Last year we started a series of articles titled the “JERR Files”.  In that series we did a bit of analysis on erotic romance and the electronic publishing industry, in particular.  Many electronic publishers opened their doors over the past two years.  Some are still around, others just went “poof” … not that it’s surprising at all.  Some went “poof” with some finesse … others gave lessons in what not to do as an electronic publisher.

The most recent electronic publisher currently under fire, however, has compelled us to make an exception.  First of all, this is NOT a new electronic publisher.  This is an electronic publisher that allegedly opened in 1996.  Second, this publisher had earned some respect from their readers.  Many of my friends as well as myself have been reading their books for years.  However, it seems like things started going down steadily until they got to the point in which they are now: the most recent electronic publisher over which bets are being placed as to how long they will continue to be in business.

Now, I am sure many of you that visit the blogosphere have read posts in several blogs.  Among other things, this publisher not only managed to insult their authors in a rather disturbing way, but also has pretty much stated in unequivocal terms that they have been ripping off their readers by providing them with a sub par product: books with NO editing whatsoever. 

These are the specific words used by Madris DePasture, owner of New Concepts Publishing:

“Editing-the focus of editing in this company has shifted with the times.  We spent years trying to help new authors perfect their writing skills by paying editors to tweak the books. Some authors actually appreciated this. The vast majority did not or they just didn’t have enough understanding to comply with suggestions. Beyond that, the salability of the books is so unpredictable, I felt uncomfortable requesting authors to put a lot of time into making changes that might not pay off in the end. Either way, the flightiness of authors also encouraged us to stop wasting time and money on trying to tweak the books to increase their marketability. We rarely do anything to the books beyond corrections of errors any longer. This considerably streamlines the edit-to-release time frame and allows us to adhere to the schedule more closely without having to continually reschedule books.”

Basically, it is a waste of time and money to edit a book… never mind that the ones paying are the READERS.  But we are stupid, right?  We don’t care, right?

JERR is a newsletter written by readers for readers… and READERS DESERVE TO KNOW THE TRUTH about this publisher.  If the readers want to continue putting their hard earned money into this publisher, that is their prerogative, but this needed to be brought to the attention of the readership.

Sources:

http://ellenashe.blogspot.com/2008/03/serious-problems-at-new-concepts.html

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2008/03/12/new-concepts-publishing-under-heat-by-authors/

I know I am playing with fire by posting this, however, I can’t help but express how disappointed and saddened I am at some apparent irregularities being reported pertaining to a long standing favorite e-publisher of mine: New Concepts Publishing. This is an e-publisher that has been around for well over five years. This is an e-publisher from which I have purchased many enjoyable stories, from sweet to scorchingly hot in the heat level department. I have authors from this e-publisher in my autobuy list. This was the first e-publisher from which I purchased romance in genres other than erotic.

I have to admit that over the past couple of years I had noticed a couple of things. Notable poor editing, books not being sent to us for review (although I have to say that they were always pretty erratic in the sending of their books to us). I also heard about problems from some of my friends in getting the downloads of their purchases (in one instance, a friend had to wait WEEKS to get hers, and the customer service department was quite unresponsive. She does not bother with them any longer). I also noticed how stories from some of my autobuy authors from that publisher became more and more sparse, to the point in which I haven’t seen any releases from any of them in ages. These are seemingly small issues, but it does appear now, after reading the reports (more and more reports keep surfacing), that these problems were more prevalent than I initially thought. One thing that has come as a big surprise to me, as a reader, is that the owners actually write and have their books exclusively published there ... and they are authors in my autobuy list. This publisher opened a physical office recently (or so I was led to believe from their website). Since all the reports do seem to indicate financial problems, I wonder if their opening said offices has anything to do with what is going on.

Anyway, I am not going to conjecture about what may be going on. However, I do hope this is all solved for the sake of their authors and for the sake of the publisher itself. As I said, I enjoyed many wonderful moments reading some of their books and this really has disappointed me quite a bit. Of course, if my favorite authors there go, I will follow them... I don't care where they are published, they are still autobuys and for good reason, at least in my book.

As I was doing one of my rounds on blogs, etc., I read in one of them about yet another author who doesn’t care about romance, was vocal about it and on top of that, she basically uses the words porn and erotic romance interchangeably, as if they are one and the same. I have to admit I was quite irked by her words. I am not going to post the actual link as, frankly, I am not here to snark about her but rather use this as inspiration to write today’s blog.

So, what’s the subject of this blog? Basically, I want to talk about the importance of wording. Frankly, online, where we don’t have the benefit of tones of voice, body language, or facial expressions, wording is EVERYTHING. Sadly, despite the years and years in which the internet has been available to the masses, a good deal of people still doesn’t get it. They go and voice opinions online without stopping twice to re-read what they have written. They hit that send button … and then end up criticized or attacked over their own words. Well, to this all I have to say is DUH!

After over 10 years of internet exposure (many of us have been online even longer than that) you would think that people, and particularly authors, would have learned about the importance of wording while posting their thoughts and opinions. Now, thankfully, not everyone that has a blog or a website does this, but it boggles the mind how many still do. I often wonder if when they are posting, they even realize that more than just their circle of friends are reading those words posted online, know what I mean? I also wonder if people posting their strong opinions online (for lack of a better expression) are truly aware that those words are public unless they are posted in a private group, blog or forum.

Anyway, bringing this to the context of authors and readers, it often puzzles me. Why? Well, an author’s trade is words. Writing is supposed to be their craft, right? So, then why does it seem so difficult for some of them to choose the right wording to convey opinions? Additionally, some of them forget that the more they say, the more explanations or arguments they give to justify their opinion, the more likely they are to leave themselves open to attack, or increase their risk of saying something that could end up being considered offensive.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge anyone’s right to express their opinion. What puzzles me is why does it seem like some don’t bother to stop and evaluate their own words before posting, and then end up involved in a controversy and wondering why since their intent was not to offend but rather just express an opinionn. Is this naivete, carelessness, lack of awareness, plain laziness? As to not being able to please everyone when saying something, and particularly expressing an opinion, that is true, but the blow can often be softened. Many times it is simply a matter of learning to use wording to your advantage, and with right wording instead of starting a full blown flame war, you can open a dialogue and maybe not reach any sort of agreement, but at least you can learn something from each other or understand each other better, no?

I think that wording is a matter of choice and that sometimes the smallest change in the words we choose to communicate our thoughts can make a huge difference. The right wording can not only improve the flow in our writing but also convey in a more efficient way our true thoughts and feelings about something, reducing the chances of misinterpretation. Spending time in choosing the right wording also shows respect towards whoever may be reading whatever it is we are posting about, it shows we are keeping the readers in mind … ALL readers … of course, that is if we actually care, as there are always those that really don’t give a rat’s ass either way *shrug*

Mireya