Post by Tomoran on Dec 29, 2011 13:40:30 GMT -6
I’m going to begin this with an apology. This is, by far, the longest post I’ve EVER made in my 8-year history on public forums. If you manage to make it all the way through, kudos. I don’t know if I could…
I’ve toyed with doing this for several years, but I’ve always balked as I don’t want to come across as making excuses or whining. Since the beginning, I also entertained the thought that if people had this image of Billie and I running Sideshow Press as our primary business and source of income, it would help people take us more seriously. After all, the small press publishers that I admired and looked to for inspiration and guidance while building Sideshow all published full time. If we were to compete in this business, it would behoove us to project this image, right?
For those of you who remember, we launched our first book right around the time that Cargo Cult Press made its debut. Bloodletting and Delirium were going full steam, and Full Moon was running out a list of pre-orders as long as my arm. The small press was exploding with new presses and new talents. Although I stand by our first effort, it proved to be a bit underwhelming for many, and Sideshow became a bit of an afterthought for small press community. Still, Billie and I watched and learned, gleaning hints from the best people in the business (Larry, Shane, Roy, Joe) and evolved. When Graham Masterton publically bashed the production values of our limited edition of HALF-SICK on his forum, we were crushed. However, instead of running to hide, we made changes to how we did things. With our next book, SECRETS by J.F. Gonzalez, we sought to turn the corner and wow people with high-end design and production values. We think it worked, as people began talking about Sideshow in a positive way. Sure, we had detractors, but I’ve never felt obligated to respond, as little ever comes out of it. I also decided never to make a big deal about my family and personal life because, after all, this was a business.
However, in the wake of several delays, a couple nasty threads on the forums, and several thousand dollars lost on under-performing titles, I figure that it’s time to explain a few things about Sideshow, my family, and our plans for the future.
First off, we have a fairly large family. Billie and I have four kids, ages 1 year to 16. For those of you who have children, I think that you can understand how much time and attention they deserve and demand. I work in my living room with my children and three dogs causing chaos around me because I don’t want to miss out on family time. As you can imagine, there are a plethora of distractions…
What many don’t understand is that Billie and I do not do this full time. I love the small press, and although I hate to make this statement because it can be read to mean that we’re unprofessional, WE PUBLISH FOR THE LOVE OF IT. More on this later…
Billie is a very successful manager at a local pest control company. During the week, she has to get up at 5 am, get the kids ready for school, drop them off at their schools or my sister’s for daycare, then begins her work day at her place of business 40 minutes from our home. In her evenings, she plays mom while squeezing in the time to answer emails and ship orders.
I, on the other hand, work as a Special Education teacher in a poor urban district. I was reassigned this year to a new program for students with emotional disturbances and severe behavioral problems. I love the job, and I’ve proven to have a knack for working with these kids. Still, it’s stressful and exhausting, and I’m finding that when I don’t have work to do in the evenings, I’m too fried to work on Sideshow stuff, and I instead spend a chunk of my evenings answering emails.
Our weekends are when all the “magic” happens, and we work on the Sideshow stuff. I usually get up at around 8, start my morning coffee and draw until about 4. When I’m feeling extra ambitious (and when my eyes aren’t fried) I will move on to do some formatting. During this time, Billie will be proofing through manuscripts, packing and shipping orders, and, well, being a mom.
Now, most publishers, when they accept a book, hire someone to do the copyediting, an artist to do the cover and illustrations, and someone to layout and design the interior of the book. As I illustrate, I handle all of the art duties for our books (quite frankly, I started Sideshow because I loved drawing). I also enjoy laying out the books and the covers. Because I can illustrate anything I need on the fly, it’s a very fun, organic process. However, although this has proven to be an advantage to us as I don’t have to outsource and spend the extra money for these services (something that has, quite frankly, kept us in business), it also proves to be our biggest drawback.
Why?
