Dreamspell authors: We're back!

By T.W. Fendley

Two months ago, the authors of L&L Dreamspell were reeling from the death of publisher Linda Houle and co-publisher Lisa Smith's decision to close the business. Since then, many have found ways to get their books back into print, thanks to Lisa's prompt execution of their Reversion of Rights.

"I think what I've learned is just how much persistence is an essential part of this business," said author Chris Ferguson. "Obviously the closing of L&L DS was a personal and community tragedy for us. But of course it was also disappointing as an author. Fortunately there are avenues for good work to continue on, so setbacks are not the end of the world."

I solicited status updates from the Dream Team, and their paths to publication are as varied as the books they write. 

GONE INDIE

With Jennifer Stolzer's cover design, my historical fantasy novel, Zero Time, is available through Kindle and "in process" at CreateSpace. 

Jo Hiestand also chose the self-publishing route via CreateSpace and has already published 15 of her mystery novels (including two that were out of print for five years) and Esther Lutrell has several of her titles out under their new imprint, Golden Harvest Press. In addition to her novels, Jo also compiled two anthologies and published Carols for Groundhog's Day.

"We've learned a lot in these months," Jo said. "How to format the books for trade paper and ebook publication, how to buy ISBNs, how to list the published books thru Bowker so the books are included in the books-in-print catalog that other bookstores and libraries use to get info on your work, how to set up royalty payments and follow the sales reports, and how much work there is to getting a book out -- and so my admiration for Linda and Lisa grew tremendously."

Facing a busy fall speaking schedule, Cindy Sample chose to upload her two backlist books to Kindle. "I didn’t want to spend money advertising until my new book is released [in October], but word of mouth seems to be working. Today was exciting because for the first time ever my books placed in a top 100 bestseller category. As of this second, Dying for a Date is # 73 in sales of over 22,000 fiction books in the humor category."

Bobbye Terry (aka Daryn Cross) said, "I released mine as indies. Walk Right In became Like Humans Do, and Walk Right Back became Like Demons Do. I plan to release the third one, Like Zombies Do, next year, The two currently out were both re-edited before re-releasing and came out in both Kindle and print through CreateSpace. I did my covers with their Cover Creator. I placed two of my short stories in the collection, Moonlight Magic, published the same way."

"I quickly put Ghost Orchid on Kindle to keep it in the market while searching for a reprint publisher," D.K. Christi said. "I am particularly grateful to Lisa Smith of the former L & L Dreamspell team who provided quick assistance with our search and with the team of authors who have helped each other."

Christy Tillery French also placed all her books in The Bodyguard series as Amazon Kindles.

WITH A LITTLE HELP

Nancy Means Wright reported her middle grade/YA novel,Walking into the Wild, is now available. "With a good review coming out soon in a magazine, I wanted to get it out asap, so the book will be published by my own imprint, Wildcat Books, at the new publisher Prince and Pauper Press."  

"(Jennifer Carson) and I have worked closely together to bring out my book with a bright new cover, new interior pages, back cover, adding a map, etc," Nancy said. "I paid her $300 for all this, and then put it up on Amazon in my name. So it’s a sort of alternative affair, not exactly self-pubbed, but I have some control for the first time in my writing  life!  And we’ve done it in about a month—which wouldn’t have happened had I tried a traditional press. I will take all royalties from e-book sales, and she will take a small % from online print book sales."

Anita Page's novel, Damned If You Don't, has been reissued as an e-book by Glenmere Press.

L.A. Stark said two ebooks (13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy and Strike Price) will be published by Stone Thread Publishing. "They have asked for more e-books in the Lynn Dayton series," she said.

Elise Dee Beraru said, "I'm going to release my two short stories as a double feature through Dark Hallows, probably at 99 cents for the pair. I just need to get them formatted and a new cover." The stories are "By the Dark of the Moon" and "Three Wishes," from the Dreamspell Romance and Magic anthologies.

Thom Reese's The Empty will be rereleased in early 2014 by the publisher of his other novels, Speaking Volumes. It will be an expanded edition that includes material removed from the Dreamspell edition to meet their word count restrictions. 

Catherine Winn has signed a contract with the new YA imprint of Poisoned Pen Press, The Poisoned Pencil, for the YA mystery novel that had been slated to be published by Dreamspell this summer. 

Peter Green said, "My plan has been to look for good sustainable small presses. I have found one, an imprint of a larger, established  press, where my two mysteries are on submission. If that’s accepted, I’ll go with it. If not, I may look for others. My fallback position is to self-publish with Lightning Source (which many indie publishers use, including the former LLD—part of Ingram, best distribution) or Amazon CreateSpace and KDP (best marketing in one huge market, but no others)."

THE WILD ROSE PRESS

When Lisa announced Dreamspell would be closing, she also let us know of her arrangements with Rhonda Penders, one of the owners of The Wild Rose Press Inc.  “You will not have to go through their usual "slush" pile but rather go directly to her and she will assign you an editor. She doesn't promise a contract for everything but she does promise to try very hard to find you a home at TWRP if you want it.”

Dreamspellers who have contracts with The Wild Rose Press include:

• Leigh Neely and Jan Powell, True Nature
• Marilyn Gardiner, Comanche Moon
• Susan Coryell, A Red, Red Rose
• Mark Rosendorf, The Rasner Effect
• J.D. Webb, Smudge
• Chris Ferguson, Suicide Kings
• Nikki Andrews, Framed
• Joyce Scarbrough, Symmetry
• Lynn Schurr, A Trashy Affair, Love Letter for a Sinner, A Convent Rose

Contracts are also under consideration at TWRP for a new book from Jo Hiestand, D.K. Christy's Ghost Orchid, and Lynn Shurr’s Wish for a Sinner and Kicks for a Sinner

“I feel lucky to have titles coming out next year," Lynn said. "Trashy Affair was all edited and only lacked its cover before DS folded, hence the quick turnaround.” A Trashy Affair is also on Kindle.

