Author, Cheryl Holt Dissed And Dismissed By New Editor?
Sunday, August 2, 2009Posted in: Cheryl Holt, Mean Girl Editors
Apparently this is an email from Cheryl Holt, posted on the Romantic Times forum, by a reader who had been emailing Ms Holt, asking what she was doing writing-wise these days.
The email was posted in its entirety on the Romantic Times forum, I’be been asked nicely to take it down, so I don’t have a problem doing that.
I have left this bit though:
I’m in the process of trying to start over—which is very daunting. I’m supposed to have some good news (which I’m not at liberty to announce just yet) that will have my next books (historical romances) released back-to-back in the summer of 2010. In the meantime, I’m trying to get my energy back, and I’m reinventing myself. I had new publicity photo taken, and I’ll attach one to this letter so you can see the new, improved “me.” I’m having my web page re-designed, and I’m starting a “Cheryl Holt Fan Club” on MySpace that’s supposed to launch on May 1st (I’m hoping we’ll be ready.)
I fell off everybody’s radar for awhile, and I haven’t sent out any emails because I was too depressed to tell people about what had happened to me! But I’m regrouping, and the minute I’m 100% certain that I have more books coming, I will send out announcements and post the news to my web page. I’ll also be sending emails once the Fan Club gets going, too. Thank you so much for thinking of me and for hanging in there as a fan! I hope to have new books coming soon!”
Cheryl Holt
NEW YORK TIMES Bestselling Author
Poor Cheryl, it’s bad enough that she goes to a new house and seemingly gets totally shafted by an editor who hates her writing, but the same editor trying to rewrite her entire book? That’s just messed up, surely? That editor should be reprimanded or something. Mind you, I do think Holt’s books are an acquired taste.
I wonder why she would write all this to a fan though? It seems very naive of her.
Thanks to Vanessa Jaye for the heads up.
Mora
August 5
2:20 pm
che- There’s a big difference between a publisher not paying or paying late, and between an author who doesn’t like an editor’s editing style. One is unethical. The other might be unfortunate, but doesn’t necessarily mean something nefarious is going on.
If someone came on here saying that her editor at Samhain was a big meanie, I surely wouldn’t be in these comments saying how awful Samhain is. I’d say pretty much what I say in this situation–I’m sorry Holt had a bad time of it, but this is only one, very biased, side of the story.
Quite honestly, my first thought at reading her remarks was that, after years of being allowed to get away with sloppy writing at her old publishing house, she pitched an Anne Rice when an editor actually wanted her to do substantial edits. But who will ever know either way?
Which is why saying stuff like this doesn’t really help anything.
Sheila
August 5
2:25 pm
If a top industry reviewer gave a quote giving you a fantastic title you would use it. There’s no set rules to that. Though I have to say I like the 3-times rule if you’re going to call yourself something. But, that’s not an industry rule. Industry says you can use a quote if you get one. It just doesn’t say how you can use it.
IMHO there is a difference between getting a quote from your friends, a casual blog or your Mom and getting one from Barnes & Noble, RT or an industry expert.
I just Googled the quote and I find that it was used by RT (I think someone else here already said that), Barnes & Noble, her publisher’s site, Amazon, LibraryThing and a few other places where CH herself did not post it. One called her “One of the top 25 erotic writers of all time”. But, not the “Queen”. Does that now mean the quote is a “fact”? I don’t know. I guess I just felt the need to discuss this particular issue since I knew the quote came from someone other than CH herself.
Karen Scott
August 5
4:27 pm
Sheila, I totally agree that one is entitled to use a quote from such an established company, but I think it was this interview that she did for RT, that put me off her quite a bit. Now I like her books, but I don’t think there’s any getting away from how badly written some of her stuff are.
Here are some of her words from that interview:
Listen, I don’t have a problem with people blowing their own trumpet, but when that trumpet is old and rusty, it’s hard on the ears. Cheryl Holt’s fans (and I used to count myself as one of them) may love her books, but I do think that the majority of us know that her work really isn’t that great, and had I not been a fan, any review that I did of her books would probably have included the words, ‘Queen of Skank’, because in all truthfulness, some of her books really did suck great big hairy donkey balls.
Sybil
August 5
4:44 pm
correct me if I am wrong but can’t anyone put a review on B&N just like Amazon…
pretty sure if I wanted to I could take a review on tgtbtu, put it on amazon and B&N and poof you got something in three places
next
And I say this as someone who liked, bought and at one point owned all of Holt’s books. I am almost beyond sure I have gotten rid of them all now.
She is the one that loved to do the brother sister villian sexing IIRC but I don’t even think she can claim to ‘own’ that trend didn’t Small ‘do it first’.
Sheila
August 5
5:10 pm
Karen I have to admit that I had not seen that interview. And I can see how that would put someone off. I can’t really say whether that kind of self promotion is good or not, or if it sells books or not, but in this particular industry (romance) I think it is less accepted to come across as bragging.
My interactions with CH, though few, have been very professionally handled. And I have had occasion to speak to her personally and hear how much she cares about people. We all have our flaws. I know I do.
I don’t represent CH nor am I here on her behalf. It is just that my own personal experience with that author has been very positive and so I was saddened to see that someone she trusted shared that personal email. I think blogs like this open up a way to communicate these types of events and whether someone agrees or disagrees with me at least we all have the chance to discuss it.
Sybil- as far as anyone putting reviews on those bookseller sites, you’re correct. But, these were put up by the booksellers themselves. And usually that kind of thing comes from the publisher. It would be a perfect world if authors could tell BN and Amazon what to say about them on the product page. 😉
Jackie Barbosa » Blog Archive » WTF Wednesday: How Much Honesty Is Too Much?
August 5
8:05 pm
[…] Holt revealed on a reader forum that, after changing publishers, she’d had significant disputes with her new editor (who […]