Jun 6 2008
Tiger Publications Status Unclear
Update: The website has been updated and the publishing house is closing its doors after a little over 1 year in operation.
I’m not quite clear on all the details so I’ll just report what I’ve been emailedand what I can glean from message boards. Tiger Publications is a small print press. According to my sources, Tiger Publications is closing its doors despite the lack of any announcement on its websites and seemingly conflicting messages online:
- “As of today, one of my clients, Tiger Publications, has ceased operation and closed shop permanently.” Link (music)
- “I am guest blogging as part of the Tiger Author spotlight at Bragging Rites Unleashed! ” (June 2 post)
The google pages show that there once was an announcement but the cache pages have been scrubbed of any signs of it except in the search engine summary.
One poster at Absolute Write forum stated that there are two divisions within Tiger Publications–Tiger and Tiger Kids–and it is Tiger that is shutting down. There is no differentiation that I can see between the two divisions on the website although on the submissions page, there are different email addresses. According to the same poster, the email to the YA submission mailbox was returned to her. I sent an email to the same address and it apparently went through.
As recently as April 2008, Dona Parus, an author herself writing as Sloan St James, was interviewed about the new publishing venture. Ultimately, I’m not sure if Tiger Publications is shutting down or is keeping going but given the contradictory reports (ie. emails authors received versus the website), I thought it worth a mention.
Send to Kindle
Jun 07, 2008 @ 02:25:15
They just posted this on their news page:
2008-06-07
Closing Our Doors
We’re very sorry to announce that Tiger Publications, Incorporated will be closing our doors.
Link
Reply
Jun 07, 2008 @ 10:03:07
I am so sorry to hear this. Sheryl Brennan, the author whose blog link is included in Jane’s post, is one of my RWA chapter mates, a terrific person and a very talented writer. I was looking forward to her book, Celtic Sacrifice, as I know she worked hard on it and was very pleased to have it releasing through Tiger. I am very disappointed for her, as well as all the other Tiger authors.
Jun 07, 2008 @ 12:49:24
Sadly this news is true. The owner has been hit with some very serious health issues and as a result decided to close it’s doors. As an author with three contracts with them…I must say that this has been sad but the experience has been good. They have been honest and upfront with their dealings although there are a few authors that would beg to differ. All rights have been returned to the authors and those that were involved with the edit process are being given final edits and rights to those edits in order to continue shopping their manuscripts around. I was paid my advance and have only wonderful things to say about the owner.
Please keep Dona Parus in your thoughts and prayers. She is an honorable person and does not deserve any bad talk or finger pointing. This was not an easy decision for her to make but in the end I totally support it. Her health and well being is more important.
Jun 07, 2008 @ 14:34:31
As the author whose website you excerpted from in your e-article, I feel compelled to respond. This was also posted on my website http://www.sherylbrennan.com.
Persistence, Perseverance, and Patience
Earlier this week a tribe of Tiger's lost their alpha. With heavy hearts, they watched anxiously to hear how best to lay to rest the mingly mess of verbal vomit circling the internet that followed.
In case you have not been watching your writing loops or blogs, Tiger Publications, a small press start up with a loyal following of talented authors officially closed its doors.
For most, it means the nullification of a contract. For the rag-tag band of some of the most talented writers in the industry it meant far more; the loss of one of the most forward thinking and unselfish CEO's of publication there may ever be.
There were many reasons for the closure, but in retrospect they are all irrelevant. What IS important is to remember the vision that Tiger Publications embodied: Authors writing for readers.
“Authors Writing for Readers is a battle cry in an industry that often loses sight of both the author and the reader and focuses on all the unimportant “junk†in the middle.â€
During my own tenure with Tiger, I felt as though my opinion and the vision of my work was important. Even through the disappointment of the closing, the CEO's kept the authors up to date on their status and behaved with professionalism and decorum.
Now the question remains, how do you move on from such a devastating setback? Do you sit down, have a good cry, then pull yourself up by the bootstraps OR do you allow yourself to be brought down by the negativity of the “I told you so's†or “naysayers�
The answer is that you do the same thing you were doing BEFORE you got “the callâ€. Write, research, and submit, submit, submit.
I was reminded of a saying coined by Professor Randy Pausch in his book, The Last Lecture. “Walls are put into place for those who do not want something badly enough.â€
When we start along the path to publication in an educated and realistic fashion we realize that persistence and perseverance, coupled with a healthy dose of patience are the keys to success.
You make a conscious decision on what little voice inside your head gets center stage at any given moment. Even best selling authors have had their titles rejected or orphaned mid-galley. Will you allow the wall to hinder your progress or will you break it down brick by brick?
After a good cry, I made the resolution that I would not hide my manuscripts in the dungeon of self-pity. CELTIC SACRFICE and COLD will live again with another publishing house just as great as Tiger. I refuse to allow the wall to stand in effigy to my brush with success.
Hey, only a few more bricks to go and that wall will be transformed into a beautiful patio where I can bask in the lights of Persistence, Perseverance, and Patience.
Jun 07, 2008 @ 15:47:05
As a Tiger author, Tiger Publications was a great company, one that truly supported their authors. The CEO, Dona, is an amazing woman. Her dream will live on in all of us that were touched by her. I’ll miss working for Tiger, and the dedication they had for each of us was unprecedented. I have nothing but positive things to say about my experience there. The contracted authors, for the most part, are truly saddened by the company’s closing. We all hold Dona in our hearts, and wish her well.
Jun 07, 2008 @ 17:01:17
I have nothing different to add to what my fellow Tiger writers have written. Dona and Scott kept us up-to-date with the goings on behind closed doors. Although the closing is sad, we were prepared for it. And now, we’ll move forward, remain friends, helping and supporting one another as usual.
Lea Schizas
Jun 07, 2008 @ 17:24:13
I just hope everything works out for Dona and that all of us tiger authors make her dreams still live on with our stories =)
Jun 07, 2008 @ 19:18:05
Huh? Where did this come from? I have yet to see any “verbal vomit” on this topic.
Jun 09, 2008 @ 18:21:28
As the artist whose blog was the source of your first quoted conflicting online statement, I’d just like to add that I will also miss working with Dona and Scott at Tiger Publications.
I posted the news almost immediately in an effort to avoid any misrepresentation regarding the cover illustrations I had created for Tiger and which were posted on my website and some of which were posted on my blog.
Sadly, at present, only one of the eight covers I did for Tiger reached publication. It was important to note the remaining seven were unpublished and are likely to remain so until such time as alternate arrangements are possibly made.
Tiger Publications proved to be a fantastic venue for building a portfolio of paperback cover illustrations and I am sorry to see that come to such an abrupt and untimely end.
However, I feel worse for the founders of Tiger and all of the authors whose manuscripts saw acceptance over the past year. My heart goes out to all of you and I wish you the best in re-establishing your prior successes.