ADDITIONAL TIPS

Other advice Dream Team authors shared about getting books back in print included:

• BackinPrint through The Author's Guild--"Costs you nothing at all except you have to join Author's Guild. iuniverse will do the printing and cover art. I hand all my St. Martin's Press books done that way. They don't do ebooks, though, just print." -- Nancy Means Wright
• StoneThread Publishing--A traditional royalty-paying publisher for e-books only, is particularly interested in series. Publisher Harvey Stanbrough recommends first reading the About and the FAQs pages before reading the submissions page. 
• Harlequin Worldwide Mystery & Suspense--"...they bought the first 
two in [my] series as reprints."--Jacqueline Seewald
• Prince and Pauper Press--the publisher is Dreamspell author Jennifer Carson, carson4boys@yahoo.com

And advice on other markets (some currently closed to submissions):

• Penumbra Publishing--"They cover a wide variety of genres. My latest sci-fi novel, Status Quo, is through them."--Mark Rosendorf  
• Belle Books--"... is another publisher with a good reputation...They do romance and mystery and do give an advance.
They are very slow to reply though.

"-- Jacqueline Seewald

• Spencer Hill Press--"We usually only take queries from agented authors, except in cases where we have met authors at conferences, etc. I am extending to you an open door because of our situation. Spencer Hill does have a wing for contemporary stories. Unfortunately, we don't do straight historical though."--Spencer Hill Press senior editor Jennifer Carson (who is also a Dreamspell author)  
• Kings River Life Magazine--(Lorie Ham, editor) Reprints individual mystery short stories.--Nancy Means Wright

L&L Dreamspell: Making dreams come true

By T.W. Fendley

In early July, I was among almost 200 authors published by L&L Dreamspell who received an email announcing the small press would be closing due to the imminent death of one of the partners. 

The business had always been driven by a shared dream: "We started this publishing company because we love books and we wanted to help make authors' dreams come true. I do not want to continue without Linda," Lisa Smith said when she notified us July 2 that the London, TX, press would be closing.

Although we hoped for a miraculous recovery, Linda Houle succumbed to cancer on July 12. By that time, Lisa was already in the process of sending "reversion of rights" letters to each of the authors. She also provided interior files and answered countless questions. It continues to be a daunting task, compounded by her own grief. 

I was out of town when three of the seven+ local Dreamspell authors gathered at All on the Same Page bookstore last week for a memorial to Linda hosted by St. Louis Writers Guild. I certainly concur with what they shared about some of the things L&L Dreamspell did right for its authors. It's available on YouTube.

"Supportive" and "professional" are key words that come to mind when I think about the small press experience Dreamspell provided. You always knew what to expect, as outlined on their Publishing Reality Check: "If you understand that you are not just an author, but a small business owner, and that you have an equal responsibility for the success or failure of your book, then you have arrived at the right place! The small press experience is partnership of equals. We aren't doing you a favor by publishing your book, nor are you doing us a favor by offering it to us for publication. We ask authors to sign a contract because we are engaging in a business transaction."

Linda also made sure all the authors had a free copy of her book, THE NAKED TRUTH ABOUT BOOK PUBLISHING.

Being a newbie with only one published book, I didn't come to fully appreciate Dreamspell until recently when I learned what horrors three friends are experiencing with their publishers. One is taking legal action to have more than 200 errors removed from the published copy (many inserted by the publisher during a ridiculous two-day "editing" process). Another signed a contract that the publisher changed after the work was completed to dramatically reduce her advance. The third is in Arbitration over numerous complaints, including the publisher's failure to notify her of foreign sales or to send royalties on a timely basis or at the agreed rate.

I am grateful for a much different experience with L&L Dreamspell, from the professional editing they provided, quality cover and interior design, and distribution to all major outlets, to their Yahoo authors' group, to L&L's continuing support as the business folds. Lisa even worked out agreements with other publishers to give Dreamspell authors priority consideration instead of going through the usual "slush" pile.

The latest events have opened my eyes to contract terminology and what reversion of rights really means. Although I knew L&L Dreamspell owned the book cover and ISBN, I didn't really understand that meant my book would no longer be available when the rights reverted. Nor did I realize the author doesn't automatically get the interior files. Without those files, you essentially must start from scratch to get your book back on the shelves. Thankfully, Lisa is doing everything she can to provide files to Dreamspell authors, making our task much easier. After this experience, I will carefully check my next publishing contract to ensure such details are spelled out. 

Some print copies of my historical fantasy novel, ZERO TIME, are still listed on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but the Kindle version is already down. I hope to have both available soon, thanks again to Lisa's support and to the wonders of self-publishing. If you need a copy before it's available through Amazon, please contact me directly at twfendley@gmail.com or visit my website at www.twfendley.com. Print copies are available at several indie bookstores in the St. Louis area and in New Orleans, and ebooks are available at libraries in St. Louis County, Mo., and in my hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Finally, to Linda and Lisa -- L&L Dreamspell made a huge difference in my life. Thank you for making my dream come true.

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This is T.W. Fendley. Thanks for reading and commenting on The Writers' Lens. You can find out more about me and my writing at www.twfendley.com.