Popeyesays said:http://www.archebooks.com/Authors/Casey/barbara_casey.htm
Arche books appears to be a publisher NOT an agent. In fact Archebooks will not accept submissions unless an agent sends them in.
Regards,
Scott
victoriastrauss said:And she charges an upfront fee of $500.
- Victoria
In my files I have a contract of yours that states, "Your total payment of five hundred dollars ($500) will be applied toward expenses I incur on your behalf..." Have you discontinued your policy of charging $500 on contract signing?Barbara Casey said:-I do not charge any fees.
-I do not charge for the expenses involved in placing a manuscript
Thanks for this info. 15% is the prevailing standard for domestic sales.-I do charge a 20% agency commission if I am successful in placing a manuscript. This commission is taken from the royalties paid to the author by the publisher.
I have a printout of your recent sales listing from your website as of January 6 of this year, which shows more books than the current version of that page. Of the 19 "sales" mentioned, only 2 (Tricycle Press and Charlesbridge Publishing) look to be to advance-paying publishers. 10 "sales" are to ArcheBooks (a non-advance-paying publisher with a nonstandard contract and a number of serious complaints against it--see this thread). 5, as Jenna pointed out, are to independent publishers of various stripes that don't seem to typically work with agents. And 2 are to Brundage Publishing, which charges $8,000 in addition to printing costs. That's not self-publishing--it's vanity publishing.-I work only with traditional, royalty-paying publishers which include independent publishers as well as major publishers. The only exception to this is when clients elect to self-publish because they have a strong marketing plan in place and they already have outlets in which to sell their books. Rather than receive a percentage of sales from a traditional publisher, they opt to sell the books themselves and receive full profit. These situations are rare, and I do not receive any payment for this.
Even the POD self-publishing services, such as iUniverse, pay royalties--and "traditional publisher" is not a term that has any accepted meaning in the publishing industry. From a writer's point of view, the important thing is that a publisher pay advances. I'm not familiar with James C. Winston, but none of your other publishers are advance-paying.All of my books have been published by traditional, royalty-paying publishers.
Barbara Casey said:I would like to make one additional comment. I know in a perfect world every manuscript would get picked up by a major publishing house and the writer would receive a big advance. I work with new, unpublished writers, however, as well as published writers. Many publishers don't offer an advance, especially if there isn't an established track record of sales. If the contract is good in all other areas, I find it often will lead to future contracts for my client that include an advance.
This one?roach said:Does anyone have the link to Toby Buckell's writer's advance page? That would be a nice page to link to right now.
That's good to know. Thanks.Barbara Casey said:When I initially opened my agency, I charged up to $500 to be applied toward expenses I incurred. I discontinued that several years ago.
Here's the 2004 page from your website that I was referring to (from the Internet Archive), listing as recent sales the same titles you currently list for Trellis, Tricycle, Charlesbridge, Woodfield, Oaklea, DeVorss, and Hickory Tales. Only the Potomac Books sale appears to be new (Potomac Books, formerly part of Brassey's, seems to be a well-established niche publisher; it's not clear whether it pays advances).Tricycle, Charlesbridge, Trellis, DeVorss, Potomac are some of the publishers I am currently working with and they all pay advances.
The August 2003 version of your recent sales page (again accessed via the Internet Archive) shows three book placements with Benoy. This certainly doesn't sound like a declination. Your bio for the same period mentions that your novel The Coach's Wife was released that month by Benoy. Also, before Benoy folded, I heard from several writers who were referred to you by the publisher for agenting or editing services.Benoy has not published any of my books or any of my clients' books. Benoy did offer several contracts when I first opened my agency--all of which I declined. It is my understanding that Benoy is no longer in business.
That's good to know. Thanks.My editing services are available to any writer. I do not charge my clients, however, for editing their work prior to submission.
It's true that many publishers don't offer an advance, but the majority of commercial publishers (those that spend money to market their books and get them onto bookstore shelves) do pay advances.I work with new, unpublished writers, however, as well as published writers. Many publishers don't offer an advance, especially if there isn't an established track record of sales.
There are certainly some good publishers that don't pay advances. However, an advance is an important measure of a publisher's commitment to marketing and distribution--an incentive for it to get the book out into the marketplace in order to recoup its investment. With non-advance-paying publishers, the onus is typically on the author. Since authors don't have access to the marketing channels of the book trade, sales are likely to be small.Barbara Casey said:I think one area where we might disagree is that your criteria for defining a good publisher seems to be whether or not an advance is paid. (From your post above: "From a writer's point of view, the important thing is that a publisher pay advances.") I think that is selling the writer short. There are many excellent publishers who do not offer advances, and without them there would be a lot of good books that wouldn't get published.