Liquid Silver Publishing (formerly Liquid Silver Books)

Congats! I have enjoyed working with them, and though I wouldn't say my sales are phenomenal I'm happy with their professionalism, the length of their contract, and the fact that I can use my other rights if I so wish.

I signed with LSB in April for my M/M fantasy book. Since then I've heard from my editor in May, then nothing. From everyone's experience, how long does it take from contract signing to edits to be received?

c.m.n. said:

I signed with LSB in April for my M/M fantasy book. Since then I've heard from my editor in May, then nothing. From everyone's experience, how long does it take from contract signing to edits to be received?

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I signed a contract at the end of May, heard from editor in middle of June, and just finish up the final line edits today. (This is for a novella.) I think this is similar to my previous experiences with them? Usually once I hear from the editor, they have something to me within a week. I think once the editor contacts you, it's supposed to be a 30 day turn around to finish the edits? So your experience seems a bit unusual to me. I do know there have been some staff changes recently...

i have a revise/resubmit request from LSB that sounds promising. (contemporary romance)
Been digging around this forum & wondering if any LSB authors might share some info about their sales & marketing experience with LSB?? the last mention of that topic seems is be around 2013. i checked some of their new releases on amazon & the ranking weren't that impressive.

c.m.n. said:

I signed with LSB in April for my M/M fantasy book. Since then I've heard from my editor in May, then nothing. From everyone's experience, how long does it take from contract signing to edits to be received?

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I would reach out to your editor and see if there is an update. I signed in Feb, had 2 rounds of edits done in March, FLE in April, released in June.

I knew what my date was for all my deadlines, so I did reach out to my editor in March as one of the deadlines approached to see if I "missed" an email from her.

viridian6 said:

i have a revise/resubmit request from LSB that sounds promising. (contemporary romance)
Been digging around this forum & wondering if any LSB authors might share some info about their sales & marketing experience with LSB?? the last mention of that topic seems is be around 2013. i checked some of their new releases on amazon & the ranking weren't that impressive.

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Ive been happy with their professionalism, their editing and cover art. I'm glad I own my own print rights. Everyone has been great to work with and fellow LSB author support is fabulous. We have our own RT group on Twitter and help each other promote there and on other social networks. I think many authors with smaller publishing houses need to do a lot of self-marketing. I've also heard that it takes about 7 published books before sales start picking up as an author. It takes time to build a author platform and establish loyal readers.

Keep in mind there are many books on Amazon that are priced free or very cheaply - and those do very well ranking wise, but at a cost. I'm hoping to discount my first book when the second of my series comes out to boost sales of both.

Thanks, LJD and Sibyl. I emailed my editor and got it all worked out.

Just waiting to get my ARC copies (?). Don't I get them from logging into my account at their website?

I have not had a very pleasurable experience working with LSB. Since signing my contract back in April 2015, I have had nothing but issues with them. Mostly small things, not much to be concerned about, but a couple of very big things.

First, I have noticed that any emails forwarded within the company go unanswered. It took 3 months to have a very important question about the contract answered, after I emailed the correct person.

Secondly, when receiving their royalty payments via PayPal, I was charged PayPal processing fees. This hit me unaware. It was not written into the contact I signed with them that I would be responsible for paying these fees.

I have been published by 4 other e-presses and have never had this happen. This should be considered a basic operating cost, paid for by the publisher.

I have talked to Linda about this concern. It is an issue between their contract with PayPal, in which author's are considered independent contractors, like their freelance editors and cover artists. I can claim these fees in my taxes, however it really feels as if I lost some of what was owed to me, simply because they kept this detail out of their contract.

And I really do prefer PayPal over a check, which is the only way I can get out of paying fees.

Needless to say, I will not be sending them any more of my work.

Liquid Silver has been purchased by Ten West. They are not paying royalties. I've been told my final check--I've pulled all my books due to contract expiration among other things--'is in the mail' multiple times. No check has arrived despite me contacting them multiple times. I also did not receive any royalties statements after Ten West took over. (I'm not sure when this happened, honestly as they made NO announcement of the sale or anything else.) Their first excuse for not paying me is that 'a statement of projected sales isn't the same as a royalties statement'. LSB/Atlantic Bridge always provided this, then sent a statement immediately thereafter. Not so with Ten West. I hadn't gotten a statement form them in MONTHS.

Avoid this place.

michael_b said:

Liquid Silver has been purchased by Ten West. They are not paying royalties. I've been told my final check--I've pulled all my books due to contract expiration among other things--'is in the mail' multiple times. No check has arrived despite me contacting them multiple times. I also did not receive any royalties statements after Ten West took over. (I'm not sure when this happened, honestly as they made NO announcement of the sale or anything else.) Their first excuse for not paying me is that 'a statement of projected sales isn't the same as a royalties statement'. LSB/Atlantic Bridge always provided this, then sent a statement immediately thereafter. Not so with Ten West. I hadn't gotten a statement form them in MONTHS.

Avoid this place.

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Ugh. That sucks. I haven't had any problems lately, aside from the usual abysmal sales.

