A Sad Day When a Publisher Goes Under

Virtual Tales was the publisher of my science fiction novella, The Epsilon Eridani Alternative. I chose them for this one-off project because, even though they were small, they had a good reputation and put out quality products in trade paperback and ebook formats. I was extremely pleased with everyone I worked with there during the process of getting the novella published, and I thought the cover art they produced absolutely rocked!

My good experience with Virtual Tales made it even harder to bear when I heard the sad news that after five years of struggle, with no profits, the board has decided to close the company's doors. I can certainly sympathize with the principal players who want their life back, so they can work on their own writing projects, after toiling for years with no pay. I'm sad to see it happen, nonetheless.

And, in keeping with their solid, ethical reputation, Chairman Dave Law and Director of Marketing & Promotions Sheri Gormley, are trying their best to soften the blow of the closing for their editors, cover artists, authors, and everyone else involved. They've contacted other small presses to arrange for them to accept resumes from staff and manuscripts from authors for consideration. They've provided signed Return of Rights letters and final manuscript files to the authors in a timely manner. They promise to pay royalties on book sales made in the final royalty period, even though they personally are volunteering hours and hours of unpaid labor to close the company gracefully.

All I can say, Dave and Sheri, is that it was a tremendous pleasure working with you both, and I wish you huge success in your writing projects. You are definitely a class act!

And for those of you reading this, The Epsilon Eridani Alternative is currently still available for sale from select on-line vendors in trade paperback. Those few paperbacks could become collector's items in the future--you never know!

Wrestling a Manuscript into Final Layout

My science fiction novella, The Epsilon Eridani Alternative, is going to the printer on Monday for the paperback version. Working with the small publisher, Virtual Tales, has given me a view of the final steps of of the production process that an author just doesn't see with a large publisher. The press is run by two folks, Sheri and Dave, who handle all the management, layout, production, promotion, and countless other tasks by themselves. Sheri does the final layout to put the book together, merging the manuscript text, author bio, cover art, table of contents, ads for future Virtual Tales books, and more into a final print-ready masterpiece.

Early last week, Sheri sent the draft of the final book in a PDF file to me, my editor, her partner Dave, the cover artist, and a couple of other staff to review and provide missing pieces. In my review, I discovered an extra piece: one scene was duplicated, at the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. Fixing it required revising the table of contents, repaginating the book, and possibly even recalculating the price of the print run (though I didn't hear about that part). Sheri had some scrambling to do.

I also went through the manuscript with a fine-toothed comb and found a few typos, some that had been introduced since my last run-through with the editor and some that both of us had missed in all of our previous passes. This always happens, so I never turn down a chance to review a manuscript one more time. I'm sure there are still one or two typos that will make it into the printed book, but at least the dozen or so I found won't!

Sheri included me in the distribution of subsequent versions, so I saw the ads make it into the back, my bio enhanced with a frame around my headshot and wallpaper on the page, a blurb quote from Laura Reeve, a generous science fiction author friend, added to the back cover, and more. The book grew more beautiful and complete with each pass, like a young woman getting gussied up for a debut ball or her wedding.

I just sent Sheri my last email saying it looks great and good to go, from my viewpoint. I can't wait to hold the final version in my hands! To read an excerpt, go to The Epsilon Eridani Alternative Books page on my website. To order a trial subscription to the first few chapters and get a chance to order the novella at 40% off list price (hurry, the deal expires after the release date!), go to its page on the Virtual Tales website.