Harlequin and Author Solutions have combined to provide a Harlequin-branded but Authorhouse-priced and styled self-publishing portal for women's fiction called Harlequin Horizons.
Edited to add: as a result Harlequin Enterpirses (all imprints) has lost RWA (Romance Writers of America) recognition as anon-subsidy/non-vanity press.
See also:
Who Gets to Wear the Big H?
4 comments:
Yup, I predicted a lot more of this after the Matador post about a year or so ago.
Doesn't surprise me though. Why wouldn't the publishing houses want to cash in on the pipe dream that has become a reality with the advent of POD publishing.
The dollar signs are too huge to ignore. And delusion is a powerful motivator. Harlequin and others will be cha chinging all the way to the bank.
Meanwhile any criticism will be characterised by Harlequin as backward hating of self-publishing -- rather than specifc disgust of author exploitation. These Horizon authors will be drawn in by the Harlequin brand, but left with nothing but the usual high-priced Authorhouse package.
Yup, and I am sure Harlequin authors (some) are up in arms at the thought of being elbow to elbow with the vile SP authors. Brand name dilution and all that other snobby nonsense.
This is vanity publishing at it's finest.
Say what you will about Lulu and Createspace, at least they offer a true self-publishing option for those who don't want to pay for the vanity services. In that situation, they funtion as merely a printer and a distributor. I like that model better.
Maybe this will be a way to pick over the slush pile and make a few bucks in the process. I don't see anything wrong with that either, as long as they are up front about the odds and what Horizons really means, so authors aren't blind to the reality of it.
Mrs giggles made a comment about the difference being blurred between SP and Vanity publishing. Here is the demarcation: Self-publishing takes a lot of hard work. Vanity publishing takes a lot of hard currency so the author can pay someone else to do the hard work.
Vanity has seperated humans from their money since time began. It's not likely to stop.
While I'm amused by "the sky is falling!" attitude popping up around the writerly community over this - I'm still irked by the general misconception that Vanity and Self or Indie Publishing are one in the same.
Which is why I like your definition :)
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