Comments on: When Will RWA Show Vision? http://www.rwaonlinechapter.org/pubbedauthors/2009/05/31/when-will-rwa-show-vision/ Where Happily Ever After is Always on the Menu! Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:34:28 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Monica Burns http://www.rwaonlinechapter.org/pubbedauthors/2009/05/31/when-will-rwa-show-vision/comment-page-1/#comment-24225 Monica Burns Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:30:29 +0000 http://www.rwaonlinechapter.org/pubbedauthors/?p=589#comment-24225 Folks, I am soooo sorry, I didn't come back and respond. I had a book proposal deadline, and I got so wrapped up in it, that I forgot to come back in and respond to comments. Thank you all for posting your thoughts, and I'm glad you enjoyed the post. And I'm totally, freaking AWESOMED OUT over having been twittered!!! LOL Monica Folks, I am soooo sorry, I didn’t come back and respond. I had a book proposal deadline, and I got so wrapped up in it, that I forgot to come back in and respond to comments.

Thank you all for posting your thoughts, and I’m glad you enjoyed the post. And I’m totally, freaking AWESOMED OUT over having been twittered!!! LOL

Monica

]]> By: Ebook Publishing a Bad Career Choice? http://www.rwaonlinechapter.org/pubbedauthors/2009/05/31/when-will-rwa-show-vision/comment-page-1/#comment-24224 Ebook Publishing a Bad Career Choice? Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:29:00 +0000 http://www.rwaonlinechapter.org/pubbedauthors/?p=589#comment-24224 [...] Kristin Painter’s response here. And Dear Author is running a poll and asking for comments. Monica Burns weighs in over at the HEA [...] [...] Kristin Painter’s response here. And Dear Author is running a poll and asking for comments. Monica Burns weighs in over at the HEA [...]

]]> By: Teresa D'Amario http://www.rwaonlinechapter.org/pubbedauthors/2009/05/31/when-will-rwa-show-vision/comment-page-1/#comment-24214 Teresa D'Amario Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:57:49 +0000 http://www.rwaonlinechapter.org/pubbedauthors/?p=589#comment-24214 An example as to the short sightedness of RWA: My husband purchased a Kindle for me, which yes, you CAN put other formats into it if you use their process. I haven't had a problem yet. Prior to the Kindle, I was reading 2-3 books per month. I just didn't have time. I didn't like lugging books with me to the airport, or to the doctor's office, or any place else, which is almost the only time I have to read. Since the purchase of the kindle I have purchased and read more than 45 books. I just got the Kindle in April. That's 45 books that wouldn't have sold had I not had the kindle. Why? Because I don't have to sort thru my paperbacks to decide what goes with me. I grab the kindle and out the door I go. Heck, I even bought a purse it fits in so I can take it on the motorcycle, strapped around my body and listen to audio books through the head phones. (Talk about an awesome feature - audio books and the text to speech feature both rock) When I walk in the door with it in tow, everyone oohs and ahh's, and asks me how I like it, and talk about their next big purchase will be a kindle. Not a High Def TV. Not an mp3 player Not a fancy cell phone with all the bells and whistles. A kindle. If one person has so much influence just by carrying a kindle around, it tells you how fast the ebook world is spreading. My own doctor saw I had one and even before she asked me about my health issue, she asked me how I liked my Kindle! Watch out RWA. There may be a day you are obsolete if you continue to ignore this growing and explosive trend! I agree, someone will get tired of this and create their own romance author supporting organization, and RWA will be a thing of the past. An example as to the short sightedness of RWA: My husband purchased a Kindle for me, which yes, you CAN put other formats into it if you use their process. I haven’t had a problem yet.

Prior to the Kindle, I was reading 2-3 books per month. I just didn’t have time. I didn’t like lugging books with me to the airport, or to the doctor’s office, or any place else, which is almost the only time I have to read.

Since the purchase of the kindle I have purchased and read more than 45 books. I just got the Kindle in April.

