DeepSix Publishers

Wrong forum...this should be in Bewares & Background Checks.

Okay. So a quick Google check for DeepSix Publishers gave me a single page site with the email '[email protected] and two novels by Jeffrey Marcus Oshins.

About/contact took me to a different site, for 'BookUsher' a company owned by, you got it, Jeffrey Marcus Oshins. BookUsher appears to be a vanity press...with a very iffy website. For example, their 'textbooks' links under PUBLISH takes you to...Apple. Their 'Worldwide Distribution' link goes to...guess...yup...Ingram.

They're definitely pay to play, BUT they don't try to hide it. It looks like DeepSix is an imprint Oshins created to make his work look less self published.

Their estimate for ALL services is $1.25 a page. That's less than half what I would expect to pay for the services they're saying they provide, which fits in with the money they're offering to you 'not being great'.

I wouldn't use them...they're suspiciously cheap and I wouldn't trust somebody with my promotion who has a website like that. (weird links to external sites, some broken or mis-directed internal links). Work for them? Maybe, while I looked for something better...to be blunt, you shouldn't be charging less than $2 a page for copy editing, more if you have experience. If they're charging $1.25 for everything, then...

BookUsher and DeepSix Publishers are solely the creation of Jeffrey Marcus Oshins. I am an author not a web builder so take no offense at the criticism of the website. BookUsher is a startup intended to help authors with the technology and opportunities of self-publishing. And yes, one of the original ideas behind DeepSix Publisher was to "look less self-published," though I believe that distinction is becoming less a stigma. DeepSix is now in the process of raising funds to pay advances (thus, I suppose, making it a real publishing company rather than a “vanity” publisher.)

More significantly, the BookUsher/DeepSix endeavor is evolving into a community of readers and writers that I hope will be a valuable resource for authors, readers, and editors.

Under the BetaReader Community motif, readers and writers will interact on the BetaReader Bulletin Board. Here, writers will be able to find quality editing for as little as $25 for a final read of a full manuscript (to correct those pesky typos that seem to escape most authors and editors.) Authors needing more intensive editing/book doctoring can also list their needs as can editors offering their services at a higher rate noted by NinjaFingers (great name).

The Beta-Reader Journal will publish excerpts of BetaReader Community authors allowing them to garner readers and reviewers.

Finally, rather than publishing anything and anyone, it is my hope that DeepSix Publishers will be fortunate enough to find and assist exciting new talent find their audience and come to represent a brand of quality writing.

Jeffyo said:

DeepSix is now in the process of raising funds to pay advances (thus, I suppose, making it a real publishing company rather than a “vanity” publisher.)

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This statement does not inspire confidence. Advances are not what distinguishes "real" from vanity publishers.

What Makes A "Real" Publisher

The most important role of a "real" publisher is to bring the best product to market and assist the author find her audience.

If you are fortunate and skilled enough to be signed to one of the old line houses with their large staffs and ways of doing business, that does not mean you are going be successful. An author is still for the most part going to be faced with the dilemma of how to let the world know about her work and gain readership.

This dilemma becomes more daunting if you are self or vanity published.

The idea behind the BetaReader community is to help authors, whether published by DeepSix or not, produce a clean, typo-free book, and then provide them with an opportunity to reach an initial audience of avid readers that will at least afford the author a running start on letting the world know about her work and of gaining a wider readership. That, I hope, would inspire confidence.

Jeffyo said:

The most important role of a "real" publisher is to bring the best product to market and assist the author find her audience.

If you are fortunate and skilled enough to be signed to one of the old line houses with their large staffs and ways of doing business, that does not mean you are going be successful. An author is still for the most part going to be faced with the dilemma of how to let the world know about her work and gain readership.

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Aren't the bolded statements a wee bit...contradictory?

When I was doing editing, I always took the money up front, 2$ page and worked until the ms was right. Before proceeding I determined if the ms could be edited at all (and there were some clunkers). If not, I returned the $ and ms (hard copy back then) and called it a day.

aliceshortcake said:

Aren't the bolded statements a wee bit...contradictory?

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Not contradictory if you consider there is only so much a publisher can do to promote a book short of a large promo budget which are rare and far between for first time authors.

The modus operandi of the established houses is to pay an author a small enough advance that the house thinks it can recoup in library and regular sales (note: no royalties go to the author until the house recoups its advance and then only a percentage goes to the author). For a good breakdown on the advantages/disadvantages of traditional publishing see http://pippajay.blogspot.com/p/book-reviewers-list.html.

A definite disadvantage of self-publishing is getting reviewed by the most read book reviewers, most who have a policy of not reviewing self-published books. This has led to the rise of the legitimate paid book reviews (e.g. Kirkus which will give you a bad review even if you've paid for it.) And the pay to play crowd (see http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/business/book-reviewers-for-hire-meet-a-demand-for-online-raves.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)

This proliferation of bogus reviews has led Amazon to change their review policies see - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/t...rge-aimed-at-manipulation.html?pagewanted=all.

The above is why I am hopeful that there is a place for an online community of readers and writers that I am trying to organize with BetaReader where authors can find the kind of support they would receive from a traditional publishing house (e.g. editing, art work at a reasonable cost), a forum to publish excerpts of their work (the BetaReader Journal), and a ready and interested group of avid readers to give them honest reviews and support they need to successfully launch their books.

Jeffyo said:

For a good breakdown on the advantages/disadvantages of traditional publishing see http://pippajay.blogspot.com/p/book-reviewers-list.html.

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Um, sorry, but that's actually a link to a list of book reviewers/bloggers on my blog and NOT anything about traditional publishing. Wondered why I was getting hits on my blog from the AW forum.