by SB Sarah • Monday, October 16, 2006 at 08:45 AM
Since we began our Smart Bitches for Theresa Spry campaign only a week ago, we have raised a total of $898.00. Based on our initial research online, which I included in the original entry, we both liked Ms. Spry’s positions, which is why we chose to back her campaign. I hope that the money we raised can contribute to her success in meaningful and frankly ginormous ways.
However, finding additional information about a state candidate in South Dakota? Darn difficult. I couldn’t even find a poll or rough estimate of where folks in her district stand. So Candy and I decided, let’s interview her! I called Ms. Spry, who was very confused to hear from a total stranger raising money for her but who was also very gracious and kind, and asked if she’d be willing to answer some questions.
So, since so many of you joined us in giving Ms. Spry our support, I thought you might like an extended interview wherein Candy and I picked a few issues and asked her to tell us more about her campaign.
Campaign issues
Sarah & Candy ask: According to your site at womenrun.org, over 90,000 South Dakotans are without health care. In a state with 775,000 residents, according to the Census, that’s a sizeable percentage. How did you arrive at that number, and why is there a health care crisis in South Dakota?
Are Native Americans disproportionately hit by this crisis, and if yes, why is that?
Finally, what steps can be taken to improve the situation?
Health Care
90,000 South Dakotans are with out health care coverage, 17,000 are children. This number was obtained in a report in the Rapid City Journal also from the SD Health Dept.
We have a crisis in heath care for many reasons, none that are acceptable. We have a large aging and elderly population. We also have a significant poor and single parent population and of those who live in poverty 1/3 are children. We have one of the highest working women rates in the country. We are a right to work state. Our poverty threshold is at 150%. We are a very rural state and access to health care services requires transportation and travel.
Solutions to our health care crisis would be to have a State Insurance Pool that by being a group (South Dakotans, numbers) those who are insurable and can afford coverage including supplemental coverage could afford to buy it. This would also aid small businesses including agriculture and seasonal industry. It would also give our small population numbers buying power. Because we have an aging population, most seniors live on fixed income and any rise in costs of any kind most affect them and others who have fixed incomes. Medicare has steadily reduced its coverage. An insurance pool would supplement and give many people buying power for care coverage and prescriptions.
Being vastly rural is an issue for accessibility to health care. We need to have incentive to college students who want to go into the health care profession with a pay back of service to health facilities, clinics and hospitals in our rural community and places of need. This would also grow quality jobs for South Dakota from within.
One of the main reasons we have so many working mothers is they must work to provide health insurance for their families by providing either the second income or coverage from their jobs’ benefits. Those in poverty would be best served by a living wage and the poverty threshold being raised to 300%. This would lower the income guidelines and qualify more children and those in need to receive Medicaid. The cost to the state would be $0.30 on the dollar with the state recouping $0.70 on the dollar from Medicaid. This would be a win/win situation for all. We have the ability to address this crisis and there are many other options but we lack the vision and leadership to make it happen.
Abortion
Sarah & Candy ask: What is your stance on abortion? Fully pro-choice? Pro-life with exceptions for rape and incest?
My background is in Family Planning and Education. Womenrun.org has more of my bio information and background. I believe that we must be provided with the most and best knowledge, information, education and support to make life decisions. We need the tools to understand who we are and what our options are for contraception, conception, child birth, our life cycles, life skills and parenting.
We can then make informed decisions for ourselves about whether we want to have children and if we are capable and ready to have children and capable of nurturing, caring, supporting and understanding what life long commitment and responsibility parenting children is based on our own cultures and beliefs and what is right for each woman.
No one else has the right to make your personal decision of who you can and want to be. We would have far fewer abortions if we provided these services and respected our diversity and gender. If you don’t want an abortion then don’t have one. My life decisions are my own and I believe that everyone has that same right. Yes, I’m pro-choice.
Rape and incest are unconscionable criminal acts. These criminal acts need a higher consequence in law and much more effort put into prevention. The decision to birth children from these acts are decisions for the individual women to make themselves.
Education
Sarah & Candy ask: Everyone seems to agree that one of the biggest problems with schools is retaining talented, dedicated teachers. What sorts of incentives/solutions do you have in mind?
South Dakota has one of the lowest paying salaries scales for teachers in the country. Our state legislature refuses to make teacher pay a priority. We are in the top 1/3 of the country for student competency. Pay the teachers. They have proven their worth in South Dakota. The ability to do this is attainable but we need the vision and a supportive legislature to prioritize Education and make it reality.
