byemilyveinglory

Links of Interest

Emily Veinglory: — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Self-Publishing Tips
"One thing I've changed is that now I'll take one copy of any self-published book on consignment. This involves no risk on my part and it allows your book to spend some time on the shelf."

The Slow, Moronic Death of Books (as We Know Them)
"year's BEA felt less like a convention and more like a funeral: Last fall's recession triggered perhaps the most dismal year in the history of publishing in America."

The smell of desperation
"Authors complaining that they can't afford to buy their own books for review. And they expect readers to somehow afford those books, then?"

Dear Self-Published Author
"If you have managed to write a book then you must have a brain. So why, oh why, does that brain stop functioning when it comes to selecting a cover for this magnum opus of yours?"

Indie Books Top Oprah Winfrey's Summer List
"Seven independently-published books topped Oprah Winfrey's 25 Books of Summer list this year...."

REVIEWS: The Scientific Worldview: beyond Newton and Einstein by Glenn Borchardt

Emily Veinglory: — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:43:00 -0700

Title: The Scientific Worldview: beyond Newton and Einstein
Author: Glenn Borchardt
Genre: non-fiction
Price: $26.95
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595392458
Point of Sale: Amazon
Reviewed by: Emily Veinglory

I have been living with this book for a while, certainly a year and possibly two. For a while it was my airport book. That, sadly, is not good news. It means I put this book in my carry-on bag in the hope that I will get bored enough in the airport or during the flight to actually read it. In fact I would confess to not having read every single word of this book, even after all this time and innumerable determined efforts. But along the way the book's corners are very scuffed and an unfortunate incident with a caramel latte has left splotches along the edges of the pages. So I couldn't return the book and had to make the best effort at a review that I could.

I was sent this book after the author made some rather grandiose claims on the Amazon science forum. (I long stopped going to that forum which now contains nothing but endless attempts by American zealots to explain the fallacy of evolution to us poor scientific heathens, and various heathens endlessly rising to the bait). Anyway, the author said I couldn't say it wasn't a revolutionary book unless I read it and offered a review copy. What is a girl to do?

In brief, the book is a defense of determinism and an argument for some related corollaries such as the universality of evolution (not a new idea), the importance of environmental causes (ditto) and the proposition that the universe is infinite. There may have been a little more to it than that as i skipped about a quarter of the content in the middle, a fact I cannot deny or excuse--but there you are. As it happens I am a determinist, I think the environment is the ultimate cause of everything--and I really don't care whether the universe is infinite or not (I am something of a pragmatist and the finite-ality or otherwise of the universe doesn't change the cost of a cup of coffee). You could say I was underwhelmed. You could, in fact, say that I was bored. Very bored.

The style of the book is dry, convoluted and polysyllabic (I have nothing against syllables, but sometimes less really is more--the same can be said for neologism. Getting a PhD tend to either make one very pretentious, or aggressively opposed to any such airs and pseudo-graces). The points, as I untangled and identified them fell neatly into the categories if 1) I agree, 2) I see what you are saying but I comfortably disagree and know exactly where our paths diverged (e.g. different starting assumptions), and 3) so what? As such, this book lacked the key ingredients I look for in non-fiction: it did not challenge me, other than a few minor points here and there it did not teach me anything, and regardless of its factual content it was neither inspirational nor entertaining.

Putting that aside, I tried to think about who (other than me obviously) might enjoy this book. I guess a modern determinist who has not already read Wittgenstein, Skinner, etc etc might find it novel and excitingly outside the mainstream--but on the whole I would suggest reading the classics rather than this book. A true novice would have a hell of a time dealing with the jargon and haphazard organisation. And I seriously doubt that a person who was not determinist would get much out of the book at all. It declares, it does not attempt to convince.

Revolutionary? Life changing? I just do not see it. And I really did try.

Really.

Rating: 3/10

GUEST POST: Blog Content Theft

Emily Veinglory: — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:57:00 -0700

Content theft happens all the time online and it's complicated by international sites that do not recognize the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. Some call it pirating, but I'd rather call it theft. As a friend pointed out, the term "pirating" gives theft a quasi-romantic outlaw connotation.

Plagiarism. Most of us know about plagiarism because we've had it hammered into us in school. Plagiarism is when you steal someone else's writing and imply that it's your own. You've copied content from someone's site and put it on your own site with no credit to the author.

Plagiarism is also when you steal someone else's ideas. You've stolen content and rewritten it so that plagiarism-detection software will not be able to catch it. This is theft of ideas.

Unfortunately, plagiarism can't be prosecuted in a criminal court of law. But it can be pursued spectacularly through civil courts – we're talking massive lawsuits.

Copyright Infringement. This is an online phenomenon. People copy content IN ITS ENTIRETY and put it on their own websites, adding an author credit and a link back to the original site. Then they pat themselves on the back for not plagiarizing. Maybe they truly believe that they're helping out by "circulating" content and giving it more visibility.

This is content theft. First, you've duplicated content, which harms you and the author. Google and other search engines don't like content duplication across sites, so they will penalize both sites with lower ranking in the search engines results pages. In short, no one will find either site and traffic drops in both places.

Second, you're making his content work for you, especially if you have a higher page rank. Every time someone searches on "eighteenth century costuming", your site will come up before his. Everyone will go to your site. Page-exposures and ad-clicking goes up on your site. Now you're stealing money that would have rightfully gone to him for content that he wrote.

Even if neither site runs ads, you've still hijacked traffic that should have gone to his site. He probably has internal links leading to more content on his site that no one will see because they've read what they were interested in on your site where you put the content that you stole from him. Do you really think anyone will go through the link to his site after they've read the information that they wanted in its entirety on yours?

