I’ve gotta spin this some way.
A couple of days ago I found out that the Five Star Expressions hardcover library line, to which I sold my contemporary romance, WHERE SHE BELONGS, will cease publication after December 2011. That’s when WHERE SHE BELONGS is coming out. Five Star/Tekno is still acquiring manuscripts for their Mystery line, but women’s fiction and romance, which had a home in Expressions, is no more. I was very sad to hear this news. My first sale to the line, and I had hopes for more sales. I really enjoyed working with my editor. She really went above-board for me. For one thing, my submission came about as a result of a conversation on the Novelists, Inc. email loop. My editor contacted me and said when I was ready to submit to Five Star/Cengage, she wanted to see the manuscript. I hadn’t planned on submitting in February. I wasn’t going to submit until after I finished revisions on a single title. But as soon as I heard that she wanted to see my book, I dropped those revisions faster than a flat potato pancake. I polished WHERE SHE BELONGS until it shone, working my way through a dead computer and a new Dell that wouldn’t see delivery for two weeks. Just a couple of weeks ago, we worked on the edits. My manuscript went “into production,” and I expected the next news to be that my cover art had arrived or that proofs needed looking at.
Those will still occur. As far as I know at this point, WHERE SHE BELONGS is still in the queue to be published. I know of at least one other December 2011 Expressions author, Stacey Coverstone. She and I, I believe, will be the last Expressions authors.
I have no idea what this means for my print run, distribution, or how quickly the book will go out of print. At this point, especially in light of everything that’s happening at Dorchester (including the recent axing of two editors), I’m counting myself lucky that my story will see print at all. Working on this book again made me realize how much I love it. It’s a “book of my heart.”
You know what this means, don’t you? When I say, at some point in 2011, that the book is available for pre-order, tell everyone you know to pre-order the heck out of the thing. When I announce, in December 2011, that the book is available, buy it right away. Help me help the Five Star Expressions line go out with a bang.
Strangely, I’m not depressed. I’m sad, but I’m not down and out. I’ve become so accustomed to looking forward in this industry, I’m not sure I even know how to look backward anymore. I’ll dust myself off and move on to the next opportunity. A little sad at the news, but a whole lot glad that I had a chance to become part of the Five Star/Cengage family.