Tri beat me to it--the consulting services raises a red flag for me. A little more concrete description of the genres they accept would be helpful; their "About" page discusses "quiet lives" and "hidden communities" and journalism--so non-fiction? Fiction involving a "hidden community"? YA? What?
Bad copywriting. Some specifics:
GemmaMedia brings you a host of new stories and new insights on culture. Gemma crosses the divide between readers and writers—
They'd be a very odd publishing company if they didn't.
well-loved authors encouraging new readers; writers revealing quiet lives and hidden communities; journalists who open distant worlds for us at home.
To me, what that says is "books we bought for small advances."
A
"well-loved author encouraging new readers" is an author writing outside their area of commercial success. Works that
"[reveal] quiet lives and hidden communities" are, unless they're stunningly well-written and have great quotes, the definition of "little books": difficult to market, unlikely to break even, hardly the focus of hot bidding. And
"Journalists who open distant worlds for us at home" is just another way to say "little books," unless what it's saying is "little books by journalists who've lost their regular gigs," of whom there are a great many right now.
From Ireland to Iowa, Jamestown to Japan, Baghdad to Ballyvaughan, Gemma books and new media capture the world’s color.
That's an ornate but content-free sentence. The writer doesn't have enough to say, or enough experience at saying it. Good commercial book copy is hard to write.
Not to get all nit-picky, but this sentence:
GemmaMedia occasionally accepts unsolicited projects related to our publishing program for publication.
stood out, and not in a particularly good way. I'd hope that their publishing program had something to do with publication. And "occasionally accepts unsolicited projects"? Are most of their books done on a "for hire" basis or do they just mean they have sporadic open submission windows? *mildly confused*
I can think of several things it might mean, ranging from submissions policies to their willingness to work with packagers, but none of my theoretical possibilities are a better match for that sentence than any other. Whatever else that is, it's bad copywriting.
