Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Samhain Shutting Its Doors

So a couple of weeks ago all authors of Samhain Publishing (who have published my ebook novella Nightmare in Greasepaint and its related print collection Childhood Fears) received an email notifying us that the publisher is going out of business. Not just the horror line, but the larger romance line as well. No specifics have been given at this point what it means for existing titles, though it seems they will continue to be sold until such time as the company goes officially "under."

Supposedly we'll get the rights to our work assigned back to us at that point, since the contract will be null. To add a twist, however, the publisher did state to one author that something might be in the works - nothing specific, perhaps another publisher is buying them out? Time will tell. In the meantime, I'll keep an eye out for Childhood Fears to see if they have any fire sales.

Such is the nature of publishing. Samhain has always been a relatively small press, using print on demand for their print titles and so never getting them into bookstores. But it was showing signs of becoming big, bringing on more authors, etc. Instead, on it's way to the next economic peak, it slipped. I guess. So, stay tuned to see. When they fired their prestigious horror editor, Don D'Auria, many saw this as the first volley over our bows. We were right, since not long after they announced the closing of the company.

In other news, my new novel, Lost in the Woods, has been completed (first draft), and the revision process will begin once I finish work on Plague of Locusts (as Daniel G Keohane). Stay tuned.

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