Allow us to address this article’s headline in reverse order.
New Kink Books started out as a promising imprint, and for a solid year-plus the naughty line of titles performed as well as any sales we had through Rooster Republic or Strangehouse Books. There were even quarters when sales from New Kink exceeded the more traditional lines. But now it is largely unresponsive. We poked it with the best and biggest stick we could find. Call the time, doc! And grab a body bag…
New Kink Books is a dead imprint.
So, what the hell happened? That’s not a terribly hard question to answer. We’ll keep it brief, because it is mostly boring and if we asked you to sum it up in one word there is an overwhelmingly good chance you’ll guess it right off the bat.
Money, in short, or a lack thereof.
The imprint’s sales numbers plummeted after Amazon changed its payout structure for titles exclusive to Kindle. Once that happened, there just wasn’t any going back. A title here and there will jump in numbers but even those instances are few and far between.
We have made the decision to discontinue New Kink Books, though not immediately. Beginning in May, we will offer the entire line at extremely discounted rates through Amazon, and we anticipate running these prices through the summer. However, once summer draws to a close, we will be deactivating these titles and all rights will be returning to their respective authors (some of whom we anticipate seeing this post, though we plan on writing individual authors over the coming months).
RIP New Kink Books, 2015 – 2019 …we hardly knew ye
In other news, Don Noble and Nicholas Day have made arrangements to take over acquisitions and production for Bizarro Pulp Press, an imprint of JournalStone. What does this mean for Rooster Republic and Strangehouse Books, you ask? It doesn’t mean much of anything, if we are being honest.
We’ve mentioned this in a previous post, but:
“Beginning in 2020, Rooster Republic will only be releasing a maximum of four titles per year, including titles from Strangehouse Books.”
And we already have two titles lined up for 2020:
Not All Monsters (edited by Sara Tantlinger)
The Ultimate Dinosaur Dance Off (by Andrew James Stone)
These two books will be the only releases for that year. Anthologies, like Not All Monsters, require a ton of work, especially with regards to production time. As well, we have been strongly considering an Indiegogo or Kickstarter campaign, either of which eats up its own considerable amount of oversight. And we are but two people, increasingly pressed for time.
2021 acquisitions for Rooster and Strangehouse are looking very promising. We have three possible entries which we will be going over in the latter-half of May. Two titles being short novels, and the third being another high-concept horror anthology that will definitely turn a head or two. But we’ll save the details of these projects for a future entry.
As for Bizarro Pulp Press, our involvement will be limited to those duties mentioned above: acquisition and production. We do not anticipate taking on any more than six titles for BPP during any given calendar year. This is not to say six titles per year, exactly, as there may be times when we release fewer books. We are not trying to meet a quota. At the present, we do not have any releases planned for 2019, though that may change over the next month or two. We are working on it, and the feelers have been sent out, as it were.
However, similar to Rooster Republic and Strangehouse Books, we highly doubt we will ever run “open submissions” but instead find material through private channels and occasional pitches we may take at events we attend. If we ever do decide to have an open submission reading period, it will be an incredibly short window of time. Again, we are but two people, increasingly pressed for time. But we have an ever-widening network of authors and artists from which to choose from. And we do hit shows. Buy us drinks and we turn into chatty fellows. Chats have, on an occasion, turned into contracts. Drink responsibly.
The hardcover edition of Sara Tantlinger’s The Devil’s Dreamland, her Stoker-nominated book of poetry, continues to be offered until this Friday of April, the 26th. There are only 10 signed and numbered copies available. The book is currently priced at $30, which includes shipping and handling. If interested, please contact us via roosterrepublicpress@gmail.com
After this Friday, this signed and numbered edition will no longer be available online and will no longer be offered at the thirty-dollar price. If you want a copy, please do not wait!
In the coming weeks, expect some news regarding our 2020 titles, as well as some announcements for 2021!
Don Noble and Nicholas Day still plan on attending Stokercon in Grand Rapids, though it is looking like their appearance may be limited to Saturday. One of them will probably be wearing a rooster mask. And a tie!
And that, as they say, is that.