South Dakota
Sarah & Candy ask: One of the complaints we’ve often heard in the media is that the east and west coasts seem to ignore the middle states. As a political candidate in South Dakota, what issues would you like brought to national attention?
Because of our small population in South Dakota, I feel our contributions to the country are sometimes overlooked. The issues that should have national attention are:
Support of Farmers and Agriculture. The Drought. Poverty in the extreme case and the counties that continue to have disparities that is beyond any in this country. Some of these counties are on the First Nations who have treaties with the United States Government that need to be respected and honored. A living Wage. Bring jobs back to the United States. South Dakota has a future if we are visionary and innovative. Our largest resource is our children and communities; we need to grow South Dakota so they can continue to live and prosper in South Dakota.
Reading
Sarah & Candy ask: When you’re not campaigning for state senate, what books do you enjoy? Could you give us a few titles of books you’ve enjoyed recently?
I am an avid reader. I read a lot of political books, political material and resource material.
I read dailies, weeklies and many magazines. For my enjoyment, I try to stay up on local authors and I love mysteries. Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown and Lillian Braun’s The Cat Who... are favorites. Yes, I also love cats, dogs, kids, friends and family. I may even some time down the road have a book or two in me. Maybe a romance.
Again, My sincerest Thanks for all your support and help.
Theresa Spry, Senate – District 35
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by SB Sarah • Friday, March 31, 2006 at 06:00 AM
Writer’s Unboxed contacted us about doing an interview with the Smart Bitches, and send us really good questions to which we replied with many, many words. Seriously. A lot of words.
Check out the whole interview, if you have, like, two hours, and let us know what you think.
by SB Sarah • Thursday, March 02, 2006 at 08:32 AM
We here at the Smart Bitchery are nosy, nebby ladies, always sticking our big snarky noses into various pieces of the publishing industry, wondering how it all works. All part of our plan for world domination, of course! Or, just domination. Heeyah!
Since one of the hottest topics right now in the publishing industry is the advent of erotica (it was even featured on the front page of Crain’s New York Business, which I cannot link to because it’s registered users only, sob sob) we thought, Hm! Why not ask the toiling editors at Ellora’s Cave all our questions about the erotica industry, what sells, what doesn’t, and, for heaven’s sake, what is UP with those covers?
Editing Masters Heather Osborn and Nick Conrad were kind enough to answer our queries - so read on and enjoy our latest Smart Bitch Interview.
1. Who is Ellora? I’ve looked at your website’s “About EC” and there’s no indication as to the origins of the name, just that your founder had a hard time finding a publisher for her explicitly erotic romance. So who is Ellora? Why are we in her cave in the first place, and where’s the bar?
Heather: Fo’ real? The Ellora Caves are actually real caves in India, believe it or not. The founder of EC, Tina Engler, had a friend who went to India and visited the Ellora Caves. When the time came to name her new company, Tina remembered the caves, which were found to contain Egyptian hieroglyphs (hence the Egyptian theme on the website) and named the company after them. To find out more about the actual caves, check out this site: http://www.tourismofindia.com/hiwhh/elloracaves.htm.
Of course, the sexual innuendo inherent in a name like Ellora’s Cave hasn’t hurt any. And I am still awaiting my executive key to the golden wet bar, so unfortunately I can’t tell you where it is.
2. According to your submission guidelines, you are very clear what is acceptable and what is not (i.e. pedophilia, sex with Earth-dwelling animals - a gifted bit of phrasing, that!). Your litmus test seems to be whether it makes your editors nauseated (or is outside the limit of the law). How much of what you receive pushes your nausea envelope, so to speak, and do you worry about the stability of some of the writers? Or do you find that more of your submissions come from people exploring sexuality and sexual adventure in ways that fall within your admittedly-large limits?
Heather: Actually, we have a pretty equal mix of good bad and indifferent. I would say that nowadays the majority of what we get does fall within our stated requirements, and as for the ones that don’t the major issue is not enough sex. Do we occasionally get in some truly bizarre stuff? Yeah. But speaking for my own experience, I have never truly received a submission that squicked me out in a “pervert” or “pedophile” type of way. Seriously misguided? Yes. But truly demented? No. In fact, the author of one of the weirdest submissions I ever received (an ode to prepubescent sex set in a post apocalyptic, nihilistic world) wrote me one of the most thoughtful, well reasoned responses to my rejection letter that I have ever received.
