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Fantastic Books Publishing

Torgo

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I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge or dealings with them? A google search for them turned up very little. According to their site they charge a reading fee, though it is a small one.
http://www.fantasticbookspublishing.com/guidelines/

Any info would be much appreciated -- thanks in advance!

I don't have any knowledge of them beyond what I can see on the website. It looks like the principals don't have much publishing experience.

Covers are not terribly good; you have to pay a reading fee; royalties are based on profits; publicity and marketing support appears to need to be paid for; and the website has statements like:

"In our business you will hear the view that a publisher’s job is to sit on the profits and watch authors push their own books out to market. This has, unfortunately, been true of some traditional publishers in the past."

- which I find aggravating.

In short, though it doesn't look awful, this wouldn't be anywhere near the top of my list if I were looking for a publisher.
 

Marian Perera

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Any reading fee is a red flag for me. They publish fiction, non-fiction, short stories, poetry - another red flag, and it looks like they sell certain services as well.

...we also provide specific services to authors under our publicity and marketing packages.
Checked who's behind the company. This does not fill me with confidence.

Daniel, our CEO and head of our editorial team, hails from Sheffield in Yorkshire. He is genuinely passionate about writing
I'm passionate about writing too. This doesn't qualify me to publish other people's manuscripts.

and wanted to create a positive, transparent publishing experience to help others who share his passion. Through his work as a marketing executive in Thailand and as a literary agent and promotions manager in the UK
I plugged "Daniel Grubb literary agent" into Google. Nothing came back, apart from his Linked In profile, Kickstarter, etc.

I suspect he's as successful a literary agent as he is a publisher.

Daniel has been building the skills to build a successful publishing house. He also has experience in a variety of different fields including horticulture, on-shore gas extraction, animal husbandry, astronomy, fundraising and aerospace engineering.
What any of this has to do with publishing is unclear.
 

Jakobkraft

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Any reading fee is a red flag for me. They publish fiction, non-fiction, short stories, poetry - another red flag, and it looks like they sell certain services as well.

Checked who's behind the company. This does not fill me with confidence.

I'm passionate about writing too. This doesn't qualify me to publish other people's manuscripts.

I plugged "Daniel Grubb literary agent" into Google. Nothing came back, apart from his Linked In profile, Kickstarter, etc.

I suspect he's as successful a literary agent as he is a publisher.

What any of this has to do with publishing is unclear.

That's what I figured -- thank you!
 

aliceshortcake

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I'm puzzled by the fact that FBP's shop includes Playing For Keeps by self-pubbed "New York Times best-selling author" R L Mathewson. It appeared under her own imprint Rerum Books in 2011 and I couldn't find any connection between Mathewson and FBP.
 

Torgo

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I'm puzzled by the fact that FBP's shop includes Playing For Keeps by self-pubbed "New York Times best-selling author" R L Mathewson. It appeared under her own imprint Rerum Books in 2011 and I couldn't find any connection between Mathewson and FBP.

FBP appear to offer self-publishing services for those who wish to publish under their own imprint, so I suspect that's what's happened there.

Although:

8. Can you publish my book under my own imprint? And if so, will I get royalties?

We will discuss standard self-publishing deals but have not to date gone down that route. The way this would work is that you would pay us to produce the book under your own imprint. The question of royalties would not arise because our involvement would cease once the books were created and shipped to you.

EDIT: Oh: also, because the FBP store on the website is closed, the Amazon store link is in fact a link to an Amazon search page for "Fantastic books publishing" or the like; knowing what Amazon searches are like, I don't have much confidence it captures all and only FBP books. So actually, that's more likely.
 
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