Dog-Eared Press

They're probably not related, but that's an unfortunate similarity to a vanity press called Dog Ear Press. This one comes across as very inexperienced.

Taran said:

e.g. We commit to offering a quick response—your manuscript will never go onto a so-called "slush pile" and languish for months before it is even looked at. You deserve respect, and if we don't think that your manuscript is a good fit, we'll let you know in short order.

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I wonder if that story will hold up if they get 100 or so stories at the same time that are never going to sell anyway? *Starts gathering people*

Filigree said:

This one comes across as very inexperienced.

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I thought that too and I know squat to almost nothing about the business side. Kind of tells me a lot actually.

I wish them well. However, with a site geared towards authors, not readers, and with them seemingly not understanding just how poor the quality of submissions is in the average slush pile, I will certainly want to wait a few years before submitting.

From the bios of the principals, it sounds like they mean well and genuinely love their genre. But I'm not sure they are prepared for the actual business. Indigogo funding? How well is that going to work? I'd hope they'd have another source of capital lined up.

mrsmig said:

. . . I'm wondering how in the world they'll last, with a 75/25 royalty split (in favor of the author) along with the proposed advance.
. . .

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Not sure why that would be an issue, as an advance is an advance against anticipated royalties, not an additional payment. They would not pay another dime until the advance was earned out (and typically, advances are never earned out). But if they are so strapped for funds that they have to do a fund-raising campaign to get started, it might be a long haul for them before they publish anything.

That said, such a generous split will be challenging for the publisher, IMHO.

But then: ". . . our royalty arrangement is set at 75% for the writer, and 25% for us." Mmmm . . . 75% and 25% of WHAT?

--Ken

I would guess net, and a net with what excluded?

From the point of view of a small press surfing writer, I can only say the following: I give a thumbs up to outfits who clearly state accepted wordcounts; shrug when they simply say "novels" or "novellas"; grind my teeth when they say nothing and I have to check book by book the lengths they publish; and leave the website in disgust in cases like this one. ...And then it turns out the information is at the bottom of the home page, not in the guidelines. Not good way to make life easier for the potential writer.

*EDIT* mentioning simultaneous and multiple submission policies is also a way to make things less foggy.

For the record: "We are considering novels, short stories, collections of short stories, and novellas." Possibly this means they consider novelettes as well, just didn't think of mentioning them explicitly.

On the other hand--double thumbs up for explicitly stating "you write--we market". This and this alone is what will help many talented rising authors choose an indie publisher instead of self-publishing--when someone promises to take over the hassle of marketing. Otherwise what's the point? So congratulations on this attempt to be in step with the times. 2014 is not 2010 or even 2012 and today self-publishing makes more sense than dealing with a new small epub, unless the new small epub promises to take over everything, leaving you to write.

Of course, time will tell if they really can promote, but before that--mention wordcounts in the correct places, people! Don't just say 'we want your stuff' in the guidelines...

Taran said:

Some of the stuff on their page strikes me as a tad bit naive.

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No kidding. This is what they do when they receive a manuscript:

Copies of your manuscript are forwarded to our editorial team. Each member of that team will give it a thorough read, and then prepare an evaluation. Once this is complete, the editors will share their findings with one another, and a response will be sent back to you with one of four possible outcomes:

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If this is actually the case, they'll be wasting a lot of time and effort. I don't think they fully realize the size or nature of a slush pile. This may be part of their effort to treat all authors submitting to them with respect and dignity, but it doesn't strike me as the most effective use of an editor's time.

They both teach at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, Canada. I'm wondering if they're getting any government money to start this up, under a small business deal. They do seem to have a pretty diverse set of courses available, including different flavours of writing, and they do offer a course where you can study the evolution of science fiction writing. If they're still around in a few months, I might try them with something I'm willing to lose, just as a show of support.

Well, that didn't last long.