Back in September 2015, I made the difficult decision to part ways with Grand Mal Press, which published my third novel, Invasion at Bald Eagle.
All rights reverted to me, but markets interested in reprints weren’t numerous and, to be honest, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to try and find it another home. I had become jaded with the small press publishing world. My first novel, Ghost Kiss (2007), sold very few copies and, not surprisingly, the publisher, Asylett Press, closed down a year or two later. My second novel, Hollywood Hearts Ablaze (2014), was accepted at an Australian e-book publisher. It, too, closed down soon after the novel became available. When Grand Mal Press decided to switch to a print-on-demand business model (very reminiscent of the one at Asylett Press) a few months after Invasion at Bald Eagle went on sale, it was the final straw.
I focused instead on writing new stuff. A string of short stories (several of which have been published) and two novels (one of which I’m shopping around now) emerged over the next couple of years. But Invasion at Bald Eagle never really left my mind. I still believed it was one of the best things I had ever written – certainly the best novel, by a long way – and with some additional publishing credits under my belt, I began to search for possible markets.
One of the first I came across, Digital Fiction Publishing Corp in Canada, seemed a good fit. At the time it was only open to reprints (check!), it specialised in sci-fi and horror (check!), and it seemed to be a legitimate publisher, albeit one with an unusual ‘communal’ style royalties model (check!). The Absolute Write Water Cooler forum had nothing bad to say about it, so I gave it a go.
Today, three years after it was laid it to rest, I can confirm Invasion at Bald Eagle will rise from the ashes in 2019 as a DFPC title. Stay tuned for updates.