By Lisa Burns

The publishing world has been in upheaval all week after Amazon.com announced that all print-on-demand (POD) books must be printed through BookSurge POD book printing services, a subsidiary of Amazon, if they are to be sold on Amazon’s website. POD publishers were asked to sign an agreement last week, which stated that all POD books to be sold on Amazon.com must be printed through BookSurge, or the “buy” buttons would be removed from the book reference page on the Amazon website.

Needless to say, reaction from the publishing industry has not been favorable toward Amazon. By requiring POD publishers to print with BookSurge if they want their books available for sale on the Amazon website, Amazon is creating a monopoly in POD publishing. Because of Amazon’s new policy, some experts speculate that BookSurge will raise prices, resulting in fewer publishers using POD and fewer readers purchasing POD books.

According to Sara Nelson at Publishers Weekly, statistics show that Amazon accounts for more than 10% of the book retailing business. By requiring POD books to use BookSurge if publishers want their book sold on the site, and with the ability to dictate fees and discounts, Amazon stands to make a huge profit from BookSurge. In an open statement on the Amazon website, Amazon says, “It makes more sense to produce the books on site, saving transportation costs and transportation fuel, and significantly speeding the shipment to our customers and Amazon Prime members. We believe our customer-focused approach helps the entire industry in the long term by selling more books.”

The decision to use BookSurge as a sole POD publisher for books sold on the site, according to Amazon, is for the benefit of the customer. Some customers disagree. iPetitions.com has started a “Stop the BookSurge Monopoly,” which as of April 10, has over 1000 signatures and is growing. One anonymous petitioner remarks on the website, “Recommended name change: Judas.com…With Amazon's greed, they go from being a source of pride, to a source of disdain and embarrassment.”

So what do we do from here? Industry insiders are concerned that Amazon’s monopoly on POD publishing will spread to the rest of the online retailer’s bookstore. According to these insiders, eventually publishers will be forced to print their books with an Amazon subsidiary, or else be faced with enormous fees. Even worse, according to these speculators, publishers that are not a subsidiary of Amazon may one day be excluded from the retail giant’s website.

Unfortunately, some POD publishers have signed the agreement issued by Amazon to print their books through BookSurge, while other publishers have banded together and decided not to sign the agreement. Popular POD site, Lulu.com, has issued a statement, saying "We would like to assure our users that Lulu continues to have a strong relationship with Amazon.com. As a result, the recent changes Amazon.com has announced should not adversely affect Lulu content listed within Amazon.com in any way."

WNW will keep an eye on this developing story. Please check back next week for more information regarding the changing POD policy at Amazon.com.

Agree? Disagree? Tell us at editor@writersnewsweekly.com

The Pen Pal Murders by James Falk
SterlingHouse Publisher, Fiction, Pemberton Books, $14.95 (210 pages), ISBN 1-56315-388-2

A stranger calls, promising suffering and doom. Yes, it’s a staple of the mystery genre, but damn! It sure works well in this super-suspenseful debut mystery novel by James Falk.

Diane Duval, a seemingly happy homemaker, receives such a message and a disturbing note after the mysterious disappearance of her husband. Her “pen pal,” a heartless psychopath, has marked her for murder, but the police are less than understanding. In desperation, Diane turns for help to Marge, a go-to news reporter with a penchant for getting into and out of trouble. As the two women try to identify the killer, Diane is shocked to l earn that she has unwittingly brought this horrifying situation on herself. Can she play the killer’s cat-and-mouse game long enough to help the police close in…or will she and Marge become the latest victims in the Pen Pal Murders?

Falk’s writing style, which is lean, spare and ultra realistic, helps build suspense and speed the plot forward. There’s not an ounce of fat in this intense novel, and most readers will be able to zoom through it deliciously in an hour or two. While it may not sport the most original theme, The Pen Pal Murders does a nice job of developing Diane’s character from passive housewife to steely survivalist in an entertaining and completely believable manner, and the conclusion is especially clever and fast-footed. Anyone looking for an absorbing read will not be disappointed in this book.

Lannie! My Journey from Man to Woman by Lannie Rose
SterlingHouse Publisher, Nonfiction, $18.95 (214 pages), ISBN 1-58501-109-6

My Journey from Man to Woman

There may not be many memoirs by transgender women written for a general audience, but this certainly has to be one of the best. Straightforward and honest, yet refreshingly funny and compassionate, Lannie! successfully gives the open-minded reader a sincere, heartfelt and shockingly frank look into a world that few experience and most know nothing about or can even imagine.

Author Lannie Rose began life as Eddy, a boy who always felt uncomfortable in a male body. Later in life, motivated by the desire to unleash his true self, he decided to take the challenging step of living as a woman 24/7 and ultimately undergoing sex reassignment surgery. This difficult but life-changing experience allowed Eddy to physically become Lannie, the woman he had always been, mentally and emotionally.