To break it down to actual numbers I would say about 25% of what we get is blatantly not enough sex to fulfill our minimum requirements. Another 25% is auto-refused due to general poor writing, etc. An additional 25% is seriously misguided as to what constitutes romance and/or hot sex. The remaining 25% is what we have to go through in order to find new authors.
2.5. If this question is unanswerable, feel free to disregard it, but can you tell us about some of the submissions you’ve had that really worked for you, and the ones that were so scary they made you want to hide under your desk and go work for Disney?
Heather: Obviously I will answer this quite vaguely, but still try to give you the juice, LOL.
Some of the best submissions I have received are by authors that I bought and edited (duh!). My first offered contract for EC was a book called Hot in the City: French Quarter by Lacey Alexander. Hot hot hot!!! My most recent purchase is a book called Enchanted by new-to-EC author Anna J. Evans. (Coming soon!) Other favorites include the Tales of the Shareem series by Allyson James and To Trust a Wolf by Kate Steele. Actually, this question is gonna get me in a lot of trouble, because I want to list ALL of my authors’ books! In the interest of being (somewhat) brief I will stop here, but keep in mind that I would never offer a contract on a book that I don’t like. I love *all* my authors!
As for the scary? Where do I begin? With the human-dolphin love story we received a few months ago? (Notice I didn’t say Were-dolphin? Yeah. Actual dolphin.) With the extremely macabre story that opened with the heroine’s dead baby bobbing down the river in front of her? With the extremely romantic story that featured a pre-teen boy becoming sexually involved with his 5 aunts? Or the now-infamous book that featured a former porn star turned pastor and the male co-star who comes to bring her back into the “biz”? These are but a few of the submissions that have made the EC editors hall of fame.
3. What’s the occupational hazard of reading all that sex all the time? Does it start to dull your sexual sensibilities, or does it heighten your own personal life in any way? If my job was to read erotica all day, I’m not sure what it would do to me!
Heather: Interesting question! I do think that editing nothing but erotic romance can tend to dull your senses after a while. I find myself growing a bit jaded or complacent with the more “vanilla” sex scenes in some of my authors’ works. I have to continually remind myself that not everything has to be hardcore in terms of sexual content. Not everything has to have kink. I know I have heard some authors complaining about what they consider the requisite elements of an erotic romance nowadays – that is, a touch of BDSM, an anal scene, some toys. The truth is, I believe strongly that there is still room for wonderfully hot, fairly vanilla sex in erotic romance. A hot scene is a hot scene, no matter what is being done in it!
If I feel I am getting burned out on erotic romance I make an effort to read different things in my personal life. I am currently buzzing through a ton of science fiction and fantasy. I just read Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur – great book, crap cover. (I just think if you are going to put a new author straight into hardcover you should give her a bangin’ cover.) I also re-read The Compass Rose and read The Barbed Rose by Gail Dayton – polyamory and magic…mmmm. I am currently reading Working for the Devil by Lilith Saintcrow. It is AWEsome. Books like these help me to cleanse my palate, so to speak, and return refreshed to the spicy stuff!
As to how editing erotic romance affects my personal life, as I am currently single, not a helluva lot! Although I am learning plenty of tricks for future use, hehehe…
Nick: I had actually wondered, when I took on this job, if such would be the case. I, too, find myself yawning a bit at vanilla scenes now and again even if they’re well-written, but really I think that a good, engaging story helps to boost the fun factor of these scenes. If you’re becoming emotionally involved with the characters, then the sex packs a bigger punch than if it’s got boot-knocking every three pages. And, of course, it’s important to keep the characters emotionally connected with what they’re doing. We don’t just want to see them going through the motions, we want to know how good it feels.
4. In an article in Crain’s New York Business this week (Feb 20-26), the writer raises the possibility that “With all these titles flooding bookstores, some industry insiders worry that overheated readers may soon get worn out.” What do you see as the future of erotica- is it a trend, a flash in the pan (ha) or long term addition to the romance market? Do you think the erotica market can sustain it’s own height? Ha ha!)?
Heather: Well, let’s just say that I think there is no use shutting the barn door on erotic romance. That horse done run off.
I do not view erotic romance as a flash in the pan or merely a trend. I *do* see it as an extremely hot commodity right now, though, and like any genre going through a hugely popular upswing, you are going to see a lot of authors jumping on the bandwagon, some for good (very good!) and some…not so good. Remember the Romantic Suspense bandwagon of a few years ago? I am still heartbroken when I think of how many awesome historical authors made the (ill-advised) switch to Romantic Suspense.
