Juno Books

Okay, so I’ve lost more than eight hours of work today — which also puts me a day more behind schedule. I mean, do I WANT to work 12 hours on Sunday? No. But I do and it is pretty much all for naught because (this is no surprise, I’m sure) Microsoft SUCKS. The only piece of MS crap on my shiny Apple machine is Office. I have to use Word. Admittedly, it is fairly reliable. But when it DOES get buggy, it does so in a spectacular way. Thus I lose eight hours of work.

I shan’t cry in my beer. I don’t like beer to start with. And, beyond this one whine, I shall say no more.

It’s just that SOMETIMES you have to scream.

I’m having some trouble with email, If you have sent anything from Midnight July 19 till this morning (Tuesday, July 24), it is lost.

– is available online now: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6460120.html. It is by Melissa Mia Hall and there’s a link there to an interview she did with our Carole Nelson Douglas (and others) a few years ago, too. The picture I posted is with it in the print version, I think.

Gosh. I’m a real editor. I get paid (not enough, as I always remind them) and I’m in “Publishers Weekly” in a “Q&A”!

Why don’t you folks start your own writers organization?

I’d never suggest this to another group of writers. In fact, one such group that was once near and dear to my heart should (IMHO) be disbanded. (Although it never will be.)

But here’s the logic: There are a sizeable number of you. Writers who write…well, what do we call it? Romantic fantasy for now…you are published by large presses and small. Maybe you write erotica, or gay romance, or urban fantasy, or romance without an HEA, or YA romance or…hey, define yourselves, you know who you are.

There’s nothing out there that really recognizes your work or promotes it or provides the sort of networking that really helps.

Some of you are the sort of veteran authors who could really provide some guidance for newbies. Some of you are riding the cusp of emerging genres or creating new ones or writing stories that cross so many genres it is hard to call it by a known name. Some of you just want to write and/or become published writers.

I’ve know some of you for years and in the last year I’ve met a lot of you. You may already be in a genre writers organization of some sort. It may suit you just fine and you should stay in it. But maybe another organization might be beneficial, too. Maybe you are a member of SFWA, but know your romantic fantasy — as good as it may be — will never be considered fro a Nebula, even if you’ve won one for your other writing. Maybe you are in RWA, but you write erotica. Or maybe, for all the benefits you are receiving from some organization, you still feel you are the odd duck in their pond.

RISE UP! Find your sisters and brethern and start your own organization. All it takes are enough people willing to work their butts off to make it happen. They need to have the brains to try to get along and set some goals and understand that compromises need to be made sometimes. Once the ideas of what you want this group to be/do are established, writing by-laws and rules and thet stuff is easy.

And I am the president of the board of a non-profit corporation (THe Mirabundus Project, Inc. — want the charter # and EIN?) set up specifically to recognize works of merit and encourage public interest in “fantasy”. That’s a broad-enough umbrella to shelter your infant org. (Okay, slight hassle here of convincing the other board members to say this is okay, but since it is no work for them, hey, they may be amenable.)

Start raising your virtual hands if you are interested in discussing this. If 24 sincere people will say, “Yeah! I’ll talk about that! Yeah, that’s a cool idea…” I’ll set you up a forum online to start discussing what you feel you want it to be.

Just post here or email me: editor@juno-books.com — put VOLUNTEER as the subject.

I haven’t time to read a lot of blogs right now. What few I’ve seen are whining about excluding e-pubs and small presses. I am sure that was the intent here…

But none of this matters.

If the rule truly says, with no further definition, that the publisher must pay all authors participating in an anthology an advance of at least $500 per story…then there is no way that most major publishers will qualify.

Let me make it simple–

Picking a Rita winner at random: Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie
(St. Martins, $22.95) ISBN 0-312-30346-7

St Martins publishes YEAR’S BEST FANTASY & HORROR.

It does not pay $500 a story.

St Martins publishes YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION

It does not pay $500 a story.

St Martins publishes other anthologies — probably some of original fiction — that do not pay $500 a story. The also publish anthologies of plays and poetry.

St Martins also publishes anthologies that one might term “romance” with a few novellas. Maybe they pay more than $500.

They are all anthologies. By any definition. It is one publisher. The publisher does not pay $500 for every story in every anthology.