Ms. Rose’s book is probably not everyone’s cup of tea. It is full of graphic, clinical descriptions of the surgical procedures she endured, which, while powerful and, in their own way, mesmerizing, may put off certain readers. The most amazing aspect of this memoir may be the ongoing, courageous sense of humor that the author maintains throughout, as she “learned about clean underwear and many other remarkable things” on her unusual journey toward womanhood.

Reader Doug Brown, caught up in Ms. Rose’s “girl-to-girl” confessional style of expression, wrote, “Damn, girl, you sure can write!” Richard J. Novic, M.D., author of Alice in Genderland, had this to say about the book: “Soulful and sparkling! Lannie Rose shares her remarkable story with us like it’s a bottle of fine champagne. It tickles your throat and educates your palette while ultimately changing your view of the world and the people around you.”

The bottom line is, if you’re a fairly sophisticated reader not easily put off by candid descriptions, and you have any interest at all in the many and varied aspects of sexuality and self-expression out there in the real world, a leisurely read through Lannie! will open your eyes.

Click here to read an Lannie Rose's article "What Kind of a Man Gets Pregnant?"

Osians Literary Agency is representing great books and making history all at the same time; launched in May 2007, Osians is India’s first professional literary industry. I spoke to senior vice president Renuka Chatterjee about the impact her agency is making in the world of publishing.

Q: I see that your company launched in May 2007. Who launched the company, and how did it all start?

A: Osians was started in 2000 by founder and chairman Neville Tuli, as India’s first professional art-auction house. Osians now has six to eight auctions of Indian art in Delhi and Mumbai. Our goal for the near future is to hold auctions in London and other major European cities. In 2004, Osians acquired Cinefan, a festival of Asian and Arab films, and Cinemaya; a magazine on cinema. In May 2007, Neville Tuli launched the literary agency. I came to the agency after fifteen years in publishing, working for imprints like Penguin and HarperCollins. Seeing the remarkable growth in the publishing industry in India and the growing body of Indian writers who are making their mark internationally, I felt the time had come for writers like myself of Indian decent to have our own literary agents to represent our writers, instead of being wholly dependent on agents in the West. When we launched last May, we had five writers; today, we have seventeen. We are looking to represent writers of Indian origin, as well as writers from other Asian countries, which is our special focus. Among our current submissions is a New York-based writer named Karan Bajaj. Karen is a second-generation Indian-American, whose hilarious first novel, Keep Off the Grass, describes what happens to a successful Wall Street investment banker of Indian origin when he decides to explore his roots by enrolling in a business school in India. The novel will be published in India by HarperCollins in May 2008, and will soon be on submission to publishers in America.

Q: How do writers from India and Asian countries, which are who you represent, differ from American writers? How are the books alike?

A: It is difficult to pinpoint how writers differ. Obviously, there is a different quality, or ‘feel’ to writing from India or the Philippines compared to America. Essentially, every writer is conditioned by, and writes about, the milieu in which he lives or has lived. If writers from India write about issues of caste, inter-religious conflict, joint families, the expansion of call centers and instant communication or their experiences as a second or third generation American or Britain, than equally, American writers should write about racial and religious immigrant experiences from their perspective. If there is a difference that one can put a finger on (and this is a generalization,) it would be that Indians and Asians tend to write ‘big books’ that encompass a lot of issues with a historical, political or social perspective, rather than confine it to the story of an individual or set of individuals. Writers in the West don’t have the same pressing need to encompass huge themes or make a commentary; they are more concerned with individual lives and stories. As I said, this is a generalization, and it also has to do with the fact that the Indian writers who get published in the West are usually those who write these kinds of big books.

Q: As a new literary agency, what are your goals for the next five years? What do you set out to do that other literary agencies haven’t done yet?

A: We would like to build up a list of 50-60 authors over the next five years. We have three main goals. One: To find more authors from other Asian countries, not just India, and present them to the Western world. After reading the work of two Philippine authors we have, Jose Dalisay and Charlson Ong, we are convinced that there is a wealth of talent in these countries that never gets noticed, until it happens to get short-listed for some literary prize (it was the 2007 Man Asian that led us to Jose, and it would be hugely satisfying if we could help more writers like Jose be internationally recognized.) Two: We would like to break some of the stereotypes that exist in the Western publishing mind, as to what an “Indian novel” should be, and open their minds to some really good writing which doesn’t fit into the mold. Three: We would like to get Indian publishers to take locally published Indian writers more seriously, with better advances, better promotion, and more professionalism. There is a big difference in the kind of advances and attention Indian writers who are published abroad get and what happens with writers who are only published in India, and it has nothing to do with the quality of their writing.

How are we different? For one, because we are one of the first professional literary agencies in India, and we’re trying to do things the other way around; instead of agents in London and New York selling Indian writers to Indian publishers, we are trying to sell Indian writers to publishers in London and New York. We would eventually like to be recognized as the first agency to focus on Asian writing, and certainly we would like to be the first Indian agency to be taken at par with the top international agencies in the world.

By Carlotta G. Holton

Ann Frasier

Anne Frasier is a bestselling author who has been recognized with numerous awards including the Rita from Romance Writers of America and the Daphne du Maurier for romantic suspense. Her novels have spanned the genres of mystery, thriller, paranormal and horror.

