Screw the RWA
Aug. 28th, 2007 03:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsAs I may or may not have revealed here before, along with SF conventions there's another kind of writer's convention that I have attended on and off in the past: romance writer's. I find the genre fascinating, and believe that understanding how it works is key to acquire a larger segment of women readers, even those who normally wouldn't read romance. The genre itself is huge, with everything from sweet romances all the way to hard-core spousal rape and illicit affairs kind of nasty stuff.
I've just learned that the RWA has defined all epublishing as vanity press and no writer who's book was principally e-published will ever have that book read for the RITA awards. I make fun of Ellora's Cave and ID Publishing, but dammit, they do have editors and they have some standards, and for the RWA to go and tell everyone there that they're cesspits unworthy of the RWA's attention is unfair. I've read print crap that just as godsawful as anything Gaby Reese ever wrote, and for the RWA to just say, "We don't care how established you are, you're a vanity press" is to just stare down the future.
As an aside, while I was reading the RITA guidelines, I saw this:
I've just learned that the RWA has defined all epublishing as vanity press and no writer who's book was principally e-published will ever have that book read for the RITA awards. I make fun of Ellora's Cave and ID Publishing, but dammit, they do have editors and they have some standards, and for the RWA to go and tell everyone there that they're cesspits unworthy of the RWA's attention is unfair. I've read print crap that just as godsawful as anything Gaby Reese ever wrote, and for the RWA to just say, "We don't care how established you are, you're a vanity press" is to just stare down the future.
As an aside, while I was reading the RITA guidelines, I saw this:
Best Inspirational RomanceDoes anyone believe that if the characters were Buddhist, for example, that their story would have a snowball in a cyclotron's chance of winning?
Romantic novels in which one or more characters' religious or spiritual beliefs (in the context of any religion or spiritual belief system) are a major part of their developing relationship, not merely a minor element or subplot. All inspirational books, set in any place or era, shall be eligible for this category. The word count for these novels is a minimum of 40,000 words.
Judging guidelines: In this category, one or more characters' religious or spiritual beliefs (in the context of any religion or spiritual belief system) are blended with and form a significant and substantial part of the love story, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying.
