Musa Publishing

[seun]

Two books without a home. Damn.

Same here.

 

[Chris P]

Yep. Just got the email too. I was going to wait out the final months of my contract and decide what to do with the book then. Looks like I get to decide a little sooner.

 

[RoseColoredSkies]

I still have about 20 promo print copies I need to do something with. I guess this means I need to post something letting readers know that it's not available anymore.

Oddly, I'm not that bummed (then again it's like 6am and I just woke up so who knows).

 

[ccbridges]

I've received messages from a number of people today telling me that Musa has sent out a message announcing its closure.

All rights will be reverted to its current authors by the end of this month.

I received one this morning.

 

[Hip-Hop-a-potamus]

I'm ecstatic.

I was going to have to wait until June to ask for my rights back, but now I can self-publish right away (and had already formatted the document to do that). I'll just need to create a new cover, and reformat the text for the hard copy.

I was always one of those people who pooh-poohed self-publishing, but my friend's series was recently optioned by a Hollywood producer. He's mentoring me through the process for my 2nd.

I still have just under 50 of my promotional copies, and I still sell one or two here or there.

Somehow, we all knew this day was coming. I'm not surprised, and I think they had all the guidance they needed if they'd just read this thread and listened to some of the complaints. They didn't.

I think MLK said it best. "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!"

 

[ccbridges]

Serious question. Is the only option to self-publish? I was considering revising, writing the sequel and subbing both to another publisher with the note that the first had been previously published.

 

[seun]

Most of the publishers I've contacted about my two have been 'no reprints'. Of course, if those two books had sold more than 100 copies between them, it'd be a different story.

 

[Old Hack]

Make sure you all get properly signed, formal notices reverting your rights to you. Without those you're going to struggle to place them elsewhere.

Some publishers will consider previously-published works. But many won't, so you're going to have a lot of work ahead of you if you want to find a new home for your books, I'm afraid. And with the volume of books Musa published, there's going to be a lot of good, previously-published books doing the rounds, I fear.

I wish they'd done things differently. Too late now.

 

[BenPanced]

I probably won't be able to get another house to even sneeze at But I Never Said I Didn't Love You, seeing it was released once before by Aspen Mountain Press, so I've been putting together a plan to self-pub it and Kitchen Witch.

Right after I polish off this fifth of tequila.

 

[Sage]

I still have about 20 promo print copies I need to do something with. I guess this means I need to post something letting readers know that it's not available anymore.

They say you can sell those. I've never gotten any because I didn't like that particular promotional model, so I don't know if there's something on them that would keep you from being able to sell them, but as far as Musa is concerned, you can.

 

[Chumplet]

Well, The Bitches are mine again. I never did have a chance to arrange for print copies, so all I have are a few first edition paperbacks from RR (and the formatting on those was unacceptable).

I'm not sure what I'll do. That makes two books for which my rights have been returned. Maybe I'll self publish, but I'll think about that later.

Musa gave it a gallant try and I don't regret my relationship with them. I wish Celina, Jeanne, Kelly, Kerry and Dominique the best of luck in their future endeavours.

 

[Bubastes]

Musa gave it a gallant try and I don't regret my relationship with them. I wish Celina, Jeanne, Kelly, Kerry and Dominique the best of luck in their future endeavours.

What Chumplet said.

 

[Chumplet]

Make sure you all get properly signed, formal notices reverting your rights to you. Without those you're going to struggle to place them elsewhere.

According to the email, individual reversion letters will be available on each author's Delphi account.

 

[KimJo]

I was going to wait until my book hit the 2-year mark in October to request a reversion for my YA novel with Musa. This morning's email makes me very happy.

One of my other publishers has expressed willingness in the past to consider one of my other previously-published YA novels, so I'm going to ping them about this one. If they aren't interested, I'll find some other way to make it available for readers, and either way I think it will probably find a wider audience than it did during its tenure with Musa.

 

[Melete]

This is Coreen Montagna (known as Melete when I was at Musa). I designed all the ebooks and print books (excluding the covers) from launch through December 2012. If your book was published during this time range and you wish to have your book immediately made available as a self-published title, I can do this for you at a nominal fee, as I still have all your files. You would need to either provide me with your new cover or pay me or someone else to design one for you. But if you simply want me to take your ebook file, change the copyright page, and swap covers, I will do so for $20 per title (discount for multiple titles). You'll get three files in return: EPUB, MOBI, and Word file for Smashwords.

I'm saddened to hear about the demise of Musa, but I remember some of you having written fabulous books (which I read as the head line editor at the time).

I don't check AW often, so your best bet if interested is to email me directly. Put "Musa conversion request" and the book title in your email so it doesn't get lost. My email is coreenm at g mail dot com.

One way or another, I hope you all find homes for your books.

 

[Chumplet]

Melete, the interior design of The Toast Bitches was lovely.

 

[stormie]

I just saw the notice on FB, by Kevin. Then checked my emails. I am not surprised. The editor I had at the time in 2013 was excellent, and my ebook is fantastic. But she left shortly after.