Well, when something like a power outage, a sick child, sickness of myself, unexpected company, a sick dog, house maintenance, etc. butts in, I lose time to work on the books. It doesn’t take us long when this happens to get behind.
Then I stress. Oh GOD do I stress.
It becomes a constant struggle to keep up, and in the process, I get behind on the smaller (but no less important) things like answering emails, posting updates, updating the site, and reading submissions. On Saturday morning, I find myself asking, “Do I answer the emails and update the site or finish up this illustration?” More often than not, I try to do a little of both, failing to complete either. The art, especially, takes a lot of time, with the average batch of illustrations taking over 50+hours. The new layout program I’m using allows for me to do fun, aesthetically pleasing things like borders and full bleed art, but that, too, takes time. If I lose even a single day of my weekend to one of the unforeseen circumstances listed above, it’s a major setback.
This summer, many of you know that we lost power for over a week. Well, that was the last week of my summer vacation, and I lost that entire chunk of time to button up some Sideshow projects. A week is a hell of a set back for me, and with the new job responsibilities, I’ve been playing catch-up for four months.
Again, not whining…it’s just my reality.
Now, eventually I finish up my work and it’s time for the book to head to the printer or binder. This is where we’ve experienced the most delays. Since publishing DIFFERENT SEASONS, we’ve used 6 printers and 5 different binders. I’m always looking for someone who can do quality, TIMELY work. The ones we work with now are fantastic, but even they have their hiccups. We’ve had books that were supposed to be completed in three weeks take TWO MONTHS. We’ve had the wrong end papers delivered, necessitating a reorder. Three times, we’ve had signature sheets get lost in the mail. Those familiar with the small press have heard all of this before. Still, I think that it sometimes gets forgotten that a lot of this process is out of our hands.
Now, we’ve had some complaints that we don’t update enough on books, and that is quite true. Mia culpa…I understand completely. In the future, I will be more diligent with posting updates. Part of the problem is, binders and printers are not always forthcoming with realistic return times. I’ve called binders before to check up on a book to be told, and I quote: “We’re working on them right now, and they should ship by the end of the week.” As I’m thinking the book is on the way, I think “YAY! Let’s share with our readers that the book is on the way!”
Then a week passes…then two…then three.
I start getting the emails asking where the book is. The forum posts begin. So, I’ll contact the binder again to get the old, “yup, we got jammed up. The book will be ready next week.”
And, if we’re lucky, they’re right this time. Sometimes, it’s a couple more weeks.
Still, they are human, too, and I tend to be very understanding with that kind of stuff. The binders and printers we work with we've gotten to know quite well over the years, and I can appreciate when life throws them a curve. For example, Chris Hedges had a recent bout of very bad luck, and AS I EMBRACE MY JAGGED EDGES has been delayed several times as a result. Do I want to hold this book? Hell yes! Do I understand peoples' frustration with the delay. Absolutely. However, Chris is a fantastic craftsman, and his work is always top notch. He is also a good friend, and I can appreciate his dilemma. So, I'll give him some room to breath and rest easy knowing that it will all prove worth it in the end. After all, we're the "small press"... a little incestuous community who are drawn together for our love of horror and books. In a way, we're like a big, dysfunctional family. That's why when an author is unable to hit a deadline, or a binder is running behind, or my printer takes off for a week to attend a wedding, I don't get upset. It's life, and it happens.
Unfortunately, I'm beginning to understand that my philosophy is not necessarily shared by all. Again, my bad...
Each year, I promise that we are going to set firm and accurate release dates. And, each year we start out okay, then one book slips jamming up the whole shoot. I feel HORRIBLE, as it’s unfair to everyone involved, authors and readers. I think part of it, the part that makes me totally culpable, is that my publication schedules are just too ambitious. I tend to be optimistic (read: silly) when mapping out our release dates. Despite years of proof to the contrary, I tend to ignore the obvious fact that there WILL be delays and if we have too many titles lined up, there will be a jam. For the last three years, we’ve felt that the key to surviving was to keep the books coming at a good clip, to keep Sideshow current and in the public eye by making sure that we always had something new coming out. Well, that obviously didn’t work. Although we published a decent number of titles this year, were seeing far too many slip into the New Year. Not good.
