Hard to believe that Crazy 8 Press is one year old already. Technically, our first anniversary was in July, but since we debuted at Shore Leave 33, we treated this past weekend’s Shore Leave 34 as our first anniversary celebration. To mark the event, we debuted ReDeus: Divine Tales as a print exclusive at the show before making it available for sale as a print edition and the eBook version is forthcoming.

Meantime, the convention organizers gave us a nice table and all our name plates had the C8 logo on them so we were easily identified if lost.

On Saturday, at high noon, we had a nicely attended panel where the founders discussed what we have accomplished, what we have learned, and what will be coming next. The audience was a mix of people familiar with us, and others who knew us as authors but not at C8 so they came to learn, which was gratifying.

We learned a lot this past year such as how long it really takes to assemble a digital file, how to negotiate with Nook and Kindle. The values of Print on Demand printers and where we can distribute our materials. We learned the need for better marketing and promotion but the question came down to where we can do that. One thing we did was ask Chuck Rozakis, a freshly-minted MBA to help us and he composed a simple survey to find out where you readers learn about new releases and where you actually make purchases. Now we’d like your thoughts and would appreciate it if you completed the form and sent it to greenbergerbob@gmail.com. Thanks.

We also talked about our forthcoming schedule and looking into 2013. In addition to the continuation of Latchkeys every six weeks or so, you can look forward to Peter David’s Pulling up Stakes Part 1 later this month, followed by Aaron Rosenberg’s Too Tall for Small in September. Mike Friedman comes back in November with Aztlan: The Courts of Heaven, the second installment in his new alternate reality mystery series. For those who still prefer print, there will be a Latchkleys Omnibus collecting the first six stories as well as an Aztlan Omnibus with the first two installments. In time for your Thanksgiving feast should be Pulling Up Stakes Part II. There are a baker’s dozen worth of books and projects also in the works and unscheduled so our future looks pretty bright.

We talked about making more of an effort to being a collective presence at conventions including several of us appearing at ComiCONN August 18 and then all five of us on hand at New York Comic-Con in October.

We cannot have gotten this far without your interest and support. Let us know what you think, and what you might want to see.