eTreasures Publishing

There's a lot of that same old hoopla - we're not a vanity, we're royalty-paying, we publish new authors, yada yada yada. It'd be nice to know who's behind it, and if they know what they're doing great But this sounds like a very familiar song and dance we've seen many times before.

Oh wow. That site needs a lot of work. I'm always leery of e-pubs with bad websites.

Oy.

And not much (if any - I didn't really see it beyond "loves to read/write") publishing experience.

Quite frankly, I'm not at all interested in the editors' personal lives - I want to know they know what the hell they're doing. Living over a funeral home =/= editing know how.

And the website's scary.

It's very...busy.

ETA: And when you have numerous typos on the site, especially on pages talking about their editors...

J-Chick, check your reps. Sorry, no Huge this time.

The publisher/owner wrote a paragraph about herself that contained five sentences and five exclamation points.

I love to promote authors and good books and I am really looking forward to enjoying growing eTreasures to the benefit of authors and readers!! I also have a keen eye and handy red pen!!

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The publisher/owner wrote a paragraph about herself that contained five sentences and five exclamation points.

I love to promote authors and good books and I am really looking forward to enjoying growing eTreasures to the benefit of authors and readers!! I also have a keen eye and handy red pen!!

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One wishes she would actually use her red pen.

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ETA: Exclamation points are my downfall, too--every time I write a post or an email, I have to go back and take all but one out. But at least I usually manage to find all the extraneous little buggers, even if I have to edit my post three or four times .

I signed my first contract with eTreasures in May. My first science fiction novel, The Wonk Decelerator is currently in formatting and I just signed another contract with them for my second novel, The Late, Great Benjamin Bale (book two of six of these Guild stories). It's true that they are mainly romance...yuck, but they're a great bunch of professionals with a vision for an up-and-coming press, and they are into most genres. The editors are great. I'm happy with the finished product so far. They're definitely a small press that sells mainly from their website, but I never intended to let anyone else hawk my books -- I plan to do that. Give them another look, is my suggestion. Their contract is better than most of the parallel presses out there. They don't have enough of an emphasis on print yet, would be my only negative. Communication has been pretty good to excellent.

I checked their stats at Alexa, they have almost no traffic coming to their site.

scifiman, when you say their contract is better than most comparable presses -- better in what ways?

Conduct doesn't concern me as much as bookstore placement, advances, fair clauses, good editing and cover art and other such things.

tri

What I mean about the contract is with the ebook publishers that I also looked at. Pretty decent sliding royalties. I don't like the requirements from ebook to print, but they all have them. You have to sell a very small amount of ebooks to trigger the print. If you are looking for the publisher to sell your stuff, these small outfits aren't for you. If you plan to get out there and do it then it's better than self-publishing.

What sort of distribution do they have? Are they available through the usual outlets?

scifiman said:

What I mean about the contract is with the ebook publishers that I also looked at. Pretty decent sliding royalties. I don't like the requirements from ebook to print, but they all have them. You have to sell a very small amount of ebooks to trigger the print.

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Not all small presses require you to sell a certain amount of books before they go into print format. Samhain doesn't. Wild Rose Press doesn't. All of their books over a certain word count go to print. It isn't tied to sales at all. How many books does eTreasures require be sold before they consider print?

What are the royalties? Are they based on gross or net? (And I can never remember which is which.)

I'm turning up a selection of titles available on Amazon in both print and ebook formats, and a smaller selection on B&N available as ebooks, but not as print books unless they're used and being resold. I'd guess that means they're using CreateSpace for their print editions; the prices are also consistent with POD ($12.95 for a 200+ page book).

Seconding Jersey Chick's question about specific royalty numbers -- there are a lot of options in epublishing with pretty generous royalty rates. What kind of a percentage are we talking, and is it gross/cover price or net?

My purpose was to point out some of the positives about eTp, because I noticed these negative things posted here. They don't post their contracts so it wouldn't be right for me to say one way or the other. Someone else can address those things, or you can check with the publisher. As for a lack of traffic to the website, come and visit, we'll appreciate the increased traffic. There are talented writers at eTp. I'm sure that there are talented writers at the publishers mentioned above. I'm sure that there are talented writers posting here. It seems to me that you want to find a place where your work fits. That was my approach when I looked for a publisher. There are good people at eTp. I found the editors to be very capable people. You do what you can do and God does the rest. That's the way I see it.

scifiman said:

My purpose was to point out some of the positives about eTp, because I noticed these negative things posted here.

