Yesterday, Harlequin announced yet another publishing venture – a self-publishing arm of their company called Harlequin Horizons. Just two weeks ago Harlequin announced their launch of a digital-only press called Carina Press.
Each of these new venues comes on the heels of some tough times for book publishers in this current economy. Many of the larger publishers have skinnied down their author lists, re-thought their lines and imprints, and cut some of their editorial staff. In the meantime, Harlequin has enjoyed a steady increase in sales.
This latest announcement embeds Harlequin into three of today’s publishing business models – print publishing, digital publishing, and self-publishing.
Print publishing has been Harlequin’s mainstay since the company’s inception. Print plus digital options were offered via their website several years ago.
With Carina Press’ development, Harlequin moved into a publishing model that planted its roots approximately ten years ago, when small electronic presses began experimenting with digital publishing. This alternative way of publishing has now become a viable option for many authors.
Self-publishing, a model that has been around for years, is coming into its own. Options exist for authors to buy a package to publish their books; Harlequin Horizons falls into that category. Other self-publishing options offer cost effective ways of self-publishing with little money put upfront. Amazon’s CreateSpace is an example. The latter is largely due to the creation of a publishing method called POD or print-on-demand. With POD, publishers need not be concerned with a warehouse full of books, large print runs, and costly overhead. Books are published when they are ordered.
Self-publishing has carried somewhat of a stigma.. Many would say if you chose self-publishing, you aren't really published. In this age of technology, however, the tables have turned. Self-publishing can and is a viable option for many.
Harlequin Horizons, a joint venture with Author Solutions, is targeted toward the romance and women’s fiction genres, and offers pay-for-service packages. A team of professionals assist the author in putting together a book package for a fee. Harlequin Horizons will be an imprint of Harlequin.
Whether an author chooses traditional print publishing, a digital publishing press, or self-publishing, is totally up to the author. The author knows where they are in their career, how they want to move their career forward, and what steps to take to do so. It would be unwise to omit exploring all of the options.
The future is here and it’s fast shifting. As much as this shift is changing the landscape for publishers, it is changing for authors. I predict that the focus for many authors will move from writing and acquiring a publisher, to writing, choosing a publishing option, and selling the book – with a large emphasis on the latter. No longer is the question, “will someone publish my book?” but now, “how will I publish the best book possible and market it to sell?”
Comments
>> a self-publishing arm of their company<<
It's _not_ self-publishing. It's vanity publishing.
Just as no one can eat lunch for you or take a bath for you, no person or company can self-publish for you. The words just don't make sense.
People who use Harlequin Horizons are not self-publishers, they are merely customers of a vanity press -- a company which makes most of its money by selling services to writers, not books to readers. Vanity-published books are often ugly, error-filled, overpriced, sell poorly, and don't get reviewed.
Michael N. Marcus
author of "Become a Real Self-Publisher," www.amazon.com/dp/0981661742
BookMakingBlog.blogspot.com
www.SilverSandsBooks.com
Thank you, Michael, for sharing your opinion.
I fully agree with previous comment. This is NOT self-publishing; it’s vanity publishing--which has also been around for years.
Vanity publishers publish anyone who can pay. Typically, they provide little or no book editing, and minimal (and usually expensive and worthless!) marketing/promotion. It has become common in the past few years for these subsidy presses to refer to themselves as “self-publishing” companies. Not true!
In true self-publishing, authors assume all responsibility for all aspects of their books—and they keep 100 percent of the profits. They also own their book’s ISBN and copyright; they pay for and make decisions about editing, cover, sizes, price, and printing, and they can use a wide variety of sales channels, including the Internet as well as all routes available to traditional publishers. Self-publishers know up front they will be responsible for marketing and promotions.
sue@SelfPublishingResources.com
www.suecollier.blogspot.com
Yes, Harlequin Horizons can be considered a vanity or subsidy press. The authors pay a fee for the services provided by Harlequin Horizons. There are many definitions of self-publishing and paying a fee to a packager, often fits into those definitions, as well as what Sue and Michael describe in their comments. Thank you both for your input. I do have to add, that in my opinion, to go so far to say that vanity published books are often "ugly, error-filled, overpriced, sell poorly, and don't get reviewed" is not quite an accurate statement in today's publishing world. This may have been true many years ago. I think we can agree that many books, traditionally and non-traditionally published, fall into that category, as well.
I fully agree with previous comment. This is NOT self-publishing; it’s vanity publishing--which has also been around for years.
Vanity publishers publish anyone who can pay. Typically, they provide little or no book editing, and minimal (and usually expensive and worthless!) marketing/promotion. It has become common in the past few years for these subsidy presses to refer to themselves as “self-publishing” companies. Not true!
In true self-publishing, authors assume all responsibility for all aspects of their books—and they keep 100 percent of the profits. They also own their book’s ISBN and copyright; they pay for and make decisions about editing, cover, sizes, price, and printing, and they can use a wide variety of sales channels, including the Internet as well as all routes available to traditional publishers. Self-publishers know up front they will be responsible for marketing and promotions.
sue@SelfPublishingResources.com
www.suecollier.blogspot.com
Beyond the fact that Horizons is subsidy/vanity and not self... I'd also like to correct that e-publishing is much older than 10 years. The older established companies are more than 15 years old. Some of the EPIC members (authors) have been in e-publishing for 20 years or close to it. It's taken a while for NY to catch on, but I'm glad that they finally have, and I'm heartened that ONE (Carina from Harlequin) has done so using the indie/e model.
Brenna
You can self-publish and not make 100% of the sales. When you use something like Smashwords or Amazon DTP, you are (in essence) paying them a percentage of sales for the distribution they do. Everything else is on the author, with no up-front fees or hold on ownership of the book. Any "payment" the distribution channel gets is a percentage of sales, as they would take when dealing with a publishing house using them for distribution.
Brenna
Brenna, you are so right and I stand corrected. When I look at my own publishing history I realize that my first eBook was published in 1997, twelve years ago, and I know ePublishing was around long before that. The ten years statement was erroneous on my part. Thanks so much for stopping by and providing your insight.
The point of the article, for me, is not whether Harlequin Horizons is self-publishing or a vanity press (in fact, I agree, it's a vanity press) or if the two are synonymous or not, but that a major romance publisher has moved into a realm of a different publishing model. I'm an advocate for choice-along with making educated decisions. I'm not advocating for authors to choose a vanity press, and it would not be my choice to publish with a vanity press, either. My career path as an author has me published in both traditional and non-traditional venues. I do think authors have the right to explore their options and choose whatever publishing method that works for them.
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