It’s called CREATOR-OWNED PUBLISHING and it’s what’s coming.

Burnt Bridge & Blastgun Books (our West Coast Sci-Fi imprint) are not your traditional publishing oufits. Quite simply, this is because we do not own the books we publish; the authors do. Each author individually owns and manages her/his own titles published through our imprints.

HOW THIS WORKS:

In the age of Kindle/Ebooks, Print-on-Demand (POD) paperbacks, and massive digital and online distribution through retailers like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, and many forward-thinking independent stores such as Subterranean Books in St. Louis, the infamous Powell’s, and Mississippi’s own, Square Books in Oxford— who all provide online ordering from their websites—, the world of book publishing and book buying are more open than ever.

Authors with BB & BG retain all rights, ownership, and control over their titles selected for publication. They work closely and carefully with their editors through the process of building the book, designing the cover artwork, writing copy, et al. The author and publisher act as cooperative partners in an endeavor to create the best possible final product. The publisher works to build recognition for the titles through branding and media coverage. All net sales are paid directly to the author from all sales outlets.

Like the old saying goes, “The money flows to the author.”

WHY?

Because we believe a rising tide floats all boats. Because we’re in this for the love of books, specifically the books we choose to publish. Because we’re authors, ourselves. Because we like taking chances and putting the work out there to speak for itself. Because it is incredibly fun and rewarding.

OUTPUT:

We are a very small outfit, and, as mentioned, authors ourselves, so we put out fewer titles with a focus on the quality of the product and our ability to market and promote. Each editor will carefully select only a handful of titles per year to work with. We will not stretch ourselves too thin.

We believe this is the way to do this kind of work moving forward into the 21st century. There’s no reason authors should sell over their rights in perpetuity for a publishing contract that might never net them more than a mortgage payment or two (or, in mostsome cases, far less).

Creators have done the lion’s share of the work.  We want to help them get that work to an audience.