In a post at Romancing the Blog, Kassia Krozser shared her discovery that “…there wasn’t a single panel devoted to digital publishing on the upcoming RWA Annual Conference schedule.”
In the comment section, Samhain Publishing Executive Editor Angela James revealed that she had submitted a proposal for such a workshop—but the powers that be at RWA rejected it.
Ms. James added, “However, as Jane said, there will be a ‘rogue’ workshop on these issues offered at RWA separate from the regular workshops because we feel that the topics are so important to authors, the info should be provided somehow. Anyone who would like more info on that can email me, Jane or SB Sarah.”
Rogue’s the word. I’m so very puzzled by the lack of a digital workshop at RWA, especially when epublishing has been such a strong focus of attention both online and at other industry conferences. Why would RWA decide against such a workshop? What does the organization have to lose? What’s the worst that could happen if one was included?
Digital publishers are strong supporters of niche genres. Therefore, I believe authors and readers (especially of the SFR persuasion, from my point of view) have a stake in their success. I think RWA does its authors a disservice in this regard because epublishers are a significant opportunity for aspiring authors who can’t obtain an agent yet have perfectly publishable stories.
They are also a haven for authors who have been dropped by their mainstream print publishers.
Do reputable epublishers not yet command enough respect? Well, where’s the respect for bestselling NY published authors who started out in ebooks? Never mind the authors who publish in both print and digital formats—a number of whom are represented by agents.
And speaking of, literary agent Deidre Knight is published with Samhain. If digital publishing is good enough for a powerhouse agent, isn’t it good enough for RWA members? What has to happen for digital publishing to command enough respect?
Better yet, how about a little history lesson?
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) followed the same short-sighted path of placing what they wanted (more high-priced CDs) over what their customers wanted (easy access to low-priced singles). The longer the music industry stalled/vexed/swore, the more customers they sent to the darkened seas of piracy—where many have remained.
The takeaway: Customers possess the collective might of rivers. You can try to stop them; you can try to avert their course; but at the end of the day, that raging water is going where it wants to go—just like your customers. Why not harness that power and benefit from it?
Sure, ebooks and ereaders only make up a sliver of the overall publishing world today, but it’s growing wildly every year and it’s where we’re headed tomorrow. Isn’t it better to prepare for that day now rather than repeat the mistakes of the RIAA?
I sincerely hope RWA reverses its position on the matter. Members are paying hard earned cash for its support and resources, not to mention the steep conference fees. They’re entitled to a variety of presentations, and while the RWA conference certainly can’t be expected to accommodate everything, they could consider being strategic about what they include given the mercurial landscape that is publishing in these times of rapidly advancing digital technology.
Joyfully yours,
Heather
Saturday, May 30, 2009
RWA Rejects Digital Publishing Workshop Proposal
The Galaxy Express Is Now Available On The Kindle
Eff-Why-Eye: Amazon accepted Chef's submission, so now all of you Kindle owners who like to read on the run can subscribe posthaste.
Here’s das linkage: The Galaxy Express (Kindle Edition) page.
Looking forward to bringing science fiction romance announcements and features to new passengers...!
Joyfully yours,
Heather
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The History of the Science Fiction Romance Newsletter, Part IV
Welcome to our final installment on the history of the Science Fiction Romance Newsletter!
After Jody Wallace passed the reins to Joyce Ellen Armond, Ms. Armond reinvented the newsletter as Speculative Romance Online. (To read the previous interviews, click here, here, and here.)
Here’s what Ms. Armond had to say about her job as captain of the newsletter:
An Interview with Joyce Ellen Armond
The Galaxy Express: Please tell us how you became involved in the Science Fiction Romance Newsletter/Speculative Romance Online.
I left SpecRom for a challenging day job, to develop some teaching skills for my long-range goals. I couldn't juggle the job, my writing, and the newsletter. So if anyone out there wants to be editor, I can't recommend the experience highly enough.
TGE: What were the joys-and challenges-of maintaining Speculative Romance Online?
JEA: The biggest joy was learning so much about cross-genre authorship, the romance genre and my own style and vision through being the newsletter editor. The exposure granted me to so many different people and such varied literature was amazing.
Challenges: the reviews. Hated doing reviews. And the technical aspects of maintaining the newsletter were aggravating at times.
But the biggest challenge was self-imposed, and it’s my biggest regret. Trying to please all people all the time made the newsletter a drag. I should have realized that I was trying to do the impossible, you can’t please everyone, and stuck with my vision.
TGE: Looking back, what specific impacts did Speculative Romance Online have on the genre?
During my time I changed the title from Science Fiction Romance to Speculative Romance because I wanted to keep up with the changes in the market. Authors were blending romance with not just science fiction but all kinds of different fantasy: light, high and (my favorite) dark. The lines among genres were becoming fainter and fainter, with romantic elements popping up in all kinds of speculative genres. I wanted to continue to follow the new ideas and new visions.
TGE: Is there any news or information about your current project(s) that you'd like to share?
