As you'll soon see, The Do-Not Press I hold in very high regard. It's been a long while since I've been to their website. Something made me go today and I was very disturbed to see this:
The Do-Not Press introduced me to Ken Bruen, via The Hackman Blues they published:
That cover had to be the most-successful publisher branding I've ever encountered.
I found Bruen on the shelves of the New York Public Library. And because The Do-Not Press published all of its crime fiction in that distinctive blue wrapper with red-dot logo, their books stood out on the shelves and I was also introduced to the works of the late John B. Spencer.
Unfortunately, whoever bought those books at the NYPL must have left because there were never any others from The Do-Not Press (this despite my repeated requests for them!). And since it's a UK publisher, distribution in the U.S. was just about non-existent.
Now they seem to have nearly closed-up shop, no doubt another victim of all the book publishing turmoil going on in England.
Well I have a word of advice, Do-Not Press: eBooks!!!
I want to buy all your crime fiction, dammit. I trust your brand and I'm certain I'd love every word you've published.
Why don't you and some other hard-pressed small publishers get together, hire someone to figure out eBooks and ePub for you, format all your print books into ePub eBooks, and then start selling them to eager people like me me me?!
And see if you all can make the case to the parasite agents and their blessed writers to do it at a sensible price.
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