Writing Tools: What To Do If Your Publisher Closes By Susan Hanniford Crowley

I was writing science fiction and fantasy, mostly sword and sorcery stories for Marion Zimmer Bradley and I went to a Nebula Awards Weekend, where I met Author Jennifer Stevenson who told me that she read my stuff and that I was really a paranormal romance writer. I went home and read a lot of paranormal romance and started writing in my new genre.

Then I submitted my book to Tease Publishing on the recommendation of another author.

The rest is history. In 2009, When Love Survives was published by Tease. Then began my relationship with 3 more books in the series Vampires in Manhattan plus 2 others in group anthologies.

When they closed in 2011, they graciously returned my print and ebook rights and gifted me my series ebook covers and the print cover for The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais.

The two other books: Mrs. Bright’s Tea Room and Poseidon’s Catch were in an author group series. I received the rights back but was not gifted the covers. Since it was a group series, that made sense.

Gifting covers by a publisher is rare to never.

When your publisher announces they are closing, it is important to be discussing the return of the rights they have before they are gone. An author I know didn’t ended up hiring a private detective to find the publisher, who had moved. Finally, she got the news that the rights had been sold to another publisher and who that was.

I had been fortunate with Tease as they had a clause in their contract that said ‘in the event, the publisher closes, all rights return to the author’.

Other publishers may not have this clause. It is something to discuss before you sign the contract on how you can get your book rights back and how many years the publisher has them before they can be returned to the author or negotiations begin for renewal of rights with that publisher.

After all is said and rights returned, you have two choices: find another publisher or self-publish. I did find another publisher who wanted my newest book but chose not to publish my backlist. I learned self-publishing and republished the 6 books.

An important note: Never Sell All Rights. Sell print and/or ebook rights. Always have a time limit for each right. (Example: 5 years.) Keep the other rights. You would be upset if you sold all rights and your book became a movie. If your publisher had all rights, they would have the film rights too. If the book was optioned for a movie, the publisher would make money but not the author.

Next Saturday we are having a delightful guest author on the Nights of Passion blog!

Next Sunday, I will share more about the Vampires in Manhattan series in ‘Writing Friends and Family Sagas’.

Truly,

Susan
Susan Hanniford Crowley

EverWarm for ages 13-113 is now available at Kindle and Amazon Paperback. More to come.
Lady Fallon’s Dragons for ages 13-113 is now available at Kindle and Amazon Paperback, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords, BAM online bookstore sells the paperback, Scribd, and in paperback in the UK at Waterstones, also in Amazons around the world.
The Vampire with a Blanket of Stars, Arnhem Knights of New York, Book 3 is available in Amazon Print and Kindle, Nook, Kobo,  Apple, Walmart ebooks & Smashwords.Vampire Princess of New York, Arnhem Knights of New York, Book 2 available in Kindle and Kindle Unlimited!
Vampire King of New York, Arnhem Knights of New York, Book 1 now in Kindle and Print! Walmart Bookstore Online
Vampire in the Basement, Vampires in Manhattan, Book 4 available in Kindle.
Poseidon’s Catch(mythology romance) available in Kindle.
Mrs. Bright’s Tea Room (steampunk romance) available in Kindle.
A Vampire for Christmas, Vampires in Manhattan, Book 3 available in Kindle.
The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais, Vampires in Manhattan, Book 2 available in Kindle and Print and Barnes and Noble Print
When Love Survives, Vampires in Manhattan Book 1 available in Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords, and iBooks (on Apple devices).