Our August newsletter has just hit the stand!

NewsletterOur most recent newsletter is now available. It includes information on recent and upcoming releases (including Shelley Davidow’s Lights Over Emerald Creek, Janis Hill’s Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My!, Leonie Roger’s Frontier Resistance, and Ruth Fox’ Across the Bridge of Ice ) as well as news on recent signings (which have included Cold Faith by Shaune Lafferty Webb, Foxing the Fandango by Lesley Truffle, and ON by Jon Puckridge.

If you have not already subscribed to our newsletter and wish to be kept informed of new releases please subscribe here.

A chock-a-block future program means we have temporarily suspended submissions

Sorry - temporarily closed for submissionsGiven the number of recent signings, which include

  • Cold Faith by Shaune Lafferty Webb;
  • Foxing the Fandango by Lesley Truffle; and
  • ON by Jon Puckeridge

as well as the remaining program for this year which includes:

  • Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My by Janis Hill;
  • Frontier Resistance by Leonie Rogers; and
  • Across the Bridges by Ruth Fox

we have regretfully decided to temporarily close for submissions. At this stage we do not anticipate re-opening until June 2015. Please contact me to be informed by email when we  re-open submissions again.

Unfortunately, given that our release schedule is now fully committed to December 2015, not to close for submissions would raise false expectations in those submitting manuscripts. In addition, keeping submissions open would require me to provide valuable time to assess submitted manuscripts, time that could be better spent editing and marketing those we are already contractually committed to.

No longer accepting submissions does leave a sour taste in my mouth, because when I established Hague Publishing one of my aims was to provide a channel for unpublished, or newly established authors to reach an audience. Now it seems I have become one of those many publishing houses (and agents) that seem intent on ignoring those many books deserving publication. Unfortunately both time, and capital prevent me from publishing all the books that do deserve and I am having to learn to say ‘no’. On the other hand, having to hang out a sign – ‘Temporarily Closed for Submissions’ – is a mark of our success in attracting the manuscripts we have.

‘Frontier Incursion’ nominated for the 2014 Barbara Jefferis Award

Barbara Jefferis AwardJust been told that our nomination of Frontier Incursion for the 2014 Barbara Jefferis Award has been accepted.

The Barbara Jefferis Award is offered for ‘the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society’.

Barbara Jefferis was a feminist, a founding member of the Australian Society of Authors, its first woman President and, in the words of Thomas Keneally, ‘a rare being amongst authors, being both a fine writer but also organisationally gifted. She was a professional and internationally published writer long before most of us dreamed of such things.’

The Award is paid from the Barbara Jefferis Literary Fund, which has been established as a result of a bequest from Barbara Jefferis’s husband, ABC film critic John Hinde, who died in 2006. The Australian Society of Authors is Trustee of the Fund.

In 2014 the Award is valued at $55,000, including a $50,000 prize for the winner. This year’s Award will be assessed by Margaret Barbalet, Georgia Blain and Dorothy Johnston.

Fingers crossed we make the short-listing.

 

Round Four: the fight between Amazon and Hachette spills over and gets bitter

hachette vs amazon image

In a previous post ([p2p type=”slug” value=”round-three-hachette-vs-amazon”][/p2p]) I covered the developing stoush between Amazon and Hachette which at that time, although threatening to affect both writers and readers, really seemed only to affect the companies concerned. But as the ‘negotiations’ continue to drag on the fight is starting to get bitter with writers now taking sides.

The petition

The taking of sides started with “letter to our readers” spearheaded by bestselling writer Douglas Preston and signed by 69 of Hachette’s authors.  However the reaction to this ‘letter’ by many smaller authors can be best characterised by Amy Eyrie’s response on the Bookseller’s blog: “… the reaction of these rich writers protecting the status quo is deeply disappointing. A little more time acting as mentors to fledgling writers and a little less time guarding their monopoly is what I expect from artists. What I see is a bunch of shallow, cynical business people.

In response, as Barry Eisler explains (see Barry’s blog or his specific post) Hugh Howey created an alternate petition to Hachette’s CEO that as at 13 July had obtained 7,110 signatures. The petition reads:  Continue reading

Do NetGalley’s reviews provide a return on investment

Cost-Benefit scalesTravis Neighbour Ward posted a question on the Independent Publishers of New England google+ page as to whether anyone who used Netgalley to post books before they’re published felt it was worth the money? And how many reviews had it generated per book for you on average? NetGalley provides digital review copies to professional readers, including booksellers, librarians, media, bloggers, reviewers and educators. The cost to list a title with them for 6 months is $400, or $300 if you are a member of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and do it through them. As others might be interested in my response I thought it would be useful to put an edited version of my reply out to a wider audience.

We’re using Netgalley for the third time at the moment for Janis Hills’ Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My!. We used IBPA for our second book Shelley Davidow’s Lights Over Emerald Creek. While listing with IBPA is cheaper, and it also gets you a mailout which you would have to pay for separately if you don’t list with them, the level of information you get about those downloading the book isn’t as useful (although IBPA will provide you with detailed information on request). As I am interested in building up our own email list of past reviewers I’ve reverted to listing seperately.  Continue reading

Not one of our books, but one of our authors: Ruth Fox has a new children’s book out via Amazon

Cover of Sand Dog by Ruth FoxAs the title says, Ruth Fox has a new children’s book out called Sand Dog. Its not one of ours, and I haven’t read it yet, but it would be worth checking out. The book is available as both an eBook and paperback (in full colour) from Amazon.

Sand Dog:

Print Length: 26 pages
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00J7ZBYSG
Price: Paperback $10.20
Price: eBook $4.13

“I was pretty sure I was going to hate living in Sunshine Bay. There was no skate park or video store, just a beach and a lot of clouds. But then I met Sand Dog …”

A young boy moves house with his mother. Far from the city where he has grown up, the beach seems a desolate, uninteresting place. But with the help of a very special friend, maybe things won’t be so bad after all! Sand Dog is a story of friendship, adjustment and acceptance, as well as the wonder and importance of an active imagination. Accompanied by bright illustrations in a unique style, this story will resonate with anyone who has ever felt in need of a companion.

 

Hague Publishing at Continuum X

 

ContinuumX picture

Thanks to Leonie Rogers (author of Frontier Incursion and the soon to be released Frontier Resistance), who has invited us to share a ‘market stall’ at Continuum X, the 53rd Australian National Science Fiction Convention, with her next weekend, we will have a presence at the convention. If you are visiting the convention make sure you catch up with her, and check out some of the work from our other fantastic authors.

Round Three – Hachette vs Amazon

Amazon-HachetteEarlier this month reports started to circulate that Amazon had acted to slow the speed with which it fulfilled orders on Hachette’s titles, with delays in some shipments reaching five weeks.

The news was first broken by the New York Times on May 8. However this appears to have only been ’round two’ in an extended series of ‘negotiations’ which may have started back in February when Michael Sullivan first noticed that the discounts for all his Riyria books listed on Amazon.com had vanished, raising the price of  his ebooks from $8.59 – $8.89 to $9.99 and his print books from $11.41 – $13.80 to $16.00 or $17.00. What was even more disturbing, however, was the discounts on most of his fellow Orbit (the fantasy imprint of Hachette) author’s books had disappeared as well.

Michael also started to see stocking issues from March 9 with both Hachette and Amazon blaming each other for the delays (Hachette accusing Amazon of placing small orders, Amazon blaming Hachette for not filling them). However, we are now well and truly into round 3 with Amazon upping the ante by removing the preorder capabilities on many major forthcoming Hachette titles. Continue reading