City Owl Press

I'm published with City Owl Press. I'm so happy with my experience to date. Great edits, great cover (which I got a say in), wonderful marketing support, provision of SWAG at a conference I recently attended, open to feedback and overall very positive. I've been happy with my sales and royalties as well. Not enough to quit my day job, but in line with what I expected. My second book will be out with them later this year.

I took a look at their website and books on Amazon and give them a Needs More Work. Titles released last fall rank between 300-400k. Better than what I've seen with many small presses, but nothing to get excited about. One point in their favor is their books do have a fair number of reviews that cover the full range of love to hate.

The homepage design is basic. The author interview questions on the homepage are basic. The covers are basic. Nothing is horrible, but it's boring which is almost worse than being ugly. People remember ugly. As far as website design, this press is utterly forgettable.

As an alternative, look at Penner Publishing. They are also a new press publishing romance. Notice how inviting it is to readers. Lots of covers and blurbs right in your face. They do not bore with with an author interview of someone I've never heard of.

BTW, I don't work for or publish with Penner.

Oh, and here's another problem. The majority of the bio for their VP of Public Relations is all about his success and skill in karate. He's won some non-specific awards and gives presentations about motivation, training, marketing and personal safety. WTF does any of that have to do with books?

Any more experiences with these guys???

So I got a bite from Mary Cain and she was quick in asking for my full. She was also super speedy and kind in replying to my full manuscript, which was just not quite right for her. She was so sweet, though, that I would definitely consider sending my other works to her when they are finished. From PITMAD request to full ms rejection, it was about five days, give or take. Just wanted to share my experience.

Any further news on City Owl? They were active on #SFFpit yesterday, but I'm not seriously considering them.

Well I submitted, so we'll see what happens.

Keep us posted. Going by my usual schedule (unless I hear solid good news about them) I'll check back on them in another year or two.

I have a friend who is published with them (book came out this spring) and she seems really happy so far. It seems like they've provided her with plenty of marketing support, and she did a signing at RT earlier this year. I agree, nothing wrong with the wait and see approach though, to see how the publisher shakes out. New always feels risky to me.

Any more experiences with City Own Press?

As for me, I got a rejection from them a few weeks after I sent my submission. They seemed professional and friendly to me. I see some of their books on Netgalley too which I consider a good thing.

Hello. It's been some time since I dropped in, and I thought I'd come by to update you all on some of the company's news.

First, we are no longer offering box set options to author co-ops. Although we continually receive requests, particularly from the romance author community, it is just not a viable model for us to continue. If any author co-ops are looking for a partner for distribution, we encourage you to do your research on box set coordinators, and wish you the best of luck!

Next, we have hired three content editors, two copy editors, and one additional cover artist. We have also made partnership deals with the Hershman Rights Management for audio sales, and Books Crossing Borders for foreign rights sales.

Last, we've received consistent and positive reviews from Publisher's Weekly with our latest release receiving a second starred review on a sequel to the author's urban fantasy debut.

Thanks for your interest in City Owl Press!

I've worked with several huge publishers in my career. Some of them have contracts, for specific imprints, where they pay royalties on net. Some pay advances, some not. Most of their anthologies cost the authors nothing. To me, net sounds like the author is absorbing at least part of the cost of doing business with these publishers (imprints). I still get their catalogues, and see that many of them are doing POD as well. They just don't advertise the fact to the public. I have worked with many small publishers who pay a percentage of the cover price of the book, tiny advance, and get bookstore exposure. Almost always, with some research, I've discovered that they are either little-known imprints of bigger publishers or are distributed by a large publisher. It's important that authors read every single word on the websites. Look for logos, small print, etc., and if you get a contract, read every word and be prepared to hold your publisher to them. As I am wont to say: "If it aint in the contract, it don't exist!"

Hello. Another year has flown by and our press has continued to grow. I wanted to let everyone at AW know that we were recently approved as an RWA qualifying market, which means we have met all of the standards required by RWA to get their stamp of approval as a recommended publisher. We'll be at RWA's national conference next year as well. Thank you!

I know an author who is very happy with City Owl. I wish my current manuscript fit their bill because I'd at least give them a try.

City Owl Press said:

Hello. Another year has flown by and our press has continued to grow. I wanted to let everyone at AW know that we were recently approved as an RWA qualifying market, which means we have met all of the standards required by RWA to get their stamp of approval as a recommended publisher. We'll be at RWA's national conference next year as well. Thank you!

