I just learned last evening in a group post that Mary Wolf, the publisher of my first two books, Two Wrongs and Girl of My Dreams, was selling Hard Shell Word Factory to Daniel J. Reitz, Sr. of Mundania Press.
Today, the acquisition was officially announced on various egroups online by the new owner. I and other Hard Shell Turtles are excited to have an owner who has the capabilities of carrying on the quality Hard Shell tradition.
Around the time I was first published in 2006, tragedy struck Mary Wolf's family when her son, Dirk, who was also a cover artist for Hard Shell, was murdered. On the heels of that, other misfortunes have dogged her, making it difficult for her to run Hard Shell in the manner she would have liked. As a result, the publishing schedule was put on hold.
I wish her all the best and also look forward to a new direction for the company under the reigns of Dan Reitz.
That said, my new release, Killer Career, is being published by Choice One Publishing Company very soon. I'm not sure yet if that's the direction my future novels will be published. It's good to know Hard Shell will again be a viable option for submissions.
Have any of you belonged to a publishing company that was sold, or worse, went under? Please share.