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Damnation Books

Unimportant

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Yeah, but RoF is very respectable, and it seems unlikely that those running the mag would stay on if they didn't have some faith in the new owners.

Adding: Doug Cohen has mentioned that Damnation has changed the RoF contract, but the changes have been approved by Shawna McCarthy.
 
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para

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Yeah, but RoF is very respectable, and it seems unlikely that those running the mag would stay on if they didn't have some faith in the new owners.

People will stay on if they're getting paid and the alternative means leaving and not getting paid then defaulting on mortgages etc. Unless the staff have something lined up or massive savings I doubt they'll be going anywhere.
 

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Yeah, good point, Para.
 

Euan H.

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Thought I'd chime in here regarding Damnation books and Realms of Fantasy. I sold two stories* to Realms of Fantasy back in January. The contracts arrived soon after Shawna's email, offering a pay rate that was better than I'd previously been offered (very nice sum of money actually). The contract specified payment within 90 days of contracts being received by Damnation Books.

The payment arrived today via Paypal. All perfectly as specified within the terms of the contract. I don't know about other people's experiences with them, but mine have been perfectly satisfactory. I hope this goes some way to counterbalance the things that have been said in this thread (and about which I have no opinion).

ETA: *Interior art to one of the stories is here <= in my avatar. :)
 

Darren Frey

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I just checked out Damnation. Whats with the four asterisks between each scene? Seems kinda silly to me but I am considering trying them first when I get my WIP done.
 

brainstorm77

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I just checked out Damnation. Whats with the four asterisks between each scene? Seems kinda silly to me but I am considering trying them first when I get my WIP done.

Many publishers request that.
 

Darren Frey

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ok I read over this thread and other threads about Damnation and I ddont see what the fuss is all about. The Better Business Beuro gave them an A+ and that is a tough thing to get from them. I had the thing on my contract about termination fees. It is between 50-1000 dollars depending on the time and moneyd they put into your book. I have had nothing but good things to say about DB. I even know a few authors who publish with them and they are very ssatisfied as well. Just because 1 person had a bad experience with them doesnt mean everyone has had one.
 

veinglory

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The BBB only knows what it is told and does not typically count author complaints other than for self-publishers (authors of commercial presses are not "customers"). I would look at more than that before making a final judgment.
 

Gillhoughly

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All businesses registered with the BBB start off with an A+ and the grade either stays or goes down as complaints come in.

For a while PublishAmerica had an A+, which devolved to an F.

This house didn't earn an A+; it just means no one has filed complaints yet.

A writer's best reference in this case is to pay attention to what other writers and editors have to say.

If you were about to go into a restaurant and a dozen of your friends said it was a ptomaine factory, would you be so eager to try it or fall in with them as they walk to another eatery?

Stick with the gang. The "health department" doesn't know everything.
 

JulieB

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I had the thing on my contract about termination fees. It is between 50-1000 dollars depending on the time and moneyd they put into your book.

I would be wary of signing a contract with a termination fee. Are you able to get the contract terminated and your rights reverted at no charge if the publisher doesn't perform? For example, does your contract have a clause that states if the book hasn't gone into production within a specified period of time that you can request your rights back with no penalty?

The sliding scale is also a bit of a worry to me. How does the author know how much time and money the publisher has spent on the book? What's to keep a publisher from just sitting on a manuscript and collecting $1,000 from the author? I'm not accusing Damnation of doing these things, but I am saying I wouldn't sign a contract like that.
 

IceCreamEmpress

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The Better Business Beuro gave them an A+ and that is a tough thing to get from them.

That's the automatic rating businesses start out with; as they receive complaints, points get taken away.

Just because 1 person had a bad experience with them doesnt mean everyone has had one.

This is absolutely true. Similarly, just because one person has had a good experience with them doesn't mean that everyone has had a similarly good experience.

That's why these threads are here, so that different people can offer their different perspectives and the folks reading the thread can draw their own conclusions.

Could you say more about your good experiences of being published with them? Because that's important data for these threads.
 

Darren Frey

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I would be wary of signing a contract with a termination fee. Are you able to get the contract terminated and your rights reverted at no charge if the publisher doesn't perform? For example, does your contract have a clause that states if the book hasn't gone into production within a specified period of time that you can request your rights back with no penalty?

it says that if it is not published within a year or the company should go bankrupt all rights are returned to the author.
 

JulieB

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it says that if it is not published within a year or the company should go bankrupt all rights are returned to the author.

Glad to know there's a time limit. That can help protect you. The bankruptcy clause is nice, but as far as I'm aware, your book could still be held as an asset in bankruptcy court. There are folks here who have a better grasp of that bit than I have.

And as long as there's no sanity clause. You know there's no such thing as a sanity clause. :D (h/t Marx Bros.)
 

victoriastrauss

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I had the thing on my contract about termination fees. It is between 50-1000 dollars depending on the time and moneyd they put into your book.

A termination fee offers absolutely no benefit to a publisher. Instead of attempting to recoup your costs if your authors leave early, why allow your authors to leave at all? Set a reasonable contract term, and hold your authors to it. That's the way it's done all over the publishing world. There's just no good reason to have a termination fee.