The right thing to do. Don't copy content in its entirety. Quote no more than one or two sentences, and then link back to the original site. If you don't want to lose visitors off your site, then have a new window open with that link.

What to do if it happens to you. I have detailed instructions on my Obsidianbookshelf.com website. I've had content theft happen to me four times. In all four cases, I contacted the website owner first with an informal request that he or she take down my content immediately. I got the impression that the first two didn't know they were doing anything wrong, and I'd inadvertently given them a big scare. The third sent me a snotty reply but she did comply, and that's all I wanted. The fourth ignored me so I contacted his Internet Service Provider who ripped the content down within three hours of my email. That's all I wanted – end of story.

Val Kovalin at Obsidianbookshelf.com
Val Kovalin reviews m/m fiction and writes about the genre

Updates

Emily Veinglory: — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:46:00 -0700

1) Ellora's Cave
2) Amber Quill Press
3) Loose Id
4) Samhain
5) Liquid Silver Books
6) Cobblestone Press
7) Torquere
8) Changeling
9) Wild Rose Press
10) Freya's Bower

Special Project Calls

Emily Veinglory: — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 02:24:00 -0700

Publisher/editors who would like their project to be listed here should send their special project calls to veinglory[at]gmail.com. Special projects are defined as themed calls for submissions with a specific deadline. Announcements may be edited for length--for full details please refer to the publishers website or email the editor.

Deadline: Jul 15, 09

Loose Id: Summer Getaways
Since the only vacation some people can afford this summer will happen between the pages of a book, we're looking to publish some fantastic summer getaway stories before Labor Day. These can be anything, any subgenre, but we're especially looking for solid and sexy contemporaries that focus on the escape. But whether that escape is winning the lottery or meeting the boy next door, that's up to you. To be considered for this promotion, submit completed stories of 20,000+ words, before July 15, but earlier submissions are welcome as we'd like to stagger them throughout the summer.

Deadline: Jul 31, 09

Ellora's Cave: Dance of Desire
Story length 10K – 30K words. Erotic, the hotter the better. The story must incorporate the theme in a significant manner. Dance of Desire – releases February 2010; subs deadline 7/31/09. Theme: Dance (anything from polka to pole)

Deadline: Aug 1, 09

Slash Books Call For Submissions - "In Uniform"
(Almost) nothing is sexier than a person in uniform! Slash Books is looking for short stories (500 - 20K words) that explore the gay or lesbian relationships of people in uniform - any uniform. Firefighters, police, french maids... all of these are valuable fodder for our target authors. We want to learn all about the many ways people in uniform find love! Your story should focus on the relationship and its evolution. While sex is a part of a healthy relationship, we're looking for plot and characterization, not simple PWP. Intriguing characters and interesting situations are the ticket to success here. Be creative! All genres (humour, action, angst, etc) welcome. To request the extended guidelines, or to pitch a story, please contact 'submissions AT slashbooks.ca'.
Deadline for pitches: August 1 2009
Deadline for submissions: September 15 2009
Estimated publication date: October 15 2009.

Deadline: Aug 30, 09

Call for Submissions: Pirate Stories!
Liquid Silver Books is looking for Pirate stories that cater to the relationship between characters with desire, chemistry, passion and an adventurous well-written story. This series is open to any genre and must feature a Pirate scenario. Each story will be published with a Liquid and/or Molten heat level and will be scheduled to release in 2010 as single titles (not anthologies or duets).Submission requirements:
* Full manuscript in Ariel, 12pt saved as RTF.
* Length: 30k – 80K
* Genre: All genres, but must feature a Pirate scenario.

Deadline: Aug 31, 09

Samhain: A new, yet-to-be titled spring 2010 space opera anthology.
I'm looking for fast-paced, action-adventure space opera romances. Don't know what space opera is? Think Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica or my personal favorite, Firefly/Serenity. For more information on space opera, you can check out the entry on wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Opera. I'm open to M/F, M/M, or multiples thereof, and any sexual heat level. The only rule is the story should be set mainly or entirely in space and the romance must end happily ever after or happy for now. The anthology will include novellas from 25,000 to 30,000 words in length and will be released individually as ebooks in April 2010. Questions can be addressed to Sasha Knight sasha[at]samhainpublishing.com

Deadline: Sept 1, 09

Logical-Lust: The Cougar Book--editor: Jolie du Pre
What is a Cougar? She's a woman 40 or over who dates younger men. She's intelligent, confident, attractive, enjoys sex, and knows what she wants. (Think Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.) The Cougar Book is a new and exciting anthology that celebrates Cougar women and their relationships. Whether she is looking for a younger man, or a bunch of younger men, I want to read your hot, sexy, well written stories on Cougar relationships. I am looking for original, unpublished erotic stories from 3,000 to 5,000 words. The sex can be Vanilla to BDSM. The Cougar women in The Cougar Book must be NO YOUNGER than 40. The men in The Cougar Book must be NO OLDER than 30.

Bulletin: Black Lace

Emily Veinglory: — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:40:00 -0700

The word on the street is that Black Lace will not be publishing any further books for the foreseeable future.

See also:
No New Titles for Black Lace and Nexus
Erotica on hold for Black Lace and Nexus at Virgin

I C Reception

Emily Veinglory: — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:07:00 -0700

IC Romance is, IMHO, made of WTF. They want ghost writers to produce entire romance books as work for hire for an undisclosed "nominal" fee. It is implied that these are contracted by publishers. I cannot see how this arrangement would be to the benefit if any writer or any respectable publisher.

I suppose if the fee is truly nominal the work could be sold to a small or vanity press and the royalties would eventually net ICR a profit? But basically I don't get it. If anyone knows more, please tell? Failing that, a saying involving a bargepole comes to mind.

