Iris Print again

[erastes]

Further from my post a day or so ago, Tina Anderson emailed me this morning with this link which hints that Iris Print appears to have closed down.  Unsurprisingly without notifying even their authors about it.

No, I'm not surprised. I am angry though, on behalf of others.

Comments

This is a Disgrace

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I don't think anyone is surprised. The important issue here is ensuring that some quite talented authors are a) compensated for books sold and b) recover the rights to their work. Then there is the issue of all the people who were urged to pre-order and contribute to Iris to keep the company afloat. Will they be getting their money back?

Re: This is a Disgrace

[erastes.livejournal.com]

She's lucky that I'm not one of her authors - I'd be down the solicitors RIGHT now. It was the urging to pre-order that gets me. It may be that she was attempting to garner funds to help pay for other expenses (although... what expenses I can't imagine as nothing seemed to happen for a year) but that's simply robbing Peter to pay Paul and never works.

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

Oh, fuck.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

That just about sums it up!

[rwday.livejournal.com]

Great. Just great. Thanks for the heads' up - I suspect Tina emailed me too, but I'm at work and can't access it. I guess I can't put off that lawyer any longer.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was copied in to your email, sweetie.

At least if they HAVE closed down, that means an automatic reversion - i'm sure!

[rwday.livejournal.com]

Unless she's filed for bankruptcy protection, I think. Her rights to my book would be considered an asset, probably to be sold. I need that lawyer, though I won't have the money for it till the end of the month. :(

[muroku.livejournal.com]

This would be the second yaoi publisher to close this year. First it was Yaoi House (warning there is an extensive discussion on mental health and business management here) http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2008/05/11/publishing-house-alert-yaoi-house-llc/

Yaoi is a difficult genre to write due to the "unspoken" rules: no female interaction, stick to the uke/seme mold. These additional complexities which arise from the business side of things will only discourage writers from seeking publication.

I feel very sorry for these hard-working authors. It is simply unfair to have the rug pulled out from under them. I hope they seek publication with one of the major e-pubs.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't even call Iris Print a yaoi publisher. Thaw didn't follow those guidelines at all, no seme, no uke and Connections was a collection of short stories which again, didn't see yaoi to me, and having seen some of the entries into Queer Magic, ditto there too.

I hope they do too, but it's a legal wrangle now, trying to get the publisher to respond. I'm assuming that she didn't announce it, because she's planning to file for bankruptcy and wanted to file before the creditors pounced. But I'd like be proved wrong there.

[mzcalypso.livejournal.com]

If the info in that link is correct, though--if the press has closed--it sounds as though the contract returns the authors' rights.

Not that this would help folks who've paid for books they'll probably never see, or authors who are owed royalties--but at least it makes for a clean break. It doesn't sound like deliberate malice on the part of Iris Press--just poor judgement and fear of admitting failure.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh no, definitely not malice, just appalling behaviour and sticking head in buckets.

[zehavit-lamasu.livejournal.com]

What is it about publishers-behaving-badly these days ? ;_;

Both Yaoi House and Iris Print signed authors I REALLY want to see more of... I hope this will all be sorted out soon *fingers crossed*.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

My guess is that a lot of folks who have done fanzines think that professional publishing is just like a zine, only you make money.

It just isn't that easy.

[m-barnette.livejournal.com]

Make money? Maybe after 3-6 years but anyone who goes into publishing thinking they're going to laugh their way to the bank had better lay off snorting the reddi whip.

[aigooism.livejournal.com]

X_X;; That sucks a lot. It would be nice if they did notify authors and whatnot. Oi. *shakes head*

[cynbaby.livejournal.com]

Not to deny the authors anger, but what about my frickin' pre-order. I gave her good money. *grumble*

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Well, exactly. And she ASKED specifically for pre-orders to help her out.

[cynbaby.livejournal.com]

Yes, and I was happy to help out. I do believe in supporting publishers so I can get more happy smut from them.

Color me not happy.

[mzcalypso.livejournal.com]

And she'll be lucky if that doesn't get her into some extremely hot water, ie, mail fraud, if she doesn't issue refunds.

[m-barnette.livejournal.com]

It's easy to report mail fraud. You go file a complaint at your local post office.

[kimnik.livejournal.com]

This is bummer news. Both Ginn Hale and I have short stories in Queer Magic. (And I'm a little chagrined now to have blogged on the Iris site to encourage sales of this title.)

But we do have to keep in mind that the pub date for Queer Magic was listed as 6-30 and we're not there yet. Also, I consulted my contract and at least for Queer Magic, Iris Print bought one-time nonexclusive English language rights, which is good. But they also pay on publication, which means no book=no money.

And I concur with Lee Rowan-- many people who start small presses DO have the idea that it's just like a zine except that you make money. The reality is that it's just exactly like a zine in that you DON'T make any money. :)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I think the publication date has moved quite significantly though, hasn't it?

It's a damned shame, what you guys should do, if it all falls apart is get in contact with each other and try and sell the collection entire to another publisher.

[m-barnette.livejournal.com]

I don't expect to make money with Shadowfire Press. We will be publishing yaoi. We also accept reprints.

Little known fact: I had the first story designated as yaoi published in ebook format here in the states. Back in early 2005 Zoner came out through eXtasy books under the 'yaoi' designation. At the time none of the ebook publishers knew what yaoi was, and few published m/m. After Zoner proved so popular other pubishers started issuing 'yaoi' titles. Zoner is now with Mojocastle and it continues to sell as do the rest of my yaoi books.

We also publish short stories individually with a royalties contract. That has the potential for a better payout than a one time payment or royalties divided by a large number of authors in an anthology.

Shadowfire Press can be contacted by emailing us at:
submissions @ shadowfirepress.com (minus the spaces)

Hope you don't mind me giving a plug for Shadowfire here, Erastes.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Not at all, feel free to pimp it on the EAA, too.

[kimnik.livejournal.com]

N--The publication date moved from 11-07 to 6-08.

E--It's a damned shame, what you guys should do, if it all falls apart is get in contact with each other and try and sell the collection entire to another publisher.

N--Yes, I considered that. Blind Eye doesn't have an opening in it's schedule this year, so we're out. And looking at the various epubs, no one seems to accept short story anthologies, although I guess it wouldn't hurt to try and shop it around. There would be royalty issues, though, I think because epubs don't pay flat amounts and that would be a lot of authors to divvy up the profits between.

Maybe someone like PD?

[kimnik.livejournal.com]

Or I could read the whole thread before replying and say we could try to publish them with Shadowfire!

(Heh)

[m-barnette.livejournal.com]

We're open to submissions. We reply to a query in two days, or less, and to submissions in two weeks.

Email address is in my above post.

[kimnik.livejournal.com]

Well, if anybody asks me about this, I'll be sure to direct them to your site.

[m-barnette.livejournal.com]

Please do, and thanks!