Strategic Book Group / Strategic Book Publishing / Eloquent Books / SBM

Bob Holtzman

Registered
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Strategic trolling for editors?

AEG Publishing Group is advertising for editors on Craigslist. AEG includes Strategic Book Pubishing, Strategic Book Marketing, Eloquent Books, Writers Literary, and Global Book Agency. (Actually, I don't see Writers Literary on the AEG's website, but in an email to me, their director of hiring names them as part of AEG.) I haven't seen AEG named before in connection with Strategic or Writers Literary in this thread. Is this a new persona for them?

Before checking them out here, I did an editing test, which I passed. Am now waiting to learn the terms of their offer. Will report back.
 

Calmuse

Registered
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
1
Strategic, Eloquent Scam

I'm a newbie, too, Bob Holtzman, although I've occasionally been perusing Absolute Write's forums for the past few months.

Like you, I responded to one of Strategic's online job postings for editors. The posting I saw was rather vague and identified the company as Writers' Literary Services.

I received a suspiciously quick response on a Sunday evening—which already raised a red flag. Publishing types are often glacially slow in responding to anything. Having been a copy editor at a small, understaffed publisher for three and a half years, I know this all too well.

Lynn Eddy, the hiring manager who responded to my job query, claimed to represent a small global publishing consortium called AEG Publishing Group, which includes Strategic and Eloquent. I checked the website for one of these "imprints" and saw blurbs about a few books and authors I'd never heard of. Even Amazon has precious few copies of any of these books; by comparison, books released by iUniverse and other self-publishing groups are much better represented.

Still, I had been getting a tad frustrated with my job search and meager freelance prospects. So out of curiosity I began the "edit test" that Ms. Eddy had attached to her response: a seventy-two-page novella that badly needed proofing. Seventy-two pages—again, another red flag. My previous employer's test consisted of brief timed edits of several kinds of excerpts -- a total of no more than a dozen pages -- along with a series of short grammar drills, questions, and spelling tests, all of them timed.

As a final disappointment, I soon discovered that the test novella I received had been published in 2003 -- under the same title, no less. Ms. Eddy should not have sent me a "test" with a title that in itself potentially raised a copyediting question, which resulted in yet another rather revealing (and damaging) online search.

I just e-mailed Ms. Crispin about this matter. My guess is that AEG or Writers' Literary Services, or whatever this entity wants to call itself, would simply accept my edit and not pay me, since it was only a "test." And I would never hear from them again. At this point, I have no intention of finishing my edit and submitting it.

Pity. The story had potential, at least as far as I got with it before major alarms started to go off in my head. Fortunately, I only spent a few hours on it before wising up. I don't have time for this kind of Mickey Mouse. Who does?
 
Last edited:

Bob Holtzman

Registered
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
AEG, Strategic, Eloquent, etc.

I checked Writer Beware and contacted its co-owner V. Strauss and learned that AEG and all these other company names are indeed associated with the same Robert Fletcher.

The editing "test" that I took was much shorter than yours, Calmuse -- about 6 pages.

I don't believe that their intent is to rip off the editors directly. I have a friend who just did some production-related work for them, and she was paid promptly. What concerns me is becoming an accessory -- legal, moral, or otherwise -- to their questionable business practices. Add to that their horrible rate of pay ($0.006 per word -- yes, that's right, six tenths of a cent per word, less than half the industry standard), and there's not much incentive to help them abuse ignorant, optimistic authors.

Plus, they're cutting their rates. Here's an interesting letter from "Robert" (no last name) that the company just sent to their editors, production folks and other freelances:

Dear All:

I need to ask you a favor. The economic downturn has reached us and while our overall business model is still solid, weekly billings have dropped precipitously. In a rapidly growing, bootstrapped company like ours, there is very little wiggle room if revenues take a dip, which has happened in the last two weeks.

We have a pretty good early warning system, and it is telling us to make contingency plans NOW, which is why I am writing this email to you (and everyone).

To make a long story short, to get through the upcoming holiday period, we need to make some adjustments to how we pay our payroll. We hope to keep the same pay rate, but we need to take into account weekly fluctuations in deposits.