See`also:
Absolute Write thread

GUEST POST: 5 (Okay, Six) Keys to Happiness for E-Published Authors--Holly Schmidt

Emily Veinglory: — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:00:00 -0700

Angela Cameron suggested an interesting post would be about “author etiquette.” While it’s not specifically different for e-published authors than it is for print-published ones, with the explosion of e-books there are more people than ever facing first-time authorship. Hmm, I thought, that could be interesting…

With all the social media swirl over snarkfests like #queryfail, I thought it was time to present authors with some (I hope) actionable advice that actually could help their publishing careers. So, this post addresses what I believe to be the characteristics that separate the wheat from the chaff—after the manuscript is sold.

You’ve signed your contract. You’re giddy. You’re a genius! Yes, you are. But the work is just beginning now that you’ve sold your manuscript, and there are a few key characteristics that happy, successful authors all share. In my many years of acquiring, editing, and selling books, here is the wisdom I’ve distilled about authors with happy, long-term careers vs. the unhappy, disappointed ones:

1) EXPECTATIONS. I’ve always felt that part of my job is to manage an author’s expectations while encouraging enthusiasm and excitement. Did you write a good book? Hell, yes. Is it the next Lovely Bones? Probably not. Not because it doesn’t deserve to be, of course, but because lightning only strikes maybe once or twice a publishing season, and it already struck Stephenie Meyer three times this season. Being a working writer is just that: WORK. Hard work, relentless work, thankless work, much of the time. Live for the small moments of glory: when a friend tells you she saw your book on Amazon. When you get a great review. When you get your first fan mail. Work hard enough, and they become more frequent. If you’ve been previously published in print, recognize that the e-book world is very different in terms of what it expects of its authors in the way of promotion, but it can also be much more creative and flexible.

2) GRATITUDE. Be grateful you have talent, that someone recognized it, and that you get to fulfill a dream. Most people don’t get that chance. At Ravenous, we reject 90% of our submissions. And we’ve been in business seven months. So what does that tell you about how lucky you are to have a publishing contract? E-publishing has opened up a lot of opportunity for new writers, and though you might have preferred to sell your first book to Random House (like our author Jamaica Layne did, before she started writing for Ravenous), it’s still a major achievement to have a publisher accept your manuscript. Be grateful to have the opportunity, despite the fact that it is much, much less glamorous than you’ve been led to believe, for much less money, and probably a lot more work.

3) MANNERS. Haven’t heard from your editor in a few days? Send her a polite note or leave a polite voicemail. Unhappy with your publicist? Again, send a polite note or a polite voicemail. Got a bad review? Ignore it: publishing wisdom holds that most reviews (good and bad) say far more about the reviewer than they do about the book. Treat assistants and interns with the highest respect and consideration; someday, they will be your editors. Never scream. Never accuse. And never, ever, air your dirty laundry in a public forum. Professionalism is the key to successful authorship, as it is to most other serious endeavors.

4) PERSISTENCE. Just because you have to be polite doesn’t mean you have to be a doormat. Be a squeaky wheel. Follow up on your submissions. Follow up on your media requests, your review copies, your trade show giveaways, and your press releases. If you’re persistent and lovely instead of angry and demanding, your publisher will welcome your calls and emails, and will be more likely to move your requests to the top of the pile.

5) PERSPECTIVE. Understand that nothing lasts forever. Not good things, not bad things. I had an author once whose first book sold half a million copies. She bought a new house, quit her job, and relaxed into a life of leisure. Six months later, the trend she was riding collapsed, and I’m not sure she ever saw another royalty check. I had another author who struggled with her first two books, which were not flops exactly, but didn’t pay the rent, either. She stuck with it, and her third book sold 100,000 copies and was translated into a dozen foreign languages. Everything is cyclical. Fifteen years ago, gardening books were hot. Six or seven years ago, gardening was pronounced dead by the book trade, and craft books were hot. Today, gardening books are up 40% and craft books are tanking. The e-book world will also have its cycles as it matures. There is an element of serendipity to this business we chose, and we must have the fortitude to ride the waves without succumbing to either hubris or crises of self-doubt.

6) MORE PERSPECTIVE. It’s your baby. It’s your life’s work. It’s been your dream since you were seven, it’s who you were meant to be. I understand. But if it doesn’t work, you are still who you are, your family, friends and dog (and maybe your editor, if you’ve followed rules #2 and #3) still love you, and that’s what really matters. This is a fickle, cold-hearted business for all its surface collegiality, and it won’t keep you warm at night. Be proud you took a risk many aren’t brave enough to take, and you learned from it.

And if you’re wildly successful, always remember point #5: it could have gone the other way. Humility is in order. So blurb everyone who asks, give a funny, self-deprecating keynote speech at the next national writers’ conference, and count your blessings.

Holly Schmidt is the president of Literary Partners Group, Inc. which ownsand operates Ravenous Romance at www.ravenousromance.com. She is also thepresident of nonfiction book packaging company Hollan Publishing, Inc. Hollyhas 15 years of experience in trade book publishing and is the mother of two young sons, who like to read almost as much as their mom does.

Some Epub Updates

Emily Veinglory: — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:58:00 -0700

Rogue Phoenix Press charges fees for POD publishing: "In this case, the author will agree to purchase from pawprintspod.com, 20 copies of the book (at wholesale price) plus shipping costs ... The author agrees to pay the pawprintspod.com fee and the formatting fee ...."

Dark Castle Lords seem to be trying to rebrand themselves as "DCL Publications".

Ebook earning figures: a few of the specific reports look a little, um, unlikely. But the overall patterns fit well with the EREC data.

