Red Flag Warning: Publisher Upheaval

I hope so - it wouldn't seem fair to me and I'm not even a Trisk author

RWA just confirmed this publicly over at Dear Author.

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/

Dearauthor is a very useful site for romance genre inf.

I'm so jealous you get to work with Heather now; she was my editor at EC.

Trisk Tsk

I'm just happy you got your rights back, December.

Heather Osborn is a cool chick. She came off smooth, competent, and intelligent from her interview at DA.

AllieB said:

Interesting news, especially since recently, both Samhain and The Wild Rose Press have pushed back their e-to-print publishing window from 3 months to 6/9 months. Not sure what that means in terms of e-publishers trying to do both electronic and print publication. Too much for them to manage?

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Allie, you're a Samhain author, aren't you? Have you checked Crissy's messages on this subject? They're on the business group. If you have concerns, you should definitely read them.

As veinglory said, Samhain's reasons for doing this have to do with marketing and getting their titles onto store shelves. It's actually a result of growing and increasing sales, not anything negative.

I've spent lots of money at Triskelion over the years, and have really enjoyed their books, so I hope they get this smoothed over. And I definitely hope they fix things so that their authors have positive experiences.

I'm jealous that all of you even have agents/publishers!!

Yuck. Sorry to see this all going down. Very glad you got your rights back, December -- just before the whole fit hit the shan publicly.

Cathy, there are a handful of review sites that are snarky and super:

Dear Author
Smart Bitches
It's Not Chick Porn
Mrs Giggles

I highly recommend all of them (although if you're submitting your book to be reviewed, it's not for the faint of heart!) -- the reviews are funny, intelligent, snarky but with explanation (if something doesn't work for the reviewer, she's VERY vocal about why), praise when they feel praise is due.

Bam: welcome, chickie!

Chibeth,

Yes, I am a Samhain author, and yes, I've read Crissy's messages on the topic. I think (I hope) that it is truly a marketing push; I do know that Samhain has had solid and increasing sales over the last 6 months, and I'm glad to be on board with them.

Still can't help but be a bit nervous when the release times go from 3 months to 9 months. It's probably just me.

Thanks.

I'm not a Trisk author, but a friend of mine was considering signing with them and ultimately chose a different publisher. I'm really sad to hear this because I chatted with Gail from Trisk on several occasions at RT and she seemed really nice. I hope they get it all worked out.

Susan Gable said:

In general, RWA doesn't yank PAN status away. (I don't think it's every happened, but I only go back to 2000.) So I think it's probably safe to say anyone who joined PAN through a Trisk contract gets to stay.



Susan G.

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Yep, it happened to me and about 30 other PAN members when they decided they hadn't been handling the recognized publishers the right way. They spent money to have formal letters sent to us by courier a week or so before Christmas. (not sure what year, might have been before 2000)

dragonjax said:

Cathy, there are a handful of review sites that are snarky and super:

Dear Author
Smart Bitches
It's Not Chick Porn
Mrs Giggles

Bam: welcome, chickie!

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That site is so funny!! They post really really bad romance covers and I check it out every few weeks.

AllieB said:

Chibeth,

Yes, I am a Samhain author, and yes, I've read Crissy's messages on the topic. I think (I hope) that it is truly a marketing push; I do know that Samhain has had solid and increasing sales over the last 6 months, and I'm glad to be on board with them.

Still can't help but be a bit nervous when the release times go from 3 months to 9 months. It's probably just me.

Thanks.

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Nah, it's natural to get nervous when anything having to do with your career changes. But I consider having the books included in the Ingram catalog and in the iPage ordering system (which is why the release times changed--to accommodate Ingram) to be a fair trade for the wait. It's not really a situation that's comparable to what's happening at Triskelion right now. I've never worked with Wild Rose Press, so I don't feel comfortable speculating about what may or may not be happening there. Maybe one of their authors or editors has more insight.

I think Triskelion's problem may have been that they released their print books as mass market paperbacks, which is much more expensive and involves investing in larger print runs and such.

I got an e-mail from RWA the other day telling me about the situation and am on a 'waiting list' for another editor appointment if there are any cancellations. I was asked to pick 5 agents and if any of them had a cancellation, I'd be plugged in to their schedule.

I'm not holding my breath.

Then again, I'm feeling quite dejected about writing lately and haven't felt like doing any. If I hadn't already made all the arrangements I wouldn't even bother going to RWA this year.

I'm so sorry this is effecting you, jodiodi.

Thanks, but it's ok. At least I don't have a vested financial interest in it like many of you do. I'm just feeling down about writing in general.

Good luck to everyone.

hang in there!

jodiodi said:

I'm feeling quite dejected about writing lately and haven't felt like doing any. If I hadn't already made all the arrangements I wouldn't even bother going to RWA this year.

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It's so frustrating when we hit those plateaus--happens to me, too, when I just don't want to pick up another book. On the plus side, jodiodi, since you're already going to RWA, maybe you can use it as a recharge-your-batteries outing. You don't have to sweat over honing the perfect pitch, don't have to worry about trying to profit from your accidental meeting with that terrific agent in the elevator--you could construct your own "Bizarro RWA" instead. Go to a panel you'd normally never attend (write urban fantasy? go hear the talk on Victorian undergarments!), crash one of the gazillion parties going on, or heck, just grab some like-minded people and go in search of a bar with a mechanical bull!

Heh. Now I want to create an RWA scavenger hunt, where attendees are required to return with photos: a shirtless cowboy, a man reading an erotic novel...

CathyC - Sounds good to me. I think my husband and I are driving so we won't get there until Wednesday evening, most likely, and will be leaving early Sunday morning. We don't ever do anything social. I don't even go to the lunches, much less the evening things. I barely make it to workshops, but I do go to them--reminds me of being back in school, which I miss terribly.

Crinklish - Thanks for the encouragement. Hopefully I'll snap out of this funk I've been in lately.

I so love the idea of Bizarro RWA.

Jodiodi, everybody has moments like that. You just have to push through them.

I don't know my schedule yet. I think it's going to be "Run around like a crazed loon, then get hoarse talking to all the authors."

ETA: By the way, I don't look like my avatar. I don't even own a tie.

Crinklish said:

Iodiodi, since you're already going to RWA, maybe you can use it as a recharge-your-batteries outing. You don't have to sweat over honing the perfect pitch, don't have to worry about trying to profit from your accidental meeting with that terrific agent in the elevator--you could construct your own "Bizarro RWA" instead.

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Some of the best conf. experiences I have had was when I had no appointments and just relaxed!

Well, this would've been my first time with an appointment so I've never had a really 'busy' conference. Last year I spent the whole day in bed one of the days. Just didn't want to get up and slept off and on. My husband and dogs stuck right with me. We're a couch potato family.

jodiodi said:

Then again, I'm feeling quite dejected about writing lately and haven't felt like doing any. If I hadn't already made all the arrangements I wouldn't even bother going to RWA this year.

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Just enjoy yourself, Jodiodi. Above all else, these conferences are supposed to be fun. I'm jealous that y'all are getting together there. (As that's my role for now...the one y'all have to make envious! LOL)

As for being blah on writing? I know what you mean. I've had a LOT of upheveal at home these last few months and it seems that I have to push myself to get any writing done. Hang in there!