Warning: this post contains self-defeatist language and gratuitous self-pity. If you don’t need any more negativity in your day (and who does) then do yourself a favor and skip this entry.

-open vent-

I’ve just about had it. You would think that high demand for a book would be a good thing but this Play Dead Grimoire is killing me. There just aren’t enough copies to go around and it’s ticked some people off, including some customers who are really important for our business. I’m tired of dealing with it and I’m tired of worrying about it.

I really like the creative aspect of publishing; the editing, book & cover design and even promoting a book can be a lot of fun but the financial stuff sucks. We’ve worked really hard to put out quality releases and I’m proud of every book we’ve done but it’s really hard to make back the money you put into a book. For every one project that’s a big success there are 2 or 3 that just don’t work out the way you’d hoped. It’s bad enough to pour time and money into these books and not get much back but to have people pissed off at you on top of everything else just isn’t worth it.

Two publishing tips: Don’t get in to publishing to make money and don’t do it to make friends.

I had this idea that we could publish great books, make enough money to cover them and have a little left over to continue publishing more great books but it was stupid and naive.

-close vent-