by SB Sarah • Thursday, October 30, 2008 at 01:10 AM
While I was wandering around at RWA National in San Francisco this year, I ended up helping set up one of the lunches and placing books on chairs for the free giveaway. After the many, many mini piles of books were distributed, I found myself chatting with The Super Secret Behind The Scenes Staff of RWA National. You might have recognized them by their really spiffy teal blue cardigans, or by the tired and somewhat exhausted expressions some wore at the end (conferences are hard to manage, y’all. I’ve been there, done that, and have much empathy).
One of the most interesting conversations I had at RWA this year was with Carol Ritter, who kicks ass and takes names. Literally. That’s her job. So I begged for an interview.
All those who say that RWA doesn’t do enough for authors and those aspiring to be so, please take note of Carol Ritter. Srsly.
Can you tell me a bit about your job at RWA, the responsibilities involved, and the more challenging aspects?
Carol: I am the Professional Relations Manager at RWA. At the moment my job responsibilities include reviewing contracts submitted by Publishing companies and Literary Agents, gathering monthly market updates from same and maintaining updated information on RWA’s website and RWR magazine. Adding new Publishers and Agents to the RWA Recognized Agent list, RWA Eligible Publisher and RWA non-Subsidy, non-Vanity list. Prior to adding any new company or agent to the list I review contracts, company information, etc. I apply RWA’s definitions for recognized agent, eligible publisher and non-Subsidy, non-Vanity publishers to the company to determine if they should be on the list. I also check our files for any previous history that might preclude a company or agent from being on the list.
I process formal complaints submitted by RWA members. Formal complaints must be within RWA’s purview. For example we can handle a complaint filed against a publishing company that is not paying royalties correctly, but cannot handle complaints against a company that is allowing less than professional behavior to occur, like name calling, etc. We would hope that authors and industry professionals conduct their business in a professional manner, but it is not RWA’s role to police those relationships. We only process complaints that involve contract violations.
At the moment I report the complaints we have processed (in general terms) with interested members, but our plan is to add a column to our Market Update sections on the website that will indicate if a complaint has been filed against a company, with a clickable link that will then open a window that will explain the basic nature of the complaint and if the company resolved the complaint or not. We are not going to say “don’t do business with this company”, but we will give the member more information to consider before they engage in a relationship with a company.
I also review applications for the PAN (Published Author’s Network) membership. I manage the anti-piracy program at RWA. This involves reviewing websites, locating contact information and adding the site to the RWA list on our website. And finally, I am the 2009 RITA and Golden Heart Contest coordinator.
When we spoke in San Francisco and you were telling me some of your war stories, I was really impressed with your laid back but utterly pugnacious attitude when defending author rights in contracts. You told me then that you come from the Better Business Bureau - how has your experience there helped you in dealing with publishing houses?
Carol: I worked for the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Houston for 9 years. As the Vice-President of Operations and Bureau Standards I was responsible for the Dispute Resolution department. The Houston BBB handled about 25,000 complaints per year. The complaints had to be vetted against the BBB’s standards. The BBB could not handle complaints against private individuals, or labor issues, malpractice, etc.
This background in complaint resolution has been helpful at preparing for my job at RWA. It taught me to remain neutral and ask the next question, to gain all of the facts of a situation prior to processing a complaint. I learned at the BBB to remove all of the passion and anger from a complaint and to consider the facts.
Understanding the nuances of a contract is especially helpful. I learned early on that a contract is a roadmap for a relationship. It spells out the expectations and requirements. At RWA I review publishing contracts both for new publishing companies that want to be on our lists and contracts in complaints. At the BBB I also learned how to dig for information and this has been helpful in dealing with anti-piracy.
If you could give advice to authors and aspiring writers dealing with a publisher or contract from a publisher, what would it be?
Carol: First and foremost READ the contract. Every word of it! If there are parts of the contract you do not understand then ask for help. Find a literary attorney, invest in their services for a couple of hours and ask for a review of the contract and explanations for anything you don’t understand. Do not sign anything that you do not understand or makes you uncomfortable. Hopefully you will have an agent to help negotiate a contract. The agent should be looking out for you.
