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Aurelia Leo (formerly Radiant Crown Publishing)

EMaree

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Just had a #PitMad fav from these guys: Twitter | Website.

They've got some lovely branding, and I really like their stated mission statement (from Twitter bio): "Specializing in diverse books, dark fiction, and unexpected protagonists."

However... they formed in 2016, there's one one staff member (Elizabeth Smith, a member of the Independent Author Network). I wish her all the best with what's obviously a brand new venture, but the website doesn't list any trade publishing skills or publishing industry experience, which is a concern.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye on what they produce over the years, though. I'd love to see more diverse books out there in the world.
 

ralphie1026

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I signed with them 5 months ago and am super happy with everything so far!
 

akaria

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The concept is right up my alley, but they are way too new. Asking for support on Patreon doesn't inspire confidence.

Ralphie, can you be more specific? They don't have any books for sale until May so what about the company has kept you happy so far?
 

VeryBigBeard

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The Patreon thing is interesting, but I'm not quite getting why the publisher needs to be on Patreon. The whole point of Patreon is that artists can get direct/crowd-funded patronage to produce work. The model fits for self-pubbing, I'd think. I guess if a publisher is promising to promote a specific type of work (e.g., diverse books) and there's an audience out there wants that access. But I'd be cautious because the usual Patreon pull in works by having a lower overhead for a single artist. If I'm running a publisher and need to keep the lights on, pay staff, pay advances, market, and so on, then I'm looking at needing a much bigger ask and/or a much bigger crowdfunding base. If the publisher isn't doing that stuff, that's a.) a red flag, and b.) the author is better off trying for an advance elsewhere or setting up her own Patreon. (ETA: Wrote this before digging into website. Patreon's getting more and more traction in the indie game community, because the model works really well for indie devs who basically self-publish to the App Store, Google Play, or any of the other varied and largely open markets out there. The model works less well with a conventional publisher. Kind of defeats the point. You wouldn't see a "AA" studio that has a deal with Sony asking for crowdfunding, though God knows some have tried.)

Ralphie, I hope you'll forgive my skepticism--it's what we do here; see rest of BR&BC for why--but if the book hasn't come out yet you're very likely still in the "honeymoon" phase. A good publisher sells books. A great editing and production process is nice to have, but it's sales that count.

Radiant Crown is apparently the publishing imprint of an indie game studio (Cherubim Scribles; same owner) that specializes in Ren'Py games. This is my area. There's some market in interactive fiction, but I wasn't aware it was large enough to finance a print publishing operation. Radiant Crown is POD for now, anyway, only pays a $100 advance, and pays royalties on net (though they define it). It doesn't look like they're going to move a lot of copies, frankly. That set up is very micro-publishing. Not necessarily a bad thing, on its own, but I still suspect you'd make more money on Patreon.

Looking at there website, there are a couple little cues that this is someone with a humanities degree, loads of passion, and no capital. The site calls it "fantasy literature" and uses "gothic horror" as a genre, both of which have a slightly academic bent compared to what you'd see in a bookstore, say. There are also more than a couple sentences that needed a proofreader, and good publishers should know one or two (or more).

To be kinda blunt... I love indie IF studios, but I've never seen one, even the larger ones like Choice of Games, that's set up to run a successful trade book operation. Some run small lit-mags and do decently. The IF market is largely online, it's small, and there's very low overhead. Its publishers also tend to not have the editing or marketing clout of even a small book publisher, ostensibly because it's a totally different industry with different audience expectations. Cherubim Scribes looks like most of these studios I know--it's a solo op, lots of collaboration on an adhoc level. This is a great way to make IF. It's a terrible way to run a publisher.

(Credit where due: according to the Cherubim Scribes' website they have a game coming out on the Nintendo Switch. So at least someone does. I'm glad to hear it, frankly, for Nintendo's sake.)
 
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ralphie1026

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The concept is right up my alley, but they are way too new. Asking for support on Patreon doesn't inspire confidence.

Ralphie, can you be more specific? They don't have any books for sale until May so what about the company has kept you happy so far?

I don't know anything about Patreon, although it appears to be for their magazine. The website is a new concept to me so I can't comment on that aspect.

So far, they have kept very open lines of communication and laid everything out on the table. They hired a wonderful editor for my novel, booked a sought-after cover and interior designer, and commissioned custom maps. My suggestions have been well received and opinions asked for. It's been a great collaboration so far.

So, while I obviously can't comment on sales as my novel isn't out yet, I can say I enjoy working with them. Our vision for the novel is the same, and I like their plans moving forward with it. I totally understand the reservations of working with a new publisher though. I just thought to give my opinion on them so far. :)
 

EMaree

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The 'About' page has improved in leaps and bounds from when they first faved me on Twitter -- if they'd originally had the information that they wrote visual novels, I'd have been a lot more taken by them I was by the original bios. And they definitely didn't have my fellow tea-fiend on the roster!

