{"id":3781,"date":"2009-11-19T17:33:25","date_gmt":"2009-11-19T21:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shilohwalker.wordpress.com\/?p=3781"},"modified":"2009-11-19T17:33:25","modified_gmt":"2009-11-19T21:33:25","slug":"heres-why-i-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/11\/heres-why-i-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Here&#039;s why I care&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color:#800000;\"><em>UTA: As of 11\/25 (I think)\u00a0 Harlequin Horizons has been changed to DellArte Press.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>One of the reasons I&#8217;m so upset over the HHz\/HQN Horizons is because it&#8217;s going to exploit the aspiring writer who doesn&#8217;t understand how things work.<\/p>\n<p>When I was 19, I sent in a MS to HQN.\u00a0 It was rejected.\u00a0 I was crushed.\u00a0 But I kept on going.<\/p>\n<p>Now&#8230;if I&#8217;d gotten a little note referring me to HHz and saw how HHz could help me prove I was\u00a0 a serious author?\u00a0 If I had a credit card?\u00a0 I might have done it.\u00a0 And when I got burned after spending several thousand on the book, depending on length, edits, etc\u00a0 (that&#8217;s what it would have, my estimate, based on word count\/need for editing), and didn&#8217;t sell more than a handful of books?\u00a0 And I wouldn&#8217;t have-I didn&#8217;t know jack about marketing and no matter what marketing package you &#8216;buy&#8217;, you still have to get there and handsell your book.\u00a0 I wouldn&#8217;t have known that.<\/p>\n<p>After investing the time and heart into it only to fail (to the tune of several thousands lost) I don&#8217;t know that I would have tried again.<\/p>\n<p>Which means&#8230;maybe I wouldn&#8217;t be doing what I am now.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not a major boon to the romance world, but there are some people who enjoy my stuff.<\/p>\n<p>Writers that have fantastic stories, if they try this only to gets their hopes and dreams dashed?<\/p>\n<p>Will we ever see their stories?\u00a0 Hear their voices?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Writing is a dicey thing and if you take a damaging blow, you may never find the heart to write again.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s one reason I care.<\/p>\n<p>Another reason?<\/p>\n<p>I made plenty of mistakes starting out.\u00a0 Plenty.\u00a0 I still make them.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll continue to make them.\u00a0 Sometimes I learn from them on my own.\u00a0 Some mistakes I&#8217;ve avoided through the advice and guidance of authors I admire.\u00a0 We all screw up.\u00a0 We were all aspiring at one time.\u00a0 And many writers have gotten screwed sideways.<\/p>\n<p>Most, if not all, of us have been in that place, after you&#8217;ve gotten those rejections and you wonder &#8216;maybe this isn&#8217;t the right thing for me&#8217;&#8230; there you are, questioning your dreams and you see what seems to be a legit, albeit alternative path there.\u00a0 We were all naive about the industry at one time, right?\u00a0 We all had to learn.\u00a0 How many of us might have tried that route? If we had, how many of us would be where we are now?<\/p>\n<p>Spending upwards of a $1000, $2000, $4000 to learn that there is no shortcut?\u00a0 That&#8217;s a hefty price tag to pay and it&#8217;s one that might just silence some author voices.\u00a0 Does that sound overly dramatic?\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 But writing is often emotionally driven and if you&#8217;ve had your dreams busted, it may be hard to find your voice again.\u00a0 Hard to try again.<\/p>\n<p>Why does this matter to me?<\/p>\n<p>Because it bothers me, at my very core, to see somebody&#8217;s dreams exploited.\u00a0 That&#8217;s another reason why I care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UTA: As of 11\/25 (I think)\u00a0 Harlequin Horizons has been changed to DellArte Press. One of the reasons I&#8217;m so upset over the HHz\/HQN Horizons<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/11\/heres-why-i-care\/\" class=\"more-link\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Here&#039;s why I care&#8230;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10161045129738658_54762468447":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_bluesky_dont_syndicate":"","_bluesky_syndication_accounts":"","_bluesky_syndication_text":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[542],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Here&#039;s why I care... - Shiloh Walker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/11\/heres-why-i-care\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Here&#039;s why I care... - Shiloh Walker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UTA: As of 11\/25 (I think)\u00a0 Harlequin Horizons has been changed to DellArte Press. 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