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Any idea when or if you might be aiming at SFWA-qualifying status?

Filigree said:

Any idea when or if you might be aiming at SFWA-qualifying status?

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Thank you for your question. Not at this time as we cannot meet the advance requirement due to our royalty-based publishing model that is common with small press of our size.

For reference, this is the SFWA requirement of mention:

"Payment for all works of fiction (other than reprints or serializations), either in advance of publication or on publication, at the rate of either (a) at least $3000 for a single work or (b) at least 6¢/word"

Does anyone have more current information on this press?

Thanks in advance!

Any updates? Does anyone know what their payments are like? While small presses aren't my first choice, I'm considering using them for a genre I've been writing that wouldn't fit with the brand I'm querying agents for. I see it's definitely growing in popularity, but I don't hear much from the authors that have been there a while.

I am interested in some 2021 updates too...

Note: There's more to this story but I don't want to get into too many details publicly lest it come back on someone who may or may not be connected with me and involved with them.

I submitted to CO in 2020 (? I need to check my list). After the period that they promised to reply they got a nudge and I got hands down the rudest reply I could have received from the acquisitions editor that I subbed to, which was by far the rudest reply I've received in X years of querying. The general tone of it was that I needed to learn how to write, fortunately they had some kind of writing workshop that I could pay to attend. 99% sure I deleted the response in a hot minute and it's long gone.

Would a form rejection really have been that hard?

Based on the collective experience of me and my hypothetical person, they are on my Do Not Query list.

Brigid Barry said:

Note: There's more to this story but I don't want to get into too many details publicly lest it come back on someone who may or may not be connected with me and involved with them.

I submitted to CO in 2020 (? I need to check my list). After the period that they promised to reply they got a nudge and I got hands down the rudest reply I could have received from the acquisitions editor that I subbed to, which was by far the rudest reply I've received in X years of querying. The general tone of it was that I needed to learn how to write, fortunately they had some kind of writing workshop that I could pay to attend. 99% sure I deleted the response in a hot minute and it's long gone.

Would a form rejection really have been that hard?

Based on the collective experience of me and my hypothetical person, they are on my Do Not Query list.

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Since asking about info, I actually ended up querying. I filled out the query form through their website and got a request for the full manuscript in less than 24 hours. Ultimately, it was a no (I think maybe a month or so later...? I forget now.). It was a nice enough rejection letter, saying it just wasn't what they were looking for at the moment, and the usual line about the publishing industry being subjective and wishing me the best of luck. They also said every book is different, so keep them in mind for future manuscripts to send their way. So, a completely different experience from yours!

I'm sorry to hear you had such a negative experience. I don't think trying to sell a writing workshop to someone you just insulted is the best business plan...Hopefully this person doesn't work there anymore?

MaryLennox said:

Since asking about info, I actually ended up querying. I filled out the query form through their website and got a request for the full manuscript in less than 24 hours. Ultimately, it was a no (I think maybe a month or so later...? I forget now.). It was a nice enough rejection letter, saying it just wasn't what they were looking for at the moment, and the usual line about the publishing industry being subjective and wishing me the best of luck. They also said every book is different, so keep them in mind for future manuscripts to send their way. So, a completely different experience from yours!

I'm sorry to hear you had such a negative experience. I don't think trying to sell a writing workshop to someone you just insulted is the best business plan...Hopefully this person doesn't work there anymore?

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No skin off my nose one way or the other, we clearly wouldn't have been a good fit for each other.

I'm glad they were nicer to you, the one I got seemed very reactive and not well thought out so it's possible that someone was just having a bad day and a nudge pushed them over the edge. Unfortunately when I stopped being mad about it my confidence was badly affected and I quit writing for over a year.

Brigid Barry said:

No skin off my nose one way or the other, we clearly wouldn't have been a good fit for each other.

I'm glad they were nicer to you, the one I got seemed very reactive and not well thought out so it's possible that someone was just having a bad day and a nudge pushed them over the edge. Unfortunately when I stopped being mad about it my confidence was badly affected and I quit writing for over a year.

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Oh, wow, I'm sorry to hear you didn't write for a year!

Brigid Barry said:

Unfortunately when I stopped being mad about it my confidence was badly affected and I quit writing for over a year.

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This is a thing that happens such a lot.