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Knox Robinson Publishing / Your Editor

batgirl

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This new publisher was being asked about on another forum, so I thought I'd bring them up here.
website: http://knoxrobinsonpublishing.com/

The owner is Dana Celeste Robinson, and her profile is here:
http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/dana-celeste-robinson/21/115/b56

My guess would be clueless amateur startup. Nothing on their webpage really but a link to submit by email, and no mention of submission guidelines. No list of published or forthcoming books. Nothing on her profile to suggest a background in publishing.
She seems to be using the social media well, has a facebook page and so on.

-Barbara
 

CaoPaux

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Huh, the LinkedIn profile is gone (cache). But from it we learn she's also founder/owner of Your Editor: http://www.your-editor.com/index.html which, of course, offers "Professional Production & Digitization Publishing" services.
 

para

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Was just advertised on one of my yahoo groups by someone published with them. They've got a nice website but my word that fantasy cover is scary.
 

Momento Mori

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I'm a bit weirded out by the fact that on the author questionnaire they ask for details about your current employer. I've never come across that before.

MM
 

GothamGal

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And from what I saw in the questionnaire, you have to also write a short story that they will put on their site for free.
As a reader, that's cool. But I've NEVER seen anything like that before. Anyone else?
 

AnneWhitfield

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I'm with Knox Robinson, and am very pleased with how they've started the company. The owner is in constant communication with the authors.
Like most small publishers they want the authors to help with promotion, but they are doing a lot too, which is great. The questionaire is to give the publisher an idea that the author is going to be pro-active in promotion, etc. I was fine with that. It was nothing to fill out and let them know what I do for my other published books.
Again I've been with small publishers who have sent out marketing questionaires once they've accepted you, this time the questionaire come first. No problem.

The free short stories are for readers to check out authors without buying first.
This isn't the only publisher I know that encourages it's authors to write free short stories. I'm with The Wild Rose Press and they ask for free short stories too.
If it helps readers to go to the site and try the authors there, then in my opinion that isn't so bad.

So far, my experience with Knox Robinson has been brilliant, and I've signed with several small (and now defunct) indie publishers and been bitten before.
This process has run just as smoothly as my other publishers, Samhain and TWRP.
 

Momento Mori

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AnneWhitfield:
Like most small publishers they want the authors to help with promotion, but they are doing a lot too, which is great.

What types of marketing are they doing?

AnneWhitfield:
The free short stories are for readers to check out authors without buying first.
This isn't the only publisher I know that encourages it's authors to write free short stories.

What worries me about this is that you're essentially giving them free content and unless the terms for which Knox Robinson use that content is very tightly set out, there seems little to stop them from going off and selling it for their own profit.

Author can equally build up their reputation by selling short stories to magazines etc, which will pay you for the work. I don't see why authors should be giving something extra to a publisher for nothing.

MM
 

shaldna

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Not sure about them as a publisher, but the writers who are with them seem pretty happy, and as a publisher they are very focused and specialise in one or two genres, which is good for a small press. Also, the covers are pretty nice.

However, that questionnaire put me off completely. I fail to see how the honours I got in my degree are relevant, or any academic or governmental/political affiliations have any relevance at all to my book. Or why the alumni magazine of my college is important.

And this:
Please describe the research undertaken to write this book, your source material (primary and secondary), list any liberties taken with the historical record of events in your book and, if you are able to, provide evidence of any questionable facts that require support.

This reminds me of the justification I had to do for my thesis.

But it does ring a few alarm bells about the publisher. I get that they specialise in historial fiction, and I'd assume that anyone writing historical fiction has done their research, and as a specialist publisher then THEY should be able to spot where liberties have been taken and things are inaccurate. Just saying.

Please provide us with the names of colleagues or other influential people within your field from whom we may solicit comments about your book. Please provide addresses if possible.


Please provide the names of those magazines, journals, newspapers, or other media in which you think an ad might be effective.


Please provide us with the name of your hometown newspaper, specific websites, and any bookstores at which you may be known.


If your work has previously been published, please provide the names and quotations of those who have praised this novel.



If the author is required to provide all of this information, it makes me wonder what exactly the marketing is like.