JEA: Remember when my works were being dismissed as too romancey for horror? Now I'm at the opposite end of the problem: I’ve gone too dark for romance. So I'm still feeling my way around, trying to find a voice that satisfied audiences and me.
Ms. Armond, thank you so much for sharing your experiences.
Here are a few links relating to the author's work:
* Joyce Ellen Armond’s blog, I Heart Monsters
* The Speculative Romance Blogspot
Articles by Joyce Ellen Armond:
* Getting Your Love On in 2056
* Horror and Romance, Sitting in a Tree
And to top off our adventures in the History of the Science Fiction Romance Newsletter, here’s a really dark, intense SFR short by Joyce Ellen Armond called “Burned and Burning” at Quantum Kiss.
Best of all, it’s *FREE*!
The story contains mature themes, so it’s only for the very adventurous! (But oh my, is it ever worth the trip.)
Joyfully yours,
Heather
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The History of the Science Fiction Romance Newsletter, Part III
Today, we're heading deeper into the annals of science fiction romance by continuing this week's feature about the SFR Newsletter.
If you're just catching up, you can read the first two parts here and here. The second illustrious author to helm the Science Fiction Romance Newsletter was Jody Wallace.
Here’s her bio:
Jody Wallace grew up in the South in a very rural area. She went to school a long time because she couldn't find a job and ended up with a Master's Degree in Creative Writing. Her resume includes college English instructor, technical documents editor, market analyst, web designer, and general all around pain in the butt.
She currently lives in Tennessee with her wonderful family: her amazingly tolerant husband and amazingly intelligent children. One of her many alter egos is "The Grammar Wench", which should give you an indication of her character. She is a terrible packrat and likes to amass vintage clothing, books, Asian-inspired kitchenware, gnomes, and other items that threaten to force her family out of the house. She also likes cats. A lot.
Ms. Wallace's approach to writing is to tell as many outlandish lies as she can get her readers to swallow. Her dream is to be moderately well-paid for this service. When her stories end up spicy, she releases them as Ellie Marvel.
Ms. Wallace is active in RWA, serves as webmaster for her local RWA chapter as well as VP, and conducts training sessions for contest judges.
And now it’s time for…
An Interview with Jody Wallace
The Galaxy Express: Please tell us how you became involved in the Science Fiction Romance Newsletter.
Jody Wallace: When I first started writing fiction with the intent to publish (rather than to amuse myself), I researched various opportunities for cross-genre stories and stumbled across the SFR Newsletter, then helmed by Jennifer Dunne. In June 2000, I applied to be her assistant editor, and a year or two after that, she asked me if I wanted the whole shebang. Jennifer had been editing the newsletter since 1995 and was definitely ready for a vacation.
TGE: What was the most fun about being involved with such a project? The most challenging?
JW: The fun part was the research, I think, observing cross-genre fiction and electronic publishing right when they began to bloom. Since I was editing the newsletter instead of just trying to get published, it gave me a broader perspective of the industry's metamorphosis--perhaps a more academic one? Not that writers aren't academic, but I don't know that I'd have kept the same extensive tabs on the market had I not been handling the newsletter. I would have written more fiction...but I would have researched less and met fewer interesting people. The newsletter was no sure-fire stepping stone to SFR stardom for me (obviously), but I don't regret my involvement one smidge.
TGE: I read that the Science Fiction Romance Newsletter evolved into Speculative Romance Online. Please describe how that change came about.
JW: I edited the newsletter until April 2005 when it passed to Joyce Ellen Armond. She felt the new name better represented the types of fiction the newsletter addressed. As there was a lot less "pure" science fiction romance available at the time, particularly from the major publishers, the newsletter included romances with other speculative elements like paranormals and fantasies. Yet the flavor of the newsletter didn't become overly generalized because it wasn't that easy to find "our" type of books in the 1990's and early 2000's--particularly not in mainstream publishing.
In today's market that is no longer the case. Speculative romance, as we all know, underwent a massive explosion that was just beginning when the newsletter changed editors for the last time. Paranormals and urban fantasies in particular boomed like gold in them thar hills. I like how the Galaxy Express has zeroed in on just science fiction romance. That way you (Heather) can keep tabs on the whole subgenre without driving yourself bonkers.
TGE: Maintaining a project like the newsletter and Speculative Romance Online is a job in and of itself. Its also not easy given adverse market conditions. What factors contributed to the demise of the newsletter, the Sapphire Awards, and Speculative Romance Online?
JW: I believe Joyce had time constraints that affected her ability to pour so much of herself into the newsletter and the awards, as well as the Zircon Awards for short fiction we tried for a few years. I seem to recall the newsletter went on hiatus in March 2007, right before the anthology (SUM3) featuring some of our Zircon winners was released. My own time constraints were certainly the reason I passed the newsletter to Joyce in 2005.
TGE: What advice would you like to share for aspiring science fiction romance authors?
