April Fools, Not So Funny

The economic downturn has thrown up a last minute hurdle in the release of Avempartha. My publisher recently announced the shocking news that economic downturns and tightening credit lines put them in a difficult cash flow situation. Despite having already invested thousands in the production of the book, they would not be able to print Avempartha.

You can imagine my dismay considering that I was also informed that Avempartha already had a large number of pre-orders. Just when my books looked to be picking up momentum, I would have to tell my readers that the series I promised them was going on an indefinite hold. The publisher was very apologetic, but there was nothing they could do.

By the terms of the contract I signed, AMI had until October to put the book into print before they were in violation of the terms. So I would have to wait until this fall to begin the process of getting the rights to Avempartha back and who knows how long it would take to put the book out then. All the pre-orders would be canceled, all the reviews that Robin was able to line up would vanish, all the book clubs who scheduled to read Avempartha would take the novel off their line-ups, and all the bookstores who had signings scheduled would cancel. And who knows how many of my fledging fan-base I would disappoint—I would fail to deliver on my very first promise to them.

Avempartha had been scheduled to be released on April Fool's Day, and the joke wasn’t funny.

Over the last few weeks Robin and I negotiated with our publisher to find a way to re-gain the rights to Avempartha immediately. The publisher has already invested substantial money into the book for editors, proofers, layout, advertising, and distribution, and so was unwilling to merely cancel the contract.

I am now happy to report that I have reached an agreement with AMI allowing me to regain the rights and release Avempartha immediately. I am even more pleased to report that Avempartha will be released on schedule (or at least darn close) under the Ridan Publishing brand.

Aside from a month of stress and long hours getting the book out the door, the only other hiccup is that those of you who pre-ordered Avempartha will have your orders canceled because the book’s ISBN number has changed. The good news is you can still pre-order, but need to use the new ISBN. So use this link and just re-order.

If you prefer, you can still order signed copies directly from me. I'll have a link established just as soon as I have books in my hand. We are doing some "rush printing" and even driving to Pennsylvania to pick them up to avoid shipping delays, so the second I have books ready I'll let you know how you can get them from us. (This by the way saves us money because 50% of the price doesn't go to the distribution channel.)

At this time, I think we will hit April 1, if not then very close to it—only delayed by a week or so.

I regret the inconvenience, but am happy the book is still coming out. So for now I will be printing/selling the books myself, but I'm actively looking for a new publisher though this may take some time. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.