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 New Home for Demontech?
 
jackmahan
5 posts
Joined
2/7/2006

New Home for Demontech?
Posted: 09 Feb 06 7:40 AM

Has anyone thought of contacting Baen? The Demontech series might be up their alley? They deal in a lot of Military Science Fiction and Fantasy. I know it would also depend on how much the current publisher would want for the property? They also have a nice web subscription where you can pay for and  then download books. They also have a free library, kind of like a drug dealer trying to get you hooked. Yes, they did that to me. If they took it over, they could put Onslaught up as a Free download then charge for the others.

Not knowing how the publishing business works, that was just my two cents. I would love to see the series started up again, with us getting books and David being able to make money on it.

 

Deadshot
415 posts
5th
Joined
2/10/2006

Re: New Home for Demontech?
Posted: 10 Feb 06 3:44 PM
I agree w/ Jack.  I'd pay to download the next book of Demontech!  Where do I send the check & to who!!  I wonder if Dan & David have a "special" deal w/ DelRey where they may not be allowed to do that? 
Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli
shadowghost1
100 posts
5th
Joined
2/4/2006

Re: New Home for Demontech?
Posted: 10 Feb 06 10:00 PM

That's an interesting question.  I'd wondered about having a different publisher pick up Demontech.  However, another publisher might look at the sales of the first three books and decide the same thing as Del Rey.  Are ebooks less costly to publish?  Maybe they'd be willing to publish ebooks and sell them that way.  I'd be willing to buy more Demontech that way as well.

Love the little demons that say "feeeeeed me".  :)

mclark
187 posts
5th
Joined
1/27/2006

Re: New Home for Demontech?
Posted: 10 Feb 06 11:24 PM Modified By mclark  on 2/10/2006 11:25:50 PM)
A new home for DemonTech isn't going to cut it, unfortunately.  You should read David's announcement concerning the future of DemonTech on his own website, it's at: http://www.novelier.com/dtfuture.html

A very relevant passage from that announcement makes it clear that DT isn't going to be heading to another publisher:
But whatever you do, please don't write and suggest that I take DemonTech to another publisher, or to self-publish. Another publisher would look at the sales numbers and say "No thank you." Even if I had the money to hire a copy editor and cover artist, not to mention printing tens of thousands of copies, I don't have any way of getting the books into stores around the country and the world.

David said that he couldn't fault the publisher's business decision to discontinue the series based on the numbers.  But at the same time, he wrote that Del Rey would reconsider if DT began to make a better showing.  His suggestion on his own site is worth repeating here:
If you want to continue reading DemonTech, there are a couple of things you can do: You can write reviews at Amazon.com or other online booksellers, and personally urge friends, relatives, acquaintances, whoever, to try DemonTech.

I will confess here and now that one of my main reasons for initiating StarfistHQ was to do what I could to revitalize sales of the DemonTech series, and give Del Rey a reason to resume publishing it.  My reasoning was thus:

I am a "hard" sci-fi reader, and fantasy tends to repel me.  In my experience, "hard" SF readers aren't generally interested in Fantasy; and vice-versa.  So when they first started coming out, I happened to notice DT sitting on the same shelf with Starfist, but aside from picking the first book up and basically just riffling through the pages, I ignored it. I don't know what made me finally buy Onslaught, but it might have been because I needed an extra "fix" for my Sherman/Cragg addiction, and though DT was "Sherman-only" it was close enough to serve the purpose.  But by this time all three books had appeared, and then I read them all in fairly close succession.

I don't believe I am alone in my "fantasy aversion."  If most Starfist fans are like me in that regard, then to them DT is sitting on the shelf barely noticeab le as not their "cup of tea."  Somehow they must be enticed into reading the first book.  Then, presumably, they would be hooked and would buy the next two -- eventually Del Rey would see dollar signs and boom. 

So I have very cleverly (I think) created a place to where Starfist-only fans could be lured, where they would be in a position to be exposed to at least the notion of taking an interest in DemonTech. This goal will not, however, be realized without luring as many fans as possible to the site. The site's been submitted to Google (if you "google" Starfist, you'll see that it's at the top of the results), and I am actively trying to get reciprocal links put everywhere I can.

You DT fans should consider yourselves "enlisted" to spread the word, as David writes, in Amazon and Barnes&Noble book reviews, friends, relatives, and fellow fans. Send them to this site, too. :-)
Deadshot
415 posts
5th
Joined
2/10/2006

Re: New Home for Demontech?
Posted: 11 Feb 06 7:44 AM

Ok Mike, the gauntlet has been thrown down.  I shall spread the word of the "Gunny who went to the relm of Demons."  I will also write a review of it on Amazon and Barnes&Noble.  I actually bought Onslaught b/c I loved Starfist.  Read a few pages & then another Starfist book came out.  Didn't pick it back up until I saw the next book.  Once I got past Spinner & Heft escaping the town, it got really good...i mean REALLY good.  Just like Starfist, I devoured the next two books and was crushed when their website stated "No More".  Haven't been hurt like that since they cancelled Earth 2!  Really, I loved that show...Clancy Brown rules.  Sorry, tangent.  Anyway, I've herd the call.

Ok, since we're talking Demon...Dan & David whasa wit da funky demon spek? Do you know how many times I had to reread to understand what the heck they were saying.  Felt like an Intel guy.  And while we're on explanations:  The Jokapcul get the Army Field Manual & the Frangerians get the Gunny, right?  So, whatever happened to the Gunny?  Well, until the Goldengirl takes up baking, make mine DemonTech!

Deadshot


Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli
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