2 Moon Press

Wow. *blinks in amazement*


This should go without saying, but this:

You WILL sign over "Creative Control" rights to them. They can change characters, places, plot, etc...

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is WRONG. Completely and utterly wrong. Not only is there no "Creative Control right" to sign away, but you do NOT lose creative control when you sign with a major house, and they absolutely will NOT change characters, places, plots, etc.

They will make editing suggestions. Those are up to the author to implement. They may not all be changes the author agrees with, in which case they are discussed and a compromise is reached or the edits are forgotten or whatever else. No one at a major house will just rewrite your work. They won't. It doesn't happen. It's in your contract that it doesn't happen.

Anyone who tells you it will happen, and that you will sign over "Creative Control rights," is wrong.


As for the "contract signed years ago, books still unreleased," people...I know of cases where releases have been delayed because of marketing considerations or whatever, but most contracts have a set time limit on when the book will be published. Waiting so long for a release is to my knowledge very rare; I'm amazed at the idea that three authors at one tiny new micropress are all in the same boat, because I know dozens and dozens of NY-pubbed authors and I don't know any whose books were put on unlimited hold like that.

James D. Macdonald said:

In the interests of accuracy, if we're talking about Naked Came the Stranger, it was originally published by Lyle Stuart, an independent press known for printing controversial and risque books. Years later Lyle Stuart was bought by Kensington (the largest remaining independent publisher), but it has never been associated with Random House.

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Just a quick question entirely off topic here - Is Kensington the largest independent publisher? For some reason I thought it was Learner Publishing. Just curious.

Kensington describes itself as the largest independent publisher, while Lerner describes itself as the largest independent children's publisher.

From What Is Publishing, from 2 Moons' blog:

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING
Ideal way, they way everyone dreams of right? Well, yes and no. Traditional publishing is where a large house picks up your book, they will take the reigns, spend money to market it, get you noticed. Well the truth of the matter is simple. Just because you are "picked up" by a large publishing house, does not mean you will be published by them. 2 Moon Press has 3 current authors who had their books picked up (non 2 Moon books) and they have been waiting years... for them to release them. Not quite the market time yet they are told. Not to mention what you agree to. You WILL sign over "Creative Control" rights to them. They can change characters, places, plot, etc... I worked for two of them, I know and I know what the behind the scenes of it is. If that is ideal to you, then keep sending query letters and submissions. However do your homework, as each publisher has their own specific requirements.

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I would love to know what commercial presses you worked for because this is not how reputable commercial presses work, and shame on you for perpetuating these ridiculous myths.

Contracts make it very clear that an editor can't change characters, plot, etc. without the author's approval. Secondly, commercial presses don't blithely sign a book then set about changing it. They discuss their editing ideas BEFORE a contract is offered. I have no idea where you get the idea of this "Creative Control" thing, but it's a lie because there is no such thing to sign away. Legit commercial presses buy the rights to publish authors' books.

I'm grossly irritated because it's vanity publishers like you who preserve these fairy tales in order to line your own collective pockets with authors who simply don't know any better.

The truth of the matter is this: pay to play/vanity publishers charge the authors big money to have their books published. There is no litmus for talent other than the size of the author's wallet. There is no incentive for quality because vanity publishers have no distribution - authors are responsible for all marketing and promotion.

Lastly, vanity publishers use myths to make themselves look attractive. Why is that? If a business enterprise is solid, then it should thrive based on its own merits, not because they have to tell lies about their "competitors."

While on a little trip in Michigan recently I saw a sign that proclaimed 2 Moons Press as the most trusted publisher in Michigan. I decided to check it out, first going to the website and then coming here. I wasn't surprised to find out that 2MP is a vanity publisher. (I can't say I know much about publishing companies in Michigan, but I know Zondervan is located there and I'd bet they're more trusted than 2MP. Maybe they forgot the qualifier of most trusted vanity publisher?)

Anyway, I was a bit amused by what I saw on the site, once I got over the sticker shock. I don't know much about the publishing industry yet, especially about vanity publishing (because I'll never go that route), but those prices seem very steep! The lowest is $249 for an E-Book package and the highest is $3499 for the "top of the line" package!

Things that I noticed:

• Several of the packages will allow for a purchaser's book to be available through "Barnes & Noble Book Sellers." - That should probably be Barnes & Noble Booksellers instead.
• In the "Author Interviews" section there is one interview where none of the questions end in a question mark. - The rest of them do seem okay, though.
• Several of the packages offer "A thorough proof reading of your book" - If they don't know that the proper spelling is 'proofreading' then that is just scary.

There was something else that partway amused me: They offer 30 minute radio interviews on the "Author Chat radio hour that airs hourly on Blog Talk Radio" for $350. I did a little research on this "Author Chat" and the only show I could find was "Author Chat with Lynda D. Brown" that's specifically for self-published authors. Going to her website it says that she charges $15 for a 15 minute interview on the show. Does this mean that 2MP is charging $350 for something that they're only paying $30 for? I will add that the search function on Blog Talk Radio was down and I was using my Google skills to find information. Maybe there's another "Author Chat" radio show out there that I wasn't able to dig up.

Going back through the thread, I see that they used to promise "Insertion into 5 local libraries" and no longer do. I wonder how long it took them to realize you can't force libraries to stock books?

One good thing I will say about them: Some of the book covers are gorgeous! But, some are downright hideous. I certainly hope the gorgeous ones come from those that are paying for cover art!

Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware on 2 Moon Press:

Writer Beware said:

Pay to play publisher 2 Moon Press, located in Olivet, Michigan, closed abruptly last month, after having been purchased earlier in 2013 by one of its employees. It leaves a litany of sadly familiar complaints in its wake.

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Go read the full post.

Sad, but not surprising.

What's surprising is that this time, it seems, the police are involved.

Good grief. This is terrible.

The comments on the newspaper article Victoria linked to were very interesting. Commenters included a couple of authors "published" by 2 Moons and one former employee. One poor person paid $3000 to have two books published. She finished paying it off in June 2012, but her books are yet to be published.

How this kind of thing is ever better than Createspace, I have no idea. Those poor folks.

Dear lawd, what a frickin disaster.

Update from Newschannel 3 in Marshall, MI

You guys are probably already aware of this, but a friend passed it on and I figured I'd share: http://wwmt.com/shared/news/features/top-stories/stories/wwmt_iteam-investigation-bind-15195.shtml :/

At least the local authorities got involved. This thread should be required reading for writers looking at new, small, inexperienced publishers.

Per Victoria's post at Writer Beware, the Marshall Police Department is asking 2 Moon Press authors to contact them at 269-781-2596.

And that dust cloud you see on the horizon are the principals hauling ass to the nearest non-extradition country.