Changes need to be made.
As I stated earlier in this post, Billie and I started doing this for the love of it. Well, for the first time since I began publishing with WICKED KARNIVAL in 2005, I’m not feeling it. I used to look forward to the weekends, to working on the latest illustration or searching the web for that perfect cover font. I enjoyed watching the forums and actively trying to win over those who seemed to dislike Sideshow or who hadn’t read any of our books. However, this has proven to be an incredibly difficult year. Besides missed deadlines, we have lost thousands as sales all around have fizzled. We’ve experienced more than our fair share of setbacks this year with lost sig sheets, printer/binder delays, authors turning things in late, etc. To say it’s been frustrating would be an understatement.
Then, a couple weeks ago, I was sitting down to work on an illustration when I made the mistake of opening my email. I had several messages from people telling me to check out a thread on the forum, that an author had posted an angry message. Against my better judgment, I returned to the thread that I promised I wouldn’t read again. I read the post. I steamed. I considered a reply.
Then, finally, I said “fuck it.” I put away my pens and drawing board, turned off the computer, and played video games all day. The post had its desired effect, as I felt gut-punched and was unable to work. Why was I giving up my money and my family time to do this? Was I insane? What was the point? At that moment, I seriously gave thought to calling it quits.
Fortunately, and I hope these guys don’t take offense to me calling them out, but some excellent authors and fantastic people reminded me of why I do this. Kurt Newton, who has in recent months become a close confidant with all things Sideshow, has been an incredible support. Mark Gunnells, who is one of the most patient and even-tempered human beings I’ve ever encountered, has been a huge help. Brian Knight, long one of my favorite writers (and an incredibly gracious human being to boot), reminded me twice that there are still some great people in this business. Sam Anderson, with his wit and sarcasm, has proven to be a great therapist when things go south. And Gene O’Neill has always been there with wisdom and support when things get hectic. These guys not only represent some of the best our genre and the small press has to offer, but they are also great people. People that I’m am privileged to work with and to publish their work.
They are the reason we continue doing this.
And then, of course, there are those people who have supported us from the very beginning, our “Collectors Club” as we refer to them. You guys have always been supportive and are the ones we’re thinking of when we design these things.
Still, things need to change.
For these first months of the New Year, we’re going to concentrate on getting some of these overdue titles out to the masses. After that, we are going to have a very conservative schedule for the remainder of 2012. Billie and I will be sitting down in the next couple weeks to see what we have in the pipe and to come up with a schedule for the next year. We have several fantastic books contracted that we’re very eager to produce, and we’re going to put our full attention to getting them to print. We will not be contracting any more books during this period.
And after that?
Well, I think that it will be time for a break. I’m not saying that we’ll be closing the Sideshow…I know myself too well, and we’ve put too much time and effort into this beast to just walk away. With that said, who knows what the small press will look like in 2013. Only time will tell. I do anticipate that I will need some time to rejuvenate and to “find the love again”, so to speak.
Also, although it’s still not final, I’ve been in discussions with two other publishers about helping them create an imprint solely focused on getting trade paperbacks and digitals on Amazon. Again it’s too early to get specific, but if it pans out, it may pave the way for more trades and faster publication times. More on that later…
Now that I’ve just poured several years of silence into one post, I hope that this didn’t come across as whiny or pretentious. I just really felt that it was time to clear the air and explain what is going on behind the scenes. I also hope that before people begin screaming and making posts about how horrible Billie and I are, and how we don’t keep people in the loop, that they consider some of what I posted above. We’re not here to screw people and we’re certainly not setting out to piss people off. We’re human. I screw up. I screw up a lot. I’m guessing that I’ll continue to screw up. I know people get frustrated, but please try to be patient with us. It may take us a while to get a book out, but they’re usually worth the wait.