The "spellcheck me please" award of the week (yes, I know, pot:kettle) goes to the Affaire de Coeur newsletter: "Please subsmit a sample review of any book ... If you would like to put xomelthing in our newsletter, let us know".

Writing and day jobs (I relate).

Loose Id in the Washington Post: The Wizardess of Id: Romance and Sex and Werewolves, Oh My!

New Market: Devine Destinies

Emily Veinglory: — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:21:00 -0700

Canada-based all-genre imprint seeking romance:

"We accept submissions in all the sub-genres, including romance, as long as it isn't formula and preferably contains paranormal elements, and any and all combinations thereof." [Website]

"Devine Destinies is the mainstream imprint of eXtasy Books, a publishing company specializing in 'out of the box' reading." [Myspace]

New Market: Quartet

Emily Veinglory: — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:54:00 -0700

New romance epublisher.

"Quartet Press announces it is open for submissions. Quartet was founded on shared goal of the principles to create a high-quality, community-centric, and reader- and author-friendly digital publishing house. First titles will be available in Fall 2009."

website

Random Kitteh--possibly a metaphor for picking your epublisher by how pretty their website is.

Emily Veinglory: — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:02:00 -0700

Links:

Epublishing
* Digital Publishers Riding E-book Wave

New Plagiarism Scandal
* Chris Anderson’s Free Contains Apparent Plagiarism
* Chris Anderson, Plagiarist?

Romance
* For its inaugural issue (Winter 2010), the Journal of Popular Romance Studies is now considering papers on representations of romantic love in popular media, now or in the past, from anywhere in the world.

EREC Guest Posts (I love them)

Emily Veinglory: — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:05:00 -0700

I would love to receive guest post of any length or angle on the following topics. Please send any guest posts to veinglory at gmail.com along with your byline or short bio and link to be included at the bottom of the guest post. I will also be happy to post a 125 pixel square ad on the blog sidebar for one month (I can resize the picture for you). I am more than happy to run more than one guest post on a topic if you have a different perspective to share.

Suggested topics:
* Things to consider in deciding whether to join RWA (EPIC, Writers Guild etc).
* Niche versus fetish (re: inter-racial, M/M or any other relevant sub-genre).
* How are ebook editors paid; how should ebook editors be paid?
* Being a 'good writer': a.k.a. What can writers to do help their editor/publisher.
* When good epublishers go bad--warning signs writers should be aware of.
* Conventions worth going to (a specific example, or an overview).
* Readers, please suggest your own topics.

I am open to all lengths and formats but if you are the type of writer that prefers guidelines here are some suggestions:
* Length of around 500 words, can be broken into several parts if you like to write longer.
* Include the post in the email and attach any pictures; include the url of any links. If formatting is important please include it as html if possible.
* Please do be opinionated, but focus this opinion on facts or practices, or base it in specific personal experiences whenever possible--or state it as a personal opinion not a universal fact (i.e. try to avoid having the blog sues for defamation).
* Write with an audience of authors in mind (c.f. readers, the general public).
* You bio can be between one line and 100 words with up to two pictures and up to three links. (Or anything that isn't totally excessive so there is more bio than their is guest post).

How to submit:
You can just send the guest post, if it falls under these topics I am almost certain to run it. If I feel proofreading corrections are needed I will ask for you approval before posting--but honestly if you have seen what I post you know I am not too picky on this basis. If you prefer to query first or get some general conversation/feedback before sending the post that is also fine.

Rights details for those who appreciate them:
EREC asks for non-exclusive perpetual digital rights unless otherwise specified. That means I post the guest material but you can also use the same material in any other way you like and I will leave the post up indefinitely unless you ask me to take it down (which you can do at any time).

New Market: sweet romance audio, Always Keepers Press

Emily Veinglory: — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:30:00 -0700

"I am looking for 2 very different types of proposals.

1. I need short stories, of 5,000 words or less. These are freebie stories for our website. You will receive compensation, and if you wish, after the story has been on the site for one month, you can sign on to keep the story—for sale—on the site.

2. I am looking for cozy mysteries and sweet or inspirational romances. If you can’t read it aloud in church, I’m not interested. Sweet refers only to the language and sexual content. Other than that it can be a comedy or drama or anything in between. Word count is not an issue."

website
Twitter

The nature of romance

Emily Veinglory: — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:53:00 -0700

I recently started using a new definition of "romance' (as in, genre romance). A few people seem to think it is a pretty good definition so I had better credit who I stole it from.

Jade Lee, at the Historical Novel Society convention said, to the best of my memory (I don't promise this is word-for-word): "I adore a love story and how love makes them better people ... you show how his love makes her better and the reverse."

Typically romance's key features are seen as a focus on a love story, and a 'happily ever after'. But I think this is just as importance, romance stories are about how love can help us to become better people.

RWA vs. Epublishing (round 4): aka I [heart] Angela James

Emily Veinglory: — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:11:00 -0700

More to come, but I am at work right now.....

Link: A Call To Action

See also:
Angela James On RWA & ePublishing

Mixed Links and Pictures

Emily Veinglory: — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:27:00 -0700

* Dear Ellora’s Cave, Where is my royalty check?
* Safe sex [picture, possibly not work safe]
* REVIEW: The Claiming by Trinity Blacio [heated conversation at DearAuthor]
* Puppy Cam [live streaming video]
* Gay Merit Badges

See also:
Ellora’s Cave: Warning Signs!

RWA versus Epublishing: Round 3 (ding!)

Emily Veinglory: — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:59:00 -0700

RWA President Pershing Responds

I particularly enjoyed:

"Here is the actual story: 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 ... RWA policy prohibits a non-Eligible publisher from offering a workshop."

