Website,
Twitter
They're a new publishing company on the hunt for diverse books. Now, I love diverse books fiercely, but I'm not too impressed by their offering so far: high prices, and their nice cover images are spoiled by amateur font work that's unreadable at thumbnail size.
They seem to focus on selling on Smashwords rather than Amazon, and their book
King Snake seems to be
published already by an entirely different publisher, Brighton Publishing.
Some
confusing terminology in the description of this book -- says it's the 2nd description, and then says it's selling the first edition. Not sure if that means they're onto a second bulk print run, or if they're just referring to a
change in covers. I'm leaning towards the latter, since their books seem to be POD prices.
Their
'About Us' page has zero industry experience listed, which is the biggest concern by far. The
main contact Leila has a linked in page with no industry experience visible but shows a keen interest in disability studies.
"Debuting" (
their words) November 15, 2012, they have quite a small roster of authors so far. Three of their six books are by
the same author/editor, and a fourth is that editor teamed with another. Only two other authors are on their roster, and one appears to have been published elsewhere first.
Jess Faraday also
"moonlights as the mystery editor for Elm Books" -- I'm not sure why this is phrased this way or why she isn't openly an editor for them? So this means three of Elm Books publications are by one of their own editors. There's also
a submission call for Elm Books on her website that isn't on the actual Elm Books page.
Lastly, their Twitter is all broadcast outwards with no interaction with the community or other members. That's not particularly damning, since they have other things to focus on, but it's worth noting.
Elm Books appears to be a two-woman team with Jessica Faraday as Editor and Leila Monaghan as Publisher. I'd give them a few years to find their feet. They definitely show promise and have good aims, but at this stage they're not providing advances, only
'shares of royalties'.