HELP! Am I dead in the water?

Peyton,

What's the name of the publisher? From the sound of it, this isn't an indie publisher, but a vanity press masquerading as one. (the distribution/accounting problems).

The short answer is - no. Those books are dead. Once they're published, you've burned first publication rights, and even if the publisher lets you out of your contract and the rights revert to you, those rights are gone forever. Another publisher could only buy reprint rights, and they're not going to do that for a book with small sales. (you'd have to have thousands of them and the potential for more)

Cyia said:

What's the name of the publisher? From the sound of it, this isn't an indie publisher, but a vanity press masquerading as one. (the distribution/accounting problems).

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Could also be a micro-press, as many of those, even some of the most respectable ones, have a hard time with distribution.

But the rest of what Cyia said is true. For a larger publisher to be interested, you'd have to have sold several thousand (and I hear from 5,000 to 10,000) to capture a commercial publisher's interest, and if you'd sold those kinds of numbers, your current publisher probably wouldn't be interested in reverting the rights back to you.

I'm not sure why you think that getting the rights back and self-publishing would be better; in reality, it would be worse. Self-pubbed books are even harder to get onto bookshop shelves than those published by respectable micro-presses.

I'd say just keep moving forward. If you sell some books to a large commercial publisher, that might enliven interest in your previously published books. Or not. Move forward; don't look back.

peyton67 said:

Thanks so much for your feedback. I'd rather not say the name of the publisher- what I will say is that they aren't vanity- no $ ever changed hands. I think they're just poor business people

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That seems to happen a lot, too. Good intentions, no idea how to carry them out, and in the end the authors suffer for it.

The good news is, that you can write a new and better book and send it out to agents who can get you a deal with a great publisher. You know you have it in you to finish books once - you can do it again. And if you can build a following with a not so great publisher, you should shine with a decent one.

You'd have to get the rights back 1st. Change the names, title, locations, and some plot elements before it could be considered "new".

peyton67 said:

Any chance of reworking the 1st two novels, new characters, title, etc... and selling them as new?

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Are you asking this because you see the first two books, which have already been sold, as the 'first in the series' and you want to continue the series? Maybe you could take book 3 and recast it as if it were book 1. By which I mean use your same characters (assuming you didn't sell the rights to the characters to your publisher...check your contract), but pretend that this story is the first book in which you've used them. Don't refer to backstory from the first books, just move forward as if no reader has ever read about these characters before.

I still think that what you need to do is look forward. It's like you're clinging on to that torn-up, holey old flannel shirt that holds all kinds of comfort and great memories. But now the time has come to let go and get a whole new flannel shirt, break it in and let it become your comfy wear.

You've proven you can do it....twice! Face forward, and do it again.

-Do I have any shot at canceling my contract and jumping to a new publisher?
That depends on your contract. If you have the ability to cancel any future books you might have contracted with them, it should say so. It should also say how long the publisher has the rights to your book.

Will anyone take a previously published book?
It happens, but there are always special circumstances. I've heard of authors who published with small presses, then had later books picked up by a big house. They republished the originals at a later date. But this is VERY dependent on what rights were sold and who owns them. I would assume in those cases the rights were either purchased from the original publisher or had reverted back to the author. I wouldn't count on this happening, but it's not impossible.

-Any thoughts on canceling my contract and moving to self-publishing?
Self publishing still means you do all the work. Plus, you'll now incur all the cost as well. If you're frustrated with having to promote your own work now, that won't change if you self publish. It'll probably get worse.

-Any shot at getting an agent to help?
With those books, no. But write another and start submitting to agents. If you sell another book and it does well, then that should increase the sales of your first books. Having an agent will also give you other options for those first books, since they know the legal issues and can help if there's anything thayt can be done. But you'd need to get that agent with a new book, not the old ones, and there might not be anything they can do.

-Or, am I dead in the water with these books?
Those books are out there in the world, so they're not dead. They're selling and earning you royalties (hopefully) same as any new book you'd sell. Large houses do more promo work on many titles, but not all titles get royal treatment. You can be with a big house and still get little to no marketing support.

-Any chance of reworking the 1st two novels, new characters, title, etc... and selling them as new?
You sold the rights to those stories. Publishing them again with a fresh coat of paint probably violates all kinds of publishing and copyright law.

If you were able to sell two books, you can probably sell more. I'd suggest starting your third and aim at getting an agent. You can also contact a publishing-related lawyer to handle your issue about books sold and royalties.

Actually, you're in a pretty good position. It won't quite get you where you want to be now, but the future has some real possibilities.

First off, you have two novels published. That's a plus with a fair number of agents. Then you say you're getting a regional following. The question is how big is the following. If I was a publisher, and you had a thousand in sales on each of your previous books, I'd be thinking I've already got a good percentage of a book run sold.

When your next book is finished, you want to be showing that you've got a wonderful story that needs a bigger market than your previous publisher could get you. Makes it a lot easier to find an agent.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe