I’m over at Romancing the Blog today talking about those things that pull you out of a story. The little things like editing errors or no common sense. One is understandable, it happens. The other? Go visit me and see what I think – then tell me what you think.

I posted this in the comments section of D. Pershing’s post at ESPAN:

As Vice-President of this chapter (ESPAN) I’ve been thinking about these issues for a while. It is obvious that this has been weighing on the minds of a lot of epublished authors. It is obvious that there has been discontent. That is one of the reasons I ran for office of this chapter, because I see the need for change. I believe that change has to come from the inside.

I would like to thank both Deidre and Ms. Pershing for taking a step and posting their thoughts on ESPAN’s blog this past week. Whether we agree with each of them or not, what they did took courage. Courage because opponents on either side may be ready to rip them down. This should not become a personal attack on either of them, even though it is a personal issue to many of us.

This needs to be about the issues at hand. To me they are these:

RWA says that if I’m epubbed I’m not considered career-oriented, however the definition of career=A chosen pursuit; a profession or occupation. It does not say what the business mode or dollar amount earned of that career should be. And it cannot. Is a lawyer who works for legal aid and earns a minimal salary any less a career-focussed lawyer than one that works for the most prestigious law firm in town and pulls down a hefty wage, plus bonuses? No. They each just have different visions for their career.

Secondly, I do not see how RWA can make the decision that all epubs are bad just because a few are. I’m sure there are disreputable large press print publishers too and I don’t see them all being lumped together. In fact, I don’t see any RWA listing at all advising which print publishers are better than others (unless there is one somewhere and I’m just not aware of it.) And there shouldn’t be. Just like there shouldn’t be for epublishers – at least, not from the RWA. I do not believe it is their job to make those decisions. Yes, writers should be aware about vanity and self-publishers. And yes, we should be warned when there is something going down with a publisher (any publisher, epub or otherwise), but there are plenty of other places you can find that information. RWA’s job should be to educate us so that we can make the choices that are best for us, so that we can view each and every publisher and decide if they are right for us.

Lastly, If the money flows TO the author from the publisher, whether by advance or royalties, then you are published period. The business mode should not matter. If you have even earned $1 and have a signed contract with a non-vanity/non-subsidy publisher where the money flows to the author then you are published. Period. You are a published author. Which would therefore make you eligible for the RITA’s. Let the epubbed/small press books stand on their own merit, let them stand against the large press pubbed books. What do you have to lose? So some will not be great – that same holds true for some large press books. There are good and bad in both. If their author/publisher feels they are good enough to sub to the Rita’s then why not allow them to enter? I just don’t get the reasoning. And I don’t have any horses in that race, so no one can accuse me of just wanting to get my book in the Rita’s.

I just want the discrimination to stop. It has to stop. Because it is splintering an organisation that I feel offers a lot of good. It is not up to the RWA to tell me what mode of business is the best for me as a writer. It is up to them to educate me on all modes and let me decide for myself.

I am career focussed. I want this career. I have planned every step and, yes, I may have had some missteps, but they were mine and I own them.

In the midst of a whole lot of stuff going on this past week I was going through my blog feeds and read this on the fabulous Jax Cassidy’s blog post:

“This award is bestowed on to blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

And she put me down as one of the bloggers. Which completely amazed me. Thank you very much, Jax! I you and appreciate you passing this award on to me.

So in the spirit of forming more friendships, here are my 8 choices for The Friendly Blogger Award:

Eileen Cook - who always brings a smile to my face with her interesting posts
Imogen Howson – she’s my CP and I adore her
Jenna Bayley Burke – she has a good mix between family and author stuff
Jaci Burton – she just kicks butt in a lot of ways (see Demon Hunter books for more kick butt action)
Shannon Stacey – I love reading about her family and her writing. Plus her recaps on American Idol meant I didn’t have to watch it myself.
Kristen Painter – she loves cats, is gorgeous and has style in everything she does.
Bria Quinlan - she’s headed on the coolest road trip ever. Diva style.
Jodi Henley - because she’s a Ninja and you can learn a lot from her.

I am the Vice-President of the ESPAN Chapter of RWA and am so proud to have had Deidre choose our chapter to call for a change within the RWA. You can find her fantastic blog post at ESPAN.

The bottom line is that RWA is supposed to serve the needs of all its members and while you can’t be everything to everyone, you can fit the needs of most. That “most” no longer includes solely traditionally published authors. Epubbed and small press authors are part of the mix too and, judging by the reaction on these issues, not a minority part.

Right now epublished (not to be confused with self-pubbed or vanity presses) and small press authors are too published for the Golden Heart, but not published enough for the Rita. They can earn PRO status and PAN status, but aren’t considered “career-focussed” authors because their publishers do not offer an advance or are not mass-produced. Yet, for the most part, their royalty percentage is quite large compared to that of their counterpart.

