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Re.ad Publishing

Roseattle

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Hi from a newbie with a question and my first posting. I hope I do this right.

Has anyone heard of Re.ad.Publishing? I can't find anything on them, except on their Facebook page, and their web page has been under construction since February.
 

Maryn

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Minimal poking around shows an agent of good reputation signed someone to a four-book deal with re.ad in February 0f 2014--but now, more than a year past the signing the author so happily reported, none of those books is published. I cannot presume to know why.

re.ad is on LinkedIn:
2352 Market St. Suite B
San Francisco, CA 94114
There's a link to seven of their employees' LinkedIn pages, but you have to be a LinkedIn member and I'm not.

Dessy Pavlova is listed at Angel List, whatever that is, as a production assistant at re.ad. However, her own LinkedIn page lists re.ad as "previous."

The Better Business Bureau of San Francisco notes they are not accredited, with two complaints closed in the last 12 months.

The phone number at the BBB site is associated with WouldReadIt.com, which lists an administrative contact. According to this site, there appears to be some connection between that admin contact and web developer Doris or Donis Marshall.

As with most small presses, the rabbit hole is as deep as you care to go. So far I have not found anything which suggests re.ad is producing books or ebooks and making them available for sale to the public. That's not to say they aren't, but if someone actively looking cannot find the point of sale, then it's not a publisher I would choose.

Maryn, who has fun poking around online
 

mrsmig

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Hi from a newbie with a question and my first posting. I hope I do this right.

Has anyone heard of Re.ad.Publishing? I can't find anything on them, except on their Facebook page, and their web page has been under construction since February.

Hmph. According to their LinkedIn profile, they've been around since 2013. They posted a fair amount on their Facebook page in 2013, particularly about an upcoming book of poetry by one of their authors. A quick search on both Amazon and Google turned up no information about either author or book. They posted one time in 2014 and nothing so far in 2015.

I did find a book by one of their authors on Amazon that was published in December 2014. It's a 52-page paperback book of poetry retailing for $9.99. There's no "Look Inside" option, no reviews and my guess is, no sales either.

One of their other authors was supposed to have his work republished by Re.ad, but the only thing I could find on Amazon was a book of his short stories published via CreateSpace.

Their 2013 contest, "Find Your Voice Book Awards," has no Google footprint at all.

On LinkedIn I found a listing of their staff, but a couple of them appear to have other jobs running concurrently with their Re.ad positions. The major players are based in the San Francisco area; a couple others are in Toronto and Ontario.

Verdict? If you're waiting around for them to surface, I wouldn't bother.
 

Marlys

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One of the BBB complaints is from an author who had a contract to publish a children's book with them. From the complaint, dated March 16, 2015:
On December 16th, I received a letter from ***** stating that the company was having difficulties upholding their contracts, but that they were trying to work things out. I stayed with them, as I felt confident that they would come through. The letter states that books would be available in print by January 2015 and their website would be re-opened early February 2015. However, despite multiple attempts to contact them, both via e-mail and phone, I have been unable to reach them.
This would give me serious pause--both the "difficulty upholding their contracts" and lack of communication.
 

Roseattle

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Appreciation

Thank you, Maryn, MrsMig, and Marlys, for saving my precious baby from a deep, dark rabbit hole.
 

mrsmig

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Thank you, Maryn, MrsMig, and Marlys, for saving my precious baby from a deep, dark rabbit hole.

I'm amused by the alliteration of your respondents.

Roseattle, you're off on the right foot. Ask questions and do your research before handing off your work to those who may be well-meaning and talk a good game, but don't have what it takes in the long run.

If you have a chance, take a look at the AW listings of agents, publishers and other author services. All the names that are greyed out are companies no longer in business, many of whom took trusting authors and their books down with them when they folded.
 

Maryn

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Maybe we should form the 3M Company?
 

CaoPaux

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Website (re)activated Aug '15 (at readpublishing.com), but is gone entirely now. Tw/FB activity also resumed, but ceased by October.