But, like any “it” genre, there will eventually be a cooling point. When the readers begin to glom onto a new trend and stop buying every Erotic Romance title out there, that is when Darwin will kick in. The companies putting out the highest quality stuff, the stuff the readers want to read – those companies will stay in the game while others will fall by the wayside. Do I foresee a stockmarket crash for the erotic romance industry? No. But I do know that there will come a time when it will not be the hot new kid on the block, and when that happens, only the strong will survive. (And good LAWD, could I add any more clichés to this answer? Nah, don’t think so…)
Nick: With as long as the romance novel has been popular even before the advent of erotic romance, I find it hard to believe that (good) sex will ever sell out.
5. And finally… Covers! Seriously. I’m asking with a straight face. Is there any effort on the part of EC to revamp the cover production now that other major publishers with big marketing and art budgets are creating erotica imprints to compete with the large slice of the readership that EC has been enjoying? I am sure that using computer-generated images has been a major factor in EC’s success, and particularly in the large portion of royalties you are able to offer your authors. Is there any effort to move away from the Poser figures to other images for the book covers?
Heather: Yes, EC has revamped its cover procedures significantly since making the move towards print. One of the first things we were advised by Borders and Waldenbooks was that we should keep the covers somewhat toned down. Not puritanical, but not in your face sex-ay. We started changing covers a bit to reflect the new standard. Things like no butt crack, no hands cupping breasts, and no explicit sexual positions.
As far as computer generated art (poser people, as non-fans call it), we have always had a mix of photo covers as well as digital. Contemporary books, Romantic Suspense, etc, have most often been given photo covers. Digital art is most often used for fantasy, science fiction, and paranormal covers. Let’s face it, it is hard to find good quality photos of aliens.
Currently we are making more of an effort to move away from digital art, as, based on feedback from Borders, we have heard that the vast majority of store managers, etc, do not like so-called “poser eyes” – the scary dead face look you can sometimes get with digital art. The ultimate goal is to get our books into readers’ hands, and if that takes some modification of cover procedure then we will do it.
6. Tell me your opinion of the covers. Honestly. What do you think of them - do they hurt sales, or are readers eager for erotica that they’ll ignore whatever is on the front?
Heather: Honestly? I think there are some truly, truly horrifying covers out there. Scary man-titty filled covers. Frightening dead Barbie covers. Horrifying mutant crotch pouch covers. BUT. For every horrific digital cover there are some equally great ones out there. Some of my personal favorites from EC? Fetish by Sherri L. King, art by Darrell King. Pleasure Raiders (Anthology) art by Syneca. Master of Desire by Lacey Alexander, art by Christine Clavel. Flame of Shadows by Sahara Kelly, art by Phillip Fuller.
As far as whether or not they hurt sales, hell yes, the wrong cover can obliterate sales. But at EC, the wrong cover does not necessarily mean a bad poser cover. One of the worst cover responses we ever got at EC was from a book that had a symbol on the cover. A nice, subtle, tactful symbol. It tanked. (And has long since been redone, so no use trying to find it, LOL.) Readers HATED the fact that the cover wasn’t blatantly sexy or erotic. They wanted, god help them, MAN TITTY. And they more than proved it to us with their pocketbooks.
(Nick: One of my authors once requested a cover with the hero wearing a shirt that was open to the waist and the heroine wearing a dress that was open on the sides from ’pit to pelvis. The artist emailed us and explained that there was too much clothing.)
Heather: It is important to keep in mind that for every cover you absolutely, eye-gougingly hate, there is someone who loves it. I occasionally have received covers for my authors’ books that I hated with a burning, burning passion. Ugly with a capital UG. I would send them off to the author and hope for the best, and invariably the author would e-mail me, absolutely THRILLED with their magnificent cover. What I abhorred, they adored.
7. What are some of the bestselling themes/subjects for EC--BDSM? Ménage? Paranormal?
Heather: Top selling genres for EC are BDSM, Vampire, Werewolf, Science Fiction, Ménage, and Romantic Suspense. And an up-and-coming genre that we are eagerly acquiring is m/m erotic romance, as well as m/m/f ménage.
8. How do you feel about the erotic romance/erotica = porn for women issue? Do you think it’s an accurate assessment? Again, from the Crain’s article: “There’s always been a successful male version of this, whether it’s Playboy magazine or erotic DVDs,” says Liate Stehlik, publisher of Avon Books, which last week announced the launch of its Avon Heat line of erotic romances and erotica. “This is the female answer.”
