priceless1
Banned
CreateSpace isn't true distribution where you have scores of sales teams, both in-house and independent, whose sole job is to pitch your titles to the genre buyers and libraries. Thar be a huuuuge difference.
annatangent, we don't have anything against small presses. But we do want authors to have realistic expectations when they sign with one.
From what I can tell, here's what an author gives up and gets in return at Dancing with Bear:
For 50% of the profits on your books, they'll do some editing (I'm unclear on the editing experience of the staff so this may or may not be useful), give you free cover art, and click the buttons on CreateSpace for you.
For some writers, that may be all they want and that's fine. But at least they're going into it knowledgable.
No offense intended, but this is really odd: YOU MUST FOLLOW THE FORMATTING GUIDELINES OR YOUR SUBMISSION WILL NOT BE READ! [And the details that follow.]I encourage Christian authors to check out my company, Dancing With Bear Publishing, www.dancingwithbearpublishing.com. . . .
No offense intended, but this is really odd: YOU MUST FOLLOW THE FORMATTING GUIDELINES OR YOUR SUBMISSION WILL NOT BE READ! [And the details that follow.]
Most peculiar. A normal publisher would take any reasonably formatted file in a standard word-processing file format and do what is necessary to edit and format it for publication, if accepted.
It is the author's job to write the best book he or she can and to provide it in a reasonable format, not to vex himself or herself over minutiae and to do the publisher's formatting or design work.
Pardon me if this seems a bit cranky, but the requirements just jumped off the page at me.
[Edited to add: kudos on other aspects of your operations as you described them.]
--Ken
No offense intended, but this is really odd: YOU MUST FOLLOW THE FORMATTING GUIDELINES OR YOUR SUBMISSION WILL NOT BE READ! [And the details that follow.]
Most peculiar. A normal publisher would take any reasonably formatted file in a standard word-processing file format and do what is necessary to edit and format it for publication, if accepted.
It is the author's job to write the best book he or she can and to provide it in a reasonable format, not to vex himself or herself over minutiae and to do the publisher's formatting or design work.
Pardon me if this seems a bit cranky, but the requirements just jumped off the page at me.
[Edited to add: kudos on other aspects of your operations as you described them.]
--Ken
Well, it is your process and your decision, naturally. I only speak as a very, very small-scale publisher (of infrequent, niche books) who does whatever it takes to make a worthwhile book happen even if the file needs work (and that can include hundreds of hours of editing, proofing, and formatting). But I have the skills and experience to do that without much vexation, and the luxury to take on only those rare projects I want to (with only one more in the pipeline and, to be honest, hopefully no more not by myself).If you saw some of the submissions we have received, you would understand. . . .
Well, it is your process and your decision, naturally. I only speak as a very, very small-scale publisher (of infrequent, niche books) who does whatever it takes to make a worthwhile book happen even if the file needs work (and that can include hundreds of hours of editing, proofing, and formatting). But I have the skills and experience to do that without much vexation, and the luxury to take on only those rare projects I want to (with only one more in the pipeline and, to be honest, hopefully no more not by myself).
One of the finest books I published started as a file dictated via Dragon Naturally Speaking by a woman without the use of her hands (almost none -- she could control her electric wheelchair with one hand). So it had countless errors and read as if dictated, not typed -- which was precisely the case. No way was I turning that down for mechanical reasons.
Best wishes for success with your endeavors.
--Ken