Lots of good things happened during the eight years I was running Bundoran Press.
Let me talk for a minute about Mike Rimar. I had met Mike at a con or two in passing but I was surprised when he came up to me and asked if he could invest in Bundoran Press. I sort of laughed and said there were a lot better places to invest his money – in fact most places were better. He insisted, said it was something he really wanted to do and, then he repeated it when we were both sober. His persistence and humour both impressed me so I asked if he wanted to buy part of the company and be a partner. At least, that way, he’d get a title in exchange for his cash. Which is how Mike Rimar became a partner in The Press.
Mike did his share of the heavy lifting – literally when it came to moving boxes of books but in a lot of other ways, too. He manned the table and proved a surprisingly good salesman. He produced our book videos as well as a series of interviews as Bobby Bundoran. When I asked him to go outside his comfort zone and speak at book launches, he stepped up to the mike (or mostly just shouted since we usually didn’t have a sound system).
We eventually edited two anthologies together: Second Contacts and Lazarus Risen. It was an interesting process. We agreed on an evaluation system before we even saw a story using a rubric which measured both the quality of the writing and story-telling and the adherence to the anthology’s theme. We evaluated every story separately and then averaged the ratings (which were sometimes quite divergent). That made it pretty easy to identify the “must have” and the “no way” stories. As for the ones in the middle, we reduced conflict by giving each editor an “editor’s choice” option for one story per anthology. It must have worked – both anthologies were nominated for Auroras and Second Contacts won, so Mike got a title and an award for his money. Plus my undying friendship.
Mike wasn’t the only one who stepped up to help the Press. We had a number of people who gave money on a monthly basis through our Patreon account and many more who contributed to the four fund-raising campaigns we conducted for our anthologies through Indiegogo. I was never short of people who would volunteer to help us at conventions, whether it was working at the table or helping to set up launches or clean up after parties. I had several people take on small projects as interns in exchange for recognition and a modest honorarium. I tried to make sure that the latter matched the former and always refused offers of more substantial work if I couldn’t afford to pay.
Lessons learned: Work hard and with integrity and help will arrive in unexpected forms from unexpected places. Accept it graciously but never assume it is owed to you.
It is a common theme that you need to have book reviews and ratings on Amazon to sell books. I suspect this idea is mostly spread by book reviewers, book publications, Goodreads and of course Amazon itself. The evidence that either make a difference is scanty.
The best-selling book we published had exactly one rating on Amazon and it was 1-star. We had several books reviewed in places like Quill and Quire and Publisher’s Weekly as well as some moderately popular reviewing blogs. Some were positive, some less so but none seemed to increase or diminish sales in the weeks or months after they appeared. The one real study of reviews, done some years ago, suggest that the only thing that matters is if the review appears in a prestigious and widely read source like the New York Review of Books where even a negative review will generate book sales (so few books get reviewed there that the assumption is that the book must be noteworthy even if the reviewer didn’t like it).
Of course, we did promote any reviews we did get, at least we did if they were positive because it couldn’t hurt and even if we only sold a few more books as a result, it was a plus. And the good reviews made the authors happy – a bonus to make up for the limited money they got.
On a seemingly unrelated note, I was always gratified when a book or story I had rejected found a home with another publisher. Two of the fantasies for which I had reverted rights got published in new editions by others. Two books that had come close to being offered contracts before I decided they weren’t right for Bundoran wound up with other houses. I also know of 4 or 5 stories, rejected for our anthologies that subsequently sold to good markets.
Lessons learned: Not every book is for every person or every publisher. As long as you believe in your work, you’ll find your audience eventually.
It is important to know that a publishing house is not one person or even a team of three and a few volunteers. Virginia O’Dine, the original publisher of the press, remained under contract to design our books and provided excellent work at a reasonable price (I suspected a family and friend discount but never asked). Whenever I wanted a specific design option, she always found a way to accommodate my requests.
Dan O’Driscoll had been the artist for my three novels published under Virginia’s management and he became the house artist for all our books, demonstrating a range of styles and techniques. Dan always read the entire book before creating the cover art, bringing his own vision to bear while still being open to suggestions from me or the author. He was recognized by winning a number of Aurora Awards
Ryan McFadden maintained our website for years and produced our ebooks as well. I eventually learned how to do the former but he did the latter right until the end (which were his own two novels, The Venusian Job and the ironically titled Corona Burning, which went to the printers just before COVID was a thing).
All three remain my friends and I trust they always will.
But what about my third partner? You mean, my partner for life, my support and foundation? Well, Liz was there by my side for the entire journey, giving sage advice (which I sometimes took) and endless unconditional support. She worked at the tables, charmed everyone in sight, read slush and proofread manuscripts for publication, helped with my sometimes-crazy marketing schemes, calmed me down when I was doing the books and generally made it possible for me to keep Bundoran Press together for eight years. We survived, no thrived, during all that and COVID, too. We even managed to write a few stories together so it must be the real thing. Now, on to the next adventure.
Lessons learned: Follow your heart and do what you love. You may not get rich but you might well make memories and friends that will enrich your life.
One final note. Nothing will ever make you happier that the look on an author’s face when you hand them the first copy of their book.
Photo by Natalie Pedigo on Unsplash
10 Minutes of Words 