Now that 8th Note Press is closing, some authors are coming out and telling their stories of working with the publisher. Unfortunately, the situation appears worse for some than the lack of support I reported on. Authors who were on a successful self-publishing path have had their earnings and career trajectory seriously hampered.
Author Ambrosia R. Harris posted a video discussing what happened with her first series, The Taking of Persephone, when she sold rights to 8th Note Press in 2023. For 17 months, Harris waited for 8th Note to re-release the series, and she took the books off sale from Kindle Unlimited. During that time, 8th Note kept pushing back the release date.
Harris says, “Hades and Persephone retellings are not as popular as they were when I first released, so gaining traction on the books again after being gone for 17 months, or a year, is quite hard. I didn’t really promote it while it was off sale because I wasn’t going to promote something that nobody could go and buy, or even pre-order, because the pre-orders were never put up. So I kind of had to stop promoting it except for here and there. And that was detrimental.”
At one point in describing the problems Harris feels the need to clarify: “I’m not saying they were a fake imprint or anything like that.” That probably tells you everything you need to know.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
