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Samhain Publishing

shriek

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---This is _exactly_ the info I got from RWA. They are closed to submissions right now unless you have an agent or are already contracted with them. Of course, that might change later, but the only reason I could sub to them when I did was because I went through my agent.

Ah, okay. From your post I thought you were saying you'd been told they were no longer going to be accepting non-agented submissions. Which sounded like misleading information (presumably RWA's fault, not yours!), because it's only true in a strictly temporary sense. So, as that's the sort of thing that causes anxiety and concern in non-agented writers, I thought it was worth clarifying.

And this isn't something that "might" change; this is something that will change--Samhain's submissions page is very clear that it is temporary only.
 

Jennifer Robins

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Thank you Angela for coming on and clearing up some of these concerns. I still have not had a reply to my submission of "Jeffrey" on Oct. 4th 2007 I sent an email to the publisher because the editor address will not respond. Don't know if any one else is still waiting but I am.

Jennifer Robins
 

Sakamonda

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We do have an agreement with Kensington but none of us (including Kensington) know if the books will be in mass market or trade paperback.

Angela, thanks for this clarification. I know I read a press release about this alliance between Samhain and Kensington somewhere (I forget where; maybe Samhain's Myspace page?) that stated the agreement would allow Samhain to leverage Kensington's considerable mass-market distribution capabilities. Any idea when this will all be hashed out?

My agent subbed my novel to your company about 3 weeks ago. I hope you find him as good to work with as I do!
 

Angela James

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Thank you Angela for coming on and clearing up some of these concerns. I still have not had a reply to my submission of "Jeffrey" on Oct. 4th 2007 I sent an email to the publisher because the editor address will not respond. Don't know if any one else is still waiting but I am.

Jennifer Robins

Jennifer, for some reason, the mail server we use through Google has an issue with some email servers and while the mail doesn't make it to us, you also don't receive an error message. So it's probable if you didn't get an answer from the editor address, it never made it through. I have an author whose emails to me never make it. Very frustrating. My suggestion is to email the editor inbox from a different email address. If you don't receive a personal reply in about 3 business days, it never made it. Our submissions coordinator, Marty Matthews, is excellent about answering emails so I can only imagine we never received emails from you.

Sakamonda: yes, mass market is an option but not a certainty. As for when we'll know, hopefully soon :)
 

Jennifer Robins

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Thanks again, Angela,
I just sent an email to Marty. The email I sent to editor did come back with something like "Closed to submissions." So I think my email is going through. The other email I sent was to the publisher and I did not get a reply so I'll see how this one to Marty does.

Thanks again,
Jennifer Robins
 

Khazarkhum

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We are temporarily closed to general submissions with the exception of special projects, agented submissions and by editor invitation. That's a temporary situation while I hire new editors.

We do have an agreement with Kensington but none of us (including Kensington) know if the books will be in mass market or trade paperback. Emily is correct when she says it will be only a small percentage of our catalog--no more than two books a month and the first two will release in January 2009. Otherwise we have two other print programs for the remaining portion of our catalog that are print length.

We have worked with 10 to 15 agents, including agents such as Deidre Knight and Roberta Brown. We have a wonderful working relationship with the agents who have submitted their clients' work to us.

Hope that helps clear up some of the confusion!

Angela, thank you for dropping by. I have a question.

Why did Samhain contract with Kensington instead of simply expanding the existing print programs?
 

Jennifer Robins

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I finally recieved a reply. Seems they did send others but those didn't get through to me. Why? I don't know. Any way my work was rejected. I suppose the new policy had something to do with it.The email was completmentary so I don't feel too bad about it.
I have my other one with Wild Rose to concentrate on right now and I'm happy about that.

Jennifer Robins
 

Christine N.

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I would agree. Again, not speaking for Angela, but with the Kensington deal, Kensington is using their money and clout to get the books distributed through their bigger network, while SP provides the raw material.

Or something like that. I could be completely off-base.
 

Angela James

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Yes, distribution and marketing, as well as the future potential for mass market. All of those things are expensive. We do have a print program called IPS, through which we have larger print numbers, but we are a long way from mass market and from the distribution numbers we can get through Kensington.
 

Jennifer Robins

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Jennifer, sorry to hear about the rejection.

Thanks,
It is sometimes hard to figure. This novel, "Jeffrey" has been accepted by two publishers already but one went under before it came to print, the other had problems and I had to pull it out of there and now this. Huh, it will probably become a best seller some day.

Thanks again and the best to you,

Jennifer Robins
 

Jennifer Robins

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Thanks again,
AS soon as I get through the revisions on the other novel that is going to Wild Rose, (they offered a contract) I will then get back to "Jeffrey" and do something with it. It is not exactly a romance novel even though there are some love scenes, so I will have to look else where.
I don't think of rejections as a bad thing, especially when the MS was well recieved by others but just didn't work out. I trully beleive there is a place for all of my work and I will find it.
I hope, if there are any of you still waiting, you get a better response and an offer.
Good luck to all of you,

Jennifer Robins
www.jenniferrobins.com
 

Dragon-lady

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Which all seems to me to answer the question of whether it is possible for a small press to grow. Yes, it is. Many will go under. Probably most will stay tiny. But they aren't necessarily to be dismissed out-of-hand.
 

Christine N.

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So far, so good.
Nothing much to report. Book release in two weeks. Been talking with marketing off and on. Waiting for final files and reviews to come in. Fortunately it's not my job to send the book to the reviewers, unless I want to send to someone they don't.
 

AllieB

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Love Samhain, love my editor. I placed my first novel with them a year ago and signed a second contract a couple of weeks ago. My first one releases in print this May. They're professional and aggressive in terms of marketing and promo, yet friendly and easy to deal with from the publisher on down. For an e-pub I'd say they're one of the best. I'm published with another e-pub and the experience has been OK but not as good as Samhain.
 

Gary Clarke

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Hey Veinglory! Just to let you know that KoDKoM has just arrived in my local book shop and is waiting for me to collect it! You'll be happy to know that the shop had no problems ordering it. It's costing me sixteen euro which is steep enough, but as it was ordered specially that's understandable enough. ( at the time I wanted to sub to Samhain and was checking out thier distribution, hence I didn't buy from the net)

I thought you'd get a kick out of knowing that it's available all the way over here in Europe :0)