There was an email at the beginning of May from Roscoe James. My understanding is that they weren't purchased by Ten West, but Ten West was created by a re-organization of Atlantic Bridge. Ten West manages Liquid Silver, as well as Blue Swan, a new imprint. I received my latest quarterly royalty statement in March, around the same time as usual. I get paid on PayPal, and received the payment, maybe a few days later than usual.

LJD said:

My understanding is that they weren't purchased by Ten West, but Ten West was created by a re-organization of Atlantic Bridge. Ten West manages Liquid Silver, as well as Blue Swan, a new imprint. I received my latest quarterly royalty statement in March, around the same time as usual. I get paid on PayPal, and received the payment, maybe a few days later than usual.

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Ah, that explains why I couldn't find Ten West in the Index. Their website is here - http://tenwestpublishing.com (assuming that it's Ten West Publishing). The site has a countdown to the site's "launch"--over 115 days away. Not much solace for those whose books are now in their hands.

Dammit. They were one of the good ones. I always thought sales on most LSB titles were pretty robust.

FluffBunny said:

Ah, that explains why I couldn't find Ten West in the Index. Their website is here - http://tenwestpublishing.com (assuming that it's Ten West Publishing). The site has a countdown to the site's "launch"--over 115 days away. Not much solace for those whose books are now in their hands.

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The new Liquid Silver website is here. Not sure what the deal with the Ten West one is.

akaria said:

Dammit. They were one of the good ones. I always thought sales on most LSB titles were pretty robust.

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All four of my books with them have terrible sales. The first came out in 2014, the rest in 2015. Some people do okay, but I know I'm not alone with my dismal sales numbers. To be fair, I have poor sales with other publishers as well...

I'm looking for feedback on LIquid Silver Publishing

Whereas they're interested in an erotic novella of mine, any comments?
Editors & Preditors list them with: Liquid Silver Books: Recommended.

LJD said:

The new Liquid Silver website is here.

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I have a pet peeve against "Editors' Picks" sections on publisher websites. I mean, surely ALL their books were picked by their editors, right? It just feels like they're setting up a hierarchy within the company, and that doesn't appeal to me.

All four of my books with them have terrible sales. The first came out in 2014, the rest in 2015. Some people do okay, but I know I'm not alone with my dismal sales numbers. To be fair, I have poor sales with other publishers as well...

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As I mentioned earlier in the thread, my sales with them were appalling. Hmm... now that I think about it... what did I do with that book? I got my rights back, but I don't think I ever got around to re-issuing it...

Liquid Silver said the editor's pick books were just ones they wanted more exposure for. (I have an "editor's pick" at another publisher and I think it's sold the best of all my books so far. Which still isn't saying much.)

My most "successful" book with Liquid Silver sold about 50 copies. I'm not going to bother getting the rights back for that one until I can get them back for the rest in the series. If I even bother, since I plan to give up on writing anyway...

As far as I can tell, the people who do best with them seem to 1) write paranormal romances, and 2) started publishing prior to 2012 or so.

LJD said:

Liquid Silver said the editor's pick books were just ones they wanted more exposure for. (I have an "editor's pick" at another publisher and I think it's sold the best of all my books so far. Which still isn't saying much.)

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It still seems like a two-tiered system. Shouldn't they want more exposure for ALL their books? And your editor's pick book selling more kind of proves my point - it's a valuable opportunity, but not one that all books get.

I guess it's a bit of a de-rail. Just a pet peeve.

I plan on emailing them soon to ask for my rights back when the contract ends next October because I'm just unhappy with them altogether. But I received my royalties + statement on time, in April. For the first 2 quarters, sales for my fantasy M/M weren't great, but not worse than I've had with other publishers.

This is really (more) surprising bad new about the large independents. I always thought their sales were exceptional straight across the board.

I'm an LSB author, and I have no complaints whatsoever about publishing with them. From the submissions process through editing, cover art, even sales were pretty decent until the inevitable tailing off after a while. I've never had any issues with my royalties being paid on time either.

However, I haven't had any contact from them in any general/informational capacity for a long time, and given the changes that seem to be afoot at the company (and the fact that I hear about them here, not from LSB themselves) that makes me ever so slightly concerned. I've tried to get in touch, but so far to no avail.

Does anyone have a current email for whoever's in charge of that sort of thing at LSB these days? A PM would be very much appreciated.

shizu said:

However, I haven't had any contact from them in any general/informational capacity for a long time,

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I received an email from Roscoe James May 30 with some info in it. I'll forward it to you if you provide your email.

I got that Roscoe James e-mail as well and I'm not even a current author with them. Weird that they seem to have so much trouble with e-mail addresses!

Wow! Just saw this thread. I've received the e-mails with info about all the changes and, well, they haven't made any difference to me as an LSB author. I have one novella with them that had terrible sales and I haven't sent them anything else. My experience was positive in that they were professional and timely. I get my royalty statements when I'm supposed to (then I laugh all the way to the corner shop where I buy a pint of milk) and then I forget I have a book with them. My contract is up soon and I'll be asking for my rights back. I wish them luck with the new changes, but I doubt I'll be doing business with them again.