erastes

One of the main problems about our genre (gay fiction—romance, for anyone just tuning in) is that it’s very insular and pretty small. In the English speaking world you soon get to learn who writes it, and some of them over time become internet friends. This has, as I’ve mentioned before, caused problems with Speak Its Name because from time to time you have to review people that you have known for years—if only digitally—but people who you might correspond with via email or chat on a daily basis. I try and get around this as much as I can by having a variety of writing professionals who review for me, and I try and choose the least connected person to that author/book to review. Doesn’t always work, of course, and it gets harder as the more the people in the genre get to know each other.

However, they are professional, and I trust each and every one of them to put any personal feelings aside to review a book.

And that’s what part of the business of publishing is all about – putting your personal feelings aside.

I’ve noticed that some authors have a problem with this, it’s something that they have to do when the creative process has to take a back seat. They don’t like to put on that professional head and start being the hard-nosed advertising executive, the salesman, the PR agent, the snake-oil vendor. The slight change in pace where you have to stop being the artist and start being business like. I don’t think any of us like to do it, but it is necessary.

I’ve been involved in collating and choosing stories for two anthologies, one for short stories, and one for novellas. It’s very hard when you get a story that you are going to have to reject and it’s from someone who you’ve known for years; in one case one of the authors I had to vote “no” on was someone I’d known since my very first days in fandom, six or seven years ago. But most of them were people I knew in one way or another. I’m happy to say that 99 percent of the rejectees behaved professionally – as one would expect. Not all, sadly.

On Speak Its Name I may have to review books from people I like immensely, but I have critique to give. I may have to review books from people I dislike too, but I know that I can put that to one side and judge the book not the persona who behaves like an eejit that wrote it. I try and avoid both situations, if I can, as I say, but it happens.

This is one reason that I’ve not started up a gay historical imprint. The other is liquid assets, but one day it’s something I’d like to do when I have the funds to do so—but I can imagine the stress on editors when they get a manuscript from a friend, be it an internet friend or someone they’ve met in real life, and they have to say “it’s not for us.” It must be hard, every time, but I respect—hugely—the people I know that do it on a daily basis.

What many people have to learn to do is to take off that diva-creative-artiste darhling!-head from time to time, and put on that business head and say to yourself: “this is business.” NOT nepotism. Not “Mates Rates.” Not undue influence. Not friendship. You are selling your wares to someone else for professional rates, and the person you are dealing with isn’t your friend, it’s the other person on the end of your contract.

Yes – this was caused by something that happened yesterday. I’m not naming any names but basically someone said “Oh i can’t afford to pay you for your short story right now, as [reason withheld] but as soon as I get the royalties from the book, I’ll start sending out payments one at a time.”

Er. No. I’m sorry about that.

I’ve known this person online for a while and I read their journal, and comment on it regularly but when it comes to business don’t pull an Iris Print on me and start acting unprofessionally and promising Jam Tomorrow. If you didn’t have the money to pay for the stories then you should never have entered into the contracts in the first place. While we correspond about the contract between us, I’m not your friend, I’m a business woman and I expect the same level of professionalism that I would from my banker, or my solicitor. If either of them said “Oh we can’t afford to deal with your account this month, you don’t mind waiting until some indeterminate time in the future do you? After all, we’ve been out for drinks a few times!”

Yeah – I can imagine my reaction. There’s lots of banks. And lots of solicitors. And hard as it is to say, lots of editors too.