Happy New Year! As we begin 2018, I thought we’d say goodbye to 2017 with a look back at the busy year we had here at WMG and highlight a few of my favorite projects.
We published almost 60 new titles in 2017. Some of these were part of one of our many popular fiction series, including the Seeders Universe (Starburst), Thunder Mountain series (Tombstone Canyon and Dry Creek Crossing), Cold Poker Gang Mysteries (Ace High and Burn Card), Mary Jo Assassin (Death Takes a Diamond), and the Diving series (The Runabout).
We also launched a brand-new series by Kris Nelscott called Protectors with the self-same title. That book also saw the production of our first hardcover books (with a regular hardcover and a signed and numbered limited edition, which is only available here). I am very proud of those hardcovers. They’re beautiful books, and I’m thrilled that we’ll now be able to do more of our books in hardcover in the future. (Oh, do I have plans…)
Many of our books were featured in bundles last year, as well, from the limited-time Storybundles to the longer-term bundles on BundleRabbit. WMG also expanded its own series of bundles and boxed sets, which will remain on the shelves. These include The Star Bundle: A Seeders Universe Trilogy, The Thunder Mountain Starter Bundle, The Cold Poker Gang Starter Bundle, The Smokey Dalton Starter Bundle, The Diving Series Box Set, the Fiction River Fantasy Boxed Set, and the Retrieval Artist Anniversary Day Saga Boxed Set: Books 1-8.
We had a busy year for our magazine series, as well. We released six new volumes of Fiction River (plus the aforementioned boxed set) and two volumes of Fiction River Presents (that series’ reprint line). And we added a new (old) magazine to our lineup: Pulphouse Fiction Magazine.
Launched via Kickstarter to roaring success, Pulphouse, edited by Dean Wesley Smith, brings back a popular magazine from the late-80s, early-90s, with the same editor and the same attitude. Issue Zero featured fan-favorite reprints culled from the way-back days. Issue One launches later this month and, like each issue going forward, will feature reprint and original stories. So, stay tuned for more from Pulphouse during its inaugural year.
We have a nonfiction series, as well, called WMG Writers’ Guides, which saw two new additions this year: The Magic Bakery and Writing a Novel in Five Days While Traveling.
And, of course, our writing and publishing workshops are as popular as ever. And in 2017, we moved the online courses to Teachable, which makes creating (and taking) our online courses easier than ever. For more information on those courses, click here.
So, new series, technological advances, more book formats than ever—2017 was a great year here at WMG.
And we’ve got lots of new and exciting things in store for 2018.
Just you wait and see.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.