EDGE Science Fiction & Fantasy Publishing, Inc. / Absolute XPress

Rats!

Although Edge publishes Tesseract, I'm told they have no other connection. They don't choose the stories or edit them. Also, the editors change with each anthology. Makes it hard to know what their preferences are. At the last count, they already had 70 submissions for Tesseract 11. Whew!

Edge Publishing

Has anyone had any experience with Edge Publishing out of Canada?

Are they strictly a royalty-paying publisher?

I submitted to them years ago. Grew up, got married, turned Republican...&etc..got rejected. Someplace I read that they publish, at a maximum, five new books a year. That’s old info. If anyone has more current news feel free to refute me.

These people?

http://www.edgewebsite.com/

Seem OK to me.

JCT said:

These people?

http://www.edgewebsite.com/

Seem OK to me.

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Yeah, those people.

But it's not whether they're okay but their payment set-up. Advance against royalties? Back-end royalty only? Subsidy? POD?

Maybe I'm overlooking it, but I can't seem to find any information about that on their site.

I can't remember how many times I've tried Edge, but it had to be at least five times for four different books. My records show non-responses from them. I don't think I've every had any contact with them. They don't negotiate their contacts and have a rather dim view of agents, FWIW.

Tri

triceretops said:

They don't negotiate their contacts and have a rather dim view of agents, FWIW.

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Yeah, it was their hostile vibe I detected toward writers with agents that caused my Spidey-sense to start a-tinglin'.

Well, I think it's safe to assume that at best they're royalty-paying only, at worst they're POD.

Axler said:

Well, I think it's safe to assume that at best they're royalty-paying only, at worst they're POD.

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According to Ralan's website: "Pays small advance & standard royaties Words: prefers 75-100k RT: <4 months. Reprints: no. E-subs: no. "

I've seen their books in stores. I have no idea of their Publisher/Author dynamic, but it seems clear they are a legitimate small press.

rugcat said:

According to Ralan's website: "Pays small advance & standard royaties Words: prefers 75-100k RT: <4 months. Reprints: no. E-subs: no. "

I've seen their books in stores. I have no idea of their Publisher/Author dynamic, but it seems clear they are a legitimate small press.

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Albeit one hostile to agents. They seem to have some angst that needs to be gotten over.

rugcat said:

According to Ralan's website: "Pays small advance & standard royaties Words: prefers 75-100k RT: <4 months. Reprints: no. E-subs: no. "

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I guess it would depend on their definition of "small advance" and "standard royalties".

I don't have anything against them, I just told a friend of mine I'd see what I could dig up about them since he was interested in submitting.

However, I have to agree with JCT...a reluctance to deal with agents makes me suspicious, if only because they have a flat-standard contract that never varies.

JCT said:

Albeit one hostile to agents. They seem to have some angst that needs to be gotten over.

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A publisher doesn't need to be a scam publisher in order for it to be a company that most authors should avoid. When it is hostile to agents, that is a bad sign. Such publishers should normally be toward the end of your list of publishers to try. They may meet some people's needs, but it is still best to approach them with caution.

I must have missed something. What part of their website implies that they're hostile to agents?

I know a little about Edge, and have met Brian Hades, their publisher, on a couple of occasions. They're one of the larger "small" speculative fiction presses in Canada, and don't appear to be a POD house. I looked at some of their books I have on my shelf and saw a 300 and a 350 page trade paperback original both at $14.95 US; I also have one hardcover from them which retailed for $23.95 US. So their cover prices appear in line with the mainstream. They also have distribution through Fitzhenry and Whiteside which is a good sign.

The only submissions I've made to them were for their Tesseracts anthology and the stories were rejected. Having said that the rejections were reasonably timely and one of the editors for this edition was Cory Doctorow.

I don't know anything more about their rates; however I have considered submitting to them should I get past the big houses.

triceretops said:

I can't remember how many times I've tried Edge, but it had to be at least five times for four different books. My records show non-responses from them. I don't think I've every had any contact with them. They don't negotiate their contacts and have a rather dim view of agents, FWIW.