ANYWAY, sometime after March 1 my ebook will be self-pubbed. I've done it before; it's not that hard to convert files and work on a cover, and I can set my own price, which will be lower. I already have a presence on Smashwords and Amazon.

 

[G. Applejack]

Boo. I'm disappointed and a little sad. I only had one book with them, but I enjoyed my little monthly checks. I've never had any interest in self-publishing, but I'm proud of this one and the sequel's halfway written out. *Sigh* Guess I have some thinking to do.

Kudos to the Musa staff for choosing to shut down on their own terms, rather than let the business linger and die a terrible death. We've all seen examples of that.

 

[sheadakota]

My interior was also lovely! Thanks Coreen!

 

[stormie]

Kudos to the Musa staff for choosing to shut down on their own terms, rather than let the business linger and die a terrible death. We've all seen examples of that.

I agree. The writing was on the wall, and I am glad they convened and decided to shut down now, instead of choking all the way to the grave.

 

[triceretops]

Make sure you all get properly signed, formal notices reverting your rights to you. Without those you're going to struggle to place them elsewhere.

Some publishers will consider previously-published works. But many won't, so you're going to have a lot of work ahead of you if you want to find a new home for your books, I'm afraid. And with the volume of books Musa published, there's going to be a lot of good, previously-published books doing the rounds, I fear.

I wish they'd done things differently. Too late now.

What Old Hack said. Now, for reprints, a quick guide is Ralans--you can find pubs who'll consider re-prints at a glance. These are different sized publishers, so pick and choose. It's working for me with my wolf thriller which got dumped by another publisher.

http://www.ralan.com/m.publish.htm

Good luck to all of you! Looks like I missed a potential sale here. Okay, got to cross them out of my sub list.

 

[victoriastrauss]

Folks, I'd like to write about this for the Writer Beware blog. I'e been following this thread, but I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who'd like to contact me to tell their stories. I'd also love to see copies of the email announcing the closure and emails or letters returning rights. All information and documentation shared with Writer Beware is held in confidence. Thank you!

- Victoria

 

[Melete]

Thank you for the kind words

For those who aren't sure how involved self-pubbing your book would be, I can tell you that if you are willing to just use Amazon as your exclusive outlet, it's extremely simple to get your book out there. Just sign up for a Kindle Direct Publishing account (KDP) and follow the steps they outline. I've even completed these steps myself for some ex-Musa authors who didn't want to get involved in that process. And CreateSpace is the easiest platform for doing print on demand versions.

Getting your book into other sites is a bit more cumbersome, but still not overly difficult. Publishing your book to iTunes is the worst, because Apple makes it difficult for non-Mac users. The easiest way to get a book up there is to just go through Smashwords, which will also get your book on Barnes and Noble and a bunch of other smaller sites. What I dislike about Smashwords, as a designer, is that they really limit your freedom to design the book the way you want.

Most of the self-pubbed clients I've worked with have just done Amazon because it's simple and you get a much higher royalty with them if you are exclusive.

Just food for thought. Also, feel free to pass my offer along to any other Musa authors you know who aren't on AW. I have no mechanism for sending out a blast email, but I'm willing to help anyone who wants to self-pub their ex-Musa book.

Note, I can still help you if your book was done after I left, but you'd need to provide me with a clean, final Word file and it would be a more laborious process, so not as cheap

For those looking to create their own covers, Depositphotos and Dollarphotoclub are two inexpensive stock sites that I use frequently as a designer because their credit costs are very low (as compared to iStock, Shutterstock, or Dreamstime). They don't have as much variety or highest quality images, but I almost always find what I need at one or the other.

 

[elindsen]

Make sure you all get properly signed, formal notices reverting your rights to you. Without those you're going to struggle to place them elsewhere.

Some publishers will consider previously-published works. But many won't, so you're going to have a lot of work ahead of you if you want to find a new home for your books, I'm afraid. And with the volume of books Musa published, there's going to be a lot of good, previously-published books doing the rounds, I fear.

I wish they'd done things differently. Too late now.

Second this.

Last year I was part of the Entranced closure and all of their authors were sent a mass email like Musa did, announcing its closure. We were told our book's rights would revert, but no one ever got an actual email. Needless to say when I approached publishers, without that letter no one would look at it.

So get those letters!

And hugs all around. It does suck but at least you're getting some kind of closure versus what's happened at other houses. At least Musa seems to be doing the right thing now.

ETA: I did get an email stating my rights reversion, but I got out before the bottom fell out. My problem was that they'd listed my name as my pen name. So the letter was junk and they wouldn't put my legal name. Make sure when you get your letters everything is right.

ETA2: I got that wrong. the year was wrong, showing my rights reverted before they even opened their doors. Still, reversion letters are very important.

 

[KimJo]

I'd also like to mention (though this isn't a self-pubbing thread... but it's relevant to those of us who are considering what to do with former Musa titles) that Draft2Digital is VERY easy to work with--easier than Smashwords, in my experience, though others' opinions may vary--and distributes to a variety of sales outlets, including iTunes.