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Silver Rose Publishing

brainstorm77

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I am always wary about any publisher that looks to be geared more towards authors than readers.
 

PVish

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Uh-oh. "Making Author's Dreams Come True" right on the main page.

At least it's only one author. You don't suppose they meant "Making Authors' Dreams Come True," do you? If it's just one, I wonder which of the five current authors it is.

ETA: I wonder if they have something against commas. A few pages I looked at had no commas whatsoever—and some were badly needed.
 
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aleighrose

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They have grammatical errors on their site.
Nowhere do they say what genre they publish (although their current books appear to be romance or erotica).
There's no mention of what kind of royalties they offer.
They hint that marketing may be left to the author to perform via social media.
Their site isn't the most professional-looking thing that I've seen.

I'd wait a few years and see if they improve before submitting anything to them.
 
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Marian Perera

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If they proofread their own website at all, they did a poor job of it.

We are a teaching publisher and believe in broadening our author’s skills .

I shudder to imagine someone being taught by them.

This is the point when your manuscript will start to get polished ready for publish.

We will also help design a cover for your book. If you want to publish in paperback a full wrap will be produced for you on request. You are also welcome to design your own cover and under discussion will be used for you novel.

As the business grows all our Authors will have an integral role in its development with an opportunity to become a mentor to new Authors.

No, just... no.

What do you have to lose?

If ever they ask that, they don't know enough about the business to be operating in it. Avoid.
 

J.B.Kantt

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Offer

Thank you for all the replies! :)

I actually queried Silver Rose Publishing before posting in this forum. Today, they offered to work with me on my book.

Even though their website isn't perfect, I've done additional research on their current authors, and I'm excited to work with them.

I'll let you all know how it goes. :)
 

Unimportant

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I hope it all goes well for you, JB. But, unless you have a lot of expertise in the area, please do get someone(s) to help you look over their contract before you sign anything.
 

J.B.Kantt

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I hope it all goes well for you, JB. But, unless you have a lot of expertise in the area, please do get someone(s) to help you look over their contract before you sign anything.

I will have someone look their contract over. Thank you, Unimportant :)
 

PVish

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According to their website, they "are now accepting submissions for romance/etotica/paranormal."

Etotica? I wonder if they mean "erotica"? Or is "etotica" a new genre that I haven't heard of.
 

Old Hack

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I will have someone look their contract over. Thank you, Unimportant :)

Make sure that whoever looks over it for you is experienced in checking out publishing contracts.

There have been instances where lawyers who were checking out contracts from really dodgy vanity publishers gave them the ok, because there was nothing illegal in them--but that didn't make them good contracts.

Based on what I've seen of this publisher I would not sign with them.
 

aliceshortcake

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The website is registered to Ellena Jennings of Swadlincote (http://who.is/whois/silverrosepublishing.com/), who has to be the Derbyshire-based Silver Rose author E I Jennings; the company started out as a self-publishing venture.

You do not need to format your manuscript but please check for spellings and basic mistakes.

I suspect this means that they don't provide any real editing. That's certainly the impression I get from the clunky prose and punctuation abuse with which E I Jennings' own books are riddled.

Please note we do not charge our authors nor do we offer retainers.
http://silverrosepublishing.com/page13.html

Retainers? Do they mean advances? J.B., are you really sure you want to publish with these people?
 
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J.B.Kantt

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You all have brought up some really important points that are weighing heavily on my decision. I am definitely going to think about it before I sign anything. Thank you all again.
 

Katrina S. Forest

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You all have brought up some really important points that are weighing heavily on my decision. I am definitely going to think about it before I sign anything. Thank you all again.

Based on your blog post, I know you're over the moon about this yes (and a "yes" from another new publisher, I gather). But can I put on my old person hat for a second?

When I was in middle school, I entered a poetry contest and got an offer to publish my poem. I was insanely happy. I felt exactly what you're describing. Turned out, the publisher was saying yes to anyone who would send a piece of paper with words on it their way. I felt crushed. My "accomplishment" wasn't what I thought it was.

It was about ten more years before I got a real sale -- one for a short story. A legitimate check from a magazine that I could actually go to the store and buy a copy of. It was just as awesome a feeling as I got for that contest, only this time, the feeling stayed.

I know ten years sounds like forever. I hope the wait for you is much shorter. But I don't think this yes is the groundbreaking moment it feels like. Anyone can call themselves a publisher. Anyone can send you a nice, official-sounding letter, and plop your stuff on Lulu or CreateSpace. And if that really is all this publisher is doing, you're not going to feel that excitement for very long. In fact, you may very well start to wonder if you could've done a better job on your own.

