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Skyhorse Publishing

oceansoul

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I've seen quite a lot of hype about them via my social media feed recently. I guess they are releasing quite a few YA titles next year. Some of their subimprints already do a lot of SFF titles.
 

Becca C.

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My agent has just sold my debut contemporary YA novel, MAYBE IN PARIS, to Sky Pony Press! MIP is a sibling-focused story, with only a dash of a romantic subplot, not ending in a happily-ever-after. We chose Sky Pony over an R&R with a Big 5 imprint because the editor, Nicole Frail, fell in love with the story as a sibling story. She's the only editor who didn't request me to bulk up the romance. This won big, big points for me. It will be released spring 2017!
 

Roxxsmom

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Congratulations! Sky Pony is their YA imprint, I'm guessing?

Skyhorse bought out the failing Night Shade Books, which had gotten into deep doo doo with the SFWA for not paying their authors, if I remember correctly, and had some serious financial issues. The deal wasn't considered ideal, because the pay rates are lower than what the SFWA considers industry standard for SF and F (Skyhorse isn't on the SFWA approved list), but they did keep the imprint alive, and they still seem to acquire and publish new titles.

Their books look very appealing (nice covers), they have a presence on the shelves of bookstores, and they have some very good writers in their lineup. All of these are very important.
 
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Becca C.

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Yes, Sky Pony does YA, MG, and picture books, as well. I agree, their covers are gorgeous, and I just recently read one of their YAs. It was a really beautiful hardcover. I've ordered more of their books to see what my pub family is like :)
 

Fuchsia Groan

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My agent has just sold my debut contemporary YA novel, MAYBE IN PARIS, to Sky Pony Press! MIP is a sibling-focused story, with only a dash of a romantic subplot, not ending in a happily-ever-after. We chose Sky Pony over an R&R with a Big 5 imprint because the editor, Nicole Frail, fell in love with the story as a sibling story. She's the only editor who didn't request me to bulk up the romance. This won big, big points for me. It will be released spring 2017!

YAY, Becca! There are some Sky Pony writers of YA in my 2016 debut group, and their books sound really, really cool.
 

Becca C.

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Is yours a picture book, or for older kids. I have nieces and nephews from newborn to teen in my family and am always looking for gifts.

It's for teens. The main character is 18 but apart from some swearing, the story would be suitable for any kid 12+ :) I would love it to be a gift!
 

oceansoul

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My agent has just sold my debut contemporary YA novel, MAYBE IN PARIS, to Sky Pony Press! MIP is a sibling-focused story, with only a dash of a romantic subplot, not ending in a happily-ever-after. We chose Sky Pony over an R&R with a Big 5 imprint because the editor, Nicole Frail, fell in love with the story as a sibling story. She's the only editor who didn't request me to bulk up the romance. This won big, big points for me. It will be released spring 2017!

I saw this on Twitter last night! I'm so happy for you! Congratulations and let us know your experiences!
 

The Suspense Author

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My friend just now told me he was published by Skyhorse Publishing and when I asked how that went he said "Just Beware. They assigned me a publicist...he did almost nothing. Statements have been repeatedly late. They withhold considerable royalties "against potential returns" - and that's just for starters." So I figured I'd see if there was a thread on here about them and drop his comment. Good luck!
 
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BobFontain

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I joined this forum just so I could answer this question.
I know I'm just one voice but I can tell you that my friend had a fairly successful book (according to them) published by skyhorse several years ago and is still waiting to get an accurate accounting of sales and to be paid fairly. We have heard nothing but excuses from skyhorse including "we forgot to send your check". Now they are paying attorney's to get their attention and they claim to be looking into it. Still waiting to hear back from them, and still no money!! They are very disorganized and appear to be dishonest, Suggest everyone look elsewhere!
 

Denevius

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I didn't want to start a thread since this one exists. Anyone have any recent submissions tracking data on Talos Press, which is an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing? I tried Submissions Grinder, but Talos Press didn't come up for a search there, either. I sent something to them seven weeks ago and haven't heard a word. Are they a publisher that simply doesn't respond if not interested?

Thanks for any info!
 

JayGatsby101

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My timeline with this publisher:

Full request from Nicole on PitMad: 3/11/2015
Sent full: 3/12/2015
Receipt confirmed in personalized email: 3/12/2015
Nudge: 1/11/2016
Nudge w/Offer: 6/20/2016

There was no further communication from this publisher after the confirmed receipt. 80K Literary Fiction.
 

