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Luna Brillante Publishing

icerose

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In case anyone was curious, during my time with Publish America I was researching these sorts of things to see if I could overcome the problem myslef as an author. Koen will review any books for national distribution and all of their books go into book catalogues that are sent to bookstores as well as being submitted to bookclubs for possible acceptance. They do eah on a book by book selection from the smaller to POD houses. It may be viable for the two of you. As for Publish America it was not possible due to the poor quality of their cover art, editing, and everything else, not to mention their business ethics, or lack there of.

www.koen.com
 

victoriastrauss

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jcdelatorre said:
Yes, we are using Lightning Source and we are using the POD printing method but allow me to clarify something - unlike most small publishers or PODs, we will give the industry standard 55% discount to wholesalers, book clubs and the like and we WILL accept returns. Most PODs and even small presses don't do that and THAT is what prevents them from getting in the stores.
That's really just one factor. Another very large factor is distribution. Unless a small publisher has some means of distribution other than Ingram--which doesn't sell books into stores--it's going to have very limited bookstore presence, if any. As I just pointed out in another thread, the bulk of books are bought in stores, so if a small publisher wants exposure, it's essential for it to find a way to get national bookstore placement. That usually means working with a distributor (as distinct from a wholesaler like Ingram). It's very tough, however, for a small publisher to find a distributor willing to work with it unless it already has a backlist. Distributors are quite selective about whom they represent.
A lot has been made about our contract - the majority of the contract was based on examples provided by SFWA - this includes the provision for NET SALES. We would be happy to provide a sample contract to Absolute Write, Writers Beware and whomever else would like to see it.
Are you referring to this clause from SFWA's sample paperback contract? "The Publisher will pay the Author royalties based upon net sales as reported by the Publisher's distributors as follows." (my emphasis.) But what this actually means isn't "the publisher's net receipts," but "the number of books shipped less returns." The clause continues: "On copies sold at the full retail price as imprinted on the cover: _____% of said retail price on the first one hundred thousand (100,000) copies sold and _____% thereafter." So the contract does stipulate that royalties are paid on cover price.

I've urged SFWA to take those book contracts off its website, by the way. They are really, really, really outdated, and not a good model for anyone to use.

I'd be very interested in seeing a sample contract. Please email it to me at [email protected]. Thanks very much for the offer, and thanks for being willing to provide information here at AW.

- Victoria
 

victoriastrauss

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Koen is a wholesaler, not a distributor (though these two terms are hopelessly confused these days and many people use them interchangeably). A distributor does everything a wholesaler does, and in addition provides a staff of sales reps to sell the books the distributors represent directly into bookstores. This is an essential step in the distribution process, without which it's nearly impossible for a publisher to gain any sort of widespread bookstore presence.

- Victoria
 

icerose

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Thanks for the clarification Victoria.

I didn't have a problem with the no sales force, because I had three bookstores and walmart willing to carry my title if I could get it with Koen, it was just a vehicle to get it to that point where I would have a chance to make it into those doors.

But PA dashed that fast enough.
 

Lauri B

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How did you manage to get into Walmart with a self-published book? They are practically the Holy Grail for discount sales. Koen doesn't distribute to Wal-Mart.
 

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icerose said:
I didn't have a problem with the no sales force, because I had three bookstores and walmart willing to carry my title if I could get it with Koen, it was just a vehicle to get it to that point where I would have a chance to make it into those doors.
This is something to be very careful of. I had a friend who self-pubbed his book and got it in with Costco. Like any retail store, you must offer returns. My friend had to supply Costco with thousands of copies of his book - I don't have the figure. He didn't have a lot of capital, and I warned him that the returns could kill him. Rather than do the math, or even take his book to offset printing, he invested a chunk of change to have LSI (who charges more than the standard digital press to print books) print his books. Long story short, the returns were in the thousands. They're parked in his garage,and he's broken and bitter.

Please remember, getting the books into the stores is always the main goal. But it takes strong financing and marketing to keep those books in the stores and not languishing in a warehouse or garage.
 

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jcdelatorre said:
CaoPaux, as I mentioned to Eric, I have no problem with him discussing LBP. In fact, I welcome it. Preditors and Editors just added us to their listing with the comment "Very impressed with this publishing house" which we are very proud of.
I'm pleased to hear that. Hopefully, this exchange'll enable you to raise LBP to the next level.

