Amourose Press

Hi New Writer,

Stop! You're making a big mistake. You have so many free options to improve your work - critique groups, writing forums ... It's totally unnecessary to pay money to anyone. Yog's Law: Money flows toward the writer. That means that publishing professionals pay you, not the other way around.

As for Amourose, I see they publish through Lulu, which suggests to me that they're a micropress who can't get your book into bookstores (which is super super important). Start at the top and work down. Approach the major publishers in your genre - the people who publish bestsellers, books you actually read, books you can buy in bookstores.

It sounds like you really need to learn about publishing. It's great that you're here. We can teach you everything you need to know.

Cheers,
Parametric

(PS: You might find it helpful to write in complete, grammatical English on these boards, not txtspk. As writers, we value good English.)

Welcome!

First of all, if they haven't officially accepted your manuscript then you don't technically have a publisher. And given that you're sixteen, your parents would likely have to sign the contract since you're underage. In most places, a minor such as yourself can't legally enter into a contract with someone else (like a publisher). I tried searching the name of the press, and nothing came up in the forum so I don't think anyone's heard of them. Not usually a good sign. As for firstediting.com, most cases paying for professional editing isn't worth the money. It's a personal decision, but there are easier and cheaper ways. Beta readers, critiques and learning how to edit yourself are all preferable ways to polish your manuscript. Legitimate publishers don't care if you've had your manuscript professionally edited, and it doesn't give you an edge. Two pieces of the best advice you can ever get:

-research research research. Don't submit to someone until you're absolutely certain they're legitimate and can actually do the job.

-money flows towards the writer. Always.

You're young, you've got lots of time so don't rush it

You have already received some comments I agree with about why it might be a good idea to stop and research further before you go through with the plan to publish your book through amourose.

I'll add another - publishing a book before you are ready, and therefore before you have reached your full potential as a writer, can hurt your ability to be seen as a professional writer later. When trying to land an agent or sell your first book to a major publisher, they may be more attracted to you if the book you are pitching is your "debut novel." But if you publish through amourose or any other publisher, or even self-publish your book, then that book is your "debut novel" and no future book can be your "debut novel." Future agents and editors may be less interested in your future books because they can't market them as your "debut novel."

AS an additional reason to wait and research more, I would strongly recommend against paying any money to edit or publish your book, and I would strongly advise against publishing through a micro-press before you have fully researched all opportunities, and looked into getting an agent and looking at professional, large trade publishers.

It may take some time, and work, but if your book is indeed good enough to be published, you owe it to yourself to try to publish it in the best way possible.

Good luck.

~suki

If your book is a novel, then I'd suggest you get yourself a crit group or a beta reader (there's a forum for betas here) or at least post the first chapter in Share Your Work (password:vista) to see if the book is even ready to be submitted to a real publisher.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO PAY AN EDITING SERVICE. Beta readers are free.

Once your book is as good as you can make it, then you start looking for an AGENT, not a publisher. Most legit publishers want to deal with agents, not writers. And legit publishers PAY YOU, not the other way around.

According to their website, they don't open for submissions until November, so you definitely don't 'have' a publisher. You might, perhaps, have chosen them, but until a publisher chooses you and you've signed a contract, you don't have a publisher.

Furthermore, the 'About Us' page says the publisher was started by Wendy Woods, an 'independent author'. But I can't find any books published (not even vanity or subsidy) by Wendy Woods. It looks like yet another micro-press being started by someone who couldn't get a deal themselves. Do you want someone like this handling your book?

Others have given you good advice: get your work critiqued, then start submitting to the top agents and work your way down from there. And avoid the vanity and subsidy publishers.

Finally, welcome and good luck!

Have you read any of their books? Has anyone you know read any of their books? Have they, in fact, ever published anything?

How did you hear about Amourose Press? What made you decide to go with them?

What books do you read? Where do you get them? Who publishes them?