 

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Knox Robinson Update

While this was a startup publisher two years back, they are now very much in business and putting out quality work. They smartly use social media, podcasts, and free eBook stories as ways to promote their author's work. They are a specialty house, publishing only quality, expertly researched historical fiction, excellent genre historical romances, and some fantasy. It's a worthy alternative to the big US houses with their conglomorate business structure.
 

Rhymes with Clue

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Your alumni magazine? So they can send the alumni magazine a press release when your book comes out (or three months before your book comes out).

Hometown newspaper and book stores? So they can send press releases to the former and set up book signings at the latter.

Names and quotations praising previous works? This seems obvious; look at the front matter in any published book.

Industry honors, college honors, and all that--they are looking for a platform.

This sounds like a place that in fact has a great grasp of marketing, and merely wants the author's help in focusing. How else are they going to find out the name of your alumni magazine and hometown newspaper?
 

Hip-Hop-a-potamus

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For those of you considering this publisher, one of my books was recently accepted, and I had two professionals look over the contract and help me with it.

They allow NO negotiation on the contract. None.
 

Hip-Hop-a-potamus

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I got an offer of a contract from Knox Robinson, a historical publisher based in the UK. Looked like everything I wanted-- gorgeous covers, photos at some of the super nice launches their authors had had--but I had a friend of a friend who is an agent look at the contract (unfortunately not mine-- she did it as a favor). She told me what to edit in the contract, and I went with her advice. They weren't willing to negotiate at all.

Hardest thing I ever had to do, but I walked. I love my Ollie, but I want more for her than a crappy contract. At least I know what to look for next time.
 

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Yeah ... moving posts from ancient thread on net royalties to publisher's thread.
 

auntypsychotic

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I've often wondered myself.
More about that damn questionnaire

Knox Robinson Publishing

I just looked over their lovely submissions questionnaire and it's a dilly.
All are direct, unedited quotes with emphasis added.

1. "How would you classify your book (Historical Fiction, Historical
Romance, Young Adult or General Fantasy)?" SEE #4

2. "Please describe why you wrote this book, the niche it fills, its subject and
key editorial points that make it unique."
Most of this isn't too weird but one would presume that THEY would know "the niche it fills".

3. "All Knox Robinson Publishing authors are required to write at least one short
story per publication that will be made available to readers as a free eBook
download on the KRP website."

I may be easy but I'm not cheap and I sure as hell am not for free.

4. "Please describe the research undertaken to write this book, your source
material (primary and secondary) and any liberties taken with the historical
records of events in your book."
Once we sign the contract I will provide them an annotated bibliography if they want one but not until then.
I stopped writing other people's term papers a long time ago. As for "any liberties taken, in #1 they only
publish fiction, if liberties weren't taken it's an encyclopedia.


5. What are the primary competitive books on the market?
Another thing that THEY should know.

6. Knox Robinson works diligently to market the books of all of our authors.
Really? How?


In addition to the company’s efforts, all Knox Robinson authors are required
to vigorously market their books at their own expense.
Oh, HELL NO!


This includes, but is not limited to, arranging your own bookstore signings,
author talks, library talks and appearances at conventions in which Knox
Robinson does not participate. Please provide a sample marketing plan
below which includes bookstores that you would wish to target for book
signings, libraries that you may approach for talks, authors of whom you wish
to approach for reviews, and possible conventions at which you wish to
make appearances.
If they want to hire me as a marketing consultant we can discuss marketing strategies AFTER I sign the
consultancy contract.


7. Please tell us about your future writing projects.
Not a f*cking chance!

And what, pray tell, do I need THEM for? I can self-publish and do the same thing without splitting the net.

If, after my lobotomy, I were to answer all their questions I would have handed them the entire book; all
they'd have to do is type it up. For that kind of shagging I'd like to at least get kissed.
 

AyJay

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I thought I'd try to resurrect this discussion as KP caught my eye for an historical fiction/mythic project of mine that I've been trying to place. I like their cover art and titles. The questionnaire doesn't put me off. As mentioned above, every publisher wants authors who will help market their work. To me, the questionnaire just seems to be a very direct way to vet that, and perhaps to begin the discussion, which is better than putting out titles and hoping for the best.

