Small independent publishers, without the means to outsource large print runs to cheap overseas printers, are being priced out of the market and may have to concentrate on ebooks, limiting readers’ choice of format
DARTFORD, KENT – 24 May 2023 – Elsewhen Press is a publishing house specialising in high quality, entertaining and thoughtful speculative fiction from talented authors, many of whom are debut authors. Like most small presses in genre fiction, one of the ways that Elsewhen Press tries to keep in touch with the readers of their books is by attending science fiction and fantasy conventions, especially fan-run conventions. During the pandemic this was difficult, many conventions were postponed or became virtual. Over the last year or so it has been slowly getting back to ‘normal’ and conventions are once again happening. Over the final weekend of May, Elsewhen Press will be at the Satellite 8 science fiction convention in Glasgow, once more enjoying the opportunity to meet and talk with readers. We are delighted to be able to take part in panels, including a session on Saturday afternoon where a number of our Scottish authors – including David M. Allan, David Craig, Craig Meighan, Christopher G. Nuttall, and Douglas Thompson – will be reading from their new or forthcoming books.
One of the panels at the Satellite 8 convention, in which Elsewhen Press will be participating, is a discussion of how the escalating costs of printing, paper, shipping and storage over the last couple of years are impacting the ability of small and indie presses to continue to produce printed editions of their books at prices affordable by readers. While big publishers can still negotiate prices for large print-runs in cheap-labour overseas territories, indies are now largely constrained to use short-run and print-on-demand services which are significantly more expensive per copy, leading to increasing list prices for their books. With wholesale discounts of 55%, a 250 page paperback book, for example, which may cost £4.30 to print-on-demand, with a list price of £10 would only provide the publisher and the author with a royalty of a few pence each; a 520 page book may cost over £7 to print-on-demand, requiring a list price of at least £16 just to cover printing costs. As all the costs increase, the viability of printing such long books begins to be questionable; indeed, some presses are already reducing the upper limit for the manuscript word-count they will accept, and some have started to concentrate more on publishing novellas. Up to now, the debate around ebooks versus print books has largely centred on readers’ personal preference and convenience, but now the rising prices resulting from increased costs may be the deciding factor not just for readers, but also for publishers to decide in which medium they publish a new title.
We will also be selling copies of our recently published books at Satellite 8, and this will be the first opportunity for readers to buy paperback copies of our two newest titles: Renegade by Miles Nelson which is officially published on May 29th; and The Last Star by Terry Grimwood, although it is not officially published until the 5th of June we will have copies available for sale on our table in the dealers’ room.
Satellite 8, the science fiction convention, is taking place at the Crowne Plaza hotel, next to the SEC Armadillo, in Glasgow from Friday 26th May until Sunday 28th May.
Notes for Editors
About Satellite 8
Satellite 8 is a Science Fiction convention, run by volunteers, with a varied programme living up to the Satellite Convention motto: Science Fiction, Science Fact, Science Fun! As well as panels and workshops, there will be a Dealers’ Room and Art Show, as well as a Fan Bar to give attendees a convivial place to sit and relax with friends, old and new. Guest of Honour are multiple award-winning author Christopher Priest and local fan legend Michelle “Cuddles” Drayton-Harrold.
Details of Satellite 8 can be found on the Satellite Conventions website at https://eight.satellitex.org.uk/
About Science Fiction Conventions
A Science Fiction convention is a meeting of people interested in science fiction, usually with an emphasis on literary aspects, although topics such as media SF (TV and movies) and space science often play an important part. The formal part of the convention consists of a programme of events. Smaller conventions may have just one stream of programming but larger ones will have several streams running in parallel.
In addition, there will often be an art show and auction; a dealers’ room where you can buy books, jewellery, and other items with an SF or fantasy theme; and a games room. There will be one or more bars, often featuring real ale, and ample room for fans to sit around and renew old acquaintances or make new friends.
Science fiction conventions are traditionally run on a not-for-profit basis by committees of fan volunteers, who will give up literally hundreds of hours of their own time to make the event as enjoyable as possible. Any profits generated are usually donated to charity, or used as ‘seed’ funding for future conventions. This is in contrast to the large professional conventions such as Comic-Con etc. which are run for profit and generally have an emphasis on actors rather than writers.