Q: You have said that, “I do think the publisher determines what will be a bestseller. My publisher put a lot of backing behind my first thriller.” Can you expand upon this?

A: The publishing house chooses the A-list books. Actually the marketing department made that decision with my first thriller, but I think an editor with a lot of clout can also push a book into A-list ranking. A-list books are sent to Publishers Weekly. They are the books the house reps push and talk up. ARCs are printed earlier and sent for cover blurbs. Ads are purchased, along with shelf space. . . . A wonderful book with no publisher backing and no in-house buzz has little chance of national success. A mediocre book with a lot of backing can still sell a decent number of copies.

Q: How did your writing evolve from romances with elements of darkness to mystery and horror with touches of romance?

I was always writing outside the boundaries of the romance genre, and I constantly struggled to remain within certain lines. It only made sense to move into books where I could include more elements that interested me.

Q: What advice do you have for writers seeking that first “big sale?”

Study the market. Join organizations. Make it your business to know what’s selling, who is buying, and what editors are looking for.

By Lannie Rose

When a man likes flower arranging more than watching football, do you think, "What kind of a man is he?" When a woman chooses not have children and says she's not the mothering type, do you think, "What kind of a woman is she?" They are meant to be rhetorical questions, but I'd like you to consider them seriously.

What kind of a man is he? The kind that prefers flower arranging to football, that's all. (He may be gay, or he may not be. The toughest kid on my block, after he got out of a stint in the Marines, became a hairdresser, and he's a happily married family man.)

What kind of a woman is she? The kind that chooses not to have children, that's all.

Now, what kind of a man is born with a female body, lives as a man and takes testosterone to masculinize his body, and then becomes pregnant? He's Thomas Beatie—and that's far from all! But you already know that if you watch Oprah or the evening news, because Thomas and his wife Nancy have been all over it. If you missed them, you can check them out on Oprah.com.

Thomas and Nancy have been doing a fine job telling their story—the joy of the pregnancy, the tragedy of the rejection by the medical establishment and family, and why they chose to reveal the story themselves rather than letting others spin it. You can read Thomas' own words in this article on Advocate.com if you like. I offer my take on the subject because of my particular perspective. Like Thomas Beatie, I also changed my sex.

I went the opposite direction of Thomas. I was born in a male body, but now I'm a tall, striking woman with long red hair and dazzling blue eyes. My journey from man to woman (which you can read about in my book, Lannie: My Journey from Man to Woman) has many similarities to Thomas' journey from woman to man, and many differences. One difference is that I can never become pregnant, because I don't have a uterus. (Neither does Nancy Beatie, though for different reasons.)

One thing, I can assure you, is very similar between Thomas and me: We both thought long and hard about the question, "What kind of a person am I?" before we made our decisions to change our gender presentations and our bodies.

I still think about that question every day. I wonder if the fact that I am the driver more often than my boyfriend makes me less of a woman. If I find myself attracted to a woman, does that mean I should have stayed a man? Am I being too masculine if I'm assertive about something at work? I worry that when I sneeze and it comes out loud and guttural, will people think there is something weird about me?

Thomas had a question like that to answer, and it was a big one. Would it make him any less of a man if he became pregnant?

The answer to all of these questions, doubts, and fears, is "No!" Plenty of men enjoy flower arranging. Plenty of women choose not to be mothers, and like driving, and are attracted to women, and are assertive. Some women even have loud, guttural sneezes. And every now and then, a man gets pregnant. Thomas isn't the first pregnant man; he's just the first to go on Oprah. If you stop and think about it, there isn't a single behavior, quality, or characteristic that is exclusive to men, or exclusive to women. Not even the ability—or desire—to get pregnant, as Thomas proves.

Personally, I've come to the conclusion that "What kind of man am I?" and "What kind of woman am I?" aren't the right questions to ask at all. For me, the right question is, "What kind of person am I?" If I can figure that out, and if I can truly be that person, that's what it's all about, isn't it? Once I have that settled, well then, if I feel like I'm a woman, then that's what I am. And if I feel like I'm a man, then that's what I am. You may have a different opinion about me or about Thomas Beatie, and you are certainly entitled to it. However, it seems to me that common courtesy and human compassion dictate that we should respect every person's own understanding of their own gender identity. After all, you want people to respect your gender identity, don't you?

If the Beaties's role-reversal pregnancy is causing you to ask, "What kind of a man is he?" or "What makes us women or men?" welcome to the club, because we're all certainly asking ourselves those questions within the transgender community. But please allow me to suggest that the questions you should really be thinking long and hard about are these: What kind of a person are you? What kind of a person do you want to be? Are you truly living as that person? If not, why not? This is your life, dear reader, and you only get one shot at it. You can take it from Thomas and me, nothing feels as good as living your life as the person you were born to be. Even if you were born from your father's womb.

Agree? Disagree? Tell us at editor@writersnewsweekly.com

Click here to read WNW's review of Lannie's book, Lannie! My Journey from Man to Woman