We have nothing to hide. Yes, we are using Lightning Source and we are using the POD printing method but allow me to clarify something - unlike most small publishers or PODs, we will give the industry standard 55% discount to wholesalers, book clubs and the like and we WILL accept returns. Most PODs and even small presses don't do that and THAT is what prevents them from getting in the stores. Now, will this guarantee Eric's book will be in the front of Barnes and Nobles? No, of course not. Its a dog-eat-dog world out there and B&N would rather have 5 billion copies of the Da Vinci Code on their shelves then small press or POD publishers. Does that mean we won't even try? Of course not, we will do everything in our power to get our books in the chain stores. I believe we stand much better odds with the small time bookstores but that goes for ANY small publisher.
To your credit, you've never made any attempt to hide your PODness. My remarks to Eric were mostly in response to his seeming misunderstanding that by dropping Lulu you would no longer be POD. But I'm afraid you misunderstand how books get into stores.

A lot has been made about our contract - the majority of the contract was based on examples provided by SFWA - this includes the provision for NET SALES. We would be happy to provide a sample contract to Absolute Write, Writers Beware and whomever else would like to see it.
As Victoria explained, "net sales" does NOT mean "net receipts". Considering that the balance of the clause clearly states royalties will be paid on retail price (gross receipts)...it's not good sign that a publisher misunderstands basic industry terms.

We can't give advances simply because our budget precludes us from doing so. We're not the only small publisher who does not offer advances.
Never said you were. However, the implicit understanding is that the author is foregoing an advance in exchange for not-insignificant royalties. Without any distribution, the author has little chance for any sales outside of friends and family. Selling books at conventions is great fun, but it doesn't cover the food/gas/lodging & time spent to do it.

We also do not accept just anything. We've rejected hundreds of submissions...Eric's piece wowed us and we definitely want to take it on. We hope he will give us the opportunity to prove to him that LBP will treat is work honestly, with respect, professionalism and dedication. That's why we will only produce 4-5 books a year because we want to be able to focus our funds and our attention to our authors.
That is very good to hear. But will you be able to get these great books to readers you or the author never met?

One last thing, Eric misunderstood the contract on Galleys - he will not have to pay for galleys.
So if the cost of galley revisions exceeds 10% of the allotted composition cost, you will NOT take it out of his royalties?

He does not have to pay for ANYTHING other than his own personal copies of the book after the allotment of 5. We will provide galleys and review copies to ANY agency who asks for it and we will be providing copies to the industry standards (i.e. PW, Kirkus, Library, etc.).
It's good you're approaching the industry standards. Heck, most POD folks don't even know about them, much less understand their importance in generating sales. We'll keep our fingers crossed that they'll accept your books for review.

<snip>

Thanks and keep up the great work, especially you CaoPaux, I've read many a post from you when a new publisher comes up and how you, for lack of a better phrase, tear them down to expose their darkest little secrets. I admired how you watched over your fellow writers. I was half expecting to see you when I posted our announcement in the Paying Markets forum and was a little dissapointed when you didn't inquire about us.
Heh, thanks. I didn't comment because your announcement didn't paint you as anything but a good-intentioned POD. You were wise enough to give no whiff of charging for editing or marketing packages, and your websites are far better than the vast majority of "I'm a publisher now!" folks coming off of Lulu (or PA, or Xlibris, or Booksurge, or...) -- so I deemed you refinable ore and held off until such time as someone asked about you. And, lo! here we are. :cool:
 

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victoriastrauss said:
That's really just one factor. Another very large factor is distribution. Unless a small publisher has some means of distribution other than Ingram--which doesn't sell books into stores--it's going to have very limited bookstore presence, if any. As I just pointed out in another thread, the bulk of books are bought in stores, so if a small publisher wants exposure, it's essential for it to find a way to get national bookstore placement. That usually means working with a distributor (as distinct from a wholesaler like Ingram). It's very tough, however, for a small publisher to find a distributor willing to work with it unless it already has a backlist. Distributors are quite selective about whom they represent.
Are you referring to this clause from SFWA's sample paperback contract? "The Publisher will pay the Author royalties based upon net sales as reported by the Publisher's distributors as follows." (my emphasis.) But what this actually means isn't "the publisher's net receipts," but "the number of books shipped less returns." The clause continues: "On copies sold at the full retail price as imprinted on the cover: _____% of said retail price on the first one hundred thousand (100,000) copies sold and _____% thereafter." So the contract does stipulate that royalties are paid on cover price.

