USA Today has a very positive article on the front page of their Life section about how hip it is to write and read romance. Romances empower women! Hello, it took you this long to figure it out?

The picture above I “borrowed” from Teddy Pig is a perfect visual about the WTF situation regarding RWA and their stance on epublishing

The majority of those that visit my blog here or follow me on Twitter know I am very involved in the Romance Genre community. I am a big supporter of everything the romance community promotes and eventually I would like to break into the world of publishing via romance. As an aspiring author, the majority of the stories I am working on has a romance slant to it.

Some feel that writing is a very solitary experience, but there are a great amount of support systems out there such as writing groups and a network of individuals who want to help you succeed. The Romance Writers of America was started in 1981 to serve as a nonprofit trade association for romance writers.

The mission of RWA is simple:
To advance the professional interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy. RWA works to support the efforts of its members to earn a living, to make a full-time career out of writing romance—or a part-time one that generously supplements his/her main income.

There are more than 10,000 romance writers and related industry professionals who are members. Some of these 10,000 members are not all published authors, but working towards their goal of becoming one. Last year I went to the annual RWA National conference where I was able to network and meet so many who love writing and the romance genre. This year I joined, mainly to have better access of events and information. Another reason was I would get a discount on this year’s conference and hotel room price. As you can see, I joined for various reasons.

I thought an organization, which was founded by a group to help both aspiring and accomplished authors, would welcome other avenues for a writer like myself to get published. The past few years RWA has come under fire because of their stance on the world of epublishing. For so long the only way for a writer to get published was with a mainstream print publishing house such as Penguin, Random House and Simon and Schuster among others. These are the NYC publishing houses that are the most desired by those, including yours truly.

But times are changing. There are other ways to accomplish your goals of getting published and making a living off your writing. This is where epublishing comes into play. But some still have a bias against epublishing as a whole and seem to only want to embrace tradition forms of publishing.

The president of RWA, Diane Pershing thinks that digital publishing is not the way to go and should not be embraced by RWA. Many authors who are members of RWA, as well as those who are not, have expressed displeasure about this.

Kensington author Jackie Barbosa has a perfect overview about this situation:

RWA made the decision this year not to allow any publisher that doesn’t pay a minimum advance (the threshhold being the $1,000 in advance/royalty required for entry into PAN, the organization’s Published Author Network) to take pitches or deliver session content at the National conference in July. These publishers are still welcome to send people to the conference (i.e., give RWA their money), but they are not permitted to actually disseminate information about what they have to offer in any meaningful or useful way.

Many other have responded such as Deidre Knight who is the founder of the Knight Agency and author of both mainstream print and ebooks. Earlier this week on ESPAN (Electronic and Small Press Authors’ Network) Deidre responds to Diane Pershing’s stance on epublishing and calls for change:

RWA’s current stance on e-books is that a publisher must offer at least a $1,000 advance in order to qualify for legitimacy. Never mind that many digital authors far exceed that amount in royalties, or sell more than 5,000 copies of print editions of their e-published titles. The problem with RWA’s simplistic criteria is that it ignores one crucial fact. Our industry is changing radically, with traditional publishers seeking innovative models for overhauling their distribution and content.

In part I believe Deidre is vocal about this matter because her very popular and amazingly written Butterfly Tattoo was sold to epublisher Samhain and not a more traditional mainstream press. (I have to get this out there, but I can’t help but wonder, if Deidre did not sell Butterfly Tattoo to an epub, would she be so vocal?) But regardless, her post brings up some good thoughts and questions that she wants answers to.

Diane Pershing responded to Deidre yesterday and her post on ESPAN was a bit of an, “open-mouth-insert foot” rebuttal.

Some highlights from the post you may find interesting and that made me shake my head:

Out of 400 workshop proposals this year, only two focused on digital publishing; one was deemed by the Workshop Committee to not be of the caliber needed, the other was by Deidre’s publisher, Samhain, which is not on the list of RWA Eligible Publishers (From RWA’s Policy and Procedure Manual, section 1.17. “Eligible Publisher” means a romance publisher that has verified to RWA in a form acceptable to RWA, that it: …..(3) provides advances of at least $1,000 for all books; and (4) pays all authors participating in an anthology an advance of at least $500).

KB: Who is this Workshop Committee who deemed that Samhain wasn’t the caliber needed? Samhain is one of the most successful epublisher out there! And I can’t wrap my head around why this $1,000 advance for a book is so important? Can someone explain this to me?

E-published authors are only one segment of RWA’s 10,000-member population. What of the huge majority that constitutes the rest of the membership? I stand by my original assertion that by governing in the interest of all its members and not the few, RWA is doing its fiduciary duty. …Each year members threaten to leave because they are displeased with something. Some do; most don’t. No organization can make everyone happy, but RWA goes on, no matter what.