JW: When you get published, please let me know so I can go get your book. Wait, that's not advice, that's just self-serving. I would recommend getting a knowledgeable critique partner like, I don't know, Cathy Pegau, but you can't have her, she's spoken for. I time-share her with Sharron McClellan.
TGE: Is there any news or information about your current project(s) that you would like to share?
JW: I have two erotic science fiction romances with Red Sage -- "Heat" in Secrets 22 and "Megan's Choice", which has a choose your own romance structure. I still can't believe they let me do that! My novels with Samhain are not science fiction romances. As for future projects, I'm juggling some manuscripts, but I've got nothing in the pipeline right now, alas.
Ms. Wallace, thanks for such a fabulous interview. I’m humbled by your accomplishments.
Learn more about the author and her work by perusing the following links:
* The author’s Meankitty’s blog, Writer and Cat
* Jody Wallace is interviewed by Jess Granger
* Jody Wallace’s list of futuristic romances pre-2004 at Beyond The Veil
* Another recent interview with the author
* Samhain weblog article by Jody Wallace: Fantasy Romance, Finally!
Joyfully yours,
Heather
Monday, May 25, 2009
The History of the Science Fiction Romance Newsletter, Part II
Welcome back as we continue exploring the history of the Science Fiction Romance Newsletter. Below is the second part of the Galaxy Express interview with author Jennifer Dunne, who helmed the newsletter from 1995-2001.
To read part one of the interview, click here.
And now, on with the show...!
TGE: Please share your perspective on the science fiction romance genre, from the time you became involved to the present. Has the market changed in any way? Do you think epublishing has had any impact on the genre, and if so, to what extent? 
There have been three major shifts in science fiction romance while I've been involved in the subgenre. First was the rise of epublishers. Most epublishers quickly learned that they couldn't compete head-to-head with the big print publishers, and had to make a market by selling the books print publishers wouldn't, but that had devoted and eager readers willing to struggle with the new format to get their fiction fix. This allowed the books to build "buzz" and get picked up by major publishers—MaryJanice Davidson's NY Times bestselling "Queen Betsy" series and Rosemary Laurey's USA Today bestselling English Vampire series are two examples that helped reinvigorate mass market vampire romances.
The second has been the acceptance of romance by the fantasy and science fiction houses. They'd originally feared that being associated with romance would cause their books to lose sales from their core (12-year old boy) audience. Once they realized that being associated with romance actually caused a jump in sales, they embraced cross-genre books wholeheartedly. 
And finally, the nature of science fiction is a moving target. For example, Chris Moriarty and Catherine Asaro both wrote excellent books about artificial intelligence that were science fiction at the time—but a recent NY Times science article detailed the ability to comprehensively model a rodent brain in software, and the projected date of when modeling a human brain would be possible. Thirty years from now, books about AIs will be mainstream, not science fiction. Similarly, psychic powers have moved from fantasy to mainstream, as the wider culture accepted and embraced what had been fringe elements.
SF Romances balance on the thin line between when enough is known about a subject to provide sufficient detail for research, and when material has been accepted by the culture at large, and that line is always advancing.
TGE: What advice would you like to share for aspiring science fiction romance authors?
My advice to new writers? Read widely. Read in multiple genres. One of the best time-travel romances I ever read was by someone who'd grown up reading science fiction time-travel stories, and so incorporated those elements into her romance, complete with all of the time-travel paradoxes, rather than the watered-down view of time-travel common in the romances being published at that time.
Find something that truly inspires your writing, rather than trying to write to a trend or market sheet. Figure out what you do better than anyone else, and do it. Try things you aren't familiar with, whether that's subject, format, or style. And for Heaven's sake, do your research!!! That's where some of your best story inspiration will come from, and the details that elevate your book from mediocre to memorable. Not to mention, it lessens the chances of it being flung against a wall with great force by a reader who knows the material you guessed at.
TGE: Is there any news or information about your current project(s) that you’d like to share?
My current project is an urban fantasy novella for the latest anthology (not yet titled) from the "Bondage Babes" (Madeleine Oh, Dominique Adair and me). Entitled "Walk-ins Welcome", it involves the paranormal belief that a soul can abandon a body, and another soul can step in to finish the body's lifetime. A magic-broker in the middle of divorcing her husband returns to his side when he's in a critical car accident, and as he recovers, discovers he's literally not the man she married. There's also magicians running amok, rich and well-connected people cheating death, and why insurance companies hate magic. Oh, and a threat to the very fabric of the universe. As well as really hot, steamy sex.
Ms. Dunne, thanks so much for a terrific interview.
Wasn’t that amazing? I am in awe of what the SFR Newsletter team accomplished. If you’re hungry for more, as well as for information about Jennifer Dunne, here are a few related links.
From Speculative Romance Online:
* History of the Sapphire Award
* Jennifer Dunne bids adieu to the newsletter
From around the Web:
* Article about the Sapphire Awards (January 2000)
* PNR interview with Jennifer Dune
* A review of Jennifer Dunne’s science fiction romance RAVEN’S HEART
Joyfully yours,
Heather