St Martins does not, therefore, qualify. Jennifer Crusie’s novels published by St Martin can no longer win RITAs.

Got that?

The rule as (so far as I know) as publicly stated does NOT say “anthologies of original romance novellas” or “anthologies purchasing the exclusive rights to an orginal story for three years” or anything else. It says “anthologies.” It says “publisher.” It says “pay all authors.”

* * *

7/15/07: As the discussion below in the comments has pointed out, the wording involved probably doesn’t involve the contests. But the point still stands: Major publishers do not publish romance only. So, when you rule mentions something as applying to a publisher, it applies to everything published, not just romance. You can even state it as “romance anthologies” and get into problems.

What RWA *meant* to do was say, in simple terms: In those anthologies that are often seen in romance in which three to six authors write original, never-published novellas of 20,000 words or more and customarily involve the exclusive right to publish those novellas for more than a year, the publisher must pay all authors $500.

Personally I’d make that more formal and more definitional, but that is, I think, exactly what they *meant* to say in clear, simple words with relatively correct grammar.

Gather.com, a Boston-based social-networking Website for adults, announced today it is teaming up with Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster for a romance writing competition in which the winner will receive a “guaranteed publishing contract” with a $5000 advance from the publisher. The winning book will receive promotion at Borders and be sold at all Borders and Waldenbooks stores.
*Submission period: 08/1/07 - 08/22/07
Full romance manuscripts submitted to romancenovel@gatherinc.com.
*Round One: 08/27/07 – 09/18/07
Posting of chapter one at romancenovel.gather.com; community votes to select 25 semi-finalists
*Round Two: 09/24/07 – 10/08/07
Posting of second chapter; community votes to select five finalists
*Round Three: 10/11/07 – 10/30/07
Grand Prize Judging Panel votes to select a Grand Prize winner which will be announced 10/30/07

Members of Grand Prize Judging Panel:
- Lauren McKenna, Editor, Pocket Books
- Maggie Crawford, Editorial Director, Pocket Books
- Tom Gerace, Gather Founder & CEO
- Sue Grimshaw, Romance Buyer, Borders

http://www.romancenovel.gather.com/

Best New Romantic Fantasy Edited by Paula Guran. Juno (www.juno-books.com), $13.95 paper (304p) ISBN 978-0-8095-5784-4
By turns deliriously romantic and richly melancholic, Guran’s second anthology (after Best New Paranormal Romance) reprints 15 stories originally published in 2006 that explore the phantasmagoria of fantastic romance. Guran’s shift from “Paranormal Romance” to “Romantic Fantasy” means selections “do not necessarily deal with the establishment or continuance of a relationship,” signaling increased efforts to appeal to fantasy readers. Standouts include three seaside treats: M. Rickert’s breath-stealing ghost tale, “Journey into the Kingdom”; Sonya Taaffe’s hypnotic “The Depth Oracle”; and Sandra McDonald’s wistful story about a young mother’s yearnings concerning “The Mountains of Key West.” Also notable are Angela Boord’s bittersweet woodland fairy dream, “Evergreen”; Vera Nazarian’s bright delight, “The Story of Love”; and Delia Sherman’s gorgeous Parisian ode to the addictive charms of “La Fée Verte.” While these offerings from an impressive crew of fantasy heavyweights may not be jam-packed with happy-ever-afters, they explore the many worlds of fantastic romance with passion and panache.

Just to clarify…

The former wording for the RITAs — what RWA is changing — was:
“Books must be published by an RWA-recognized publisher that (1) is not a subsidy or vanity publisher, (2) has been releasing books via national distribution for a minimum of one year, and (3) has sold a minimum of 1,500 hardcover or trade paperback copies or 5,000 copies in any other format, including print on demand, of a single romance novel or novella or collection of novellas in book form, in bona fide arms-length transactions.”

We probably would have qualified. They already stated they would accept us as having been in business for more than one year as we are an imprint of Wildside and Wildside has been in business for 17 years. I am not sure how they determine when an imprint starts, but if we wanted to use that as a basis, Juno’s first book was published Sept 2007, so one supposes we could qualify as of September 2008. “National distribution”? If they include Ingram, then Wildside would have qualified years ago. If they want “real” distribution, Wildside has been distributed by Diamond for at least a year.