I've urged SFWA to take those book contracts off its website, by the way. They are really, really, really outdated, and not a good model for anyone to use.

I'd be very interested in seeing a sample contract. Please email it to me at [email protected]. Thanks very much for the offer, and thanks for being willing to provide information here at AW.

- Victoria

Victoria,

It is my understanding with our agreement with Lightning Source that they will fill orders for any bookstore that wants to carry our books. We are doing their Global distribution option. We are listed in Bowkers Books-in-Print.As you stated, it is a difficult challenge for a small publisher to get a distributor. As I stated, we will do everything possible to have the books in the chain stores, but its a challenge - whether we published POD or traditionally. Its the way it is for the small publisher, that's why any other should consider strongly whether or not they want to go that route. I believe most small publishers benefit from the challenging aspects of getting an agent and getting accepted by one of the conglomerates. Still, if an author likes their chances of getting a deal with one of the big boys, of course, they should continue to pursue those interests. One thing I would say in our defense is that if an author signs with us and then has a major publisher be interested in them, we would not stand in their way of advancing their career. We will work with good faith with the larger publisher to come to an agreement we both can live with.

As for the contract, yes, we based our contract on the SWFA example and the clause is in our contract is the one in section of the contract you posted. I did notice it was a little dated but it seemed to meet our needs and our legal team signed off on it. If there's a better example we should be using I'd be happy to look at it and bring it to our legal staff for future contracts.

JulieWorth said:
Apart from the POD aspect, what would worry me is that there’s only one book in its bookstore.

Hi Julie, as stated earlier, we just recently opened our doors. I released the first book through Lulu.com and we investigated using Lulu's model for publishing but decided we did not want to be a vanity press. For the past three or four months we have been investigating how other small presses "do it", taking the best aspects of each, discarding the worst. Then its taking us a couple months to set up our relationship with LSI and Bowkers as well as forming market plans for our titles, setting up contracts with graphic artists and editors, ect. Its a lot of work to build a publishing business. In that time, we have not been open for submissions. That changed about a month go, when I felt comfortable that we could service our authors the way they deserve.

As a side note, we will be releasing the first novel officially under the Luna Brillante publishing label on Memorial Day weekend, Dark Dragon. Ancient Rising will be rereleased under our label (and at a much better price)in June or July, we hopefully will have Eric's book out in September if he decides to sign with us and we would like to have two more titles for the fourth Quarter of 06. Right now we are accepting submissions but to date we have only extended a contract offer to Eric. We've rejected several other entries that we deemed either weren't up to our standards or didn't fit what we are looking for in titles. So we're still actively looking for two more Speculative fiction authors to join our family.

CaoPaux said:
To your credit, you've never made any attempt to hide your PODness. My remarks to Eric were mostly in response to his seeming misunderstanding that by dropping Lulu you would no longer be POD. But I'm afraid you misunderstand how books get into stores.

I'm not sure I agree with your view, as I mentioned to Victoria, we have an agreement with LSI that they will fulfill orders from ANY bookstore because we are doing their Global Distribution option. With that, the book will be at the very least available on all of the industry standard websites (like Amazon, BN.com, etc.) and we will advertise our titles in Ingram Advance Catalog that goes out to all the small bookstores. We are also members of the PMA, which allows us opportunities to take advantage of getting to the small bookstores. Our authors won't just be selling to family and friends.

CaoPaux said:
So if the cost of galley revisions exceeds 10% of the allotted composition cost, you will NOT take it out of his royalties?

No, it will not. For the most part, we will not produce galleys until we are satisfied with the final manuscript. We want the reviewers to see the best quality of work. That's why we will be putting the street date much later then our galley production date. So, while the clause is in there to protect the company, I don't believe it will ever be needed.

CaoPaux said:
Heh, thanks. I didn't comment because your announcement didn't paint you as anything but a good-intentioned POD. You were wise enough to give no whiff of charging for editing or marketing packages, and your websites are far better than the vast majority of "I'm a publisher now!" folks coming off of Lulu (or PA, or Xlibris, or Booksurge, or...) -- so I deemed you refinable ore and held off until such time as someone asked about you. And, lo! here we are.

Appreciate that...We do have the best intentions at heart. I feel I've been open and honest with anyone who has had questions about what we are about. BTW, I appreciate the good vibe. I hope as the company continues to grow and our books start getting out there our record will speak for itself.

