Drop the best Independent Publishers here!!! Let's make a list to help us all!!!

Honestly, I don't see a thread like this as useful. One author may have had excellent experiences with an indie pub, meeting all your requirements mentioned above, then the next author... not so much. Also, things can change within a publishing company very quickly (change in staff which results in change of morale or business model) and suddenly they're not spending on promotion anymore, or their editors aren't as good. BUT, you've read that the publisher is great on theis thread so you decided to sign a contract, only to find out too late that things have changed.

It really is best to spend your time researching the publishers you're interested in as to how they are TODAY, not yesterday. Take the short-cut and it may burn you in the long run. BRBC is filled with publishers that had authors singing their praises... until things changed. Do yourself a favor and spend the time, hassle though it may be, researching each publisher.

We have one of those here. It's this forum.

The Suspense Author said:

It can be such a hassle looking through the million indie publishers to find a good one. Why not start a thread and drop names to save time? READYYYY GO!!!!!

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Because every publisher is different, at different times and for different authors. It's called 'do your own work', and the reason is not to be 'a hassle', but for each author to learn the business. Are there shortcuts? Yes. AW is one, so is Ralan.com, Submission Grinder, Making Light, Hi Piers, Writer Beware, Preditors & Editors, and a bunch of genre publishing and self-pub sites. Some are going to have more validity than others - but it really comes down to what the author wants.

I can't give you a list because that list changes. Almost daily! I can look at historical trends and current internet metrics, author support, etc. but it's all going to come down to research anyway.

Here's a link to a series of blog posts I did about researching publishers, agents, editors, and other publishing professionals. It may help. It may just be more stuff for you to read, in which case I apologize in advance.

Here's the thing: publishing is not an entry level field - for an author or a new publisher. There are no gold stars given for just showing up. If the amount of research seems too much, then maybe you are not ready for that step.

The Suspense Author said:

Or you guys could be helpful lol. <--- You're new here, so maybe you haven't seen the #1 rule around the Cooler. RYFW: Respect Your Fellow Writer. You are currently posting on a board that is among the most helpful to new and experienced writers, bar none. Just because someone isn't handing you a prefab list of publishers to take the responsibility off your shoulders doesn't mean they aren't helping, and it definitely doesn't mean you hand out flip answers like it's nothing. This subforum specifically showcases hundreds of publishers. The information is there; it's your responsibility to look for it. You can start with the 2-thumbs down list of bad, closed and scam publishers. There are thousands of threads of difference publishers asking "Are these guys good?". It would be very, very helpful if there was a thread of publishers that at least have been some sort of good. Google them. Google their authors. Google their books. The results are there. You can also check out PREDITORS and EDITORS. There are tons and tons of garbage publishers. Yep, and most are on the 2-thumbs down list, which already exists. There is no harm in mentioning decent publishers. Not so. At least one of the smaller publishers that would have been highly recommended two years ago is currently in a death spiral. It happens. From there, we can look into those publishers ourselves. You can already do that, and should. Rather than trying to look through the lists of thousands of publishers one by one. That's your due diligence.

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You're looking at one of the most comprehensive publishing resources in existence and instead of utilizing it, you're wanting someone to summarize the information for you. Publishing isn't like referring to a wiki article. It takes time. It takes research. Even pre-made lists have to be vetted.

Good is such a moving target. From week to week, from genre to genre, from writer to writer. BWBC is an incredibly helpful resource. It really really is. It's just that publishing isn't as easy as a one size fits all list. You have to do your research with your own goals and your own sense of what good means in mind.

you consider researching the people you want to bring your work to the world as wasting hours upon hours?

It seems like maybe you're looking for something like Preditors and Editors? It's a very helpful resource with a long list of publishers and notes about their business practices.

best wishes on your ongoing research.

The Suspense Author said:

You guys are just telling me things I already know though. I research publishers and/or agents during all my free time. There is nothing wrong with making a thumbs up list!

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They're things that other writers *don't* know, though. Not everyone is on the same page.

Preditors and Editors is really the closest you're going to find for what you want. It's a long-time, ongoing list, and it's far more comprehensive than anything that could be started here.

True story: I got back into writing-with-intent-to-publish in 2009, after a decade hiatus. I thought I was ready to query my just-finished novel in 2010. I spent a total of 3 months researching agents and publishers in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Over 200 agents, and around 85 different publishers. Some I knew were not a good fit, instantly. Others took some more research. I ended up with a list of 125 agents, whom I started querying first before I went near publishers. That took a year. The book excerpts got Silver Honorable Mention on the Writers of the Future, and a third place in a Random House writing contest. I got agent requests for three partials leading to rejections, 85 flat-out rejections, and the rest were no-response. I trunked that book because it was a hot mess under the pretty words. I'll fix it someday.

Because I did that research, I have a historical context in which to place ongoing publisher dramas. I was able to see clues well in advance, when certain publishers went into messy death-spirals, many of them documented exhaustively here on AW. I can spot the clueless and predatory publishers a mile away, often by just watching what their sockpuppets are saying about places like AW, Hi Piers, Making Light, Writer Beware, Preditors & Editors, etc.

In early 2011 I wrote another book in about four months. Spent another two months, off and on, researching which agents were good and/or available in that genre (turned out, none) and which publishers (seven, out of the hundreds around.) I sold the book a little over a month after querying those seven publishers. Then I used that contract offer to get an agent's help, and she eventually agreed to represent my other works. There was a lot of slow and careful research there, lots of polite messages to AW members who could help me, and lots of patience.

I used to send people (who asked me politely) copies of my old agent/publisher list. I can't anymore, because it's dangerously out of date. If I needed a new list I'd start over, and do exactly the same research. I frankly wouldn't trust any list that someone just handed to me, because I wouldn't know the level of information involved. Fer gawdssake, I just caught a major fantasy author thoughtlessly endorsing a substandard spammy display site, because she apparently bought their hype without researching!

Tl;dr Do your work.

Added: A thumbs-up list is useless in the longterm, Suspense Author. Three of the seven publishers I queried in 2011 I wouldn't touch with a flamethrower now.

if you stick around long enough, you'll look back at when you were 1 whole month (and a whole 19 posts) into your membership here and realize how naive it was of you and, frankly, insulting to people who eat, sleep and breathe this industry that you were presumptuous enough to think there was a magic bullet and drastic shortcut to this info that had eluded the smaller minds around here for a decade.

Okay, I get that you are new here. Lots to learn, and all that. Have fun and good luck. I'm done here.

Hush... go, read through the rest of the forums here and learn what you can. There's so much here for you to look through.

I realize you're eager - but there's no use going over ground that's already been walked. Read, look around, take in what else is here. It's not a forum only filled with political rantings and speeches.

Relax. Learn.