And we could have shown sales of 1500 of something acceptable as “romance” from either Wildside or Juno. (We were told that the HEA definition did not need to be applied.) What exact PROOF of this that they want is a good question…

But I suspect we would have qualified.

* * *

IF the new standards stick, they are so oddly put it is hard to tell, but…

* “…releasing romance novels via national distribution for no fewer than three years” — If we are talking Juno, no; if we are talking Wildside, maybe.
* “… with no fewer than two full-length romance novels or novel-length romance anthologies published in each of three consecutive years” — If you are talking Wildside — probably not, but maybe. Juno, as to two per year, yes; no, as to three years.

*”…provides per book advances of at least $1,000 for all books”– Wildside, no. Juno? Depends on when you start counting. We have not paid $1000 advance to all 30 or so books we have so far contracted. Of course, some of those books were reprints and some were less than novel-length…

*”…pays all authors participating in an anthology an advance of at least $500…” Hello? I think it also kicks out Random House, Simon & Schuster…you name it. That’s right, folks, IF they stick to this and IF it means that every anthology a publisher publishes pays at least a $500 advance for every story, there is not a single major publisher that will qualify with the possible exception of Harlequin.

Are we paying attention now? Avon, Ballantine, Bantam Dell, Berkley/Jove, Grand Central Publishing (formerly Warner Books), HarperCollins, Macmillan, NAL, St. Martin’s, Tor/Forge…NONE of ‘em would be eligable because either the imprint or the publisher has at some time issued an anthology paying less than $500 per story.

So, I suppose we can assume that either I am not reading “…pays all authors participating in an anthology an advance of at least $500…” properly OR they are going to need to re-word this one.

If you are interested in RWA’s National Convention, Blogging National aggregates a ton of blogs posting.

We aren’t much interested ourselves now, though. We’ve seen the new “standards” publishers must meet in order for authors to be eligable for the RWA’s “contests.” (Yes, they really refer to their own awards as a contest, as if authors were competing.) Juno Books won’t qualify.

I’m sorry for our authors. Bit unfair to them, you know.
Here are the “standards”:

Commencing with RWA’s 2008 National Conference, for official publisher participation, a romance publisher must verify to RWA that it: (1) is not a Subsidy Publisher or Vanity Publisher; (2) has been releasing romance novels via national distribution for no fewer than three years, with no fewer than two full-length romance novels or novel-length romance anthologies published in each of three consecutive years; (3) provides per book advances of at least $1,000 for all books; and (4) pays all authors participating in an anthology an advance of at least $500.

I had to laugh at #4. Even assuming they mean an anthology of “original fiction” — this is not spelled out, so one must assume it would actually apply to ANY anthology, including “year’s best” reprint anthos — I guess they’ve never heard of short stories. Those are usually defined as being under 7500 words for those of you who’ve never heard of short fiction, most awards and many are much shorter. I’m sure even top pros would be more than happy to get (rounding up) .17 cents a word for a 3000 word story.

And I’d like someone to tell me of any genre anthology that does?

Obviously we haven’t been in business for three years, so that takes care of that and, although we are an imprint of a company that has been around and may even could prove two “romance”-type books a year — that’s not really in our favor because they haven’t paid an advance of $1000 on every book.

Otherwise — I won’t comment. Maybe they spell out some of the sillier things these rules bring to mind elsewhere.
So — beware potential Juno authors! RWA does not recognize us! You cannot win their contests if we publish your book. (You might be recognized with several other prestigious merit-based awards, but what do they matter?) Run away!

From: PUBLISHERS WEEKLY:

Trailblazing romance author Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, who is credited with inventing the modern historical romance novel, died Saturday. She was 68. Woodiwiss broke onto the scene in 1972 with The Flame in the Flower. The book, which featured such now standard genre tropes as a historical backdrop and flashy sex scenes, was an anomaly in its day, according to her longtime publisher Avon Books, and went on to become a huge bestseller, selling over two million copies after its first four years in print.

Avon published all of Woodiwiss’s 13 novels in paperback, while Morrow published her in hardcover. She was, as bestselling author Susan Elizabeth Phillips put it, a towering figure in the genre. “We all owe our careers to her. She opened the world of romance to us as readers.” There are currently more than 26.7 million copies of Woodiwiss’s novels in print; her last novel, Everlasting, will be released in October.

