In Other News . . .

My divorce came through.
No, not the marriage one (love the hubbs!) but my publishing divorce with Egmont UK.

It was completely amicable (because Egmont are professionals and staffed with decent human beings) and now the paperwork is through. I get full custody of the kids, they keep the pretty clothes they bought for them.

My first two Ondine novels, which were published with Egmont, had begun with such amazing promise. The editing was encouraging, sympathetic and solid, the covers were gorgeous the distribution  throughout the UK was comprehensive. They came out in 2010 and 2011.

The reviews, wow, the reviews were so awesome I cried. I cried early and often. They were so lovely and effusive and bursting with praise. Loads of five stars from total strangers, dozens and dozens of four stars from people who laughed their heads off, a smattering of three stars from reviewers who appreciated my efforts but the book wasn't for them. And hardly any two and one stars, which is unheard of, right?

But for whatever reasons (mostly the collapse of the bookstore industry (Borders in the UK and Australia, along with Angus and Robertson in Australia) the books didn't get traction.

In the mean time, I brought out new ebook versions for the USA and other territories (hello Russia, Moldova, China, Japan) which were not covered by the original Egmont contract. I fell in love with the new covers and was so happy with the results. Ondine had a new life in 'The Rest of the World' and was getting lovely reviews all over again. Ahhhhhhhh. It made all the effort worth it, to know that I'd written books that entertained people, gave them a break from the everyday and made them laugh and swoon.

I had control of the distribution, covers, price and promotions for the ebook, except in the UK where it all began. It made co-ordinating things difficult, and the different covers created confusion. The answer was to get a reversion of my book rights from Egmont, which they agreed to in a timely and professional manner. I am one of the very lucky authors to get my rights back. I know a great many who have a difficult time when they want their book back. Either the publisher ignores them completely, outright refuses, or publishes a 'new issue' in some small territory which fulfils the definition of 'published' but doesn't give the writer much in royalties.

As I said earlier, I was very lucky. This is, as I also said earlier, because Egmont are professional and staffed with decent human beings. I loved working with them and they publish magnificent books.

As of last week, all my ONDINE are available in all territories, as ebooks, with the new matching covers.

Which means, I think, if you click on this groovy widget, it will take you to The Summer of Shambles (Ondine #1) in whatever part of the world you're in, and you can get it and start reading it in just a few seconds.



Happy reading, and thank you again, Egmont, for being so brilliant.