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Announcement:
Bringing A Book Back From The Dead
When Andrew Knighton’s publisher announced its closure, it could have—should have—spelled the end of his fantasy adventure series still in progress. But never say never in the world of fantasy!
It’s a brutal truth of publishing that books get cancelled. Even after hundreds of hours of work, signed contracts, and time on the shelves, you can face the gut punch of learning that your story is going out of print.
And sometimes, if you’re lucky, that abandoned book can find a new home.
The Executioner’s Journey
(Pictured: the original version of The Executioner’s Blade, released by Northodox Press)
The publication of The Executioner’s Blade was one of the most exciting moments in my life. While I’d had novellas out before, it was my first full length novel, the beginning of a series. This was the big adventure that publishing promised, and for nearly a year I experienced the excitement of seeing my story in readers’ hands.
Northodox Press, my publisher, were great to work with. A small press made up of three enthusiastic and skilled people, they were putting out a wide range of books and rocking up at events all across the north of England to sell them. They even got some of their books into big chain shops, a notoriously difficult trick for a small press to pull off.
Then came the call. In their enthusiasm, Northodox had overstretched. Delayed payments from retailers meant that they couldn’t afford the print runs they’d promised, which got in the way of selling more books and so earning the money the press needed to stay afloat. The strain of their publishing schedule had become too much and one of the team was quitting. The other two clearly couldn’t take on the whole thing themselves. My publisher was shutting down.
I was gutted for the folks at Northodox, who had poured their hearts and souls into the publisher for five years, but I also faced a more immediate problem. Not only was The Executioner’s Blade losing its publisher, so was the forthcoming sequel and the almost-finished book three. Months of work and years of hope were being torn down.
On top of that there was the doubt about what would happen next. For the most part, publishers don’t want books that have already been out. Some of the book’s audience has bought it already, which means there’s a bite missing from the sales pie. It’s understandable that, 99% of the time, they’d rather have something new. Neither I nor my book were a big enough deal that I expected to be an exception.
One way or another, I was going to try to keep the Executioner out there in the world, but I didn’t fancy my chances on getting a new contract.
The Power of Community
The moment I announced my news on Bluesky, I started seeing responses from readers and writers offering sympathy and support. Just like always, the community showed up, whether it was friends I’d known for decades or folks I’d interacted with casually over the internet. It can be hard dealing with sympathy, but it beats indifference, and I felt better just saying out loud what I was dealing with.
Then came a pleasant surprise. Within an hour, I received a private message from Cheryl Morgan, publisher at Wizard’s Tower Press, mentioning that she’d set her press up for exactly this sort of situation: to rescue books that were going out of print. She’d recently published one of my novellas, and wondered if I would be interested in submitting the Executioner to her.
It’s hard to express how much that message lifted my spirits. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to say yes, put myself in Cheryl’s hands, and embrace that as the way forwards.
But none of us get into writing for the easy thing.
At the time, Orbit were in the process of publishing my Forged for Destiny trilogy which, like the Executioner novels, are a fantasy adventure series. And while I love Wizards’ Tower Press, Orbit have a higher profile and bigger reach. I doubted that they would be interested, but I had to ask if they would take a look.
To my delight, my editor at Orbit was interested. The Executioner’s Blade had mostly just been sold as a paperback in England, and I was with an Orbit imprint focused on digital books for the US market, so previous publication wouldn’t be a problem. I sent them the manuscript.
It turned out I’d picked a lousy time. My Orbit contract mentioned responding to offered books within 30 days, but between an editor on leave, the Christmas holiday, staff turnover, waiting while they found me a new editor, and then another delay because no one had told my new editor about the manuscript, I was left waiting months for a response. When it came, it was a no.
Fortunately for me, Cheryl was very understanding about the situation. While my manuscript lay dormant at Orbit, she read it, liked it, and waited patiently to see whether it would be available. Because small presses are more agile than large publishers, once we’d agreed that she would publish, everything happened at speed. Contract, edits, cover, pre-publicity, putting the book up on pre-order—it was all done within six months.
Less than a year after Northodox let it go, The Executioner’s Blade is ready to be re-launched at this weekend’s Fantasycon.
Pictured: the Wizard’s Tower edition
Back From The Dead
A story like this feels like it should have a lesson, but most of what I experienced was what I already knew. Publishing can be brutal and disappointing. Small presses do great work but struggle to stay afloat. Big publishers are slower and can’t be ignored. The community is supportive, and being part of it provides opportunities you wouldn’t have on your own. Persistence matters.
The familiarity of those lessons is a lesson in itself. Becoming unpublished is a bitter blow because you’re losing something you thought you had. But other than that, it’s just like any other setback in publishing, a business built on a deep foundation of disappointment. All you can do is wait for the hurt to fade, then dust yourself off and get stuck in again.
Speaking of getting stuck back in, my book isn’t the only survivor of this story. When Northodox thought they were going to shut down, their community rallied around. With advice and encouragement from their authors, they trimmed down to a manageable catalogue focussed on historical fiction. Though they don’t take science fiction and fantasy anymore, they’re still putting out great books.
Meanwhile, The Executioner’s Blade is back in print, accompanied by a collection of short stories and with two sequels scheduled for next year. Thanks to Wizard’s Tower Press, my characters have been restored to life, and I look forward to seeing my undead book find a whole new audience.
Join Andrew and the Wizard’s Tower team for their launch at 9am Saturday in the Orkney Room at Fantasycon Glasgow.
(Re-)introducing The Executioner’s Blade, by Andrew Knighton
In a city where monsters go to die, the executioner Lena Sturm is hiding from her past. But when she discovers that she has killed an innocent woman, guilt drives her to seek out the real murderer. A mad alchemist, a zealous bishop, and a ruthless crime lord all become suspects as Lena investigates a mystery she’s been told to leave alone.
But Lena isn’t the only one with an interest in the crime. When an army arrives outside the city walls, using justice as an excuse for invasion, the need to find the truth becomes desperate. With dragon fire and cannon shot threatening Unteholz, can Lena save the city without sacrificing the cause of justice?
The Executioner’s Blade, a fantasy murder mystery, out now from Wizard’s Tower Press.
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