Hey guys, I have a few books coming out in the next while, and one of them is with Ridan. Crafty emailed me and asked if I could swing by and talk a bit about my experience with Ridan. I’m happy to do that. I’ll try to keep it brief and just try to speak to some of the points raised – the points I don’t speak to are points I don’t really know the answers to.
Editing: I’m still undergoing editing with my book. Robin is one of the editors and I’ve also received edits from a one of the freelance editors they work with – so it’s not just her. I have been very impressed so far. I’m happy to come back and share my experience in more detail once it’s done.
As for Michael accepting a deal at Orbit and how that might reflect on RIDAN: from time to time small presses sell their books to larger presses; so it shouldn’t be all that surprising. Perhaps it looks like favoritism that Michael was able to accept the deal (that he got out of his contract), but it really wasn’t. The Ridan contract is such that you can leave at any time, for any reason, no penalty, no buy out. If I were placed in the same situation as Michael (with a major pub offering me big bucks to buy my mss.), I’d probably make the same decision he did, and it would, I sincerely believe, be with Robin’s best wishes.
As for RIDAN authors knowing what they’re getting into: When I was offered a contract by Ridan, Robin called me and we spoke for over 2 hours (and emailed for days after that). She explained the business model, what the strengths and weaknesses were with her model, what my expectations should be … etc, etc. I know they make the bulk of their sales from eBooks. I know how they plan to market the titles and how they plan to drive sales.
Now, I agree that sales are the litmus test for a publishers worth (certainly in my opinion it is). Distribution does matter, but only as much as it translates to sales. You could have a contract with Midpoint and if that doesn’t equal sales, does it really matter? I’m not privy to all the sales data, but Robin has talked to me about several of Ridan’s titles (not Michael's) and the sales have all been in the thousands (some over a thousand in a month - again, not nathan's or Michael's). From what I’ve seen, small presses that can manage to sell thousands of their titles are doing something right.
I think Robin knows what she’s doing in terms of marketing, and her background in advertising and technology was a very big draw for me. Michael’s art work is obviously top notch, but if he stops being the cover artist I think Robin will find someone with similar vision and talent. FWIW, I haven’t heard anything about Michael not doing the covers, so I have no reason to think he won’t.
Crafty specifically asked me why I haven’t mentioned RIDAN on my blog. The answer has nothing to do with being dissatisfied. It is wholly based on the fact that I’ve gone back and forth about whether or not to write under a pen name (My books with my agent and the books with my other publisher are MG, and the book with Ridan (my first book) is geared more for adults and I have other books for adults that I want to write so a pen name might be best. I’m just not sure how I’d approach it in my blog).
Now, what if Ridan closes its doors and orphans its authors? It could happen, of course. Lots of publishers close up shop, and I’d be naïve if I didn’t acknowledge the possibility. It’s a risk that a lot of authors with small presses take (not that larger presses can’t run into trouble – we know they can). If it does happen, then that’s something I’ll have to deal with – and I’m prepared to do that. Will I be happy? Of course not. I hope Ridan accomplishes for all their authors what they did for Michael.
I’m getting long winded here (sorry), so I’ll cut it off, but I will say that as much as Robin worked to help Michael, Michael also engaged readers on his own: In his blog, on forums, on Goodreads, in bookstores … etc etc. He wrote some good books, built a fan base and earned his success. I wish him all the best with Orbit; I know we all do.