Heather: Another tricky question. I think to simplify this to erotic romance = porn for women is to do a major disservice to the talent and skill involved in telling a great story. Good erotic romance is not merely an endless parade of sex separated by a few minor scenes of action or dialogue. (Although I have certainly read this version of erotic romance, I often find myself angered by it. IMO, it is not so much hot as it is desensitizing. After 200 plus pages of explicitly described sex I am bored and most definitely NOT in the mood, LOL.) Good erotic romance is a well told story with great characters, a well thought out plot, and plenty of hot sex.
Do I think there is an element of sexual titillation and fulfillment that comes with reading erotic romance? Of course. But this sexual fulfillment must be added to the emotional fulfillment you already achieve from reading a well written romance. Erotic ROMANCE should encompass all of the wonderful elements of a romance while adding the erotic element. It should seamlessly blend together. This is extremely easy to lose sight of, and is something I always strive to remind myself as well as my authors.
An interesting thing I have noted with some of the newer New York lines of erotic romance is that many seem to be going out of their way to de-emphasize the romance in their lines. I have heard many of the editors for these lines speak at conferences about how the books’ endings don’t necessarily need to be happy or end in committed relationship/s. To do that, IMO, is to ignore the very foundation of what made, and continues to make, EC a huge success. When readers buy books from EC they absolutely, positively KNOW that they will be buying a hot, explicit LOVE story. One that will have a happy ending. To ignore such a fundamental rule of romance and yet still market your line to romance readers? Well, we’ll see how that works out!
Nick: And, too, Crain’s is using the typical male-as-default-gender paradigm. Just because a genre appeals predominantly to women doesn’t mean it has to be the counterpart to a “man thing” (heh heh, “man thing”). Women want a good story and they want some interspersed hotness. That just all there is to it.
9. Have you faced any flak from anti-porn groups now that many of your titles are carried in brick-and-mortar bookstores where OMG IT CAN CORRUPT OUR CHILDREN IF THEY SO MUCH AS READ THE WORD PENIS?
Heather: Actually we have not. And we would desperately like to keep it that way!
10. Any good nutty fan- or hate-mail to share?
Heather: Hmmm, none that I have received personally – the authors would be the best ones to ask for this! I will say that here in our offices, we have received plenty of requests for catalogs from penitentiaries across the United States, as well as some…truly creative (and handwritten in pencil) submissions from inmates.
Nick: The ones written in pencil on the backs of letters from Mom are my personal favorites.
11. What kind of a role do you think erotica/erotic romance plays in the empowerment of women, if you think it plays any sort of a role at all?
Heather: Hmmm, another tough question. I think the popularity of erotic romance certainly helps to illustrate just how far women have come in accepting and embracing their own sexuality. Sexual liberation and empowerment walking hand in hand. I also think it is truly interesting that along with erotic romance, the other romance genre that is currently booming is Inspirational Romance. Polar opposites, indeed!
Nick: And not only does it illustrate this sexual liberation on a large scale, I think it enables it in individual readers. Women are reading erotic romance and getting bolder about their own personal limits for what they think and want sexually. We hear from readers who say that they share our books with their partners and get ideas for later. Heck, I have an author who routinely dedicates her books to her husband for dutifully serving as a test dummy.
by SB Sarah • Tuesday, February 21, 2006 at 06:17 PM
Here at the Smart Bitchery, I have a surprise for Smart Bitch Candy - she doesn’t know I’m posting this, so this entry is part interview-with-wicked-cool-author, and part “Can Sarah hear Candy squee from Portland to New York?”
We are most pleased to present an interview with one of our favorite romance authors, Laura Kinsale, who was kind enough to answer our questions on craft, hedgehogs, and Google’s Library project.
1. You are often discussed on our site among the company of “writers who do romance brilliantly but very differently.” Do you think you have a unique view of romance?
Thanks for the compliment! I think the driving force behind my books is not so much my view of romance as it it my penchant to become easily bored. So I tend to create characters that have some odd quirks, I guess, or to put a hero and heroine together who don’t have much in common. Then it’s a challenge to figure out what they might give one another in an emotional sense. Once I have a challenge, then I can stay interested in what happens.
2. New book! Details! Please!
After I finished SHADOWHEART, long before it was on the shelves and there was any controversy among readers about it, I’d already decided that I wanted to do a much lighter book this time. So I’ve pulled a complete 180--if books have family ties, the THE LUCKY ONE is a first cousin to MIDSUMMER MOON and a very distant relation of SHADOWHEART. I wanted to revisit some of the character styles that I’ve enjoyed in the past--what I think of as “hedgehog humor.” It’s a regency setting. The hero is a feckless French emigre and the heroine is a wallflower who’s been jilted three times. Her greatest desire is to win the silver cup at the agricultural fair with her gigantic prize bull, Hubert. This doesn’t turn out to be quite a simple as it would seem. First they have to get Hubert out of the kitchen.