I'm a big fan of IF (Ren'Py dating SIMs are a joy and I love them so much) so I'm really diggin' that Radiant Crown are trying to expand from that ring into this. It's interesting that already they seem to be transferring over some of the Ren'Py world's strengths -- focusing on art and design, with attractive covers on their site and custom maps in the work for Ralphie.

I'm not a big fan of the Patreon involvement, and I'd agree that it's best left to the individual artists, but I will note that Fireside Fiction magazine and Lightspeed magazine have both used crowdfunding via Kickstarter to great success over the years.

It does concern me a bit that their magazine and novel publishing imprints are under the same banner. The small 'zine industry is very different, operating a lot like indie publishing with crowd-funding very common. Publishing doesn't work that way, and relying on crowd-funding to start-up a publisher is a recipe for disaster.

Also, having the publishing arm under the same name and following the same model is super confusing. While the Patreon may appear to be for the magazine as Ralphie said, there's no way to be sure it's not also funding the publisher with the exact same name.

I like the release schedule. It seems nicely paced, with each release two months apart. Good to see a new pub pacing itself! (March 2017: Volume 2, Issue 1 of Helios. May 9th, 2017: Object Relations. July 11, 2017: Fragile Chaos. September 8th, 2017: Tomorrow Isn't Promised.)

If the Cherubim Scribes happen to be lurking, I'm rooting for you! Very impressed by the changes in their website between September and now.
 
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Thedrellum

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No experience with them, but I'd possibly throw a story their way if I'd tried all other more established markets first. They pay half pro rates, which is okay. They also have a Patreon which has 1 patron for $1, so not so good on that front (and that makes me feel like they might not be able to stay around very long, if they're counting on Patreon funding them in the long term).
 

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Does anyone have experience working with Selene Quarterly Magazine? Particularly with regards to their short and serial stories?

Submission guidelines and payment info: http://selenequarterly.com/index.php/submissions/

I have not worked with Selene Quarterly, but I did have a serial story in Helios Quarterly, which is also published by Radiant Crown. The editors were pleasant to work with, the response time isn't generally too long of a wait, and I got paid in a timely manner. I was also impressed by the art that accompanied my story. I sent Helios a second story at one point, but ended up withdrawing because it got accepted elsewhere.

I still try for pro-paying markets first, but once those are ruled out, Radiant Crown's publications are high on my list. Does that help at all?
 

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I wish her all the best with what's obviously a brand new venture, but the website doesn't list any trade publishing skills or publishing industry experience, which is a concern.

So I had a pretty lousy experience with these guys recently. I submitted a story to their magazine Helios Quarterly, and I was ecstatic when it was accepted. It was my first time ever getting a story accepted so you can imagine how excited I was.

However, things soon went downhill: They were dragging their feet as far as providing any real info about when it was meant to be published. I emailed them asking if they were going to send me a contract so I could withdraw from the other markets I submitted the story to, and they told me to wait until they finished deciding who else they were going to accept. Sure, that sounds good, why not.

But then, about a week later, I got an email saying they didn’t want to publish my story until 2021? Honestly I was kind of in shock, since I’d applied for the 2020 issue: which was still a long ways away. Apparently after they opened up submissions, then accepted me and several other people . . . they decided they were only going to publish POC for an entire year. I was flabbergasted.

Originally, their submissions page said they were looking for horror stories from marginalized groups including POC, women, LGBT, etc. But after the fact, I guess they decided they decided to focus on POC only?

Now I’m all for equal representation in literature: After all, I’m a bisexual woman and I’ve been dealing with discrimination all my life. I think it would have been awesome if they decided to feature POC for an entire year—but this is the kind of thing you decide in advance, not after you open submissions and get hundreds of people to reply. Certainly not after you accept non-POC. The fact that they decided something so integral to the entire submissions process after getting hundreds of non-POC to apply, and also accepting some of them, shows that they’re severely lacking in organization and planning skills.

So after this, I got the strong sense they were trying to push me out without actually saying “we don’t want you anymore.” I’m 95% sure they expected me to drop it, and of course I did. There’s no way in hell I’m waiting until 2021 when there’s a good chance I could get the story accepted elsewhere long before then. But the editor started messaging me on twitter and was kind of pushy about getting me to write back with an answer and decide whether I wanted to step aside.

Overall it was a really weird and bad experience. I’ll definitely be avoiding Aurelia Leo, Helios Quarterly, and all the other projects they’re affiliated with for the foreseeable future. Talk about a bad experience for my first time getting a story accepted!
 
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mafiaking1936

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So I had a pretty lousy experience with these guys recently. I submitted a story to their magazine Helios Quarterly, and I was ecstatic when it was accepted. It was my first time ever getting a story accepted so you can imagine how excited I was.

However, things soon went downhill: They were dragging their feet as far as providing any real info about when it was meant to be published. I emailed them asking if they were going to send me a contract so I could withdraw from the other markets I submitted the story to, and they told me to wait until they finished deciding who else they were going to accept. Sure, that sounds good, why not.

