The King is Dead. Long Live the King.

The news that Robert Hale Ltd, the publishers of the Black Horse Western series, will no longer be trading is sad news indeed. They were the first traditional publishing company to make the mistake of publishing my nonsense and, as I’m quite enjoying the freedom of self-publishing, they might well be the last.

What I most enjoyed about Hale was their professionalism that was so different to the other publishers I’ve rubbed up against. If you sent them a book, you got an acknowledgement that it’d arrived within days, and a response as to whether they liked it within a week or two. If you had a query, they always replied quickly. If they had a query, they always asked it politely and often with friendly banter, and they gave you a decent amount of time to respond. Heck, they even sent out polite and informative rejection letters.

So, I’ll miss dealing with them and I hope the people who have found themselves out of a job find new and appropriate employment quickly. The publishing industry needs people like them.

I guess none of us know what Crowood will do with their backlist and the legacy they have inherited, but whatever happens, Hale will be a tough act to follow.