Demon Lord Sequel Publication Postponed

A letter from T C Southwell

It is with deep regret that I must announce the indefinite postponement of the publication of the “Demon Lord” sequel, “Dark God”. Unfortunately, due to the poor sales of “Demon Lord”, it now seems highly unlikely that the sequel will be published. There was an amazing lack of publicity for “Demon Lord”, since all the magazines and most of the newspapers to whom the book was sent for review declined to review it or even read it, but dismissed it either as a ‘demonic handbook’, or ‘local rubbish’. The fact that it was written and published locally caused an intense bias towards it, believe it or not.

Not only were the local press disinclined to review it, but major South African bookshops would not even order it from the publisher, despite public demand. Against these kinds of odds, the book was doomed from the outset. I am now seeking an overseas publisher, and will, hopefully, find more support in other countries. It is a sad state of affairs, and I would like to apologise to all my fans. I am considering sending the book to a Print On Demand (POD) publisher for the sake of my readers while I endeavour to find an overseas publisher for "Dark God". This is now somewhat complicated by the fact that “Demon Lord” has already been published in South Africa, and therefore the only option might be to combine the two books for the overseas market.

I have been deeply touched by all those of you who have written to me, and extremely sad that this has come about. I hope that you will find it in your hearts to be patient, and I will do my best to find a way to have the sequel published, either on POD or as an e-book, for the sake of my fans.

South African Author Boycotted?

Exclusive Books in Canal Walk, Cape Town, Boycotts Local Author.

In the latest news on the South African sales front, buyers in the Milnerton area of Cape Town are unable to purchase copies of T C Southwell’s heroic fantasy novel, due to the increasingly hostile South African market. This begs the question, are South African bookshops anti South African? While the rest of the business industry in South Africa tries to promote local products with the “Proudly South African” campaign, local authors are apparently being shunned with increasing venom.

Overseas authors enjoy massive media and in-store promotion, making the sales to local fantasy readers a sure thing, while this branch of Exclusive Books refuses to display this local fantasy novel on their shelves. Are we encouraging the export of revenue to the UK with huge marketing campaigns for foreign books, while local authors languish in poverty and obscurity?

The hostile attitude of local media is already rife, making the promotion of local books increasingly difficult. Now it seems that SA bookstores have jumped on the bandwagon in their bid to undermine the efforts of local authors to gain notoriety and earn a living. How can a South African author succeed against these kinds of odds? The end result of this kind of anti local industry mindset will be the export of our talent to overseas publishers and markets, robbing South Africa of what should be a local industry.

Ironically, when these local authors gain overseas markets, the books may then be imported into South Africa, thereby increasing the drain on local industry as the revenue leaves the country for foreign shores. Any efforts to market the book locally are being brutally stifled, and now even those who find out about it cannot buy it.

Prejudice Against Local Authors In South Africa

A letter from T C Southwell
I'm still struggling with the publicity for "Demon Lord", and meeting with excessive resistance from the bookshops now. They say they will order it and then don't, and people are contacting me because they want to buy it and can't find it in the shops, it's ridiculous.

As a South African author, I find the perceived prejudice or at least lack of interest in local authors from local bookstore chains like Exclusive Books to be overwhelming and disheartening. That, on top of the attitude of local magazines that won't review the book or even have their reviewers read it, makes it impossible for a local author to get the kind of exposure they need to promote their work. What is wrong with media people and bookshops in SA?

How is a local author supposed to succeed against those kinds of odds? My agent will be sending my next book overseas, South Africa is just not the place to get ahead as an author, especially for local ones, apparently. Isn't that sad? The sales of my book have been horrible because of this. Must all South African talent be forced to go overseas to find the kind of exposure and appreciation that they deserve? Will South Africa never be able to claim that it has produced good fantasy or science fiction authors because the local media and bookshops appear to be so prejudiced against local authors?

My advice to budding local authors is, don’t waste your time in South Africa, go overseas if you want to succeed.

T C Southwell