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[Publisher] Dragon International Independent Arts / Diiarts

jfreedan

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http://www.diiarts.com/

I noticed several Authonomy authors have been receiving publishing offers from this press, but I couldn't find much information about this publisher aside from press releases and their own website. When I checked out the site, I noticed they had a donation button--which I found peculiar for a publisher website.....

From reading the About Us page, the press seems to be started by Authonomy authors to publish their work--an idea I believe has merit--but I don't know anything about their contracts or if they can get books onto store shelves. I did find some press releases related to book fairs and readings.

Their blog leads me to believe they are not another Author House copycat that charges the authors.

I tried looking them up on Predators and Editors, but they aren't listed.

Does anyone have more information on them?
 

priceless1

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This bit raised a red flag for me:
Working to the old adage that 'every little helps', we're asking friends of Diiarts - our readers, contributors and subscribers (you may be all three!) - to help us by sponsoring pages on our website.

More information will follow shortly...
And this on their About Us page:
Self-publishing is not for everyone, however, and thus Dragon International Independent Arts (diiarts) was formed as a happy-medium answer to both the traditional and the modern publishing paradigms.
Sorry, but you have vanity or trade publishing, not a "happy medium" between the two.

And then there is this:
As Authonomy evolved into a sort of social forum and popularity contest for writers, some of the participants began to see advantages to ‘going it alone’ to get their books in print, outside the time-old procedure of agent-seeking and soliciting major publishing conglomerates. With document and graphic production methods being readily accessible, it’s easier than ever for authors to construct quality books right there on the home computer.
So I'm thinking this is a vanity press.
 

Momento Mori

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Diiarts Website:
For the author, we believe firmly that you own your writing, and that you should retain all publication rights and final editorial control for your work.

I don't understand how this is intended to work in practice. If it's a self-publishing model, then the author retains all publishing rights in any event. In this model however, it looks as though you have to assign Diiarts your first publication rights in order for them to publish you.

Diiarts Website:
Our editors work closely with each author to help the author achieve what he/she wants for his/her work, and to make the manuscript as good as it possibly can be.

So what happens if an editor wants to make a change in order for the manuscript to be as good as it possibly can be and the author doesn't want to make that change? Does author trump editor?

Diiarts Website:
Soon enough we plan to add non-fiction to our lists—initially in the area of natural health—and also children’s fiction. In keeping with the thrust of our overriding diiarts vision, we will consider high-quality books in any and all genres.

We are not currently able to accept unsolicited manuscripts.

This suggests that the venture is currently only publishing the work of the people who started it, which is fair enough. However if you are a new author and you see this website, you need to ask yourself why you should go with a publishing company run by people who have not had their own manuscripts picked up by a commercial publisher.

MM
 

CaoPaux

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I'll say this for 'em: the excerpts are refreshingly readable. Decent cover and interior design, too, IMO. I hope they can make it work.
 

CaoPaux

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Domain now redirects to the blog, which hasn't been updated since July. Last book published Dec '10.