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All Things That Matter Press

Richard White

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Small presses exist to fill niche markets. Small publishers focus on things that the bigger publishers wouldn't mess with because the return on investment isn't high enough. Local stories about the Ozarks sell well to the tourists, but a local, regional publisher would be more likely to publish them than S&S. Ghost Towns of the Old west, etc.

Most small presses focus on non-fiction because they have a very specific audience they're going after. Or else, they're doing regional fiction to sell regionally. Most small e-presses have very specific audiences they're going after also - the erotic lines dominate here from what I can see.

Small presses are not there to give authors a chance. In fact, their bottom lines are actually tighter than a large company, so they are actually MORE picky than some of the larger companies because one or two bad books and they're out of business. They don't have the Harry Potters or the Twilights to cover books that don't earn out.

If publisher's aren't selling books to the public, the only place they're selling them is to their own authors.
 
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Munanee

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Has anyone had dealings with this publisher? It looks like either an eBook publisher or vanity press.
 

Momento Mori

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Website here: http://www.allthingsthatmatterpress.com/

Flog coming later because there are so many red flags and bullshit on the site that it'll take a while to write.

Concise version though is that while I don't think it's an out and out scam, there's a lot to suggest it's not a good idea (not least the site claims bricks and mortar stores are dead and the ebook is the future - yet it wants to take your print rights - hmmm ...)

And really, why settle for a royalty-paying POD outfit without at least going down the agent/commercial publisher route? Better to start at the top and work your way down than go straight to the bottom.

ETA: Flog would be superfluous as I've already done one on the existing thread for this publisher here:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125269

and ATTMP has given a response of sorts here:

http://www.allthingsthatmatterpress.com/absolutewrite.htm

MM
 
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vadim

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All Things That Matter

Hello! I just want to add some info about All Things That Matter Press. Yesterday, I sent there a ms. Below are the publisher's reply, my reply, and his reply once again... Perhaps it would help you make your mind before sending your submission there...

From: All Things That Matter Press [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2011 8:25 AM
To: Vera Zubarev
Subject: Re: Submission Lunar Rhapsody



Thank you for your submission, which sounds interesting. Unfortunately, we are unable to process it for review as you failed to comply with the submission requirements as set forth on our web site, particularly with respect to the contract.
My response:


Dear Philip,

Thank you for bringing my attention to the fact that the Author should first agree on your contract in order to get his/her submission read by your publishing house. In my humble opinion and experience, agreeing to the terms of the contract should be the next step followed by the publisher’s intent to publish the manuscript. The contract, as I understand it, is a form of a dialogue between the publisher and the author and it should be negotiable. But negotiations are possible only after the publisher expresses his desire to publish the ms. Only then each sentence of the contract should be discussed, scrutinized and compromised in order to achieve a better agreement for both hard working parties. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Respectfully,



From: All Things That Matter Press [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2011 11:30 AM
To: Vera Zubarev
Subject: Re: Submission Lunar Rhapsody


Dear Vera,

The submissions requirements on our web site are clearly laid out. And, no, the contract is not a "dialogue", nor is it negotiable.

-Deb
 

Katrina S. Forest

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They require you to state that you read it in order to submit. So I suppose you could say you read it and not actually do it. But then you couldn't complain later that you didn't know/understand what the contract said.
 

priceless1

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True, but the email from All Things indicated they'd tossed the submission because the author
failed to comply with the submission requirements as set forth on our web site, particularly with respect to the contract.
Since they highlight the contract, I was confused as to what the author was supposed to do regarding the contract. If Vadim said she'd read the contract, then why toss the submission?

Eh...why do I care? Geez, this is strange little publisher. Go, Pricey, and do something useful!
 

Momento Mori

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priceless1:
Since they highlight the contract, I was confused as to what the author was supposed to do regarding the contract.

On the submissions page, it says that when submitting a manuscript the author has to include in the body of the email the following statement:

I have read your website and contract and understand the content.

Failure to do so means they won't read your manuscript. The idea is then if you're 'lucky' and they agree to publish you, you have to sign the contract as is without any form of negotiation.

I don't know enough about US law to know how enforceable that is - in the UK the author arguably could tell ATTMP to go screw themselves because it would be nothing more than an acknowledgement and at best an agreement to agree (which is unenforceable in English law). However it is IMHO one of the myriad of things about this company that show how shabby, unprofessional and downright twunty they are.

MM
 

Al Stevens

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A friend has had his rights reverted from PA and is now considering ATTMP. It doesn't look like much of what was challenged in this thread has changed. (They have what look to me to be nice covers, but I'm no expert on that.)

There's still a lot of attitude on their website, but they're well past the two-year mark that seems to be among the submission criteria often given here in BR&BC.

Any updates? Have any of you had further dealings with them? Anything to change your minds? My friend (not a member here) is asking about ATTMP as compared to self-publishing.
 

CaoPaux

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Recent focus is audio editions through Amazon's ACX program.

The last new book published (Aug '13) has no sales rank for the paperback and a rank of 1mil for the ebook.
 

eqb

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Conclusions: This press could be good to submit to if you are mainly concerned with being published by a third party and don't want to limit yourself to self-publishing. But you would likely need to work doggedly with them to get a non-hideous cover design and non-ugly interior, create your own non-ugly website for marketing, and do your own legwork on the marketing. This could still be worth it because you'd be eligible for some review venues and post-publication contests that exclude self-published titles, so if you have an excellent book that is too highbrow or quirky for mainstream publishing profitability, this could be a good way to get a foot in the door of non-self-published-authordom.

On the other hand, if your chief concern is a quality interior and cover and jacket copy, and you are willing to do your own production work (which is a big learning curve for most), you'd probably be better of self-publishing. Just my two cents!

My conclusion is somewhat different.

Cons:
A non-negotiable contract is a huge red flag
They state on their blog that they will not work with agents, another red flag
The two people running the operation appear to have no previous experience in publishing
The contract says nothing about edits or copyedits, while the publisher website has a page dedicated to editing services, yet another red flag
The covers and interior formatting are, as noted, terrible
The publisher's digital footprint is very, very small--no current reviews, no marketing of current books, nothing
Sales ranks on Amazon are abysmal (this is my surprised face)

Conclusion:
Luckily, the choice isn't between ATTMP and nothing. One can always self-publish, of course, but for those who prefer a trade publisher, there are other small presses that do a great job with covers, editing, and drumming up reviews.