Publisher Brett Alexander Savory is announcing some big changes for ChiZine Publications. They’ll be publishing all versions of their books at the same time, and they’ll be reading unsolicited submissions.
Savory writes: “We will be simultaneously releasing signed, limited edition hardcovers, trade paperbacks, and eBooks. We used to release the hardcovers months before trade paperbacks because, one, the profits from the hardcovers helped offset the costs of the trades; two, it helped gauge interest in a book; and three, that’s how everyone else did it. And eBooks would be released whenever we could get the conversions done. Not anymore. We have the staff and finances to get them out and reach those three audiences at the same time. One book, one release date.” He also says ChiZine Publications is “dedicated to keeping the prices of the eBooks as low as possible—most ChiZine Publications eBooks are $5.95—and without DRM.”
In addition, from now on all hardcovers will contain exclusive content not found in the trade paperbacks or eBooks. “We used to include special content in some of the hardcovers, but it will be the norm now. Besides the signatures, that kind of extra content is what makes them special.”
ChiZine Publications will emphasize stand-alone novella publishing in the future. “Getting Robert J. Wiersema’s novella The World More Full of Weeping was a coup for us, having an author that well known. What I didn’t fully realize is that big publishers won’t touch them, not even for someone like Rob. Since then, we’ve landed Tim Lebbon’s The Thief of Broken Toys, and word is getting around to other well-known writers that we’re in that market. We really hope be able to announce some big names in the coming months.”
For writers, Savory says that “the formerly invite-only press has begun accepting unsolicited manuscripts, thanks to the addition to the CZP staff of Slushie/Editor Helen Marshall. CZP’s mission is to publish voices we felt needed to be heard. We’ve done that. There are others we want to talk to, but to fulfill CZP’s mission to move the genre forward, we now need writers to find us.” Writers’ guidelines are available on this page.
CZP plans to launch six new titles at the World Horror Convention in Brighton, England in March: Chasing the Dragon by Nicholas Kaufmann, Chimerascope by Douglas Smith, A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files, Katja from the Punk Band by Simon Logan, Cities of Nightby Philip Nutman, and The Thief of Broken Toys by Tim Lebbon.
CZP publishes “the same kind of weird, subtle, surreal, disturbing dark fiction and fantasy that ChiZine magazine has become known for over the past ten years, only in longer form—novels, novellas, and short story collections.”