No Boundaries Press

From the FAQ:

We will watch our acceptances and no one should ever have to wait more than two months to see their book available.

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...Two months is enough for editing, copyediting, cover art, sending out ARCs, etc?

Some of their books involve incest and bestiality (presented in a titillating way), so I didn't look for excerpts, though I found some errors in the blurbs, e.g. "There are NO additional fees and no experation!"

They publish both erotica and horror. They also appear to love both splatterpunk and erotic horror, neither of which are all that easy to get paid for.

They appear to be asking for minimal rights, and the royalty rate is very high. Co-owners/promotion staff are claiming some respectable experience. I like the covers.

OTOH, I don't see anything about how often they pay royalties. Timeline for publication is oddly fast as Queen of Swords commented. They're keeping their editors anonymous, which is really weird. They've only been selling for about three months, so there isn't any track record.

I imagine I'll be providing some first hand information about them in the near future. There's an abandoned splatterpunk story that would get me banned from submitting at most places, but can hopefully find a home in their upcoming anthology.

Going by their author FAQ, it seems they are more like a self-publishing platform akin to smashwords and things like that:

4) How much will I make?
The book is yours. You wrote it. With that, we try to be as fair as we can be. At times, we will launch royalty specials. All other times the author will get a 60% royalty rate of what comes back to No Boundaries Press. (Example: If Amazon sends us $3 from each book sale after they take out their percent, you would get 60% of the $3).
5) What rights do I retain?
The book is yours. The rights we retain is simply to publish it (ebook and possibly in print) for you. No Boundaries Press never takes full rights to your book.

Maybe that's why the can make the book available in such a short time frame - maybe they expect it to be edited before you send it in?

Take care,
Annette

I dunno, 40% seems a lot to pay for cover art. If they're offering more than that, I don't see it. But some of the site was blocked by my firewall.

The FAQs don't look to have been updated recently. They say they're still working on their January release schedule. If that's the case, they're almost 4 months behind in releasing!

I'd also wonder how they're processing payments because paypal may shut them down because of the content. However, if they're accepting credit cards on their site, that's a pretty good sign IMHO of a financial committment. IIRC you have to have stunning credit and it costs a hefty fee to have your site take major credit cards.

I apologize for not seeing this sooner and I'd be happy to address and answer what I can.

First of all, I did just update the FAQs for authors on site.

The sudden growth was in that we were one of only three locations to actively fight PayPal. While we do not condone all types of writing, we do firmly believe that it is the reader's choice and should remain so. No Boundaries Press is working on accepting credit cards directly as well. We were advised to hold off until we gain more popularity and more releases due to the expense of processing fully on site. But it is coming in the future.

We offer two different payment ways to check out (PayPal and Google). PayPal has also recently reversed their initial standing on what you can buy.

The initial start took about two months for editing and art. But that was only because we weren't swamped with submissions. We are currently scheduling for August and September releases and that may be backing up to October soon as well.

We do offer full editing and cover art. You do have input on your cover as well. Of course, we want the book in the best condition possible when sent to us (kind of like turning in an A paper versus a C paper)...but we do edit.

No Boundaries Press does vendor for other publishers and authors. On those, what is submitted is 100% on them and the terms are different. To vendor they get 75%. Our authors that are published through us get 60%.

Royalties are paid quarterly. (March 31 payments out NO LATER than May 15)

We keep our editors anonymous as some have requested to also be able to do freelance. We also keep some of our promotions staff and such anonymous as well so that they are free to take other jobs as well. We don't want to limit anyone's earning potential.

I hope that I've answered fairly well the questions and concerns. We do have an open door policy and are always more than happy to answer questions to the best of our ability. We are a new company and still growing, so we may not have all the answers and we know we're not perfect....but we are trying.

Kharisma
No Boundaries Press Co-Owner

Hello Kahrisma, and welcome to AW.

I only have one question at the moment, but I'm sure others will be along. You say your editors and promotional staff prefer to remain anonymous so they are free to take freelance jobs. Usually it's an employer who has a problem with their employees freelancing. If you as their employer do not mind, I don't see the conflict. If anything, I would think if they were trying to pick up freelance works, naming their company and other work they have done would be a credit to show potential clients.

The problem with a new publisher not willing to name their staff and editors, writers have no idea who they are or if they have any experience or qualifications. It could be a neighbor helping you out for all we know. And the publisher saying, "Believe me, they're qualified." Isn't going to mean anything. We often find with start ups they don't mention their staff because if writers look them up, they won't find boo about them as far as editing or publishing experience.

