At Quartet, James will be responsible for acquisition and development of titles, as well as management and training of editorial staff.

“Like the rest of the Quartet team, I am so pleased that Angela is joining us,” said Quartet co-founder, Kassia Krozser. “I’ve known her for some time, and have great admiration and respect for her knowledge and talent. I admire her commitment to quality stories and authors. Her vision of digital publishing meshes perfectly with the Quartet Press philosophy, and her focus on the best possible reading experience means she’s always exploring new ways to connect books and readers. She is a leader in the digital publishing industry, both within the world of romance and the wider publishing community.”

A native of North Dakota, James’ career in publishing has included ownership of an independent editorial services business, and a position as a copy editor for the electronic book and small press publisher, Ellora’s Cave.

James was most recently executive editor for Samhain Publishing, where she managed the publisher’s editorial services division, and edited more than 50 authors including national bestselling authors Lucy Monroe, Ilona Andrews and Deidre Knight.

James is a well-known advocate for digital publishing, and frequently travels to regional, national and international writing conferences to meet with authors and present workshops on digital publishing for both authors and readers of all genres of fiction.

About Quartet Press
Quartet Press was founded on shared principles to create a high-quality, community-centric, and reader- and author-friendly digital publishing house. First titles will be available in late Fall 2009 through its Quench Romance imprint, with plans to expand into additional categories and service offerings in the near future.

For additional information on Quartet Press, please visit our website: http://www.quartetpress.com

Media Inquiries: Kat Meyer, VP Marketing. m: 520.576.0482; email: kat {at} quartetpress(.)com

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“It’s been a great experience for me to work with an incredibly talented and generous group of people at Taunton and we’ve been fortunate enough to produce New York Times bestsellers, James Beard and IACP award winners and category leaders in our target markets,” stated Linn. “I’m an entrepreneur at heart and I’ve been fascinated with this transitional phase of reading, writing and publishing for some time. So when the opportunity to create Quartet presented itself, it seemed the time was right to make the move.”

Linn’s partners in the digital publishing start-up include Kassia Krozser of Booksquare.com; Kirk Biglione of Medialoper.com; and Kat Meyer, long-time book marketer for trade and academic presses. Quartet Press anticipates a Fall 2009 launch with the house’s romance imprint, Quench Romance!, with plans to expand into additional categories and service offerings in the near future.

“We think the Romance genre offers plenty of room to operate in existing and emerging sub-genres but we also think there are opportunities in other categories such as mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, and even literary fiction,” says Linn. “Anywhere there’s a dedicated, hard-core community of readers is fair game as far as I’m concerned. We also, because we’re building such a robust ‘back end,’ think there are opportunities for us to provide certain services for other independent publishers who’d rather not reinvent the wheel themselves.”

About Quartet Press
Quartet Press was founded on shared principles to create a high-quality, community-centric, and reader- and author-friendly digital publishing house. First titles will be available in Fall 2009 through its Quench Romance imprint.

For additional information on Quartet Press, please visit our website: http://www.quartetpress.com

Media Inquiries: Kat Meyer, VP Marketing. m: 520.576.0482; email: kat {at} quartetpress(.)com

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We were very pleased to get a multi-sided conversation started, and while most thought the terms we posted were reasonable, there was one item that seemed to be a pain point for authors and agents. What we originally had proposed was for Quartet to get the right of first refusal on any sequel but otherwise the author would not be obligated to submit any future work to Quartet. This is generally referred to as an ‘option clause’ and is pretty standard in the print world.

Since the digital publishing model doesn’t pay an advance, authors believed that committing to any publisher (not just Quartet) for future work shifted the risk/reward ratio too heavily in favor of the publisher. Once we heard the argument, we understood. We also decided that if we believe the publishing experience we’ll be offering authors is in fact a superior one, reasonable authors would want to continue to work with us and we should put up or shut up on that point.

So after discussion, we’re eliminating the option clause from our Author Agreement

The new language says, effectively, “The author is not obligated to submit any future work to Quartet.”

We hope if that clause has been keeping authors from submitting manuscripts to us, we’ve eliminated that hurdle and you’ll send them on in. We also hope you’ll continue talking with us about what’s important to you.

Quartet will use MetaComet Systems to administer royalties and contractual relationships. MetaComet, designed to manage complex information, will ensure that authors receive timely and accurate royalty payments.

Quartet will use Firebrand’s cutting edge Title Management software to track publishing projects from acquisition through the publication lifecycle, and its ‘Eloquence’ system to distribute bibliographic information from publishers to retailers, wholesalers, and aggregators.

“Our partnerships with Firebrand and MetaComet are essential to our core mission: making sure our books are easily found by readers while ensuring our authors are paid in a timely, accurate manner,” comments Quartet co-founder, Kassia Krozser. “We understand the difficulty of getting information to vendors, receiving data from sales outlets, and reporting to authors. The Firebrand and MetaComet systems allow us to achieve our goals.”

About Quartet Press
Quartet Press was founded on shared principles to create a high-quality, community-centric, and reader- and author-friendly digital publishing house. First titles will be available in Fall 2009 through its Quench Romance imprint.

About MetaComet Systems
MetaComet Systems–-pioneers of the Royalty Tracker system—offers the leading web-hosted royalty and rights management solution for publishers. Royalty Tracker helps companies lower costs and increase rights revenue while helping to maintain strong relationships with authors. Founded in 2000, MetaComet provides solutions to the world’s most respected publishers including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Elsevier. For more information visit www.MetaComet.com.

About Firebrand Technologies
Founded in 1987 as Quality Solutions, Inc., Firebrand Technologies provides steadfast leadership and seamless information flow throughout the entire publishing process. Today, its Title Management Solutions facilitate tracking titles from pre-acquisition through post-production, freeing up staff to focus on their creative specialties. Its Eloquence Metadata Solutions are the fastest, easiest, most accurate, and most cost-effective way to implement ONIX to increase sales and improve communications throughout a publication’s lifecycle. In an increasingly digital world, its eCommerce Solutions help deliver sales across new channels. For more information visit: http://www.firebrandtech.com/

For additional information, please visit our website: http://www.quartetpress.com
Media Inquiries: Kat Meyer, VP Marketing. m: 520.576.0482; email: kat {at} quartetpress(.)com

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