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Firefly & Wisp Publishing

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She might have been doing a mock-up. I don't know how DAW approaches things. But I know most publishers want to control marketing. Cover art reveals are big part of that. Most contracts will have some kind of clause barring the author from promoting the book with anything but publisher-approved artwork. A writer/artist can post sketches and whatnot on a personal page, but I guarantee the publisher will probably want to make sure those do not cheapen or confuse the branding.

So if this was an actual sale to DAW, and such a clause applies, and if D.L. Haver designed that cover herself as a mock-up - then she is in violation of her contract.
 

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Most contracts will have some kind of clause barring the author from promoting the book with anything but publisher-approved artwork.

Huh? I don't have a clause like this in any of my contracts, nor have I ever heard of it in anyone else's.

I agree with the others who suggest that the cover mock-up was a bit of fun on her part -- and there's no harm in that. A friend mocked up a hilarious, NSFW stick-figure drawing for the cover of my first published YA novel, and with a few modifications to make it age-appropriate, I used it until the real cover was approved to reveal.

What's actually VERY serious is her claim to have been published by Scholastic, Harlequin, and so on when no one has yet been able to find any evidence of this being true.

And even that wouldn't matter if this person was not now in the business of acquiring the rights to publish other people's work. I would never sign -- or recommend anyone else sign -- a contract with a person or a company run by a person who is demonstrably, um, truth-challenged.
 
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profen4

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Yeah I've never seen a clause in a contract about cover art either. I don't think cover reveals are that big a deal, to be honest. Covers are a big deal for sales, of course. But cover reveals? I don't think so.

Anyway, for her sake, I hope she really has made sales to those publishers. That would be quite impressive.
 
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aliceshortcake

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A reply from Harlequin:

We do not show any records of Danielle Lee Zwissler.

Well, that explains why Zwissler never mentions the titles of her Harlequin book(s).

I asked Scholastic if they'd published Zwissler's The Third Wish or accepted The Key for publication. Their reply:

I have searched our database and found nothing.

The only books published under her own name appear to be Her Last Chance, The Art of Seduction (both Firefly and Wisp) and Trio of Sin (Books To Go Now). The latter features some harrowing punctuation abuse.
 
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Terie, I've heard of that stipulation from several e-publishers. It's not that they're down on writers providing their own art versions of a cover - they want to keep potential buyers from being confused or turned off by an awkward art promotion.

I don't know how the Big Six handle it. Both Jacqueline Carey and Lynn Flewelling have fan art and foreign cover galleries on their sites, clearly marked as to origin.

I agree: Zwissler's claim of being published or courted by these publishers is far more serious.
 
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Terie

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Terie, I've heard of that stipulation from several e-publishers.

Fair enough. Then you might want to be careful of making statements such as this:

Most contracts will have some kind of clause barring the author from promoting the book with anything but publisher-approved artwork.

'Several e-publishers' does not equal anything close to 'most contracts'. My e-publisher, for example, had no such stipulation.

There's enough bad information about publishing out there without adding to it.
 

Stacia Kane

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Actually, I'd be very suspicious the minute we get "Hey, I just sold my book! Here's the cover!"

It takes weeks to months (depending on publisher etc.) for even a preliminary cover to be made, barring some epublisher series where they use a particular cover for each book. I can't see announcing a deal and a cover at the same time, unless the announcement is seriously delayed (which, why?).

It reminds me not only of the Rejection Queen but of that woman a few years back who said she'd written and sold a mystery(?) to a Big Six house, and claimed that her contract came with the advance check attached. (Anyone else remember? She also said it was a two-book contract and that she was going to invite her blog readers to write the second book.)

She got Very Upset when people pointed out that it doesn't work that way.


(ETA: I think she *might* have been the one who said she got her book in the hands of an editor by showing up at the publisher's offices, telling an editor they had a lunch date, taking the editor to lunch, and then handing said editor her ms, saying, "This is the manuscript you asked to see!" But I could be confusing that one with a different prevaricator.)
 

