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CoolDudes Publishing

TuckerMcCallahan

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This publishing house has supposedly just launched though the website claims they've been "around" since 2009. I'm not sure what they've been doing for six years, since as far as I can tell there are only two books for sale on their site. Does anyone have more info about these people or what this company is about? Are they actually a publisher or are they a co-op? The website left me confused on many details, but that could be because they're based out of South Africa and I'm American.

Curious...

Tux
 

KimJo

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Bumping this in light of a discussion of the company on Facebook. I've given the link to this thread to the owner of CoolDudes, and hope he will chime in here to give people a better idea of who's behind this company.
 

Filigree

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Silver Publishing's owner ran off to South Africa, from what I hear. Cool Dudes is a completely different company. I'd love to hear from them.

Here's the thing: AW regularly gets bashed for being nasty to new writers, agents, publishers, etc. In six years of reading here, I'd have to say that we tend to be cautious. It's merited. I've been astonished by the number of authorial meltdowns, forensic dissection of shady/clueless publishers, and downward spirals witnessed on AW forums, especially this area.

But new pubs start, or old ones revive, and I'm always happy to see good ones flourish. Active analysis is simply a part of business.
 

BenPanced

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There's a little warning siren going off in the back of my mind:
We want to tap into the M/M market and expand it using our affiliate editors, beta readers, reviewers and promotional staff. We don’t ask for a penny upfront, however, we do offer contracts and deduct a small percentage of 40% from your royalties for the services we offer.

Bear in mind that the retailer takes a cut as well. So the royalty figure will be whatever percent AFTER the retailer/distributor takes a cut.
Can't find anything about these services they offer, though.

Oh. Wait. Here we go:
We are an online website selling e-books. We have a graphic design studio and editing services. All for the Writer.
 
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Maryn

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They are an e-publisher but want a cut of my royalties for providing cover art and edits? No. Just no. That's part of the publisher's obligation.

Maryn, drawing a line through their name
 

veinglory

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That language is super muddled but I think they are saying they take 40% of net receipts (what is paid by Amazon, for example). Those who segue from self publishing often have the bad habit of calling net receipts "royalties".
 

BenPanced

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Maryn, drawing a line through their name
Same here. I was seriously considering them until I dug a little deeper; the little warning siren has bloomed into a full-blown klaxon and is giving me Excedrin Headache #96.
 
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Louis Harris

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Cool Dudes Publishing

Hi Folks

I am the CEE (owner) of CoolDudes Publishing. (CDP) My name is Louis J Harris. I take note of the concerns expressed here and allow me the chance to reply. Tucker may not be aware of it, but we are friends on another site. Okay, so here's the wrap:

CDP began as an idea in 2009, starting life as a mobile book dealer selling books at markets and fairs and outside supermarkets as Cooldudes Books. Since then, it has grown by leaps and bounds to who we are today. Now a publisher of m/m fiction. We offer professional services expected by today's authors. True, we are based in Germiston South Africa, we are fully transparent. Our staff are based all over the world. Naturally, an African publisher might upset the skeptics, but this is a free democratic country, and we want Africa to have a gay voice too. Anyone is free to join our online meetings as an observer.

At a meeting the other day with staff I suggested we change the royalty base from Net to list price royalties. Anyone is welcome to get a transcript of that meeting.

One thing I will say is that we treat each author as a human and not a contract number. CDP is run by humans for humans and the contract is totally negotiable within reason.

I see a comment here that we take royalties based on a cover the author has provided. The person who commented on this is totally wrong. We do not. We take our share of royalties, yes, it's the same with any other publisher.

You may contact me to ask any question.

[email protected]
+27837849658
 
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Louis Harris

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That language is super muddled but I think they are saying they take 40% of net receipts (what is paid by Amazon, for example). Those who segue from self publishing often have the bad habit of calling net receipts "royalties".

In fact just at the last company meeting I suggested we need to offer royalties from the Listed selling price and not nett. You are welcome to see that transcript.

Louis J Harris
 

TuckerMcCallahan

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Tucker may not be aware of it, but we are friends on another site.

Tucker is aware that we're both members at Gay Authors.org, and that when you were acting as an agent for another writer, you approached me about publishing that author's book. I directed you to my publisher's submission guidelines. I'm concerned, and my little red warning light is going off, because in the last year you've represented yourself as an author, an agent, and now a publisher.

