Taking Chances
Today’s guest blogger is Tina Burns, publisher, Liquid Silver Books. Thanks for joining us, Tina!
When ESPAN first approached me to reply to the Pershing/Knight RWA discussion I was excited, I had good stuff to say on the subject. A week later, the stuff has been said. Angela, Raelene, and Treva hit their hammers well on the proverbial nails. Author upon author posted their well thought out and emotional opinions. What more could I have to say?
I researched the parallelism of what we’re going through now as an industry (print and digital) to the music or gaming industry, neither of which I have a good depth of knowledge to sound like I know what I’m taking about. I could rehash topics the other ladies brought up. Hours later, still at an impasse, I remembered that I’d already responded in a single comment, so I went to re-read what I’d written. And found my topic.
My quote: RWA does nothing for me as a publisher. It’s an AUTHOR organization.
The more I thought about this statement I made (yes, in the heat of a personal/semi-professional moment), the more I began to realize that I was wrong (strange I know, but it does happen). RWA does affect me as a publisher, because it affects my authors. But let’s broaden this out; it’s not just about LSB.
- Authors are limited or banned in entering RWA sanctioned contests because they are epublished.
- Authors are limited in the status recognitions they can receive from RWA because they’re epublished.
- Authors are limited or banned from contributing to RWA functions because they’re epublished.
- RWA authors join epublishers with unethical business practices because of lack of available education on epublishing.
- Epublishers are limited or banned from contributing/participating to RWA functions, circling back to lack of education on epublishing industry.
If there’s all these “can’ts” and “NOs” from RWA in regards to epublishing, why would an RWA author want to contract with an epublisher? Why would an author want to write to her (or his, no bias here) best ability and strive for a top seller at an epublisher that they can’t enter a contest they’ve dreamed of entering since they put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard)? There are many more “why’s” to this equation but I want to bring it closer to home for me again.
CONFESSION TIME:
Seven years ago, I wouldn’t even touch a book with romance in it, or on it with a ten foot pole. (…and a collective gasp was heard through the crowd) As a reader, I was “better” than that. Yet in looking back at my reading habits at the time, I always felt there was something missing from them. The sci-fi books would have been better but I couldn’t put my finger on why. The thriller just didn’t cut the mustard. The satires had no satisfaction. Thank the heavens I decided to take a chance on a book** that knocked my arrogant opinion upside the head; otherwise I’d still be that stodgy ol’ reader sneering at the “bodiced heroines”. That chance led to another romance book, to another romance author, to a new way of reading books (on my computer), to a job as a proofreader, to writing four romance books, to eventually becoming the Publisher of one of the top epublishers in the market today. All that happened to lil’ ol’ me from taking that one small step; how much of an impact can we have on our future as a whole?
That’s what this should be about: taking chances, education, rallying the troops to help all involved, from aspiring authors, epubbed authors, print authors, RWA board members to work together to bring this industry, the only thriving book industry, into the future.
I want my authors to be happy with their choice of Liquid Silver Books as a publisher. I want all authors to be happy with their choice to epublish. It shouldn’t be something they have to hide; epublishing shouldn’t be anyone’s skeleton in a closet. Write what you love, write for who you want, write for you. Educate yourself, your fellow RWA members. Work and strive for equality for your writing.
Tina Burns
Publisher
Liquid Silver Books
**Never Too Much by Lori Foster
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