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Cliffhanger Books

Gillhoughly

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A friend sent me a link to this apparently new publisher.

http://www.cliffhangerbooks.com/

Thought I'd open a thread to see if anyone has something to trib about them.

They are presently taking submissions for a specific collection. Authors get paid 2% of the profits, no advance, no pay per word.

I could certainly be wrong, but since creative bookkeeping kept Forest Gump from showing a profit, I tend to be guarded about such deals.



Slightly off topic, but showing the kind of respect writers get in Hollywood: Bolding is mine.

"Winston Groom was paid $350,000 for the screenplay rights to his novel Forrest Gump and was contracted for a 3% share of the film's net profits.[71] However, Paramount and the film's producers did not pay him, using Hollywood accounting to posit that the blockbuster film lost money—a claim belied by the fact that Tom Hanks contracted for points instead of a salary, and he and director Zemeckis each netted $40 million.[71][72] Additionally, no one mentioned Groom's name in any of the film's six Oscar-winner speeches.[73]
 

JulieB

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Funny you should mention them. A friend sent me a link to their site on Friday with a suggestion I might want to sub to their anthology. At the time the offer was a small slice of the profits OR two copies of the book. They've revised that and now only take rights for two years instead of five.

Their one book is published through CreateSpace, and while the retail price is decent for a POD book ($10 for 340 pages), I'd like to know how they plan to market and how they define profits.

I'm classifying this one as a "wait and see."
 

frandavea

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I mostly write novels, but I suppose if I had a short story lying around doing nothing, and it fit within the themes of one of their anthologies, I might give them a shot.

I agree with JulieB, though. I'd still wait to see if they can get one book out first, and how widely it would be available.
 

SirOtter

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I've placed stories in probably eight or ten royalty only anthologies over the last decade. I've never seen dime one out of any of them. If a publisher hasn't got the capital to pay for stories up front, or at least on publication, then how can they be trusted to have sufficient capital to have any profits when they've sold as many books as they are going to sell? 2% of a questionable profit is a pretty sad payday for any writer worthy of his or her hire. I'd advise against submitting.
 

priceless1

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I looked up their one book Dayen's Gift by Bayan Jalaizadeh [FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]on Ingram iPage, and the book wasn't listed, even though it has a release date of Sept. 15. So it appears only to be available through CreateSpace. This tells me they have zero distribution or ability to get their book to market.
[/FONT]
 

SirOtter

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I looked up their one book Dayen's Gift by Bayan Jalaizadeh [FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]on Ingram iPage, and the book wasn't listed, even though it has a release date of Sept. 15. So it appears only to be available through CreateSpace. This tells me they have zero distribution or ability to get their book to market.[[/FONT]/QUOTE]

Exactly, and that there will be no profits to divvy up at the end.
 

Kenra Daniels

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Reviving this thread.

Has anyone had any interaction with them since the above? I recently came across a call for submissions for another anthology. Guidelines are here.

Now they're paying $10 or 2% royalty on a 3yr contract. Looks like this call is for their 4th book.

I can't decide if it's worth the effort to dust off one of my shorts for their call or not.
 

IceCreamEmpress

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I can't decide if it's worth the effort to dust off one of my shorts for their call or not.

Not unless you have something that fits the theme and has already been rejected by every market that pays more than $10. I would think that for "paranormal romance" there are lots of higher-paying and higher-profile markets to try first?
 

EclipsesMuse

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I had my short story published in their first anthology. So, far i have only seen $10. However, Kevin, who is running the whole thing now, does work to get the book reviewed by various blogs, and romance sites. He also tries to arrange book signings a bookstores and Cons when he can. So, I may not pay as much, but for a small publisher he does try.
 

CaoPaux

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Site hasn't been updated since after their last pub in '13, but there's a recent "we're still here" on FB, so I won't write them off yet.

ETA: no further activity (and FB post removed).
 
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