Mr. Harris did send me personal email which included the following statement regarding the history of the publishing company and why he chose to form it:

"I've branched into publishing on the internet and the Books side is now closed. I actually went into publishing to publish Dennis's book The Island, and thought, 'Ah well, I might as well take on other authors too.'"

I'll let that statement speak for itself.
 

veinglory

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In fact just at the last company meeting I suggested we need to offer royalties from the Listed selling price and not nett. You are welcome to see that transcript.

Louis J Harris

I don't think you understood what I wrote. it has nothing to do with cover versus net which is an issue I am personally indifferent about so long as the net is of distributor fees only. People are upset you state you are taking part of the royalties. You are not in fact taking a share of "royalties" and misusing the term makes you look bad.

What you as the publisher pay the authors is royalties and no good publisher should claim and share of that amount (if you did the stated royalty rate would be made ambiguous as the author is not getting it all). What the distributor pays you is *not* royalties, it is receipts. The power of using right versus wrong terms is apparent in this thread.
 
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TuckerMcCallahan

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I don't think you understood what I wrote. it has nothing to do with cover versus net which is an issue I am personally indifferent about so long as the net is of distributor fees only. People are upset you state you are taking part of the royalties. You are not in fact taking a share of "royalties" and misusing the term makes you look bad.

What you as the publisher pay the authors is royalties and no good publisher should claim and share of that amount (if you did the stated royalty rate would be made ambiguous as the author is not getting it all). What the distributor pays you is *not* royalties, it is receipts. The power of using right versus wrong terms is apparent in this thread.

Thank you, Veinglory.

I'm not sure if the issue is one of language (since I don't know if English is Mr. Harris's first language or not) or if, as I suspect, the issue is lack of experience in publishing. But I would encourage anyone considering starting their own publishing company (or any writer thinking about submitting to a new publishing company) to read the excellent article posted here on AW entitled "Why Publishers Fail."

When selecting any publisher, in my opinion the best question to ask first is, "What can this publisher do for me that I cannot do for myself, and is it worth the price they're charging?"

Cheers,
Tux
 

thothguard51

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A publisher should not be charging the author any price to publish an authors work, period...
 

dascmom

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Louis J Harris refuses to pay me or provide me with my royalty information. He owes me money from last year, and agreed to this fact in a PayPal statement in which he states that he has not paid me the entire amount that he owes me. He will no longer reply to my messages on Facebook private messenger or to my emails. I have pleaded with him to pay me. He has provided me with no reason for not paying me. I am very upset about this situation. I would strongly recommend not submitting to this publisher.
 

dascmom

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I have received the rights to my books back after writing a letter to CoolDudes stating that they had had breached our contracts. I am left quite upset over the public nature of our disagreement and my general loss in faith.
 

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Hi all, for those of you in this thread, I'd suggest stay away from Cool Dudes as they are experiencing difficulties and haven't paid royalties or honoured their contracts. I've put in a formal complaint to the SA consumer authorities and Jeff Bezos at Amazon. Hope this helps clarify things. Search #CoolDudes on Facebook, you'll see a lot of activity about them.
 

Round Two

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I've put in a formal complaint to the SA consumer authorities and Jeff Bezos at Amazon. Hope this helps clarify things. Search #CoolDudes on Facebook, you'll see a lot of activity about them.

Sorry there's drama going on, but what do you think Amazon (and especially Jeff Bezos) is going to do about it?
 

Polenth

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Search #CoolDudes on Facebook, you'll see a lot of activity about them.

Unfortunately, the main results for #CoolDudes on Facebook and Twitter are people who think they're really cool dudes (unrelated to the publisher). You may be seeing something different due to following people involved.
 

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I've just had an email come through about this.

I'm part of a charity anthology that was published through Cool Dudes, on behalf of the Being Me Campaign. Supposedly reports and paying of royalties aren't being sent out from the publisher to the charity. Return of rights are being sought through a breach of a contract. Amazon has been contacted on the grounds of it being a charity anthology and stopping further sales, as they're not reportedly reaching the registered charity.

I'd love to hear from the publisher on this.
 
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Fallen

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Just updating on the charity anthology with this publisher:

The publisher has been served official notification of a contract breach, under non-payment of royalties to the registered charity: Being Me. Authors have taken rights back, and an edict has been signed and sent to Amazon to have the anthology removed. There is no communication at all from the publisher at this point.

But I'd still love to hear from them on this.