JERR blogs too!

Over the five years that Just Erotic Romance Reviews has been published, we’ve seen many electronic publishers come and go.  Given the nature of what we do, we never felt it would be proper for us to make any public comments pertaining any of them.  After all, we don’t have “insider” information on any publishers (print or electronic). 

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?

On a personal level, I feel very sorry for the authors caught in this mess.  And saying that I am very disappointed at a publisher of which I was a very loyal customer is the understatement of the year.  Under other circumstances we would have avoided making any public comments as we did when other electronic publishers were under fire.  However, this involves the RIPPING OFF of customers…the same customers that helped that company grow. 

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.

This post is a PERSONAL opinion. It does not reflect the opinion of the JERR staff.



Mireya

 

As I was browsing my copy of Romantic Times magazine (yes, I admit it, I am a subscriber), I started thinking about my habits in reading reviews. I don't review as much as I used to and I tend to go for tested and true favorite authors on the few ocassions I do. At the same time, I find myself researching much more in depth before purchasing a book from a new author, this means that I do look for reviews as an additional source of information.

Now, one thing I've discovered about myself is that I don't like to read long reviews of more than 3 or 4 paragraphs. Too detailed reviews are not for me. I am all for conciseness and my style in writing reviews tends to show that. I do read reviews that are all synopsis, though I don't exactly consider them reviews as they don't provide enough of an opinion and often all they offer is a gushing, quotable, two-sentence paragraph. However, those reviews are helpful to me in terms of giving me additional information on what the story is about. I often find that the publishers blurbs are either not too accurate, or are too vague. When I read a review from RT Mag, for example, I do it with the specific intent of finding out more info on what the book is about rather than what the reviewer has to say about it, for the reason I mentioned before. Frankly, a two-sentence opinion is way too short. Telling the readers "I loved this book, it was fantastic" no matter how creatively phrased simply is not enough, from my personal perspective.

I also read reviews at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, however, I do have to clarify that I do not read the reviews from the top rated reviewer in those sites. Why? Well, have you noticed how every single romance book ever published has been reviewed by the top reviewer there and that her reviews are basically saying that each of those books is a masterpiece? Sorry, I may not be a genius, but I am not stupid either. In both sites I go for both the good and the bad reviews from reviewers that don't seem to have an agenda.

A  good tested and true source for me are my friends who enjoy romance as much if not more than I do, and I often ask them for their opinions. One of those friends and I are so much alike in taste that sometimes it's scary. I also share the same taste with my younger sister, who is also a fan of romance.

What do you all look for when you read a review? Do you read more than one source or do you have a tested and true place be it blog, review site or bookseller that you consistently use when seeking information on a book that interests you?


Mireya