Rickshaw Publishing Website:
Rickshaw Publishing is a new company
According to Companies House, Rickshaw Publishing Limited was incorporated in February 2009, so it isn't that new.
Rickshaw Publishing Website:
bring a fresh approach to the publishing industry, which we feel is excluding some new talent and being slow to create innovate marketing and publicity ideas.
:yawn:
This is the same old dribble that plenty of other small/start up publishers use. If Rickshaw is set up to create innovative and publicity ideas, then ask yourself how many of their books you've heard of.
Rickshaw Publishing Website:
The principle difference between Rickshaw and other publishing companies is that we are reviewing submissions for potential rather than simply whether they are already at a publishable standard.
Don't most commercial publishers acquire on potential? I know that many are delighted if your book is ready to go, but I equally know of authors who've sold their book and then done a load of editing rewrites on them as well.
Rickshaw Publishing Website:
We do not charge any fees at all for the editorial assistance we provide.
That's good. It would be better if there was information on the qualifications of those people providing editorial assistance and it would be great if Rickshaw was actually paying an advance for those books.
Rickshaw Publishing Website:
The reasoning behind this approach is that it takes a wide range of skills to produce a publishable novel. These include writing ability, plotting, character development etc, but also the ability to identify/consider the qualities that will result in sales, such as identification of the potential audience and marketability.
I don't understand why identification of the potential audience and marketability has anything to do with the author and the potential of their manuscript. Audience, sales and marketability is the publisher's job. They identify the markets, put together the product and sell it.
Rickshaw Publishing Website:
Currently, agents and publishers seem to expect finished manuscripts that excel in all of these areas.
Well duh. Of course agents and publishers want the best manuscripts they can get. That doesn't mean that they won't take a punt on something they think they can sell with rewrites, e.g. my agent and I have been working on the ending of my book for a while now with a view to sending it out to the market.
An author should always look to submit their best, polished work to an agent or publisher though because they can't count on that agent/publisher being willing to work with them.
Rickshaw Publishing Website:
We, as a publishing house, are very unusual in that we accept unsolicited submissions.
It's not that unusual. There are plenty of royalty-only paying publishers out there that accept unsolicited submissions. That's because they don't pay advances, which would make it worth their while to restrict their slush pile to agented queries.
Rickshaw Publishing Website:
Rickshaw Publishing currently seek fiction novels of any genre aimed at any age group.
Apart from the "fiction novel" howler, they're basically accepting anything and everything, which suggests they don't have a targeted marketing strategy and any marketing budget will be scattergunned over a wide area. That will prevent them (and in turn their authors) from gaining traction and reputation within particular genres.
How innovative.
It's also interesting that the most media attention they seem to have had for any of their titles is for COVERING MCKELLAN, which is a non-fiction book about Sir Ian McKellan's understudy and seems to have picked up mentions in The Telegraph and the Dail Mail. You'd think that the publisher would be looking to capitalise on that.
Rickshaw Publishing Website:
Novels submitted to us do not necessarily have to be completed: we are happy to hear from any writers with “Works In Progress” as well as those who have full drafts available.
Warning! Danger, Will Robinson!
In other news, the company only seems to have published 3 books since it opened. It talks about having picked up a YA book in February last year but it doesn't seem to have been published.
The blog's been dead since last August, as has the publisher's news page.
The company takes the benefit of a total exemption on Companies House, which means it's so small it doesn't have to submit audited accounts and which in turn suggests that it isn't making a lot from its publishing endeavours.
All in all, I'd suggest moving on.
MM
