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Dreamspinner Press

starscape

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I recentlly got an offer from Dreamspinner Press. What do you think of or know about it?

As far as I know it publishes Kindle only?

Thanks
 

Unimportant

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thethinker42

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I've sold one book to them, which comes out at the end of the month. Can't say one way or the other about sales or royalties, since I haven't gotten that far yet, but they've been great to work with. No complaints here.

Mine's coming out in paperback and eBook...not sure what length they need to be to go to print.
 

Eirin

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I've sold one book to them, which comes out at the end of the month. Can't say one way or the other about sales or royalties, since I haven't gotten that far yet, but they've been great to work with.

Can you tell us about the contract?

How much in royalties?

Are royalties on retail or net?

What rights do they take and for how long?

Is there a reversion of rights clause?
 

michael_b

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From their website:

*For novel length work, we pay a negotiated advance (25% is paid when the contract is signed and 75% is paid upon approval of the final proof) and 25% of net royalties thereafter. Novella length stories earn 33% royalties and Short Stories earn 50% royalties. Short stories and novellas for anthologies are purchased for a flat amount based on the length of the work. Copyright remains with the author. Exceptions are made for an anthology of shorter fiction by a single author in which case the novel length guidelines apply.*

All bolding is mine. Their rates are some of the lowest out there from what I've seen. I have no idea what their going rate on advances are. Most epub advances are under $100 from what I've seen. And keep in mind the royalties payments are off the 'net' which can mean just about any fees the publisher wants can be charged against net. No clue what their definition of 'net' might be. It doesn't say.
 
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Just an update to answer a few questions that I saw above...

I have a book coming out with them in June (hopefully) - $200 advance, and they define net as "The only thing that is deducted is wholesale discount. So if we sell it through our store, you get 25% of retail price. If it sells through a bookstore that receives a 40% discount, you receive 25% of the 60% we were paid for the book. All marketing, editing, shipping, and art expenses are paid by us."

So far I've been really impressed with them - they seem professional but friendly, with a very active (almost TOO active for my reading schedule) authors' group on g-mail. No idea on sales yet, though.
 

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A friend has published several (three?) books with them and is pleased, although we haven't discussed dollars and cents. The covers are gorgeous.

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Some of the covers are rank, but I've noticed in recent months they've made vast improvements. I mean, come on in leaps and bounds.

(I am so not a fan of painted/cartoony/manga/anime cover art; can you tell)?

I got a sneak preview of a friend's cover, released soon, and it's gorgeous. Absolutely delicious.

Oh, and I believe books have to be 60k+ words to go to print.
 

michael_b

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But that painted/cartoony/manga/anime style sells to a certain section of the m/m audience who are looking for stories that are similar to Japanese yaoi story lines which is why you see it on some books--and not just at Dreamspinnner--and not on others.
 
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They also appear on mainstream/contemporary novels.

Obviously they appeal to some people. I'm not one of them.
 

LoriToland

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I'm currently published with Dreamspinner Press. Lynn, Anne and Julianne are awesome editors. Mara is a great art director. I'm really pleased to be part of such an awesome outfit. I will be published elsewhere because I do write het romance too but DSP only accepts men in the relationship.

60K plus is the cutoff for your book to go into print.

Edited to add: Their royalties have changed so I suggest you look at them on the website.
 
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DancingMaenid

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I know a couple people who have been published by them -- one got a book published, another was included in an anthology. I haven't talked to them about the money, but they both seem pretty happy with Dreamspinner in general.
 

absitinvidia

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So, apparently one of the Dreamspinner editors has put up this post, explaining how authors can turn their fan fiction into "original fiction" for submission without getting anyone into legal trouble.

The post is titled "The Ethics of Reworking Fanfiction: An Editor's Opinion," but I don't see any real discussion of ethics at all. It's a how-to guide with the editor saying "just do it!" throughout the comments.
 

Maryn

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And this in the midst of a plagiarism incident which suggests one of their authors did just that, changed names and a few details of work written by others.

Sheesh.

Maryn, disgusted by people
 

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This is sad. I know (only indirectly) at least one author with this press, who has had really good reviews, and I know that at least for her first book with them, she underwent rigorous editing, and worked very hard to write an original story.
 

Aggy B.

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Yeah. It's a little disturbing to me that an editor would encourage potential authors to write derivitive work by altering fan-fic.

Yeesh.