I'm not saying that's what they are doing, but if they want freelance clients as well, they have to be willing to discuss their qualifications.

HistorySleuth said:

I only have one question at the moment, but I'm sure others will be along. You say your editors and promotional staff prefer to remain anonymous so they are free to take freelance jobs. Usually it's an employer who has a problem with their employees freelancing. If you as their employer do not mind, I don't see the conflict. If anything, I would think if they were trying to pick up freelance works, naming their company and other work they have done would be a credit to show potential clients.

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For the record, a lot of publishers use freelance editors and many have a rule they don't want editors who are already working with another publisher. I can see why they don't want their names mentioned if this is what they're doing because it keeps them locked out of other houses.

On the other hand, if I found out an editor who was working for me used a different name and edited for another house, I'd show them the door. Unfortunately editors sometimes take jobs at competing houses to either try and woo authors away or to spy on the books that house has signed. And no, this isn't paranoia, it's actually happened to several houses.

I can totally understand your point HistorySleuth. And it is for the reasons that michael_b stated. Even we won't hire an editor that works for another company. I mean, how would we know that our stuff isn't taking second place to another publisher they might work for? Even with indie authors, at times, they don't want to use editors that work for publishers either because they don't want anything to do with publishing. There's a number of reasons we keep their identity secure and our authors get to know them on a first name basis.

This also allows them not to have to create false names to work with others under. They can simply be who they are.

We don't have an issue with them taking freelance work, as long as they are keeping up with their NBP work because we are striving to benefit the authors and NBP employees.

And we aren't handing out "Believe me, they're qualified." We have several editors with a variety of experience. And, as human beings, we never assume they're perfect. And, we admit that not all of our editors have 15 or 20 years of experience. As we grow, so will our employees and the list of higher ranked staff that we can afford. Also, everyone slowly builds up their experience. SO, that person with 5 years of experience, if dedicated, could eventually end up being the person every other publisher wish they had working for them.

Unfortunately, I see tons of errors in books even from the top epublishers. And it's something we try very hard to avoid....to the point where we've stated that people can email us if they see an error and we will do our best to get it corrected and publish an updated version.

Kharisma

Interesting. I never thought about the whole spy aspect or the taking second place to another publisher. I do see both your points Michael and Kharisma.

So what's an author to do? Not that this is a genre I write in, but just looking at publishers in general, usually a writer looks for certain things before they submit when scoping out publishers. Often the About Us page, or who is on staff is one of those things.

I appreciate you coming in here and discussing your company though. Maybe it's just me being over cautious. To often I read about writer's who sign contracts, then find out later their editor was no editor at all, and end up with a less than quality book. Too late to ask about credentials after the contract is signed. This part of AW has it's share of stories like that.

I find this completely in contradiction to my experiences in the publishing industry. I have several friends who work as freelance editors (copy editing, proofreading mainly) and they work for a number of different publishers. They have to - there's seldom enough money coming in from any one company to pay the bills.

One friend of mine works for two of the big six, one manga publisher and a mid-level company as well as doing onesies/twosies for small presses and individual writers. He gets plenty of work too, so apparently the publishers don't mind.

*shrug*

KharismaRhayne said:

No Boundaries Press does vendor for other publishers and authors. On those, what is submitted is 100% on them and the terms are different. To vendor they get 75%. Our authors that are published through us get 60%.

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I'm sorry, I don't understand this. What does it mean "to vendor" something? Do you mean that you vend for other publishers?

KharismaRhayne said:

Even we won't hire an editor that works for another company. I mean, how would we know that our stuff isn't taking second place to another publisher they might work for?

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You wouldn't know that.

Not when staff is kept secret. Which does not make any sense to me. And it doesn't make sense to spy on other houses. If so, so what? Let them spy. As long as they do their job, while they're on your clock.

Putting up that argument allows the pulling of wool over writers' eyes, a green light for putting books into the hands of the secret unknown. And an excuse for publishers to not reveal staff experience.

The inexperienced make those claims, always with intentions to 'protect' staff, for reasons that make no sense to me.

Richard White said:

I find this completely in contradiction to my experiences in the publishing industry. I have several friends who work as freelance editors (copy editing, proofreading mainly) and they work for a number of different publishers. They have to - there's seldom enough money coming in from any one company to pay the bills.

