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Future House Publishing

celoise

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Anyone know anything about them? They are looking for YA and MG scifi on their #MSWL. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with them.
 

DanielaTorre

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"Future House Publishing was founded in 2012 by Adam Glendon Sidwell when Adam published his book Evertaster. After cracking open the publishing world Future House Publishing is rolling out with a suite of YA, Middle Grade, and Picture books in 2015 from an exciting lineup of debut authors."

The company does business out of Utah.

They recently published the book "Marrow" which is on #1 in digital books sales in the superhero category. It's available in print as well. I don't see anything in Barnes & Noble though, except for the founder's own books.

Seem legit, but time will tell.
 

CheG

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I never heard back from them so I'm assuming it's a rejection... So no, no publishing experience with t hem...
 

Kazul9

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Hey! Just wanted to give you guys a heads-up: I got to the contract phase with this publisher. They want permission to do essentially anything without the author's consent, have an option clause that gives them first rights to whatever you write next, and their royalty rates are low for a small press -- and that was what I noticed. I was really awed by these guys' marketing skill, and the people I talked to were super nice, but this contract wasn't sitting okay with me. They were willing to negotiate some of it, but not everything. I didn't continue with the negotiations because it's not my personal preference to work with a publisher that wants all those things in the contract. Just giving you guys a heads up so you can decide if this sort of contract is something you'd want.
 

HilarySierpinski

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Kazul9, thank you for posting! I've been looking into this house and was considering submitting to them. I am curious and was wondering if you could elaborate on the "do essentially anything without the author's consent" part of the contract without necessarily giving specifics. I ask because I've worked for an independent publishing house and know from experience that beyond editorial, the author usually isn't all that involved in the rest of the publishing process. Can you give me an idea of what it was you were looking to be more involved with? Was it cover design? The house I was at was unusual in that they allowed the author feedback on cover design. I know some small houses do, but not all and I know the larger houses don't as standard practice. Are you talking about sub-rights? Again, consent to sell subsidiary rights is usually part of the deal and not something the author is directly involved with.

Right to first refusal of whatever you write next is also pretty standard though sometimes negotiable and certainly nothing that would warrant P&E or Writer Beware to be notified. Same goes for royalty rates, which run the gamut at indie and small presses. Again, you might not have been happy with what they were offering but I am curious why you thought to send the contract to sites that essentially flag scammers. Did they ask for any money upfront?

Their cover designs are above par and they appear to have very solid distribution and social media reach. Just not the type of house you'd expect to concern Writers Beware with at first glance.
 
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Kazul9

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Well, considering they're up on Writer' Beware now from the bits of the contract I quoted to them (Future House Publishing: Not Recommended. Grabby contract and low royalty rates. A publisher.) I'd say it's definitely enough to be wary of!

Their royalties are essentially large publishing house low from my research, which was agreed upon above.

The contract wants control of everything (down to editing, so they can overrule you on whatever they want because they own the book more than you do through the contract). I know you do have a lot more more input on the cover and general process of publishing with smaller publishers, but something tells me that would not be the case with this house. And it is very small.

Also, such a broad and restrictive option clause from what I've researched and talking to published writers about is not very normal, especially from such a small press.

And these were just the bigger things that I caught. I don't know what else is hiding in the details, which is one of the reasons I walked away from negotiating. Like I said, I was impressed with their marketing and approach, too. But a press that doesn't seem to invest or trust in their authors isn't for me, at least.
 
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Richard White

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Actually, what concerns me more is when someone who has no history at AW suddenly shows up to defend a publisher.

That's when the ol' spidey senses start tingling. We seem to have gone down this road more than once since I started hanging out here in 05.
 

eqb

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Hi, Hilary and welcome to AW.

My experience with large and small publishers is somewhat different from yours.

Again, consent to sell subsidiary rights is usually part of the deal and not something the author is directly involved with.

Only if the publisher keeps those rights. But a smaller publisher should be open to ceding those rights, since they don't generally have the resources to exercise them.

Right to first refusal of whatever you write next is also pretty standard though sometimes negotiable

Not quite. Right of first refusal is often included in the contract, but most publishers will negotiate. All my contracts specify a narrow definition of what the option clause covers. (As in, "Next book in the series, or if not that, then Next Epic Fantasy.")

Their cover designs are above par and they appear to have very solid distribution and social media reach. Just not the type of house you'd expect to concern Writers Beware with at first glance.

*shrug* Apparently the contract had enough red flags that it warranted a warning.

ETA: Just saw the comment about the publisher overruling the author on edits. No. Just no. The publisher of course can refuse the book, but they most definitely should not have the right to change the text without the author's consent.
 
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Richard White

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ETA: Just saw the comment about the publisher overruling the author on edits. No. Just no. The publisher of course can refuse the book, but they most definitely should not have the right to change the text without the author's consent.

The only time I've ever encountered that was doing work-for-hire. Sometimes there are changes you have to make to fit a house style or if the licensing people say, "Our character wouldn't say this, or do that." Sometimes they may give you the option to make the changes, sometimes they may just go ahead and make the changes and note them when you get the galleys. You always have the option to have your name taken off the book, but they may not let you withdraw the book completely -- a lot of times it comes down to "How bad do I want to get paid and does it REALLY make a difference?"
 

