As reported by The Science Fiction Writers of America, Ibooks Inc. and Byron Preiss Visual Publications have filed for bankruptcy. They will vacate their offices today. More information will, apparently, be forthcoming from the company shortly.
Ibooks Inc. was the publisher for two anthology series that I worked on, one collecting the year’s best science fiction, the other the year’s best fantasy stories. Karen Haber and I had recently delivered Science Fiction: Best of 2005 and Fantasy: Best of 2005 to Ibooks for publication, and they were set to go to press this week.
Clearly, that is no longer the case. I am currently in discussions to both arrange publication of this year’s volumes elsewhere, and to find a new publisher for the series in the longer term. I am reasonably confident this year’s books will appear, and very confident a new publisher will be announced shortly.
With regards to this year’s books, I will contact all of the authors with work set to appear in either Science Fiction: Best of 2005 and Fantasy: Best of 2005 just as soon as there’s information available. At the moment I can say that all contracts will be honored, and all writers will be paid. It’s just a matter of who will publish the books.
Well, this certainly explains why my preorder for these two anthologies with Amazon hasn’t shipped! Sympathy to all those affected. I hope the existence of preorders may help a little with finding a new publisher.
Hi Susan: Thanks for the support. I think they’re basically dead in the water now, which is unfortunate.
I’m so sorry. I was really looking forward to reading them; but you and the authors involved must be feeling far more despondent. I hope you find a venue for a “year’s best” series by next year, in any event.
Dear Jonathan,
Any word yet on who might be publishing your best of sf and f 2005 anthologies? I’ve been
pestering our poor acquisitions department to order for the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Utopian Literature, at UC Riverside (California) for quite a while now, and darn it, they told me they couldn’t get it! Now I understand why…looking forward to hearing about it’s being “found” by another publisher. Worthy efforts should not be punished.
Sincerely Yours,
Julia D. Ree