SinC's Position on Harlequin Horizons

by Marcia Talley
President, Sisters in Crime

The mission of Sisters in Crime, Inc. is to support the professional advancement of our members, and not to comment on business decisions made by publishers. Nevertheless, the Sisters in Crime board feels obliged to let our membership know how we stand on the recent decision by Harlequin to partner with Author Solutions, a subsidy/vanity press, and to promote these services to aspiring authors via links on its website.

It is our job to educate our members, to make sure that they enter into publishing agreements of whatever kind with their eyes wide open. Harlequin Horizons, by whatever name, is a vanity press, and like all vanity presses, provides editorial, marketing and publishing services to authors for a fee. As such, it relies upon payments and income from aspiring writers to earn profits, rather than sales of books to actual readers.

After researching the market and taking her goals into consideration, a Sisters in Crime member may make an informed decision to self publish, but should also be aware of the consequences.

Presently, self-published writers do not enjoy the same benefits as traditionally published authors in Romance Writers of America (RWA), Mystery Writers of America (MWA) or Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA), nor will they qualify for literary awards sponsored by those organizations. More than likely, self-published writers will not be assigned to author panels by conference coordinators. Self-published books are generally not carried in brick and mortar stores.

If those benefits are not a concern, then self-publishing may be the right choice for a writer seeking a creative outlet. If so, there are dozens of subsidy/vanity presses which can provide the same services as Harlequin Horizons, some at considerably less cost.

We urge members to research those companies carefully, comparing services, quality and price before making a decision. Do not assume that because Harlequin Horizons is affiliated with Harlequin that choosing Harlequin Horizons to print your self-published novel will improve your chances of being published by Harlequin's more traditional advance and royalty paying divisions.

Read the official RWA, MWA and SFWA statements here: http://tinyurl.com/yz5n6cb

BEST BOOKS? SAYS WHO?

By Marcia Talley
President, Sisters in Crime

There’s been a lot said in the news and in the blogosphere lately about Publisher’s Weekly annual Top 10 and Top 100 books of the year.

Here's the article: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704595.html

Shockingly, there are no, I repeat, no women in the top ten. In the "fiction section," the only female mystery writers who made the list were Gillian Flynn and Sarah Waters, and of the seven titles selected in the "mystery" category, only two are by women. Sisters in Crime finds this deeply discouraging. For the past twenty-three years, our organization has been working to raise awareness and “promote the professional development and advancement of women crime writers to achieve equality in the industry.” When a lop-sided list like this comes out from a respected and influential industry publication, it seems that in spite of our best efforts, it’s "one step forward, two steps back."

The heart of what Sisters in Crime is all about is our Review Monitoring Project: giving women authors equity in the business of writing. Our monitors check newspapers, magazines, and on-line review sites to take note of how the numbers are adding up. Julianne Balmain heads up this effort, and has just complied the third quarter results for 2009. The news is bad.

Three quarters of the numbers are in for our Sisters In Crime Monitoring Project, she says, and the results are not particularly encouraging. Of fifty publications, only two have reviewed more mystery novels written by women than those written by men. One is the Bay Area’s Contra Costa Times at approximately 63% books by women, the other is Romantic Times at just under 78%.

Of the other 48 publications, many of the percentages as of the end of September were worrisome. Several large publications reviewing many mystery novels were heavily weighted in favor of books written by men. Among them are Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine at nearly 81% male, the Los Angeles Times at more than 85% male, the Detroit Free Press at 100% male, the Dallas Morning News at nearly 79% male, NPR Radio at more than 80% male, and the Washington Post at more than 79% male. We still have a full quarter of numbers to report, so these statistics will change. However, what appears to be a downward trend of review coverage for books written by women is certainly a cause for concern.

But the problem goes well beyond being ignored by reviewers. It's also clear that publishers don't take traditional mysteries seriously. Why? Because traditional mysteries are usually women's stories. How do we know that publishers don't take them seriously? In presenting the advanced reading copy of a new novel by one of our members, a bookseller received this notice: "This is not cozy time -- this is bestseller time." Can there be a more clear statement of a publisher's expectations?

And yet, there's a great track record of traditional mystery writers selling well -- the classic British women, of course, the ubiquitous Andrew McCall Smith, and even Lillian Jackson Braun, author of the popular “Cat Who …” books, hits the New York Times bestseller list every time. On the Oct. 7 Bookscan mystery chart, Joanne Fluke is #3 (right behind Michael Connelly at #2), Louise Penny is at #7, #20, #24, #43 and #45. M.C. Beaton is at #12 and #48. And there are more.

Think of how much better mysteries written by women would sell if they didn't have to fight the low expectations of the very people who publish them!

How does this inequality develop? Editorial policies vary, but reviewers generally review
books they like. Are their choices unconsciously affected by preconception?


Several years ago I served as a judge for a popular mystery anthology series, one that had, in previous years, featured primarily male authors. That year, the first to require blind submissions, the judges were gratified to discover that the stories we chose were roughly equal, male/female, and unpublished author/previously published author.

That certainly was an eyeopener for me.

Clearly, women writers are fighting against perception as well as reality. Women writers must continue to advocate for equality of advances, promotional money, reviews, interviews, and awards. And the fact that Sisters in Crime keeps track of these issues and tries to draw wider attention to them is critical.

Other voices weighing in on this issue include:

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2009/11/05/pw_10_best/index.html?source=rss&aim=/books/feature

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:1401285.6538197727/rid:f4307671de2e7e663602c933ec776dfa