In recent months, many have continued to speculate over the demise of publishing as we know it, and there has been a lot of commentary about publishers who’ve stumbled in the current economy and changing marketplace for books.
One of those publishers is Dorchester. The quick version of events is that it was leaked that Dorchester had decided to stop producing mass market paperbacks and would be going to a strictly e-reader format, with some trade paperback publication down the road.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this decision, in and of itself. However, authors spoke out about not being paid, and more recently, about how Dorchester is continuing to sell books even when the rights have reverted to the authors.
I honestly think this is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing. Dorchester has shed staff as they’ve streamlined, and when that happens things slip through the cracks. I don’t think Dorchester has set out to defraud anyone; I do think that the staff that remain are overwhelmed as they try to deal with the changes and the issues and the things set in motion by staff who are now gone, and were not replaced.
If the Smart Bitches had their way, nobody would ever buy a book published by Dorchester again. Unfortunately, as a Dorchester author, I’m left feeling more frustrated by the public rally against Dorchester than I am with anything Dorchester has done.
I understand that authors whose rights have reverted have a legitimate reason to be upset that their books are still being sold. They certainly have the right to ask people not to buy their books.
But now my own books will be a casualty of someone else’s war.
I’ve tried hard to stay out of this, to let the dust settle, but it seems like there’s an endless supply of people who want to adopt the righteous indignation of others and use it as a rallying cry.
You know, Dorchester gave me a break. They opened the door for me to have a wider readership and more exposure as an author. The staff worked tirelessly on my behalf, and got my books on the wall displays in airport bookstores, on the tables and endcaps in major national retailers in Canada and the US. And when they sent me emails about my books and talked about how much they liked them, it was obvious from the detail that they’d all read them. I’d heard of publicists pushing books they never read, but that was never an issue for me at Dorchester.
The team at Dorchester was always behind me.
Obviously, I’m disappointed. By this point, I’d hoped to be turning in the fifth book in the series, but it looks like the fourth in the series (which I’d started before everything went public) won’t see print now. It was a series shift, moving to an international platform, and was the most exciting project I’d worked on to date in the series.
And now it’s collecting dust while I move on to other projects. I’ve got to let go of characters I wasn’t finished with yet, and that’s hard.
I can never forget the doors that Dorchester opened, or how hard they worked on my behalf, and I really hope people do still buy Dorchester. This is their chance to get back on their feet and rise from the ashes. This is their chance to rebuild.
I know some say we don’t need NY publishers anymore, but I don’t share that sentiment. As a reviewer, I see far too much garbage come my way from people who haven’t taken the time to polish and revise, from people who think they can write a draft and self publish and make their millions. I spend so much time filtering through stuff that in some cases might have potential if it was professionally edited, but is coming out 18-24 months premature that I have a hard time remembering if there are any books coming out soon that I’m actually looking forward to.
As I’ve read the commentary on Dorchester over the web, I’m reminded of something I’ve said a lot over the last year; Americans are still trying to depose their king. Really. During the time I’ve spent in the US I’ve begun to understand the culture in a way I never could have from outside the borders. There’s a large percentage of the population that’s against big government. Sometimes, when I listen to talk radio, I’m shocked at just how far some would go to regain any level of control over their lives.
I see a correlation with the publishing industry. There are those who are thrilled they’re no longer at the mercy of the NY publishing machine. They’re happy to stick it to “the man” with the assumption that the process of submitting to editors and agents and having your work vetted, screened and accepted or rejected through a formal process is wrong, and that all the people making those decisions are wrong.
In my experience, there’s more stuff getting published even by big NY publishers that isn’t ready for the light of day than diamonds that are being discarded with the dross.
Not everything is for NY, and that’s why we have small, independent presses that know their niche market. Writers have to accept the limits of the appeal of their work, and sometimes, have to look at different venues for different projects, but that doesn’t make NY bad and indies good, or vice versa. They’re just different.
I know from my own experience that Dorchester produced better books than I ever could have on my own. I grew up with the dream of seeing my books in bookstores, and Dorchester made that a reality.
For that, I’ll always be thankful for the opportunity I had to work with them, and if the right situation presented itself again, I’d be happy to have a future business relationship. They were my partners, and to some extent still are, as they still have the rights to sell my books.
Books I wrote so that people could read them.