Now...as to the next question, when it’s coming out…
The short answer is, I don’t know. ;)
The longer answer is, publishers seem to have expected a “dark” book from me, and THE LUCKY ONE is light-hearted. While I received several offers, none were what I was looking for, and mostly focused beyond that manuscript on contracting for another book from me. I’m not prepared to sign for another (unwritten) book yet, although I’m working on my next one. Once I’m well into it, I may feel comfortable signing onto another deadline.
Now, before this information starts another one of those Woe and Doom discussions out there on the net because “even Laura Kinsale can’t sell a book,” I’ll add a little perspective. I had offers for the manuscript that most people would consider to amount to a nice annual salary. They weren’t bad offers at all. But for my own particular reasons, I didn’t accept.
Right now I write because I want to write, not simply to sell. I’ve found that is the only way I can continue to do it. Naturally publishers have an entirely different perspective. Who could blame them? What makes sense to me now is to create a small backlog of work, so that I have books that can be published on industry schedules without putting me into driven deadline mode.
3. In your LLB interview from 2003, you mentioned that reading fiction now is like trying to watch a movie after you’ve been involved in the process too long. You lose sight of the forest for the individual knowledge of the lighting, the sound, the craft. Is that still true?
It’s pretty much still true.
4. I love your animal sidekicks, and how they often play an integral role in the story. One of my all-time favorites is Merlin’s pet hedgehog in Midsummer Moon, who literally helps save the day. Why a hedgehog?
The ducks were busy. ;P
5. Another animal question: your books have featured dogs, a wolf, a penguin, a pig, a ferret, several horses, a parrot, a falcon, sharks, a hedgehog--and the new one features a prize bull. In short, everything but a cat. Why no cats?
There are cats in my books!
6. A lot of writers write with soundtracks in their heads, and for The Lucky One, you mention that Alison Krauss’ The Lucky One was an inspiration. Do other books of yours feature musical inspirations?
I’m a musical barbarian; I know nothing much about it and I’m always years behind the curve on what’s popular. I sometimes listen to a lot of my oldies but goodies while I write and occasionally as a book goes along, some song will strike me and perhaps have a small influence, but this is usually pretty limited. That said, a reader told me about a song she’d heard that reminded her of THE DREAM HUNTER. So I went out and got hold of it (Desert Rose by Sting) and now I Swear.To.God that he read that book and then wrote that song! (The song is more recent than the book, hey.) It is a perfect match. Anyone who really liked TDH, especially the desert part, should listen to it.
So I guess maybe that’s musical inspiration in reverse. Or just acoincidence, but I can dream. ;)
7. Tell us how you feel about the Google Library project. Let us have it with both barrels, baby.
Both barrels, you say? I have no objection to the Google project beyond that fact that they intend to do it without permission from the copyright holders. Google does not have the right to profit from copying works which are owned by someone else. They whine that it would be “too difficult” to find the copyright owners, but somehow it’s not too hard to scan the entire body of published literature. And it’s not like the U.S. copyright office has an unlisted phone number. Google claims they are offering an “opt out” of the project, but just try to find out how to opt out as an author. Apparently only publishers can “opt out” as far as I can determine from spending hours that I didn’t have to spare in trying to find something about it on their site. If you are an author, you are instructed to “contact your publisher” in order to opt out. So again, the burden is on me to figure who in a couple of different publishing companies would happen to be in charge of this, and it’s fairly likely that nobody is. So there would be a lot of calls and e-mails and nothing would happen but a big waste of my time, thanks to Google’s laziness in not bothering to find ME, the copyright holder, the person who spent years writing the stuff, to ask my permission to copy MY work for THEIR financial gain (or more likely their deliberate decision to make it difficult so that I won’t bother--a scheme that is succeeding quite well.) On top of that, in order to opt-out, you are required to submit PROOF that you are the copyright owner! So here I am, having to come up with documentation that I own my own copyright so I can stop Google from infringing on it without my permission.
