statement(1) - night shade and skyhorse

This might ordinarily be a wrap up post of Denver Comic Con, but while I was busy there this past weekend two big things happened. I'm taking these events up in separate posts.

I'm starting with the NSB purchase because it's more personal to me, of course. My publisher, Night Shade Books, has been reformed as an imprint of Skyhorse and Start Books. To be clear, Start will handle only the eBook end of things. This isn't a surprise to anyone who's been paying attention, and I've been paying close attention, as you can imagine. Yes, for those of you wondering, I did sign.

Am I thrilled and excited? To be honest, I'm meh. When you've dealt with something like this for two months, the excitement wears off. I spent a lot of time studying my rather lengthy contract, reading countless email discussions, worrying for THE SEVEN EYES series, and not writing EMISSARY because it's fruitless to write on a book that might be tied up in bankruptcy. For me personally, it was a massive distraction which resulted in my losing weeks of writing time.


Some thanks are in order to the folks who helped me negotiate this rocky road:
  •  Sara Megibow, who brought a level-headed expertise to the situation, the agency's attorney, Jon Tandler, and everyone at Nelson Literary Agency for their hand-holding. 
  • Mary Robinette Kowal, instrumental in negotiating the deal and doing her damnedest to see writers and our books protected. Mary: Worldcon, drinks on me!
  • SFWA, ditto. Everyone at SFWA worked to see the right thing done for Night Shade writers.  
  • Kameron Hurley set up an invaluable email loop, useful for confidential communication and just plain old stress relief.  All the writers' insights and silliness got me through.
  • Courtney Schafer, who has kept this newbie in the loop constantly and just offered friendship and camradarie. Writers are the friendliest, best folks in the world! I hope someday I get to pay it forward.
  • Jeremy Lassen (who purchased and edited EXILE) and Jason Williams, because whatever their mistakes, they went out of their way to see that our books didn't die a slow death. 
  • Other writers and editors in the business (like Tim Marquitz, Joe Martin, and Roger Bellini) who got me writing on other projects and bought them. :) 
As as side note: Certain comments made by my peers and outsiders do not necessarily reflect my views. That said, I respect and defend everyone's right to speak out as they see fit.

So what's next? I'm still working on a couple of side projects and I'll be digging back into EMISSARY right away. Mostly, I'm super glad to put all this behind me and I look forward to keeping EXILE available and bringing EMISSARY out with Skyhorse.






4 comments:

carolwriter said...

I'm really glad it's all working out.

ssas said...

Thanks, Carol!!

dolorah said...

So glad it all worked out and now you can get back to writing :)

......dhole

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