Deborah Macgillivray's Blog, page 78
September 12, 2012
A BIG thank you to White Knight Amazon Publishing
I had a very grand surprise to awaken to this morning!!
All sleepy-eyed and in the mood to pull the blanket over my head and snooze for another hour, I rolled the bed and, I usually do -- check my email. Well, imagine to my surprise when I spy an e-mail from Amazon Publishing/Montlake . The beautiful email was announcing that they had done a bank transfer of the money that Dorchester Publishing has owed me for nearly two years. Amazon bought the rights to my Sisters of Colford Hall™ series, and had promised me, as well as the other Dorchester authors signing with them, that they would honor the money owed by Dorchester before they went out of business.
I simply cannot thank Amazon Publishing/Montlake enough for stepping in and saving the Dorchester authors. It's been too long with nothing but bad news for these authors, so it amazing to see Amazon's caring and prompt handling.
September 10, 2012
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September 6, 2012
Sisters of Colford Hall - available again on Kindle
I am delighted to say Amazon Publishing/Montlake is moving fast after acquiring my titles from the Dorchester selling of the active backlist titles. They have already put the first three of the series out in Kindle, so are available for immediate download.These books were never out of print, until Dorchester's end, with The Invasion of Falgannon Isle going to a second printing just as Dorchester began having problems, and Riding the Thunder had sold out of print. All there had been slated for tradesize release July 2012, which never happened. Montlake has promised me they will be available again soon in print, so I am very delighted with their new home.
September 1, 2012
August 31, 2012
August 30, 2012
It's DONE!! Amazon owns the rights to the backlist of Dorchester Pub
Amazon Publishing Acquires Publication Contracts to Over 1000 Books from Dorchester Publishing
SEATTLE—August 30, 2012—Amazon Publishing today announced that it has acquired through an auction the publication contracts of over 1000 books from Dorchester Publishing. As part of the process, Dorchester authors were offered the opportunity to join Amazon Publishing and receive the full back royalties that Dorchester indicated were owed.
“Working with the Dorchester author community during this auction process has been a tremendous experience for all of us,” said Philip Patrick, Business Development Director at Amazon Publishing. “We are happy to be able to pay their back royalties and we’re thrilled to welcome them to the Amazon Publishing family.”
“Amazon Publishing is breathing new life into my series, and I’m very excited to see what the future holds,” said Tracy Madison, award-winning author of the Gypsy Magic series.
“I am excited beyond words about being offered this chance to join Amazon Publishing. I cannot thank them enough for stepping in and giving former Dorchester authors the chance to move ahead,” said Deborah MacGillivray, author and agent of the late Dawn Thompson, author of The Ravening. “Dawn literally lived for her writing. Amazon Publishing is helping me safeguard Dawn’s legacy, and to see that new readers can continue to find her books,” said Dawn’s sister, Diane Thompson.
“This new relationship will enable the works of countless talented fiction writers to serve their established readers and reach new ones across the globe,” said Gregg Loomis, author of The Bonaparte Secret.
“The transition from Dorchester to Amazon Publishing means that our authors will now be able to reach so many more readers and markets worldwide than they ever could before. That truly is something to celebrate,” said Vicky Piekarski and Jon Tuska, co-owners of Golden West Literary Agency, in a joint statement.
Going forward, the acquired Dorchester titles will be published under the appropriate Amazon Publishing imprints: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror titles to 47North; Romance titles to Montlake Romance; Mystery and Thriller titles to Thomas & Mercer; Westerns and other titles to AmazonEncore. Titles will be available both in print and as Kindle books. Under the terms of Amazon’s bid, any former Dorchester Publishing authors that chose not to work with Amazon Publishing will have their rights revert back to them to pursue other publishing opportunities including self-publishing via the Kindle Direct Publishing platform.
Amazon Publishing is the publishing arm of Amazon.com. Amazon Publishing’s West Coast Group includes imprints AmazonEncore, AmazonCrossing, Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, and 47North. Amazon Publishing’s East Coast Group publishes adult trade, children's and young adult titles. For more information about all imprints of Amazon Publishing, visit www.amazon.com/amazonpublishing. Amazon Publishing is a brand used by Amazon Content Services, LLC.
About Amazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes – still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch, with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon’s new revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core processor.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
Forward-Looking StatementsThis announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.
Snoopy Rules here!
this is the back half of my front veranda, showing my Snoopy Author flag
August 29, 2012
The waiting is almost over for stranded Dorchester authors
Today was the be the auction of the backlist of active titles of Dorchester Publishing Authors. It's been a long couple of years. Dorchester saw it's publisher leave the "ship" at sea, then an editor stepped in to try and carry on. Finally, it fell to Chris Keeslar, who really gave it his all. And he really succeeded, to an extent. He got the business back on its feel, and started moving ahead with e-book sales and prospect of Trade Size coming, when the roof fell in. The owner of Dorchester foreclosed on himself to get back his investment. Which left a lot of authors in limbo. No publisher, no way to get rights back, and no hope for the future.
At the end of January, Chris walked, leaving no one in charge. Tales of moving offices turned out to be a post office box in a UPS station. Authors were left with no rights back, and no hope for money owed them.
In walks Amazon Publishing/Montlake. They are buying the active backlist titles, and giving the authors a choice -- transfer the rights to Montlake and allow them to put the titles out, or get rights back. I joyfully accepted Montlake's offer and am very excited about the move.
So today was a going through the motion auction. Everyone knew Amazon Publishing would be the only bidder, so it was clear who would walk away with the "toys" at the end of the game. Friday the contact is supposed to be inked.
So Dorchester author who thought they were lost in limbo, finally has a white knight who has come in and saved them.
This damsel is quite pleased to get on with my life and look forward to working with Montlake.