Happy New Year!
Tom
I’ve toyed with doing this for several years, but I’ve always balked as I don’t want to come across as making excuses or whining. Since the beginning, I also entertained the thought that if people had this image of Billie and I running Sideshow Press as our primary business and source of income, it would help people take us more seriously. After all, the small press publishers that I admired and looked to for inspiration and guidance while building Sideshow all published full time. If we were to compete in this business, it would behoove us to project this image, right?
For those of you who remember, we launched our first book right around the time that Cargo Cult Press made its debut. Bloodletting and Delirium were going full steam, and Full Moon was running out a list of pre-orders as long as my arm. The small press was exploding with new presses and new talents. Although I stand by our first effort, it proved to be a bit underwhelming for many, and Sideshow became a bit of an afterthought for small press community. Still, Billie and I watched and learned, gleaning hints from the best people in the business (Larry, Shane, Roy, Joe) and evolved. When Graham Masterton publically bashed the production values of our limited edition of HALF-SICK on his forum, we were crushed. However, instead of running to hide, we made changes to how we did things. With our next book, SECRETS by J.F. Gonzalez, we sought to turn the corner and wow people with high-end design and production values. We think it worked, as people began talking about Sideshow in a positive way. Sure, we had detractors, but I’ve never felt obligated to respond, as little ever comes out of it. I also decided never to make a big deal about my family and personal life because, after all, this was a business.
However, in the wake of several delays, a couple nasty threads on the forums, and several thousand dollars lost on under-performing titles, I figure that it’s time to explain a few things about Sideshow, my family, and our plans for the future.
First off, we have a fairly large family. Billie and I have four kids, ages 1 year to 16. For those of you who have children, I think that you can understand how much time and attention they deserve and demand. I work in my living room with my children and three dogs causing chaos around me because I don’t want to miss out on family time. As you can imagine, there are a plethora of distractions…
What many don’t understand is that Billie and I do not do this full time. I love the small press, and although I hate to make this statement because it can be read to mean that we’re unprofessional, WE PUBLISH FOR THE LOVE OF IT. More on this later…
Billie is a very successful manager at a local pest control company. During the week, she has to get up at 5 am, get the kids ready for school, drop them off at their schools or my sister’s for daycare, then begins her work day at her place of business 40 minutes from our home. In her evenings, she plays mom while squeezing in the time to answer emails and ship orders.
I, on the other hand, work as a Special Education teacher in a poor urban district. I was reassigned this year to a new program for students with emotional disturbances and severe behavioral problems. I love the job, and I’ve proven to have a knack for working with these kids. Still, it’s stressful and exhausting, and I’m finding that when I don’t have work to do in the evenings, I’m too fried to work on Sideshow stuff, and I instead spend a chunk of my evenings answering emails.
Our weekends are when all the “magic” happens, and we work on the Sideshow stuff. I usually get up at around 8, start my morning coffee and draw until about 4. When I’m feeling extra ambitious (and when my eyes aren’t fried) I will move on to do some formatting. During this time, Billie will be proofing through manuscripts, packing and shipping orders, and, well, being a mom.
Now, most publishers, when they accept a book, hire someone to do the copyediting, an artist to do the cover and illustrations, and someone to layout and design the interior of the book. As I illustrate, I handle all of the art duties for our books (quite frankly, I started Sideshow because I loved drawing). I also enjoy laying out the books and the covers. Because I can illustrate anything I need on the fly, it’s a very fun, organic process. However, although this has proven to be an advantage to us as I don’t have to outsource and spend the extra money for these services (something that has, quite frankly, kept us in business), it also proves to be our biggest drawback.
Why?
Well, when something like a power outage, a sick child, sickness of myself, unexpected company, a sick dog, house maintenance, etc. butts in, I lose time to work on the books. It doesn’t take us long when this happens to get behind.