Also, something else to consider, I'm not sure how young you actually are, but you may or may not be legally allowed to sign the contract on your own.

As I said, old person advice I know. But hey, I know how to use the internet. That counts for something, right? :)
 

shadowwalker

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The website is registered to Ellena Jennings of Swadlincote (http://who.is/whois/silverrosepublishing.com/), who has to be the Derbyshire-based Silver Rose author E I Jennings; the company started out as a self-publishing venture.

I'm always wary of publishing companies started by people who haven't worked in trade publishing. It's one thing to self-publish - quite another to deal with other people's work, particularly if they are that careless with their own website. I also frowned at the "participation in the company" and "teaching publisher" bits. What are they actually going to do that a self-publisher couldn't do for themselves - other than have a "real" publisher's name on the book?
 

Filigree

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Another older person speaking: validation is wonderful. As writers, many of us struggle in isolation and self-doubt about our work. It's an addictive feeling to have another person's approval.

But consider the quality and utility of that approval, before basing future decisions on it. In any such business interaction, ask yourself if this person or company is a capable judge for your work. Do they have their own reasons for building you up, that might not be to your ultimate benefit? What do they get out of it? What do you get out of it?

This really is like a dance: you don't have to tango with everyone who asks. Sending a mms is not your unbreakable promise that you'll accept the first or any offer. I've dropped several publishers from my go-to list in between sending queries and getting answers, because I found new info about them.
 

Old Hack

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There are lots of things that can go wrong when a book is published and if the publisher is inexperienced, some of those things are almost guaranteed to go wrong.

We can tell from Silver's website that the editing and design is likely to be poor. That's going to put readers off if they ever find your book. Chances are that few people will see it, though, because Silver is unlikely to have proper distribution for its print editions (if it produces these--I can't remember), so your book won't get into bookshops; and it's unlikely to have a good presence online, either, as it doesn't seem to have much marketing leverage, or many followers or fans.

So it's possible--probable, perhaps--that your book will be poorly produced, won't find its way to your potential readers, and won't sell. In that case, what's the point of signing with this publisher? If you want to see it for sale but this is the only offer you've had, you might well be better off self publishing it. That way you can tweak and refine things to better reach and please your potential readers, and you'll earn more money per sale, too.

There is one other big reason for avoiding new, inexperienced publishers.

When these publishers fail--and many do--they fail because they've not behaved in a professional, business-like manner, and because they don't know enough about how publishing works to make a go of their business. They tend to continue that lack of professional behaviour through to the closure of their businesses, and rather than winding it up properly they just cut off communications and disappear.

This means that they don't revert rights back to their authors. And if they close but still hold the rights to your book, you will be unable to offer it elsewhere or self-publish it. It will be lost to you, probably forever.

And that's the big risk that writers take when they sign with these self-publishers-turned-trade-publishers, or with publishers run by people with no experience in publishing.

I don't think it's a risk worth taking. You might feel differently.
 

aliceshortcake

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There have been a few alterations to the wording of Silver Rose's website since the company was mentioned on AW - I'm relieved to see that they've removed an odd reference to their authors acting as 'mentors' to other authors - but there are still problems:

Contracts run year to year and participation in the company is expected.

I'd want to know exactly what they mean by contracts running 'year to year'. And by 'participation in the company' I think they mean 'participation in marketing your book', which isn't quite the same thing.

As a teaching publisher we offer to develop our author's skills in tense, grammar, marketing etc. making YOU a part of Silver Rose.
http://silverrosepublishing.com/page13.html

Lucky (single) author! But what the hell is a 'teaching publisher'? It isn't a publisher's job to teach authors the basics of their craft. And do commercially published authors think of themselves as 'part of' Bloomsbury, Penguin etc? A publisher shouldn't be a family of which the author is a part, it should be a business dedicated to selling books. But Silver Rose probably thinks of commercial publishers as soulless corporations dedicated to crushing an author's individuality:

Silver Rose Publishing
Publisher info
We are a new Publishing House based in the UK offering digital and Print on Demand services. Unlike most publishers we aim to be flexible and supportive to all our Authors.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ejennings

A Google search brought up a couple of what appear to be discarded pages of the Silver Rose website that didn't get deleted. What little has survived is intriguing:

Silver Rose Publishing - About Us
silverrosepublishing.co.uk/aboutus.html
You do not need a polished manuscript to submit to us, however it does need to be finished. If we believe the manuscript has promise you will be assigned a ...