Be careful in how much you grant in rights to your work. Read the option clause and make sure it is specific and does not bind you or your future works forever. You should not be expected to pay for editing, production or promotion of your work.
I learned a long time ago to do my homework prior to any major purchase. Yes, I’m one of those people that read Consumer Reports before I buy a car (or washer and dryer). I check the BBB to see if a company has complaints. I go to the Internet and read as much as possible before buying or signing a contract. I think that aspiring writers and authors should do the same before submitting their work. Research the company. If it is a publishing company that you are not familiar purchase a book from them. Was the book delivered in a timely manger, how did the book look? Pay attention to the editing. If you are a member of an RWA chapter ask your fellow members what they know about a company. Research is a good thing.
What changes would you like to see in the publishing world?
Carol: I would like to see the publishing industry go after the file-sharing or pirate sites in a big way. When you go to the movies they play an anti-theft commercial for movies industry. It would be great if they included something about books. I honestly think that many of the people who are making books available on line for free (or the people downloading the books) do not realize they are breaking the law. I think that they see it as different from the illegal downloads of music, movies or games. So education should be a big part of whatever the publishing industry does.
Thank you very much to Carol for taking the time to answer my nosy questions, and for the kicking of ass and taking of names. Good on you.
by SB Sarah • Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 01:15 AM
From Gail Dayton comes this amazing link to Joni Rodgers, the free book lady down in Galveston.
Since there’s some sort of election going on right now and the media is saturated with nothing having to do with the Galveston area, Gail has filled me in:
Galveston does have one advantage over New Orleans--it’s a sandbar, not a bowl. The water came up, and the water went down again.... However, houses all over town took on anywhere from one foot to 10 feet of water, depending on where they were and how high the house was elevated. (We have a LOT of the “house on stilts” houses.) The houses across the street from us weren’t damaged, but the houses right behind them were devastated. Bricks knocked off the walls, holes in the walls, etc. Behind the seawall, it’s really hit or miss as to what was damaged and what wasn’t. The seawall worked as it was intended.
But the damage is unspeakable.
On the west end, beyond the seawall (2/3 of the island’s length) it depends on the building standards used in building the houses, and how close the houses were to the beach. A lot of the front row houses are nothing but foundations. Up on Bolivar Peninsula, across the ferry ride to the north, there were no building standards. And the roughest winds and waves hit there. There are places there with nothing left, including foundations… Whole neighborhoods scraped clean.
There are still around 20 people missing who tried to ride out the storm. About a dozen drowning victims have already been found in the debris fields on places like Goat Island and Pelican Island. Some of those debris fields are 30 feet high and cover about 30 acres, of trees and house pilings and boats and furniture and ... crud.
The destruction, she says, is so huge and so much everywhere you look, it’s no wonder people flocked to the free book lady to escape into anything to read. I especially like her enticing that young boy by telling him she had books that would scare him witless. Since the library in Galveston flooded completely, the free book lady may be one of the few sources of books:
One of the things that got flooded in Hurricane Ike was the Rosenberg library, which is close to downtown. They lost their entire children’s collection, which was on the ground floor. Not just books, but all the DVDs and chairs and finger puppets and everything. And since they don’t even have shelves to put the books on, they’re not in any shape to take donations of books. If y’all can spare a few dollars--even just five--that would get them closer to being able to put books back on the shelves. You can visit the library website at http://www.rosenberg-library.org to learn more, and they have a donation button right there. Or you can send a donation to Rosenberg Library, 2310 Sealy Avenue, Galveston, TX 77550 which is fully tax-deductible up to the maximum allowed by IRS regulations.
With the economy in a solid downturn, charities are going to feel it hard this winter, especially around the holidays when people who would normally give won’t be able to as much. But as any not-for-profit can tell you, even $5 makes a difference when many, many people spare that $5.
So what’s your charity of choice, book related or not? And are you in the Galveston area? What news do you have?
by SB Sarah • Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 01:04 PM
I was asked to guest blog over at the League of Reluctant Adults this week, as they’re hosting a Halloween celebration of sorts. I dug into my notes from the writing of The Smart Bitch Book and revealed some minutes from the ICH, the International Consortium of Heroes, Vampire Division.
