An update from Hybrid
Authors and readers,
2020 was, on the whole, an awful, awful year. Do you remember the WWIII scare with Iran? That was in 2020! It feels like a decade ago. Since that time, we have seen the spread of a global pandemic, mass job losses (which affected me directly), protests against police brutality, systemic racism, and an uncaring government, several attempts to undermine the electoral process in the United States, and though it wasn’t necessarily in 2020 itself, an attempted coup.
To name a few.
Hybrid Ink was born back in 2018 with the publication of Jen Durbent’s My Dinner With Andrea, and proceeded from there as I tried to pick up works that I found particularly thoughtful with a general focus on LGBTQIA+ works.
At the end of 2019, in an attempt to bring more authors’ voices to light, I came up with the idea for six anthologies focusing on various LGBTQIA+ themes, and then shortly after that, I lost my day job, a casualty of COVID-19. “That’s okay,” I thought. “I still have two months’ rent in savings, maybe I can ramp things up very quickly.”
I did not anticipate how terribly the year would go. I will not make any excuses for shortcomings of Hybrid, other than to say that 2020 did to us what it did to countless other small business: it ground us down. Toward the end of the year, however, we entered talks with Argyll Productions. As of this week, we Hybrid will transition to becoming an imprint of Argyll Productions focusing on thoughtful LGBTQIA+ writing. Work on moving the house over will begin right away, but there will be period of transition during which products will be unavailable for purchase.
Now, for some unfortunate news. Hybrid was, in essence, me, Madison Scott-Clary, and it was me in particular that 2020 hit hard. As a result, much of what I was responsible for over the last year and change has suffered, and this includes our outstanding anthologies. Of the six that were planned, contracts and decisions were only sent out for one, Small Loves, and even those contracts have since sunsetted, even with the “reasonable delay” clause. As such, it is with my deepest regret that I must announce that all six anthologies have been canceled. Should they return in the future, new calls will be held. My apologies to all that submitted, and especially to the authors of Small Loves. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
Please continue to stay safe, wear a mask, and support your local and small business friends.
All my best,
Madison Scott-Clary
Hybrid Ink, LLC founder