Writerly Wednesday #11: From sad to WOOHOO!

So, as you all know, my former publisher, Otherworld Publications, is closing on December 31 of this year. Last week, I was absolutely devistated by the news, and have since then made a very important choice. I was given the option to stay with OWP until the end of the year, or opt out now.  It was difficult because I like and respect Lynn, but I asked myself the important question; will it pay off in the long run?

After thinking about it myself, discussing it with my publicist, and my family and friends, I realized the answer is no, it won’t pay off. I wasn’t making a lot of money from them to begin with.  So, I opted to get out at the end of the month. The 25th of June is my last day with OWP. 

HOWEVER, I do have some really good news.  I have been speaking with Frank over at Hydra Publications, who is also located in Kentucky and not too far from Lynn.  I have done some extensive research on him and his company, and have found all good things.  Yes, Hydra Publications is another young, and fairly new company, but they have a much bigger following than OWP, and after speaking to their authors, I am overall very impressed with them.

I asked Frank for a sample contract and looked it over.  He sent it to me right away, and at a first glance, I don’t see anything legally wrong with it. Granted, I am not an attorney or paralegal, but it seems legit to me so far. I do plan to have one of my attorney friends take a look at it just to be safe before I sign my life away hehe.

So, Frank and I exchanged a few more emails.  He’s definitely pro-author, and is very easy to work with. He seems to know what he’s doing business-wise, and we just clicked. Before I knew it, I was telling him that I would send him Prince of Darkness as well as my other titles.  He then proceeded to ask me if I wanted him to send me a filled out contract with my name, address etc. I told him YES to send it over 🙂

I haven’t received it yet, but I am sure I will very, very soon!

And when I do, you guys will be the first to hear about it!

HOORAY!

Writerly Wednesday #10: A very sad day in publishing

Welcome to another week in Writerly Wednesday.  Unfortunately, today is a very sad day in the publishing world.  I received an email this afternoon from my publisher, Lynn from Otherworld.  The letter said that Otherworld Publications will be closing as of December 31 this year.  I, and all of her other authors are deeply saddened by this because Lynn is absolutely AWESOME!

So, what does this mean for my titles? Well, it means that as of June 25, they will be taken off the market.  However, this won’t be such a bad thing.  Why? Because it will give me the time that I need to re-vamp all my current titles and edit them.  Also, I may already have someone else who I think is interested in re-publishing them.  I have a contact over at Hydra Publications that I’ve “known” for quite a while.  Frank is wonderful, and I’ve heard nothing but great things about him. In fact, he was the first person I emailed when I heard that OWP was going out of business.  He was just as shocked as I was about it.  I found out that not only is he one of the co-owners of Hydra Publications, but he also owns a used book store down in Indiana, and carries all of OWP’s titles so he already has access to my novel.

When I emailed Frank, he told me that he would be honored to re-publish my books. So, they may not be out of print for a long time. No, I haven’t been offered a contract yet, but between my connection with Hydra Publications, and the awesome recommendation that Lynn gave on my behalf, I’m hoping to be in 🙂

Otherworld wasn’t just my publisher…we were like a family, and I hope that the authors and I will continue to stay that way.