This came in the inbox this morning, and I thought I should share the news. (Nice one, Cheryl!)
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Introducing Wizard’s Tower Press
Wizard’s Tower Press is a new small press publisher specializing in science fiction, fantasy and related literature. Founded by Hugo Award winning critic, Cheryl Morgan, the company aims to do the following:
• Make long out of print works available again as e-books
• Help authors and small presses exploit the e-book market
• Publish anthologies highlighting new and minority writers
• Publish an online literary review magazine, Salon Futura, which will launch at this year’s World Science Fiction Convention
Much has been written of late about the impact of e-books on the publishing business. Regardless of their impact on new titles, however, there can be little doubt that they provide a cheap, low risk means of making books available to the public. For books that are long out of print, this is an attractive option. Sadly much of what has been done so far has had low quality standards. Scanning and automated conversion alone result in an inferior product that gives e-books a bad name. Wizard’s Tower Press aims to ensure that all of its books are properly proofread and corrected before publication.
Markets such as the Kindle and iBooks are simple ways to bring e-books to market, but their catalogs are already vast and growing quickly. To sell effectively, a specialist genre requires a dedicated online market where readers will find the sort of books they are looking for, and where publishers can effectively promote their wares to their target audience. Wizard’s Tower will be happy to provide such a service to any e-book, whether they publish it or not.
A key element of the Wizard’s Tower strategy will be Salon Futura, a monthly online literary review magazine that will highlight the best and most interesting releases in the science fiction and fantasy fields. The magazine is currently open to submissions for critical articles, book review articles and cover art. Initial pay rates will be 5c/word, up to a maximum of 2000 words. The first issue will be available at the 2010 World Science Fiction Convention (Aussiecon 4) in Melbourne, Australia (September 2010).
Everyone involved in Wizard’s Tower loves physical books too. Very small presses cannot compete effectively with large, multinational publishing houses when it comes to novels, but we do aim to publish a limited number of special interest anthologies. Our first publication will be Dark Spires, a collection of fantastic stories from the Wessex region of England edited by Colin Harvey. It is scheduled to be launched at BristolCon in Bristol, UK on November 6th 2010. It will also be available as an e-book.
Wizard’s Tower press is owned and managed by Cheryl Morgan and based in the UK. Cheryl has won two Hugo awards for her online writing. She is the non-fiction editor for the Hugo, World Fantasy and Locus Award nominated Clarkesworld Magazine. Cheryl is also a director of San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions Inc, and of the Association for the Recognition of Excellence in SF & F Translation.
For further information please email info@wizardstowerpress.com or visit the website at http://wizardstowerpress.com/ .
As bad as it makes me sound, there is something about small-press publishers that turns me off. Some for “indie” publishing. I can’t no think of it as up there with self-publishing…
So you’re saying that the only “appropriate” publishers are Corporate Behemoths? That only Big is Beautiful? If not, then how big does a publisher have to be to not be off-putting to you?
Daniel – the small presses are the lifeblood of the industry, and often but out more esoteric/artistic books than the corporates can afford, for commercial reasons. Granted if you don’t know your small presses, it can be confusing, but the size of a publisher should by no means be an indicator of quality.
Daniel,
On the most recent episode of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Mike Resnick goes into great detail on why he chooses to publish through smaller houses, like Pyr, PS and Subterranean Press, rather than the big NYC houses. It’s certainly worth a listen, and should enlighten your opinion of small publishing houses.
On topic, glad to see another publisher that’s interested in restoring out-of-print novels and making them available to the public again. I hope to write an article on this soon.
This sounds very interesting. I will definitley have to check it out. On a side note, I just finished Nights of Villjamur yesterday. And I must say it was quite excellent. Refreshingly strange and odd. I love how you mixed the mystery and fantasy together. I’m really looking forward to City of Ruin 🙂
Hey, Chase – thanks for the comment, and I’m really glad you enjoyed the oddness. Things get a lot stranger in City of Ruin… 🙂