Should E-Publishers Pay Advances To Their Authors In Order To Be Considered Viable?

Oh look, RWA has redefined ‘vanity publishing’. I guess they must have finally found a lawyer with a higher IQ than a tadpole. *g* Just kidding of course. *g*

*Ahem* I digress…

As a lowly reader, it makes perfect sense to me. Seriously.

I think E-pubs should pay advances, because if they did, they’d be less likely to accept any old drivel.

Don’t faint, but this part of the RWA statement got a big old Yay! from me:

Though we know some RWA members disagree, when determining whether a publisher is a Vanity Publisher, RWA believes it is important to look at distribution of books.


When a publisher does not pay an advance and does not become involved with marketing and distribution, it is, in reality, acting as nothing more than a consignment dealer for the book. Providing this kind of service requires little or nothing of the publisher, and the responsibility to market the product and drive traffic to single distribution point falls upon the author.


There is nothing two-sided about this kind of arrangement, no give and take where both sides involved incur risk and both stand to gain. In this situation the author incurs all of the financial risk in attempting to market a product.

On an earlier blog post, Angie opined that if Samhain did start paying advances, they wouldn’t be able to take the risks they do now, in terms of the wide variety of books and genres that they currently accept. I’m not so sure that’s altogether a bad thing.

I think Samhain are pretty savvy when it comes to signing authors, but I know that there are plenty of e-pubs out there who seem to take any old crap (I think a lot of us know who they are). I think this happens because some of these publishers don’t have the same level of investment or risk factor, that an advance-paying publisher does. Look at Triskelion and Venus Press, as prime examples. Those buggers totally sodded off, and left their authors high and dry as a nun’s c*nt.

As per usual, I’ll completely ignore the bigger picture, e.g., what it means to publishers like EC and Samhain, and concentrate on the only bit that interests me. *g*

So, waddaya think, should e-pubs pay advances or not?

And actually, do you truly give a crap either way?

It's That Time Of Year Again Folks...

Not that I give rats arse about the fact that RWA Have basically told erotic romance publishers to fuck off, but I was wondering about the real reasons behind the decision.

I’m thinking that Reason Number One was the whole Gail Northman/Triskelion thing. Let’s face it, Northman might as well have taken a dump whilst the whole of Romanceland looked on. Not pretty. Triskelion going bankrupt and shitting on their authors from a great height, probably didn’t help the cause either.

Reason Number Two, Venus Press basically shut down and didn’t bother telling anybody. The way I heard it, the owner stopped taking authors calls, answering e-mails etc. Bad, bad, bad.

And Reason Number Three, the whole Elloras Cave/Jaid Black assfuckery. You can’t tell me these people don’t read blogs, and cast their judgemental nets over Romanceland.

Then again, it might have simply been because the RWA hate the stink of erotic romance like Victoria Beckham hates simple carbohydrates. And then there’s all that anal sex, and the naughty men giving each other blowjobs. Come on, surely that aint romance Hilda!

I’m thinking, that they were thinking, that Barbara Cartland would surely be rolling over in her grave if she knew that men were rimming other men in the name of romance. *g*

Who’s betting that in a few days when the e-pubs start going crazy, and burning things, and pulling down their pants to pull moonies, that The RWA, will send out a press release trying desperately to back-track?

I love how RWA Fuckwittery happens every year without fail, oh happy days.

OK, that’s the extent of my commentary on this. Like I said, personally, I don’t really give a flying crap either way.

And by the way America, what’s with all the David Beckham over-hype? Do you guys even know what position he plays? Sheesh.