Then I stress. Oh GOD do I stress.
It becomes a constant struggle to keep up, and in the process, I get behind on the smaller (but no less important) things like answering emails, posting updates, updating the site, and reading submissions. On Saturday morning, I find myself asking, “Do I answer the emails and update the site or finish up this illustration?” More often than not, I try to do a little of both, failing to complete either. The art, especially, takes a lot of time, with the average batch of illustrations taking over 50+hours. The new layout program I’m using allows for me to do fun, aesthetically pleasing things like borders and full bleed art, but that, too, takes time. If I lose even a single day of my weekend to one of the unforeseen circumstances listed above, it’s a major setback.
This summer, many of you know that we lost power for over a week. Well, that was the last week of my summer vacation, and I lost that entire chunk of time to button up some Sideshow projects. A week is a hell of a set back for me, and with the new job responsibilities, I’ve been playing catch-up for four months.
Again, not whining…it’s just my reality.
Now, eventually I finish up my work and it’s time for the book to head to the printer or binder. This is where we’ve experienced the most delays. Since publishing DIFFERENT SEASONS, we’ve used 6 printers and 5 different binders. I’m always looking for someone who can do quality, TIMELY work. The ones we work with now are fantastic, but even they have their hiccups. We’ve had books that were supposed to be completed in three weeks take TWO MONTHS. We’ve had the wrong end papers delivered, necessitating a reorder. Three times, we’ve had signature sheets get lost in the mail. Those familiar with the small press have heard all of this before. Still, I think that it sometimes gets forgotten that a lot of this process is out of our hands.
Now, we’ve had some complaints that we don’t update enough on books, and that is quite true. Mia culpa…I understand completely. In the future, I will be more diligent with posting updates. Part of the problem is, binders and printers are not always forthcoming with realistic return times. I’ve called binders before to check up on a book to be told, and I quote: “We’re working on them right now, and they should ship by the end of the week.” As I’m thinking the book is on the way, I think “YAY! Let’s share with our readers that the book is on the way!”
Then a week passes…then two…then three.
I start getting the emails asking where the book is. The forum posts begin. So, I’ll contact the binder again to get the old, “yup, we got jammed up. The book will be ready next week.”
And, if we’re lucky, they’re right this time. Sometimes, it’s a couple more weeks.
Still, they are human, too, and I tend to be very understanding with that kind of stuff. The binders and printers we work with we've gotten to know quite well over the years, and I can appreciate when life throws them a curve. For example, Chris Hedges had a recent bout of very bad luck, and AS I EMBRACE MY JAGGED EDGES has been delayed several times as a result. Do I want to hold this book? Hell yes! Do I understand peoples' frustration with the delay. Absolutely. However, Chris is a fantastic craftsman, and his work is always top notch. He is also a good friend, and I can appreciate his dilemma. So, I'll give him some room to breath and rest easy knowing that it will all prove worth it in the end. After all, we're the "small press"... a little incestuous community who are drawn together for our love of horror and books. In a way, we're like a big, dysfunctional family. That's why when an author is unable to hit a deadline, or a binder is running behind, or my printer takes off for a week to attend a wedding, I don't get upset. It's life, and it happens.
Unfortunately, I'm beginning to understand that my philosophy is not necessarily shared by all. Again, my bad...
Each year, I promise that we are going to set firm and accurate release dates. And, each year we start out okay, then one book slips jamming up the whole shoot. I feel HORRIBLE, as it’s unfair to everyone involved, authors and readers. I think part of it, the part that makes me totally culpable, is that my publication schedules are just too ambitious. I tend to be optimistic (read: silly) when mapping out our release dates. Despite years of proof to the contrary, I tend to ignore the obvious fact that there WILL be delays and if we have too many titles lined up, there will be a jam. For the last three years, we’ve felt that the key to surviving was to keep the books coming at a good clip, to keep Sideshow current and in the public eye by making sure that we always had something new coming out. Well, that obviously didn’t work. Although we published a decent number of titles this year, were seeing far too many slip into the New Year. Not good.