Payroll is our biggest expense and while we have made payroll every week, it runs so close that if the deposits hit on Friday, but the payroll checks hit on Wednesday, then our bank fees are outrageous.

As you know, our corporate culture is to pay everyone a 'living wage'. If you think about it, we have been generous with starting compensation, and raises for those employees that have worked with us over time. Frankly, I have tried to pay everyone a little bit better than is necessary because I want to be surrounded by good people for a long time.

On the flip side, the unfortunate fact is that other than the retraining costs, and due to the large number of people looking for work, we can hire for much less than we pay now.

But, I don't want to hire all new people. I am trying to avoid layoffs. Lulu.com just laid off 25% of it's workforce. We have such a good team of people, that I really don't want to lay anyone off. Everyone is doing a great job, and we really are working as a team, so I am very reluctant to make any major changes to the way we do business and to the people that work for us.

So, my first plan of action is to ask everyone for a temporary reduction in their base hourly rate and to tie everyone's compensation to the billings of the company, and issue a monthly 'bonus' that is based on the company's health. Hopefully, the monthly bonus will equalize your pay, just be time-shifted a bit.

The way it will work is this. This will be the temporary plan between now and 12/31/2008. I am hopeful that we can revisit the plan at that time. (I am extremely worried about the upcoming Thanksgiving week and Christmas week). So, hopefully, other than changing the dates/times that you get your check, the overall effect will be minimized and spread out across everyone equally.

Everyone will receive a reduction in their base rate of 25%. This means that if you were making $20/hr, then 25% of $20 is $5, so the new base rate is $15/hr. If you are an editor, then if you billed us $400 for a job, the pay will be $300. This is your new rate. There is no legal obligation on the company to pay more than this via the bonus. (Sorry, but I legally have to say that).

Vicki will keep track of your payroll billings for the monthly time period. At the end of each month, based on deposits, I will give Vicki what the bonus amount is. Every month, based on revenues, we will issue a bonus check to each person that has been on payroll for the prior month that will hopefully be the same as what you would have normally made, and you will be back to prior rates, and the company will have avoided $500 a week in check fees at the bank.


Note: We will pay you as per our agreement for the prior time periods. It might take a couple of weeks to get everyone squared away, but you will get paid at the agreed upon rate, for the prior weeks. and I do ask your patience in getting you the money for the prior pay periods.

I hate to ask for something like this, without giving something in return, so let me share with you a bit of a longer term vision for the company.

By the end of next year, I plan to setup an employee stock option plan, and add benefits. I have a vision that this can become a company that we can retire from, and that we will be in operation for the next 50 years. So, I promise you, that if you can hang in there with us, the sacrifices will be worth it.

Let me explain why I am so bullish on the business model. Sales of books are exceeding our expectations. We are publishing about 20 authors a week, and we will reach 1000 authors by next summer. If we average 200 books per year, per author, that's 200,000 books sold and at a net of about $4-5 each, that's about $1 MM net profit annually. That kind of net profit goes a long way towards smoothing out these ups and downs in our weekly cash flow.

So, in conclusion, please get back to me or Vicki with any comments or concerns that you may have and whether you can live with this plan. I am happy to do what I can to try to help you, but staying alive is my primary concern.

If you cannot, or choose not, to proceed, I trust you will exit professionally and help us hand off your work and retrain, and we will keep the door open for you if you wish to come back later.

Thank you again for your understanding. This is a tough time however, I know that we will overcome it.

Thanks again for what you have done for us so far.

Sincerely,
Robert


Funny how they're demanding a 25% reduction in fees, when the problem is stated to be slow business, not rising costs. (Since this is freelance piece-work, the logical response is to keep the same rate of pay, and simply hand off fewer jobs to freelancers.) And how he brags about how strong sales and profits are, contradicting his justification that the fee reduction is necessary because sales are slow. And how they expect freelancers who don't wish to accept the pay cut to work, apparently for free, to "retrain" (sic) their replacements. And, for that matter, how they consistently refer to freelancers as "employees."
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Momento Mori

Tired and Disillusioned
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 25, 2006
Messages
3,389
Reaction score
802
Location
Here and there
If I was a freelancer for this company, I'd say that their cash flow problems (which to be honest, I really don't understand as surely seasonal variations are reasonably foreseeable and should have been provided for already with appropriate cash contingencies) are their problem. Asking me to take a cut in my rates so they can avoid a 500 dollar charge at the bank (and in itself, the fact that they're worried about incurring that charge is a red flag) is unacceptable.

