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Clean Teen Publishing / Crimson Tree Publishing

folieadeux

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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.

Ahh I recall that thread. The place seems disastrous and the only improvements I've noticed is better cover art than a few years ago. Their editing and atmosphere still seems shoddy.

But THIS THREAD made me giggle more than it should've, which is enough to make me turn up my nose to the company. I wouldn't write for a laughing stock, but I'm a snob. I was watching them at #Pit2Pub. I saw the Clean Teen and immediately thought huffy Christian "romance", and rolled my eyes -- so if they take anything with more than fade-to-black, they've chosen a poor company name considering the thoughts "Clean Teen" invokes.
 

folieadeux

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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.

...wut? Dear God, I need to get Twilight away from my little sister before its violence corrupts her! And here I'd been worried about just its writing style!
 

PeteMC

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I'm so tempted to sub something of mine to these guys just to see their reaction. I doubt their rating system even has categories for practical diabolism, angels who kill people, and torture...
 

TheDancingWriter

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They're not a religious publisher at all. I have a friend who was accepted by them, and her trilogy isn't religious at all. But I will say that I find it irritating that her book got labelled a bestseller by them when it has never even been a categorical bestseller on Amazon.
 

Undercover

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I had a full with them a long time ago. I removed it from submission because I didn't think it was ready. I revised it and told them about it and they still wanted to see it, which was nice.

I nudged them after 3 months and they declined it. But they are very responsive and seem like a nice group to work for. I would submit again.
 

oceansoul

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They're not a religious publisher at all. I have a friend who was accepted by them, and her trilogy isn't religious at all. But I will say that I find it irritating that her book got labelled a bestseller by them when it has never even been a categorical bestseller on Amazon.

If they're not a religious publisher, I find it really, really odd that the use of 'blasphemy' including 'God' or 'Christ' automatically qualifies a book for Level 3 on the 'Language' category of their rating system? It actually makes them come across as being very evangelical.
 

pinkbowvintage

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Their ratings system is honestly one of the most entertaining and unintentionally hilarious things I've ever seen.

Level 4 is sexual references? Is this YA or are these G-rated MG books? I can't think of a YA off the top of my head that doesn't have sexual references of some kind.

Adjectival: F word + ing. Racial Expletives. Other: F word, B word

Oh they would LOVE my stuff...:tongue I had some fun going through and applying these ratings to my current MS, and mine definitely gets a 5.

I'm also confused as to who besides an overprotective parent would actually comb through their ratings system and then their books to make sure something is "appropriate" to read. Most of the stuff we read in early high school for English class would be considered Level 4-5 by these guys.

Great covers though.
 

Chris P

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My curiosity got the better of me, and I did find some books on their site with 5s all across. The descriptions seem overly cautious, for example a drinking scene early on gets a 2. But it seems they aren't squeaky clean teens.

But it's an attractive site aimed at readers instead of authors (a good sign they're not a vanity press--which nobody has claimed they are) and pretty good to really good covers. Not really my genre, though. They didn't provide any sample pages so I can't say about hownthe books look inside.
 

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I have a friend who is writing a YA viking romance for CTP, and it sounds like they are very friendly and easy to work with. I've read some of their books, and the ones I've read have been really good. One thing I like about them is that they encourage their authors to interact with each other and support each other. I've been reading Sherry Ficklin's "Queen of Someday," which is a YA historical/ romance about Catherine the great of Russia. I really like it. If you go to CTP's facebook page, you can get a lot of their books for free on Kindle. A lot of the time they have the first of a series for free, and then you pay if you want to continue the series.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1940534909/?tag=absowrit-20
 

eternalised

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I received a rejection from them about a week ago, but it was a friendly rejection, and I'm encouraged to submit to them again in the future.
 

Filigree

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Weren't these the same folks who got dinged for some bad behavior (homophobic stamps or something) at a recent romance convention?

ETA: no, similarity in names between this group and Clean Reads, the actual homophobic company. Mea culpa.
 
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mccardey

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"Clean Teens" is like a totally wasted opportunity for growth.

:granny:

My opinion.

ETA: That might be a derail. It's just those two words together threw me.
 
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zmethos

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They requested a manuscript of mine via a Twitter pitch thingy and then emailed to ask whether I could write the sequels in 6-month increments. I got excited, said yes, and then got a rejection. :/
 

Undercover

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I came across a book of theirs in the local library. I think that's a good sign. If they could get some of their books in libraries, they can possibly with actual book stores too. (Haven't seen it yet, but I'll be on the look out for them)
 

Goldberry

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I came across a book of theirs in the local library. I think that's a good sign. If they could get some of their books in libraries, they can possibly with actual book stores too. (Haven't seen it yet, but I'll be on the look out for them)

I asked one of their writers on Facebook about it, and she told me that their books are in Barnes & Noble. I haven't been able to check it out yet, though.
 