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I actually thought she had done the cover, and she was saying something along the lines of, "just for fun, I'll mock up a cover to give you an idea of what my book is about."

Maybe I'm wrong.

I had a phone call from Ms. Zwissler this morning, and she confirms that this, indeed, is the situation. She did a cover mock-up herself because she was excited about the manuscript.

There seemed to be some confusion regarding the terminology around submitting versus selling a novel, so the actual status of that book remains unclear to me.

She reported that she's receiving harassing emails and Facebook messages, however, and is distressed and concerned that her husband and children might be inadvertently caught by the greater Internet blowback effect.

At this point, I would like to request that AWers not send email to her personal email address or post to her FaceBook page -- although she's invited authors with questions to contact her through her business contact address on the website.

In the meantime, I'm going to close this thread at least temporarily -- but if there's new specific and relevant information regarding Firefly & Wisp, please feel free to PM me or the room mods about re-opening the conversation.
 
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MacAllister

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Curiouser and curiouser

There apparently IS still a great deal of import to discuss, with regards to this company, according to what I've heard privately from people who are either currently working with or have in the past worked with Firefly & Wisp.

Re-opening the thread now, in the hopes that especially people with direct experience to report will feel like they can share their insights.

Again, I'll request that we keep on-topic, provide documentation, attribution, and carefully cite sources whenever possible, and not post comments to her FB or blogs, nor send email, nor engage in any other behavior that could be construed as harassing.
 
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Jrubas

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First of all, I would like to issue an apology. What I said previously was out of line, and I want it to be known far and wide that it was stupid and that I regret it.

Secondly, I do not have the authority to speak to any of the claims herein made, I can only share with you my own experiences with the company. Firefly and Wisp is a very intimate and hands on publishing house. The authors are kept informed and engaged every step of the way. The publisher is very approachable, and is chiefly interested in making the author happy (within reason, of course). I recently had my short story collection "Pocketful of Fear" published by Firefly, and was very satisfied with the results. The cover looks amazing and the marketing campaign was very well executed. The contract I signed was fair and acceptable, and I have made a tidy amount of money. No, I have not sold 50,000 or more books, and no, I am not eating lobster, but I never expected to. We are only one small publishing house among many. In my honest opinion, the advent of the internet has flooded the market with more books and magazines than we (all...what, 6, 7 billion of us?) can hope to read in a lifetime. Think of it as supply and demand. Supply has skyrocketed, but demand remains relatively the same.

Having said that, Firefly and Wisp is not some little vanity press churning out cardboard bound picture books. Some pretty well known publishers (Mythwurks among them) print basically on demand and deal only or primarily with sites like Lulu, which makes getting books into readers' hands more difficult than it should be. Firefly uses Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and others. Nothing special, but I rest assured that having my book up in the "free market of ideas" people can find it and buy it if they want it. I've sold copies of my book to people from around the world, and that's something that still blows my mind. "Wow...someone actually PAID for my work!"

The authors in the company are treated very well. The publisher works with us, something that you don't get at the stuffy corporate houses. I prefer it that way, actually. I mean, I wrote the damn thing, I put all of MY time and effort into it, I agonized over it, so why should I have to settle? If I was going for a Random House type thing, yeah, but I'll be the first one to admit that my work isn't up there with Stephen King's. But when I submitted the manuscript, I wasn't thinking of profit, honestly, I just wanted to see if anyone out there could take as much joy in my work as I did. Firefly picked it up, and I haven't looked back since. I plan to move on and up one day, sure, but for now I'm happy where I am.
 

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An anonymous correspondent has sent me the following screenshots.

As the information therein seems entirely pertinent to FF&W's abilities, communication style, and management techniques as a publisher, I post them without further editorial comment:

ffandw_image3.jpg


and from another comments thread:

ffandw_image21.jpg


and from yet another post altogether:

ffandw_image1.jpg
 
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MacAllister

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What is that supposed to highlight?
Well, among other things, Jrubas, after spending most of my day on this? I strongly suspect you've been flat-out lied to about editing and distribution, at least -- and repeatedly, at that.

