It is a job interview. Answer with specifics. What exact experience do you and the rest of your staff have? In particular the experience related to publishing, if any.
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Sweatshoppe Publications
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I usually find looking at the site is enough to clarify what level of experience someone has with writing and editing.
The site isn't terrifying, though there are some basic agreement, fragment, etc., errors. This is my favourite bit, from the front page -
The site isn't terrifying, though there are some basic agreement, fragment, etc., errors. This is my favourite bit, from the front page -
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Could I get a little more detail here, just because I'm not quite sure what this means. Is it the editors making suggestions and then the authors making changes? Or the editors going through it and making changes and the author saying which ones they'll keep?
Also, is this a developmental or copy edit (or do you do both)?
priceless1
Banned
Your marketing page lists all the things the author can do. These points, in particular, stood out:
I noticed that Lightning Source is listed as your distributor, so it appears that solid distribution is a bit of challenge for your company. How are you getting books stocked in stores and national accounts?
If your authors are responsible for all marketing and promotion, and you don't have a distribution deal in place, then perhaps you could speak to what makes your company a great choice for authors.
- Contact your local bookstores and ask them to carry your book and let you do a book signing or event.
- Send a press release and a sell sheet to your local media markets: radio, television, and print.
I noticed that Lightning Source is listed as your distributor, so it appears that solid distribution is a bit of challenge for your company. How are you getting books stocked in stores and national accounts?
If your authors are responsible for all marketing and promotion, and you don't have a distribution deal in place, then perhaps you could speak to what makes your company a great choice for authors.
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No. It isn't. Although we are open to submissions, my main purpose in being here is not to woo authors, as we have plenty of manuscripts to keep us busy, even though we reject more than we accept. With all due respect, thank you very much for your question, but I feel it has been answered. Again, thank you! I appreciate you being here.
So, that answers that: "No, we don't have any credible experience in publishing."
But keep those manuscripts coming, folks! Trust us with your hard work...and even if you don't, no big deal because we don't need no stinkin' writers!
I've learned all I need to know about this place. Sweatshoppe, indeed.
ETA: From Rusty Nail:
Craig A. Hart started writing as a young boy and won second place in a national essay contest at age sixteen. He was editor of both his high school and college newspapers. He has worked as a professional book reviewer, freelance writer, and has published several books both traditionally and independently.
And because everything lives forever on the Interwebz, from Craig Hart's own website, wherein he asks for money to fund his startup at http://craighartonline.com/ :
Sweatshoppe Publications is a small press publishing house with a goal of offering independent authors a place to showcase their work and make a go of it in a day when the only options are struggling with big-time publishers or fighting as a lone voice among millions.
We estimate that after publishing a very limited number of books, Sweatshoppe will be financially independent. To reach that point, however, we need your help and are asking for $1,000 to make this happen.
Your money has the ability to change the lives of independent authors everywhere. Most indie authors make little or no money from their art. They struggle to make their voices heard. They are often shut out of the big name publishers simply because they don’t have a proven track record. Your donation can help Sweatshoppe Publications turn things around for these authors by giving them a voice, by giving them power, and by allowing their work to shine brighter and reach farther.
And the "several books published" are primarily self-pubbed:
Passing Through: An Ex-Fundamentalist’s Pursuit of Personal Spirituality
T’Aragam: Book One of the Max Ransome Chronicles (under pen name, Jack W. Regan)
Kingdom Heir: Book Two of the Max Ransome Chronicles (under pen name, Jack W. Regan)
Nightshade
The Athens Assignment
But keep those manuscripts coming, folks! Trust us with your hard work...and even if you don't, no big deal because we don't need no stinkin' writers!
I've learned all I need to know about this place. Sweatshoppe, indeed.
ETA: From Rusty Nail:
Craig A. Hart started writing as a young boy and won second place in a national essay contest at age sixteen. He was editor of both his high school and college newspapers. He has worked as a professional book reviewer, freelance writer, and has published several books both traditionally and independently.
And because everything lives forever on the Interwebz, from Craig Hart's own website, wherein he asks for money to fund his startup at http://craighartonline.com/ :
Sweatshoppe Publications is a small press publishing house with a goal of offering independent authors a place to showcase their work and make a go of it in a day when the only options are struggling with big-time publishers or fighting as a lone voice among millions.
We estimate that after publishing a very limited number of books, Sweatshoppe will be financially independent. To reach that point, however, we need your help and are asking for $1,000 to make this happen.
Your money has the ability to change the lives of independent authors everywhere. Most indie authors make little or no money from their art. They struggle to make their voices heard. They are often shut out of the big name publishers simply because they don’t have a proven track record. Your donation can help Sweatshoppe Publications turn things around for these authors by giving them a voice, by giving them power, and by allowing their work to shine brighter and reach farther.
