[Sub tracker] HeyPublisher / Loudlever Inc.

HeyPublisher

Hi - this is Richard Luck from Loudlever.

Yes - the service is a pub database/sub tracker. In addition, you can submit your work directly to a growing number of publishers through the service.

If submitting to one of our partner publications (publishers who use the HeyPublisher service to manage their slushpile), then your submission goes directly to the responsible editor's work queue. If submitting to a non-partner publisher, we can actually facilitate sending the email with your submission attached.

All publisher submission guidelines are in our database and are searchable via the website.

The functionality that CaoPaux describes ("publishers will find you") will be available by the end of the year, as we'll be able to help publishers "discover" writers outside of their normal submission stream.

The more we know about a writer (where you've been published before, where you've submitted before, what genres you primarily focus on, etc.) the more accurate our software will be in placing your work in front of a publisher highly likely to accept it for publication.

We're also adding tools to help writers manage the "business" of writing - like "how much did I spend on that latte while doing research that is tax-deductible?"

We're all writers here - so we're building functionality we and our writer friends need. If there is any functionality that you need that we are missing, please let us know at: http://getsatisfaction.com/hey

Our goal is to make this a writer-centric service and community.

Cheers,

Richard Luck
Loudlever

Hi, Richard, and welcome to AW.

loudlever:
If submitting to one of our partner publications (publishers who use the HeyPublisher service to manage their slushpile), then your submission goes directly to the responsible editor's work queue.

Click to expand...

I was taking a look at the website but couldn't see anything to indicate which publishers are signed up to your service. Are you able to let us know which editors and publishers will be reviewing content/submissions on your site?

MM

Majority of those in the list on HeyPublisher appear to be magazines and niche publishers.

M.R.J. Le Blanc:
Majority of those in the list on HeyPublisher appear to be magazines and niche publishers.

Click to expand...

Yeah - I saw that but wasn't clear whether they're actually partners (in the sense that they are actively using HeyPublisher to manage their slush pile) or whether Hey Publisher is listing them as available markets. For example, they're listing Albedo One as a magazine but Albedo One still accepts submissions direct so what's the value in using this submission site? What are you actually getting for the time and effort?

MM

Momento Mori said:

Hi, Richard, and welcome to AW.

I was taking a look at the website but couldn't see anything to indicate which publishers are signed up to your service. Are you able to let us know which editors and publishers will be reviewing content/submissions on your site?

MM

Click to expand...

Momento Mori: It's not very clear from the URL I sent, is it? My apologies. We'll get a page launched to list the publishers using our service right away. And we'll get the publisher search updated to highlight the publishers using our service, so you don't have to click down to the publisher details page to see that info.

I have a question for you loudlever. When I send my query from your site dose it in any way indecate that it is from you?

M.R.J. Le Blanc said:

Majority of those in the list on HeyPublisher appear to be magazines and niche publishers.

Click to expand...

Yes - all of the publishers in our system (currently) are publishers of short-form content (poetry, short-fiction, articles, essays, memoirs).

We've made the decision not to include book publishers for the time being because very few of them accept submissions directly.

Are there other publishers you'd like to see in an online service that we've overlooked?

Thanks for the feedback.

Rich

Red Flags

CaoPaux said:

Oh, dear. My not finding that was a good thing, since it meant you weren't trying to sell authors on pipe dreams. The fact that you're adding this "service" raises all sorts of red flags, I'm afraid.

Click to expand...

CaoPaux - we'll just have to win you over with incredible service, then, when we launch this functionality

Finding the 'right' publisher for an author's work (even on a good day) is a very, very difficult process. It's largely responsible for agents making the fees they do off of the backs of writers. We believe we've found a way to replicate what agents do - effectively, reliably, and inexpensively - with software. But it's still difficult. Lots of code; complex algorithms; loads of data to parse.

We also believe that this type of functionality will fundamentally shift the power balance between writer and publisher, leaving writers less at the mercy of publishers and agents, and more in control of their own destinies.

