Strange Chemistry has ceased

[Jo Zebedee]

Pretty suddenly, as far as I can tell. Here's the press release.

Very sad for Amanda and her team, and hope none of the Chronners are involved in the fall out

Strange Chemistry

 

[Susan Boulton]

Horrible news. I know how hard all involved have worked. I suppose anyone who had subbed to the Strange Chemistry open door must now consider it a gonner.

I know from a few of the posts on AW that the writers involved have been told of developments. I wonder if any of the books might be published under the main AR imprint?

 

[chopper]

from what I've heard elsewhere, it's possible that the imprint has been struggling for a while. redundancy itself is bad enough, but the horrible situation of having your work stuck in limbo while contracts are reverted etc seems far worse and i can only sympathise with all involved on all sides. not pleasant.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Ouch - and while they say Angry Robot is "robust", Publishers Lunch has it that the group is looking to move away from fiction entirely:
Osprey Actively Seeking A Sale, Closes Exhibit A and Strange Chemistry Imprints - Publishers Lunch

The Osprey Publishing Group, as part of a financial restructuring and "strategic review" of its holdings, is moving away from publishing fiction and actively seeking a sale of its non-core components -- and may consider an outright sale of the whole company.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I got the email this morning (just from the open door). Shame they had, had this one nearly over a year - I was getting hopeful and for me this was Mayhem's last chance.

 

[chopper]

needn't be the last chance, Anya - keep plugging away!

 

[AnyaKimlin]

No - I have had too much feedback which basically says Mayhem is great but lacks a subgenre so they do not know how to market it.

I've got two other stories now nearing completion so I have decided to mothball my epicish fantasy. From my point of view this was Mayhem's last chance to be picked up. I am sad though because it is in my opinion a great story and it feels a waste to leave it on my hard-drive so I am thinking of getting it edited and throwing it onto Kindle next year.

 

[thaddeus6th]

If you do, you may wish to also publish via Smashwords, which will auto-distribute (Unless you don't want it to) to just about everyone except Amazon.

 

[Rafellin]

@AnyaKimlin: I'd recommend Smashwords over Kindle every time, and would be happy to help with formatting if you wanted it.

All my books go worldwide via Smashwords. Here's their current online distributor list - all of these stock every (or at least the majority bar adult topics) title that is included in the Smashwords Premium catalogue; inclusion in which being a task that is not onerous, just tedious.

• Apple (distribution to iBookstores in 51 countries)
• Barnes & Noble (US and UK)
• Kobo (includes Sony Reader legacy libraries)
• OverDrive (ebook checkout for 90% of US libraries and 20,000 other public libraries worldwide)
• Scribd
• 'TXTR (ebook retail and distribution based in Berlin, Germany)
• Flipkart (India's largest online bookseller)
• Oyster
• Diesel eBook Store (and eBooks Eros, which is operated by Diesel)
• Baker & Taylor (Blio and the Axis360 library service)
• Page Foundry (operates retail sites Inktera.com and Versent.com; operates Android ebook store apps for Cricket Wireless and Asus)
• All Kobo-powered ebook stores worldwide: WH Smith in the UK, FNAC in France and Portugal, Livraria Cultura in Brazil, Angus & Robertson in Australia, Bookworld in Australia, Indigo in Canada, Collins in Australia, Feltrinelli in Italy, Libris in the Netherlands, Paper Plus in New Zealand, Play (Rakuten) in Great Britain, Rakuten in Japan, Rakuten (formerly Buy) in the US & Whitcoulls in New Zealand
• Atom/OPDS (delivers ebooks as native apps for mobile devices via Stanza for iPhone, Aldiko for Android and others)
• Word-Player
• FBReader
• Inkmesh

 

[AnyaKimlin]

It'll be a year before I really look into it as I need to save to get it edited. Right now I am just mourning it a little and think it is a little too good to be left on my hard drive but unsure how much effort I should put into it if I am concentrating on my other works.

The personal feedback from agents has all been very positive but for the setting of an epic fantasy in a contemporary era.

 

[Hex]

Sounds like it's worth trunking it for now and getting something else finished to send off to the positive agents while they're still excited about your writing.

I'm sorry about Strange Chemistry. They were an exciting imprint and the market's poorer without them.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

That's how I feel - they were probably one of the only ones to take a chance on my story.

I'm working on a historical detective story with a female protagonist. It is certainly more trendy than poor old Angus.