Enjoy. And see if you can catch the hidden joke in there.
by SB Sarah • Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 08:12 AM
As a happy proponent of the Kindle-Ade, I mention frequently how much I love it. But then, I’m also someone who saved up to buy it for weeks because I had a healthy lust for it, and knew it would make reading, which is not an optional activity for me, easier and more portable. So I had a good period of anticipation before I jumped in to the tune of more than the device is currently selling for, and I was honestly very worried that my experience wouldn’t measure up to the amount of money I paid for it. It has measured up, and I’m glad that I did, but let it be known: $400 is a LOT of freaking money. $305 is also a lot of freaking money. I kept my receipt for the Kindle and double-checked the return policy because I was worried that it wouldn’t be worth it for me.
But I’m one of those people for whom reading purchases are not optional. I do visit the library, and I do borrow from friends, but I always have a book with me, purchased or borrowed, and I will sooner cut the cable in half and cut other parts of my budget than go without books. Those are, of course, my wonky priorities, and as the economy takes an express train for Shitsville, population OMG, a lot of people around me are taking a look at their expenditures and wondering what better could be done with our money as the value of it shrinks like a virgin’s protests under the punishing kisses of your nearest Greek billionaire tycoon.
So this article from The Motley Fool’s blog in which Tim Beyers takes Oprah Winfrey to task for hawking the Kindle on her recent show, particularly for recommending it in part because,
“...it’s expensive in these times, but it’s not frivolous because it will pay for itself,” she told her audience. “The books are much cheaper, and you’re saving paper.”
Ok, I’m with Beyers: pays for itself? Yeah, not exactly. Kindle books are cheaper than hardcover but they aren’t always “cheap.” Yes, you’re saving paper, and yes, ebooks and the small publishers who are devoted to them (Hi Sam! How’s your Hain?) are fanshittingtastic, but pays for itself? Come on now, and I mean it. It’s an indulgence.
I am personally not crazy about Beyer’s recommendation that with the same $305 folks should buy stock in Phillip Morris International (Yes! And take up smoking, too!) so as to better fund retirement and make a small profit off that $300 investment, but he makes a rather sharp pointy argument (watch where you’re waving that thing) when he writes:
With apologies to comedian Bill Maher, what we need, Oprah, is a new rule: No more dispensing financial advice on your show. At least not until you cut the consumerism—specifically, until you realize that an electronic book reader is optional for the great majority of us who carry credit card debt. Send your viewers to their local libraries instead.
Hear, hear. Libraries - that offer ebooks for lending, perhaps?!
by SB Sarah • Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 01:18 AM
Our Grade:
Title: Unleashed
Author: Lori Borrill
Publication Info: Harlequin Blaze November 2008, ISBN: 0373794347
Genre: Contemporary Romance
It’s rare that I read a category romance that doesn’t come from Jane, who is the source for all categorical recommendations. But it’s even more rare that she recommends a category to me AFTER I’ve read it and can then reply and say, “OMG. LOVE.”
Whee!
So I don’t make the mistake of forgetting the plot summary, here you go: California purse designer Jessica Beane is on the cusp of major design fame when she picks up Rick Marshall, a hot cop with murky depths of emotional pain, for a one night stand. Their morning after turns into a road trip from San Francisco to Reno then to Texas, during which she learns to depend on people and trust someone to take care of her, and he learns that moving on to find happiness and joy doesn’t equal betrayal. Plus they have frequent hot sex. Like damn.
In order to appreciate what I enjoyed most about this book, I invite you to eavesdrop on my inner monologue, which is absurdly active when I am reading.
Sarah’s inner monologue: Oh, no. The heroines creepy ass ex-con ex-husband is outside. On a cell phone. Stalking her after he followed her home from the bar at which she totally picked up the hero for a hot one night stand and .... great. She’s going to act like an idiot and not do anything to help herself despite said one-night-stand being a cop. He’s a cop! He’s right there! Go wake him up! Nooooooooo.
Lori Borrill: HA! I thwart your assumption that my heroine is TSTL!