And the "several books published" are primarily self-pubbed:
Passing Through: An Ex-Fundamentalist’s Pursuit of Personal Spirituality
T’Aragam: Book One of the Max Ransome Chronicles (under pen name, Jack W. Regan)
Kingdom Heir: Book Two of the Max Ransome Chronicles (under pen name, Jack W. Regan)
Nightshade
The Athens Assignment
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But Grossman is just one of their authors, and not part of the staff? Is he? Do you mean the level of his 'writing'?
As far as advertising one of their books, though, I couldn't help scratching my head why they would feature this review for one of their books:
Why would a publisher allow that on their Home Page? One of their authors giving a nonreview, basically, for another author... Might the publisher require a mention of what the book is about?
Thanks for your question. On the subject of distribution, given that our books are all POD, national bookstore distribution for bookstores is a shaky proposition. We do encourage authors to approach their local stores, but broad brick and mortar stocking is not likely.
Unfortunately, a lot of work does fall to the author. And really, that's the case with most publishers, except for a select number. Most publishers, Sweatshoppe included, don't have deep PR pockets. I should mention one thing, however, and that is that the items mentioned on the marketing page are suggestions for authors, but that doesn't mean that Sweatshoppe doesn't also do those things. (Also, that page is in need of updating, so thanks for bringing that up and reminding me!) One of the things that Sweatshoppe does well is support author efforts. I'd encourage you to contact some of our authors, who are listed on the site, and see what their experience has been!
Great question, thank you. First, authors aren't responsible for all PR, although from the clunky marketing page, I can see how you'd get that impression. As mentioned earlier, we do strongly support author efforts in an attempt to give them momentum. Also, we do send out our own press releases and such.
In answer to the second part of this last question, while I am interested in Sweatshoppe doing well and representing an increasing number of authors, I don't want it to be seen as anything that it isn't, either bad or good. For example, I'm not going to sit here and say that Sweatshoppe is the best publisher in the world and everyone should get on board. Because it isn't. If you can get signed with HarperCollins or Little, Brown and Co., then I'm your biggest cheerleader. The harsh reality of the publishing world is, however, that most authors aren't going to get signed with that type of publisher, even authors with great products to offer. What Sweatshoppe does is offer an alternative to authors who believe so strongly in their work that they are willing to go out and champion it.
Sweatshoppe cannot guarantee national bookstore distribution, a certain number of sales, an Oprah interview, or anything like that. What we do offer is giving your book a chance. If we accept your book, that means we believe in it enough to risk the expense of putting it on the market (because that's not free for us!)
Excellent point. That excerpt is from a longer review the author did on Amazon. I should also mention that the person who wrote the review did not receive any free copies of the book he reviewed from Sweatshoppe.
Clarity. I noticed this thread during an Internet search and found that there were people chatting about Sweatshoppe who clearly had questions.
Aaah, I see what you're asking. Sweatshoppe follows The Rusty Nail model of not tampering with the story itself. So we really don't go in-depth in terms of altering the story, etc. Our editing is mostly grammatical in nature. If we were to see something that needed major revision, we'd never do it without running it by the author first. In general, though, we follow the "your words, your way" motto.
I see. Good. One way or the other, it's likely that many of these questions will be answered. Welcome.Clarity. I noticed this thread during an Internet search and found that there were people chatting about Sweatshoppe who clearly had questions.
I appreciate you being a part of the discussion! And, yes, Sweatshoppe does champion indie efforts. Not to sound too cliche, but "for indies, by indies" might be a decent way to describe our growing tribe of writers and publishers. And, frankly, we're not at all ashamed of the fact that we don't have ties to a large publishing conglomerate...they're part of the problem with publishing these days, as far we are concerned.
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Hi, Craig.
Do you accept previously self-published books? Or previously published reverted books?
Do you accept previously self-published books? Or previously published reverted books?
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Short stories accepted for publication are usually pretty polished already -- it's why they get accepted while others not-ready don't -- but still, sometimes they require further editing. And certainly, short stories' "stories" are rarely tampered with, otherwise there goes the story... back to the author to either submit elsewhere, or to tamper mightily with the notion of resubmitting, should they agree to change larger elements of their stories.
Fine for short stories. For novels, I'd say this is a no-go. I couldn't possibly trust an editor who only suggests to me grammatical-in-nature edits. You did use the word mostly which makes me think it's the norm rather than the exception.
Um... your words, your way motto? Eek.
Of course you could never do a major revision "without running it by the author first," because it's the author who needs to do the work/revision.