One friend of mine works for two of the big six, one manga publisher and a mid-level company as well as doing onesies/twosies for small presses and individual writers. He gets plenty of work too, so apparently the publishers don't mind.

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That's my experience too. A freelance copy editor who's worked for a lot of different outfits and is still in good odor with them is one who has broad experience, flexibility (and therefore judgment), and universally acceptable skills. It's a recommendation, not a drawback.

If you want all of a text wrangler's work hours, you either have to hire them in-house, guarantee them a full-time supply of freelance work, or do a contract with them whereby they get paid for full-time freelance work whether or not you have work to give them. They aren't going to sit idle and unpaid just to please you.

The person you don't want to have working for two or more houses is an acquiring editor. They're bound to have conflicts of interest.

Text wrangler.

I like that. I'll have to recommend that to one of my friends as an addition to his business cards.

HapiSofi said:

That's my experience too. A freelance copy editor who's worked for a lot of different outfits and is still in good odor with them is one who has broad experience, flexibility (and therefore judgment), and universally acceptable skills. It's a recommendation, not a drawback.

If you want all of a text wrangler's work hours, you either have to hire them in-house, guarantee them a full-time supply of freelance work, or do a contract with them whereby they get paid for full-time freelance work whether or not you have work to give them. They aren't going to sit idle and unpaid just to please you.

The person you don't want to have working for two or more houses is an acquiring editor. They're bound to have conflicts of interest.

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HapiSofi said:

That's my experience too. A freelance copy editor who's worked for a lot of different outfits and is still in good odor with them is one who has broad experience, flexibility (and therefore judgment), and universally acceptable skills. It's a recommendation, not a drawback.

If you want all of a text wrangler's work hours, you either have to hire them in-house, guarantee them a full-time supply of freelance work, or do a contract with them whereby they get paid for full-time freelance work whether or not you have work to give them. They aren't going to sit idle and unpaid just to please you.

The person you don't want to have working for two or more houses is an acquiring editor. They're bound to have conflicts of interest.

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Makes logical sense to me.

HistorySleuth I understand that and right now, we're just making our way. In time, we're hoping to simply prove that we are worthy signing more authors and we appreciate those that have signed with us. We aren't about numbers or pushing ourselves to have more releases or authors than we can manage.

There are people that feel you shouldn't even touch a publisher that hasn't been open for three or more years. It's tough because without authors, you can't make it to that three years. So, it's all about trust and I know that's difficult. But, eventually, word of mouth will be letting others know of their experiences with us.

The "Big Six" is a totally different game than us. Look at it this way, just because I'm co-owner of another small publishing company, I have people from other pub companies 1 star ranking my books...books they've not bought nor read. We may eventually change policy and release more details, but for now, Kaleigha prefers to allow them to remain anonymous if they chose to do so.

Theo81 Vendoring is just what Amazon, ARe, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Bookstrand and so on do. We allow other authors and publishers to send completed work to us and we place it as is, at their price in our vendor area (called the Market Stall).

We've already fired one employee who had to work for us under a false name due to another publisher they worked for. Come to find out, they were simply looking to gain some of our strategies and do nothing for us. Plus they ended up being severely over-extended and couldn't do the needed work for us. One bitten, twice shy I suppose. We wanted to avoid that in the future.

We may not have years under our belt yet, but we wouldn't say we're inexperienced. We wanted NBP to do more for the authors and employees than other companies. So, no, we aren't mapped out like they are and we are proud of that fact. We are supposed to not be set up like they are.

Kharisma

Theo81 Vendoring is just what Amazon, ARe, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Bookstrand and so on do. We allow other authors and publishers to send completed work to us and we place it as is, at their price in our vendor area (called the Market Stall).

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KharismaRhayne, when publishers come to these threads, we are not just examining what they say, but also how they say it.

Vendoring is not what Amzon, ARe, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Bookstrand and so on do, on account of vendoring not being a word. They are vendors (noun); they vend (verb).
Do you place the completed works in a vendor area as you state (the vendors manage it themselves via your website, as with Amazon sellers) or do you have a vending area (you have an online bookshop which carries titles of interest to your customers but which are not published by yourselves)? No, this isn't really a question.

I apologise for sounding like a pedantic jerk here. Poor English is never a good sign in a start-up publisher.