That’s 45 books that wouldn’t have sold had I not had the kindle. Why? Because I don’t have to sort thru my paperbacks to decide what goes with me. I grab the kindle and out the door I go. Heck, I even bought a purse it fits in so I can take it on the motorcycle, strapped around my body and listen to audio books through the head phones. (Talk about an awesome feature – audio books and the text to speech feature both rock)

When I walk in the door with it in tow, everyone oohs and ahh’s, and asks me how I like it, and talk about their next big purchase will be a kindle.

Not a High Def TV.

Not an mp3 player

Not a fancy cell phone with all the bells and whistles.

A kindle.

If one person has so much influence just by carrying a kindle around, it tells you how fast the ebook world is spreading.

My own doctor saw I had one and even before she asked me about my health issue, she asked me how I liked my Kindle!

Watch out RWA. There may be a day you are obsolete if you continue to ignore this growing and explosive trend! I agree, someone will get tired of this and create their own romance author supporting organization, and RWA will be a thing of the past.

]]> By: Jody W. http://www.rwaonlinechapter.org/pubbedauthors/2009/05/31/when-will-rwa-show-vision/comment-page-1/#comment-24213 Jody W. Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:56:59 +0000 http://www.rwaonlinechapter.org/pubbedauthors/?p=589#comment-24213 I love my local chapter. They're really my only social circle. Yes, I have to pay to have friends *heh*. I am not so loving of the rest of the organization today, though, that's for sure. I love my local chapter. They’re really my only social circle. Yes, I have to pay to have friends *heh*. I am not so loving of the rest of the organization today, though, that’s for sure.

]]> By: K M Tolan http://www.rwaonlinechapter.org/pubbedauthors/2009/05/31/when-will-rwa-show-vision/comment-page-1/#comment-24212 K M Tolan Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:36:56 +0000 http://www.rwaonlinechapter.org/pubbedauthors/?p=589#comment-24212 Excellent post. I stumbled into this from the EPIC boards, and would add that the same criticism holds true for the SFWA (SF Writers of America). They go out of their way to omit and otherwise block anyone having to do with an e-book (I write SF for an e-publisher). The trade magazines such as Locus have policies in place to ignore e-book authors and publishers according to an editor I talked to at World Fantasy Con. It's all about protecting the New York industry. Always has been. If you look into the history of paperback books, you will find a similar pattern starting with denigrating authors and ending up with New York muscling out the indies and taking over. Only then did being associated with "pulp fiction" become respectable. The RWA is a little less harsh then the SFWA - the latter won't even allow in e-book authors, but the problem remains the same for both. Sooner than later these guilds will become irrelevant to the majority of working authors - until New York figures out how to take over the e-book business themselves. Trouble is, the distributors have already started down that path ahead of them. It is not to say that e-publishers don't have problems - chief among them being a way to raise themselves above the flotsam. You can't live off of e-book royalties either. Still, sticking one's head in the ground and trying to pretend we are not out there is not going to work either. K M Tolan Excellent post. I stumbled into this from the EPIC boards, and would add that the same criticism holds true for the SFWA (SF Writers of America). They go out of their way to omit and otherwise block anyone having to do with an e-book (I write SF for an e-publisher). The trade magazines such as Locus have policies in place to ignore e-book authors and publishers according to an editor I talked to at World Fantasy Con.

It’s all about protecting the New York industry. Always has been. If you look into the history of paperback books, you will find a similar pattern starting with denigrating authors and ending up with New York muscling out the indies and taking over. Only then did being associated with “pulp fiction” become respectable.

The RWA is a little less harsh then the SFWA – the latter won’t even allow in e-book authors, but the problem remains the same for both. Sooner than later these guilds will become irrelevant to the majority of working authors – until New York figures out how to take over the e-book business themselves. Trouble is, the distributors have already started down that path ahead of them.

It is not to say that e-publishers don’t have problems – chief among them being a way to raise themselves above the flotsam. You can’t live off of e-book royalties either. Still, sticking one’s head in the ground and trying to pretend we are not out there is not going to work either.

K M Tolan

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