When I spoke to her this morning, Ms. Zwissler invited me to contact the publishing companies she's spoken of and verify that she in fact has books with them.

I'm actually in a position to do exactly that, at least to some degree.

I don't normally post in these threads -- there are a number of people much smarter than I am, who know a great deal more, and are much, MUCH better at all of this.

But when I get phone calls at home about one of these threads, I'm involved in the discussion whether I want to be or not, so I do my level best to investigate.

Look, no one here is trying to be mean. No one here wants authors to fail.

That's why we're here, in fact: We really, really don't want authors to get hurt.

Being badly published can be a great deal worse than being unpublished. We've seen a lot of authors over the years fall for the "but we're NEW! Just give us a chance! Even Random House had to start somewhere!" line of BS -- and it IS a line of BS. "Publisher" is not an entry-level position. Some of those publishers were scammy con artists, and some of them were entirely well-meaning, but utterly gormless.

But if your publisher is deliberately telling you flat-out lies about editing, distribution, marketing, or otherwise deliberately blowing smoke? That's not a situation any author is going to be happy about for long -- not once the first excited blush of "They like my book! They believe in me!" wears off.

It's not our job to help publishers and would-be publishers. It's our job to help writers.
 
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James D. Macdonald

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"Guestbook sliming" has been a ban-worthy offense around here for a long, long time. Just don't do it.

Despite the number of times various publishers/agents/whatever ask in these threads, "Why did you post that in public rather than just calling us on the phone?" the answer is this: If 40,000 people called them on the phone they wouldn't get anything done.

Those who have not yet read the stickies at the top of this forum are invited to do so.

The Index includes a large number of publishers whose names are listed in gray. Those are the ones who have gone out of business. Please go to those threads and read each of them from the beginning.

Also of interest:

Why Publishers Fail.
 

shadowwalker

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I admit - I'm totally confused. I went to their website and looked at every link I could find (other than those author links) and could not find any explanation of just what they do for the authors. I found their rather odd (IMO) submission requirements, but... and is the owner (or owners) running the publishing company while at the same time being published by another (or more) trade publishers?

The more I try to follow this whole thing the more confused I get.
 

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The authors in the company are treated very well. The publisher works with us, something that you don't get at the stuffy corporate houses.
Jrubas, are you speaking with experience of this? Can you tell us which corporate houses you worked with where the publisher didn't treat you well?
 

b.hastings

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Blown away

I would like to first say, wow! I understand everybody is entitled to their own opinions, and constructive criticism is an excellent tool for a writer to use when perfecting their abilities, but damn! The posts I have read in this thread are downright cruel and disheartening. I don't think I have ever seen this level of attack on one person in my life and I recommend the posters in this thread take a step back and look at the bigger picture. A few of you claim to be professional writers, some of you may even have books out there, I don't know, I haven't looked, but I can tell you one thing... After seeing this, I wouldn't want to purchase anything you've written. As authors, we have to be so very careful what we post online. The internet is an open book for the entire world to judge and if we make one wrong move, it's lights out on our careers.

Look at this situation, for example. You make one mistake, big or small, it doesn't matter, make it and you're done. People love to jump all over you the instant this happens and where are you expected to go from there? There is so little option of pulling yourself out of the hole others dig for you, that every attempt you make they are right there to push you back in.

Give the woman some benefit of the doubt. You are making judgmental accusations without knowing all of the facts. And frankly, making yourselves look like morons. I am all for freedom of speech and having the right to have your own opinions, but there is a line and a time to say enough is enough, and you have all well past it.