So when it comes to my books, enjoy the 99 cent downloads and free downloads. Kobo and the Sony e-reader have had different promotions, and I knew about them months ago, when they were set up by a wonderful part of the Dorchester team who’s no longer there. (The specific person is now part of Diamond Comics, and thus, part of Brian’s extended working family, although she wouldn’t know of her new connection to me.) And I definitely want to defend her in saying that she worked tirelessly for me right up until her last days with Dorchester and set things in motion then that are still playing out now, months later.
And when the promotions are done, if the descriptions of my stories sound interesting to you, buy my books. I’d rather celebrate the day Dorchester is firmly back on its feet than worry about royalties – incidentally, Dorchester has paid me in full all they ever owed me to date.
I know a lot of people have been struggling personally, financially, in these hard times. If I needed a couple extra weeks on a bill because of problems, I’d hope someone would extend me grace instead of rushing to accelerate my demise.
Brava! Dorchester helped a lot of authors. A little patience in return doesn’t seem too much to ask.
I’ve definitely gone through my share of mixed emotions over the whole thing. I won’t say there haven’t been times I was frustrated, but that was long before the issues were public, back when I was still guessing at what was going on.
Ultimately, though, I’ve realized we’re so happy for someone to take a chance on us, invest in us and give us a break… but the minute that they can’t help us anymore (or so we think) some are not only willing to kick a publisher to the curb, but to try to take them down as well. Dorchester gave me a break. I want to give them a chance to get back on their feet.
From what I read, it looks like rights that reverted mid-September are the subject of the issue for books still being sold, in mid-October. We’re talking about a month. I’m not saying it’s right, but I am saying there’s due process, and a month is not sufficient time to exhaust that. And from my own first-hand experience, the promos for e-books were set up in the summertime, but didn’t take effect until this fall. In fact, I was notified so far in advance I sort of lost track of when the promos were going live because fall is such a busy time of year. I’ve done enough administrative work, or worked in enough situations where administrative decisions have left you screwed over, to easily imagine a tireless publicist working in the dark, not knowing that someone else was in the midst of finalizing the reversion of rights for e-books they were setting up promotions for. It’s unfortunate, but not malicious.
It’s like everyone wants to be wronged so they can curry favor and turn this into a soap box.
Anyone from Dorchester I’ve talked to has told me payment may have come late, but I personally don’t know anyone who is still owed money. Last I was told by everyone I’ve talked to, they’d been paid, and that includes me.
The only people I feel bad for are the people who were signing contracts, who may have turned down other opportunities, right before Dorchester changed their format. That doesn’t seem fair to those writers, but again, I wonder how much the full editorial team knew about what was going to happen. After all, if they knew, wouldn’t they have moved on before Dorchester let them go? My impression now, from months on, is that this all happened very quickly, and was a move made to save the publisher instead of letting it go under.
Thanks for the shot of perspective, Sandra. It’s obviously a different situation depending on each author’s personal relationship with Dorchester. Good to learn about one such perspective.
The Mystery Writers of America has de-listed Dorchester. The MWA statement is below.
The National Board of Mystery Writers of America voted unanimously on October 6, 2010 to remove Dorchester Publishing from our list of Approved Publishers, effective immediately, primarily because the company no longer meets two of our key criteria.
First, the initial print run by the publisher for a book-length work of fiction or nonfiction must be at least 500 copies and must be widely available in brick-and-mortar stores (not “special order” titles). In other words, print-on-demand publishers and Internet-only publishers do not qualify.
Second, the publisher must not wrongfully withhold or delay royalty payments to authors. We have been hearing an unusually high number of reports from our members of unpaid advances and withheld royalties on their Dorchester books.
Dorchester titles will no longer be eligible for Edgar® Award consideration nor will its authors be eligible for Active Status membership for any books published after October 6, 2010. The board made it clear to Dorchester that it is welcome to re-apply once these problems have been cleared up.
I have no issue with that, and was expecting it.
Whatever frustrations or issues I’ve had along the way, though, I’m over them. Sometimes, it almost seems like people enjoy predicting the end of the world and every troubled publisher is a soapbox from which to pat themselves on the back as right, and a proven prophet. Dorchester didn’t start out as a scam, and they brought us some great books along the way – including all the Hard Case Crime titles.
It’s a shame, and it’s bigger than me as one author.