Silver-Midnight
They seem like a fairly good publisher. However, I wouldn't entirely know.
What makes you think that they're a good publisher? I'm not being snarky - genuinely curious as there are a lot of red flags on the site that point to inexperience.
Beautiful Trouble Website:
Beautiful Trouble Publishing, LLC is owned by two authors who wanted their own digs.
Looks like it started out as a self-publishing venture. There's nothing wrong with that at all, but I'd want to know (1) whether the two founders are still using the company to sell their own works (in which case, I'd want to know how they manage the potential conflict of interest) and (2) what their sales figures are like.
Beautiful Trouble Website:
The goal of Beautiful Trouble Publishing is to be recognized as a publisher not afraid to say yes to an unknown artist, author, or editor; or no to a well-known artist, a best-selling author, or a degreed-up editor.
I really wish I had a quid for every small publisher who said that they didn't want to say no to every unpublished writer in order to perpetrate the myth that commercial publishers refuse to take chances on debut authors when in fact they do so all the time.
Just because a commercial publiser didn't offer a deal to the people who started BeautifulTrouble, doesn't mean that they won't offer a deal to anyone else.
Beautiful Trouble Website: (BOLDING MINE)
Having experienced both the bitter and the sweet in the traditional publishing and e-publishing worlds, Jeanie and Jayha sat back and pondered their collection of "nos", "h*ll nos", and "you must be out of your freaking minds!" Having imaginations gone wild, run amok, and all of that, they concluded it would totally rock if someone founded a publishing company that says "yes, yes, yes, yes YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (sorry, got caught up for a minute) to better pay for authors, cover artists, and editors; "yes" to shorter turnaround times from acceptance of the manuscript to publication; and "yes" to more author autonomy regarding HER/HIS prose, HER/HIS characters, and whether or not to be locked into writing for a particular house. They wanted a company willing to say yes to the crazy, the quirky, and the ridiculous—before NY and LA signed off on it being "the next sure thing" or "the new black." They also wanted a company that shared their vision and would let them have their cake (yum, cake) and eat it too.
I'm all in favour of better pay for authors, cover artists and editors. The issue is that this takes money, so I'd want to know how well capitalised the company is to pay for that.
Shorter turnaround times means less time to build up attention for the book in terms of getting out review copies, promotional material etc.
Depending on what's meant by "author autonomy", this may not be in the best interests of the publisher - e.g. suppose you have an author who refuses to fix a glaring plot hole in the novel?
I've never heard of publishers locking in authors to write solely for their house - unless BeautifulTrouble are talking about 2 book/3 book deals when the house has sight of the author's next manuscript. This is usually in the author's best interests - particularly if they will be paid an advance - but even if the house passes, the author can still sell that manuscript elsewhere.
Beautiful Trouble Website: (BOLDING MINE)
Plus, stricter visa requirements and the lack of funds pretty much ruled out the conquer-their-way-into-power route.
Any company that talks about a lack of funds from the outset gets a big :0 from me. I'm also not sure what visa requirements have to do with setting up a business.
Publishing is a cash intensive business. You can burn through a lot of cash before you begin to see a return.
Beautiful Trouble Website:
Jeanie Johnson was dragged kicking and screaming into this business. Actually, she was dragged kicking and screaming into writing, which is ironic being that she is a filmmaker by trade and training (and a da*n good cook, although she hates to do it). Promises of a title, and a trip to Canada to see the polar bears made her stop her screaming, but it didn't do a da*n thing for the kicking…or the pouting. But being that she's the baby and Jayha's the momma, she is here.
I checked out her books on Amazon. I couldn't find any that were commercially published (although admittedly, she may have done so under a pseudonym) but did find an awful lot released through BeautifulTrouble or what look to be other self-publishing ventures (including Shara Azod and Lulu) and the reviews on a lot of them really weren't kind - citing cliched writing, plot holes and a host of other issues.
Beautiful Trouble Website:
Jayha Leigh hates dragging her carcass to her "real" job. She jumped feet first into this one, only to find it is even more work than her real job. Still, there's just something about sitting behind a big desk talking to a fellow author on the speakerphone that makes her feel so Charlie's Angels-ish. Plus, she gets off seeing the title "President" by her name. While she wishes she had better credentials, she doesn't, so you'll just have to make do with her as she is.
Again, I can't find any commercially published titles - most of her releases seem to be through BeautifulTrouble.
Beautiful Trouble Website:
Q:In what formats do your books come?
A: While flashes are only offered in PDF format, most books come in three formats:
- Adobe PDF (e-book)
- HTML (e-book)
- MobiPocket PDA (for Kindle)
- Print (for some books)
When you click on the link to print, it takes you to Lulu. If that's how they're planning to release print books, then I'd want to keep back print rights for myself.
Beautiful Trouble Website:
While authors receive at least forty percent of the profit from the book (the split is evenly divided in the case of anthologies), cover artists are paid straight out for their work…so are editors (thus do not have to hope the book sells in order to be paid). As for authors, we only request your book for two years and we do not seek first rights of refusal.
40% on net seems to be in line with what a lot of electronic publishers are doing at the moment (although another poster with more romance ebook experience can give you more information on that). I'd want to know how net is calculated - usually it seems to be cover minus Amazon/third party retailer costs but it would be good to make sure.
A 2 year contract also isn't too bad but I'd want to know when they're committed to releasing the book and any applicable termination provisions - including whether you can terminate early if it's clear that they're not doing anything to sell it. It's worth checking whether there are automatic renewal provisions in the contract as well.
Beautiful Trouble Website:
You have a right to get paid as soon as possible. Because we are a new publisher and are only opening up submissions for a limited time during the 2010 year, we will not be overwhelmed with books and thus will make every attempt to have your book out within 90 days of receiving your signed contract.
They're conflating book release with payment, when the two aren't necessarily the same. Obviously, it can be good to have the book released as soon as possible but if there's been no build up to release in terms of promotion etc then it can hurt sales. Also, I'd want to know how often they pay royalties and whether they apply a de minimis level before payment is made.
MM