MM
 

Sweetleaf

Momentary lapse of reason
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 3, 2008
Messages
4,558
Reaction score
2,613
Location
At last, OFFICIALLY in the middle of nowhere. But
joint ventures

I just got offered a joint venture deal with Eloquent Books. I emailed my manuscript and got no reply, so sent a follow-up. I then got an email back from Lori, whose email signature said she was at Harding House Publishing. About ten days later I got the reply from Eloquents Aquisitons saying they wanted to offer me the joint venture, but that they hadn't read the manuscript.
I assumed that Lori was a freelance assessor, but does anyone know of any connection with Harding House?
Also, does anyone have any advice on getting published in the US? I'm from New Zealand and publishers here are awful - I can't get an agent to even look at my work, and no publishers want to know you unless you're a: already published, or b: writing about New Zealand.

Sometimes I just want to bash my head against a wall...
Comments like "We really liked it, but..." and "We think you're really talented, but..." aren't any good to me. I'm sorry to vent, but I'm so frustrated and until I started researching I though Eloquent was finally going to be a way to break the wall...
 

Bob Holtzman

Registered
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Overtired,
I hope it's needless to state that their lovely "joint venture" offer is simply subsidy publishing in yet another guise.
 

JConrad

Registered
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Messages
15
Reaction score
1
Location
Northville, MI
Website
www.myspace.com
Strategic Book Publishing

I, too, submitted a novel to Strategic Book Publishing and received an “evaluation” of my work very similar to what someone else in this string posted. In short, they accepted my novel, but with the caveat that I purchase their editorial services, priced according to Writer’s Digests standards for such services. They cited several examples of “mistakes” they pulled from my text, only one which was a typo; the others were largely subjective – I mean, come on, you could submit to ten editors an unidentified Hemingway excerpt and you’d get ten different suggestions on how it could be improved. They claimed they edit according the Chicago Manual of Style, which is fine but only to a point. Whoever heard of using a manual of style for dialogue?

They informed me I was free to use a creditable editor of my choosing but that I’d have to provide them with their name and credentials and went on the state they were free to suggest additional edits afterward.

It seems that new publishing models are born nearly on a monthly basis, and that this one may be one of those. Certainly traditional publishers are looking for ways to cut costs, and one way is to eliminate staff editors – has anyone noticed that new books are published today with more typos than those released even ten years ago? I’ve had other publishers push back on me to obtain editorial services on my dime. Perhaps in the near future all publishing houses will require the author to have their manuscripts professionally edited.

Were I to decide to self-publish I could easily spend as much on marketing and book upgrades as I would to pay one of their editors. Will I make money with Strategic Book Publishing? Who can say?

I read recently some horror stories where traditional publishing houses have asked the author to pay back the difference between their advance and royalties if the book doesn’t sell “X” and the title will be dropped after “X” days if it doesn’t sell “X” quantity.

The publishing industry is losing money at an alarming rate, and frankly, part of the problem, in my opinion, is that they demand a formula approach to writing – they require everything to be written at a ninth-grade or lower level, in short taking the art out literature, and I think the public has grown tired of this cookie cutter approach to the novel as an art form. But perhaps this is best discussed in another string.

By the way, I found Strategic Book Publishing on Preditors and Editors as Not Recommended.
 
Last edited:

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess
Kind Benefactor
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
6,704
Reaction score
1,314
Location
Far from the madding crowd
Website
www.victoriastrauss.com
Certainly traditional publishers are looking for ways to cut costs, and one way is to eliminate staff editors – has anyone noticed that new books are published today with more typos than those released even ten years ago?

It's not an in-house editor's job to eliminate typos or grammatical errors (and if there are too many of the latter, odds are a reputable publisher wouldn't accept the book to start with). What you're talking about, and what Strategic/Eloquent provides, is copy editing, which is something quite different from the developmental and content editing provided by in-house editors, and which happens after the in-house editors have done their thing. Reputable publishers provide both kinds of editing, and they do not charge for this.
I read recently some horror stories where traditional publishing houses have asked the author to pay back the difference between their advance and royalties if the book doesn’t sell “X” and the title will be dropped after “X” days if it doesn’t sell “X” quantity.