Meaning, 'because we discriminate against the epublishing business model by not counted non-advance paying presses as "eligible" it is not discriminatory to prevent them from participating in the convention.' Ah, the logic, it is... conspicuous by its absence.

"This is upside-down logic. 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."

Meaning: discriminating against minorities is not only okay, it is admirable. And it also stops those pesky minorities from swamping the organisation and becoming a genuinely problematic majority (see also: attempting to define romance at straight-only and banning boobies from book covers--erotic m/m ebook writers aren't so much in the back of the bus as clinging to the fender and being dragged along the blacktop).

"About my June column: I wrote it in the spirit of offering information on how the board makes decisions, not ammunition in a war of words ... The board will be discussing all of this at the board table in July, by the way, and members are, as always, invited to drop in and observe the meeting."

Meaning: I talk, you listen. You do not talk. I know what is good for you. (a.k.a. the published author's burden).

"Lastly, there are PAN members who have been print-published recently or for years, who like their “advance-paying/lower royalty rate” choice, who look at the business model of “no advance/high royalty rate,” and have trouble understanding why anyone would gamble that way with a book that took so much time and effort."

Perhaps they should put more effort into developing that understanding. I made the average amount US authors earn ($10,000) last year, writing what I calculate to be an average of less than 100 publishable words per day. What is hard to understand about that?

"RWA issues a challenge to Ellora’s Cave and Samhain: Pay your authors a minimum $1000 advance against royalties ... RWA is not trying to stem the tide; it is advocating for fair treatment for its members."

As authors some of us have issued a challenge to the RWA, to accept that $1000 on the front end and $1000 dollars from royalties is the same $1000. This reply is frankly patronising not only to the author being addressed, but to these publishers and all authors who believe a dollar is a dollar. It assumes we are wrong and Pershing is unassailably and infallibly right and advance dollars are worth more than royalty dollars.

"Time alone will tell, and, in time, RWA will make any changes necessary to further the professional interests of its members."

Fair as defined by the executive, not the members or potential members. Fair only if you are completely certain that Mama Pershing knows best. But if the message is that authors not receiving a $1000+ advance are wrong, wrong, wrong, unethical and a little bit stupid--I can only suggest not spending those inferior dollars we are all earning on RWA membership.

Or as April Morelock commented: "Well Diane, I guess you told us where we fit in the the scheme of things at RWA."

See also:
Part 1
Survey

Ongoing Link-a-rama:

June 19
* What Is The Shelf Life Of A Large Mouth Diane Pershing? [Teddypig]
* RWA President Diane Pershing: Fuck ePubs And Your Business Model Thingy! [Teddypig]
* Pillars of Sand [Crista McHugh]
* Sigh [Lauren Dane]
* Did I mention I left RWA in Dec? [Melissa Lopez]
* Publishing, it’s all about math… [ecataromance]
* Should I stay or should I go? [Renae Johnson]
* RWA & The Case of the Lack of Vision [DearAuthor]

June 20

* Dead horse coming up: Diane Pershing on Epublishing and RWA [Mrs G]

* About epubs & RWA…where I stand. [Shiloh Walker]

* How Much Are You Worth? [Amie Stuart]

June 21

* Welcome, Romance Lovers! Romance Writers of America is on the hot-seat!
[Fran Lee/Examiner]

* RWA and the print vs e publisher question (sorta)

Edited to Add: Word is next up on ESPAN will be Angela James. Looking forward to it :)

Edited to Add: RWA Change yahoogroup

National Writers Union

Emily Veinglory: — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:44:00 -0700

Have any of you (who are based in the U.S.) joined the National Writing Union? Looking ever their actions I find a lot of causes I support including:

* Protesting Simon & Schusters rights grab in redefining "out of print".
* Opposing the requirement to register copyright to sue for statutory damages when copyright is infringed.
* Opposing the "orphaned works" bill (one of the few writers groups that did).
* Supporting single payer health insurance which would increase coverage of freelance writers.

They also offer grievance assistance, publisher warnings and contract advice as well as a lot of educational resources for members in good standing. The fees are in line with standard union dues at $120 if you earning up to $5000 from writing, and $195 if you earn up to $15,000.

I often hear writers on panels talk about investing proportion of your earnings in publicity and marketing, but what about union membership. I have been a member of my student unions, and unions at every job that had one--even a minimum wage cleaning job. But I have never joined a writers union, perhaps it is time I did?

bulletin: Twitter suspended

Emily Veinglory: — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:45:00 -0700

I went to Twitter today and received the message that my account had been suspended due to "strange activity". Huh. I'm looking into it.

Hmm. Now it is back. I'm confused.

RWA and Epublishing

Emily Veinglory: — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:39:00 -0700

RWA and epublishing, second verse, same as the first--but with big name NY authors. Will it make a difference? Somehow I doubt it. But it is at worth starting a link list; please let me know if there are others I should add. Apparently an RWA presidential response is pending.

* From The President [Diane Pershing/Romance Writers Report] June

* WTF Wednesday–RWA vs. Epublishers, Take One Millionty [Jackie Barbosa] 3 June

* A Small Press Education [Jody Wallace] 4 June

* Career Paths, There Are More Than One (Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb) [Lauren Dane] 5 June

* How Many Readers Have Bought an ePublished Book [DearAuthor] 10 June

* Maybe RWA isn't Right For Me [Kristin Painter] 11 June

* The Digital Age and RWA: A Call for Change [Deidre Knight/ESPAN blog] 15 June
* RWA, epublishing and money (bring your torch and pitchforks!) [Charlene Teglia] 15 June
* Why Can’t We All Just Get Along? [Zoe Winters] 15 June
* Deidre Knight On RWA & ePublishing [Teddypig] 15 June
* Ebook Publishing a Bad Career Choice? 15 June
* RWA and Digital Press [Mandy M Roth] 15 June
* Money Money Money Money [Lauren Dane] 15 June
* Deirdre Knight on RWA’s latest e-publishing position [Sela Carson] 15 June

* Heads up, y’all [Sela Carson] 16 June
* Calling for a change, Deidre Knight Speaks Out [M G Braden] 16 June
* My Hobby [K B Alan] 16 June
* The Old Guard [Crista Mchugh] 16 June

See also: Part 2

Cerridwen on ARe

Emily Veinglory: — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:23:00 -0700

Some of you may remember the presumably aborted attempts made by to set up Ellora's Cave as a distributor of books from other epublishers.

