MYOB

Some writers must have little to do in life since they have so much time to mind other people's business. I could call these Business Minders by an acronym, but some readers may think the acronym stands for a bodily function. We certainly wouldn't want that kind of confusion, now would we, ladies and gentlemen of the publishing world?

I noticed these Business Minders have once again raised the question of Five Star Publishing's legitimacy as a credible royalty publisher. It seems that they're trying, again, to suggest that Five Star is a vanity press because editorial acquisitions are done by Tekno Books, a book packager who, by the way, is paid by Five Star Publishing, a division of Thomson-Gale, not paid by the author as is implied by many. It certainly comes as no surprise that one of the writers espousing this position of Five Star as vanity press was rejected by Tekno Books--which she freely admits in her public dissing of Five Star.

I guess these Business Minders know little about publishing if they don't know the definition of vanity and/or subsidy press. (There's a list, by the way, which Lee Goldberg has started on his blog A WRITER'S LIFE. Link at the right.) Their lack of knowledge is displayed by a belief that they will earn more from being E published rather than going through a respected publisher like Five Star/Teno Books. Guess they haven't read any of the posted financial reports by E published authors. (Now don't send insulting comments--I'll probably just delete them when my blood pressure reaches a certain point.)

I'm not casting aspersions on E Publishing, but writing is a business--my business--so I analyze facts and figures such as earn out. If you aren't independently wealthy and want to write for a living, you have to respect the business side as well as the creative.

As to legitimacy, I'm sure Ed Gorman, Tom Clancy, Roberta Gellis--and many other well-known authors associated with Tekno Books--would take issue with their disparagement.

Oh, well. Listen, if you're serious about being a writing professional, don't get upset when others use a public arena to put forth their opinion. (Just blog about it.) There will always be those who like to pass judgment and segregate writers into groups. They're usually the same ones who view being published by one of the major single title houses as "better" than being published by a minor single title house or, God forbid, a category publisher. Literary is better than commercial fiction. Mystery is better than romance. Original novels are better than tie-ins. I'm sure you've heard it all before because someone is always espousing their version of the publishing pecking order. And they're more than willing to tell you about it.

By this point, I feel like doing a Rodney King.

Look on the bright side. If disgruntled or misinformed writers wants to dump on Five Star/Tekno, then perhaps their very vocal refrain prevents other writers from submitting to said publisher.

That lessens the competition, doesn't it?