E-Reads/E-Rights founder Richard Curtis has hired freelance editor John R. Douglas as a part-time Acquiring Editor.
Curtis founded E-Reads seven years ago as “an Internet company focused on ebook and Print on Demand re-publication of out-of-print books by established authors.” The company now has more than “800 titles available in all current ebook formats and as print titles, and is ramping up to expand its offerings.”
Douglas, who has been a staff editor at HarperPrism, Avon Books, and Pocket Books, and this reporter’s predecessor at Science Fiction Chronicle, said “It’s exciting for me to be involved with this endeavor. Among my first efforts as a freelancer, I was involved in an ebook project and I’ve since maintained a personal interest in the form while keeping a close eye on the evolution of the business. The overall sales totals are still relatively modest but the annual growth rates for the business have been consistently quite high and have remained steady at around 50% a year—far higher than print publishing.
“I’m a firm believer that ebooks and print on demand are not just the wave of the future but a currently viable way to keep an author’s backlist alive and readily available and also a golden opportunity to reach out to generations that to a large extent do not seem to be readers and purchasers of conventional printed books. I’m really looking forward to the challenge of integrating my new E-Reads responsibilities into my work schedule while I keep working as hard as I can to keep all my freelance editorial clients happy and well edited. What better place could there be for an SF editor than to be helping pioneer a revolutionary and technologically advanced new way to enjoy a timeless method of entertainment and enlightenment?”
Curtis said of his new hire: “John Douglas is a highly respected member of the publishing community who brings tremendous editorial experience to our firm and will help us achieve our goal of becoming a viable marketplace for backlist genre fiction.”
E-Reads asks authors who have recovered the rights to their titles and are interested in reissuing them in trade paperback and e-book formats to contact Douglas at johnrjdouglas at gmail dot com.