And Ellora's Cave has long been in/famous for doing things their own way, including not using external distributors.

Which makes it all the more interesting that sister-imprint Cerridwen books have quietly become available on All Romance Ebooks.

Pirate Watch: Mediafire

Emily Veinglory: — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:07:00 -0700

Mediafire provide no guidance about how to lodge a DCMA request. So I sent my form email to abuse@mediafire.com. I'll let you know how it goes.

Edited to add: a courteous response and the file removed within a few hours.

Pirate Watch: 4 Shared

Emily Veinglory: — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:18:00 -0700

Unlike Astatalk, 4 Shared makes it very easy to report copyright infringement. There is no series of statements to type out, or overly specific requirements. The is a pop-up window in their 'Contact Us' area with a check box and some simple fields to fill out. (The down side of which is that you have to fill out the form separately, in my case for 7 books). The only question that remains is whether they respond to them with any real alacrity.

Edited to add: after only about an hour they have already responded courteously and removed the first link. So I would agree with those of you who took the time to comment, these guys are a legit file-sharing site.

Update

Emily Veinglory: — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0700

I an just back from the Historical Novel Society convention, but left my notes on someone else's car--so more about that later. In short the highlights for me were chocolate chip cookies, Jade Lee (just in general), the author/editor/bookseller etc turn out, an almost complete absence of cliquishness (everyone was mondo friendly), and many informative sessions. If you have sent me data and not heard back please give me another week or so as I have a backlog and totally blew off this weekend having fun at the con. The prize book has gone out to an anonymous random;y selected contributor.

In the mean time, am I the only one who can't get the Ellora's Cave website to work? I am wondering if they are wandering into the smoke zone with several rumours of treating authors in a manner not exactly consistent with their contracts. In other unsubstantiated and reckless statements of personal opinion I would like to say: Holly Lisle's emailing list=TMI. Ravenous Romance=so where is this data showing ground breaking start up sales figures? Wild Rose Press=no data from this press in a while. Is there a reason for this? Does it relate to being bottom of the rankings when data is provided or has this changed? And why (oh why) are hardly any American historical fiction writers writing about American history and most of them write only about the civil war?

See also:
News of the S...L....O.......W from Ellora's Cave

NEWS: Mundania acquired Hard Shell

Emily Veinglory: — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:32:00 -0700

Those of you who have been around for a while will know that Hard Shell Word Factory was a pioneer of ebook publishing/retailing founded in the mid-90s. Hard Shell had gone decidedly quiet over the last few years and I was beginning to wonder if they would make a successful transition into the brave new work of epublishing that they had helped to create.

Now it seems that Mundania Press (parent company of Phaze) has acquired Hard Shell Word Factory. I will admit to personally having some mixed feelings about this. But this seems to be a period of industry consolidation. I hope that Hard Shell will remain as an imprint and continue the kind of business practice standards set by founder Teri Lea Chandler and long time owner Mary Z. Wolf. However one also hopes that their cover art might improve a little....

Chicago printers Row Book fest

Emily Veinglory: — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:07:00 -0700

While it was a pleasant enough day out and attendance was high, the Printers Row Book Fest mainly just a large used book sale. Relatively few publishers attended, and most of them were very small presses. While I was there (during the middle of the first day, Saturday) there was no apparent involvement of "big name" authors. I saw some poetry readings from children from the Chicago area (some of whom, dare I say, could be helped to enunciate a little more clearly), and a discussion lead by the author of a book about comics who had some interesting points to make.

I would suggest that some of the authors staffing booths need to strike a better balance between enthusiasm and rank desperation. Nobody wants an author to a) verbally assault them with a barrage of unwanted information while flinging bookmarks at their face, or b) or to lean back in there chair with glum and vaguely hostile detachment as if having given up any hope of selling the book. In contrast I would point out the guy at The Echelon Press table who opened conversations by asking what people liked to read, and steering them casually to books they might like. I just hope industry involvement in this event with rebound when the economy does.

Veinglory at Large

Emily Veinglory: — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 10:35:00 -0700

I am a seriously addicted blogger, specifically a Blogger blogger. A tour of my posts for the day would include:

1) Here, yay!
2) My personal blog where I am posting about my latest garage sale purchase....
3) Over at POD People, a blog about self-published books I am riffing on Google search words.
4) At the gay romance blog Slash and Burn I am writing about character sketches.
5) And at the Erotic Romance blog I am reviewing the anthology Dark Thirst.

Now, time to get some writing done!

Dreams & Desires: a collection of romance and erotic tales

Emily Veinglory: — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 05:27:00 -0800

My story 'Blood and Feathers' appears in a new anthology Dreams and Desires which will be released on February first. The anthology is already available for pre-order at Barnes and Noble and Borders.

To mark the release there will be a chat day at Gemma Halliday's chat room on Thursday, February 1 from 8-10 pm EST/5-7 pm PST for a fun-filled gab session and the chance to win one of many free copies of our various recent and upcoming releases!

