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Sapphire Blue Publishing

Sapphire Blue Publishing
http://www.sapphirebluepublishing.com/


Press Release

Contact Info:
Name: Maria Clayton or Tina Gerow
customerservice@sapphirebluepublishing.com

For Immediate Release
August 2008

Phoenix entrepreneurs take on electronic publishing

Phoenix, AZ – Local entrepreneurs Maria Clayton, and Tina Gerow are pleased to announce the grand opening of their publishing house, Sapphire Blue Publishing, on August 15, 2008. With their diverse business backgrounds they seek to form a win/win partnership in an industry they love.

“Our goal is to bring Corporate America know how and innovation into perfect balance for the best experience for readers and authors,” says Maria Clayton, former Director of Technologies for a fortune 500 company. “We believe in a work environment that is fun and provides challenges that encourage play, innovation, and nimble out-of-the-pack thinking without boundaries.”

Sapphire Blue’s focus will be electronic books, or ebooks. These titles will take the form of a download that can be read on any number of electronic devices from the iPhone to dedicated electronic readers.

“Electronic book sales have doubled each year since 2001 and the projections are the market share will continue to climb,” says Tina Gerow. “Think about all the trees we’ll save. There’s no better time to embrace our ecological concerns and pair that with what we love, reading good books.”

Sounding Off

This morning the popular publishing newsletter Galley Cat featured a story posing the question, 'Should Authors Take Their Publishing Complaints Public'?


In their article they spotlighted an author who leveled a charge against their publisher for not paying royalties correctly. That said, it appears to be a case of sour grapes as GC hinted that the author greatly inflated their sales numbers. While Nielson's BookScan doesn't lie, it also doesn't portray total sales numbers as every store doesn't report to BookScan.


So should authors take their complaints public?


I believe so...with a caveat - they'd better be sure what they are saying is correct or they are shooting themselves in the foot...or career.


If authors (including myself) hadn't spoken out about Triskellion then who knows how long that company would have limped along scamming authors? Trust me, I tried everything to settle with them amicably and the owners weren't having it. Sometimes public humiliation is the only weapon we have left and in the case of Trisk - it worked.



There are any number of examples such as the Trisk debacle - and who knows how many authors avoided the train wreck because those involved spoke out? Sometimes you have to stand up and risk taking a hit in order to do the right thing.

Guest Blogging

I'm guest blogging this week at NovelSpot and my topic is the path (koff) to publication. Check out my first post:

http://novelspot.net/node/2430

On Writing...

This weekend I spent at Lori Foster's conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is always such great fun to hang with new and old friends to discuss one of my most favorite things, books and writing. I met so many lovely people and it was lovely to just kick back, hang and chat with anyone who stopped by.

Of course, as a writer it was also about business.

I met with some agents and editors and received some requests to see WINTER'S DAUGHTER - the manuscript I completed early this year then yanked back from a Publisher-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. I have high hopes for this book as it is truly a book of my heart and it is the best thing I've ever created. So everyone, cross your fingers for me - I have a pile of manuscripts to send out this week. :)

The Demise of Winter's Daughter

Dear Readers,

I will go on record to say that I possibly have the record for the shortest period of time an ebook was published, roughly eight days. Hey! I'm all about awards ya know... ;)

To make a long story short, I have pulled WD from the publisher due to breach of contract and irreconcilable differences. I put my heart and soul into this work and I'm not willing to give up on it. It means too much to me to allow it to languish into obscurity.

Readers, Writers and Friends - I cannot, absolutely cannot thank you enough for your support. This has been a very difficult time for me both personally and professionally and the only bright spot are the supportive emails from all of you. You humble me.