If there are any other questions or concerns, feel free to email me directly or post them here.
 
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victoriastrauss

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jcdelatorre said:
I'm not sure I agree with your view, as I mentioned to Victoria, we have an agreement with LSI that they will fulfill orders from ANY bookstore because we are doing their Global Distribution option. With that, the book will be at the very least available on all of the industry standard websites (like Amazon, BN.com, etc.) and we will advertise our titles in Ingram Advance Catalog that goes out to all the small bookstores. We are also members of the PMA, which allows us opportunities to take advantage of getting to the small bookstores.
It's good you've hooked up with PMA--they do help small publishers. Other than this, though, your books' availability is exactly the same as that of books from PublishAmerica and iUniverse. "Available" doesn't mean "stocked"--all it means is that the store, or anyone going to the store and making a special request, can place an order. There is much more that needs to be done to persuade national chains and independent stores to place your books on their shelves--for a start, they need to know your books exist. You can't rely on websites and wholesalers' catalogues to accomplish that. Direct sales contact is a must.

I know it seems we're ragging on you, JC, but the learning curve is pretty steep, especially if you don't have a publishing industry background--and learning on the job is not the best way to go about it. Ideally, you should understand how the book trade works before starting a publishing venture. But I give you a lot of credit for hanging in there, participating in the discussion and responding to our comments.

(Lauri and Lynn, I'm pontificating on here, but you guys are the actual publishers--if I'm making mistakes, please correct me.)

- Victoria
 

icerose

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Nomad said:
How did you manage to get into Walmart with a self-published book? They are practically the Holy Grail for discount sales. Koen doesn't distribute to Wal-Mart.

The reason why they would have taken it.

Wal-mart has their own wholesaler, but it has to be able to recieve a 55% discount. If Koen set up distribution of my book through the wholesaler, they would be willing to do it as well.

priceless, the great thing about Koen is they offer their own return policy, they offered to print the books through their own printer and everything. My trade paperback would have switched to Mass paperback, and it would have moved onto the next step. I was so close to getting it through Koen and through Walmart's wholesaler until all of my efforts were sabotaged by PA.

Koen was marvelous to work with and were very promt with their responses, it would have been great if it had gone through.

I worked at walmart for almost 2 years and they happily passed on the information for getting it listed with their wholesaler and everything else. If PA would have been willing to change the discount from 45% to 55% it would have been listed with walmart, they were setting up booksignings for me until PA pulled the plug, refused to budge, and that was that.

And I do understand that. Along side all these efforts I had three tv interviews set up for popular utah shows, but PA refused to send them a review copy of the book and they wanted one from the publisher and not from the author. I was also invited to a radio interview and I had several bookstores around the state saying they would put up posters for me and window displays if I was listed with Koen. They were eager to help out a local author, they just did not want to work with Publish America.
 
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jcdelatorre

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Nomad said:
Hi JC,
I'm a small publisher, too, and understand the struggle to get your books into bookstores. The problem I see with your model is that even though you offer discounts and returns, most chains and independents aren't going to know your books are available if you don't have national distribution channels to sell them. Being listed in the Ingram catalog only means that if a store calls up specifically to order your books, Ingram will get them a copy. It doesn't mean that Ingram is out there pitching your books to stores. The other problem with POD is that most trade publications won't review them unless they ARE distributed nationally, which then makes it difficult for book buyers to know they are available--it's a nasty circle and probably not a very fair method, but there you are. I hope your company is a great success--good luck!

Nomad, I definitely see your point and I feel your pain. You're absolutely right, we have global distribution with our contract with LSI - but I do not believe they're going to be out there rattling cages for Barnes and Nobles to put our books on the front rack. I think, as you know, that's the way it is for most small press. Believe me, I know its a challenge to get in the chain stores and I am by no means guaranteeing that to our authors. We will do all we can to get our titles in those stores...but the best I can promise are the websites. We will be on Amazon, we will be on B&N.com, we will be on Borders.com. We will also stand a good chance with the smaller independent bookstores because we are members of the PMA and have some marketing opportunities with them. PMA also gives us marketing opportunties with libraries as well (a good resource for book sales).

I will definitely be researching the different distribution channels out there...but getting them to talk to us is a whole other issue. I believe its the same with most small presses.

I echo the sentiment and wish you the best with your company as well. I truly believe the small press is where the undiscovered talent lies. A lot of the big publisher's books are "safe", the same regurgitated story in a different package, the small press has more latitude to take a chance here or there and sometimes, it strikes gold.
 

