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Moose Hide Books / Moose Enterprise Book and Theatre Play Publishing

Undercover

I got it covered
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What a joke. I just thought I would share this. I got (for the first time ever) a nasty response from an editor. Here's what he wrote.


I would like to thank you for consisdering Our Publishing House.

A terrible submission letter.

No a dressed person, no information, no subject matter, no requests.

Poor all around.

Rejections will soon follow.

Study up on the proper way to submit an address letter and do the research and address letter to the proper person, and researching the guide-lines for submissions would be an asset to you.

At this point in time we are unable to give your work the consideration that you were hoping for. I wish you success in placing your work with a suitabnle publisher.

The Best of the Day tio You


So I wrote back (I couldn't resist) telling him thank you, but telling me "rejections will soon follow" is a bit harsh. I didn't have the proper submission "he" wanted. But it says in the Book Markets for Children Writers 2010 a bio and 3 sample chapters or the full manuscript if it's a picture book. And nothing on the site to guide you. So how was I supposed to know. I told him thanks for the tip, here's a tip for you. Learn how to proofread, I notice some typos.

He couldn't even put it in a letter form himself, paragraphing it. He just did lines.

I don't know about you guys, but I would steer clear of this company. And the joke of it all is it is a subsidy pub.

Just thought you should know.
 

M.R.J. Le Blanc

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It being a subsidy pub is all anyone would really need to know. It's just another name for vanity. I've always heard the full ms for picture books, so I would imagine that's standard.
 

Momento Mori

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From the Moose Hide Books Website:
Richard Mousseau; A writer with years of experience struggling like all other authors to present his works to the public. He has dabbled in story poetry, play writing and has found a comfortable position in writing adventure stories based in Northern Ontario. A farmer raising, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, beef and has a close relationship with his pet horses and goats that roam freely, sometimes on the font yard of the house. Being single, there is no woman of the house to nag when Richard tends to drag in farm yard manure into the house on the bottom of his boots. Though a writer in his own right he gains a delight when editing one’s work and is proud to see the author’s work develop.

A quick search on Amazon produced a grand total of 7 books, the last of which was published in 2001 and all of which were published by Moose Enterprises. Therefore, his "years of experience" seem to have resulted in nothing but self-publishing. He's also got no experience working as a commercial editor or, indeed, any commercial publishing experience.

From the Moose Hide Books Website:
Edmond Alcid; A Novelist, a playwright and a bit of a perfectionist and can be a bit demanding when editing one’s work. A pleased grin can often be seen on his lips when an author’s work develops into great reading material. He is single, a loner, a recluse of sorts and often wanders aimlessly through the woods letting his dreams wander as well. It would take a while to discover what makes the man who he is, but beyond what seems like a cold, hard, seemingly arrogant exterior lies a warm, tender person that cries when a play or story hits the emotional buttons. When an author’s work does that, Edmond is as proud as a new father. Often shunning public gatherings and meetings, you would be hard pressed to see a smile or hear his praise of an author’s work well done.

Again, a search on Amazon produces 3 books, all produced by Moose Enterprise and the last dating from 2001. Again, no commercial publishing experience of any kind.

From the Moose Hide Books Website:
Joseph Alicd; brings the humour to this Publishing House. An avid reader, Joseph has read all titles and plays, often quoting and acting out characters. More outgoing than older brother, Edmond, Joseph has acted, directed and has assisted in the areas of stage productions. Attempting to play all musical instruments, he has attempted, with some success and failure, built a steel guitar, recorders and clarinet flutes. A note of interest, Joseph never buys reading material. His borrowed collection of first print runs of this Publishing House’s titles is a more prolific archive than on our shelves. Joseph handles all formatting of text for final print plates and does all layouts of illustrations and cover formatting. To offset computer tension, he also oversees packaging and shipping.

According to Amazon, no published books (not even through Moose Hide Books) and no commercial publishing experience.

From the Moose Hide Books Website:
We publish works ranging from children/juvenile novels, short stories, adult short stories, fiction, non fiction, biography and all genres in-between. For those playwrights seeking publishing and representation, we publish theatrical drama plays.

The fact that they accept anything and everything (including short stories, for which there is no market) is not a good sign. I'm surprised they publish plays and claim to offer representation - it's not enough to just put a play in print, you need to have an agent who can link you up with a producer.

From the Moose Hide Books Website:
From book stores, library services and the general public we accept orders and ship single copies to multiple orders world wide. Foreign rights of most of our titles are available to publishers seeking to represent these titles in their countries.

Suggests that they're taking world-wide rights and then making more money trying to sell foreign rights (assuming they can sell them).

From the Moose Hide Books Website:
Editing Service.

We also offer an editing service, a separate entity from submissions for publishing, for those authors that are seeking, or need, assistance to enhance their story structure, or for grammar and punctuation structure. Comments are provided as to the overall quality of the work. Story editing is the means of suggesting character building, scene building, story structure, story flow and window dressing to tie together the story. A client may, request as much or as little editing as desired. An estimated editing cost will be provided when material is received for review.

That's a conflict of interest and aside from that, there's nothing to indicate that these people have the experience or qualifications to give you useful advice that's worth paying for - not when you can join a critique group and get it for free.

From the Moose Hide Books Website:
Facts.

Story editing is not covered by a Publishing Agreement Contract. It is a part of a service we provide. Format editing, the editing of grammar, punctuation, spelling and proper layout of text and page is covered by the Publishing Agreement. When a manuscript is accepted, there is no fee amount charged to the author. The author receives full royalties.

Full editing is the job of a publisher and should be part of the publishing agreement. Authors shouldn't be directed to another editing service - and especially not by a publisher that's also offering a paid editing service.

From the Moose Hide Books Website:
To achieve the most benefit for our authors, we ask that orders be placed directly through this Publishing House and Our On-line store. It is convenient for most people to shop in retail chain stores and shop through chain store on-line sites, but please realise that up to 50% of costs goes directly to the distribution system, leaving little revenue for the author.

This suggests that they're paying royalties on net.

All in all, nothing here that would make me want to submit a book to them.

MM
 

CaoPaux

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As of September 2015, we have dropped the publishing aspect of our house and will strive to support new and established authors with our editing, story editing and our mentor services.

I'll ... just leave it at that. (Well, and reIndex this under services.)