MWA’s Official Decision: That because Harlequin’s for pay publishing business violates MWA’s rules for approved publishers, MWA takes the following action: First, Harlequin shall be removed from MWA’s list of approved publishers upon the adoption of this motion; Second, that all current active status members of MWA whose status is based upon books published by Harlequin shall remain active status members; Third, that MWA decline applications for active membership based upon books published by Harlequin pursuant to contracts entered into after the effective date of this motion; Fourth, that books published by Harlequin pursuant to contracts entered into prior to the adoption of this motion shall be eligible for the Edgar® Awards, except that books published by DellArte Press shall not be eligible for the Edgar® Awards regardless of when such contract was entered into; and Fifth that books published by Harlequin pursuant to contracts entered into after the adoption of this motion shall not be eligible for the Edgar® Awards
Great post here which shows Harlequin stating it’s rational for doing what they are doing. “Informing” writers of their Vanity Press in rejection letters.
We believe that writers are best served when they make informed choices. As such, Harlequin’s rejection letter templates will soon be modified to encourage the author to consider the wide range of publishing options now available to aspiring authors including submitting to another house, resubmitting to Harlequin, ePublishing, self-publishing, or working with Dellarte Press.
From Dell Arte website…
By following our publishing process you can make informed choices about your publishing journey and ultimately end up with the book of your dreams. Our Dellarte Press team will assist you though the book publishing process every step of the way, but you must first decide to start your next chapter.
I thought this type of “Informing” was called “steering” or “Predatory Sales Practices” like passing a good clients credit information to a third-party marketing firm. That type of shady dealing is under investigation by the government as we speak and I even think there are consumer protections against that type of practice in many states. So no, I don’t think it is an accepted practice to even experiment with to many people. I think Harlequin is being run by shysters.
Lbea wrote,
You’re on TWITTER?
Man. I need to get out more.
Link | December 4th, 2009 at 4:56 pm