Tsaba vs. RWA, Round 2

By Claire Kirch -- Publishers Weekly, 3/17/2008 8:21:00 AM

The dispute between Tsaba House and Romance Writers of America continues following Tsaba’s accusations last week that the RWA discriminates against small presses by barring its authors from the RWA RITA Award; RWA said it considers Tsaba to be a subsidy publisher because its standard contract contains clauses concerning author chargebacks.

According to RWA’s policy manual, a subsidy publisher is defined as “any publisher that publishes books in which the author participates in the costs of production in any manner, including publisher assessment of a fee or other costs for editing and/or distribution.” RWA bars these publishers from its programs and contests.

“They are simply using it as a tactic to keep a small press from submitting contest entries. It also looks to me like they are trying to control the outcome of who wins by who they allow in the contest,” Pam Schwagerl, Tsaba Housse publisher, said.

David Koehser, a Minneapolis attorney who’s specialized in publishing law for the past 20 years and represents most of the Twin Cities-area publishers, as well as authors throughout the country, concurs with Schwagerl’s claims.

“Those clauses are fairly common,” he said, “They’re in most of my contracts. The author has to submit a manuscript suitable to the publisher, and is obligated to provide supplementary material. This is not considered to be a subsidy arrangement. This does not convert [a press] into a subsidy publisher.”

In a rebuttal to PW Daily’s March 13 report, posted on RWA’s website (www.rwanational.org) Friday, the organization contends that Molly Noble Bull, the author whom Tsaba House claimed had been barred by RWA from consideration for a RITA Award, had, in fact, contacted RWA because she “was interested in entering” the Yellow Rose and the Gayle Wilson contests, two award programs sponsored by RWA chapters, not the national organization.

“The rules governing chapter contests are independently determined by each chapter,” RWA declared, “At no time did the author mention the RITA award when communicating with the RWA office.”

Asked for clarification, Schwagerl confirmed RWA’s statement: Bull had told Schwagerl that she’d tried to submit her novel, Sanctuary, for “some RWA awards” and had been informed she could not enter the contests until Tsaba House proved to RWA’s national leadership’s satisfaction that they were not a subsidy publisher.

After Schwagerl sent Tsaba House’s standard contract to RWA, the organization sent her a letter from its Texas headquarters explaining that RWA considers Tsaba House a subsidy press; Tsaba House authors will neither be listed in RWA’s “First Sales” program nor considered for the RITA Award. “I didn’t know that [Bull] hadn’t actually submitted to RITA,” Schwagerl explained, “It was RWA that brought up RITA in their letter to me.”

“They are upset because we said Bull entered the RITA when apparently she didn't,” Schwagerl noted, “Yet the point is that they are calling Tsaba House a subsidy press and banning us from ever entering the RITA award. Why aren't they addressing this issue?”

The reference in RWA’s letter to the First Sales and RITA Award programs is “standard wording we use when we notify publishers that they do not meet RWA standards,” Allison Kelley, RWA’s executive director, countered, adding that if Tsaba House amended their boilerplate contract, RWA would “be happy” to reconsider their decision.

Schwagerl, who has already sent a letter to RWA threatening to seek an injunction forcing the organization to allow Bull’s novel to be entered in the RITA contest (although this year’s deadline has passed, and finalists will be announced March 26), is now consulting an attorney, before making her next step.

When asked if she would consider amending her boilerplate contract in accordance with RWA’s standards, Schwagerl refused. “I feel strongly that they should have no say in what is in my contracts with my authors or to re-define for the industry what a subsidy press is or isn't,” Schwagerl said.