Denevius

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Good to know. Thanks for the reply. I'm thinking that since it's been 7 weeks without a word, it must be a pass. If anything changes, I'll update here.
 

EMaree

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hester

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Chiming in on this thread to say I read an awesome horror novel from this pub--FANTASTICLAND by Mike Bockoven. Basically Lord of the Flies at a Florida amusement park heavily damaged by a hurricane. I found the book at my local B & N and was really impressed...

EMaree, I can't wait for "Brooding YA Hero!"
 

Old Editor

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They are very nice folks. You can email any one of their editors and that editor will send you a complete list of editors and what they are looking for, along with their email addresses. They can be slow to respond to queries. I'd rate their contract as satisfactory,
 

eqb

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They are very nice folks. You can email any one of their editors and that editor will send you a complete list of editors and what they are looking for, along with their email addresses. They can be slow to respond to queries. I'd rate their contract as satisfactory,

I hope they've cleaned up their act in the last couple years. Their contact was pretty unfriendly to authors, and I heard reports about problems with payments and iffy royalty statements.
 

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Does anyone know what the typical response time is for Sky Pony, the YA arm of Sky Horse? I queried Katrina Enright in Sept and while I plan to give it a few more months for a response, I was wondering if anyone had any experience with responses. They are a bit unusual in that they request the entire MS as part of the query, but I guess this saves on making requests, but it will certainly lengthen response times.
 

thothguard51

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Asking for someone else. They say there is an open call for Talos publishing, a subsidiary of Skyhorse Publishing, which is a sub of Arcadia Publishing group. Talos is asking for the usual, plus of query letter, a 1 to 2 page synopsis, and a sample chapter or two. No problem so for until this...
Market analysis, including research on competitive titles
.
To me, competitive titles is subjective and its the publishers job to analysis competitive books before they buy the manuscript. Does this sound right to anyone? Does anyone know anything about Talos Publishing and their reputation...
 

Krista G.

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Asking for someone else. They say there is an open call for Talos publishing, a subsidiary of Skyhorse Publishing, which is a sub of Arcadia Publishing group. Talos is asking for the usual, plus of query letter, a 1 to 2 page synopsis, and a sample chapter or two. No problem so for until this...
Market analysis, including research on competitive titles
.
To me, competitive titles is subjective and its the publishers job to analysis competitive books before they buy the manuscript. Does this sound right to anyone? Does anyone know anything about Talos Publishing and their reputation...

I'm not familiar with Talos Press itself, but Skyhorse is a reasonably reputable publisher. I also don't think their asking for a market analysis is a huge red flag, though it's certainly more common for nonfiction than fiction. Yes, the publisher should be familiar with the market and what's selling (and what isn't), but since you know your book better than anyone, they want you to tell them which shelf it would go on and what books it's most like. BookScan can be helpful for figuring this out, since you want to mention comp titles that have sold well enough to catch a publisher's eye but also aren't the huge best-sellers (since calling your book the next, say, Harry Potter comes off as amateurish and almost certainly isn't true).

Hope that helps!
 

writera

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Interesting (new?) auto response received when you submit to Skyhorse (general submissions email):

"Thanks so much for sending your manuscript. We receive literally thousands of submissions and are behind on responding. In order to make a project viable we need an author to have some reasonable platform or a connection with an organization that can help with marketing and sales. We lose money when we sell fewer than 5,000 copies in most cases and, as a truly independent publisher up against billion-dollar conglomerate publishers, we have to be careful financially, even though we are willing and able to take other kinds of risks that others fear to take.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/skyhor...ny-lyons-books-heterodoxy-manuscript-d7b57992

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/17/books/skyhorse-robert-kennedy-jr-president.html

If you feel your submissions meets these requirements please send it to (editor name) at (editor email address)

Thanks,
Skyhorse Publishing"
 
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Brigid Barry

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Wow. Most places just say they expect an author to do their own marketing so do you have a social media following.
 

lizmonster

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Wow. Most places just say they expect an author to do their own marketing so do you have a social media following.

Yeah, it may be unfair of me, but to me their response says “We have no reasonable marketing and publicity contacts, and can do nothing for you.” They’ll toss the book out to sink or swim without any effort from them whatsoever.

5,000 copies isn’t nothing. Any book that could sell 5,000 copies with no publisher support could likely find a publisher with a better reach. I appreciate the financial issue, but this doesn’t seem like a winning strategy for them.

ETA: And again, I forget some publishers do non-fic. 🙂 My above comments apply to fiction; I have no idea of this is a reasonable or common expectation from a non-fic publisher.
 
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