I know words are cheap in this regard - so again, its up to us to win you over with incredible service (and results) when we launch this feature.

I hope that addresses your concerns,

Rich

Direct Submissions

Momento Mori said:

... For example, they're listing Albedo One as a magazine but Albedo One still accepts submissions direct so what's the value in using this submission site? What are you actually getting for the time and effort?
MM

Click to expand...

Momento Mori - Specifically, in regards to Albedo One - nothing really. We include them in our database because we believe them to be an important market for writers. They still only accept direct submissions (though we hope to convince them otherwise soon . In this particular case, the only thing you could do is track your submission so you have a history of when it was sent and when the publisher responded. You're probably already doing this in Excel, though - so no real gain.

In the case of someone like Spectra (http://heypublisher.com/publishers/spectra_magazine ) who is using HeyPublisher to manage submissions, you get tracking, submission management, and more. They're similar to Albedo One in terms of content - though published exclusively on Kindle.

At present we have know at least 5 magazines where you've been published and around 9 or 10 where you've submitted and been rejected in order for our "publisher recommendation engine" (mentioned above) to have enough data to recommend 3 publishers "highly likely" to publish your work -- and even then we've only about a 70% success rate (which is why we haven't yet launched this functionality).

With a deeper understanding of your submission/publishing history, obviously, we can get better results.

loudlever said:

It's largely responsible for agents making the fees they do off of the backs of writers.

Rich

Click to expand...

Um, what? What do you mean by this? 'Agents' that charge for service or agents that take a small percentage of the advance/royalties?

loudlever said:

Finding the 'right' publisher for an author's work (even on a good day) is a very, very difficult process. It's largely responsible for agents making the fees they do off of the backs of writers. We believe we've found a way to replicate what agents do - effectively, reliably, and inexpensively - with software. But it's still difficult. Lots of code; complex algorithms; loads of data to parse.

Click to expand...

Really? Software and algorithms that can establish personal relationships with editors? Negotiate more author-friendly contracts? Advocate for an author when there are problems? Sell foreign rights to publishers around the world? Manage a writer's career?

Do you actually know what agents do?

So, my question is, is there anything that identifies that the query comes from you. I ask because a lot of places do not like quires that are from query sites.

loudlever:
Finding the 'right' publisher for an author's work (even on a good day) is a very, very difficult process. It's largely responsible for agents making the fees they do off of the backs of writers. We believe we've found a way to replicate what agents do - effectively, reliably, and inexpensively - with software. But it's still difficult. Lots of code; complex algorithms; loads of data to parse.

Click to expand...

As others have said, agents don't charge fees - they make their percentage based on selling manuscripts to publishers, which incentivises them to make the best sale possible. In any event, an agent's job is more than just finding a publisher - they also negotiate contracts, chase up on royalties and manage any issues that come up during the publication process. I'd think it unlikely that you have an algorithm that can do all of that.

Also, agents don't generally handle short stories (which, at present, seems to represent the bulk of your publisher affiliates), so authors are generally free to sell them as they see fit (certainly that's the case with me and my agent where the only short stories she might sell is if it's too a large publisher's anthology or if I'm doing my own short story collection for publication).

loudlever:
We also believe that this type of functionality will fundamentally shift the power balance between writer and publisher, leaving writers less at the mercy of publishers and agents,

Click to expand...

How?

All you're doing (and forgive me if I'm wrong) is giving people a means to submit direct to magazines/publishers (which they already do anyway in a large number of cases) and then allowing writers to track that process.

Publishers still have a limited number of slots for stories/manuscripts and a huge number of writers chasing them. An improved/streamlined/whatever submission process does not change that fact.

My agent has a direct relationship with a large number of publishers (I've got 11 lined up to read my manuscript once rewrites are over). 7 of those publishers do not accept submissions from the public. Unless you negotiate a deal to take and sift their slush pile (and it's difficult to see why they would agree to that), you're not offering an in with them. In addition, unless you have exclusive relationships to manage the submission process of those affiliates you are lined up with, then you're not offering anything that writers couldn't already do if they used a competitor facility such as Duotrope or just kept records on Excel.

