Well, I thought I’d start my first post of the year off with a bit of good news. The Gender Divide has been picked up by Champagne Books with a publication date of May 2009.

When The Gender Divide was first published I was very new to the world of publishing. The process of getting it published seemed smooth and easy at first. The book was professionally edited and I absolutely loved the cover. I ordered some copies to send to reviewers and for friends and family. Everything seemed perfect but in retrospect there were some warning signs. The publisher wasn’t very responsive and the support that was provided over and above editing and cover art was non-existent. Despite this I staunchly defended the publisher when issues were brought to my attention, going so far as to give someone one of the copies I had purchased when they informed that they had ordered (and paid for) a copy on the publishers website but had never received it. In the end the publisher closed down and I was left to start over again.

Consequently when I began looking for a new publisher I was a little more discerning. I looked at a lot of publishers, did my research and chose Champagne Books. Their website is well put together, they have a large number of books available in both e-book and print format and they are coming into their fourth year of business.

The contract was signed in late 2008 and in that time I have come to realize just what I was missing the first time around. This is a very active publisher, one who is adding new authors on a regular basis. In addition, they are constantly working hard to promote their authors through various venues.The publisher is also very responsive and this was the case even before they accepted my contract. Their responsiveness to my submission and subsequent queries was exemplary and I was very pleased when they accepted The Gender Divide for publication.

As an added bonus Champagne Books is a Canadian publisher, located in Calgary, Alberta. I’ll be the first to admit that the lion’s share of book sales will happen in the United States, but as a Canadian author it is important to me to support fellow Canadians.

If you want to know more about them, I have included a link to the inaugural edition of ‘Bubbles ‘n Bits‘, their newsletter. While this is not as exciting as the other inaugural events occurring south of the border this month, it is still pretty interesting to read.