Wednesday News: Loose ID, Amazon Australia, new books, and roaming cats
Publishing NewsAmazon / Australia / best of list / cats / Comics / Libraries / Loose-Id / publisher closing17 Comments
Loose ID is shutting down – Claiming that the move does not signal “financial distress,” digital publisher Loose ID is nonetheless closing its doors as of May 7, 2018. They are no longer accepting submissions. Loose ID has been publishing erotic fiction for 13 years, practically a lifetime in digital publishing terms. They received RWA recognition in 2007 and released more than 3,000 titles. It’s difficult to imagine a drama-free closure, but we will see.
We want to assure you, our customers and friends, that authors and staff are being paid, purchases will be honored, and we will remain in constant communication throughout the closing process. We will do our best to monitor social media during this busy time, but if you have questions, email through our [email protected] email will be the best channel. We will be compiling questions from that account to repost for everyone’s convenience. – Facebook
Amazon launches in Australia with ‘millions’ of products, hopes to win consumers’ trust – While Amazon is not the first e-commerce or big box giant to take on the Australian market, the company claims its debut was its biggest international opening, with 23 “categories” of products. Australia has a strong book culture, and some writers worry that international commerce is diluting that culture, especially on the writing side. Australians buy a lot of books. At the same time, market competition is expected to reduce prices for some products. Perhaps some of our Australian readers (Kaetrin?) can comment on what they see as the implications of Amazon’s launch for book prices, which have historically been quite expensive, and their own book-buying habits.
But customers will have to wait until mid-next year to sign up to its popular Prime subscription service, which gives members free express shipping. Amazon said its two-hour delivery “Prime Now” service would not be available until some time after that.
Local shoppers have previously been able to shop on Amazon’s US website, but only limited items can be shipped to Australia.
Amazon’s impending arrival has weighed on the share prices of Australia’s listed retailers over the past year. While analysts do not expect Amazon to capture significant market share at first, they say incumbent retailers’ will have to sacrifice earnings and cut prices to remain competitive. – Sydney Morning Herald
10 Compelling Novels by Comic Book Writers – The myriad ways in which comic books are expanding their cultural and literary reach are impressive. It’s not just that writers from the industry are crossing over; formats are diversifying, as well. While this list technically qualifies as a “best of” holiday book-buying recommendation, it also highlights the artificiality of strict generic boundaries.
The barrier separating comics and prose has long been a superficial divide, with acclaimed talents like Neil Gaiman and Joe Hill dashing between the mediums so nimbly that either “team” would claim them as their own. Some novelists, like Marjorie Liu and Duane Swierczynski, cross into comics and hardly look back. Others, like recent Marvel recruits Ta-Nehisi Coates and Roxane Gay, remain frequent prose powerhouses. A few long-time comic writers, like Warren Ellis and Mike Carey, have even found prose success over a decade into their funny-book careers. – Paste Magazine
Book-loving tabby makes librarians crabby – Despite “grounding” their cat, a Minnesota couple has been unable to keep him from sneaking into the Macalester College library. Max, an adorable orange tabby with white feet, just wants some time in the stacks. But librarians are not so enthusiastic, and the crisis is escalating. Check out the article for the adorable battle over Max’s library-loving ways. He even has his own Instagram account. – Star Tribune
I’m really sad about Loose ID closing. Definitely more than I was about the company who shall not be named. I discovered some authors I really enjoyed with them.
I don’t know if Amazon will have a big impact on book prices in Australia. We’ve been able to buy ebooks from amazon.com.au for a few years (I still buy from the US website because there are far more reviews on it and I want my reviews to show up there). But there are lots of books discounted by Amazon that are flagged on this site and then of course the usual price shows up for Australian customers.
Physical books may be cheaper through Amazon (they are ridiculously expensive here, which is why I never buy them – luckily I live in a town with an excellent library and my family owns a UBS). But most bricks and mortar bookstores have already gone out of business; the chain stores like Target and K-mart sell masses of books more cheaply then proper bookstores ever could because they get humungous publisher discounts on the wholesale price.
One thing that will be a challenge for Amazon is the free fast delivery service that may be viable in the US but will be pretty difficult to provide here. A small population is spread over massive areas with horridly sprawling cities. Within Sydney it takes hours to drive from the city to the outer suburbs.
I think it will be on electrical and household goods that people will be looking to Amazon to lower the prices. Some big fish in a captive market have been holding customers to ransom for years.
See that horrible mixed metaphor I slipped in there….
I’m sad about Loose Id too. Been with them for a decade, was one of the first m/m authors they published, and had a great relationship with all the editors there — and they’re closing on my birthday.
But no issues with payments and got a royalty statement today.
It’s the end of an era for sure. Not many of the original m/m publishers left, though LI did m/f too, of course.
@Jane Davitt: Is there anybody else left at all besides Dreamspinner, Riptide and Carina press do you know? I mean there is also Blind Eye Books whose books I always enjoyed but they are tiny and I am wondering if there is anybody else if you know. Thank you.
@Sirius:
Totally Bound in the UK is another of my publishers and they’re very good.
https://www.totallybound.com/
Their gay romances are here:
https://www.pride-publishing.com/
@Sirius: There’s also Manifold Press (one of the first indie pubs that felt truly boutique to me). Oh, and Less Than Three Press. I tend to avoid this one due to shoddy editing among other things.
Jane Davitt I forgot about Totally Bound thank you. Ariadna isn’t Manifold closing too? I loved many of their books yes . Totally agree about Less than three – I did buy some of their books but the editing in my experience is one of the very worst unfortunately .
@Sirius: Yes, Manifold is also closing in May 2018. I think it’s just very difficult to clear a profit with Amazon’s dominance and self-publishing available for successful authors.
Sirius, there is also Interlude Press which describes itself as “an award-winning boutique publisher of LGBTQ general and romantic fiction.”
Really sorry to read that Loose Id will be closing. I found many new authors there and they had a good mix.
Sunita and Kareni thank you . Sunita I think you are right .
Ninestar Press is an LGBT publisher. They’re similar to Riptide; they publish all LGBT fiction, but most of their books look like m/m.
They haven’t been getting much attention, but honestly I think they’re great. Their covers are gorgeous, and they’ve picked up several authors I like.
I’m really hoping Ninestar gets more attention. Publisher close and new ones open, and I’m hoping that Ninestar takes the place of Samhain and Loose ID. They’re still new, but I want a solid new m/m publisher.
@Sunita: Wow, I didn’t know that! What a shame.
@Kareni: Yes! Plus they do publish/push for F/F romances too. I too have found new authors there. :)
@Cameron King: I was about to type that I never heard of them and then I realized that they published “Dali” that I most recently reviewed. LOL. Will definitely check out their other titles, thank you.
Feeling very odd about it all. I was their first m/m author, and one of my titles from 2004 is still in the catalogue, so I’ll have had one title there from pretty much start to finish.
One of the reasons they were successful for so long was down to things like publishing m/m as far back as when they opened in 2004. There were a lot of niches in the publishing ecosystem that weren’t being filled by the big publishers, and a small epublisher that could supply ebooks to readers in those niches could do very nicely without having to worry about stocking policies at a bricks-n-mortar store. Now there’s a much larger pool of readers with ebook readers, and editors at the big trade publishers can sell enough niche books to them to justify the investment to their corporate masters far up the food chain, so a reader doesn’t have to go to the small epublishers to get the formerly-niche books. And of course there’s Amazon… Some of us remember an era before Kindle, never mind Kindle Unlimited.