The idea that authors have to pay back their advances if the book doesn't sell enough to earn out is amazingly widespread--but it's completely mythical. There've been a number of discussions here about this, and I did a blog post debunking it recently.

The idea of the title being dropped after a set number of days if it doesn't sell a set number of copies is a new variation, though--haven't run across that one before. However, I'm confident it's equally mythical.

It also defies logic. While most books make the bulk of their sales in the first 6 months of release, many books go on to become steady sellers--this is called the backlist, and it's publishers' bread and butter. Plus, books that have been out for a while with modest sales can get a boost because of media events or publicity, or can build sales through word of mouth. Publishers would be cutting their throats by arbitrarily yanking titles in the way you describe.

- Victoria
 

JConrad

Registered
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Messages
15
Reaction score
1
Location
Northville, MI
Website
www.myspace.com
It's not an in-house editor's job to eliminate typos or grammatical errors (and if there are too many of the latter, odds are a reputable publisher wouldn't accept the book to start with). What you're talking about, and what Strategic/Eloquent provides, is copy editing, which is something quite different from the developmental and content editing provided by in-house editors, and which happens after the in-house editors have done their thing. Reputable publishers provide both kinds of editing, and they do not charge for this.

- Victoria

Thanks, Victoria, for responding and debunking some myths.

It's not an in-house editor's job to eliminate typos or grammatical errors? Maybe that's why I see so many typos in publications today. Granted it's my job to submit as clean a copy as I can, but everyone, even Tom Clancy, needs a second set of eyes. Isn't that what a line editor's job is?

I submitted a sixth generation draft to Strategic and yes, they found a typo. I'm not sure that line editing is what Strategic is selling me, for $1,400. In my evaluation, they made several suggestions, under the premise my grammar was flawed because it didn't follow the Chicago Manual of Style, which I found amusing considering it was a line of dialogue -- does anyone, during a conversation, think in terms of a style manual? Line editing for punctuation or typos is one thing, content editing quite another, and I don't feel I should be charged for either -- and for a publisher to offer this service for a fee is, in my mind, a conflict of interest.
 

AC Crispin

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
353
Reaction score
122
Location
Washington DC area
Website
www.accrispin.com
You've signed with Strategic? And paid them money?

Did you see the Alert about Strategic, plus Robert Fletcher's other companies, that is on Writer Beware? I suggest you follow that link to the info about the official investigation underway by the Florida Attorney General's Office into Mr. Fletcher's business practices.

-Ann C. Crispin
Chair, Writer Beware
www.writerbeware.com
 

JConrad

Registered
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Messages
15
Reaction score
1
Location
Northville, MI
Website
www.myspace.com
You've signed with Strategic? And paid them money?

Did you see the Alert about Strategic, plus Robert Fletcher's other companies, that is on Writer Beware? I suggest you follow that link to the info about the official investigation underway by the Florida Attorney General's Office into Mr. Fletcher's business practices.
No, I have not signed with Strategic. I'm just sharing my (very) recent experience with them.

Thanks for the link, AC.
 

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess
Kind Benefactor
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
6,704
Reaction score
1,314
Location
Far from the madding crowd
Website
www.victoriastrauss.com
It's not an in-house editor's job to eliminate typos or grammatical errors? Maybe that's why I see so many typos in publications today. Granted it's my job to submit as clean a copy as I can, but everyone, even Tom Clancy, needs a second set of eyes. Isn't that what a line editor's job is?

No. Editors expect writers to be self-sufficient at the level of line editing. If manuscripts contain numerous typos and/or grammatical errors, they are unlikely to be accepted for publication at all.

In-house editors do content or developmental editing, looking for big-picture issues with plot, structure, character development, theme, and so on. They may do some level of line editing as well if they feel a passage needs to be cut or or restructured--but it is not their job to fix grammar, spelling, etc. Again, if the author isn't basically capable of spelling properly and writing coherent, grammatically correct, properly punctuated sentences, paragraphs, scenes, etc., the ms. is unlikely to be published.