Some epubbed authors far surpass the $1k PAN requirements, some don’t. Just like some NYC print authors

Just like with traditional print authors, epubbed authors are good, bad and everywhere in between. So why not let them play on the same field? Why are they treated differently? Why are we creating division between our authors by declaring some are more published than others?

This is my first time participating in Excerpt Monday. If you want more info, click HERE.

This excerpt is from a previously published novella that is looking for a new home, but is in the midst of being re-edited.

Chase quietly opened the door at her Mom’s house and snuck through the kitchen. She wanted to get into the house without the fuss that usually greeted her arrival.

“Chase, what are you doing skulking in the kitchen?” Her mother’s voice came from behind her.

Chase paused and looked back. “I wasn’t skulking Mom, I was merely trying to get a glass of water.” Grabbing the nearest glass, she headed towards the water cooler.

Her mother cocked an eyebrow. “Well, you might want to try a clean glass then.” She took it out of Chase’s hand and set it down. “Really Chase, there are refreshments in the living room. We have all been waiting on you to get started. Let’s go.” She walked out of the room.

Chase followed slowly and watched her mother’s back, taking in the beautiful cream silk blouse and black pin-striped slacks. Put together as always and not a hair out of place. Looking down at herself, she noticed there were already wrinkles in her pants. And, somehow, she’d spilled something on her top, probably the takeout she had eaten in the car on the way over. Eaten in secret and haste, because it was never good to be too hungry around her family. Besides making her cranky no one really ate and therefore they treated her oddly whenever she had more than one bite of anything. Chase never understood why there was always so much food around, but no one ate it. It was a complete waste.

When they entered the living room, her mother pointed to a chair beside her brother and said, “Sit.”

Chris nudged her when she sat down. “Ha, I knew you would come. Couldn’t resist it could you? I’ve been hearing whispers that old Grandma actually had some money somewhere.”

Chase shook her head in disgust. “Chris, you really take the cake, you know? Grandma was wonderful to you, to all of us, and all you can think about is whether you going to get any money now?”

“Your holier than thou act isn’t working today, Chase. You obviously want what’s coming to you. Why else are you here?”

“I wouldn’t be if some guy, who claims to be the executor of Grandma’s will, hadn’t called and forced me to come. I don’t want her money. I’d rather have her back.”

“Ssshhh,” hissed their mother, making the face that said they were making a spectacle of themselves. And therefore her.

A man at the front of the room cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. Chase glanced up. He was tall, dark and gorgeous. She guessed him to be over six feet, with dark brown hair that had a slight wave to it. Not too short or too long, but it suited him perfectly. She caught a flash of beautiful green eyes as he looked around the room and waited for everyone to settle down. Maybe they were contact lenses–they were much too bright to be real.

“Excuse me, but I’d like to get started.” When he spoke, Chase realized it was the voice on the phone. Ahhh, Mr. Weston. Nice to see his looks matched his voice. That seldom happened in her world.

“My name is Reece Weston. I’m here representing the estate of Mrs. Nancy Chase Taylor. She had asked me to gather you all here and take care of certain matters for her.”

“Yeah, right, scammer,” Chris muttered under his breath.

Surprised at his tone, Chase quickly glanced at him. “What do you mean?” she whispered. “Do you know this guy?”

“Nah, no one seems to know him. He just suddenly appeared during Grandma’s last days. There’s talk that she was so taken with him she literally forgot about the rest of us.”

“I was with Grandma a lot during the final days. She never mentioned this guy, and I never saw him.” Chase returned her gaze toward the front of the room, intent on hearing what Mr. Weston had to say.

Check out the other EM participants (nb: I have not personally screened these excerpts. Please heed the ratings and be aware that the links may contain material that is not typical of my site):
Organizers:
Mel Berthier, Urban Fantasy (PG 13)
Bria Quinlan, Rom Com (PG)

AND:

Christina DeLorenzo, YA (PG 13)
Bryn Donovan, Paranormal (PG)
Babette James, Fantasy Romance (PG 13)
Cynthia Justlin, Contemporary Romance (PG 13)
Kaige, Historical Romance (PG 13)
Adelle Laudan Contemporary Romance (PG 13)
Jeannie Lin, Historical Romance (PG 13)
RF Long, Paranormal (PG 13)
Crista McHugh, Paranormal (PG 13)
Dara Sorensen, Paranormal (PG)

Evie Byrne, Historical Romance (R)
Grace Draven, Fantasy Romance (R)
Cate Hart, YA- Paranormal (R)
Aithne Jarretta, Paranormal (R)
Inez Kelley, Contemporary Romantic Comedy (R)
Aislinn Kerry, Paranormal (R)
Kim Knox, Erotic- Sci-fi Suspense (R)
Cherrie Lynn, Erotic- Contemporary Romance (R)
Alina Morgan, Urban Fantasy (R)

Stephanie Adkins, Erotic- Supsense (NC 17)
Ella Drake, Sci-Fi Romance (NC 17)
Annie Nicholas, Sci-Fi Romance (NC 17)
Kirsten Saell, Erotic – Fantasy (NC 17)