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Sara (icerose), if you haven't told that story on the NEPAT, you definitely should.
 

icerose

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I have in bits and pieces. Thankfully I didn't spend any money on my promotion, but I did put forth a lot of research, time, and effort. I honestly thought that given my own efforts I could over come PA's hurdles and downfalls of being a POD. Boy was I proved wrong. It was then that I learned the company was working actively against bookstore sales. What a hard lesson to learn there.

They also canceled about 35 sales then told me to direct the people to their bookstore and they wouldn't have a problem buying a book, talk about profit hogging.
 

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victoriastrauss said:
It's good you've hooked up with PMA--they do help small publishers. Other than this, though, your books' availability is exactly the same as that of books from PublishAmerica and iUniverse. "Available" doesn't mean "stocked"--all it means is that the store, or anyone going to the store and making a special request, can place an order. There is much more that needs to be done to persuade national chains and independent stores to place your books on their shelves--for a start, they need to know your books exist. You can't rely on websites and wholesalers' catalogues to accomplish that. Direct sales contact is a must.

I know it seems we're ragging on you, JC, but the learning curve is pretty steep, especially if you don't have a publishing industry background--and learning on the job is not the best way to go about it. Ideally, you should understand how the book trade works before starting a publishing venture. But I give you a lot of credit for hanging in there, participating in the discussion and responding to our comments.

(Lauri and Lynn, I'm pontificating on here, but you guys are the actual publishers--if I'm making mistakes, please correct me.)

- Victoria

Victoria, I am not at all taking it personally. In fact, I welcome the commentary. I admit there may be a few aspects of the business that I still need to grasp fully but in my defense I have done a LOT of research before endeavouring on this. And yes, you are absolutely correct - our association with PMA does not mean we're going to have our books on the front rack at Barnes and Nobles. I am not naive in that. We know the challenge is there, but is that not true for any small press? I have never guaranteed to any of our authors that "YES, you will see your book in the new release rack at your local B&N." They will be on the websites, and that's a start. Our association with PMA allows us opportunities to direct market to the small independent stores as well as libraries and the discount/return policy puts us on an even playing field with any big publisher. It won't be an issue of "Well, we can't carry your book because your discount is too low or you don't accept returns." This alone separates us from the POD vanities. Further, we control the price of the books. There's no middle man to take a chunk of the profit, this will allow us to price our books competitively. Dark Dragon will be $9.99...which is right around the market range for paperbacks.

With that said, we realize the challenge it is - we're not going into this eyes wide shut. We knew what we were getting ourselves into - we want to have our niche, build our name, sell some books, help our authors, and hopefully be able to spread the growth of speculative fiction out there to others.
 

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jcdelatorre said:
Victoria, I am not at all taking it personally. In fact, I welcome the commentary. I admit there may be a few aspects of the business that I still need to grasp fully but in my defense I have done a LOT of research before endeavouring on this. And yes, you are absolutely correct - our association with PMA does not mean we're going to have our books on the front rack at Barnes and Nobles. I am not naive in that. We know the challenge is there, but is that not true for any small press? I have never guaranteed to any of our authors that "YES, you will see your book in the new release rack at your local B&N." They will be on the websites, and that's a start. Our association with PMA allows us opportunities to direct market to the small independent stores as well as libraries and the discount/return policy puts us on an even playing field with any big publisher. It won't be an issue of "Well, we can't carry your book because your discount is too low or you don't accept returns." This alone separates us from the POD vanities. Further, we control the price of the books. There's no middle man to take a chunk of the profit, this will allow us to price our books competitively. Dark Dragon will be $9.99...which is right around the market range for paperbacks.

With that said, we realize the challenge it is - we're not going into this eyes wide shut. We knew what we were getting ourselves into - we want to have our niche, build our name, sell some books, help our authors, and hopefully be able to spread the growth of speculative fiction out there to others.


My gut reaction is that you're a decent guy, but I still have a lot of reservations about your company. No experience, no market presence, and cover prices a couple of dollars higher than average. Your only titles are yours and your wife's.

It doesn't sound very promising for a new writer.
 

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It worries me that this company's website asked authors to check out their friends and relatives to see if they would like to publish with them. I mean, what if their friends and relatives don't measure up as authors?
 

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JC Delatorre,
I am happy to see that you are selling your books at a realistic price. $9.99 is definitely better than Publish America's $19.99.
 

