Louise Cooper, author of the Seahorses series, explains why "it’s about time authors started taking matters into their own hands" and why our future is online.
Louise Cooper always dreamed of being a teller of stories. She achieved her first published novel at the age of 20 and remains a prolific writer to this day, specialising in fantasy for children and young adults and enjoying success on both sides of the Atlantic. Here she tells us where she believes the future of publishing lies.
'Electronic media…as every new technology becomes more accessible to the average person then the breadth of the methods of publishing grow, and the big, old fashioned firms are going to have to update their ideas.'
Having noticed a thriving online community on Louise’s website I asked how useful she has found this.
'It has been absolutely invaluable. The Time Master trilogy went out of print 10 years ago and I’ve had a steady flow of requests to get hold of it from readers. On the back of this my agent decided to try to resell [the trilogy] to publishers but got a resounding “no”, because fantasy is considered old hat.'
Louise’s agent suggested self-publishing so that they could print to order – an extremely practical and economical solution. Louise decided to research the market and the format that would interest her fans. She put a brief questionnaire on her website.
'I was staggered by the amount of feedback, it’s been on for a year and I’m still getting responses.'
I asked Louise how her books going out of print had affected her.
'Honestly it’s soul destroying and frustrating; with the Time Master series, the publisher remaindered the first book in the same week that book three of the trilogy was released! Shops just won’t stock the new book without the first books.'
At this time a fan wrote to Louise about a company called Mundania Press in the US who initially published Piers Anthony’s (a US Sci Fi writer) backlist. Louise found this company interesting so her agent got in touch with them. The two parties agreed terms and Louise has signed contracts for the Time Master trilogy, and for four stand-alone novels that were also out of print.
Louise explained that Mundania are planning to publish paperback editions as well as downloadable e-books, which they feel will be worthwhile given Louise’s online fan base. 'I’m very excited about being published online. [Mundania are not…] orthodox publishers.'
I asked how Mundania differ, from the author’s perspective. Louise explained that she retains all the usual rights as per the old fashioned set up. The main difference is the method of sale. Mundania don’t pay an advance, but authors do get royalties from day one and the percentage is better than most.
Further Information:
www.louisecooper.com
www.mundania.com