But then, about a week later, I got an email saying they didn’t want to publish my story until 2021? Honestly I was kind of in shock, since I’d applied for the 2020 issue: which was still a long ways away. Apparently after they opened up submissions, then accepted me and several other people . . . they decided they were only going to publish POC for an entire year. I was flabbergasted.

Originally, their submissions page said they were looking for horror stories from marginalized groups including POC, women, LGBT, etc. But after the fact, I guess they decided they decided to focus on POC only?

Now I’m all for equal representation in literature: After all, I’m a bisexual woman and I’ve been dealing with discrimination all my life. I think it would have been awesome if they decided to feature POC for an entire year—but this is the kind of thing you decide in advance, not after you open submissions and get hundreds of people to reply. Certainly not after you accept non-POC. The fact that they decided something so integral to the entire submissions process after getting hundreds of non-POC to apply, and also accepting some of them, shows that they’re severely lacking in organization and planning skills.

So after this, I got the strong sense they were trying to push me out without actually saying “we don’t want you anymore.” I’m 95% sure they expected me to drop it, and of course I did. There’s no way in hell I’m waiting until 2021 when there’s a good chance I could get the story accepted elsewhere long before then. But the editor started messaging me on twitter and was kind of pushy about getting me to write back with an answer and decide whether I wanted to step aside.

Overall it was a really weird and bad experience. I’ll definitely be avoiding Aurelia Leo, Helios Quarterly, and all the other projects they’re affiliated with for the foreseeable future. Talk about a bad experience for my first time getting a story accepted!

Well dang. Now I see why they same day rejected everything I ever sent them. Bullet = dodged.
 

Corvid

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Well dang. Now I see why they same day rejected everything I ever sent them. Bullet = dodged.

Seriously! I was so disappointed by this whole thing. I hope by posting it here, other people can avoid wasting their time with these guys--until they learn to plan better, at least. Honestly I would have rather just been rejected than had them get my hopes up like that. I guess it was a lesson that in publishing, nothing's really set in stone until you see the words on the page.
 
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SaraC

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So I had a pretty lousy experience with these guys recently. I submitted a story to their magazine Helios Quarterly, and I was ecstatic when it was accepted. It was my first time ever getting a story accepted so you can imagine how excited I was.

However, things soon went downhill: They were dragging their feet as far as providing any real info about when it was meant to be published. I emailed them asking if they were going to send me a contract so I could withdraw from the other markets I submitted the story to, and they told me to wait until they finished deciding who else they were going to accept. Sure, that sounds good, why not.

But then, about a week later, I got an email saying they didn’t want to publish my story until 2021? Honestly I was kind of in shock, since I’d applied for the 2020 issue: which was still a long ways away. Apparently after they opened up submissions, then accepted me and several other people . . . they decided they were only going to publish POC for an entire year. I was flabbergasted.

Originally, their submissions page said they were looking for horror stories from marginalized groups including POC, women, LGBT, etc. But after the fact, I guess they decided they decided to focus on POC only?

Now I’m all for equal representation in literature: After all, I’m a bisexual woman and I’ve been dealing with discrimination all my life. I think it would have been awesome if they decided to feature POC for an entire year—but this is the kind of thing you decide in advance, not after you open submissions and get hundreds of people to reply. Certainly not after you accept non-POC. The fact that they decided something so integral to the entire submissions process after getting hundreds of non-POC to apply, and also accepting some of them, shows that they’re severely lacking in organization and planning skills.

So after this, I got the strong sense they were trying to push me out without actually saying “we don’t want you anymore.” I’m 95% sure they expected me to drop it, and of course I did. There’s no way in hell I’m waiting until 2021 when there’s a good chance I could get the story accepted elsewhere long before then. But the editor started messaging me on twitter and was kind of pushy about getting me to write back with an answer and decide whether I wanted to step aside.

Overall it was a really weird and bad experience. I’ll definitely be avoiding Aurelia Leo, Helios Quarterly, and all the other projects they’re affiliated with for the foreseeable future. Talk about a bad experience for my first time getting a story accepted!

Sorry to hear that!

I had a serialized story published in Helios Quarterly a couple years ago. They were prompt with the contract, payment, and editing. Overall, it was a very good experience. Reading about one bad experience won't stop me from submitting to them again.
 

Corvid

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Sorry to hear that!

I had a serialized story published in Helios Quarterly a couple years ago. They were prompt with the contract, payment, and editing. Overall, it was a very good experience. Reading about one bad experience won't stop me from submitting to them again.

I know that it's not much in the grand scheme of things, and it's definitely a first world problem: but it was honestly one of the biggest disappointments I've had in a very long time. I guess it was especially gutting since it was the first time I was going to have anything published. I guess it must have happened for a reason, though. Suit yourself, but I could never feel good about submitting to them again after what happened.