KB: Oh well, you don’t like it, leave then. We have enough members to give us dues. So what if a few members leave? Take it of leave it! What if 90% of those 10,000 members left? Would RWA go on no matter what then?

The publishing industry is in a constant struggle to survive, authors’ numbers dip and rise and dip again; they are dropped, they are signed, and nothing is ever certain. This is why RWA must be a strong and loyal advocate for them. RWA believes it is crucial to stand firm in our conviction that an author has a right to guaranteed payment for her work.

KB: In between the lines written here, Pershing is saying that traditional ways of publishing, such as big named NY publishers are the way to go. Epublishing is the redheaded stepchild and in RWA’s eyes, it always will be.

I have taken some small excerpts from both Deidre and Diane’s stance on the epublishing issue. Everyone has their opinion and rightly so, but I can’t understand why an organization like RWA, who is supposed to be an advocate for writers, are so against other means for one to get published. As an author would you rather have a steady income with an epub or lucky enough to make ends me with a mainstream powerhouse NY publisher? Yay, you have the coveting NY Times bestseller label, but you barely have enough in an advance or sales to put food on the table. I am all for dreaming big and wishing for a six or seven figure book deal, but the world of epublishing allows you so much more. You can actually make a living publishing with an epublisher.

I am not sure now where I stand with RWA. They cannot make or break an author, nor do they have the power to go to a publisher and help an one join their roster of authors. What RWA has accomplished are ways for so many to come together and share ideas and make long lasting relationships. I will give them that at least.

RWA has been around for 28 years and it would be a shame if they vanished because they didn’t evolve and change with sign of the times. This is so very telling because for decades critics were telling the US car companies they better evolve or they will become like the dinosaurs, extinct. Those companies didn’t care or listen and look at them now.

This is the way I see it.

 

Does an endorsement from a well-known or best selling author make you buy a book just because they have a blurb on another’s author’s book?

Avon Romance Editor May Chen thinks so. The majority of readers who have commented on this at various blogs and other sites also feel the same. I would have to say I am in the minority on this subject because an author’s blurb has never made me buy a book. I used to choose my books first by the cover and then by the synopsis on the back of the book. And if I have an author I prefer over the other, I will go ahead and buy.

I really don’t mind seeing these author blurbs on covers and inside books because it is interesting to see what an author has read. There are two books I have just finished that were blurbed by well known authors and it makes me wonder how these books will sell based on this. These two books are by first time authors and already one has shot up the book chart. Could it be a because of Stephenie Meyer’s blurb?

The Young Adult book Wings by Aprilynne Pike from Harper Teen that came out this month is about a young teenage girl who learns that she is a fairy. I decided to read the book because the storyline looked interesting, and I have been on this big Young Adult kick lately. Wings is the number one Children’s Chapter Books on the New York Times Best Selling list. Right at the top center of the cover is a blurb from Stephenie Meyer that says:

“Wings is a remarkable debut.” – Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight Saga.

When I first read that blub I quickly came to the conclusion that because of Stephenie Wings would do very well. Natasha from Maw Books also thought the same thing because she posted on Twitter:

"Meyer's blurb & support of Pike for WINGS took her straight to #1. She can blurb for me anytime!"

From those five words by Meyer, I wondered if Wings was truly a remarkable debut. Wings is about Laurel who is fifteen-years-old and has been homeschooled all her life. Her parents finally decide to enroll her in high school. Laurel is not too keen on the idea of being in such a public place. She is bit of a loner who is afraid of fitting in. She can only eat certain foods and longs to be outside. But things go pretty well for her when she meets David, a friendly guy who enjoys science and wants to be Laurel’s friend. Soon there is a romance in the making with David. Then one morning Laurel wakes up and finds a bump on her back that turns in a flower! David is there to help Laurel figure out what she is. Poor Laurel is more plant than human and is actually a faerie. Along with David and a male faerie Tamani, she learns who she really is and why she was left on her parent’s doorsteps when she was a baby. Laurel’s father has also become sick and is dying. It looks like some nasty trolls are behind it because they want to own the land that belongs to Laurel’s family. This land is a gateway to the faerie land and these trolls must be stopped.

As for a debut, I would say Wings is a nice read. It is perfect for ages twelve and up and the budding romance between Laurel and David is sweet and tender. Laurel and David make a great team and the action and confrontation with the trolls isn’t too violent, except for one scene where Tamani, who is also a possible love interest for Laurel, defeats the trolls by twisting their heads off.

Is Wings remarkable? Perhaps not on the same level as Meyer’s Twilight series or Melissa Marr’s own faery series, but I can say that Aprilynne does have an engaging voice and has written a book teens and perhaps some adults will enjoy. I give Wings a B.