The following authors will be there: Jenna Bayley-Burke, Faith Bicknell-Brown, Amanda Brice, Sela Carsen, Rachelle Chase, Gemma Halliday, Candace Havens, Zinnia Hope, Jackie Kessler, Susan Lyons, Richelle Mead, Debbie Mumford, Rhonda Stapleton, Bebe Thomas, Emily Veinglory, Sasha White, Lois Winston, Shaunna Wolf & Kit Wylde

All net proceeds from sales of DREAMS & DESIRES will donated to a battered women's shelter, so not only are you getting some great reads, but you're helping women and children who desperately need a brighter future.

p.s. my story is M/M but the other 18 are M/F, ranging from very sweet to extra spicy :)

Grave Heart (m/m)

Emily Veinglory: — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 07:21:00 -0800

The Collector 2" Grave Heart a new volume in the multi-author Collector Series.

Kieran specializes in business dealings of a delicate nature. The sort that require an intimate knowledge of target and goal. And he’s very, very good at his job....

Part of the new and exciting multi-author 'Collector Series', Grave Heart is a short novella with a hero he need to deal with his dark part in order open his heart to love. Dark gay romance with a magical twist, from Emily? Say it ain't so! LOL. I hope y'all enjoy it.

Are You an Erotic Romance Ebook writer?

Emily Veinglory: — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 03:22:00 -0800

...Do you wonder what the sales figures are for different erotic romance epublishers?

Then you might be willing to participate in my new project where writers anonymously tell me about their sales...

http://www.veinglory.com/2006/11/sales-figures.html

'The Highwayman' by Emily Veinglory

Emily Veinglory: — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 05:38:00 -0700

The Highwayman (e-novella, 2006)

Genre: Gay erotic romance
Length: e-novella
Publisher: Cobblestone Press

Reynard is the impoverished son of a cavalier, driven to highway robbery to support his sister, Emilia. But a puritan he robs proves to be his new neighbor--and Emilia returns to the house with her intended fiancé, who demands her promised dowry or the deeds to the family lands.

Finally a new sheriff turns up in town to put an end to the latest spate of robberies. Just when Reynard needs quick money all he can steal is the heart of an insolent roundhead who has a few secrets of his own!

OFFSITE LINKS: point of sale

'Journey's End' from Emily Veinglory

Emily Veinglory: — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 12:12:00 -0700

Journey's End (e-novella 2006)
Genre: gay erotica/romance
Length/Format: novella, e-book
Publisher: Torquere

Castel is an elf stranded in human lands, slowly dying from lack of magical energy. Mendry is a human assassin descended from a line of vampire 'Dragon Knights' who seek to bring an evil dragon back to life.

When Mendry's father steals a child he believes to be his grand-daughter, the seventh generation needed to carry out the resurrection ritual, Mendry and Castel come together to save an innocent life, facing evil mages and more. Together with the child's uncle and mother, they make an unlikely band of heroes, and find a whole new meaning to the word family. Set in the same world as Emily Veinglory's first Torquere novel, Broken Sword!

New on Fictionwise

Emily Veinglory: — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:16:00 -0700

TITLE: Wolfkin by Emily Veinglory
PRICE: $3.50
CATEGORY: Erotica
LENGTH: 30539 words; Reading time: 87-122 minutes
EPUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. Published: 2008
DESCRIPTION: The man Arun loves is kin to the wolf; but Arun is kin to darkness itself....
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b90527/Wolfkin/Emily-Veinglory/??r=7a6

Update

Emily Veinglory: — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:28:00 -0700

I got 1000 words done on Lover of Ghosts today and also sent of a short story collection to Aspen Mountain Press. If they like it I hope to release several more themed collections over the next few years.

"Best of the Rest"

Emily Veinglory: — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:50:00 -0700

The Lost Souls of Cats made the top ten in the Cat Magazine writing contest.

Historical Novel Society Conference

Emily Veinglory: — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:51:00 -0700

I will be at the HNScon this weekend. If you are there, let me know. Father of Dragons and King of Dragons, King of Men will be available at the sale price of $5 each--you could even get them signed :)

Even my fortune cookie won't cut me any slack....

Emily Veinglory: — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:39:00 -0700

New Review: Shifting Perspectives 2

Emily Veinglory: — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:43:00 -0700

"The Swan Prince” by Emily Veinglory ... a fast paced, action packed story that leaves you looking for more."

[full review by Cassie at 'Bitten by Books' here]

LOG update

Emily Veinglory: — Sun, 24 May 2009 11:44:00 -0700

The most recently written line for Lover of Ghosts:

Just when I thought my life could not possible get any stranger.

Lover of Ghosts

Emily Veinglory: — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:13:00 -0700

The good news is that Lover of Ghosts is half-finished. The bad news is that it is already meant to be finished by now.

Interest Examiner.com Posts

Emily Veinglory: — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:27:00 -0700

Hits Versus Content At Examiner.com, a.k.a The Best Email Ever

Competition for the Significant Puppy

Emily Veinglory: — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:29:00 -0700

The only inhabitant so far is a large, brown snail.

Chicago Botanical Garden

Emily Veinglory: — Sat, 02 May 2009 11:19:00 -0700

Fan Fiction

Emily Veinglory: — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:13:00 -0700

It seems my old fan fiction pages have some hacked code. I am cleaning them up and will post fresh links here. Bear in mind that this is very old writing that predates my published work. So I make no promises as to the quality.

