Etsy Wishlist

Hmm. I can't say this is on my wishlist, but it was so interesting that I had to post it. I suppose buttholes can be offensive to some people, however, I think decorating it with an air freshener might bring MORE attention to the butthole region. If you like it, I won't judge. You can purchase it here for $5 and $2 shipping.

Harlequin

Every other blogger has weighed in on this issue, so I suppose I'll have to talk about it to. There is a current controversy happening between Harlequin Enterprises (a publisher) and a possibly too powerful organization known as Romance Writers of America (RWA).

This week, Harlequin announced the start-up of Harlequin Horizons (HH). HH is a self-publishing arm of Harlequin that if you get rejected from Harlequin, you can choose to foot the costs of printing and self-publish your book. According to this website, the Harlequin name will not appear on the books, only the HH logo. More over, the self-published books will not be distributed by Harlequin. There are no clear details on how the books will be sold, only Harlequin's assurance they will not be on bookshelves next to the professionally edited, legitimate books.

First, I want to clarify some terminology. "Self-publish" is typically used when the author pays all the printing fees, cover art, etc, and they get 100% of the net sales. Fees for HH are $600-$1600. "Vanity Press" is when the author pays for most or all the fees, but only gets a percentage of the royalties.

RWA has a firm stance on vanity presses. Any vanity press is revoked from the Approved Publisher List. Publishers on that list don't have to pay conference fees or booth fees, and their authors can participate in the prestigious RITA awards.

RWA revoked Harlequin's Approved Publisher standing right after the annoucement of HH.

Why? Even though HH says it's a self-publishing mechanism, it's actually a vanity press. After paying the costs of the book's production, Harlequin is taking 50% and the author gets 50%. So let's stop calling it self-publishing.

Moreover, endorsements for this vanity press option as well as manuscript critique services will appear in rejection letters and on the submission page of the main Harlequin website. They are not identified as advertisements and can appear to be associated with the editorial side of Harlequin.

I'm not against businesses finding new ways to make money. Really, I don't care that Harlequin decided to open a vanity press or sell manuscript critiquing services. I think there is an ethical line crossed when those pay-to-play options are pushed directly at rejected slush pile writers. Slush pile writers are previously unpublished writers trying to get their first break. Some of them will not realize the difference between the vanity and Harlequin, or worse, think it's a way to break into Harlequin if they have enough sales.

You can make the case that Harlequin is promoting false hope. The only way the vanity press can help you become a legit published writer is if your sales are INSANE. If you launch a massive, expensive promotion campaign and sell 40,000 copies, that will get Harlequin's attention. The next time you submit your work to Harlequin, you can say your self-printed book sold x amount of copies. However, that's extremely expensive route to go. You won't earn all your money back. In the long run, you are better off honing your writing and submitting the traditional way.

However, Harlequin is not being unreasonable. Here is a response directed toward RWA:

Harlequin was very surprised and dismayed to receive notice late yesterday that the RWA has decided that Harlequin is no longer eligible for RWA-provided conference resources. We were even more surprised to discover that the RWA sent a notice to its membership announcing this decision, before allowing Harlequin to respond or engage in a discussion about it with the RWA board.

I'm in the minority of writers when I say they have a point. Most writers support RWA's decision. I think it was rash and dramatic. A letter, similar to the one Mystery Writers of America (MWA) sent, would've been more professional. MWA requested specific things to happen: removing mention of this for-pay service entirely from its manuscript submission guidelines, clearly identifying any mention of this program as paid advertisement, and, adding prominent disclaimers that this venture was totally unaffiliated with the editorial side of Harlequin, and that paying for this service is not a factor in the consideration of manuscripts. MWA also put a deadline on the time Harlequin has to respond.

Launching HH was not the most ethical thing to do, we can't ignore that Harlequin is in business to make profit. They also aren't unreasonable. In the response letter to RWA, Harlequin also wrote:

Most importantly, however, we have heard the concerns that you, our authors, have expressed regarding the potential confusion between this venture and our traditional business. As such, we are changing the name of the self-publishing company from Harlequin Horizons to a designation that will not refer to Harlequin in any way. We will initiate this process immediately. We hope this allays the fears many of you have communicated to us.

They are willing to compromise. That's a big deal. But RWA has already announced to the world that Harlequin is a vanity press and revoked them from the Approved Publisher List. If they hadn't been so reactive, RWA could work out a deal with Harlequin that is fair for both sides. Now RWA can either stick to their guns or eat their words.

You won't find many people to agree with me, as this appears to be a the case of a large publisher taking advantage of the newbie writers who don't know any better. I should mention that most writer-oriented websites give advice to newbies to be aware of any reading fees or publishing fees and run like hell. That information is blasted everywhere, including on literary agents and publishing websites. I would think a slush writer who has done his/her homework can recognize a vanity press and knows to avoid it like a plague. There has to be some responsibility placed on the writer.