With that said, let me introduce myself. I am an adult fantasy, urban paranormal, and erotica writer AND author with Firefly & Wisp Publishing. I have several short stories with the company; All I Want for XXXmas – a stand-alone e-book, Lovers – featured in their erotic anthology collection, Of Leather and Lace, Mistletoe – featured in their holiday anthology collection, A Home for the Holidays, and Our Forbidden Love – my first published novel, and the first in a five book series, of which Firefly and Wisp will publish. All of these mentioned titles are available on Amazon, B&N, Smashwords (in case you wanted to check up on my accreditation as well), and in the FireflyandWisp.com bookstore. I take pride in my work and would never have signed with a company that I didn’t first research. I spent months comparing publishing houses and what they could offer ME, the writer of the book, and the one whose time and hard work went into creating it.

Not one person is created the same. Everybody likes different things and what would make you happy, doesn’t necessarily make me happy. I, for one, wanted to avoid the cookie-cutter, big name, ‘I’m going to take your book and make it mine, and you will have no control or means to stop me’ kind of company. I know eventually I will have to turn to such a company if I want my career to really boom, but that is not something I am interested in at this time. Firefly and Wisp came to me highly recommended by two very trust worthy and honest friends; one who had recently signed with the company herself, and another who is more of the behind the scenes type and knew from experience how honorable and hard-working the owner was. They both suggested I send in my manuscript, so I took a leap of faith and listened. And I have never been happier.

Sure, the company is small, and not as well-known as some of its competitors. But I happen to like that fact. The atmosphere at Firefly is more family-like. The authors have the chance to talk freely, and bounce ideas off each other. If one of us gets in a jam, the other is there to offer suggestions. I have met some really amazing people through Firefly; Danielle and Earl Zwissler are two of them. How many publishers do you know out there who will drop whatever they are working on to answer a question for you? Or go out of their way to ensure you are perfecting your talent and making the most of it? Who offer suggestions and tools that help you understand the market that you are entering into? Danielle has only ever wanted to see us authors succeed, because, let’s face it, our success is her success. And trust me, Firefly and Wisp is a success. We sell books. People know our names. We might not be high and mighty and have thousands of dollars to show for our hard work, but we are successful because somebody somewhere out there bought our books and liked them! As an author, what more is there? If you can sit back and honestly tell me you would be better off with a larger, more well-known publishing house, then go to it. If they accept you, which is unlikely, then I wish you nothing but the best. Most larger companies don’t take in the newbie because they don’t want the hassle. Firefly and Wisp urge the newbie to submit. They don’t mind taking that risk and putting faith into someone who is ignorant to how the publishing world works. If that makes them a horrible company – if that makes Danielle a horrible person, than I suppose all the cruel and hurtful things you have said against her are true.

If you still think, after reading this, that Danielle is this horrible, lying, fake person, consider this... How many publishers do you know will set up a book signing event, offer you to stay at their house, cook for you, pay for your dinner, spend hours upon hours chatting with you and laughing with you, and then end the weekend by taking the flat tire off your car, take the time to scan it for damage, bring it to a local shop only to be told the tire is bad, PAY for a new one to replace it, and then put the new tire back on your car so that YOU can make the 700 mile drive back home safely??? Then ask yourself, would you do this for someone you hardly knew if roles were reversed?



The point I am trying to make is all of you are coming to conclusions without first knowing all the facts. You see a screen shot, for example, of a conversation or a portion of a conversation in a private room and automatically assume you know all the facts leading up to, and following those posts. You see one website error that you can't really say is one person's fault over another, and you automatically assume the owner is lying and cheating her way up the ladder. You are reacting without first investigating. And what little information you think you have found, you are blowing so far out of proportion that you look like imbeciles. I'm not defending or saying that Danielle is guilty or innocent, like you, I was not there and do not know first hand, but I do have an advantage over all of you... I work with Danielle. I talk with Danielle. I have gotten to know the person, the writer, the author, the entrepreneur, the mother, the wife, the friend... and I highly doubt a single one of you would ever understand her to be so much the opposite person than the image of the woman you have now boldly painted in this thread. It is you I feel sorry for. Not Danielle. She and I both know who she is, and now we have the privilege of seeing who you are. Let's see who is still around in the publishing world in five, ten, twenty years. I think the results will surprise you.
 

