“If you pay too much attention to the sites where new authors gather on social media, you’d think that many have ambivalent feelings about publishers. They’re “unrealistic” about deadlines, “unreliable” in their payment/publication schedules, “unsympathetic” to a writer’s vision, “unsupportive,” “unhelpful,” “unapproachable.” Obviously, those writers haven’t met the team behind Tachyon Publications!
Soon after my novella, “Reading the Bones,” won a Nebula, , my agent told me that Jacob Weisman would be interested in a continuation of the story. At the time, I objected that there was nothing else to add to it, but he persuaded me to talk to Jacob. I discovered that Jacob knew as much about my story as I did, and that he was willing to work with me in painstaking detail to produce the rest of the characters’ story. That was an eye-opening experience, sometimes exhilarating, sometimes irritating (we didn’t always see eye to eye, but he was usually right!), but it led to a most satisfying outcome. And this support has continued to this day. Go to any convention that has a Tachyon table in the Dealer’s Room and you’ll find my novel displayed. Not only that, but books that Jacob didn’t publish and that don’t have their publishers present to sell them, will also find a space on his table as a kindness to one of his authors. How’s that for “uncaring” publishers?
When I’ve approached Tachyon with work that isn’t quite right for them, Jacob has helpfully pointed out other publishers I might not have thought about. And on one occasion, while turning down a novella, he spent several hours of his valuable time discussing the work with me, making profound suggestions that helped to improve it. Not a lot of editors would do that with a work they weren’t going to buy!
So “unhelpful”? “unsupportive”? Not my experience at Tachyon! I’ve come to think of Jacob and Rina Weisman as friends. I congratulate them on twenty-five years of publishing great books, and I look forward to many, many more years to come!” — Sheila Finch