Unfortunately, termination fees in publishing contracts can tempt publishers to abuse--for instance, holding the fee over authors' heads to enforce good behavior. Suppose the publisher saddles you with an incompetent or overzealous editor, and you protest--the publisher may tell you to get in line or they will invoke the termination clause, complete with fees. I've heard from quite a number of authors over the years whose publishers have used termination fee clauses this way.

- Victoria
 

CaoPaux

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Recovered from 7/9/11 (lost the first few re: editor’s request to rewrite the book in a different tense):

Today, 08:33 PM
djherren
I love mysterious projects!

Originally Posted by Darren Frey View Post
Everything should work out considering 24 hours later the book is almost completely edited to the editor's liking.
This is the scariest thing I've read in a while. Complete edits in 24 hours after the editor asked for an intensive rewrite? Even assuming you talked your editor around from the tense change, he/she couldn't have done more than basic content editing yet.
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Today, 08:35 PM
firedrake
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Originally Posted by djherren View Post
This is the scariest thing I've read in a while. Complete edits in 24 hours after the editor asked for an intensive rewrite? Even assuming you talked your editor around from the tense change, he/she couldn't have done more than basic content editing yet.
Um...yeah....this.

I had fairly light edits for my book and they took more than 24 hours.
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Today, 08:43 PM
Darren Frey
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No no these are the edits I did which was changing from present to past tense. Its hard to tell what else she will want me to do to it.
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Today, 08:47 PM
djherren
I love mysterious projects!

Originally Posted by Darren Frey View Post
No no these are the edits I did which was changing from present to past tense. Its hard to tell what else she will want me to do to it.
OH. I would call those revisions, not edits. Also, how in the name of sweet baby Jesus did you do that in < 24 hours?!? O_O
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Today, 08:54 PM
Darren Frey
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Originally Posted by djherren View Post
OH. I would call those revisions, not edits. Also, how in the name of sweet baby Jesus did you do that in < 24 hours?!? O_O
well it is not completely done yet. I broke it in half and gave my wife the first half to do and I took the 2nd half. Mine is done and hers is about halfway done. I will try to help her finish it today.
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Today, 09:05 PM
brainstorm77
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Everything put aside, this changing tense thing should have been brought to your attention before any contract was offered or signed.
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Today, 09:13 PM
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Originally Posted by brainstorm77 View Post
Everything put aside, this changing tense thing should have been brought to your attention before any contract was offered or signed.
This. If I have a big issue with a manuscript, I discuss those issues at the time of the contract offer. You don't just sign an author and say, "Oh hi, um, we need to you change the tense." And how you can effectively do this in 24 hours is beyond me. This is major.
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Today, 09:20 PM
Darren Frey
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Originally Posted by priceless1 View Post
This. If I have a big issue with a manuscript, I discuss those issues at the time of the contract offer. You don't just sign an author and say, "Oh hi, um, we need to you change the tense." And how you can effectively do this in 24 hours is beyond me. This is major.
My book is only 40,000 words and it was already told in first person narrative so it was not very hard to do but I agree with you and the person above, they should have discussed it with me. The CEO of the company even read it before I was given my publishing deal so I don't know what is going on over there. I will know better than to deal with them again.
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Today, 09:22 PM
djherren
I love mysterious projects!

Originally Posted by priceless1 View Post
If I have a big issue with a manuscript, I discuss those issues at the time of the contract offer.
I agree. My writing partner and I have been working with our Samhain editor for three years now, and she still lets us know with a contract offer what her thoughts are on revisions. That way, we can decide whether we agree or discuss them with her before a contract is processed.
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Today, 09:45 PM
priceless1
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Originally Posted by djherren View Post
I agree. My writing partner and I have been working with our Samhain editor for three years now, and she still lets us know with a contract offer what her thoughts are on revisions. That way, we can decide whether we agree or discuss them with her before a contract is processed.
It's simply good business. That way everyone knows up front what the issues are and can agree or disagree with those changes. The upside is avoid wasting everyone's time.
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shelleyo

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This is the scariest thing I've read in a while. Complete edits in 24 hours after the editor asked for an intensive rewrite? Even assuming you talked your editor around from the tense change, he/she couldn't have done more than basic content editing yet.
I've just read the samples of some books from this press. Anyone considering submitting here at the very least should download samples from several of their titles and read them with a critical eye. The ones I read were full of mistakes that I wouldn't expect to find in work that had actually been edited. These were glaring. And the prose itself, the storytelling, far below what I'd consider to be publishable quality.

Maybe I grabbed a few that are exceptions, but they would certainly give me pause before I submitted here, with or without warnings from anywhere else.

Shelley
 

amergina

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The owners of Realms of Fantasy (Damnation Books) announced that it is closing on the RoF website, here.
 

dondomat

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novel picked up

A novel of mine was just picked up by Damnation Books, and thus far the communication has been amiable, clear, and efficient.
 

BjornAbust

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I've actually been meaning to ask about this publisher. Looking at their site, they appear to have made some changes. Because of this, I've been considering sending them one of my novellas.

dondomat, would you be willing to describe your dealings thus far with Damnation books in more detail? Do you know if they still include termination fees in their contracts?
 

dondomat

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The dealings thus far in their embryonic stage; yes the kill fees are there.

Ask me again in 4-5 months when the novel is out there