A fun (or not so fun) fact of the publishing industry is that books can sometimes become classified as “Out of Print.” What this means, typically, is that for various reasons (though usually based on sales) the publisher has stopped making that book available for purchase. The specifics of how a book qualifies varies from contract to contract, so I won’t go into that. Some months ago, The Forgotten got flagged as out of print by Harper, which meant the paperback would no longer be available. However, because we live in the digital age, the ebook did remain available.

Now, a brief digression. Since my American Faerie Tale series was published by HarperCollins, one of my chief regrets was the lack of audiobooks. This is partly why I’m so excited about Two-Gun Witch getting one. In short, this was because part of my contract with Harper included the audio rights, but they never did anything with them.

Back on topic. When a book goes out of print, that typically means the author can request their rights back from the publisher. I initially held off on doing this for two reasons. First, The Forgotten is book 2 of the series. Understandably, not many publishers are interested in picking up just one book in the middle of a series. The second reason I held off was, frankly, ego. HarperCollins is one of the big five, and having a book with a major publishing house was, for me at least, a sort of badge of honor. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel no longer being a Harper Author. Also, it felt a bit like admitting defeat and becoming a failed author.

I’ve since grown past those concerns, and because of the terms of my contract, I thought the other books would also qualify, I formally requested reversion of rights on all my books. They agreed to The Forgotten and Three Promises, and we’re in discussion about The Stolen. I’m hopeful the steps I’ve taken will get that one back as well, but we’ll see. The Returned is still selling well enough to not qualify, so I do also get to remain a Harper Author for now.

What does this mean to you, the reader? Well, if you go looking for The Forgotten or Three Promises, you’ll find it unavailable. The Stolen (hopefully) will likewise become unavailable before long. It’s possible that if you bought the ebook through Amazon, they could vanish from your library. This is because with Amazon (and some other retailers), you didn’t actually buy the book, just the right to read it, and they could pull it at any time. Yeah, I’m not a fan of that either.

HOWEVER! Falstaff Books, the small press that published Two-Gun Witch, has said they want to pick up the American Faerie Tale series, in whatever pieces I have to offer. I’m hopeful, and optimistic, it will be The Stolen, The Forgotten, and Three Promises. How long it will be before they’re available, I don’t know, but it will happen. They will all also get new covers (Harper owns the originals) and, most exciting, AUDIOBOOKS! Those will take a bit longer to come about, so I ask for patience in that.

In the short term, the books will be unavailable, and for that I apologize, but they will be rereleased, so hang in there. The publishing world, even for small presses, doesn’t move at lightning speed, but if I had to guess (and don’t hold me to this) I’d say sometime early next year. If I go quiet for a while, it will be because John Hartness of Falstaff read that and had me beaten into unconsciousness.

Thanks for your patience. More to come. Watch this space!