So yeah, I think Google is looking for a nice free ride while spouting a lot of high-falutin’ rhetoric about how this is going to increase authors’ sales--which is the equivalent of someone breaking into my house, looking over my stuff and proclaiming that it would be worth something at a garage sale. If I don’t happen to want to sell it, they’ll just take it and put it in a garage sale for me, and tell me it’s in my own best interest because it will make money for me. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t--I see no particular proof that someone happening across one of my books in a search engine would make them rush out and buy it new. If Google wants to create a searchable library of literary works, they can take the time and effort to get permission from the owners of those works. Just because something is a slight inconvenience doesn’t make it legal. If this is so great for authors, they’ll be flocking to get their books scanned in.
The Authors Guild, in conjunction with a number of publishers, has filed suit to require Google to obtain the necessary permission to copy protected works.
by SB Sarah • Monday, August 15, 2005 at 11:52 AM
We, the Smart Bitches Candy and Sarah, are proud to present the first in what we hope will be a series of interviews regarding the romance world, and who better to start with than Gayle Wilson, President-Elect of Romace Writers of America.
We asked Ms. Wilson a few questions, addressing recent events and other Very Important Issues, and here are her erudite answers, though she asks that we clarify that she is answering for herself, and not as a spokesperson for the RWA. We Smart Bitches love it when people are willing to speak for themselves, so welcome and thank you, Gayle, for being our first interview!
1. We read your apology and our readers thought it was a very appropriate response. What do you have to say to angered members of RWA who are still very upset regarding the recent decisions of the RWA, aside from the awards ceremony (e.g. the graphical standards policy, the survey of what constitutes romance)? What would you like to say to members who are outraged at the overall direction the organization seems to have taken?
Please understand that I am not the official spokesperson for RWA. What I say here is only the opinion of one member in good standing, albeit one who attends a lot of board meetings.
I believe that one of the biggest problems this year has been our failure to communicate promptly and appropriately with our members. In some cases, like the definition of romance controversy, the board was considering areas in which our financial resources should not be committed. For example, should RWA provide space at our conferences for publishers who don’t publish romance, and if so, how do we define “romance”? In this instance, because we evidently didn’t make that motive perfectly clear to members, some of them came to believe that the board was trying to shut them out of RWA. On the graphical standards issue the board was trying to protect the organization from having extremely graphic ads in our publications that we were told might trigger postal regulations requiring different and expensive packaging for our magazine. In that case, the board’s decision was rushed because we didn’t have complete and accurate information. As soon as we received that, we suspended the standards until a member committee could consider whether there was a need for them.
I personally believe that if the members had been immediately informed of the whys and wherefores of some of the decisions made this year, much of the current distrust would not exist. The board is made up of people who truly have RWA’s best interests at heart. We have, however, made mistakes. We regret them, and we have learned from them. I know that simply saying that will not reassure outraged members, but I hope that by our future actions we can restore the trust that was damaged this year. That’s one of my major goals.
2. Aside from the pressure of addressing decisions made by a previous board, what are your goals for the RWA? What key areas do you feel need to be addressed?
We need to get a handle on the innovations in technology, both for our own uses within the organization (such as the new software mentioned below) and so that we can understand the changes taking place within the industry. We have a new five-year strategic plan which addresses the need for us to be cognizant not only of what’s happening now, but of what looms on the horizon. It also acknowledges that we need better communication with our membership, more education in the form of contract reviews and analyses to help them in their career choices, and perhaps even a for-profit subsidiary to provide them with services we can’t provide under our current tax status. And *please* take note that we are only studying the feasibility and advisability of the latter right now. It may not work out, but again, as an organization we must always be thinking ahead of the curve.
As writers, we’re living in a period of tremendous change in terms of technology, both in publication and distribution. At the same time we seem to be facing an ever-shrinking market for print material of all kinds. Society is rapidly evolving in terms of leisure pastimes. The movie industry is facing some of the same problems we face. Frankly, it’s going to be challenging to continue the great success romance has traditionally enjoyed, but we’re dedicated to doing the best we can to see that happens.
3. Based on reader and author comments, some people are concerned that there’s a communication disconnect between the Board and the rank-and-file members. Do you think there’s a communication issue? If yes, what do you think can be done to address these issues? Would an interactive website that allows members to track issues and proposals be an option?
I think we absolutely must communicate better, and that’s one of our primary goals for next year. We need to use Chaplink, our chapter presidents’ loop, to get information to members quickly through their chapter leaders. We need to use that loop to solicit ideas, as well. The presidents have their ears to the ground, to use a cliché, and they often know what members are concerned about before we do. Communication should always run both ways, and often, as in any organization, people don’t write the board until we’ve upset them. In addition to that, the board definitely needs to do a better job of explaining the reasoning behind decisions and of letting members see, at the very least, the most compelling information we consider when we make them.