If the language from the questionnaire appears in the contract (i.e. author required to do marketing "at his/her own expense") then I would be very concerned.

What does concern me is how well their titles get distributed and marketed. A little research showed they don't appear to do particularly well on Amazon, but that's just one outlet, albeit a big one. Anyone have a better gauge for their sales?
 

Hip-Hop-a-potamus

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I thought I'd try to resurrect this discussion as KP caught my eye for an historical fiction/mythic project of mine that I've been trying to place. I like their cover art and titles. The questionnaire doesn't put me off. As mentioned above, every publisher wants authors who will help market their work. To me, the questionnaire just seems to be a very direct way to vet that, and perhaps to begin the discussion, which is better than putting out titles and hoping for the best.

If the language from the questionnaire appears in the contract (i.e. author required to do marketing "at his/her own expense") then I would be very concerned.

What does concern me is how well their titles get distributed and marketed. A little research showed they don't appear to do particularly well on Amazon, but that's just one outlet, albeit a big one. Anyone have a better gauge for their sales?

I'd be more concerned with their contract, not their sales. As I mentioned above, I had a professional agent (a friend of a friend who does not rep my genre) take a look at it, and when I told her they would not allow ANY of her changes to it, she told me to walk.

If that's not an indication of their business, I don't know what is.
 

AyJay

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Thanks for the feedback Hip-Hop.

I could be extremely dense, so bear with me. But without knowing what that contract looked like, I'm not following how their lack of negotiation gives them a red flag for authors. Is it that they required you to provide a short story, without payment?

I'm contracted with two small presses who use boilerplate contracts and each one negotiated very little. One of them, the one with a more favorable contract actually, negotiated zip as I recall.

But I'm happy with both. They've done what they said they would do, they've paid on time, and they've been prompt and upfront in their communications. By the way, one requires authors to do an interview feature on their blog for free. Clearly, that takes a lot less time and creativity than writing a short story, but just saying.
 

Hip-Hop-a-potamus

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Because my book has serious motion picture potential (in this agent's eyes), and these guys wanted half of any rights to that or related materials (imagine if J.K. Rowling had signed away half the rights to Harry Potter movie-related stuff...), she told me to run not walk when they would not negotiate for that. She told me the going rate was lower than 50% on the agent's side. There were a few other items that she said were red flags.

Plus, I had no desire to write short stories for free. I write novels, and cannot even think in short story terms. I'm done giving my work away for free. Unless it's an exccerpt on my blog.

If an agent's opinion that it's a cruddy contract isn't good enough for you, then go for it. Having been recently burned by a small press myself, I remember when I was "happy" with them too, selling almost nothing on my first book. For this one, I wanted far more.

I used to be disparaging of self-publishing, but no longer. I'd rather go it alone than sign another crappy contract.

Thanks for the feedback Hip-Hop.

I could be extremely dense, so bear with me. But without knowing what that contract looked like, I'm not following how their lack of negotiation gives them a red flag for authors. Is it that they required you to provide a short story, without payment?

I'm contracted with two small presses who use boilerplate contracts and each one negotiated very little. One of them, the one with a more favorable contract actually, negotiated zip as I recall.

But I'm happy with both. They've done what they said they would do, they've paid on time, and they've been prompt and upfront in their communications. By the way, one requires authors to do an interview feature on their blog for free. Clearly, that takes a lot less time and creativity than writing a short story, but just saying.
 

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I would strongly advise any aspiring novelists to give Knox Robinson Publishing a wide berth. This company has a growing army of unhappy, ex-authors and one of them has just won a court case judgement in the UK against KRP (or KRaP as it is known by the ex-authors) for non-payment of translation rights. This is money owed from several years ago. The decision of the court is that KRaP has run off with author's share of the money. This company only pays royalties out once a year and when the MD tried to force her authors to sign a new contract in 2013, five of the thirty-two authors chose to jump ship instead. Another author challenged the company about the pathetic royalty rates and accounting procedures and was promptly offered a Return of Rights letter. To my knowledge, at least four more authors have left KRaP since 2013.
Stay clear.
 
