Over the last few years, I have observed a disturbing trend
in publishing. Many, if not most, of the small and mid-level publishers I know
have gone out of business, leaving their authors wondering where to go and what
to do.
The first to affect us personally was Whiskey Creek Press. http://whiskeycreekpress.com/ The owners
were very close friends, and our relationship with them was a personal as well
as business one. Health issues forced them to sell their company. They were
fortunate. At the time, another publisher, Start Publishing, was interested in
obtaining the company. We had seven books with them, so it was easier to leave
them with the same publisher, especially since they maintained the original
website, even with the change in ownership. They also contracted with Simon and
Schuster to distribute our ebooks. https://www.simonandschuster.com/search/books/_/N-/Ntt-Lorna+Collins
In 2016, the publisher of Wild Child Publishing/Freya’s Bower
closed her publishing house. At the time, she explained that Amazon’s changes
had made it impossible for small-to-mid-sized publishers to stay in business.
Other publishers followed.
The same year, the owner of Oak Tree Press, Billie Johnson, had a
massive stroke. It was not her first, but she had recovered from an earlier
one, so her authors hoped she’d do the same this time. After a year with no
royalties, I decided to request my rights back and self-publish my book, Ghost Writer. Some others did the same.
However, in 2018, Billie died, and many of her authors were left without a
publisher.
I have helped some of these to self-publish their books, but
others are still trying to figure out what they will do.
Next to succumb was Desert Breeze Publishing, one of the
most ethical houses I ever worked with. I edited for them for a few years. They
also published several of my friends’ books. A couple of years ago, the owner
had a serious car accident. She has been in nearly constant pain ever since.
This, combined with the Amazon system’s policy changes, led her to stop doing
business.
The latest publisher to fold is Mundania Press. This was one of the most
respected of the mid-level publishers. Through the past fifteen years or so,
they acquired several other small presses. However, they have been unable to
pay royalties for a few months. Sadly, they, too, have given up.
When Oak Tree closed, our dear friend, Marilyn
Meredith had her Rocky Bluff PD mystery series as well as quite a few other
outliers published through Oak Tree. Another publisher, Aakenbaaken & Kent (also a friend), took the series and is
currently re-publishing it. Larry and I self-published the others under Marilyn’s
name. They now belong to her, and she gets all the royalties.
Her Tempe Crabtree mystery series was published by Mundania.
We told her we would do the same with these. There were sixteen previously
published books plus a new one, which should have been released months ago. She
sent me the files, and Spirit Wind it is now available as of last Saturday in paperback and
ebook. (Marilyn used my name for a character in a previous book, and she is back
in this one—perhaps my favorite of all.)
In addition to the seventeen books in this series, Mundania had
also published several of her other freestanding books. Thank goodness, Marilyn
kept all of her files. (We share the same birthday, and we’re both very
organized.)
So, now I’m at work trying to re-edit and re-format all the manuscripts.
She has all the front cover artwork—thank goodness because these are gorgeous!
But Larry has had to re-create the back covers and spines. This one turned out beautifully,
so we are optimistic about the rest of them.
Many other authors are now left high and dry with no
publishers and few options. Most do not have the skills necessary to
self-publish their books.
The publishing industry has undergone a complete change
during the thirteen years since we published our first book—and not necessarily
for the better.
Have you had any experiences with being abandoned by a
publisher?