Winterbourne Publishing

Book launch: Farewell, Nikola! by Guy Boothby

publisher — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:41:45 +0000

Farewell, Nikola! is the fifth and final of Guy Boothby’s novels featuring Dr. Nikola, now available through Winterbourne Publishing for only AU$1.45 each.
In his last adventure, set againt the background of turn-of-the-century Venice, he meets again his nemesis from the first book, Richard Hatteras. Hatteras never wanted to, or expected to, see Nikola again, but is drawn to him despite his misgivings. He is disturbed by how lonely the mysterious doctor is, and unwillingly becomes involved in his plot for revenge even as he juggles a blooming romance.

Read more about this book, get a free excerpt, and find out where to buy here, or visit our bookstore.

Book launch: Dr Nikola’s Experiment by Guy Boothby

publisher — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 01:33:00 +0000

Dr Nikola’s Experiment is the fourth of Guy Boothby’s novels featuring Dr. Nikola, now available through Winterbourne Publishing for only AU$1.45 each.
In this, he returns to centre stage as he takes Douglas Ingleby to a remote ramshackle castle as his assistant in a daring experiment to return life to a dying old man. But Ingleby’s loyalty to Nikola is challenged by the presence of the old man’s granddaughter.

Read more about this book, get a free excerpt, and find out where to buy here, or visit our bookstore.

Book launch: The Lust of Hate by Guy Boothby

publisher — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:30:52 +0000

The Lust of Hate is the third of Guy Boothby’s novels featuring Dr. Nikola, now available through Winterbourne Publishing for only AU$1.45 each. The Lust of Hate introduces Gilbert Pennethorne, a man hungry for vengeance against the thief who stole his fortune. Nikola puts the means of murder into Gilbert’s hands…but can he ever find redemption for his acts after falling into Nikola’s trap?

Read more about this book, get a free excerpt, and find out where to buy here, or visit our bookstore.

Book launch: Dr Nikola Returns by Guy Boothby

publisher — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:54:07 +0000

Dr Nikola Returns is the second of Guy Boothby’s novels featuring Dr. Nikola, a mysterious and ruthless figure seeking the secrets of the occult. In this book, Nikola moves from shadowy villain to centre stage, the anti-hero who employs Wilfred Bruce to accompany him on his quest to steal secrets from an ancient monastery in Tibet.

Read more about this book, get a free excerpt, and find out where to buy here, or visit our bookstore.

Shopping cart glitches

publisher — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:25:07 +0000

We are having a few problems with our shopping cart system. We’re working as fast as we can to fix this; in the meantime, if you experience problems, please let us know and we’ll do our best to sort you out.

Update: all seems well now, but if you have any problems, please let us know.

Book launch: A Bid for Fortune by Guy Boothby

publisher — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 03:42:33 +0000

While we continue to seek out the perfect submission from modern Australian SF writers, we’d thought we’d make some older works by Australian authors more widely available. Guy Boothby was a popular writer back at the turn of the century. Born in Australia, he died relatively young in England, but not before he had produced some 50 novels.

A Bid for Fortune is the first of five of Boothby’s novels featuring Dr. Nikola, a mysterious figure with a villainous streak and occultist interests. In this novel, he is introduced as the shadowy mastermind of a plot against an upstanding Australian family, a plot that furthers his ever-present quest for immortality. The hero, Richard Hatteras, seeks to thwart Nikola’s dastardly plans at every turn, but is stymied by the calm, clever Nikola.

Read more about this book, get a free excerpt, and find out where to buy here, or visit our bookstore.

Dr Nikola

publisher — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:56:59 +0000

Dr Nikola begins his journey as the shadowy villain in Bid for Fortune and gradually develops into a anti-hero and occult adventurer as he searches for the secret to immortality, accompanied everywhere by his great black cat. Classic gothic fiction from an early Australian writer, now re-published in digital format for only $AU1.45 each from our website.

Read more about these books, get free excerpts, and find out where to buy here, or visit our bookstore now.

Our June release

publisher — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:11:02 +0000

The news about the June/July release is that there will be no June/July release. While we’ve had plenty of submissions (many not Australian, some not even SF), we haven’t yet found one that meets our criteria and our expectations. Since we’d rather not put out something we’re not happy with just for the sake of filling a slot, we’re going to hold off and trust that the perfect MS will land on our doorstep in time for the planned September/October release. Bear with us, we’ll get there.

Change in royalty model

publisher — Tue, 11 May 2010 03:40:47 +0000

Australian authors thinking of submitting may be interested in the changes we have made to our current royalty payment model.

Prior to this, we have been offering 50% of net revenue, which is a common practice for ebook publishers. Net revenue is the total receipts for the sale of a book minus the distribution/printing costs only. As net revenue varies depending on format, where the copy is sold, how it is distributed, and even the currency it is sold in, the royalty to the author can be somewhere about the same or slightly less than the traditional percent of recommended retail price (% of RRP) model, but can be much higher depending on sale point.

We still firmly believe that this model is fairer for the author because it is flexible and allows them to maximise their royalties by directing their readers to the sale point that gives them the biggest cut. However, the downside is that it is complex and the royalty payment per copy is not fixed. We have found many people find this model confusing, and that authors appear to prefer the usual model of % of RRP, which gives them a fixed royalty per copy sold.

Therefore, in the interests of clarity and transparency (and frankly, because we are a little sick of being accused of being misleading for trying to provide something we think is fairer for the author but which is harder for us), we are switching to % of RRP. From this time on, royalties will be 10% of Australian RRP for printed copies, and 20% of Australian RRP for ebook copies.

We are also dropping our advance payment from $500 to $200. Again, people have seemed more worried about the royalty structure than the fact that we are one of the few ebook publishers who offers an advance. Again, since it is disadvantageous for us and yet appears to be of little value to our potential authors, we are decreasing it as a risk mitigation strategy.

If you’re thinking of submitting, please read our submission guidelines and our writers’ FAQ. Leave a comment if you want to discuss various royalty models and structures; we’re always interested in, and try to be responsive to, feedback.

Book launch: Bastard’s Grace by Wendy Palmer

publisher — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:12:05 +0000

We’re very pleased to announce that the first book by Winterbourne Publishing is now available on our website, with wider online distribution in both print and digital formats to follow within the next few weeks.

It’s got an epic word count (almost 200,000 words: you’re looking at two books for the price of one here) but is not a traditional epic fantasy. It’s a stand-alone speculative fiction novel with an underpinning of humour, romance and action, exploring the bonds of friendship and family and the constraints of loyalty. Don’t worry, it also has a plot.

Bastard’s Grace by Wendy Palmer
Heart of a hero. Mind of an absolute…
A virus spreads across Aspermonde, transforming women into creatures called Mosaics and stealing their minds, souls, and voices. Mosaics are alien, eerie…and collectable. Lieutenant Simon Cant collects Mosaics for the king but his latest acquisition, Augusta, hasn’t yet lost her mind and willpower to the virus. Maybe it’s a miracle. Or maybe it’s just a sackful of trouble for Simon.

Learn more about this book, including places to buy, at the Bastard’s Grace information page. Via that link, you can read more than 50% of the book online or as an ePub or pdf download.