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Clean Teen Publishing / Crimson Tree Publishing

AphraB

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"Clean Teen?" As opposed to . . . dirty teen? Ew.
 

veinglory

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The are a small YA publisher that features warning labels in their books rating it for levels of sex, violence etc. They will also make a warning label for your book for $99.

I don't see the point of the appeal of the whole concept, but that's just me. Despite their name their three books so far do include some naughtiness based on their own ratings.
 

FluffBunny

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Site's registered to a Courtney Nuckels. She's co-authored 4 teen novels, all "published" via Amazon Digital Services. Her bio on Amazon states that she is or was a middle-school teacher. No mention of any previous publishing experience. That would be enough for me to give them a pass.

Their "rating" system makes me gag, honestly. "He hit a home run" is a "Level 1" naughtiness phrase? Really? Do people even still use the "first/second/third/home" euphemisms for fooling around? What if it's a book about a baseball player? And they're basing it on a paper put out in 2000 by the BBC and the British Broadcasting Standards Commission? That makes me both give them a pass and a strong desire to hack-up a hairball on their foot. (ETA: That sounds wrong--it's not because it's based on BBC/BSC standards; I'd dislike it as much, if not more, if it was based on FCC standards. Using 13 year-old standards from broadcasting, though? That's just odd.)

Also adding: I don't know about the rest of the images yet, but the "Angel" image they've "been working on!" is from a royalty-free, stock image site. The only "work" they did on it was to draw a circle around the face and color it yellow.
 
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veinglory

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Even if I wanted my book rated, I personally would not pay for a system someone knocked together like this. It has some embedded values I disagree with and the public won't know what it means anyway. Also the graphic is busy and unattractive. but again, that's just me.
 

FluffBunny

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"Please list all supernatural creatures in the book."

"Well, there's Bob, the somewhat androgynous, part-time vampire; Esme, the burgeoning were-sloth; Francis, the talking mule and, of course, Antioch, who works for PublishAmerica."

*laughs at the Hairspray reference and ends her own derail*
 

frimble3

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None of the 'team' appear to have any publishing experience, aside from this, and a couple of them appear to have self-published their own books.
And, all of them prominently mention their families, and two of the four indicate that they are 'stay-at-home' mothers, which suggests that your books will not be their first priority if push comes to shove.
 

Undercover

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My one book is on Net Galley right now and I noticed one of Clean Teen's books, which is on the first page of the most requested. So I of course checked into it further. Seems like most of their books are doing very well. Some of the covers I really love. I think their done well.

I thought to give them a try and submitted. Wish me luck!
 

cwschizzy

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Seems a bit too *rolls eyes* for me, but that's just me. Congrats and good luck to you.
 

Undercover

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Well I tried it anyway. I haven't done "extensive" research and maybe the contract won't be so good. They look much better than that Crushing Butterfly one. I got a contract on that, very poor. Then when I went to the thread my heart sank. I quickly passed on it.
 

Undercover

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Does anyone have more info on these guys? I see their books popping up everywhere, in libraries and Goodreads and getting good reviews. Some have the School Library Journal and Kirkus for reviews.
 

Becca C.

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"LMAO" is a Level 2 in the language section, and "making fun of religious beliefs" qualifies as Violence Level 2. They have a VERY low bar for content indeed.

Odd: "Girlfriend/boyfriend emotional turmoil" is Violence Level 3. Emotional turmoil could mean anything, yet they call it violence? Weird.
 

oceansoul

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The intense focus on religious morality in their system means this publisher is definitely not for me.
 

goofy06

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Does anyone have more info on these guys? I see their books popping up everywhere, in libraries and Goodreads and getting good reviews. Some have the School Library Journal and Kirkus for reviews.
I was wondering the same thing. I saw them on Pit2Pub on Twitter yesterday and did some searching. I saw they made their first appearance at BEA this year. Many of their books are currently available for free on Amazon and while I haven't read any cover to cover, they seem well done.
 

J.S.F.

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Too religiously inclined for my liking. If their books are doing well, then good for the writers. My guess is they're aggressively marketing to a certain religious element, but hey, if it works, go with it. Not for me. I like to keep all religion out of my books. Their standards are wonky, to say the least.