the industry.  Unfortunately, this panel missed this point.  What I learned:

• Every agent looks for what will sell
• Blogs are a good way to test a market for a book
• A viral blog has to have a strong personality 

It would have been different if the panel had gone into depth about how to handle a blog book – ie: publicize, edit, market etc.  And to be fair, I believe 3 sentences were dedicated to this topic.  Not enough to justify my attendance.

Final grade: F

-Emily

Association of American Publishers

To continue with our posts on the various publishing organizations, I’m going to try and tackle the AAP (The Association of American Publishers). 

 

Association of American Publishers

The AAP is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry.   It looks out for publishers’ best interests and tackles such issues as copyright, digital, Freedom to read, censorship, libel…even postal rates and regulations.  Basically – it’s the publishing industry’s heavyweight when going up against…well, anyone it needs to.

While it deals with general matters that affect the industry as a whole, the AAP also has committees that deal with specific market areas – higher education, mass market, etc.

With most of the major commercial publishers as well as the smaller and non-profit ones, it’s necessary to be aware of the AAP and its agenda.  Well – actually, if you are interested in the publishing industry, it’s necessary to be aware of the AAP.

Here’s their website – I’d check back every once in a while – see what’s in the news and what they’re up to.

 

-Emily

Friday Book Art Extravaganza – Mike Stilkey

My roommates and I have a blank wall in our apartment that we want to do something with – in fact we have an art project in mind involving books.  Nothing too strenuous really, it requires us hanging floating shelves and then arranging hardcovers.  I know, but really, it looks fun in the magazine picture.

Well, now I’ve changed my mind – (of course, really what I want to do now is not feasible, so we’ll stick with the original plan) – but if I had lots of space, time and talent (hey, I already have lots of books) – this is what I would do….

The artist, Mike Stilkey uses a number of mediums – vintage paper, record covers, book pages and, as seen above, the books themselves. This picture is only a piece of the entire installation, titled “When the Animals Rebel.”  Here’s the link to his website.  He’s had a number of exhibitions and I’m hoping he’ll have one in New York – I’ll definitely keep my eye out and let you know if and when he does.  Of course, since I like to think that our blog extends far beyond the reaches of New York City I’ll post his other exhibitions as well.

I’m hooked and now my dream of having my own library (think, Beauty and the Beast for those of you who know your Disney) includes something similar to this art.

-Emily

Prep School Gets Rid of Books

Cushing Academy (a New England prep school) has decided that its library doesn’t need books.  Apparently, the headmaster, James Tracy, sees outdated technology when he sees books.  I believe his phrase was, “…like scrolls before books.”  Here’s the Boston Globe article.

So, the school will spend $500,000 on a digital learning environment complete with flat screens, laptop-friendly study carrels, and…wait for it…a coffee shop.  But in case you were worried that students wouldn’t be able to get the experience of reading a book, Cushing has bought 18 new e-readers.  I guess that seems about right for the 450 students. (Read that line sarcastically, please).

Don’t get me wrong, digital certainly has a place in our world, no one’s stupid enough to deny that, and I commend the academy for wanting to keep up with the times.  I just don’t agree that they needed to get rid of the books to do it (they claim that the books take up too much space).

Maybe it just comes down to personality; while I spend the majority of my time on the computer, I would not want to do all my reading on it.  All those students who don’t get first dibs on the e-readers – they have to use their laptops.  Nothing can compare to the sensory experience of a real book.

Some people don’t mind – a school without books, no biggie.

Sad.

-Emily