Many different kinds of item will be included in a typical convention programme. There will be talks where an individual – who may be a guest or a fan – gives a lecture presentation on a particular theme. There are panels where four or five people discuss an issue, overseen by a Moderator, who will normally invite the audience to contribute to the debate at some point. Workshops are generally ‘hands-on’ and allow fans to try out something new – perhaps something energetic, like Scottish Country Dancing, or ‘crafty’, like knitting or embroidery. Quizzes come in different guises, including ‘Pub Quiz’ style and variants on popular TV and radio formats. There may also be author readings, book launches, tasting sessions, and ‘kaffeklatches’ with the Guests of Honour (usually with limited spaces available — so you have to sign up in advance).
Evening events may include a cabaret, ceilidh or disco. The final evening of the convention sees the Dead Dog Party. This is a tradition where those still standing get together to talk about the weekend’s events over a drink. It’s also fertile ground for ideas for future conventions: many a convention has been born at a previous con’s Dead Dog Party!
[Conventions description courtesy of Satellite Conventions]
Miles Nelson was born and raised in the distant north, in a quaint little city called Durham. He studied video game design at Teesside University, graduating in 2018. Since then, he has taken a step back from coding to work on his writing career, and has since led several masterclasses with New Writing North. He has been writing all his life, and although Riftmaster was technically his fourth novel, he likes to pretend the first three don’t exist. Whilst he is primarily a sci-fi writer who loves long journeys, strange worlds and all things space and stars, he has also had brief flings with the genres of fantasy and horror. He often writes stories highlighting the struggles faced by the LGBTQ+ community, and tries to include themes of empathy and inclusivity in all he does. Even then, though, Miles stands firm in the belief that this is not the defining element of his stories. And although he tries to represent his community as best he can, these themes are never the main focus; because he believes that (in most cases) a person shouldn’t be defined by their deviation from standard norms. Outside of scifi and fantasy, he has a deep-rooted fascination with natural history, and collects books told from unique perspectives (be they animal, alien, or mammoths from Mars). The older, the better; his oldest book is just about to turn 100! He currently lives in Durham City with his husband, Chris, who so far seems unworried by Miles’ rapidly growing collections.
C.R. Berry is an ex-lawyer turned full-time writer, whose fiction spans the sci-fi, mystery, conspiracy, historical, fantasy and horror genres – because why have one genre when you can have them all? His favourite characters are usually villains, hence why he likes conspiracy stories, where there are baddies at every turn.
Juliet Kemp lives by the river in London, with their partners, child, dog, and too many fountain pens. They have had stories published in several anthologies and online magazines. Their employment history variously includes working as a cycle instructor, sysadmin, life model, researcher, permaculture designer, and journalist. When not writing or parenting, Juliet goes climbing, knits, reads way too much, and drinks a lot of tea.
Mark has always been a man of many talents. He can count with both hands, get five letter words on Countdown and once solved a Rubik’s cube in just 5 days, 13 hours and 59 minutes.
Hugh Duncan hatched in Leicester in 1957. He studied astronomy at University College London and, though very lazy, got his degree. His final thesis was on Martian craters and, after, he worked at the UCL observatory cataloguing the Viking Mission photos.
Glasgow writer, Douglas Thompson, won the Herald/Grolsch Question Of Style Award 1989, 2nd prize in the Neil Gunn Writing Competition 2007, and the Faith/Unbelief Poetry Prize 2016. His short stories and poems have appeared in a wide range of magazines and anthologies, including Ambit, Albedo One, Chapman and New Writing Scotland. Variously classed as a Weird, Horror, Sci Fi, Literary, or Historical novelist, he has published more than 17 novels and collections of short stories and poetry since 2009, from various publishers in Britain, Europe and America.
Simon Kewin is a pseudonym used by an infinite number of monkeys who operate from a secret location deep in the English countryside. Every now and then they produce a manuscript that reads as a complete novel with a beginning, a middle and an end. Sometimes even in that order.
Suffolk born and proud of it, Terry Grimwood is the author of a handful of novels and novellas, including Deadside Revolution, the science fiction-flavoured political thriller Bloody War and Joe which was inspired by true events. His short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies and have been gathered into three collections, The Exaggerated Man, There Is A Way To Live Forever and Affairs of a Cardio-Vascular Nature. Terry has also written and Directed three plays as well as co-written engineering textbooks for Pearson Educational Press. He plays the harmonica and with a little persuasion (not much persuasion, actually) will growl a song into a microphone. By day he teaches electrical installation at a further education college. He is married to Debra, the love of his life.