When Traditional Publishers Start Vanity Presses

AKA Harlequin Horizons

You may have heard the online volcano erupt last week when Harlequin announce their new endeavor named Harlequin Horizons.

The site has now been re-branded as DellArte Press but the services are still the same. Does the fact the Harlequin name is no longer obviously associated with this vanity press make a difference?

Until reading this Dear Author article, I didn’t know other NY publishers such as Random House had any involvement with a self-publisher. And when is a self-publisher a vanity press? The ongoing thread at the Absolute Write forums is using the term “assisted self-publishing”.

bury my lovely

When I first started out, I did look at some vanity press websites – they are professionally produced with appealing graphics and persuasive copy, they seemed to answer all the questions I had at the time, and even the smallest package was a chunk of change.  I remember looking through one of their promotional packets while sitting in my backyard and thinking,

“This isn’t what I want. The authors I admire, the people who have the kind of writing careers I want to achieve, didn’t do this. This isn’t the same thing.”

And so I didn’t buy a vanity press/assisted self-publishing package.

It’s almost four years later now. No, I’m not on a Barnes & Noble bookshelf. Even if I had bought one of their packages, I believe that would still be true. I have learned a lot about writing and editing and being critiqued, met some incredible authors, and am fortunate and grateful to be able to call some of them friends. I don’t know if any of that would be true had I bought one of their packages.

If you want to read about the initial outburst around the Harlequin Horizons launch, read Jennifer Jackson’s LiveJournal post and follow the links. They are informative, detailed posts and articles.

But Shiloh Walker’s post was the only one that resonated with me emotionally, because I care for the same reason she does.

Con Madigan: What you’re saying is that I, I get paid but I don’t get paid.
- Five Mile Creek, “Making Tracks, 1.1

Nov 24, 2009

Tags: harlequin  |  vanity press

Categories: agents & editors & publishing