I cannot see a single good thing in this for authors. If authors want to self publish, they can do it elsewhere for a lot less money.

I cannot see a single good thing in this for readers. If they want to read unedited slush, they can go buy any of the >2000 romance novels published by PublishAmerica. (If you’ve never read vanity published books before, I challenge you to read a few. If you don’t want to spend the money, go online and do a search for “publish america” + romance + “chapter 1″ and read a few sample chapters of random books for free.)

I can see that Harlequin will make a bunch of cash, but I also think they’re going to have a lot of problems to deal with down the line. The biggest one I can see is that the unedited crap they’ll be publishing will be associated with Harlequin. Their loyal readers have certain expectations of quality, and they won’t get it. Worse, their loyal readers have certain expectations of inclusion/exclusion. A HEA, a heterosexual couple, and tasteful sex. If Harlequin Horizons is going to go the pay-to-play route they’re not going to *read* the books they print for those vanity authors. And they may well end up publishing books that are pro-gay, pro-fetish, pro-Satanism, pro-Nazi, or other themes that will not endear them to Harlequin readers. There is no way in hell they’re going to get an author to pay a thousand (or ten thousand) dollars and then *not* have that author proudly proclaiming herself to be A Harlequin Author. The link will always be there. And they’re likely to find themselves linked to things they aren’t going to like.

Perhaps, this would be a good deal for someone who wrote, say, books on love after mastectomy or cowboy lesbian romances, if they know their niche market and how to market to it.

However, the same publishers are going to be producing lots of books by people who don’t know how to write and don’t want to learn. As long as the model is selling your publishing services to authors, as opposed to books to readers, there will be very little quality control.

My critique group requires applicants to submit a sample chapter before we vote. Although all our members wrote good chapters, and many applicants submit quality work, the quantity of unreadable crap I’ve skimmed makes the prospect of reading the next submission, less than thrilling, even though it is free romance.

When she was invited to do readings of her poetry in her area of the U.S. and at national gatherings, her books were available for purchase — in a tasteful, low key way, of course, in keeping with her very modest personality.

Why did she go the self-publishing route, even with her credentials? It’s hard to get major publishers and agents to contract poetry books. She knew she had a market for her book, she had the means to front the money for the print run, and she was willing to do all of the legwork of running her own small press.

There is a huge, huge difference between what self-employed, self-published, entrepreneurial artists are doing and this exploitative vanity venture from Harlequin.

Q: I'm a reader and I've heard about Harlequin Horizons but I don't know what it is or what it means for me.

Nothing. You will be wholly, and blissfully, unaware of by far the majority of books ‘published’ through Horizons. Those few good authors who choose the self-publishing or vanity-publishing routes for whatever reason, will almost certainly not be using Horizons – those authors will have done their homework and realise that they can get these services elsewhere for significantly less money. I just cannot see any way in which this venture will affect readers at all. It’s not about readers. It’s about making money from potential authors.

Thank you. :)

I’m hardly novel (har har), but it’s because I hang out with a whole lot of self-publishers like me (with quality writing in quality packaging), that I hardly ever see any dreck.

I wince every time I see the phrase “the vast majority of self-published work is crap,” because that’s not my experience—but my experience is narrow. I forget that and tend to be a bit myopic about it from the other side, thinking my world of competent author-businesspeople is larger than it is.

When I write, I write for me. When I do what my editor tells me to do, I do it for the story. When I design the covers, I do it to please the eye. When I set the type and format the e-books, I do it for the reader’s eyeballs. When I design the website point of sale, I do it for the consumer.

I don’t apply DRM. There are no geographical restrictions. I price the ebooks at $5.99. There are enormous excerpts a reader can download for free or read online to see if she likes my style, my voice, the story—or if it’s a wallbanger from the beginning. She’s not out any money.

If she does want to purchase, she already knows that she wants to spend a hardback’s price on a trade paperback or $6 for a doorstopper in electrons. Think about it: three full-length novels in one shot for $6.

And then there are the freebies, extras—vignettes, outtakes, backstory—for the readers who liked my world and want to stay there a little while longer.

My philosophy is this: Make the whole experience as easy on the reader as possible, from eye-catching to purchasing to reading, give her more than she expects, so that she feels she got her money’s worth.

My hope is that by making it easy and enjoyable, I will earn the trust of a reader who will be willing to go on whatever ride I want to take her on in the future.

And isn’t that what every writer really wants?

An aspiring romance writer is much more inclined to think she’s going to do better shelling out 1500 to HHz, ( because it’s HARLEQUIN…) than Vanity Press PDQ or whatever.

Plus, they are more likely to shell out that money to HHz because it’s HARLEQUIN… then to a more reasonable self pub press. They are counting on that HQN name meaning something.

HHz was selling the HQN brand and without it, fewer people will be suckered in, IMO.

If we could get rid of the monetizing the slush pile and the links to HHz up on the writing sections of HQN’s site, I’d be more satisfied.

And if HQN went the route of trad self pub instead of vanity? That would please me quite a bit.

I don’t see how they dig out from this, short of shelving the whole project and having a serious “What the fuck were we thinking?” postmortem.

Self-publishing and vanity press are not the same thing, and shouldn’t be confused as such. That’s pretty important.

“It is common for disreputable publishers to try to profit from aspiring writers by steering them to their own for-pay editorial, marketing, and publishing services. The implication is that by paying for those services, the writer is more likely to sell his manuscript to the publisher. Harlequin recommends the “eHarlequin Manuscript Critique Service” in the text of its manuscript submission guidelines for all of its imprints and include a link to “Harlequin Horizons,” its new self-publishing arm, without any indication that these are advertisements.

That, coupled with the fact that these businesses share the Harlequin name, may mislead writers into believing they can enhance their chances of being published by Harlequin by paying for these services. Offering these services violates long-standing MWA rules for inclusion on our Approved Publishers List.”

Full text can be found at http://www.jackiekessler.com/blog/2009/11/19/harlequin-horizons-versus-rwa/#comment-25631

Self-Publishing: Authors shoulder the costs, assume full control and responsibility (usually using a variety of subcontractors for graphics, printing, etc), own their ISBN, are responsible for marketing and distribution, and keep %100 of net profits.

Vanity Publishing: Authors shoulder the costs, have some control over the product (depending on how much they want to pay for upgrading covers, editing, etc.), pay INFLATED prices with no option to shop around for better deals on printing, etc., do NOT own the ISBN of their book, are responsible for marketing and distribution, and are ‘granted’ %50 of the profit by the Vanity publisher. But look, now they are a “published Harlequin author!”

HHor implies that you’ll get into Harlequin’s distribution system. Where do they lay that out? Malle has said clearly that NO, HHor’s books will NOT be on shelves along with other Harlequin books. (In fact, most bookstores will not be at all interested in carrying them.)

Let me say it again. Self-publishing is NOT Vanity Publishing. You’re doing DA readers no favors by not clarifying the difference.

As a longtime reader of romance, I sometimes pick up category romances for its shorter length and a feeling of I-know-what-I’m-getting. So, as a reader, the presence of Harlequin Horizons really doesn’t affect me because I will know not to buy from Harlequin Horizons.

However, I am concerned for aspiring authors who might not know the pitfalls and implications of going over to Harlequin Horizons in their quest to get published.

Just FYI.