Defining Sable

I’ve been an electronically published author since 2005 and am one of the owners of one of the leading e-book publishers in the industry and I’ve finally reached my breaking point with having others dictate and define who I am and what I do based on who they are and what they do.

Electronic publishing is a new world of convenience and technology for readers. Most print publishers have begun offering their books in electronic format because they too recognize the demand for electronic downloadable books, and many e-publishers are expanding their catalogs into print, demonstrating that print and electronically published authors and publishers can live together in the same world.

But it seems that strength by unity is just not the goal of some in this industry, sadly those that could make a large scale difference. The romance industry is huge and we could all be working together for the greater good of everyone rather than sitting around thinking up rules to eliminate others from our little cliques.

At first they defined us by what category romance we wrote. You know, we can’t have a book where the reader knows the hero has genitalia sitting next the inspirational romance – because people must be stupid and don’t know how to pick up a book and turn it over to find out what kind of book they are gonna buy. Then when companies like Virgin Books and Ellora’s Cave and various famous authors pushing the envelope of sensuality proved that readers don’t mind the hero having a pee pee, they had to find another way to divide us all up.

Thus Electronic Publication vs. Print Publication becomes a threatening issue. Never mind that a large portion of memberships to the major writing groups are electronically published and pay their yearly membership fees loyally just like everyone else, and have done so for years. Never mind that the e-publishers abide by the rules the same as the print publishers do even though those rules make it ten times harder for them to be recognized. Never mind any of that, let’s change the rules so we can continue to take that yearly membership fee but dictate who can come play with us.

It’s bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit. The only reason people are ever divided is so that someone else has control. Well control no more. I know how hard I work and I know how hard the authors published at Cobblestone Press work. I define who I am, not some board of women I’ve never met before who don’t know a thing about me or my life or my work.

And how do I define Sable Grey? I AM a published author who puts as much into my characters and books as any other author. I’m proud of each and every one of my publications and am equally proud of every author who has the nerve to follow their dreams and actually submit to a publisher, print or electronic. I am proud of each book my company publishes, stand behind that title and those authors. They ARE published authors as well and if any asshat says differently, I would punch said asshat in the face on behalf of our authors because they work hard for their readers.

Don’t tell me what I am. I know. I AM the romance author. I AM the romance publisher. I AM the romance reader.

I define myself and challenge each and every person to do the same.