And Now We Wait

Clans of Kalquor 3:  Alien Conquest should be mine once more.  Its contract has run out and the rights have reverted to me.  Unfortunately, the publisher has not yet responded to my emails requesting they take it down from their site as well as distributor sites (Amazon, B&N, etc.)  I sit waiting somewhat impatiently for them to get back to me so I can upload the newly edited and expanded version. 
This could take a while.
First of all, it’s the weekend.  I know I will not hear from the publisher over the weekend.  It will be Monday at the earliest now that I can hope to get things moving.

Even once the publisher does return the rights, things will still proceed at a snail's pace.  It could be hours or days before the old book disappears from the distributors.  You can never tell with these things.  Barnes & Noble in particular has been notoriously slow in removing books with elapsed contracts.  The one exception to the rule is Smashwords.  They respond quite fast with taking a book down.  Once I load the new edition to that site, it will be on sale immediately.  Man, I love Smashwords.  They rock.
As for the rest:  once the original version of Conquestis gone, I have to play more of the waiting game after the new edition is uploaded.  Nook can take up to three days to post a new book. 
Amazon should take only 12 hours on the U.S. side (24 hours for international), but there’s a snag to the Kindle availability.  You see, I always get a notice after that 12 hours that I need to confirm I have the rights to my book.  Even though I checked the little box when I uploaded the new book confirming that yes, this is my book, their alarms go off.  They’ve seen that title on their site before, and so I get a notice that says I need to go back and check that little box again.  So I do, and then it’s another 12 to 24 hours before they’ll put the book up for sale ... unless they’ve figured out something else to bitch about.  Amazon is admittedly awesome to its customers, but complete jerks to their indie publishers.  And so it goes.

Then there's the print version.  All the print copies of the old version ordered by the publisher must be sold out before I can put the new edition into print.  If memory serves me right, Alien Embrace took a few months.  Alien Rule was not a long wait, so we will hope the same happens with Alien Conquest.  Fingers crossed.
Of course I’ll be posting here, Facebook, and Twitter when the books are up for sale.  You’ll know as soon as I do.  If you’ve been waiting for the new version of Alien Conquest, hang in there.  It’s coming ... sooner or later.