Well guys,
It never gives me great pleasure to do this but it has to be done. Dark Eden Press is calling it quits. So far I have heard mixed feelings about Dark Eden Press, but I have to say the best people to get these info from are the authors and from the authors I've spoken to, I was told that DEP has treated them with nothing but respect. Well we actually had permission to post the following email so don't have a cow. I deleted the private email address belonging to Debra.
***VERY VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE***
Posted by: "Debra"
Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:23 am (PDT)
I don't often share much personal stuff about myself or what isgoing on with me, so I never thought I would be coming to any of youwith this but sometimes life comes at you and you have to deal with it,and this is one of those times for me.I could beat around the bush here but that's not me. You deserve thetruth even if it is painful for me to talk about.I have found out recently, very recently, that my cancer has returned. For those of you who do not know, this is my 6th time around with thisin a little over 10 years. It started as cervical cancer 10 years agoand each time has gotten worse and spread to other places. I will bestarting chemotherapy and radiation treatments shortly and as I havebeen through these same treatments twice already, I can honestly say itisn't pretty.
After discussing the issues and options with Susan and Billi, and thenGretchen and Brenda, it was decided for a few reasons that I willdiscuss below, that the only option was to close Dark Eden as of April1st. I have to devote my energies and my time to getting better, and tomy daughter.One reason for closing is the treatment plan itself. I will be in noshape to run a company, much less take care of anything else. Anotherreason is with Brenda having gone back to work fulltime, that wouldleave just Gretchen to do it all and as great as she is, she can'tdo it by herself. Billi works fulltime and does her part of thebusiness in the evenings and on weekends. Susan has health problemsthat she didn't have when we started this company and wouldn'tbe able to do the things that I do. It was hard enough after the housefire to keep things running smoothly and even then they were gettingsome help from me.
They pitched in and ran things beautifully after thefire but that was only for a few months, this would be for the next 6months at the very least.The last reason is all of you. All of you deserve an owner who is goingto be here, who is able to get the things done that need to be done. Idon't want my authors trying to figure out why I haven'tanswered emails for a couple of days, or why royalties are late, orwondering when the things that need to be taken care of are going to getdone, when the reality is that I will be too sick to do it.I will spend the next two weeks preparing letters to release your bookrights to you, doing March royalties, and closing the readers group. Iwill then begin shutting down all the DEP email addresses except for myown and forwarding all mail from that to my personal email address.
ByMay 1st, I would hope all payments have cleared the bank, and on thatdate I will also close the author group.On a personal level, I feel horrible that this has to be done to all ofyou. I have come to know almost every one of you personally and I feelas if I have let you all down when you trusted me with your stories, andI am so sorry for that. You trusted in the fact that DEP would bearound for a long while and I am truly sorry that we are not going tobe.If you have any questions or problems, please don't hesitate toemail me as I will be working to get last minute things tied up over thenext several weeks.
Please feel free to post this on your blogs or websites as you see fit. If I have not told all of you lately, it is and has been, a pleasureworking with all of you gifted writers and DEP's fantastic staff.
Debra Durham
President
And so ladies and gentlement, we here at Writers' Dish wishes Debra all the best. I know that with Cancer you can never tell but we can all have hope and faith. Writers' Dish sends you Debra Durham positivity and prayers. Just be strong and fight.
Well, see you all around
WD
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1 comment:
WD,
Thank you. I appreciate the fact that you posted the whole post that I put out, and that you were not snarky in the fact that we were closing.
It is a hard thing to do, but I made a decision based on what was best for my authors, that was first and foremost in my mind.
Debra Durham
DEP
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