Changes need to be made.
As I stated earlier in this post, Billie and I started doing this for the love of it. Well, for the first time since I began publishing with WICKED KARNIVAL in 2005, I’m not feeling it. I used to look forward to the weekends, to working on the latest illustration or searching the web for that perfect cover font. I enjoyed watching the forums and actively trying to win over those who seemed to dislike Sideshow or who hadn’t read any of our books. However, this has proven to be an incredibly difficult year. Besides missed deadlines, we have lost thousands as sales all around have fizzled. We’ve experienced more than our fair share of setbacks this year with lost sig sheets, printer/binder delays, authors turning things in late, etc. To say it’s been frustrating would be an understatement.
Then, a couple weeks ago, I was sitting down to work on an illustration when I made the mistake of opening my email. I had several messages from people telling me to check out a thread on the forum, that an author had posted an angry message. Against my better judgment, I returned to the thread that I promised I wouldn’t read again. I read the post. I steamed. I considered a reply.
Then, finally, I said “fuck it.” I put away my pens and drawing board, turned off the computer, and played video games all day. The post had its desired effect, as I felt gut-punched and was unable to work. Why was I giving up my money and my family time to do this? Was I insane? What was the point? At that moment, I seriously gave thought to calling it quits.
Fortunately, and I hope these guys don’t take offense to me calling them out, but some excellent authors and fantastic people reminded me of why I do this. Kurt Newton, who has in recent months become a close confidant with all things Sideshow, has been an incredible support. Mark Gunnells, who is one of the most patient and even-tempered human beings I’ve ever encountered, has been a huge help. Brian Knight, long one of my favorite writers (and an incredibly gracious human being to boot), reminded me twice that there are still some great people in this business. Sam Anderson, with his wit and sarcasm, has proven to be a great therapist when things go south. And Gene O’Neill has always been there with wisdom and support when things get hectic. These guys not only represent some of the best our genre and the small press has to offer, but they are also great people. People that I’m am privileged to work with and to publish their work.
They are the reason we continue doing this.
And then, of course, there are those people who have supported us from the very beginning, our “Collectors Club” as we refer to them. You guys have always been supportive and are the ones we’re thinking of when we design these things.
Still, things need to change.
For these first months of the New Year, we’re going to concentrate on getting some of these overdue titles out to the masses. After that, we are going to have a very conservative schedule for the remainder of 2012. Billie and I will be sitting down in the next couple weeks to see what we have in the pipe and to come up with a schedule for the next year. We have several fantastic books contracted that we’re very eager to produce, and we’re going to put our full attention to getting them to print. We will not be contracting any more books during this period.
And after that?
Well, I think that it will be time for a break. I’m not saying that we’ll be closing the Sideshow…I know myself too well, and we’ve put too much time and effort into this beast to just walk away. With that said, who knows what the small press will look like in 2013. Only time will tell. I do anticipate that I will need some time to rejuvenate and to “find the love again”, so to speak.
Also, although it’s still not final, I’ve been in discussions with two other publishers about helping them create an imprint solely focused on getting trade paperbacks and digitals on Amazon. Again it’s too early to get specific, but if it pans out, it may pave the way for more trades and faster publication times. More on that later…
Now that I’ve just poured several years of silence into one post, I hope that this didn’t come across as whiny or pretentious. I just really felt that it was time to clear the air and explain what is going on behind the scenes. I also hope that before people begin screaming and making posts about how horrible Billie and I are, and how we don’t keep people in the loop, that they consider some of what I posted above. We’re not here to screw people and we’re certainly not setting out to piss people off. We’re human. I screw up. I screw up a lot. I’m guessing that I’ll continue to screw up. I know people get frustrated, but please try to be patient with us. It may take us a while to get a book out, but they’re usually worth the wait.
Happy New Year!
Tom