When I go to http://firstediting.com/ I get an Apache HTTP Server Test Page. How did you hear about them? How much are you paying?

If you're into paying money, try paying money for The First Five Pages and Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. You can probably find both in your local library, or get them through interlibrary loan.

See also: How Real Publishing Works and This is nothing like an official FAQ.

*NeW*WrItEr* said:

. . . idk who to trust.....

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Take a look at this booklet (free pdf). Many folks have found it helpful in knowing what questions to ask and pitfalls to avoid. Pay attention to the annotated resource list and do the homework.

You've gotten a boatload of good advice here already, by the way. There is nothing wrong with paying for editing IF you know exactly why you are doing so and what you will be getting for your money. I doubt very much that you would benefit from paid editing at this point. Start with a free, local, friendly critique group. And use the resources of Absolute Write's forums. And take James Macdonald's advice.

--Ken

I visited their website. There's no authors listed, so it looks like a new publishing business starting up. Furthermore, they don't use their own editors, but Lulu instead. I do find it interesting that the author retains all rights, even after the manuscript is accepted, and they get 65% of royalties. That almost points to self-publishing, but it's hard to tell without seeing a contract.

My advice is to wait a few years on this one, until they develop a reputation and get some authors in.

Topaz044 said:

I do find it interesting that the author retains all rights, even after the manuscript is accepted, and they get 65% of royalties.

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Ding! Alarm bell.

(Specific wording from the website to substantiate Topaz' comment: "Authors whose manuscripts are accepted retain all rights.")

A publishing contract by definition uses up rights. The first publication rights for a specific work, eg. the right to be the first person to publish that work, can only be used once - and once the work is published, first publication rights are gone. Forever. You can never get them back.

I wonder if the people involved know that.

a) no authors listed

b) print through Lulu

b) 65% royalties

All points to vanity press disguised as a legit publisher, and most likely they ask the authors to purchase books. And very unlikely they have distributor or book store placement, and extremely unlikely they offer returns.

No thanks.

maestrowork said:

a) no authors listed

b) print through Lulu

b) 65% royalties

All points to vanity press disguised as a legit publisher, and most likely they ask the authors to purchase books. And very unlikely they have distributor or book store placement, and extremely unlikely they offer returns.

No thanks.

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In fairness, the press does state:

Amourose Press is not a vanity press. There are no fees charged to authors, if accepted, at any time. As an Independent Publisher, we believe monies should be paid to the author, not the other way around. Nor are authors required to purchase any of their books in order to 'help market' them.

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One look at their website and I'm done.

"This page is hosted free, courtesy of GoDaddy.com"?

They can't even afford to pay for their own website.

The more I look, the worse I feel, and maestro sums it up perfectly:

maestrowork said:

a) no authors listed

b) print through Lulu

b) 65% royalties

All points to vanity press disguised as a legit publisher, and most likely they ask the authors to purchase books. And very unlikely they have distributor or book store placement, and extremely unlikely they offer returns.
No thanks.

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What this tread demonstrates is that just because I company can be called a publisher doesn't mean it's a good publisher.

Don't feel bad though, kid. Lots of people, well over 16 have run into the same thing.

If you are going to pay for editing you need to know you will recoup that amount of money and more upon publication. I very much doubt that amourose press can do this for you.

Stop, stop, stop.

I haven't P&E'd them. I don't need to.

Free website. Using lulu as a printer (Hint. Lulu is a perfectly fine option for niche publishing with small print runs. It is not cost effective for normal four or five figure print runs that are needed to get your book into stores).

A lack of understanding of basic terms. 65% of royalties? That doesn't mean a thing. Do they mean 65% of gross? Of net? What? Oh. Wait. I get it. You receive 65% of the royalties provided by LULU. I'm not sure how much that is, but this publisher is basically...doing nothing. It looks like they're letting Lulu do all the work.