Once upon a time — so long ago that people were asking “Do I need email?” — I started a weekly email newsletter. It was, as far as I can tell, one of the very first email newsletters.

I made up my own rules as I went. One of them was: “You are not on the list unless you have actively sought to be on the list and know what you are getting.”

You had to actually email an eddress with “subscribe” as the subject to be put on the mailing list. Then I usually sent some sort of info saying, more or less, “You are sure you want this?” and also reminded folks with every issue that if you didn’t want it to let me know.

There were a lot of practical reasons for this (making it a true “opt-in” list, keeping the list relatively “clean” of “dead” eddresses, a smidgeon of personal contact, a defense against offending people, etc.), but I think subconsciously I wanted to make sure that my readers were really reading “me” and that, whether they agreed with me or not, they had some (perhaps begrudging) respect for what I was doing. I wasn’t charging for it and I wasn’t selling anything, so I guess what I wanted in return for my blood, sweat, and tears was some assurance that the blood, sweat, and tears were of value.

* * *
Why am I waxing nostalgic? Because between BEA and ALA I got on exactly one mailing list. I got my first email from them today.

I could have signed up, had a magnetic card scanned (at ALA), deposited my business card or otherwise volunteered an eddress hundreds of times. In many cases there were very nice prizes offered from a daily drawing of names gathered.

And we didn’t really try to gather eddresses ourselves. The URL was on all our material, so if you had enough interest in Juno to want to find out more, it was pretty easy. If people specifically asked, I’d give them a business card or mention that they could sign up by going to the site.

At one point we started to put out a sign-up sheet — but there really wasn’t room and, besides, with three radically different imprints I think a single list (or fishbowl for cards or scanner) would be ineffective anyway unless done in triplicate.

But I also think that somewhere in my mercenary soul there’s still a small part that just doesn’t believe that email is an effective tool — marketing or otherwise — unless the person receiving the message is actually “receiving the message”; that “building a list” is now, more than ever, a matter of finding people with a real interest in what you are offering…and not about the number of eddresses.

But — what do I know?

Fred Saberhagen has died. Why would this matter to you? Because Fred Saberhagen’s novel The Dracula Tape (1975) was the first novel to portray Dracula as a “good guy”. The first of a series, The Dracula Tape told Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” from Dracula’s point of view. A subsequent series of novels were based on the premise that vampires are morally equal (or superior) to humans and, like humans, can choose to do either good or evil.

You might consider him the father of vampire romance and its offspring, the paranormals.

From LOCUS ONLINE:

SF and fantasy writer Fred Saberhagen, born 1930, died June 29, 2007, at the age of 77. He began publishing in 1961 with short stories in Galaxy and If magazines, and published collection Berserker in 1967, first in a series about interstellar killing machines programmed to destroy all life. Saberhagen’s 60+ books also included the Empire of the East sequence, beginning with The Broken Lands (1968), the Dracula sequence, beginning with The Dracula Tape (1975), and two books co-written with Roger Zelazny, Coils (1981) and The Black Throne (1990). His last book was Ardneh’s Sword (Tor, 2006).
• The family will announce a date for a Memorial Celebration later this year. Donations would be appreciated to Doctors without Borders, Catholic Relief, SFWA Emergency Medical Fund, and John 23rd Catholic Church in Albuquerque.
» Wikipedia entry
» Official site: Berserker.com

Although it is good news for the author, I see that a ms. that I wanted for Juno but simply dragged my feet on has been picked up by a Major. My email today also brought word that another ms. I wanted has gone to “another publisher.”

I’m sincerely happy these folks have gotten larger advances than I could offer as well as the possibility of selling more books.

But there is a certain trend I hope we are not running into — a small press gets on the map with awards or review attention or whatever and suddenly anything you are interested in is no longer available. If it is agented, the agent thinks, “Well, if THEY want it, I could do a better deal elsewhere.” If it isn’t agented, the writer finds an agent on the strength of the offer…and you are soon out of the deal.

Hey, that’s the agent’s job! Got nuthin’ against agents. (Am one myself; no, I am not interested in clients she said in the same breath.)

Let’s just hope they ALL don’t start getting away…