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Sassenach said:
My gut reaction is that you're a decent guy, but I still have a lot of reservations about your company. No experience, no market presence, and cover prices a couple of dollars higher than average. Your only titles are yours and your wife's.

It doesn't sound very promising for a new writer.

Sassenach, I can definitely understand that...but everyone has to start somewhere. BTW, if you're referring to Ancient Rising, that was published through Lulu and that version of the book will soon be retired, a new one will be released at a much more competitive $9.99.

We understand that any author who joins us may be taking a chance on us, but we're taking a chance on them as well. If we make the wrong choice in authors it can tarnish our name. Further, while the author is risking their rights for 3 yrs, we're risking our hard earned cash. We'll be investing lots of money in each title we print.

As I said, someone needs to be the first...I'm hoping thats Silverhand. If not, so be it, we will find the right author who believes in what we're about and hopefully together we can make something special.

janetbellinger said:
It worries me that this company's website asked authors to check out their friends and relatives to see if they would like to publish with them. I mean, what if their friends and relatives don't measure up as authors?

Hey, we're looking under every nook and cranny for potential authors and sometimes you don't know what's in your backyard. But hey, we are still all about quality. We've turned down several submissions already and I don't care if its my Uncle Joe submitting it...if it's bad writing, its bad writing and I'm not putting it out there. Our name is on the line and sometimes, your name is all you have. Once its tarnished, you're done.
 

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Hey guys, I need to correct myself. I've been quoting our wholesale discount as 55%. My business manager just smacked me on the back of my head and asked if I was doing drugs. The industry standard is 40%, we will be doing 40%-45% depending on the type of book we are selling (Hardcover vs. Paperback). Where in the heck I got the 55% number I have no idea but if we did get books and libraries to purchase the books at the discount, we'd be getting killed as a 55% discount would bring in less than the production of the book.

I sincerely apologize for misquoting the number on the discount. I have updated my posts with the correct information. It was not my intent to mislead or fool anyone concerning our discounts.

JC
 
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Silverhand

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Hey everyone, I just want to thank you all for continuing this conversation. This has been extremely informative.

I guess my only question, since this has been mentioned alot, is what is the definition of royalties on Net Sales? Does it mean 9.99 minus ($6.00 book - $1.00 marketing - $1.00 distribution - $.75 misc costs) equaling a net sale of $2.99. This means the author gets $.29 per copy sold?

Is that why a Net Sales system is one to beware of?

Eric B. Fogle
 

victoriastrauss

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In an honest publisher's contract, "net" means that your royalties are paid on the money your publisher actually receives for the sale of your book. So if your book is priced at $9.99, and your publisher sells at a discount of 40%, you'd receive $.60 per book on a royalty of 10%: $9.99 - $3.99 (the discount) = $6.00 x .10 = $.60.

Compare that to a royalty paid on cover price: $9.99 x .10 = $1.00.

That's why royalties paid on net are not desirable--from the author's perspective, of course. Bear in mind also that 40% is the MINIMUM discount booksellers expect. Some want more--Amazon, I believe requires 55%. Or the publisher may up the discount for volume orders.

In a dishonest publisher's contract, "net" can mean anything the publisher wants it to mean--for instance, the publisher's actual receipts less a menu of expenses such as shipping, warehousing, marketing, and service fees. In the movie biz this is called reverse accounting, and a bad publisher can manipulate it so that not only do you never receive any royalties, you can wind up owing them money.

So if the publisher pays on net, read your contract carefully to make sure that "net" doesn't include any additional charges.

- Victoria
 

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Silverhand said:
Whew! After what seems like an eternity, I logged into my Outlook account today to find a surprise.

"Great news! We at XXXXX Publishing have reviewed your manuscript, FoTG, and wish to extend this invitation to join our family. Please send a phone number and address so we may contact you."

Umm....seriously I about cried. :)

Now to the problem. This is a very very new publisher, as in only 1 year + old. They have sent me the contract, but I am unagented and dont know a dang thing about this.

So...go ahead and break my heart people. I am going to list several things in the contract...and I wish to know if it is normal.

