Friday afternoon, I got the news that Booktrope, my publisher, is folding. I said a few expletives in my car (reading the news on my phone) and collected my daughter from school. Life must go on.

There’s never a good time for bad news, right?

For those of us authors who were fortunate enough to be part of this process, now what? Do we ‘revert’ to self-pubbing our books through Amazon and other services? Do we toss our hats into the waiting game/dating game world of finding an agent and (even less likely) a new publisher?

Booktrope, a Seattle-based outfit, seemed like a noble experiment to me. Could a mid-sized publisher (with a marketing platform) exist outside of New York? Now that they’re closing up shop, does that necessarily mean a ‘no’ answer?

Time will tell.

Since I got the news, I’ve also been thinking about the small but key staff–the ones who are actually losing their jobs. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of cocktails had gone towards taking the edge off this development. Job loss stings, at the very least.

It’s Monday morning now. Time to rally the spirit and rally the troops. Heavy hearts or not, it’s time to move on.