Sorry, for taking your words to task. I just want to be clear I'm understanding your method correctly. Publishing an ezine consisting of short stories is in no way a qualification for editing and publishing novels. Is it?
Hi there. We do accept previously published books (self-pubbed, etc.) Our contract does ask for exclusive publishing rights for 1 year, however, so anything submitted would need to be able to meet that requirement. For example, if a book had been previously self-published, it would have to be taken off the market prior to being released by Sweatshoppe. Or, if it was under contract with another publisher, the contract would have to be expired or legally terminated prior to further publication. Thanks for the question!
I've said this on other threads, but what the heck, here it goes again:
Self-published authors get 100% of their profits. Authors published by others lose part of those profits. 50% royalties means half your profits went somewhere else.
There is no logical reason for an author to choose a publishing company over self-publishing unless the publishing company adds something valuable to the product.
So the question is... How does Sweatsshoppe Publications improve the book's chances of success to the extent that they earn half of the author's profits?
I don't think it's the editing, at least not based on the sample I read. There's missing commas and missing quotation marks. There's repetitive phrases that don't seem to be style choices.
So, is it the distribution, then? Based on the discussion here, I'm not sure an author gets any better distribution than he/she could get plopping the novel on CreateSpace or Lulu.
The cover art? I'm not a good enough judge to make a call on that, so I'll let others step in who know what they're talking about.
It's not a question of the staff at Sweatshoppe being honest, hardworking, well-meaning, or any of those wonderful qualities. I could work really hard as a cover artist. You still shouldn't hire me to be one because my art skills are lousy. Instead, I should go and learn how to be a good artist, then come back and ask you to hire me.
Same goes for publishing work that isn't your own. The experience should come before taking first rights to authors' work, not after.
Self-published authors get 100% of their profits. Authors published by others lose part of those profits. 50% royalties means half your profits went somewhere else.
There is no logical reason for an author to choose a publishing company over self-publishing unless the publishing company adds something valuable to the product.
So the question is... How does Sweatsshoppe Publications improve the book's chances of success to the extent that they earn half of the author's profits?
I don't think it's the editing, at least not based on the sample I read. There's missing commas and missing quotation marks. There's repetitive phrases that don't seem to be style choices.
So, is it the distribution, then? Based on the discussion here, I'm not sure an author gets any better distribution than he/she could get plopping the novel on CreateSpace or Lulu.
The cover art? I'm not a good enough judge to make a call on that, so I'll let others step in who know what they're talking about.
It's not a question of the staff at Sweatshoppe being honest, hardworking, well-meaning, or any of those wonderful qualities. I could work really hard as a cover artist. You still shouldn't hire me to be one because my art skills are lousy. Instead, I should go and learn how to be a good artist, then come back and ask you to hire me.
Same goes for publishing work that isn't your own. The experience should come before taking first rights to authors' work, not after.
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No need to apologize! My first love is writing, so I understand the hesitance and suspicion. On a personal note, I got taken in by the Publish America deal back in the day, which is why I am so concerned to not promise (or even allude to) anything Sweatshoppe cannot deliver, since I feel like that's what PA did to me (not to mention that awful 7 year prison sentence).
In any case, because our department is smaller than that of larger publishers, a book would not receive the deep editing/revision that it would there. This is simply a fact. This is not of large concern to everyone, but I do understand that it is to some! This is all part of the process an author goes through to find a publisher. What is good for one project may not work as well for another. The good news is that there are a lot of opportunities out there and I would encourage every author to put in the work to find the best fit for them.
Well, and I'm not trying to be glib, but I guess that's a question possible submitting authors will have to answer.
(Just as a side note, The Rusty Nail isn't just an ezine, but publishes a monthly print copy.)
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1. Are all books in your list published as both e-books and print editions?
2. How is profit calculated when determining royalties? Is it based on raw unit costs subtracted from revenues, or do you amortize fixed and variable operating costs across your products? Or apply specific production costs to each title? Or some other method? Such vague "percent of profit" terms trouble me whenever I see them.
2. How is profit calculated when determining royalties? Is it based on raw unit costs subtracted from revenues, or do you amortize fixed and variable operating costs across your products? Or apply specific production costs to each title? Or some other method? Such vague "percent of profit" terms trouble me whenever I see them.
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Like many with no actual industry publishing experience who open a publishing house after being scammed by PA (yes, there are many), you seem to be basing your idea of what goes on at a non-big-6 trade publisher based on your Publish America experience. This is far from accurate -- there is nothing industry standard about PA.
I completely agree in theory. And if someone wants to self-publish, that's fine by me! I wish them all success in the world. However, self-publishing can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. And if someone goes another route, such as CreateSpace or Lulu, then they need some basic abilities and technological knowledge. Not everyone has that or has the desire learn it.