Merry Christmas!

Congrats to Susan & a 5-Star CD

I bought Susan Boyle's debut best-selling CD today.   Since I subscribe to a music service, I rarely buy CD's.  I guess this is the first one I've bought in five years.  I bought it because I wanted to be supportive of her and I had liked her singing on the talent show.   However, I was unprepared for how beautiful and riveting her voice is.   Although she appears somewhat awkward in interviews and she's not a spectacular stage performer, her talent is in the simple act of singing and putting her heart into it.   My favorite track is Who I Was Born To Be but every song is great and I definitely recommend this very special CD.   Hats off to Susan, who despite a ton of drawbacks, had the courage to dream a dream and make it come true.

Troubling Times for Writers

The Mystery Writers of America removed Harlequin from their list of accepted publishers.   The details of that decision and Harlequin's response can be read at A Writer's Life.   I have to admit after reading it, especially the letter from Harlequin's CEO, that I felt sick at heart for all writers.   The goal of a writer is to become published and the validation of a published book comes from having an editor who worked on the book with you along with a publisher who was willing to package and distribute it.   That is what gave a published book  "prestige".  

I have to ask what is happening to that?   In the CEO's letter, she bluntly states that in the rejection letters from Harlequin that writers will be steered to other means of publication, including Dellarte Press.   She also points out how many other publishers now have vanity or self-publishing presses and she uses examples of how successful a handful  of self-published book have become.   There is no shying away from promoting self-publishing, which was once akin to being a leper in the writing/publishing circles.   If  you had to go out and publish your own book, you didn't have a valid book.

I'm assuming all that is changing, especially since CEO referred to other writers' association who have embraced Harlequin's new venture.   All the sudden, it appears the 'self-published' writer  has become the new kid in town!   One who doesn't need an agent.   However, in her letter,  there is no comment made on how many self-published books were produced this year as well as the total number sold of those books.   I doubt there is any record of that because, well, it doesn't matter.   No one is out any money except the author.   With Dellarte Press or the other vanity imprints, numbers mean nothing because they are not going to lose any money on a book.   It is a win-win situation for them.

I'm trying to think positive for my fellow writers.   You see, now that big publishers like Harlequin  promoting self-publishing as the way to go, the only thing lacking for writer is distribution, which the publishers control. On the horizon,  when the Kindle and other E-readers drop in price and become affordable to the masses,(kinda like all electronics.  Remember when a computer cost thousands?) that is how books will be bought and read.   A publisher's ability to distribute will no longer be a major factor in sales. I can self-publish my book in the USA and sell it to a reader in Italy.   Most writers have to do most of their own promotion nowadays as it is.  And, writers have writer friends, who can change hats and edit a book.   After all, many editors have become writers.   There's no reason to think such a book can't be as good if not better than one sold by a major publisher.  Is there?   The big publishers are telling us this now. 

I read an article a few weeks ago in which John Grisham was addressing the issue of E-books.   He made the comment:  "the big question is in 5 or 10 years how many people of going to be reading this book on an e-reader.  If it's 10 percent, that's a certain set of economics.  If it is 50 percent, things are changing drastically, and you're going to see a lot of bookstores close and publishers go out of business."

I think the drastic change is coming but I don't think it is the writers who are going to be left behind.