Doris Martin* Just Another Scifi Romance Writer

Back in the Saddle Again....

Saturday, 04/12/14

 

After you fall off a horse, isn't this what a rider is advised to do? And a writer returns to doing what comes naturally, too.

 

I'm preparing a science fiction novellette for release soon. I dived into my treasure chest of writings and happened upon this story.  I'd written it several years ago. Rereading it rocked my world, because some elements from it had gone into  Books 2 and 3  of The Star Navigator  series, and I'd forgotten about it. Funny thing about memory and creativity. Anyway, it was nice to know there was consistency in world building across my created universes. I'd always liked this story and had promised myself I would publish it one day. Why not now? I don't want to reveal much about the story yet. Patience, Grasshopper. 

 

However, the story has more science fiction elements in it than my novels--- with a just a touch of romance to prove one can find love in the strangest places. The story is called The Grace Seekers.

D. Martin 

 

 

 

The Entranced Disaster

 

Saturday, 3/29/14

 

Okay, so Entranced Publishing will probably go down in history as another literary Enron or Titanic. And yes, people will shake their heads and wonder, “How could writers allow themselves to get hooked into such a sloppy mess?” I’ve recently read a cautionary article warning writers to avoid new publishing houses for at least a year, to determine if the company will succeed.

 

I numbly nodded in sad agreement. Yes, we ex-Entranced authors were crash test dummies in a big company wreck. Then after discontented musings over my third mug of coffee the caffeine kicked in and shook some sense into my brain’s cognitive reasoning faculties. How in blazes can any business stay in business a year without customers? How could a publisher start up without authors? Entranced managed to float along from it’s founding in 2012, but sources said they’d only started releasing books in spring 2013. Certainly the business would have sunk faster without a steady supply of blissfully unaware, hopeful authors. This would have saved everyone a lot of time, effort, and emotional angst to keep it going.

 

The key words here should be ‘poor financial management’. Before signing book contracts with a fairly new company, should authors first demand to see the company’s quarterly financial statements—assuming they have one—or their assets/liability statements? Maybe in retrospect that’s not such a bad idea.

 

However, at least we didn’t stay on the shore dipping only our big toes into the chilly waters. We intrepid Entranced authors jumped right in. At least some authors gained solid reputable writing reputations and some of us were beginning to swim in the literary waters.

 

Yes…we must have been ‘entranced’ all right to stay, despite storm warnings that occasionally surfaced with random social media outbursts from some authors. A few understood, but most of us didn’t think it was indicative of a system wide failure, or a ‘perfect storm’ and business carried on.

 

It carried on, until, the founding owner claimed serious illness and sold the company. Hopes and suspicions ran high among the contracted authors about the new owner. The suspicious ones proved right when the next owner decided he didn’t want to craft books and foster authors. It begs the question many asked of ‘why buy a publishing concern if you didn’t want to sell books?’ Well, that’s his concern. Not mine.

 

Life support was yanked from Entranced Publishing on March 24, 2014 at approximately 5:34 P.M. ET. On the first day of my first book’s release. My greatest disappointment centers more on finding out the fantastic editors and support staff, who worked without complaint to bring my book to market, hadn’t received payment for months, or even a year in some cases. I also found out later authors had not received royalties. It confounded my mind and made my heart ache for them. At least the curtains have been ripped open and the delusion revealed. No more victims.

 

Back to that advice about authors waiting a year before trusting books to a new publishing outfit: If you count the company’s inception date, I did and it didn’t help.

 

There are no guarantees when you board a train or plane that it won’t crash. And one never knows if the rocks lurking beneath a stream are slippery or sharp, if they aren’t willing to step in and cross to the other side. At least I waded in. A few cuts and bruises to the ego, but I made it across.

 

I will not let this Entranced Disaster define me. It didn’t douse my desire to write and publish. The fire still burns unquenched.

 

D. Martin