The timeline...
- In 2022, DAW sold itself to Astra Publishing House and assured all authors that things would remain the same. (All the authors winced.)
- Shocking no one, DAW/Astra did not remain the same and started dropping authors like flies. I was not among them.
- The Awesome Editor retired in 2023, with both of us regretting that I hadn't gotten Aliens Like Us to her before retirement.
- In 2024 I finally finished Aliens Like Us. (And there was much rejoicing.)
- My agent has been waiting to find out who at DAW/Astra would be my editor. Note that the book has not actually gotten over there, DAW has not seen it, let alone read it. I thought it had, but it was still with my agent, waiting for a name, because my agent is savvy and "had a feeling" and, as usual, she wasn't wrong.
My new editor's name?
The Bad News: That name turns out to be Mr. Nobody.
Yes, you're reading that correctly. Sadly, DAW has passed on continuing the Alien Series. Yes, they waited until I'd finished Book 17 to tell us. It happens.
Some Good News: they have given me all my rights back, not only to books 17 and beyond, but to books 1-16. (This is why those of you worldwide who are telling me you can't find the series...can't find the series. DAW has done the right thing and all their versions are off sale.) I am essentially fully dropped from DAW, a free woman to pursue whatever I want with whomever I so choose, which in some ways is Bad News, but leads us into...
More Good News: Ginger Blue Publishing is going to pick up the series. And they are going to re-release Books 1-16 in ebook, trade, and hardback, all at once for each book.
They are also picking up the rest of the series, with the promise that I can write as many of them as I want and, as long as all y'all are still buying them, GBP will be selling them, also in ebook, trade, and hardback.
More Bad News: There is no way that GBP can afford to pay the cover artists who did the original series for re-use rights, nor can they wait for those artists to have free space in their schedules to design new covers. So there will be new covers for the entire series. But the GBP art team has been great so far, so I trust them to be great with this as well.
Some This Is How It Has To Be News: Aliens Like Us is a beast in terms of size. Bigger than Aliens Abroad. Too big for a tiny press to handle. As one book. However, I was prepared because I knew I'd have a new editor whenever I was done, so I know exactly where to break the book in half. Which is what's going to happen.
Meaning, ta da, contracts are signed and Aliens Like Them is now announced.
More Good News: GBP is also picking up The Alien Collection, the collection of short stories some of you have been waiting for for a decade. It's coming. And soon.
The New Timeline:
- Books 1-16 will publish as GBP can get them up. There are no officially scheduled dates. Could be one a month, could be 16 in 3 months, no one knows yet, because this all just happened (and yes, they were my first call after I got word from my agent).
- The Alien Collection is scheduled to publish December 2025
- Aliens Like Us is scheduled to publish April 2026
- Aliens Like Them is scheduled to publish December 2026
- Alien Rescue is scheduled to publish December 2027
Yes, I realize that means you're waiting still for Aliens Like Us, and now Them, until next year. However, GBP is a small press, and this is as fast as they can go with the books they already have on the schedule. Having 19 books essentially dropped right into your lap is cool, but also daunting, and they're determined to do right by this series, and that means scheduling and care and enough time for all the things. If DAW had taken the book, you wouldn't have seen it until 2027 at the earliest, 2028 more likely, so this is, honestly, much faster.
I'm planning on a book a year in the Alien Series once we get to Alien Rescue. I have some extra books planned that were not on the DAW schedule, which GBP is all for, so back to the Good News that there's lots more Kitty & Company on the way.
Logistics:
Many of you have preordered Aliens Like Us (and been told it was coming in 2080, so we are WAY ahead of THAT). You'll probably be getting notifications that it's been completely removed (or not...I've never had this happen before, so it's all new and I'm basically guessing). Fear not. When GBP can get it, and Aliens Like Them, up you'll definitely be able to pre-order, this time secure in the knowledge that the books are done and you WILL be getting them as planned. Same for The Alien Collection.
Reviews:
What won't move with this change are the existing reviews of the series -- and I had a lot, for Touched by an Alien in particular. The reviews won't move because Ginger Blue has to use different ISBNs for the series, meaning that none of the distributors/retailers can connect the originals to the new. It's not anyone being bad or uncaring, it's just how things work.
SO, once the new versions are available, it would be beyond wonderful if all y'all could do reviews again for the "new books" so that Amazon, Goodreads, and B&N.com show reviews for the series.
The reviews don't have to be detailed -- whatever stars you want is the basic, and if you want to add an I did/didn't like it, and a short "why" is all that's needed to make it an in-depth review. I honestly don't care what number of stars because Amazon, in particular, starts promoting books when they have 50 reviews, and that includes if they have 50 1-star reviews. Not that I'm saying "trash the series" LOL but I'm also not asking for all 5-star reviews. Just...reviews. It should only take about 3 minutes per book, unless you're doing a longer "why" which is totally awesome.
The reviews situation is a big thing for me personally, and for the series itself. It also matters to the new publisher. So it's a huge thing all around.
Closing Thoughts:
I want to stress that DAW is not a "bad guy" in this. I have a bad guy publisher (more on that later, when one of you again asks what's going on with the Alexander Outland series), but DAW isn't it.
Publishing is a business. They made the decision to cull their herd, and 2-3 years down the line, I'm part of the herd that's getting cut. They aren't bad people, they still publish amazing books. They just won't be publishing my amazing books anymore, but while they could have been horrible about giving my rights back, it was an incredibly smooth process with zero friction or delays. That, trust me, is a rarity. Besides, without them, none of you would ever have met Kitty, or me, and for that I will always be grateful and never angry.
So, onward into the brave new world of a new publisher for this series. I'd be afraid if Ginger Blue hadn't already showed me how well they handle my books with everything of mine they've newly published or re-released. Please support them - in addition to what they have of mine, and what's coming of mine, they have books from authors other than myself which are also really super good. They, like all the other publishers out there, appreciate pre-orders, sales, and reviews, so spare a coin for your authors and do whichever of those three you can, early and often. |
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