Triskelion Publishing

Disclaimer: There is much I don't know, or understand, about the Triskelion situation. I am not a lawyer, nor do I have any experience in publisher bankruptcy, or the legal aspects concerning copyrights.


By now, you may or may not know, that Triskelion Publishing is closing its doors on July 2, 2007. They are or will be filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, which is basically a liquidation of its assets, unlike filing Chapter 11, which is reorganization.

I will not comment on the legal status of this announcement, because I know very little about the law and even less about Trisk's reasons or what will happen. I do know that there is a chance that authors who haven't already been released from their contracts could stand to lose out on royalties if the rights are sold to a creditor. But this is only my interpretation of what I've read. There is more on the subject here and here. The Smart Bitches also weighed in here.

This comes on the heels of RWA's disinviting Triskelion to this years National Conference. I had heard some chatter about whether or not RWA was going to pull their recognitiong of Trisk, but I suppose this becomes a moot point, considering.

However, there are quite a few authors who will be hurt by this and that's a shame. Some were fortunate enough to have had their rights returned to them already, but some weren't. I don't kow exactly how it works, but from my understanding, it's entirely possible those rights can be sold off in order for Triskelion to pay off debts.

I am not a Trisk author. I had submitted to them last fall and, though my manuscript was eventually rejected, I received a very insightful and detailed critique, which I greatly appreciated. It gave me the opportunity to see my flaws and rewrite a (hopefully) better story.

It seems to me a case of a company growing too fast for its own good. Only a few years ago, Triskelion was solely an e-book publisher. Then, they expanded into print. It seemed as though, in every RWR (RWA's trade magazine), they were buying like crazy. In any given month, there would be at least two, sometimes three or more, first-sale announcements to Trisk. It seemed like they were going to take off. Especially when they received RWA recognition. But then, last fall there was a massive reorganization, and, this past spring, they announced they were doing away with their print line. Then there was the flareup with Gail Northman, and she left. It's all downhill from there and the authors are the ones who will suffer for it.

It's sad to think that maybe their growth was their undoing - but again, this is merely speculation on my part. I am not privy to anything other than their website and what blogs I've read, and the few authors I know personally. I have not, nor will I, ask for inside information. I just think it is a sad say in publishing, for the homeless authors. With any luck, they will find new homes.