Once content editing is done, the ms. goes to the copy editor, who formats the ms. to the house style, looks for any inconsistencies (changing character names, a car that was blue in Chapter 1 but is green in Chapter 6, etc.), fact checks if it's nonfiction, and catches any typos or other small errors that might have been missed by the author in his or her final go-round with the ms. Once the book is set up for print, the galley goes to the author to proof, to make sure no errors were introduced and nothing was accidentally left out. Then a proofreader reads the galley through a final time.

This isn't always the way it works. Sometimes authors don't get to see the galleys. And things can slip through the cracks, especially with franchise books like the Tom Clancy series, where they're done as work-for-hire and the books are popped out like widgets, without the back and forth between author and publisher. But those things are slipping through the cracks of what's basically a careful vetting and production process--whereas with a publisher like Strategic, where there's little editorial gatekeeping, little or no meaningful editing other than light copy editing, and the whole aim of the design and production process is to keep costs as low as possible, there's little care of any sort, either for content or for product.

- Victoria
 

JConrad

Registered
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Messages
15
Reaction score
1
Location
Northville, MI
Website
www.myspace.com
No. Editors expect writers to be self-sufficient at the level of line editing. If manuscripts contain numerous typos and/or grammatical errors, they are unlikely to be accepted for publication at all.

In-house editors do content or developmental editing, looking for big-picture issues with plot, structure, character development, theme, and so on. They may do some level of line editing as well if they feel a passage needs to be cut or or restructured--but it is not their job to fix grammar, spelling, etc. Again, if the author isn't basically capable of spelling properly and writing coherent, grammatically correct, properly punctuated sentences, paragraphs, scenes, etc., the ms. is unlikely to be published.

- Victoria
Victoria: I’m not trying to be argumentative, but as the editor of an online literary magazine, I can tell within a paragraph or two whether or not a writer has a basic grasp of the rudiments of good writing. Yes, there are writers who are incapable of spelling properly and writing coherent, grammatically correct, properly punctuated sentences, paragraphs, scenes, etc., and they are almost always turned away. But even writers who are very capable are guilty of an occasional error. That is not really a reflection of a writer’s skill, nor should it always result in the sole reason for a rejection letter.

I recently read a fantasy diptych by one of my favorite writers and was dismayed by the number of typos I found; yet his next two novels were free of any such errors. Any number of reasons could’ve contributed to the errors that appeared in the fantasy books, including a rushed deadline as well as a content editor who felt it wasn’t his or her job to fix such errors. This all goes to prove that even the most accomplished writer can use a second set of eyes.

A couple years ago, one of my non-fiction pieces appeared on a reputable online magazine, and while working with the editor, she incorrectly corrected the sentence below, adding “ly” to “slow” “ed” to “turn,” which was not what I wished. Fortunately, for clarity, we found the solution in adding a hyphen between “slow” and “turn” to come up with “slow-turn.”

I slow turn my way around the pitcher’s mound one last time…

All in all, unless the starving writer has writerly friends with whom he or she can share his work or funds to pay a professional, he must rely on his or her own skills to submit the cleanest copy possible. I imagine, at the acquisitions stage, it can be quickly determined whether a writer is simply incapable of writing well or simply missed something that he or she likely will correct in a subsequent draft.
 

AC Crispin

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
353
Reaction score
122
Location
Washington DC area
Website
www.accrispin.com
Ah, but let's not forget that Strategic will accept books that no reputable commercial publishing house will accept. And what they don't accept, Eloquent will.

And neither of these "publishing houses" does anything like content editing, much less line editing. Proofreading is their idea of "editing."

-Ann C. Crispin
 

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle
Absolute Sage
VPX
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
25,582
Reaction score
3,785
Location
New Hampshire
Website
madhousemanor.wordpress.com
If you've had any contact with Strategic Book Publishing, the Florida Attorney General wants to hear from you.


The case file cited below relates to a civil -- not a criminal -- investigation. The existence of an investigation does not constitute proof of any violation of law.