I think that it's a mistake to cast agents as the enemy here. They're not. A good agent is worth their weight in gold.

MM

Is there a fee to authors for this service?


I have to say, while I agree with the others as far as novel submissions, and I especially agree with the others re agents, provided this is not a fee-based service I don't really see a problem with it. As long as it's not guaranteeing/promising anything it can't deliver.

If I have this straight, you're simply a listing of magazines/short story markets, and writers can submit their short fiction to those markets through you, while also tracking those submissions? That doesn't seem like such a bad thing, or something to be concerned about.

Where the concern comes in is when you start making claims like "revolutionizing the submission process" or "fundamentally shift[ing] the power balance between writer and publisher, leaving writers less at the mercy of publishers and agents, and more in control of their own destinies."

Because your service doesn't do any of those things. It certainly doesn't take the place of an agent; not even close.


But as an easy way to locate smaller fiction markets, submit according to their guidelines, and track your submissions both to them and to others? I don't see an issue there. (I could be wrong, of course.) Just make sure you're being honest about what exactly you can and cannot provide.

loudlever said:

Yes - all of the publishers in our system (currently) are publishers of short-form content (poetry, short-fiction, articles, essays, memoirs).

We've made the decision not to include book publishers for the time being because very few of them accept submissions directly.

Are there other publishers you'd like to see in an online service that we've overlooked?

Thanks for the feedback.

Rich

Click to expand...

My focus is on books, so book publishers are the ones I'm planning to target. It does bring up a question though.

Do you vet the publishers, or do you just list anyone willing to be listed?

Writers already have a wonderful resource to find publishers of short-form content: Duotrope's Digest.

I agree with Stacia: a tracking function could be useful, and eyerolls are in order when people start talking about revolutionizing things.

- Victoria

Publisher Recommendations

Stacia Kane said:

Is there a fee to authors for this service?
... where the concern comes in is when you start making claims like "revolutionizing the submission process" or "fundamentally shift[ing] the power balance between writer and publisher, leaving writers less at the mercy of publishers and agents, and more in control of their own destinies."

Because your service doesn't do any of those things. It certainly doesn't take the place of an agent; not even close...

Click to expand...

Stacia - I'll humbly disagree for the moment. Our service does do these things (though we need to do them better before we release these features to a larger audience).

For the writer data we've been testing with, with a substantial degree of accuracy we can predict which publishers will accept for publication a given writer's work. More accurately, we can predict which writers a publisher will want to read based upon past publication histories. For lack of a better definition, think of it as eHarmony and their "29 points of compatibility".

Admittedly, we need to be better at this. Our success rate isn't yet "revolutionary". But we're moving up on it very quickly

Hopefully this answered your question.

loudlever said:

Hopefully this answered your question.

Click to expand...

You haven't really answered her questions, though.
Is there a price tag on this 'service'?
How is this 'service going to take the place of an agent?
Do you even know what all an agent does?
How is it any better then things you can do yourself?

I'm also a bit concerned about the claim that your data tracker can predict which magazines would accept a writer's future work. That's a process that has little to do with a writer's previous sales and everything to do with the specific story and the specific market. Every story is different and every market has different needs.

Anyone have any recent experience with HeyPublisher? It seems there are quite a few publishers who accept submissions from them and even some who require HeyPublisher.

Little Ming:
It seems there are quite a few publishers who accept submissions from them and even some who require HeyPublisher.

Click to expand...

Interesting. Which publishers are requiring submissions from HeyPublisher?

MM

I've used it a few times to sub short stories.

Some markets require that you use Hey to submit.
Apex is one, Fender Stitch another. I have submitted to both via Hey.

Never had a problem with it, except I think it's the one where I can never find a place to put a cover letter.

I always get a very quick acknowledgement of my submission, and that's nice.

And that's the limit of my knowledge.