Red Sage Moves to Ebook Publishing
By Jane • Jul 22nd, 2007 • Category: Ebooks, Interviews • • 
Red Sage Publishing was one of the first erotic romance publishers in the market. The first anthology was published in 1995 and since then, Red Sage has gone on to publish 18 Anthologies and one single title, The Forever Kissby Angela Knight. I heard rumblings that Red Sage would be moving into ebook publishing, I was excited because my local stores have never been very good about stocking Red Sage and because they are often stocked in the Self Help section, I forget about them. Alexandria Kendall, Publisher of Red Sage, graciously answered some questions about Red Sage and its new endeavor. At the end of July, we readers should start to see Red Sage ebooks on the internet. I, for one, am excited about this.
Jane: How did Red Sage start?
ALEXANDRIA KENDALL: I started Red Sage in 1994 and our first book was published in 1995. Red Sage means passionate wisdom. Don’t laugh. :) I had attended several RWA conventions and kept hearing the authors complain about their publishing houses not letting them write the sex they wanted to write in their stories. The publishing community did not want to offend their readers.
Jane: Is Red Sage primarily a direct order?
KENDALL: 99% of our sales are from bookstores.
Jane: I see some of the Anthologies in Borders but not often.
KENDALL: Must be your Borders, we do quite a nice business with them.
Jane: Alternatively, where can the reader find your books?
KENDALL: According to Ingrams and Baker and Taylor, large chains and small independent bookstores are the major buyers of the Secrets Collection of Volumes. Next comes on line retail.
Jane: What is the focus or mission of Red Sage?
KENDALL: Our mission has always been to bring the best quality new and established authors to readers. When I started the company I knew there were great writers who weren’t getting published. There will always be the ones who are over looked because of their particular voice or style which just hasn’t broken through yet.
Jane: Why anthologies?
KENDALL: To give readers the best reading experience they could have. There are very well known novella length classics. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Alice in Wonderland are examples of stories that changed the world and they are novella length. So I knew a reader could have a wonderful experience with that length. Giving the reader four great stories, even if they liked one better than the other. They always have a favorite. One they love and read and reread. The mail supports this.
Jane: What is your sense of the current erotic romance market? Is it getting too crowded or is the capacity for more there?
KENDALL: Quality will always stand out. That is why our number one focus has always been on the best possible stories, by authors who know how to write.
Jane: What do you see as the future of erotic romance?
KENDALL: Just like any market things come and go and come back again.
Jane: What are the bestselling anthologies? Why?
KENDALL: To be honest they all sell about the same. Some more one year than another, but they all sell extremely well. Secrets Volume 1 is a great seller and it was published in 1995.
Jane: What made you decide to go into epublishing?
KENDALL: I believe as everyone else does that the publishing industry is going in that direction. Readers or devices will follow.
Jane: How will that work?
KENDALL: How will what work? Do you mean will we be selling print and ebooks. Yes.
Jane: Will there be different royalty schedules for e v. print?
KENDALL: Yes, working this out.
Jane: What will you be looking for?
KENDALL: Number one. Great writing. Number two, stories that will rock the readers world with the characters. You have these two elements and a great story is a great story. People talk and word gets around. :)
Jane: When can readers find your ebooks?
KENDALL: We are working to open the end of July 2007.
Jane: Will you be making your older anthologies available in eform?
KENDALL: Yes.
Jane is a long time romance reader whose passion is, you guessed it, reading. Jane also does not like to talk about herself in the third person, but apparently this is the way that this biography thing works (although in a true biography, someone else would be writing this blurb). Anyway, currently Jane loves urban fantasy authors Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews. She's really excited about this year's crop of historicals including Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady and Sherry Thomas' Private Arrangements and the upcoming Loretta Chase Her Scandalous Ways.
She's looking for a good contemporary author. Email her with a recommendation!
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Does this mean NO print books in the future?
Fabulous!!
May, Alex has assured us that Red Sage will keep printing print books…but I’m excited about the new ebooks. And I got a sneak peak at the new website and it’s fabulous! :)
So when is the eredsage site going to be live? July is almost over.
YES! That’s great news. It never fails that my bookstore is out of the ONE Secrets volume that I’m missing! That is when I can figure out where they’ve shelved them THIS time.
Some amazing writers have started in Secrets and I’m looking forward to many more volumes in the future. Going to ebooks just makes them all that much easier to acquire.
The question is are they going to start adding in historical setting again? They seem all paranormal now days :(
This is great news for me. I’ve wanted to read many of Red Sage’s anthologies, but I just don’t want any more print books. Looking forward to checking out the website.
but where are the submission guidelines?
I’m very excited about the ebooks and the fact that the older anthologies will be available in ebook as well!
Did they mention what formats will they e-publish in? Or whether the books will be available at third-party sites like eReader or Fictionwise?
Sybil,
I’m glad you asked about historicals. I love them, too.
I don’t have plans for more historicals in the near future. My first E-RedSage story is a fantasy, and I have an idea for a contemp. If there’s a good market for historicals, I’d love to go back to those. I had historicals in Volumes 6 and 8 of Secrets.
Alice Gaines
Hi Sybil,
I’m very excited to say I have a Historical novella in Secrets Vol 26, Dec 08. It’s a Regency set in Paris during the Napoleonic war and features a British Spy. And I’m currently working on a Pirate story set in the 17th century that I hope to sell for a furture volume.
Historicals are my favorite read also, espcially Leigh Court’s The Disciplinarian.
Sincerely,
Juliet Burns
http://www.julietburns.com
Sybil,
Glad you like the historicals!
I have an historical that will appear in Secrets 23 in July 2008. ‘Educating Eva’ is about a woman writing a book on the mating habits if the human male. It’s set at a Regency era houseparty where anything goes ;)
I’m also working on two other novellas centered around secondary characters to complete the series, but nothing definite on those yet.
Bethany
http://www.bethanymichaels.com
Hi Sybil,
I have a Victorian set historical coming out in a few days, in Secrets vol. 20. It’s entitled A Woman’s Pleasure, it’s a younger man older woman fantasy.
I also have historicals in Secrets Vol. 14, and 16.
If you like the dark, brooding historical, you’ll love the hero in Seduction of the Muse, it’s in vol. 16.
Hopes this helps.
If you do pick those vol up, let me know. Good or bad. I’m always interested in reader responses!
Best
Charlotte
Wow well I guess they are still doing historicals ;). I think I picked up 12 and 16 at RWA in Dallas but I will have to double check. If I did they will be reviewed at some point.
Thanks for the historical responses…
Bethany and Charlotte,
Your Historicals sound wonderful! I just picked up Secrets 16 in Dallas and now can’t wait to get Vol 20 also.
And Vol 23 is already on my must buy list. Go Historical erotic romances!
Juliet
http://www.julietburns.com
It seems that the website is live, and Secrets Vol 1 - 10 are available as ebooks. Although, for some reason I can’t actually checkout an item without it disappearing from my shopping cart. Growing pains, I guess…