IMPORTANT Announcement Concerning My Novel Wandering Lark

[LauraJUnderwood]

The public announcement has been made, so now I can speak out and stop holding my tongue in agony.

I am sorry to inform all of my fans that WANDERING LARK, Book 2 of "The Demon-Bound" will not be forthcoming in May 2007.

Meisha Merlin has made the official announcement on their website that they will be shutting down and closing their doors in May 2007. For more information, visit their website at Meisha Merlin Publishing

I know it looks like I have left readers in a lurch, considering how the first book ended, but please do not dispair.

I am working at this time to find another publisher for both DRAGON'S TONGUE and WANDERING LARK.
And this does free me up to go on and get other projects which I have had on hold while waiting for the official announcement back into circulation and seek publication.
Again, I do apologize. I have a plan (a cunning plan that cannot fail), and a backup plan if it should.

I thank you all for your patience and your time. Let me assure you I will make every effort to get WANDERING LARK into print.

Laura J. Underwood

 

[Pyan]

Can't find any info on that link, Laura - the latest news is August 2006.

 

[LauraJUnderwood]

It's the scrolling announcement box on the main page just under the dogs and the Heinlein ad.

Laura J. Underwood

 

[Pyan]

Nope - that's totally blank.

I'll check my settings - might not be enabled - but everything else is. Very odd.

 

[LauraJUnderwood]

Well, for the record, it states:

Dear Fans,
I am sorry to say that due to major distribution problems Meisha Merlin
Publishing, Inc. will be closing their doors in May 2007. Both Kevin and I
along with the entire staff here at Meisha Merlin want to thank all our
fans, customers, authors, & artist for your support over the past eleven
years. We are sorry to have to do this, but events beyond our control have
forced us to make this decision.​

')ATTN: For those of you who have purchased The Virginia Edition. The Robert
A. & Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust has worked out an agreement to continue
publishing The Virginia Edition. You can expect a letter from them within
the very near future & volume seven will be arriving to you in late May or
early June.​

Laura J. Underwood​

 

[Pyan]

That's really tough luck - hope your "cunning plan" comes off!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

This is very sad news. Meisha Merlin seemed to be successfully making the transition from small press to a genuine force in the SFF field; I've seen many of their books in the big chains. I'm sorry to hear that something went wrong with their distribution. (And sorrier still that it affected the publication of your book.)

I'll keep my fingers crossed for the cunning plan to work out. Knowing your energy and determination, I have high hopes that it will.

 

[dwndrgn]

Your cunning plan will only work if you twirl your mustache and laugh maniacally...

Anyway, I'm very sorry to hear about Meisha Merlin closing down. They seemed to support authors and books that I enjoyed. Best of luck in finding another publisher for Dragon's Tongue and Wandering Lark - someone out there will see the worth, I am sure.

In any case, good luck with all of your projects and plans. You are most welcome to vent your frustrations (hopefully few) and celebrate your triumphs (many, I'm sure) here!

 

[LauraJUnderwood]

The only real frustration comes from knowing I knew about this for over a month (I got my letter of rights return back in March when I drove down to Atlanta to pick up a load of my books in lieu of royalties owed me...) and could not say one word publicly because the editor wanted to make sure all the writers had their rights back first.

And the frustration of knowing that fans are waiting to find out what happened to Alaric...

Oddly, I suspected last year that things were not totally "okay" and that was sealed by several events that followed.

And it seems I and only two other authors knew in advance that this was happening. The rest only learned about it when they finally got their letters.

So it's something of a sticky situation, and the only thing that keeps me from coiling up in a knot and screaming in outrage is that I have three books coming out this year and am already negotiating the possible sales of a couple more. You can't look back, no matter what. You just have to go on...

And I can stop worrying because there were delays that were causing me to have to rethink what book I was going to work on when.

Now I can not only try and get Wandering Lark into new hands, but I can go ahead and make plans to market a novella that follows it and go ahead with plans to get other parts of "Ard-Taebh Chronicles" up and running.

It's a setback, but certainly not a defeat to my slowly growing career.

Laura J. Underwood

 

[LauraJUnderwood]

Let me add:

There are a lot of things I could say now, but I won't because in spite of all, I still consider the editor a friend, he did his best to make certain the authors had their rights returned well before he started making his dilemma public.

So in the long run, I keep telling myself that in spite of not getting the royalties he owed me (and he owed me more than I was expecting to see in the first year alone--I thought I would be lucky to sell through my advance, but I apparently sold through that and went on into a good chunk of sales...) and now being stuck with a large number of books (well, not really stuck since I have discussed selling them through the website of another publisher of mine and am talking to some of the convention dealers I know), at least I have my rights back and will not have to worry if he declares bankruptcy.

For those not in the know, having a publisher declare bankruptcy can be a dire thing. Your rights become part of the "seized property" that his/her creditors can go after, and you can literally lose your book, you series, whatever. Furthermore, those seizing your rights can sell them and you don't see a dime of that money.

Your only option is that if YOU can come up with enough money to purchase your own rights back, you can get them restored.

At least this way, I am still in charge of the fate of my books. And not some greasy debt collector...

Laura J. Underwood