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Samhain Publishing

triceretops

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Oh, my phucking gawd. This is unbelievable. First EC takes a spiral spin to the ground and now this. Those were the two heavy-weight small/independents I tried to crack for years upon years. How is this even possible. Oh, there is a letter--I'll glean from that.

The best of luck to all authors currently bound to or published by them.
 

Rebekkamaria

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This makes me so sad. At least they are doing it much better than EC is, but still, it makes me so so sad.
 

ElaineA

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As a still-aspiring author it's distressing to see so many of the smaller publishing venues collapsing under the weight of Amazon's enormous influence, limiting the options more and more. Granted, not nearly as distressing as it must be for you, the authors whose works are published with Samhain. Sure wishing you guys all the best (and the easiest of roads) as this plays out.
 

Captcha

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It's making me question future publishing plans, for sure. I only have three books with Samhain, only had one with EC, but I've got... well, counting translations, I've got well over twenty with Dreamspinner... and if Samhain and EC can go down, then nowhere's really safe.

The "long tail" idea of publishing income doesn't work so well if your tail is caught in the slamming door of bankruptcy!

But self-publishing means relying mostly on Amazon, and I don't really want to walk away from ONE dependency in order to become dependent on someone else...

Jeez. This game is not easy.
 

JasonWrites84

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This is upsetting. I'd been working on a horror novel I was hoping to submit when they reopened their submissions. Oy. I hope all of the authors make the transition ok.
 

veinglory

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I think ascribing this to Amazon per se is a bit much. The market has changed massively for a lot of reasons. Amazon sales reflect this rather than cause it.
 

Viridian

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Wow. I'm shocked and saddened to see Samhain closing; as a reader, they were one of my favorite publishers to buy from.

At least they're doing it gracefully. Hopefully things will be okay for their authors.
 

EMaree

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This is really, really shocked. Samhain were *so big* and their quality was always fantastic. :(

I think it says a lot about their ethics and values that, even when continuing on is infeasible, they're still treating authors as fairly and kindly as possible.

*raises a glass to them*
 
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I got an email from my editor, then the official news half an hour later. I signed my first contract with them in the fall. I had just been sent my final cover art yesterday and was supposed to get edits next week. At least I should get my rights reverted easily but... :( It took me so long to finally sell something to them...
 

Captcha

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I got an email from my editor, then the official news half an hour later. I signed my first contract with them in the fall. I had just been sent my final cover art yesterday and was supposed to get edits next week. At least I should get my rights reverted easily but... :( It took me so long to finally sell something to them...

That sucks. So they're not going ahead, even though the edits are mostly done?
 

LJD

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That sucks. So they're not going ahead, even though the edits are mostly done?

I meant...I hadn't received my edits from the editor yet. Was supposed to get something from her on Monday. So I assume since the book isn't finalized, it won't be going ahead.
 

KMTolan

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My hat's in my hand for Samhain. Not published with them, but my small press publisher (Champagne) is also feeling the pinch thanks directly to Amazon. I wonder if anyone outside of the industry even cares what's going to happen when all of this reaches its horrid conclusion.
 

Rebekkamaria

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Can someone explain why Amazon is causing this? What is it in their policy that's causing small publishers to go under?

And do you know anything about Samhain not paying their authors/not returning rights to people for some time now? I've never heard anyone say anything like that, but a friend of mine said that she knows a lot of Samhain authors, and some of them have been complaining about this on FB.
 
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Captcha

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Can someone explain why Amazon is causing this? What is it in their policy that's causing small presses go under?

And do you know anything about Samhain not paying their authors/not returning rights to people for some time now? I've never heard anyone say anything like that, but a friend of mine said that she knows a lot of Samhain authors, and some of them have been complaining about this on FB.

I'm not eligible to have my rights returned to me, but I've never had a problem with payments from Samhain. (Fingers crossed this continues...)
 

Rebekkamaria

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I'm definitely going to support their authors as long as they are open and selling books. Gosh, this is shocking. :(
 

thethinker42

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I'm not eligible to have my rights returned to me, but I've never had a problem with payments from Samhain. (Fingers crossed this continues...)

Ditto.

I've e-mailed to ask about the rights reversion process, especially since I have a lot of titles, so....just waiting to see how that goes.