“The term `holistic’ refers to my conviction that what we are concerned with here is the fundamental interconnectedness of all things…I see the solution to each problem as being detectable in the pattern and web of the whole.” 

~Douglas Adams Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

There has been a range of comments and responses to the new branding Permuted Press has released today.

Previously this was been the Permuted Press logo with the tag line, “Enjoy the Apocalypse.”

Today Permuted have released a new logo and tag line. The prize for the winning tag line was a new Apple watch.

 

I like the new logo and I agree with the information that came out with the announcement, that this new logo and slogan is:

“…A symbolic move toward our exploration of different genres, like Sci-Fi, dark and urban fantasy, and even young adult books. We’re happy to finally share the visualization of those changes with you! Our new slogan, submitted by one of our own authors, Michael Westen, represents Permuted’s sense of community and a commitment to providing an exciting and varied world of literature from talented writers. It embodies Permuted’s mission to make every effort to publish the type of books that readers are hungry for.

We invite you to “live in your world, and escape into ours.”

It certainly does embrace their move into a wider genre of genre fiction, of course where that leaves authors with nine-book zombie epic deals, is unclear – but the new look is great!

Of course, it’s awfully close to Sony’s PlayStation 2 logo and slogan. I sincerely hope it doesn’t become a situation of Sony saying, “Live in your world, get sued in ours.”

It seems to be another symptom of the uncertainty – and cold-blooded (but necessary) Return On Investment business model.

Buy a successful independent publisher who has become a key player in a niche market.
Buy all the books and corner the market
Find market is mature and not meeting investor expectations on returns.
Stop producing paperbacks for many of the authors you have taken on.
Still not meeting investor expectations on returns…?
Shed a bunch of the authors you have taken on in the last 12 months.
Expand into other genres. Wider offerings, more chances of income… amirite?
Create a new logo and branding to match the new direction – pray you don’t get sued by one of the largest corporations on the planet.
Buy up books from a range of wider-genre authors
Profit…?

Investors are only interested in one thing. A return on their investment.

Publishing is like prostitution, without the cuddling afterwards. So investors in the publishing industry will have an expectation of a return. Just what that return is in dollar terms, I don’t know. But it has to be enough to make them comfortable that they have made a wise investment. Albeit a risky one.

The main casualty in all this is the authors who have been published by Permuted Press before. The back catalog people who get lost in the new author parade. The successful authors have cracked the egg of gaining a loyal following, there are many strategies for this – but no guarantees. It’s a mix of hard work and luck. There is no other explanation for it when we live in a world where E.L James (author of 50 Shades of Grey) is writing a “How To Write” book…

Crayons not included. 

When I broached the idea of hypothetically getting the rights to Tankbread back because there were other publishers interested. The message from Permuted to me was pretty straight-forward. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. At least, not with any of the books I have under contract to them. Tankbread, with the foreign language editions, is a particularly tricky one. But they actual statement was they don’t want to create a precedent for authors breaking their contracts.

But, didn’t they stop producing print copies of a bunch of authors’ books and then charge them a fee when they wanted out of the entire deal?

Well yes, but…

And didn’t they cancel the contracts on a bunch more after that?

Well yes, but…

So, Permuted cancelling a contract or changing the way they deliver a book is okay, but if an author wants to walk away with their books and say, self-publish, that is verbotten?

Well yes, but….