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Carmella54

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I would strongly advise any aspiring novelists to give Knox Robinson Publishing a wide berth. This company has a growing army of unhappy, ex-authors and one of them has just won a court case judgement in the UK against KRP (or KRaP as it is known by the ex-authors) for non-payment of translation rights. This is money owed from several years ago. The decision of the court is that KRaP has run off with author's share of the money. This company only pays royalties out once a year and when the MD tried to force her authors to sign a new contract in 2013, five of the thirty-two authors chose to jump ship instead. Another author challenged the company about the pathetic royalty rates and accounting procedures and was promptly offered a Return of Rights letter. To my knowledge, at least four more authors have left KRaP since 2013.
Stay clear.

I entirely endorse what Kangin has said here. I've had dealings with this particular publisher. She uses false addresses for her company that keep changing, they are actually virtual addresses, she does not have offices in New York and London as she claims. Some authors have had problems getting their royalties payments, too. Steer well clear!
 
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VeryBigBeard

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So this is an old post in an old thread, but I read through and this questionnaire is just too fun!

Knox Robinson Publishing

I just looked over their lovely submissions questionnaire and it's a dilly.
All are direct, unedited quotes with emphasis added.

1. "How would you classify your book (Historical Fiction, Historical
Romance, Young Adult or General Fantasy)?"

2. "Please describe why you wrote this book, the niche it fills, its subject and
key editorial points that make it unique."


3. "All Knox Robinson Publishing authors are required to write at least one short
story per publication that will be made available to readers as a free eBook
download on the KRP website."

4. "Please describe the research undertaken to write this book, your source
material (primary and secondary) and any liberties taken with the historical
records of events in your book."

5. What are the primary competitive books on the market?

6. Knox Robinson works diligently to market the books of all of our authors.

In addition to the company’s efforts, all Knox Robinson authors are required
to vigorously market their books at their own expense.

This includes, but is not limited to, arranging your own bookstore signings,
author talks, library talks and appearances at conventions in which Knox
Robinson does not participate. Please provide a sample marketing plan
below which includes bookstores that you would wish to target for book
signings, libraries that you may approach for talks, authors of whom you wish
to approach for reviews, and possible conventions at which you wish to

7. Please tell us about your future writing projects.


1. My book best fits into General Fantasy.

2. Well, the story of its creation is a bit tricky, actually. It was a moonless night, in the middle of an old wood in a grove surrounded by oak trees. There was a lot of unfermented wine, and some Satanic rituals, and basically that's where the idea for the book came from. The text more or less came out during the hangover. Some of those who attended are still making animal noises to this day but, fortunately, I recovered enough powers of speech to write this book chronicling the experience. It's been peer-reviewed by several experts in mythopoeic rituals, only some of whom have gone missing. Editorially, it takes a brave political stance on avian sex acts, is in favour of tree-worshipping, and critiques certain overindulgent readings of Keats.

3. I can certainly try, however most of my attempts at short story writing have been meditative scenes on crises of the human mind and are, if I do say so myself, almost unreadable in their verbosity, vagueness, and uneventfulness.

4. Most of it I made up on the spot, except for the bits I lifted from real-world history. Unfortunately, the book of history I attempted to lift from was very old and fell apart when I tried to create a bibliography, so I had to glue it back together again. Now I just have a mish-mashy world of all kinds of things, some of which may even be based in reality. Those few who have read these passages have yet to be able to refer to the source material because they hallucinated most of it.

5. The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and Keats.

6. Unfortunately, I am flat out broke at this time.

7. Gladly. I'm currently working on a contemporary fiction novella about an expert on fish penises who finds a mysterious motorcycle in his reserved parking spot and sets off across the continent to unravel a bloody murder mystery before Big Aquaculture can catch up. I hope its gritty, realistic intrigue will fit nicely alongside your lineup of historical fiction, romance, and fantasy.

If, after my lobotomy, I were to answer all their questions I would have handed them the entire book; all
they'd have to do is type it up. For that kind of shagging I'd like to at least get kissed.

Bzzzzttttt. Sssssnnnnnniiiiiiissssshhhhhh. You know, this lobotomy business is actually strangely relaxing? They're running a steady current through my head right now--it's making my fingers type all by themselves. The doctors do seem to be quite worried about the output, but I feel great!

Thanks for the tip, Aunty! I'll have to do this more often!