Why I left Permuted Press: The Hidden Struggle of Authordom

Hello Followers!

As I have announced before I am no longer an author with Permuted Press, and I am here to let everyone know exactly why. Now, I tried to sign with a reputable publisher for a long time and with Permuted Press being in the top ten of small press I was super excited about getting signed with them, but little did I know they weren't only signing me, but they were signing anyone and everyone. As small press they are trying to move to mid-tier which means you need more authors. This part I understand. But adding two hundred within the year? That's a pretty large red flag. The reason being is that your work will not get the attention it deserves, just like everyone else and I want to see my fellow authors succeed. This wasn't the problem at first because I didn't realize the scope of the problem.

Their workload and rather aggressive publishing schedule became an issue within the company. Not only were they overworking themselves, but (from what I have heard, not sure how true it is) they were even missing the marketing on some works entirely. Like I said, I'm not sure how true it is. When I heard that one author was left to do all the marketing herself instead of the partnership promised I became iffy. This, again, was not the only issue. Because of the aggressive workload they made a HUGE business decision. They decided to go to an e-book first business model where, depending on your e-book sales, you could earn a spot in their Permuted Platinum line where your books wouldn't be POD (print on demand), but printed in bulk and widely distributed. Even making it onto Barnes & Noble shelves. This is great, right? You couldn't be more wrong.

When asked about the goal to get the the coveted position amongst the works already in the Permuted Platinum line, the answer was extremely vague ending with the conclusion and they indeed have no idea what it takes to get there. But my issue wasn't just this. Not only was I promised quite a lot here, but I was promised prints as well as e-book and audiobook and it didn't help that the publishing schedule would be redone. For me, my first release was already due in May 2015 and, well, I had already waited long enough so being pushed back wasn't an option for me.

Plus, we weren't just sent a mass email, but it was sent quite late at night when I was already in bed with no answer from the head honcho for an entire week. This made the situation grow intense between permuted authors. Some of them even turning against each other. Then another email surfaced, but not to all mind you. A few authors did receive an email stating that the changes made did not effect them. I felt quite shafted as well as that this was a very shady deal. Now, not only was I not getting what I was promised, but something that was freely given before I had to earn and not even they knew what it took to earn it. Not a great business practice. There have been some answers on the model change, but this came after I made the decision to dissolve my contract with Permuted Press.

Down to the nitty gritty and something even more personal. My deadline for "The Harvested" was October 31st, only giving me a few months between deadlines to get it done and then the unthinkable. My husband had to undergo a below-the-knee amputation on October 14th because of a complication of being a former diabetic. This caused a rather large pause in my writing, making it so I could not make this deadline as well as this new model not meeting my needs. After some poll taking and talking to people who wanted to purchase my works when they came out, I realized I would be losing quite a bit of sales with e-book only for quite some times until it was decided I deserved a Platinum spot and, let's face it, who knows how long that would take. I would say I was losing at least fifty percent once I took the vote.

I have made quite a large decision and it was a very hard decision to make because the search for a publisher is hard these days, and I know it. I have still decided to move forward. To those who wanted to purchase my works, you'll still be able to. I am working now to self-publish the Executioner Trilogy and it will be available in a number of formats as not to limit anyone's purchasing decisions. Once they are about to be released I will be doing quite a launch so keep a lookout. About "The Harvested." I have decided to turn this into a series of at least five books and titling it the Permutation Archives. I am hoping not to disappoint and will be very aggressive in my marketing and sales efforts. If anyone has any questions they can be asked on the portion here on my blog where they can be submitted. I can even be reached on FaceBook and Twitter! I look forward to hearing from all of you!