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Many of them are questions we ask about any publisher, regardless of their history or how long they've been in business.

They don't post their contracts so it wouldn't be right for me to say one way or the other.

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We aren't expecting you to.

As for a lack of traffic to the website, come and visit, we'll appreciate the increased traffic.

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But that doesn't necessarily guarantee any sales.

There are talented writers at eTp. I'm sure that there are talented writers at the publishers mentioned above. I'm sure that there are talented writers posting here. It seems to me that you want to find a place where your work fits. That was my approach when I looked for a publisher. There are good people at eTp. I found the editors to be very capable people.

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But who are the people behind the publisher? What experience do they have in the business? Have they worked anywhere in the industry in the past? These questions are not answered on the site, which is where the information belongs. They can be the nicest people in the universe but if they have limited or no experience working for a publisher, I'd have to pass.

You do what you can do and God does the rest. That's the way I see it.

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If only it were that simple.

Given the choice between working with a publisher who is kind and nice and good people, and one who is able to sell my books and make me money, I'd go with the nice folks every time. Sheesh, who wants to sell any books anyway? Much prefer a hug and a mug of hot chocolate.

scifiman said:

My purpose was to point out some of the positives about eTp, because I noticed these negative things posted here. They don't post their contracts so it wouldn't be right for me to say one way or the other.

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There is a standard within the epublishing industry of royalties between 30-40% (sometimes higher than 40%, and it depends on where the book is sold.) It isn't usually a secret. I wouldn't ask an author what they personally earned, but there is nothing wrong with checking to see if this publisher pays what is considered standard or not. Same goes with whether or not they pay gross v. net. It's usually one of the first questions asked.

As for a lack of traffic to the website, come and visit, we'll appreciate the increased traffic.

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Traffic does not necessarily equate sales. I rarely go to publishers' websites to buy books. That's why distribution questions are asked. If I've never heard of a publisher, what are the chances I'm going to stumble across their website and actually buy something?

There are talented writers at eTp. I'm sure that there are talented writers at the publishers mentioned above.

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No one is suggesting otherwise. Questions about a publisher are not slams against them or those who write for them. Questions =/= negativity. Anyone with an ounce of sense should do their research and do it as thoroughly as possible.

I'm sure that there are talented writers posting here.

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Not really sure what this has to do with anything, but okay.

It seems to me that you want to find a place where your work fits.

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Yes, but where it will sell is equally important. If no one knows you exist, they aren't going to buy your book, no matter how good it is.

That was my approach when I looked for a publisher. There are good people at eTp. I found the editors to be very capable people. You do what you can do and God does the rest. That's the way I see it.

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Good people do not necessarily make good publishing people. Check the B&BC threads on how many good people publishers imploded in the last 5 years. Go see how many books were caught up in those implosions (Triskelion, Aspen Mountain Press, for instance.) Trust me, it really does suck when your work gets tangled up in a mess because a publisher folds (I was fortunate with the AMP debacle - my books were rescued by Musa, but not every AMP author was so lucky.)

I can tell you right now that they are the biggest scammers in the business.

In February 2008, I offered them a Sci-fi romance I wrote. They accepted and they e-published it. I KNOW I sold a dozen books or more off the website, yet I never received one dime of royalties. First, she told me she was going to publish my books onto CDs to be sold on the website. That did happen. She told me I could buy copies of the CDs to sell on my own. I bought fifty copies at $1.77 each. For me to recoup my money, I sold them for $3.95 each. I never checked out the CDs before I started selling them. Surely, they can edit everything they sell. *snort*

About six months after the CDs came out, she wanted me to buy 25 copies of my print book. All together, it was going to cost me $175...yes, that's right! One-hundred-and-seventy-five dollars for 25 copies of my book. Again, I figured they had edited the copies. When I told her not no, but F**K no, she told me that she was cancelling my contract and she would send me any royalties she owed me. That was October 2008. I haven't received a single dime from them. I demanded that she send me ALL copies of my book she had available.

After I received it, I decided to rewrite it to re-submit it to other publishers. Of the 300 pages in the novel, 275 of them had typos. Some of them had a single typo, but some of the pages had 2+. I know they weren't on there when I sent it to them after I'd read through the galleys. I read through the manuscript, and then had my daughter read through it just to be sure I got them all.

If anyone from eTreasures Publishing approaches you to publish your ebook, RUN AWAY!

eTreasures Publishing: Nothing negative found

Pred-Ed: "eTreasures Publishing: An ebook publisher. 2009: Under new ownership."