Case Number: L07-3-1146

Subject of investigation:
Writer's Literary Agency Group, Writer's Literary Agency, Writer's Literary & Publishing Services, New York Literary Agency, Writer's Literary Children's Agency, The Children's Literary Agency, Children's Book Publishing Agency, Writer's Literary Poet's Agency, Poet's Literary Agency, Poetry Book Publishing Agency, The Christian Literary Agency, Writer's Literary Screenplay Agency, Screenplay Writers' Agency, The Screenplay Agency, The Literary Agency Group, f/k/a Rapidpublishing-screenwriter911, Inc., Stylus Literary Agency, S T Literary Agency, Inc. , Writers Literary & Publishing Services Company, Writers' Book Publishing Agency, Strategic Publishing Group, Strategic Book Publishing, Strategic Book Marketing, AEG Publishing Group, My Editor Is A Saint, Author's Edge, Sydra-Techniques, Global Book Agency, Eloquent Books, and Robert M. Fletcher a/k/a Robert Williams a/k/a Bob WIlliams a/k/a Robert West and Leslie Williams a/k/a Leslie W. Mroz

Subject's address:
699 SW 8th Terrace, Boca Raton, FL 33486-5509 (Home Address) 1355 West Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton, FL 33486 (P.O. Box) or 3840 West Hillsboro Blvd., #302, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442 (P.O. Box)

Subject's business:
Talent agency

Allegation or issue being investigated:
(1) Charging aspiring writers various fees totaling hundreds of dollars for professional services that were either not rendered at all or were not rendered in good faith; (2) Charging for unnecessary services; and (3) Creating unreasonable consumer expectations concerning their prospects for publication by failling to criticize submitted drafts, in order to encourage the consumer and collect more fees.

AG unit handling case:
Economic Crimes Division in West Palm Beach, Florida
 

Liteiny

Registered
Joined
Dec 26, 2008
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Thankyou for saving me from SBP/WL Literary Agency!

I would just like to thank everyone on this forum for saving me for a fate worse than death with this awful company.

I recently received a contract from them, for the publication of my second book after my original publisher unfortunately went under in the crisis. At first I was elated, before reading that they wanted me to commit to buying 250 of my own books, at 5 a week. I queried this as unethical with the "warmest" Robert, with whom I had been corresponding, and he promptly etherized.

Given that the book is ready to go, has been edited by my previous publisher, and I already have a website, and a cover completed, I guess this was the only way they could think of to extract cash from me. As soon as they proposed it, an alarm bell rang and I started researching them.

Although I've already been published, I'm in the same boat as many first authors, in that I'm facing the uphill struggle against the economic downturn, and trying to swim among the sharks to find a publisher. SBP isn't the only one out there: Raider, American Publishing and countless others are preying on the aspiration, hope and faith of writers who want to see their work in print more than anything. What's truly frightening, is that upon first glance, their website and contracts look legit, and they even have the audacity to claim they pay their authors. It's DESPICABLE.

It's really thanks to all of you that I didn't end up in their sticky web, and if your intention is to save authors from them, you've succeeded here! I am going to do all I can to raise awareness about these pirates.

As for those of you who are asking about their credibility: the facts speak volumes. The WL Literary Agency (their pimp) is on the watchdog list for America's 20 worst literary agents, and if you Google beyond their self-effervescing ads, you'll find a whole barrage of reasons to run far and run fast. Try looking up their promotional videos on YouTube if you want a really good laugh: they actually make great satire.

My heart goes out to all those authors who have given them money in good faith with the hope of realizing their dreams. The most sickening thing is that they are really quite convincing, and one could be easily forgiven for buying into their claims. All we can do now is try and expose them.
There is a silver lining in all this, for me at least. I've become resolute that I will get my second book published by a publisher with integrity, even if it takes years. Thanks to your efforts, I feel more confident that I could sift the wheat from the chaff.

Happy New Year and much warmth to you all.
 

Raven West

Registered
Joined
Jan 22, 2007
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
California
Website
ravenwest.net
strategic book publishing

So far, they have not asked for any money and the editing suggestions they made on parts of the manuscript were valid. I could tell that someone had actually READ the first few chapters because the suggested edits were from the actual text, so at least someone took time to do this.

