Realms of Fantasy bought . . . UPDATED

. . . by Damnation Books LLC.

UPDATE:  Preditors and Editors does not recommend Damnation Books LLC; please see their Web site for further details:

http://pred-ed.com/pebd.htm

Preditors and Editors is a highly reputable site that monitors agents, book publishers, and more.  If they say this market is not recommended, I’d steer clear unless and until Damnation Books LLC proves they will be much more responsible and reliable than they’ve apparently been in the past.

Jason Cordova, in the comments section, said that he knew Damnation Books LLC wasn’t reliable; perhaps he’d checked Preditors and Editors.

The other things I found out about Damnation Books LLC with a quick search is that they do something rather odd; their e-book prices go up .05 per copy until 119 sales are reached, at which point they stay at $5.95.  This is not author-friendly, to put it mildly, and is a very unusual business concept — I don’t see how it’d pay anyone to do it that way.  (Please see this thread, here:)

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155548

Worse yet, it appears from this thread that Damnation Books LLC makes their “real” money by the illegal use of what’s called a “kill” fee, where they do something wrong with your manuscript — bad editing, bad cover, bad whatever — then you end up paying them to get out of your contract.  This is a horrible business practice, and it is one I cannot support.

Note that it’s not only unethical to do something  like this (the whole “kill fee” issue), but it is illegal unless it’s actually in the contract.  Even there, it probably won’t hold up in court because it’s not a normal business practice, so if for some reason anyone reading this blog has had bad dealings with Damnation Books LLC, they should go to a lawyer and find out their rights pronto.

The publisher pays the writer.  It’s not supposed to be the other way around, and whenever you see writers paying the publisher instead, that is not a good sign.

It’s too soon to know whether they will behave at Realms of Fantasy the way Damnation Books LLC has behaved so far in their two years of professional existence.  But since they have a history that’s bad, I’d not submit there until or unless I heard they had profoundly altered their business practices for the better.

Now, back to the link, and the original post.  (BC)

******

Here’s the link:

http://www.rofmag.com/2010/11/09/damnation-books-llc-buys-realms-of-fantasy-magazine/

The substance of the press release states that all subscriptions will be honored by the new publisher; there’s a new address to submit stories, and the April 2011 issue will be a dark fantasy issue to commemorate the World Horror Convention.  Damnation Books LLC will host a party there, and will have a booth in the press area, according to this press release.

Only time will tell how the new publisher does, much less the type of stories the new publisher buys; as for the editors of Realms of Fantasy, no official word is forthcoming.