Blue Mustang Press

Never heard of them so hit Google. http://www.bluemustangpress.com/

Their 'about' page doesn't tell me anything about them.

Unimportant said:

According to this article, Blue Mustang Press is owned by Tony Savageau, his wife Karen Savageau, and an unnamed friend. Mr Savageau is an ex-PublishAmerica author. Blue Mustang publishes books by Mr Savageau, so it looks to be an expanded self-publisher.

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Oh goody, yet another pissed off PA author starting his own publishing entity. If you don't know enough not to sign on with PA then you don't know enough to start a publishing company internet site.

~brianm~

brianm said:

Oh goody, yet another pissed off PA author starting his own publishing entity. If you don't know enough not to sign on with PA then you don't know enough to start a publishing company internet site.

~brianm~

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Caaareful, dear Brian. Lest we forget I was one of their victims many moons ago...

priceless1 said:

Caaareful, dear Brian. Lest we forget I was one of their victims many moons ago...

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But from the evidence one sees, you may exist to make sense of the old adage, "The exception that proves the rule."

The facts that the home page is aimed at authors, the copy on the site doesn't seem to be written all that well, and the covers don't look all that professional all seem like bad signs. At least, they'd be bad signs for me if I was thinking about them as a publisher for my work.

priceless1 said:

Caaareful, dear Brian. Lest we forget I was one of their victims many moons ago...

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Quite so, but I also feel you are the exception when it comes to ex-PA authors opening publishing entities, which you proved when your feet were put to the fire in this very forum and have continued to prove through the success of your publishing company. Nonetheless, it was an unnecessary remark and I apologise.

~brianm~

blue mustang author

After reading the comments in this exchange I wanted to assure readers that Blue Mustang Press is NOT a vanity press. As an author of two dozen published books, I accepted a contract for my first collection of short stories from them. There were no fees of any sort involved, and BMP produced my book expediently and effectively, with excellent production values. The process was smooth and professional, and the editorial staff at BMP was great to work with. It is a solid trade, pod press, whose books appear promptly on all indexes and in cyber bookstores. A reputable paperback press.

keithm said:

After reading the comments in this exchange I wanted to assure readers that Blue Mustang Press is NOT a vanity press. As an author of two dozen published books, I accepted a contract for my first collection of short stories from them. There were no fees of any sort involved, and BMP produced my book expediently and effectively, with excellent production values. The process was smooth and professional, and the editorial staff at BMP were great to work with. It is a sold trade, pod press, whose books appear promptly on all indexes and in cyber bookstores. A solid paperback press.

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This, I doubt as this your first post and you claim to be one of their authors...or more accurately you are the publisher.

They are "distributed" by Lightning Source, a company indicative of POD presses. They don't appear to have any means of formal marketing and promotion, so unless the author has a ready audience and a willingness to sell their own books, sales could be tough to come by.

Huh, I am NOT the publisher. I am one of BMP's authors. Michael C. Keith

As most tiny presses, Blue Mustang Press does have limited means to promote/market a title.

keithm said:

After reading the comments in this exchange I wanted to assure readers that Blue Mustang Press is NOT a vanity press. As an author of two dozen published books, I accepted a contract for my first collection of short stories from them. There were no fees of any sort involved, and BMP produced my book expediently and effectively, with excellent production values. The process was smooth and professional, and the editorial staff at BMP was great to work with. It is a solid trade, pod press, whose books appear promptly on all indexes and in cyber bookstores. A reputable paperback press.

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Okay, so what is your book so that I may check it out and see the quality for myself?

Also, care to share the details of your contract? Is this strictly an ebook venture, or do they do prints as well? The website is really sparse and it's difficult to tell. Are you satisfied with your sales?

I looked at this publisher for my own book, but cringed when I saw they distributed through Lightning Source. So if Blue Mustang doesn't print the books, doesn't market them... what exactly would they do for me, the author?

Their list of authors seems rather stinted...and MANY of their books are reprints, and in once case a book from most likely the local historical society in Sharon, MA. I'll look since my aunt and uncle live in Sharon.


Yes, http://www.sharonhistoricalsociety.org/All_Else/Gift_Shop/GiftShop1.htm , this is the historical society's book...not BMP's.

G.Collins said:

So if Blue Mustang doesn't print the books, doesn't market them... what exactly would they do for me, the author?