Sherlock Holmes: Practice to Deceive
Batman: Comrade in Arms
Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Baker Street
Sherlock Holmes: A Scarlet Man

Dragon Speech :)

Emily Veinglory: — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:58:00 -0700

Given my reduced writing time I have decided to try out a new product. Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a voice transcription program and I am wondering if this might be a way to speed up first draft writing--especially as my typing skills are not all that good. Even after writing quite a few books I am still a two-finger typist. I look forward to being able to give it a go....

drowning hand

Emily Veinglory: — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:48:00 -0700

drowning hand
Originally uploaded by veingloria

I am now on Flickr! Just what I needed--another way to lose time online....

Entrecard Jumps the Shark

Emily Veinglory: — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:30:00 -0700

Entrecard was a free advertisement swapping system for blogs. A recent attempt to monetise the system caused many glitches and many complaints. The response? To ban any such discussion from the forums and block most users from accessing the forums. The end, I suspect, is near. And shutting off the ability to discuss it on site will have predictable results....

See also:
Entrecard Bans Most Members From Forums-So Much For “Transparency.”
Entrecard Founder Caught Faking Forum Posts
New Entrecard Forum Structure Change
Entrecard is dying. Only paying elite survives?
Leaving Entrecard On A Jet...
Entrecard Paid Advertising - What's the Problem Now?

Hmmm

Emily Veinglory: — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:14:00 -0700

I see the winner of the Pulitzer prize for fiction is a 300-page short story collection-slash- novel : Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I am always tempted by the Pulitzer winner. But I hesitate to sign up for this book which although no doubt excellently written seem to tred the the well travelled literary ground of sad people in small town, probably travelling through cruelty and ennui to end with a slightly ambiguous tragedy.

That and it is $14, which is a lot to pay for a paperback.

Doodle of the day

Emily Veinglory: — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:55:00 -0700

Old King of Dragons sketch

Emily Veinglory: — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:32:00 -0700

I will be endeavoring to improve this blog during…

Emily Veinglory: — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:40:00 -0700

I will be endeavoring to improve this blog during April. For reference purposes my starting values are...

traffic: averaging 12 uniques per day :(
Google page rank: 3
Technorati Authority: 7, rank: 736,082
Alexa ranking: 2,023,760, inbound links: 106
WC3 compliance: 50 Errors, 45 warnings
Known problems: bad ghost site at "blog" (no .html), general ugliness

I am sitting in a hotel room that is literally…

Emily Veinglory: — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:42:00 -0700

I am sitting in a hotel room that is literally bigger than my apartment. I brought my manuscript to work on but a combinations of airport fugue and free bubble bath is making this rather unlikely.....

I am not sure if I will do much with it, but as
Emily Veinglory: — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:51:00 -0700
I am not sure if I will do much with it, but as I have a page on FiledBy.com I have claimed it.

Lover of Ghosts update

Emily Veinglory: — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:07:00 -0700

I am up to 23,000 words which is still rather a lot behind schedule. But I am making progress....

I went to the Chicago Flower Show...

Emily Veinglory: — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 09:35:00 -0700

...and all I bought you is these pictures.

Some draft tarot cards based on my vintage photo collection....

Emily Veinglory: — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 09:42:00 -0800

New Review: Shifting Perspectives #2

Emily Veinglory: — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:14:00 -0800

"Shifting Perspectives 2 brings us a few new shifter types and three stories to whet our appetites for more. While I enjoyed all three, I would have to say that Ms. Glass has peak my interest about a certain little helper in Steal the Sky. I’m not sure if there will be more to come, but I’ll definitely be the first to read the next installment if she decides to have a bit of mercy and tell us more." [read more]

byemilyveinglory

Links of Interest

REVIEWS: The Scientific Worldview: beyond Newton and Einstein by Glenn Borchardt

GUEST POST: Blog Content Theft

Updates

Special Project Calls

Bulletin: Black Lace

I C Reception

GUEST POST: 5 (Okay, Six) Keys to Happiness for E-Published Authors--Holly Schmidt

Some Epub Updates

New Market: Devine Destinies

New Market: Quartet

Random Kitteh--possibly a metaphor for picking your epublisher by how pretty their website is.

EREC Guest Posts (I love them)

New Market: sweet romance audio, Always Keepers Press

The nature of romance

RWA vs. Epublishing (round 4): aka I [heart] Angela James

Mixed Links and Pictures

RWA versus Epublishing: Round 3 (ding!)

National Writers Union

bulletin: Twitter suspended

RWA and Epublishing

Cerridwen on ARe

Pirate Watch: Mediafire

Pirate Watch: 4 Shared

Update

NEWS: Mundania acquired Hard Shell

Chicago printers Row Book fest

Veinglory at Large

Dreams & Desires: a collection of romance and erotic tales

Grave Heart (m/m)

Are You an Erotic Romance Ebook writer?

'The Highwayman' by Emily Veinglory

'Journey's End' from Emily Veinglory

New on Fictionwise

Update

"Best of the Rest"

Historical Novel Society Conference

Even my fortune cookie won't cut me any slack....

New Review: Shifting Perspectives 2

LOG update

Lover of Ghosts

Interest Examiner.com Posts

Competition for the Significant Puppy

Chicago Botanical Garden

Fan Fiction

Dragon Speech :)

drowning hand

Entrecard Jumps the Shark

Hmmm

Doodle of the day

Old King of Dragons sketch

I will be endeavoring to improve this blog during…

I am sitting in a hotel room that is literally…

I am not sure if I will do much with it, but as Emily Veinglory: — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:51:00 -0700 I am not sure if I will do much with it, but as I have a page on FiledBy.com I have claimed it.

Lover of Ghosts update

I went to the Chicago Flower Show...

Some draft tarot cards based on my vintage photo collection....

New Review: Shifting Perspectives #2

I am not sure if I will do much with it, but as
Emily Veinglory: — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:51:00 -0700
I am not sure if I will do much with it, but as I have a page on FiledBy.com I have claimed it.