They don't know what standard manuscript format is (Contact information is not included on every page...if you want to ask for that, sure, but it's not standard)

And she's a self publisher. She knows nothing about the industry. You go this route, you will be doing all of your own promotion. Your books will not be in stores, only available online. You might as well self publish through lulu, do a little bit of extra work, get 100% of the lulu royalties and...sell 10 copies if you're lucky.

Yes, people self publish and have careers take off from it. It's vanishingly rare.

I won't go so far as to say Amourose is a scam. It's a company being started by somebody who doesn't know how to be a publisher.

Do yourself a favor. Start at the top. If you believe in your book, then why not pitch it to Writer's House? To Donald Maass? To the big name publishers? You're twenty years younger than me...if I can take the time to do it right and deal with rejection after rejection, you can too.

And you do NOT need to pay for editing. In fact, many agents and publishers will automatically reject a manuscript if told it was professionally edited. Why? They need to know YOU can edit your own work, YOU do your rewrites, YOU are competent enough to produce a manuscript that doesn't need that much work before being sent to the printer.

And even though it says on the website that it's not a vanity press, that might not be the case.

Vanity publishers make most of their money from their authors, rather than from selling books on to new readers. They don't have to make that money by upfront fees, or by forcing the writers to buy their books: but if the writers have to buy them in order to sell them on, then I know what I'd call the publisher. No matter what its intentions.

*NeW*WrItEr* said:

heyy there
i am in the process of publishing a book
and i would love to have all of your help
so heres the deal
i have a publisher....i think
i send the manuscript in in november
and they are called amourose press
anyone heard of em?
and i have an editor
they are firstediting.com
i decided to look into them
so i could edit my book before sending it in
are they reliable?
they charge money to edit so idk.....
so what do you think?
im only sixteen and just doing this so yeah
idk who to trust.....

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Well, there's nothing to be sad about. You've already shown maturity and sensible judgment by asking first, and you chose a great place to ask because you've already been given lots of help. You have a lot to be proud of in this action. Many adults don't do this, so kudos to you for being smart in this situation.

Good luck with your novel.

Old Hack said:

And even though it says on the website that it's not a vanity press, that might not be the case.. . . .

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One sign of a vanity press is that it claims not to be a vanity press. You don't see Random House or Heydey Books or Soho Press or any other commercial publisher having to deny being a vanity press.

--Ken

"heyy there
i am in the process of publishing a book
and i would love to have all of your help
so heres the deal
i have a publisher....i think
i send the manuscript in in november
and they are called amourose press
anyone heard of em?
and i have an editor
they are firstediting.com
i decided to look into them
so i could edit my book before sending it in
are they reliable?
they charge money to edit so idk.....
so what do you think?
im only sixteen and just doing this so yeah
idk who to trust....."

Is this for real? Or is someone just trying to start a discussion or post a warning about Amourouse Press?

If this is for real, you really are 16, then a huge congratulations on finishing a novel. That is an amazing accomplishment for one so young and I hope and pray you take to heart the advice other more seasoned writers than you have posted here.

Good luck and keep writing.

Amourose Press is not a vanity press. There are no fees charged to authors, if accepted, at any time. As an Independent Publisher, we believe monies should be paid to the author, not the other way around. Nor are authors required to purchase any of their books in order to 'help market' them.

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There's a traditional publisher in Frederick, Maryland, that makes the exact-same claim.

*NeW*WrItEr* said:

. . . please tell me what publishers are [reliable]

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In general, the ones whose books you find on the shelves in Barnes & Noble, Borders, and the like.

--Ken

*NeW*WrItEr* said:

yes this is for real. im actually 16 and thanks for all the advice. please tell me what publishers are reliabelgfbhn

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We can't simply give you a list of publishers to approach without knowing details about your work.

You need to be able to tell who is a reliable publisher. That means you need to carefully read all the posts in this thread, and follow the links you've been given, and put the advice into practice yourself.

(Again, it would be better if you used proper English. If you've written a professional-quality manuscript that you believe people will pay money for, surely you can capitalise and spell.)