DellArte Press (formerly Harlequin Horizons)

Parametric said:

Anyone spot this?

Question here:



Answer by Malle Vallik here:



WHAT.

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This person is obviously reading from a prepared script and doesn't know how to deviate from it. His (her?) answers are generally obscure when they're not outright wrong.

Malle Vallik is female.

jennontheisland said:

No, they don't have to cold call people. They just advertise it in the rejection.

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They don't even have to do that. They can save themselves the postage by having authors submit to Horizons right away. Harlequin's "How to Write" section of the website has this:

Introducing Harlequin Horizons
This is your invitation to indulge in your passion for writing and start your next chapter as a published author with Harlequin Horizons.

Our newly launched publishing division, Harlequin Horizons, provides opportunities for aspiring authors to break into publishing. Through a self-publishing model, independent of Harlequin's traditional publishing businesses, Harlequin Horizons can help more writers achieve their dreams.

With Harlequin Horizons, you will receive assistance from industry professionals in design, editing and marketing to help you create and publish your unique book. Best of all, your team is available to speak with you about your book, answer questions and provide assistance every step of the way. Visit www.HarlequinHorizons.com to learn more.

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http://www.eharlequin.com/store.html;jsessionid=2DF237B6263C12D92775AE984433A7D2?cid=535

ETA: and, from what I can tell, they have a button for the Horizons website on every "how to write" article. Example:
http://www.eharlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=1394&chapter=0

So they'll trap impatient authors as well as rejected ones. Yay.

This is your invitation to indulge in your passion for writing and start your next chapter as a published author with Harlequin Horizons.

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And how many authors are going to see this as this:

as a published author with Harlequin

With Harlequin Horizons, you will receive assistance from industry professionals in design, editing and marketing to help you create and publish your unique book.

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What marketing?

Marketing encompasses 4 Ps: product, pricing, placement and promotion. HH is doing maybe...product...MAYBE pricing. It does NO assistance on placement (a.k.a. distribution) or promotion. Their RT ad is WAY more expensive than what you can do on your own w/ a couple of writer friends to share the cost!

ETA: Dumping a bunch of e-files on Amazon DOES NOT count as distribution I expect from industry professionals b/c anyone can do it.

You will recieve whatever dubious marketing package you buy from them.

DaveKuzminski said:

And I fully agree with Unimportant that they're trying to avoid liability by calling it self-publishing. Sadly, that leads me to speculate that both the oversight and editing simply won't be as good.

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Dave, I doubt there will BE much editing. It'll depend on how much money the author wants to give HH, won't it?

As far as this impacting romance writers for other houses, I remember back several years, I sent a request for guidelines to a Christian fic publisher I won't name. I got a standard rejection letter (though I hadn't subbed anything) and a bunch of brochures for vanity publishers.

It's funny NOW. I didn't think it funny at the time. It sent the message, "you're not going to be published by US, so this is the best you'll be able to do!"

9 contracts later, I beg to differ. However, let me offer this last note and then I'm heading back to the Revision Pit...I've had multiple books subbed to Harlequin's Steeple Hill imprint. So far, despite cold e-mail contacts from S/H editors and once even a phone call, they have not offered to acquire anything of mine. I've later sold those projects to other houses.

Does Steeple Hill's rejection of my work mean it's not publishable elsewhere? Obviously not. Might an invitation to sub to Harlequin's vanity line send the "unpublishable" message to a writer whose work might well sell elsewhere? Obviously, yes. Thus doing them a disservice that goes way beyond the pay-to-play paradigm itself.

Okay, I'm done.

Parametric said:

Anyone spot this?

Question here:



Answer by Malle Vallik here:



WHAT.

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I asked for clarification on that comment at Dear Author because I had a huge wtf moment when I read Malle Vallik's answer.

The Authorsolutions press release makes it clear that Harlequin will not be doing anything for these books other than providing a logo and occassionally checking whether one of these books manages to sell well against all odds.

Romance Writer: The Role Playing Game.

Romance Writer: The Role Playing Game.
"Many authors are published, few books are sold."

Harlequin's contributions to this process: Advertise the [bleep] out of a vanity press, and cash the checks.

No Harlequin selection, no Harlequin editing, no Harlequin distribution? Not associated with Harlequin in any way?

I take it that Harlequin won't have a problem with it if I slap the HH logo on the spine of my book and print it through Lulu.com?

For Malle to state that the first time one of these things comes off a printing press with an ISBN attached to it and it doesn't take away your first printing rights. . .

I have to wonder about any credibility they have in the publishing industry.

First rights are like being pregnant. Either you are or you're not. There ain't no half-way.

There are First North American rights, there are e-rights, there are movie rights. I mean you can split hairs all over the place, but baby, once it's published . . . it's published.

And never live completely either....

So they're Vampire publishers! Get the garlic and hide the sparkles!

I was, but after a while, I realized that HQ was NOT listening.

They came in, said a few things, then ran for the hills, hoping their few supporters could turn the tide.

Much like that Wizard of Id cartoon.

King: You know, there's something I like about the Wizard
Sir Romney: What's that, sire?
King: He's not much of a wizard, but you gotta admire his perserverance. He'll get that tide to go out if it takes him twelve hours."

Wow.

The more I read, the more irritated I get with Harlequin.

And, I can't keep up with all the discussions going on out there.


**goes to refresh 12 different frickin' tabs**


(okay 12 is an exaggeration.)

CaoPaux said:

(Anyone else have background tabs open to AW, DA, SBTB, et al.; refreshing every couple minutes? Please tell me I'm not alone.... )

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Pass the paperbag

CaoPaux said:

(Anyone else have background tabs open to AW, DA, SBTB, et al.; refreshing every couple minutes? Please tell me I'm not alone.... )

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:clicky clicky clicky clicky:

What, did you say something?

CaoPaux said:

(Anyone else have background tabs open to AW, DA, SBTB, et al.; refreshing every couple minutes? Please tell me I'm not alone.... )

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Oh yes I really need to step away from the computer and go to bed but I just need to refresh once more...

JanDarby said:

I wonder what the editors in the trenches -- the ones who deal with authors every day -- are thinking. I'm sure this was dumped on them (as it was on Malle Vallik, who's really a quite nice and generous and caring person, from what I've seen of her at conferences), and it sounds like they're going to be forced to include the referral in their rejection letters (probably in the contract), and I'm guessing that it's painful for them.

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You guessed it...no one bothered to tell the editors about this venture ahead of time, so they were initially alerted to the backlash when the FAQ about how to handle questions from their print authors went around.