Page Created: 01/14/24. Last Updated: 08/26/24.
SHAHID MAHMUD / LEZLI ROBYN
ARC MANOR PRESS / CAEZIK BOOKS
SHAHID MAHMUD
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahid-mahmud-24974126
LEZLI ROBYN
Official Site: https://lezlirobyn.com/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/LezliRobyn/
ARC MANOR PRESS / CAEZIK BOOKS
Arc Manor Website: https://www.arcmanorbooks.com/
Caezik Books Page: https://www.arcmanorbooks.com/caeziksf
Phoenix Print (Reprints): https://www.arcmanorbooks.com/phoenix-pick
Meeting Date: July 13, 2024.
Meeting Site: Zoom Video Conference.
Attendance: 32.
Meeting Program: Talk / Q & A w/Arc Manor / Caezik Books Publisher & Associate Publisher.
Notes:
Eleven people attended the post-meeting Virtual Diner Run. Writers H P Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, the story The Color Out of Space, the movies FLY ME TO THE MOON and THE FIFTH ELEMENT, and the Havok Network were some of the things discussed at the event.
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2024 Philip J De Parto:
The monthly General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was conducted via zoom video conference on Saturday, July 13, 2024. Shahid Mahmud and Lezli Robyn of Arc Manor Publishing were our speakers. Arc Manor is a small press with several imprints: Caezik, which publlishes original science fiction and romance; Phoenix Pick, which specializes in reprints of orphaned titles first published at other house (with an occasional special case new release slipped in); and Galaxy's Edge which issues new anthologies and reprint anthologies of the defunct magazine of the same name.
Shahid is a Pakistani immigrant who went to school in America and began a career in investments and wealth management. He worked long hours, made lots of money, and hated his job. He gave up most of his clients, moved from California to Maryland to save money by moving in with his wife's family, and started Arc Manor. The company was much better capitalized than the other small publishers that started up at the time. He was not only able to stay in business during the ups and downs of the business cycle, but his writers got paid promptly and without hassle. People noticed that.
Shahid is early adapter to emerging technologies and Arc Manor was one of the first companies to get into ebooks in a big way (although he admits that he completely misread the audio book market and blew a golden opportunity to get in on the ground floor).
Jane Austen reprints may have made money, but Shahid really wanted to publish science fiction. He began issuing print-on-demand and ebook editions of out-of-print by Paul Cook, Alexi Panshin, and other genre writers.
Resnick had long been mentoring a number of new science fiction writers. One of these writers was Australian writer Lezli Robyn. Resnick and she collaborated on a number of highly-regarded stories and she received quite a bit of condescension for stories which were incorrectly regarded as being 99% Resnick. (This led to a long digression about sexism and sexual harassment at conventions and sf in general.) When Shahid let it be known that when he was looking to hire an Executive Editor / Assistant Publisher, Resnick gave Robyn a strong endorsement.
Perhaps the company's greatest coup was in landing the publishing rights to Robert Heinlein's THE PURSUIT OF THE PANKERA, a first attempt at what later became THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST. Caezik had built up a good relationship with literary agent / Heinlein Executor Eleanor Wood as a result of his reprint work for other authors she represented.
Additional notes will appear on the club website under 2024-07/2024 Meeting.
Meeting Notes:
Phoenix Pick
Reprints Out-of-Print Science Fiction Works in EBook, Hardcover, Trade.
Print on Demand.
Alexi Panshin was first author reprinted.
Getting Started
- - - -
Personal
From Pakistan. College in USA.
Asset / wealth manager.
Long hours, hated work.
Three kids to save for college.
Sees himself as a bit Ralph Kramden
2006 - 2007 - Started with Reprints - Alexi Panshin, Paul Cook
Print on Demand & Ebooks first
03/20/24 - Caezik founded.
First Caezik title - The Pursuit of the Pankera by Robert Heinlein. Second was a book by Alexi Panshin. It took two years to get permission from the E R Burroughs and E E Smith estates.
Physical books printed overseas. Physical books are done traditional (returnable) for book stores.
Has reverted titles to authors who requested it.
Larry Niven reprints.
Shahid still managed 4 M for 6 - 7 months as a part time consultant during his transition
Pride & Prejudice ebook was # 1 best seller.
Machiavelli's The Prince was a big seller because it had wide margins to allow students to annotate.
Lezli Robyn & Shahid Mahmud first met at a convention in 2012, but Shahid does not recall it. Lezli and Michael Flynn sat opposite him at a table.
After missing one another at a convention they both attended, they connected in the Dealer's Room at the next con.
Michael Resnick got 40 writers to give Lezli a free book at a Worldcon.
Resnick pretty much edited Galaxy's Edge for free, using most of his salary to pay better rates to his contributors.
People always assumed without asking that Mike did most of the work on the Resnick / Robyn collaborations, despite Michael denying this was the case.
Lezli talked about stalkers and harassers at science fiction conventions.
Future Caezik titles by Alan Smale, S M Stirling (Tor published 2/3 of a trilogy; Caezik will print / reprint all three books), William C Dietz, Emma MacDonald (Whispers Most Foul - Penquin UK / Caezik USA).
Published Twice as Dead by Harry Turtledove. No mainstream publisher would touch because a white guy was writing from a woman's point of view.
Latest project: Book Bale. Subscription service for readers. Pay $ 7.00 / month and get access to 10 books. Books are customer's, even if they leave Book Bale. Two separate sites. One for authors to upload their book. The other is for the customer to download their titles.
Galaxy's Edge stopped when Mike Resnick died. Now an annual publication as a book. First volume was reprints. Future volumes will be originals. Lezli is the editor.
Set up Caezik Romance because he is greedy. Romance is best selling genre. Created Heart's Kiss Magazine. Romance readers devour, not savor.