1.) Zero cash advancements
Very bad sign. It costs a lot of money to publish a book. A modest first advance is only a fraction of the expense. If they're a real publisher and intend to do right by your book, there's absolutely no reason for them to offer you no advance.
2.) 10% Royalties on all net sales.
Another very bad sign. Unless you're writing computer books or travel guides, royalties should be paid on all sales, whether or not the publisher is making a profit.
3.) I am granting exclusive rights to my work for 3 years to said publisher.
That's a startlingly short grant of rights. If they believe in your book, they should believe it's worth more than three years.
4.) I retain all subsidiary rights.
Good.
5.) Something about Galleys and Proofs, and it costing royalty money if it exceeds 10% of composition costs.
What Reph said. One the book's had its initial typesetting, if the cost of your rewrites exceeds 10% of the cost of that first round, you're responsible for the whole thing.
6.) If a larger publisher wishes the rights to the book, they must buy the contract from said publishing house.
That's the point where my red lights start flashing. A real publisher doesn't buy a book on the assumption that it'll be acquired by some other house. They buy a book on the assumption that they'll publish and market it, and achieve glorious success thereby. That provision is like having your fiancee start talking about how you'll handle the divorce.
7.)Book to be published 6-9 months after final copy-edit is accepted.
A little wonky, but not unreasonable.
8.) Authors gets 5 copies, which cannot be sold.
Oh yeah? If they're yours, you can sell them. What are you going to do, hold them in trust? ... Think twice about outfits that put unenforceable clauses into their contracts.
Any others I might want...can be purchased at 50% cost. It does not mention if I can sell them.
Okay.
9.) In case of Bankruptcy, all rights revert back to me.
Lots of publishing contracts contain that provision. It isn't true. Despite the publisher's good intentions, the fact is that bankruptcy courts won't let them do that.
So far these guys have published 2 novels since they have been a company.
I'm sure they mean well.
Are there any questions I should ask? Anything I should look out for?
I'd be looking out for a different publisher. I'm sorry. I wish I could say this is great, congratulations, you're the one -- but it just doesn't look right to me.
 

jcdelatorre

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Hi all, well, Luna Brillante Publishing's new corporate website is now up and running. You can get to it at http://www.lunabrillantepublishing.com

In addition, we are negotiating with a few distributors out there that would be willing to work with us. We'll see how it goes but I'm hopeful that a sales force team that can work in conjunction with LSI should hopefully allow us some visibility in the brick-and-mortars. Keep an eye on our news page as we will announce any positive developments in that arena. As Victoria said, its not easy for a small press, especially a start-up, to get distributor backing. LSI is there, we have a dedicated sales person for our account but the stores gotta know we're out there and that's where the additional marketing and distribution services come in. We're working hard on it.

Victoria, we'll probably be closer to 45% on most titles, especially the hardcovers. The paperbacks we likely will be closer to 40%. Let me put it this way, if Barnes & Nobles wants to carry our books in their stores and want a 50%-55% discount, we'll work it out.

HapiSofi, you obviously haven't read the entire thread. Rather than bore everyone rehashing old conversation I'll just say that if you're truly interested in making an informed judgement of our company, feel free to read through my commentary in this thread and my answers to the questions posed.

Thanks all!

JC De La Torre
 

HapiSofi

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I confess that I was being excessively grumpy. I won't go into detail, but the painkillers were wearing off. You guys may be running a shoestring operation, but you're doing it wholeheartedly. I wish you every success.
 

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victoriastrauss said:
(Lauri and Lynn, I'm pontificating on here, but you guys are the actual publishers--if I'm making mistakes, please correct me.)
- Victoria
Victoria, you make mistakes? Lauri and I talked a long while ago and remarked over the fact that no matter how much research and immersion one experiences in the publishing business, nothing can replace trial by fire. It takes at least a couple years to get all the stupid things out of your system. After that, it's like punching through the sound barrier - it's rocky getting there, but the ride becomes smoother.

I'd seriously consider finding another printer than LSI. They're a POD printer and everyone knows it - including bookstores. LSI charges more for their services and that decreases the ability to keep books priced competitively while maintaining a healthy cash flow.

I'd also consider doing print runs. From the POD publishers I've known, they have a very tough time getting into any stores because they can't meet demand. Sometimes signings/readings happen very fast, and they don't have time for you to order up 50 books for a signing. You're already eating it paying higher prices to print your books. Between that and returns, you're going to get killed.

I hate to say it, because I wish you the very best, but you're a POD trying to live in a commercial press world. The POD business plan simply doesn't allow for the types of marketing ideas and distribution you want to implement for the sole reason that you can't meet demand.

Lynn
 
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