Rick Marshall: (after heroine has explained everything that happened after she ran out of his apartment while he was still sleeping, including creepy-ass ex)
“So let me make sure I understand this.” Rick’s voice was slow and deliberate as he stopped pacing and stood ominously before her. “Your husband—”
“Ex-husband.”
“—is released from jail, crosses three state lines in violation of his parole, threatens and harasses you while standing out on the street—” Then he paused and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “And not once did you consider waking up the police officer sleeping in the room next to you?”
Sarah’s inner monologue: He calls her on it! He totally calls her on it! Go Hero Dude!
Lori Borrill: But wait… there’s more!
The anger in his voice squeezed her insides.
She swallowed, trying to decide how far back in her lifetime she needed to go to convey the fact that not once had anyone besides her grandmother ever come to her rescue. That no matter how many times her knee-jerk reaction was to believe someone might defend her, her good senses always won over, reminding her that in her life, Jessica Beane could only fully count on Jessica Beane.
Oh sure, her mother had stood up for her on occasion, which usually spurred some sort of fight at home. But whenever a choice had to be made between her daughter and her new husband, Jessie always drew the short straw. The trend started at home and spanned throughout practically every relationship she’d had. So assuming things would be different with a man she’d only just met was too much of a stretch even for her optimistic nature.
Sarah’s inner monologue: Wait, she totally has a valid reason for doing something that was kind of dumb? And it fits with her character, and isn’t some spastic effort to make the character more quirky? It’s… understandable? Sympathetic?
Jesus Flapjack. I can’t handle this kind of blatant stomping on my expectations. They make the book all good and hard to put down and shit.
Sarah to her inner monologue: Shut up and read.
Lori Borrill: Yeah.
Not only was the plot twisty and active and full of unexpected turns, but it kept a level of humor and joy to it, even when the characters were dealing with some painful shit. It could have been maudlin, but the heroine’s “Get up and get over it” attitude paired with the hero’s determination to help people professionally and personally combined with the plot made for a road-trip based romance that was fun, but packed an emotional wallop.
The other part I truly enjoyed was the heroine’s frankness, not only about her own history and the true lows she sank to personally at the hands of shitful people in her life, but about her sexuality and her enjoyment of sex. She likes sex, she’s attracted to Rick, and she has no shame about that. She’s terribly realistic, both as a character and in the way she views her own life: she knows what hard rock bottom is like, and since she’s been there already, facing it again means she knows how to build back herself up again.
But that rock bottom is part of why I can’t give the book an A. Jessica suffers because of the behavior of some people who really ought to have been looking out for her and not their own best interests, and in the end, I didn’t think they’d truly received any kind of come-uppance. Not satisfactorily enough. Yes, I just finished saying that she as a character was very realistic, and certainly there’s only so much she herself can do to these people aside from moving as far away from them as possible, but in the epilogue, it seemed that she’d forgiven or at the least still spoke with one person in particular who had behaved so horribly I was astounded Jessica, as ballsy as she was, would put up with having that person in her life for one more minute.
Of course, that causes me to question what I expect from a happy ending - not only do I want the hero and heroine to have a marvelous ending, but I want the bad guy to get it and get it good. I want people who behave abominably to get handed back to them the full effect of their behavior, or at least a good 60% of it. That might be the true fantasy of romance for me - I fully believe that happiness and romance and healing and hot sex happen to people now, in the past, in the future, on distant planets, in carriages, in cold lakes, for God’s sake, and anywhere in between. I totally buy that and pay retail. But the true fantasy of a romance for me as a reader is the restoration of order and the conclusion of the morality play within the romance narrative, where the good guy gets an orgasm (and the girl too, obviously) and the bad guy gets gloom, despair, agony, pain, and really fiery hemorrhoids.
I of course question whether my expectations - and my inner monologue - are placing unfair demands on the story. After all, Jessica is fabulously real, ballsy, courageous, and unbelievably strong. Should be plenty to be happy about, right? But her apparent continued relationship with relatives who caused her a whole bucket of hurt out of pure selfishness and arrogance causes me to question the overall happiness of her future, which is a shame because Jessica and Rick are a marvelous couple to read about and road trip with. My minor quibble about the ending aside, this book is great big heaping piles of sexy, 75 mph fun.
