Last week I should have been officially launching the new US-based publishing company. This involved me committing to several hundred dollars of expenditure, which is always good for focusing the mind on what one is doing. At the same time, yet another online spat in the SF&F community was brewing. So I asked myself, seriously, what the heck was I doing?

The whole point of the US company was to allow me to use services like Kickstarter and Patreon to fund new projects. To make a success of these things, you have to be popular and respected. That’s really not me any more. I don’t even really feel part of the community these days. So if I did try to do crowdfunding, I would probably suck at it.

Now I still want to make good things happen. But the point is that it doesn’t have to be about me, about my publishing company. In fact it is probably better that it isn’t. Then, whatever messes I manage to get myself into online, at least it is only me being on the receiving end, not people that I publish as well.

So I have taken the decision not to start a US company. Instead I will be slowly winding down Wizard’s Tower. Nothing will happen immediately, because we still have books to get out and I want to make sure that every one of the books I do have out eventually goes to a very good home. (If you happen to be a publisher, and are interested in any of the books, please do get in touch.) However, I won’t be doing anything much new. I am sure that I will find other ways to fill up my time.