The idea of an interactive website might be possible with the new software the organization has just purchased. That will be up and running in January, I believe, after all members of the staff have been trained in its use. The software can track committees and their charges and even allow committee chairs to upload their own reports. The office is excitedly trying to figure out all the ways in which the software can make information gathering, storage and dispersal easier and more useful to the organization. I’m very hopeful about its possibilities.
4. Romance genre question: In your opinion, is there room at the table for erotic romance? Gay/lesbian romance?
In my opinion, it’s a very big table. Our market share is the envy of every other genre, and I think that’s *because* of our diversity. Within romance, we literally have something for everyone’s tastes. Besides, as the board said in our statement at conference: The organization doesn’t define the genre; the genre defines the organization. And the genre is vibrant and growing and evolving.
Romance Writers of America is the largest writers’ group in the world because we have always been inclusive. Personally, I would not want us to be any other way. I know that most of my fellow board members feel the same way. When someone joins RWA, we ask them to acknowledge that they are pursuing a career in romance writing. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t free to write in other genres as well. As an organization, we must be concerned with serving the needs of our core membership—those who *are* actively pursuing a career in romance--but we certainly aren’t out to deny to any of our members the incredible array of services that attract so many writers to this group.
5. Recently, some members (including Jenny Crusie) have expressed concern about the public image of the RWA, and some readers of ours have described the inner workings using terms such as “the ladies having tea, the cat-fighting, the country club snobbery.” Others are concerned about the potential decline in credibility after the recent Board’s decisions to address cover art and the definition of romance. Do you agree that the public image is tarnished, and, if so, how would you go about addressing this?
I would hate to think that our image has been tarnished. I think most of these issues were within the membership, but I admit that when there are multiple internal issues, the controversy does begin to spill out into the industry and possibly into the public domain. The internet has some effect on that with the popularity of blogging. Authors talk about their concerns in their blogs and readers, editors, and publishers pick up on them. The days of keeping the organization’s business known only to the organization’s membership are over. But then that’s true for any organization.
“Cat fighting” and “ladies having tea” seem contradictions in terms to me. I don’t believe most of us in RWA engage in those or in snobbery either. In all honesty, most of us are too busy trying to keep abreast of changes in our industry and in making a living.
As far as addressing the image of romance, tarnished or not, I think we continue to do what we’ve done for the last ten years. We publicize our market share, our diversity, and the incredible successes of our members. We’ve just renewed the academic grant program for another year, and I think that will eventually pay big dividends in the area of image outside the community. We’ve made huge strides in the last few years in letting people know the positives of romance. We just have to continue to work as hard as we have been to spread that message.
6. Why do you think romance art departments think we want to read books with covers featuring men whose breasts are bigger than ours?
LOL. I think you’d better direct that question to the art departments. (Hey, something RWA can’t be blamed for! )
7. Most important question: what are you reading right now? Who are your favorite “auto-buy*” authors and what genres are your favorites? (*An auto-buy author is someone whose books you buy automatically with no inspection of the plot. You already know it’s going to be good.)
Right now, I’m mostly reading e-mails
I really wish I had more time to read more. Before I began writing, I read probably 5-20 books a week, depending on whether it was summer (when I wasn’t teaching) or during the school term. Now, being on the Board of Directors, trying to write, meeting family obligations—well, you all know that drill. Also, after sitting at the computer all day, manipulating my own words and characters and plot, I find that I don’t grab a book to relax into as readily as I once did. It’s harder to get into someone else’s story after being so immersed in mine.
That said, my all-time favorite author is Dorothy Dunnett, who wrote historical fiction and contemporary British mysteries. The six books that make up her Lymond Chronicles and King Hereafter are my comfort reads. I’ve probably read each a dozen times.
In romance, I read very widely. Of course, I have favorite authors and favorite themes and friends who are auto-buys. If I start to name them, however, I’m bound to leave someone out. I know you don’t want me to cause hard feelings.
I also read straight mysteries—people like James Lee Burke, Elizabeth George, and James Patterson. I like Gene Wolfe in Science Fiction, although I’m not perfectly sure that’s the right genre for what he does. I read horror by people like Koontz and King. Sometimes I just get on a reading kick because of a movie I see or an article I read. For example, I read the Hornblower series by Forester because of the A&E movies with Ioan Gruffud. So…I’m actually a pretty equal opportunity reader, but romance is always my first love.