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No one has established they don't market their books, so let's not jump to conclusions. As for printing...um, no publisher prints their own books, they hire printers to do this, such as LSI. While they are printers, they also have a service for POD presses that will get their books listed with all the online stores and warehouse distributors, such as Ingram and B&T. However, LSI doesn't have sales teams who pitch their books to the national accounts.

So their distribution is extremely limited because most stores won't shelve POD books. But that's not to say this publisher doesn't market and promote - we just don't know what that is yet. Perhaps, if we haven't frightened off poor Mr. Keith, he can fill us in on those gaps.

priceless1 said:

No one has established they don't market their books, so let's not jump to conclusions. As for printing...um, no publisher prints their own books, they hire printers to do this, such as LSI. While they are printers, they also have a service for POD presses that will get their books listed with all the online stores and warehouse distributors, such as Ingram and B&T. However, LSI doesn't have sales teams who pitch their books to the national accounts.

So their distribution is extremely limited because most stores won't shelve POD books. But that's not to say this publisher doesn't market and promote - we just don't know what that is yet. Perhaps, if we haven't frightened off poor Mr. Keith, he can fill us in on those gaps.

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Ah, I see. Thank you for the clarification. I hope I didn't come off as too aggressive with Mr. Keith. I just got all excited due to the fact that I had previously looked over this publisher, but then passed it off for the reasons above.

blue mustang author

BMP is doing its sincere best with the limited number of authors it has and its limited resources. They're a sincere group of folks who have a passion for the "book." I brought my little story collection –– AND THROUGH THE TREMBLING AIR -- after hunting unsuccessfully for a publisher of speculative short fiction. I was offered (on two occasions) to have my manuscript published in ebook form, but I'm old school and wanted to see it in hardcopy. I was very pleased with what BMP did with the work. Their contract was straight forward, and, again, no fees of any sort were charged. I downloaded my manuscript to them. They accepted it after reviewing it carefully, and then they put it into production. I received a copy edited manuscript, which I corrected and returned. They gave me an opportunity to suggest a cover, which I did, and which they used. A couple months later I received ten author's copy of the book. At that point it not only appeared on BMP's website, but on amazon.com, bn.com, and on other cyber bookstore sites. In other words, the whole thing was a clean and gratifying process. True, they have limited marketing capacity, but they are working to better it. In the meantime, I am aware that other established authors are submitting their work to them, because they are impressed with their integrity and results.

So glad you came back, Michael. All editors are passionate about the books they sign because they are the front line advocates for that book when pitching it to their sales teams, marketing and promotion teams, and so on. I don't know of a single editor who doesn't get gooey excited over a book. It's not just filling slots per season, but buying books that grab their black little hearts.

It's nice they gave you so much control with your cover art during production, but after reviewing their cover art, I feel they are quite pedestrian and homespun. A simplistic cover speaks volumes.

Story collections are hard to sell, so I'm glad you're pleased with the results. LSI is responsible for getting your title uploaded to the online stores, but the missing piece to the puzzle is what BMP is doing to market and promote your book.

I am aware that other established authors are submitting their work to them, because they are impressed with their integrity and results.

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There are many publishers whose integrity are beyond reproach, so this is a bit of a non-starter. This leaves results, and I'm still confused about this because they don't have any distribution, the cover art is way below par, their marketing and promotion seems to be spotty, so I'm trying to figure out why any established author would find them a good choice. When you say established, what do you mean by this?

I hope I'm not sounding confrontational, but I'm trying to clarify what makes this company a solid choice. It might help those who are be interested in querying.

priceless1 said:

It's nice they gave you so much control with your cover art during production, but after reviewing their cover art, I feel they are quite pedestrian and homespun. A simplistic cover speaks volumes.

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I have to agree with this. After having examined the covers they seem to be mostly photographs or easily download images. I'm no artist, publisher, etc. but being an avid reader across numerous genres, the cover does help sell the book. Many fantasy books (my favorite genre, perhaps not the best example) have amazing details and implicitly show either the story's basic plot or characters involved. This is aside just the wonderful art.

The Dragonlance novels' covers have actually had effects on the stories themselves. An artists drew a character's eyes a certain way, and the authors then took that and ran with it, working it into the plot in a semi-major way. Basically, art/cover is important.