“We happen to love FPL! I’ve attached a contract for your review. When you’re ready, we’ll sign through a site called www.signnow.com.”
Those few short words came in a message from Stephanie Taylor, owner and CEO of Astraea Press, almost exactly eight years ago. I don’t think any message ever gave me more joy. It meant that nine years of work on my YA novel Fast-Pitch Love would not be in vain. Astraea Press would give the book life first as an eBook and eventually as a paperback. They would give it a thorough edit, provide the cover art, and arrange for it to be available for purchase through Amazon, Barns & Noble, and other venues. They would even provide some publicity for the book by allowing me to write about it as a guest blogger.
It’s no overstatement to say that Stephanie and Astraea Press made a dream come true, and in doing so, found an enduring place in my heart. Accordingly, it goes without saying that my heart broke a little when another, far less happy message came from Stephanie a few months ago. She posted a message on Facebook and directed it to all authors published by Astraea Press, which some time ago began to do business as Clean Reads. The message, in part, said the following:
It’s with sadness I have to announce I will be giving print and ebook rights back in stages over the next few months beginning this week…. I’ve looked at numbers for last year and it’s dismal and with all the changes in my life (divorce, full time job, full time mom, editor, getting hacked) I’m just not able to serve you guys the way I’d like. If you require a right of reversal letter, let me know.
The message didn’t come as a total surprise. In earlier messages, Stephanie had discussed the personal and professional struggles that were making it increasingly hard for her to keep Clean Reads afloat. Still, when the ax fell, the pain could not be avoided. In the 11 years it operated, Clean Reads turned out well over 100 books in a variety of genres including Young Adult, New Adult, Middle Grade, Fantasy, and Children’s Picture Books. I had the chance to meet Stephanie in person a few years ago (pre-pandemic) at the Ohioana Book Festival and thank her for making a dream become reality.
The question now facing me is what to do with Fast-Pitch Love. Self-publication is one choice. That would give me complete control over the book as well as a higher percentage of sales revenue. I would, however, either have to buy back the cover art from the woman who created it, or find a new artist and start from scratch. There would also be the same technical issues that made publishing The Bullybuster such an ordeal. A second choice would be to try finding a new publisher. With that possibility in mind, I have collected statistics on the selling power of Fast-Pitch Love, especially late last year when the eBook Solutions promotion made it (briefly) a top-5 seller in two or three Amazon categories. But as hard as it was to get Fast-Pitch Love published the first time, it might not be any easier getting it in print a second time.
I’m not sure what the future holds for Stephanie. As her Facebook message said, she’s been through a lot of stressful events lately, including a divorce. Still, at the conclusion of that message, she said, “I’m not ruling out the possibility of doing this (publishing) again in the future….” So maybe Astraea Press will get a second life someday. Right now, however, I need to focus on getting a second life for Fast-Pitch Love.
Tags:
Astraea,
Clean Reads,
message,
publication,
Stephanie
