THE STATE OF ATB 2023: AN IMPORTANT LETTER FROM ARNOLD T. BLUMBERG

 

Hi all,

Arnold from ATB here. This is going to be a long post, so I can only ask that you read it all and know that this is coming from the heart. And just to head off any initial anxiety, everything and everyone is fine, ATB is fine and not going anywhere, we have some upcoming titles to tell you more about soon, but I just need to cover some things first.

This has been a rough last few years for us all. Stress, sickness, despair, loss – we’ve all dealt with it in one way or another, going back at least as far as, oh, let’s say 2016. But especially once COVID arrived, things became much more difficult, and in the midst of it all, ATB has had more challenges in continuing to make books happen and get them out to you. But we did it, even if it meant we may only get out one title all year (which is how it worked out in 2020 and 2022; more on that later). Ultimately, Natalie and I needed to pull back and prioritize family and personal matters, which meant going a little dark on social media with ATB. That was exacerbated by recent social media upheavals that left us with fewer and less attractive options for promotion, which has been another challenge for us. Our sphere of influence has always been small, but solid…until now.

For many years, we’ve answered questions from those that want us to sell on Amazon (we won’t, ever, for many reasons that are too numerous to go into here) or offer e-editions (we won’t, probably not ever, but that’s also a long list of reasons), and I’ve often reiterated that my passion is to make physical print books, not “distribute content.” I’ve always felt that calling what we publish just “content,” and treating it as such, has been one of the most damaging and diminishing things we’ve done culturally in the last decade or so, and recent battles in the media spheres between labor and conglomerates that want “content” to pump through their “pipelines” has made me even more certain of that. Other people might be happy to provide “content” for people, and that’s fine, but I want to publish books.

Some argue that in refusing to release e-editions, we’re not addressing issues of accessibility, and I agree. The simple answer is that if we were a company that sold even thousands of copies of books and made money, we’d have the luxury of considering that. We don’t, and we can’t, and since I love physical books, I have to focus our limited resources where we can make things happen that will sustain us into the future, so print books are all we can manage to do. And then some say, “Well, don’t you want to make money? What’s the matter with you?” That would be a valid question if there were any chance at all of turning ATB into a larger, profit-making enterprise, but please trust me when I tell you that we’ve explored all the possibilities, and that is not in the cards. The most we can hope for here is that a given ATB title breaks even or makes just enough to help with the next title, and since all I want to do is make these books real so that our many contributors can proudly share them with folks and keep them on their shelves, I accept that.

That does, however, mean that the support we receive from our dedicated base of contributors, readers, and other fans is vital, and things haven’t been as steady on that score lately, and understandably so, for the same reasons I mentioned earlier about these recent, hard years. OUTSIDE IN WALKS WITH FIRE, our sole release in 2022, was the lowest price point book we ever did, which made us think it would do as well if not better than all the other OUTSIDE IN volumes…but it did not. There’s a long road to that title breaking even, and it means we’re not likely to do books of that length again, at least not for a long while. But we still have other titles in the works – some coming very soon, some down the road, and some that are indeed further OUTSIDE IN installments. We’ll keep plugging away, because I want to keep making books happen. But I wanted to explain all this to anyone that cared to listen, because it matters to me that you know where we’re coming from, and why.

I’d like to think that one reason people often question our strategies, or wonder “why not this” or “why not that,” is because when they do see our books, the quality of the finished product and the material within suggests a bigger and more capable company, but again – two people, spare time, a couple bucks from the last book if we’re lucky, and that’s it. We’re trying.

I am so grateful to all of you for liking what we do enough that you’ve helped ATB last over ten years. We do have more books to come, and we can’t wait to share them with you (including a couple titles that tie into the big anniversary of that UK sci-fi show so many of us love so much). And for now, although we still have all of our existing social media accounts, we’re going to be focusing entirely on Facebook and Instagram for getting the word out, so follow us there for the latest news.

Wow, did you make it through all of that? Thank you again, and see you soon!

CALLING ALL WRITERS: WE NEED YOU FOR OUTSIDE IN!

Our OUTSIDE IN range editor, Stacey Smith?, has a message for you:

Calling all aspiring and experienced writers! Have you ever wanted to write a review of a Classic Doctor Who episode that’s as gonzo as possible? Well, now’s your chance!

E-mail Stacey Smith? with a pitch for one of the available slots for OUTSIDE IN REGENERATES, which will revisit the entire classic era of Doctor Who from 1963 to 1996 that was originally covered in our first OUTSIDE IN ten years ago. You can find the list of available slots and detailed guidelines for submissions at this link.

One of the goals of the OUTSIDE IN series is to give a voice to those who have never yet been published, so if you haven’t done this before, that’s OK. We’re open to pitches from the experienced writer to the first-timer. Just bring your passion for Doctor Who, and your big ideas, and send Stacey a one-paragraph pitch for how you’d like to approach your episode/story and what you want to say about it. You can pitch for several open slots if you’d like; the best one will be chosen.

Upcoming volumes of OUTSIDE IN will cover modern Doctor Who from the end of the Peter Capaldi era (after “Last Christmas”) through the 60th anniversary in 2023, as well as the full runs of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5. If you’re interested in participating in any of those volumes, you can contact Stacey directly to inquire about openings in those collections as well.

 

 

ORIGINAL OUTSIDE IN NOW OUT OF PRINT: OUTSIDE IN REGENERATES WILL CELEBRATE 10 YEARS OF OUTSIDE IN

It’s official: After nearly 10 years, the original OUTSIDE IN volume–ATB Publishing’s inaugural publication–has gone out of print.

In November 2012, ATB released the first volume of the OUTSIDE IN series, featuring 160 writers sharing 160 new perspectives on all 160 classic Doctor Who stories. Since then, the series has continued to explore our favorite fictional worlds with an ever-growing, eclectic mix of diverse and inclusive voices offering their own unique takes on everything from Modern Doctor Who and Star Trek (Original and Next Generation) to the Buffy and X-Files universes. Future volumes will visit the space stations Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine, as well as examine the twisted mysteries of Twin Peaks and the futuristic intrigue of Blake’s 7.

The legacy of the original OUTSIDE IN will also continue in the form of a celebratory volume first announced back in February 2020 and scheduled for OUTSIDE IN’s 10th anniversary in November 2022, going back to the very beginning with a collection that will bring the same distinctive approach to critical commentary on pop culture that has evolved in more recent volumes of the series, refreshing the original release with all-new essays and voices that will once again tackle all of classic Doctor Who.

OUTSIDE IN REGENERATES: 160 New New Perspectives on 160 Classic Doctor Who Stories by 160 Writers will be a celebration of both the television series and the book series inspired by it, with 160 completely different and even more varied essays on every adventure, each written by a different writer than the one that tackled that story in the original volume.

Thank you to all of our dedicated readers for making OUTSIDE IN such a success, and supporting ATB Publishing for nearly a full decade of books about your favorite fictional worlds!