
Project Leads | Shane Staley (Editor & Publisher) Greg F. Gifune (Senior Editor) Zach McCain (Lead Designer) |
Active | October 2011-January 2017 |
DarkFuse was an ambitious undertaking by Shane Staley to create a publishing company that took horror to the mainstream. As the eBook format began to dominate the market, Staley pursued new ways to get authors new readership. Prior to this, his niche was producing collectible limited edition hardcovers in extremely small print runs.
In DarkFuse’s five year run as the predecessor to Delirium Books, the company released more than 130 titles, the majority in both eBook and limited hardcover releases. Thus, attempting to fuse horror’s collectors market along with its newly formed digital revolution of eBooks.
The experiment launched many new authors’ work and gave established Delirium authors a market into the beginning boom of eBook sales. With the boom came the bust, the bubble bursting in the eBook market as Amazon opened its doors to authors direct and sales algorithms changed for competitive publishers. DarkFuse went from having monthly 5-figure sales in eBooks to less than 4-figured within 6 months time. The drastic downturn eventually led to its collapse and bankruptcy in 2017.
Currently Staley retains rights and trademark to the DarkFuse name, but has no current plans to relaunch the company.