Yes, HH's advertising scheme is confusing and misleading. Right now it does appear that if you pay enough money, you can one day be a Harlequin author. That should be changed, and it's the place of the writing organizations to demand that change. However, like those people who took out loans they can't afford and lost their house, the writer also needs to educate themselves before they are out a few thousand dollars. Then they only sell 5 books and have to split the sales with Harlequin. A pitiful situation, but they got themselves into it.

I find to hard to declare war on a publisher who is so clearly willing to compromise.

Credit Cards

Starting next year, Bank of America will charge a small number of customers an annual fee, ranging from $29 to $99. The bank has characterized the fee as experimental. But card holders who have never carried a balance or paid late fees could be among those affected.

Read the full article here.

Apparently this news dropped last month, but I only heard about it now. I apologize for being behind on the times. If you have already screamed like a banshee on this topic, allow me to catch up.

Let's be clear, BoA is not charging inactivity fees, like Citigroup and other companies. These are fees for people who pay their balance every month. That's right. Starting in 2010, we will get punished for only buying what we can afford. Crazy.

So you get a fee, and $29 to $99 is one HELL of a fee, for paying off your card. If you carry a balance, you get to pay interest charges. Either way you're screwed. I wish they would call it what it is...an annual fee. Paying for the priviledge of having a card is an annual fee. Why BoA couldn't just annouce annual fee rates for all cardholders is beyond me. Now they make it look like they are spanking the boring customers who spend within their means.

Terminology aside, this sucks. I love my BoA card and use it for everything. It gives me 1 reward point for every $1, which I can redeem for cash (and I do). The card even has a picture of my alma mater on it.

I have an Amazon Chase card as well. That gives me 3 reward points for every $1 spent on Amazon, and 1 reward point for every $1 spent elsewhere. However, it can only be redeemed on Amazon. When I reach 2,500 reward points, I automatically get a $25 Amazon gift certificate. I spend that immediately as soon as it arrives in the mail.

It looks like the Chase card might become my #1. Unless BoA drops this silliness of punishing its good credit customers. Come January, I will be watching my account very closely. As soon as I see something resembling a fee, they'll need to remove it or lose me as a customer. BoA can't honestly expect to retain customers by charging them extra. What is this? The airline industry?

As for those companies planning on charging inactivity fees in 2010, it's time to clear out the wallet. I know I've opened Old Navy cards and Macy's card and only use them once every five years. I bet they are in my maiden name and two addresses ago. Doesn't everyone have these? The experts tell you not to close these because closing a credit account could knock a few points off your credit score.

The article explains it better than I can:

One of the factors used to calculate your credit score is what's known as the "credit utilization ratio," which is based on the amount of credit you have outstanding as a percentage of your total available credit. When you close a credit card account, the amount of your total available credit shrinks, which could lead to a higher utilization rate. This ratio accounts for 30% of your credit score.

In addition, closing an account you've owned a long time could affect your credit history, another factor used to calculate your score.

Let's say you have a credit limit of $17,000 and have been using that card for the last 6 years. Closing it to avoid inactivity fees or responsible customer fees could really beat up your credit score, especially if you close multiple cards at once.

If you are sitting there thinking that Congress won't allow it, it was because of Congress that prompted these fees in the first place. This is the side effect of the proposed credit card legislation that restricts raising of interest rates. Credit card companies need to make up the lost revenue somewhere else.

I guess the hardest part about this is the size of the fees. $29 to $99 is so much money over the course of a year. If the fees were more like $5 every month, I might actually pay that to avoid my credit score from taking a dump.

The Wall.

I've gone and done it. I've hit The Wall. The Wall is different than writer's block. I know exactly where the story is going and what to write. I outlined the whole thing before I started writing.

The Wall is something different. It's caused from self-doubt and procrastination. I wonder if this story is any good? Is it missing something? I feel like it's missing something....What is it missing? Do I have enough word count to throw in some romance? Maybe I should add some mortal peril.

That's The Wall. The roadblock of constant second-guessing. For me, it usually happens between scenes, when I'm setting up the Big OH NO! part in the story. You know, the part where everything falls to hell and the protagonist has to find a way out. That's fun to write. What's not fun is the calm between the storm, where everything is happy-go-lucky. A few minor obstacles have been defeated and your protagonist thinks everything is going her way. It's boring to read and boring to write. Hence the second-guessing.

I usually hurry through these dead spots in the story. Just throw down skeleton writing and work on it later, or delete it later. Sometimes in the second or third read through, you find that you don't actually need the scene, but you needed to write it because it provides a timeline in your head.

For example, you are throwing a Christmas party. What you don't know is at your Christmas party, the Cloverfield monster will show up and eat half your guests. But in the meantime, you have to clean, decorate, shop, cook, mail invites, etc.

Currently I'm writing about all those party planning details that may or may not make it in the final cut. But I need to write them because it helps me see things from my character's perspective. She just spent days preparing for the perfect party and wham! Big Ugly shows up. How does she react?

Like I said before, it's a boring section of the book. And if it's boring to me, it'll be boring to you. Which causes me to question how bored you'll be and if my story is any good, if all the characters are developed and contributing to the story, if I can squeeze one more plot twist under word count, etc, etc.