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Anyone got the bingo cards handy?
 

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BHastings, I'm blown away, too.

Blown away that you believe the ability to change a tire has anything to do with publishing. :e2shrug:
 

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if we make one wrong move, it's lights out on our careers.
BHastings, that bit I quoted is what this is all about. Not about if she's a nice person or a good cook. It's about how a publisher can impact an author's career.

Take a moment to read this thread. (Don't worry, it's fairly short.) That's an example of what can happen to an author when they sign with a press that isn't really prepared to do business.

Now take a look at this list of publishers. See the ones that are in grey text? Those are all publishers who went out of business, usually taking their authors down with them. Hundreds of 'em.

Sometimes they were outright scams. Sometimes they were run by well-meaing but clueless people who had no idea what was needed to succeed in the publishing industry. Sometimes they started out with very good intentions but ended up on the slippery slope to hell. Sometimes they started out doing everything pretty much right but ran out of money. Sometimes they started out small and then felt they needed to look bigger, so they lied about their publication records and distribution systems and sales figures. In every case, though, they tanked; and in every case, the authors suffered for it in the end.

That is what we're warning people against. We're seeing soooooo many red flags from Firefly & Wisp that we're all willing to bet our next paycheque they'll be a greyed-out listing here on AW within a year or two. And, given that, it'd be unethical of us not to warn authors about what they might be getting themselves into.
 

amergina

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I would like to first say, wow! I understand everybody is entitled to their own opinions, and constructive criticism is an excellent tool for a writer to use when perfecting their abilities, but damn! The posts I have read in this thread are downright cruel and disheartening. I don't think I have ever seen this level of attack on one person in my life and I recommend the posters in this thread take a step back and look at the bigger picture. A few of you claim to be professional writers, some of you may even have books out there, I don't know, I haven't looked, but I can tell you one thing... After seeing this, I wouldn't want to purchase anything you've written. As authors, we have to be so very careful what we post online. The internet is an open book for the entire world to judge and if we make one wrong move, it's lights out on our careers.

Look at this situation, for example. You make one mistake, big or small, it doesn't matter, make it and you're done. People love to jump all over you the instant this happens and where are you expected to go from there? There is so little option of pulling yourself out of the hole others dig for you, that every attempt you make they are right there to push you back in.

Give the woman some benefit of the doubt. You are making judgmental accusations without knowing all of the facts. And frankly, making yourselves look like morons. I am all for freedom of speech and having the right to have your own opinions, but there is a line and a time to say enough is enough, and you have all well past it.

With that said, let me introduce myself. I am an adult fantasy, urban paranormal, and erotica writer AND author with Firefly & Wisp Publishing. I have several short stories with the company; All I Want for XXXmas – a stand-alone e-book, Lovers – featured in their erotic anthology collection, Of Leather and Lace, Mistletoe – featured in their holiday anthology collection, A Home for the Holidays, and Our Forbidden Love – my first published novel, and the first in a five book series, of which Firefly and Wisp will publish. All of these mentioned titles are available on Amazon, B&N, Smashwords (in case you wanted to check up on my accreditation as well), and in the FireflyandWisp.com bookstore. I take pride in my work and would never have signed with a company that I didn’t first research. I spent months comparing publishing houses and what they could offer ME, the writer of the book, and the one whose time and hard work went into creating it.

Not one person is created the same. Everybody likes different things and what would make you happy, doesn’t necessarily make me happy. I, for one, wanted to avoid the cookie-cutter, big name, ‘I’m going to take your book and make it mine, and you will have no control or means to stop me’ kind of company. I know eventually I will have to turn to such a company if I want my career to really boom, but that is not something I am interested in at this time. Firefly and Wisp came to me highly recommended by two very trust worthy and honest friends; one who had recently signed with the company herself, and another who is more of the behind the scenes type and knew from experience how honorable and hard-working the owner was. They both suggested I send in my manuscript, so I took a leap of faith and listened. And I have never been happier.

