Fisticuffs At Dawn: Ann “I’m A Professional” Jacobs v JC Wilder
Sunday, April 27, 2008Posted in: Uncategorized
Apparently Ann Jacobs, EC author, has taken it upon herself to berate JC Wilder for daring to be critical of the EC cover models behaviour at RT.
Ann (on her blog) writes:
Sure, there were some possibly newsworthy happenings…the kinds of things that always draw the attention of vultures of the tabloid press and their readers alike. If you’re interested, you can learn all the dirty details, fully embellished, at blogs like smartbitches and JC Wilder’s to name just two.
Hey, I think she’s calling us readers and bloggers vultures. How do you like that? What gratitude.
Anyway, JC Wilder then puts up a post entitled, When Good Authors Go Bad:
As the stomach turns…
I have been removed from one of my publisher’s email list entirely. Once again, I’m pretty sure it was just me that was removed – but what about the other authors who work for other publishers? Chances are they weren’t booted…just little ole me.
The last instance of removing an author from their lists (without telling her by the way) was an author who complained about the publisher’s bad behavior. They too were removed from the lists without any contact from said publisher.
Now THAT is professionalism.
So basically the mods at EC booted her off their group list. Charming.
Anyway, this is a comment from Ann Jacobs in response to the above post:
My guess is, no other EC author who writes for more than one publisher has gone out of her way to diss the rest of us, our mutual publisher and the cover models who grace the covers of our EC books.
About professionalism: people who live in glass houses should be careful about throwing stones. If an author is displeased about something she feels reflects badly on herself as an author, she should take her concerns up with people who can do something about valid complaints. That would not be her fellow authors, blog readers or the world at large.
I get the feeling that Ann’s the type that would defend her publisher even if they were shafting her fellow authors blind. I’m really starting to intensely dislike those types.
I bet she’s the black-balling type too. From the tone of her e-mail, I’m pretty sure she’d be all for ostracising any of her fellow authors who she felt spoke out of turn.
And people wonder how the Madris DePastures and the Deb MacGillivrays of this world get away with treating their authors like crap.
From a reader’s point of view, I think Ann Jacob’s response reflects far worse on her, than JC Wilder’s, especially in light of the recent e-publishers behaving like fucktards episodes.
It seems to me that not only was Jacobs trying to gag Wilder, but the above response seemed a tad threatening too. A kind of ‘Behave, or else’ message.
She obviously learned those intimidation tactics from the higher ups at EC. Did I just say that out loud?
Thanks to you-know-who for the tip-off.
Kayleigh Jamison
May 1
4:37 pm
I’ll be attending for the first time next year when the Conference is in Orlando (school prevents me from traveling for the most part, but I’m only 2 hours from Orlando) and if I get groped in any shape or form, or if I overhear talk about torturing animals, there’ll be hell to pay.
I don’t give a flying flip about not making waves. Of all things I cannot abide, these two rank at the top.
queenbeetrainer
May 1
9:14 pm
Now that I’m in a position to actually take a few days away from the family for fun I was considering going next year, but I’d have to say after hearing about all this I’m really thinking twice about it.
Angela James
May 2
1:34 am
You’re not the first person to say this, so I feel like the one thing that should be pointed out is that even though people talk about some of the negative things that happened at RT, they also talk about the positive things. It’s like anything, it’s not perfect. People just tend to pay more attention when the negatives are being discussed, because they’re more fun to talk about 😛 But you’ll notice that anyone pointing out something that might have detracted from the con, also talks about the good things, and they go back year after year. And they’ll be back next year. Most of the people who say they’re not going are the people who’ve never been, not those who’ve experienced the zaniness themselves!
RT is one of those conferences that’s a totally singular experience. People get different things out of it, come away with different experiences (as I think has been aptly shown). But I think it’s something everyone should attend themselves and really get a feel for, just once, because sure there’s craziness, but there’s also a fabulous, fun sense of community because everyone is there for one reason: the love of romance.
Lori Foster
May 2
12:50 pm
Well said, Angela.
I DID have a wonderful time at the con – in visiting with friends old and new, meeting readers and booksellers, doing interviews, etc…
I always avoid the parties, which can get pretty wild. That hasn’t changed. It’s been discussed for years.
I know a lot of people work really hard to pull off a convention of that size, and I don’t mean any disrespect to any of them.
To me, the problem starts when you bring in strippers for models. I’m not saying it’s all the fault of the strippers, or that they’re the only problem. There were authors and readers behaving in an unseemly way, too. When you have the most risque promo items passed around and shirts that say, “Got Sex?” on half the people, well then, the guys are, in most cases I think, just following what they thought was the tone set by others.
I’ve thought about this a lot, and for me the biggest problem is that the risque has “overtaken” the rest of the con. There are inspirational authors there, but you don’t see giant banners announcing them. Historical, paranormal, contemporary… lots and lots of authors represented in lots of ways, and many finding offense at things that originated from the erotic-type promo and entertainment.
I am NOT dissing erotic authors, so don’t anyone accuse me of that. Some of my dearest friends – all class acts – write erotica. But you wouldn’t find any of them involved in the goings-on that caused all the ruckus.
But how to solve that problem? I’m not the moral police, and a lot of people are apparently enjoying it, or ignoring it, with only a few speaking out. So will next year be even worse? Possibly.
I don’t expect anyone to change things for me.
I don’t expect everyone to feel the same way I feel.
Until I hear that RT has some plan in place to make the atmosphere more acceptable to EVERYONE, I won’t be going again. And yup, I’ll miss it.
But with media everywhere, I don’t want to be associated with that type of behavior. And some of the readers who approached me at the signing were equally put off, so…
I’ll do the only thing that *I* can do, and just distance myself from it.
Lori
Robin
May 2
5:34 pm
If I didn’t know anything else, I’d think that EC and RT were synonymous — in fact, I keep having to remind myself that isn’t the case. NOT because of JC Wilder’s comments, though, but as a general impression after reading numerous comments, posts, and viewing videos and photos of the conference.
Karen Scott
May 2
5:41 pm
Robin, funnily enough, I’ve been having a hard time thinking of one without the other. I think it’s the Kathryn Falk/Tina Engler connection.