HilarySierpinski

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Lol, I have no connection to the publisher and I use my whole first and last name, usually a sign there's nothing to hide. Google me. I've liked them on Facebook and followed them on twitter, that's it. I'm not new to the game (I've been lurking here for a decade and am a global moderator on the SCBWI boards). I'm very cautious about publishers small and large and was merely asking if there was more to it than meets the eye. I've seen a lot of contracts in my days and nothing in the original post appeared beware worthy imho, that's all! I will definitely check out the P&E link and I really appreciate your follow up post, Kazul9. Nothing nefarious here, people. Just a writer like the rest of you doing my due diligence before submitting.
 
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Daniel_R

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One thing that struck me as a little weird is their submissions page,
http://www.futurehousepublishing.com/submissions/

If you scroll down the the bottom they have a file upload system where they ask 'Please attach your finished manuscript here' with an option to upload a word file. I'm not exactly a veteran querier, but of all the agent submission guidelines I've seen I've never seen a upload your full manuscript with the query box. Especially as a docx file (Those are easy to embed viruses in). Six months ago i probably would have submitted without thinking much more about it, and maybe I'm just being paranoid but it seems really odd to have an agency like that, who don't even seem to have any specific agents. Does anyone with some experience know if this is normal or legit. It just seems really different from many of the other queries I've sent and that set off a few alarm bells.
 

Daniel_R

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Ohhhh... I see, I guess that didn't click with me. Thanks for the explanation. :)
 

DanielRand

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Hey Daniel, this is a publisher. Not an agency.

Not strictly true. I can't reveal my identity because they'd crucify me, but suffice to say, I've had dealings with these amateurs earlier this year. You don't have to believe me, and obviously there's going to be an element of faith when it comes to anonymous forum posting, so believe me or not, but this is what happened.

I sent them my MS. They replied saying, "Wow! Fantastic! Is it free for us to publish because we want it right now!" Now, me, I'm sort of a veteran when it comes to publishing. I know how money hungry people work. There was no trepidation, they just wanted the MS now. Now, obviously, that could be enthusiasm, but once bitten and all...

So I started a discourse with them with a bunch of questions. What's the arrangement here? (Since they're an agency and publisher rolled into one) What about contracts? What about editing? Who owns what? They more or less said, "no no, don't worry about that, we're friends, aren't we?" Hm. Big hm.

They sent me a contract and this thing is lethal. Absolutely lethal. I consulted law professionals and they said to not sign it. It would wrap up my intellectual property, and they'd own any and all future work I do. They'd also be able to edit my work in any way they want and I'd have zero say in how it's presented or where it went. They'd own all the rights, book, movie and all future media. They would have such a monopoly over my work, it was almost hard to believe they wrote this thing with a straight face.

So, I obviously say, 'no, we need to sort this out,' to which they reply, 'well, this is all fine, mate. Go email these people and see what they say. They will be unbias.' So they gave me the email addresses to two people, both agents, and told me to get on with it.

Those people, it emerged, were personal friends of the CEO. Unbias, they said! Unbias!

Eventually, it all broke down. I said to them that I wanted the contract explained through and through to which they said, 'you can have ten minutes with the CEO over Skype.' TEN MINUTES to go over a whole contract, to which I replied, 'I'd rather you spent time to write an email instead of rushing through a contract,' and they said, more or less, 'you're no good anyway,' and dropped me. All I wanted was a fair contract. I understand that the CEO might've been busy and ten minutes is all he can spare, but I'm a potential client. I'm someone who will bring money to their company. Ten minutes is an insult.

Future House Publishing are amateurs. It's ran by one guy who worked on VFX for a while and now, after publishing a book, thinks that he knows the industry. They use really special language like, 'our book is a best seller on Amazon!' when they neglect to tell you that it's a best seller in a really niche market like, mermaids or something. It's ridiculous.

Do not go with them. Ignore them. Don't give them anything. With any luck, they'll be dead within a couple of years and they can go back to their day jobs.
 

Vixin

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Hmmmm. Been eight months since this thread has been posted in. Wonder if things have changed. Met their managing editor at a conference and pitched, they liked it and requested a sample. Asked them a ton of questions based on stuff in this thread, their own about page, and comments from various social media sites. I decided to pitch them anyway about a week ago, and today they requested the full MS. I sent it, my logic being if they don't like it, they don't make an offer, there's no harm. If they do like it and send a contract, I can pore over it with knowledge of their previous contracts and a) see if they're still greedy and controlling and b) perhaps use it to seem more appealing to an agent.

Will update as things progress.

EDIT: Sad that Pred/Ed is down, but couldn't find anything on Writer Beware about these guys.
 
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Richard White

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DanielRand and Vixin,

Writer Beware only has stuff on people if people cue us in on them. We'd love to get a look at that contract if it is as hostile as Daniel says it is. You can send it to [email protected]. Everything we receive is held in strictest confidence.
 

Vixin

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Richard-

Would love to report on the contract. Still waiting for a response, though.
 

Kazul9

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DanielRand and Vixin,

Writer Beware only has stuff on people if people cue us in on them. We'd love to get a look at that contract if it is as hostile as Daniel says it is. You can send it to [email protected]. Everything we receive is held in strictest confidence.

Richard, I still have my contract from over a year ago if you'd like me to send it over. Not sure if it’s too old to care about, but I saved it just in case.