Wings is the case where an author blurb is almost on the money. Unfortunately there are some author blurbs I find to be misleading. So is the case of new Avon author Lavinia Kent with her June release, A Talent for Sin.

There is a blurb from Lisa Kleypas on the cover. The blurb says:

“I was captivated by every page.”- Lisa Kleypas. There is also an extended blurb on Lavinia’s website:

“I was captivated by every page of A Talent For Sin by Lavinia Kent, a masterfully written book that brims with style and vitality. Anyone who loves the romance genre should treat themselves to the spectacular work of Lavinia Kent—it is a sexy and emotional experience that will sweep you off your feet!”

When I read the synopsis for A Talent For Sin, I was hooked. It is about a thirty-one year old three times married widow who is having a luscious love affair with a man seven years younger than she is. I am all for the older woman/younger man love stories. And what makes this one even better is that that the younger man, Lord Peter St. Johns loves Lady Violet Carrington desperately that nothing else but marriage will do for him.

Violet doesn’t want to get married. She has been there three times and all these marriages were less than ideal. She also can’t have children and to marry a man like Peter who is younger and needs heirs is unacceptable. Violet has quite the reputation for taking lovers and living life by her own rules. But Peter won’t be denied and will have Violet as his wife.

Can we saw swoon? This is exactly the type of romance I want to read! I was riveted for the first one-hundred pages, but then the story quickly changed to one that made me go “huh?”. A Talent for Sin became clichéd. Violet has a brother who owes money to a nasty fellow. He was the reason Violet ended up marrying her much older first husband because of the debts he owed. Violet has a younger sister who is a twit and tries to seduce Peter. Violet keeps telling Peter to lay off the marriage proposals, but she still wants his body. Peter walks around moping because his love won’t marry him. But they still have some hot sex everywhere they can. Violet decides to sacrifice herself to save her sister from a horrible marriage because her brother is a dimwit with money and feels he is owed something. My last straw was when Violet decides the only way to save her family’s good name is for Peter to marry her twit of a sister! UGH.

I wonder if Lisa only read the first one-hundred pages like I did? If so, then I can see why she would be captivated and felt that A Talent For Sin is an emotional experience. Unfortunately the remaining two-hundred plus pages were a big let down. I give A Talent For Sin a C+.

With that in mind, I wonder if an author is given a book to read and blurb what happens if that author didn’t like the book. Do they try and find something positive to say? It looks like when a new author arrives on the scene, a blurb from an author the public adores can really help the new author's book sales.

How many of you buy books based on author blurbs? Was there ever a case where you bought a book because of it and the book wasn’t the one for you? How about the opposite?

 

A few days ago I posted a wonderful article from the New York Times about why romance novels are doing so well during the recession. Well, there was bound to be another article where the tone, shall we say, is less then satisfactory in its telling. In other words, the article was condescending and the author's voice was snotty. Also, she admits to not buying or reading the same books she mentions in the article.

Essayist and novelist Meghan Daum who lives in Los Angeles has written this article called "The Recession Heats Up Romance Novels"

-If there’s anyone who’s predisposed to being snobby about this genre, it’s me. I wouldn’t buy a romance novel unless it was specific enough to my own escape fantasies to be called something like “Ralph Fiennes, Personal Assistant and Discreet Ghostwriter of Newspaper Columns. *So, Ms Daum just shot herself in the foot. SHE HASN'T READ A ROMANCE NOVEL and is writing about the topic? WTF lady? Hello, there is a thing called research!*
 
My response to Ms. Daum which I posted on Delaware Online:
 
Ms. Daum,
 

Can you please tell us the last romance novel you read? And if you haven't read one, how can you write an article like this without doing your research and not reading these books? How can you really have an opinion? That is like a movie reviewer not watching the movie they are reviewing and still writing a review on it.

I wonder what Samuel Richardson who wrote the earliest romance novel in 1740 called Pamela would say? How about Jane Austen who wrote the classic, Pride and Prejudice or Georgette Heyer who introduced historical romances in 1921?

Or what about those 64 million readers in the United States who bought what is considered the most popular genre in modern literature, comprising almost 55% of all paperback books sold in 2004?

What would the twenty-two percent of romance readers who identified themselves as male, and were split evenly between people who were married and those who were single would say? Or the forty-two percent of them who have at least a bachelor's degree?
.
I could go on and on with the facts that make the romance genre the star of the publishing world. I really feel sorry for Ms. Daum. My world has become a brighter place because of reading these books that make me smile, sigh and always give me a happy ending.
 

Have you ever heard of ABC's "What Would You Do?" The show tests how people respond to emergencies or calls for help or any chance to simply do the right thing.