Presumably it went on to say that the writer would be assigned an editor. Why is there no mention of editing on the existing website? The fact that they 'offer' to teach the author about grammar, tense etc. suggests to me that this may be an optional extra the author has to pay for.

Ellena Jennings is also the founder of Midnight Book Tours and Indie Brits:

http://midnighttours.blogspot.co.uk/p/welcome.html
http://indiebrits.blogspot.co.uk/
 

Old Hack

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A Google search brought up a couple of what appear to be discarded pages of the Silver Rose website that didn't get deleted. What little has survived is intriguing:http://indiebrits.blogspot.co.uk/

I copied the text you quoted and put it into Google, and found this page.

When I go to it I get a page with a few headers showing, in a large red font, but no body copy. When I highlight the page that body copy is revealed:

Home Books Authors About Us Contact Us Supporting Indies

You do not need a polished manuscript to submit to us, however it does need to be finished. If we believe the manuscript has promise you will be assigned a mentor to help guide you through the full process and act as a discussion point for any suggested changes.

You are not alone!

Editing is not as scary as what you may think. Every Author goes through some sort of editing process and our Editors are here to help. Before the manuscript is formatted several edits will take place. Your mentor will guide you through the process and help still those nerves. This is the point when your manuscript will start to get polished ready for publish.

Once editing has been completed its time for our team to start formatting your manuscript into digital and print ready files. You can sit back and wait for us to do this for you.

We will also help design a cover for your book. If you want to publish in paperback a full wrap will be produced for you on request. You are also welcome to design your own cover and under discussion will be used for you novel.

Once everything is done and finalised you will receive a proof copy (either digital or print) before any files are submitted for publish. Once approved your novel is finally ready to be published and managed by us.

We can offer digital publishing with :

Amazon, Kobo, Nook, WHSmith, Barnes & Noble, iBooks etc.

Paperback publishing with:

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones (on extended license) and many more.

But we don’t stop there!

Publishing is only the beginning.

Your mentor can also help you set up Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and even a webpage to help market you as an Author and get the publicity you deserve.



We can also offer additional design help for swag and posters.

Midnight Book Tours is also a promotion company owned in conjunction with Silver Rose Publishing.

Through them we will organise Cover Reveals, Release Days, Book Blitz's and many more online activities.

What do you get?

Your manuscript published on multi-platforms.

We offer royalties to all our Authors on both Digital and Paper prints internationally.

You remain the copyright holder for all your works, only giving us exclusive rights to publish on a year to year contract.

Help and guidance with a personal mentor.

As the business grows all our Authors will have an integral role in its development with an opportunity to become a mentor to new Authors.



How do we do it?



Gone are the days when a Publisher had to print a massive run and store all the unsold copies in a warehouse. Thanks to a digital revolution and new Print on Demand services we can now publish in a much more cost efficient way and get manuscripts printed quicker.

Ebooks are now read by more people than ever thanks to tablets and handheld devices. The market is strong and we believe we can use this to help first time Authors and those that need a little more help.

Unlike most Publishing Companies springing up in the US we are one of the few available in the UK.

As we have contracts with major Print on Demand companies in the UK and US we can now offer a printing service that has distribution links to a variety of retailers internationally.



What do you have to lose?

Contact us now



[email protected]

Why Us?

We are a new Publishing House based in the UK offering digital and Print on Demand services. Unlike most publishers we aim to be flexible and supportive to all our authors.



We do not charge for you to publish nor do we pay retainer fees.
 

aliceshortcake

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Thanks for that, Old Hack. The highlighting thing would never have occurred to me!
 

Unimportant

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As James Macdonald wisely says, "A manuscript that is publishable by one press is publishable by many". So, while an acceptance letter is very exciting indeed, it should immediately raise in the author's mind the question of "Gosh, could I do even better with this book?" Particularly if the acceptance letter comes from a press that isn't the perfect fit for the author.

I'm sure Silver Rose is the perfect fit for some authors....but in my cynical opinion, those authors are likely to be limited to The Person Who Owns The Press.
 

CaoPaux

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You all have brought up some really important points that are weighing heavily on my decision. I am definitely going to think about it before I sign anything. Thank you all again.

I see your book came out May '15. How're sales, etc?
 

brainstorm77

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Buy links on the site would not work for me.