Sure, the company is small, and not as well-known as some of its competitors. But I happen to like that fact. The atmosphere at Firefly is more family-like. The authors have the chance to talk freely, and bounce ideas off each other. If one of us gets in a jam, the other is there to offer suggestions. I have met some really amazing people through Firefly; Danielle and Earl Zwissler are two of them. How many publishers do you know out there who will drop whatever they are working on to answer a question for you? Or go out of their way to ensure you are perfecting your talent and making the most of it? Who offer suggestions and tools that help you understand the market that you are entering into? Danielle has only ever wanted to see us authors succeed, because, let’s face it, our success is her success. And trust me, Firefly and Wisp is a success. We sell books. People know our names. We might not be high and mighty and have thousands of dollars to show for our hard work, but we are successful because somebody somewhere out there bought our books and liked them! As an author, what more is there? If you can sit back and honestly tell me you would be better off with a larger, more well-known publishing house, then go to it. If they accept you, which is unlikely, then I wish you nothing but the best. Most larger companies don’t take in the newbie because they don’t want the hassle. Firefly and Wisp urge the newbie to submit. They don’t mind taking that risk and putting faith into someone who is ignorant to how the publishing world works. If that makes them a horrible company – if that makes Danielle a horrible person, than I suppose all the cruel and hurtful things you have said against her are true.

If you still think, after reading this, that Danielle is this horrible, lying, fake person, consider this... How many publishers do you know will set up a book signing event, offer you to stay at their house, cook for you, pay for your dinner, spend hours upon hours chatting with you and laughing with you, and then end the weekend by taking the flat tire off your car, take the time to scan it for damage, bring it to a local shop only to be told the tire is bad, PAY for a new one to replace it, and then put the new tire back on your car so that YOU can make the 700 mile drive back home safely??? Then ask yourself, would you do this for someone you hardly knew if roles were reversed?



The point I am trying to make is all of you are coming to conclusions without first knowing all the facts. You see a screen shot, for example, of a conversation or a portion of a conversation in a private room and automatically assume you know all the facts leading up to, and following those posts. You see one website error that you can't really say is one person's fault over another, and you automatically assume the owner is lying and cheating her way up the ladder. You are reacting without first investigating. And what little information you think you have found, you are blowing so far out of proportion that you look like imbeciles. I'm not defending or saying that Danielle is guilty or innocent, like you, I was not there and do not know first hand, but I do have an advantage over all of you... I work with Danielle. I talk with Danielle. I have gotten to know the person, the writer, the author, the entrepreneur, the mother, the wife, the friend... and I highly doubt a single one of you would ever understand her to be so much the opposite person than the image of the woman you have now boldly painted in this thread. It is you I feel sorry for. Not Danielle. She and I both know who she is, and now we have the privilege of seeing who you are. Let's see who is still around in the publishing world in five, ten, twenty years. I think the results will surprise you.

Quoting for posterity.
 

James D. Macdonald

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I spent months comparing publishing houses and what they could offer ME, the writer of the book, and the one whose time and hard work went into creating it.

What is F&W offering you that, say, Ellora's Cave couldn't?

I, for one, wanted to avoid the cookie-cutter, big name, ‘I’m going to take your book and make it mine, and you will have no control or means to stop me’ kind of company.

Could you name one or two of those? I'd like to avoid them too.
If you can sit back and honestly tell me you would be better off with a larger, more well-known publishing house, then go to it.

Yes, it's true. You'd be better off with a larger, more well-known publishing house.

Let's see who is still around in the publishing world in five, ten, twenty years. I think the results will surprise you.

No, I don't think I'll be surprised.

Please drop back by in a year and tell us if you're still as pleased with F&W as you are right now.