I wrote back and told them that, although I do realize that the book needs editing, I do not have any available funds at this time. Red Wine for Breakfast was originally published in 1996, with iUniverse, then went to a small independent publisher in 2001 and has sold quite well over the past several years, as did my second book "First Class Male". However, the publisher went out of business last year, so I was interested in moving the titles elsewhere.

My "red flag" was that there was no publishing "contract" to speak of. Although they do have an author's list of published books, my gut feeling is that ANY legit publisher NEVER asks an author to pay for anything out of pocket. If they were offering an editing service, that would be honest. They talked about publishing the book in hard cover, but I don't think it's large enough for that route.

Don't these people know that ANY author who has experience in the Pub. Biz knows the very first thing we do is check them out on-line with our contacts before we even bother to agree to anything? I thought the days of "Edit Ink" were far behind us...guess I was wrong!

I'll see what kind of response I get.

Raven West
Author
Red Wine for Breakfast
First Class Male
http://ravenwest.net
 

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle
Absolute Sage
VPX
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
25,582
Reaction score
3,785
Location
New Hampshire
Website
madhousemanor.wordpress.com
...my gut feeling is that ANY legit publisher NEVER asks an author to pay for anything out of pocket.

Quite right. No legitimate publisher ever asks any author to pay anything (or to agree to buy or sell a certain number of books).

Publishers pay authors, not the other way around.
 

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess
Kind Benefactor
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
6,704
Reaction score
1,314
Location
Far from the madding crowd
Website
www.victoriastrauss.com
AEG/Strategic Book Publishing (a.k.a. Robert Fletcher) is currently offering authors a choice of buying 5 books a week for a year at list price (250 books total) or paying $675 upfront.

You can become an additional named insured on AEG's publishers' insurance policy for $495 (insurance companies typically add named insureds at no charge or at a minimal fee--less than $100--so there's a nice profit here).

Strategic's contract is an all-rights, life-of-copyright contract with an inadequate reversion clause (when and how a work is taken out of print is not defined). Authors can terminate the contract---but if they do so after the publisher has performed 5 or more hours of work, they must pay a $1,000 kill fee. If they terminate after the book has been sent to the printer, the kill fee rises to $2,500.

There are other nonstandard aspects to Strategic's contract, but those are the standouts. You will never find provisions like these in contracts from reputable commercial publishers.

- Victoria
 

free writer

Registered
Joined
Jan 18, 2009
Messages
2
Reaction score
1
I'm so glad I checked here! I submitted a query to wylie Merrick and they sent forwarded it to SBP. They said it was a new group, and many of the authors sent there were finding much success. Very soon after I got the responce from he real publisher, I received an e-mail from SBP asking for my manuscript. I haven't sent it in yet, thankfully. They do repeat over and over that they are a traditional publisher. This really worries me because I always feel if a group is listed in the Writer's Market, that it is a legit publisher. Thanks for the heads up.
BJ
 

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle
Absolute Sage
VPX
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
25,582
Reaction score
3,785
Location
New Hampshire
Website
madhousemanor.wordpress.com
All that it means if a publisher is listed in Writer's Market is that they filled out the questionnaire.

You say that Wylie Merrick forwarded your query to Strategic Book Publishing? If so that's very troubling ... about Wylie Merrick.

I think you should forward all your correspondence about this matter to Ann and Victoria ... and to the Florida Attorney General.
 

Roger J Carlson

Moderator In Name Only
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 19, 2005
Messages
12,799
Reaction score
2,499
Location
West Michigan
This really worries me because I always feel if a group is listed in the Writer's Market, that it is a legit publisher. Thanks for the heads up.
BJ
Unfortunately, while Writer's Market is a good pace to *start* for agents and publishers, simply being in their listing is not a guarantee that they are legitimate. Many non-legitimate markets (my opinion) are listed there. You have to do your own follow-up research.

Fortunately, you did. :)
 

AC Crispin

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
353
Reaction score
122
Location
Washington DC area
Website
www.accrispin.com
Attn: "free writer"

Please contact me and Victoria Strauss about what has happened regarding the Wylie Merrick referral to Strategic Book Publishing. We would like to see your correspondence and all documentation on this matter.

My email address is: [email protected]

Victoria's email address is: [email protected]

Thank you.

-Ann C. Crispin
Chair, Writer Beware
www.writerbeware.com