Richard White said:

I find this completely in contradiction to my experiences in the publishing industry. I have several friends who work as freelance editors (copy editing, proofreading mainly) and they work for a number of different publishers. They have to - there's seldom enough money coming in from any one company to pay the bills.

One friend of mine works for two of the big six, one manga publisher and a mid-level company as well as doing onesies/twosies for small presses and individual writers. He gets plenty of work too, so apparently the publishers don't mind.

*shrug*

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But he's not doing it to create trouble, and there's the biggest difference. There have been several problems at multiple houses--mine included--where 'editors' sign on for the sole purpose of creating trouble because they are loyal to, and working for, another house.

I had a proof reader who--as it turned out--actually worked as an editor for a different house. She used two different names to prevent this from being apparent. She 'proof read' by inserting typos and changing words so they were incorrect. Examples: pare instead of pair, laid instead of lay ect. These were deliberate changes on her part.

Fortunately for us she was caught. I trust no new employee and went over her 'proof read' of the book and found the changes. When questioned she denied any culpability and stated she'd done her job. (I got a copy from the editor and checked the version she received.) I fired her on the spot.

I then questioned a couple of other houses and found out she'd done the same thing to them--we compared notes on the changes she'd made--and paypal email addresses. She'd done this at four other houses. We then found out she worked for a rather new start-up and had infiltrated our older houses in order to damage our reputations with our authors.

Oddly, many of the authors at our houses reported getting emails from this start-up wherein they were soliciting submissions.

And just so everyone knows, this house has already gone under.

HapiSofi said:

That's my experience too. A freelance copy editor who's worked for a lot of different outfits and is still in good odor with them is one who has broad experience, flexibility (and therefore judgment), and universally acceptable skills. It's a recommendation, not a drawback.

If you want all of a text wrangler's work hours, you either have to hire them in-house, guarantee them a full-time supply of freelance work, or do a contract with them whereby they get paid for full-time freelance work whether or not you have work to give them. They aren't going to sit idle and unpaid just to please you.

The person you don't want to have working for two or more houses is an acquiring editor. They're bound to have conflicts of interest.

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That does seem to be logical, until you get to the dirty underside of publishing where some--and not many, but they do exist--'publishers' decide to create problems for other publishers. Please see my prior reply which is likely right above this one.

Most editors are honest, hardworking people, but then there are the rare troll types who get into this to create problems or who are determined to 'help' another publisher by screwing up books at a competing outfit.

Does this happen very often? I'd like to say no, but in the last two years I've seen far too many reports of this kind of behavior. Admittedly a number of these reports came from the same source, another publisher 'out to get the competition'. As noted, they've since closed their doors.

I don't know Michael. Your example to me sounds more like a reason why houses should have their editors state who they are with their experience listed on the website in a blurb. I would think if this was required there would be less of a chance of having a mole.

HistorySleuth said:

I don't know Michael. Your example to me sounds more like a reason why houses should have their editors state who they are with their experience listed on the website in a blurb. I would think if this was required there would be less of a chance of having a mole.

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It seems like revelations would put the kibosh on that type of behavior. Secrecy would allow it to fester.

HistorySleuth said:

I don't know Michael. Your example to me sounds more like a reason why houses should have their editors state who they are with their experience listed on the website in a blurb. I would think if this was required there would be less of a chance of having a mole.

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She was listed under a pseudonym with all houses. See here's the big thing that a lot of people don't understand, you can't always use your real name when dealing with erotic romances or books with GLBT content if you also have a day job. There have been people fired from their day jobs--some have gotten into major trouble--because of the stigma connected to erotic romance and GLBT genres not only as a writer but as an editor. This is also sometimes true if you either write or edit horror. I had to hide what I did from my bosses at one job--back when I edited a small gothic horror zine--because they were strange people who actually believed you had to be evil incarnate if you read or liked horror.

Keep in mind everyone's situation is different. One editor or author's experience isn't the same as everyone's when it comes to outside pressures or lack thereof.

That is a very compelling reason, Michael. Now that makes more sense to me than just because of freelance jobs. I write non-fic and fiction both--murders. Even just that makes some people look at me funny.

A man in an office I once worked in wrote for both Penthouse and Hustler. If I remember correctly, he was idolized.

I still don't see where keeping staff anonymous helps the writer. I don't see where it helps the publisher much either. Other than to hide inexperience. When publishers claim this secrecy, I see it as nothing but a big red flag to avoid, until they put up experienced-staff bios.