PoppysInARow

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Just wanted to weight in on what I've seen of these guys. I was given a review copy of one of their books from one of their authors, and I was curious so I did a bit of digging on them. I was really uncertain at first-- looked just like a run of the mill small publisher, rating system aside. As the book I read very much fit into the idea of "clean teen," it's hard to say what kind of content turns them off. It doesn't look like they shy away from topics, only they flag any sort of content that might be offensive (in any capacity, it seems). But I've seen them reaching out to other book reviewers (the house itself, not just its authors). It also seems like they're trying to get more footing in with brick and mortar bookstores. They are on Amazon, and from what I heard from one of their authors it looks like they're getting books on the shelf at B&N and at libraries, it's just still a little new for them.

They look like a decent little press. My only concern with them is their editing seems really... thin? The book I was reading looked to be self-published just based on all the editing the book still needed. The book had a bunch of head hopping, poor plot structure, lack of tension or stakes, just littered with things that a good editor would jump on. There were even copy editing mistakes that really jumped out. I wouldn't be against submitting to them, but anyone that does should just be aware that they might need to put in more effort themselves on the editing part. After all, nothing reflects worse on a writer than a poorly edited manuscript...
 

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I have a full out with them now. They said 6-8 weeks for response, which is super fast compared to other publishers, but has been a tough wait. The more I research them the more I think they could be a great fit for a debut author. I bought one of their books from Barnes and Noble--so they're obviously distributing well. And I totally fantasize about using my PR background to amplify that distribution. (I will not obsess over this. I will not obsess over this. I will not obsess...)

These next few weeks are going to be hard, I hope to hear back from two small pubs with fulls and another small pub and some agents who have partials, all have loose "deadlines" that fall in August. Eep.
 

Goldberry

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They look like a decent little press. My only concern with them is their editing seems really... thin? The book I was reading looked to be self-published just based on all the editing the book still needed. The book had a bunch of head hopping, poor plot structure, lack of tension or stakes, just littered with things that a good editor would jump on. There were even copy editing mistakes that really jumped out. I wouldn't be against submitting to them, but anyone that does should just be aware that they might need to put in more effort themselves on the editing part. After all, nothing reflects worse on a writer than a poorly edited manuscript...

Exactly! I stalked them for awhile on Facebook, and reviewed a few of their books. The books I reviewed had all positive reviews on amazon. I was the only one who had anything critical to say! They have a reviewing group on facebook where the reviewers have a chance to win prizes, so I'm concerned that the reviewers are afraid of being honest. The books I reviewed were full of bad writing. They had some good ideas, but they needed a lot of editing.

I'm also a little concerned (although this may not be fair of me) that the staff of Clean Teen Publishing don't sound very professional. The editor states on her website, ***I am NOT a developmental editor. I am a final-draft editor. If you are a FIRST-TIME author who needs extensive help with plot, character development, and flow, I would recommend you hire a developmental editor to work with you through the different stages of pre-editing before you contact me.***

Is this odd that the editor in charge of CTP doesn't consider herself a developmental editor? Isn't that supposed to be the job of an editor who is working for a publisher?

Anyway, I'm afraid I don't trust their editor now. LOL. I would probably try to have my novel edited well before submitting it.
 

PeteMC

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I'm also a little concerned (although this may not be fair of me) that the staff of Clean Teen Publishing don't sound very professional. The editor states on her website, ***I am NOT a developmental editor. I am a final-draft editor. If you are a FIRST-TIME author who needs extensive help with plot, character development, and flow, I would recommend you hire a developmental editor to work with you through the different stages of pre-editing before you contact me.***

Is this odd that the editor in charge of CTP doesn't consider herself a developmental editor? Isn't that supposed to be the job of an editor who is working for a publisher?

Anyway, I'm afraid I don't trust their editor now. LOL. I would probably try to have my novel edited well before submitting it.

Oh help, not that's *absolutely* fair of you. A publisher that effectively says "you'll have to pay to get your book edited because we don't do that" aren't worth having, IMO.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Developmental editing is only one kind of editing among many. It's cool with me that the editor says that developmental editing isn't in her skill set. Another way they could have put this might be, "If your book has deep structural flaws it's not for us."
 

WriterRoo

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I did end up reading their book, The Neverland Wars, and to be honest it was hard to get through. No real plot or character development...seemed like it could have benefited from some content editing. The bones were there, it just never went anywhere. Concerning.