EDJU No Longer Published By Spuyten Duyvil
A contract cancelled by mutual agreement
When my novel, Edju, was published by Spuyten Duyvil among the 2018-2019 releases I was over the moon. Almost 40 years of trying finally reached a milestone. To help the dissemination of the book’s availability I offered to participate in any events or readings the publisher might stage and made it known that, within reason, I could travel at my own expense to get there. I held a small contest on Goodreads with my author’s copies, arranged to be interviewed on podcasts, sent copies out to alternative bookstores and sent books out to independent stores with a letter explaining the distribution of the work could be obtained through the publisher’s listings. At this time I also noted that on their website I was not listed on their extensive roster of writers they had published.
The problem began when two of those independent booksellers wrote back saying the book was not available through the usual distribution channels. It wasn’t listed. I sent an email to the publisher asking what was up, and wanted to know how many books had been sold to date. Out of my own curiosity I contacted several friends who were also published by Spuyten Duyvil and asked if they had experienced anything like this. Most had not. One friend returned my query saying “I no longer have anything to do with Spuyten Duyvil.”
It became apparent that this was seen as somewhat of a betrayal and afterwords came the first threat to cancel the contract. What is a marginal, not-even-an-asteroid-in-their-universe, no-name writer to do? I backed off. The last thing I wanted was to have my work no longer available. Subsequent submissions of other work to them were not answered.
Fast forward to this year and, when AlienBuddha Press accepted Drainman to be published this summer I contacted Spuyten Duyvil and requested pricing on purchasing author’s copies of Edju to have copies to distribute. Several such requests were not answered. I even sent them a writer, whom they published, because I believed in her work and knew intrinsically that Spuyten Duyvil would be a perfect platform for her material.
In an attempt to get an answer I informed them that I’d been advised to keep requesting author’s copies, for which I offered to pay. Only when I couched the language in semi-legal language did I get a response, suddenly. And at the end of their reply, because of our “contentious” relationship they announced that they were returning my rights to the book to me and they would no longer be publishing Edju.
The truth is, by this time, I was as done with them as they were done with me. One should not have displayed the temerity to ask how many books have been sold, apparently. So they sent me some gratis copies and promised to send a check for whatever royalties remained and that’s that. Strangely enough and, as I suspected, the rating on Amazon for Edju improved a little as people were buying copies based on the news that Drainman would be available in July.
Some have said that I have a legal right to question the contract and the proceedings. But after my near 40-years of participation in the alternative and small press world the last thing I am going to do was to take a pillar of the alternative universe to court. Not gonna happen. No way. I accept the results and have an alternative plan for my novel. I have had a revised manuscript in my back pocket for a long time. And, since the rights have reverted back to me my plan is to publish the revision under the Thrice banner.
The miscalculation, I feel, on their part was that they probably assumed I was all wrapped up in the writer’s fragile ego and would just about do anything to get back in their good graces. In point of fact I did send an email at one point trying to find out if there was a way for us to reconcile the relationship, back when I was submitting more work to them, but this got no response.
I don’t understand how I ended up in their no-man’s land but, to be honest, I’m satisfied with the result, and am moving ahead. No blame, no shame, move on. The newer, better, version of Edju will be available late this year or early next.
And I want to state clearly and publicly that I would still recommend readers to go over their listings and support their publishing house by adding some of the stellar material they’ve published over their long history to one’s library. The books and writers they’ve presented are magnificent and worthwhile. I would also highly recommend that my fellow writers that see themselves as outside of the mainstream to submit with confidence to them, and not to let the faulty communication lines I have with them, and them with me, negatively influence the opportunity. Spuyten Duyvil is still the premier publisher of work you shouldn’t ignore and have been for a long, long time. My situation is my own, and I’ll take as much responsibility for the parting of the ways as they want.
The mistake was assuming a 70 year old man with a long track record in the alternative press was desperate to be in print. I’m a lot of things. A “careerist” has never been one of them.