The eHarlequin Thomas Nelson Affair

No, Steve McQueen isn't involved.

To a question posed by Michael Hyatt President of Thomas Nelson Publishers, rendered in typical vanity press rhetoric on his blog:

Sidebar: Take the imprint challenge. Go to a bookstore and ask one hundred shoppers—people who love books enough to make a special trip to a bookstore—to identify the publishers of the top ten New York Times Bestsellers. Report back with your results.

I offered:

"How about this for a test? Walk into any bookstore anywhere and pick up a book. What are the chances this volume was produced by a vanity press, under the wing of a traditional house or not? Congratulations. You've just proven why vanity presses aren't publishers or booksellers. Westbow sure isn't and you know it. So does Harlequin."

What they do know is the book has to be on a shelf somewhere to pick up or happens to be out of stock. End. of. story.