PSA for Fans of Laura J. Underwood's Dragon Tongue

From laurajunderwood

An Open Letter To Fans of Dragon's Tongue

As many of you know, Meisha Merlin closed its doors before WANDERING
LARK, Book 2 of "The Demon-Bound" Duology could see print. This left
many readers in a lurch. Since that time, I have been trying to find
a publisher, but the New York Publishers are all saying that
my "sales numbers" are not good enough to make it worth their time--
in spite of my knowing from the royalty statements I received that
nearly 75% of the print run of 4000 copies sold. Plus, they insist
that publishing the second book in a duology is just not worth their
time.

Nobody in the big houses wants to start an author's career with the
second book of a duology.

I have considered long and hard how to solve this problem. I even
thought of either serializing the novel on the web or setting it up
through Lulu.com. The problem with the former is the fact that
fiction on the web is easily pirated. With the later--well I would
have to purchase a distribution package--something I am not in the
position to pay for at the moment--pay for someone to copyedit the
book, pay for cover art, and many other expenses I am just not in the
position to do at the moment. Also, getting distribution with
Lulu.com is no guarantee that one will actually get the book into
stores, libraries, etc.

This weekend, I had a long discussion with my editor at Yard Dog
Press concerning the dilemma I have faced with finding a publisher
for WANDERING LARK. The problem with the book is that it is much
larger than any book Yard Dog Press has ever published, which means
it is going to cost them a pretty penny for the upfront set up and
print run. Also, with the printer they use, they would have to
charge just under $25.00 for the trade edition alone just to cover
costs and pay royalties, cover artists costs, etc.

Being a small press, this is not something they can easily afford.

However, the editor knows that I have had so many fans writing me
asking about the books, and approaching me at various conventions,
and has made me an offer. If I can get a list of 100 folks willing
to Prepay half the cost of the coverprice of the book up front, and
then promice to pay the other half when the book is published, they
will print a run of copies of WANDERING LARK. This means probably
approximately $12.50 up front per fan paid to Yard Dog Press. This
would help them to defray the cost, and guarantee that anyone who
truly wants to read WANDERING LARK will get a copy.

So I need a list that I can give my publisher. Your Name, Mailing
Address and Email Address can be emailed to me at
keltora (at) sff(dot) net
OR
keltora (at) yahoo (dot) com
You will have to replace
the brackets with the appropriate symbol (sorry, just too many
spambots and phishingbots out there on the web). Your information
will not be sold to anyone or shared with anyone beyond Yard Dog
Press.

I will NOT be taking the money. The money will go directly to the
publisher so they can print the books. Nor am I asking you to pay
anything to my publisher at this time. I just need a list of people
who are willing to front money so WANDERING LARK can see print.

Please let me know by November 15th if you are really interested in
paying half the cost up front to get a copy of WANDERING LARK.

And Thank You All In Advance...

Laura J. Underwood

P.S. If you wish to share this letter with your friends and fellow
readers, family members, librarians, anyone who might be interested,
please do so. The more people willing to come into this up front,
the better the chances this book will see print through a real
publisher.

********************
Rolanni again. If you aren't yet a fan of Dragon Tongue, you can become one by ordering the book from SRM Publisher or by writing directly to Laura at the addresses she gives above.