Tri

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Beth Bernobich said:

I must have missed something. What part of their website implies that they're hostile to agents?

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This statement was made by Triceretops, not (as far as I'm aware of) their website. If true, it is a significant problem.

jamiehall said:

This statement was made by Triceretops, not (as far as I'm aware of) their website. If true, it is a significant problem.

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I guess I'm troubled by the leap from Tri's post ("have a rather dim view of agents") to comments about how they're "hostile to agents."

(ETA: Ahah, now I see Dave's post, which matches what I've generally heard about Edge.)

From Edge's site:

"We accept manuscripts from unagented as well as agented authors. There is not much an agent can do for most new authors other than try to locate a publisher. If you have already signed up with an agent, tell them to contact us with your work and we will study their proposal. However, agented works do not get special treatment; to us there is no difference than when you contact us yourself."

Oh-h-kay...

Maybe not hostile, but certainly that statement is full of misinformation. They just don't want to negotiate and so imply that agents don't negotiate contracts...which makes me think their advances and royalties aren't exactly competitive.

But that's not to say they're dishonest or not legitimate.

They're just not a publisher I personally would put on my A or B submission list.

Axler said:

From Edge's site:

"We accept manuscripts from unagented as well as agented authors. There is not much an agent can do for most new authors other than try to locate a publisher. If you have already signed up with an agent, tell them to contact us with your work and we will study their proposal. However, agented works do not get special treatment; to us there is no difference than when you contact us yourself."

Oh-h-kay...

Maybe not hostile, but certainly that statement is full of misinformation. They just don't want to negotiate and so imply that agents don't negotiate contracts...which makes me think their advances and royalties aren't exactly competitive.

But that's not to say they're dishonest or not legitimate.

They're just not a publisher I personally would put on my A or B submission list.

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Yep. As I said, lower on the list, but not off it altogether. If they were dishonest or a scam, then they would be off the list completely. It would seem they are the type of publisher where you should see if you can do better before resorting to them, but if you truly can't do better, then it's okay. Publishers who will work with agents are always ones to try before publishers who are reluctant to work with agents.

Axler said:

"There is not much an agent can do for most new authors other than try to locate a publisher."

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Idiotic statement.

Yeah, I really don't see them as a scam market or anything like that. They appear to do a bang up job and even offer small advances. I just found the comments about agents and agented material a bit odd. Nothing earth-shattering. Afterall, Jim Baen did not suffer agents well, either. They probably do have a boilerplate contract that fits all and seems fair, and are resistent to veering from it or changing sections.

"We accept manuscripts from unagented as well as agented authors. There is not much an agent can do for most new authors other than try to locate a publisher. If you have already signed up with an agent, tell them to contact us with your work and we will study their proposal. However, agented works do not get special treatment; to us there is no difference than when you contact us yourself."

I dunno, I translate those two sentences to mean: "Agents do not have much power here." And the first comment is pretty inacurate. Agents do a heck of a lot more than find publishers.


Tri

triceretops said:

I just found the comments about agents and agented material a bit odd. Nothing earth-shattering. After all, Jim Baen did not suffer agents well, either. They probably do have a boilerplate contract that fits all and seems fair, and are resistent to veering from it or changing sections.

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I agree it's odd. I just balked at labeling them "hostile," unless someone knew something specific about them.

From what I've heard about them, they are a decent small press. They won't negotiate contract terms with unpublished writers, but they sometimes will for published writers.

The one blank in all this is the contract itself. Has anyone seen a contract from them?

Here's how odd it is Beth--below is a direct quote from the PublishAmerica site on their agent information. Look at the direct wording from Edge and theirs. That is why it disturbed me. I don't know who copied who, but it is very curious indeed.

Question: Do I need an[SIZE=-1][/SIZE] agent?
Answer: Not if you decide to submit your work here. We select our authors without being preached to by agents, no matter how hard they sometimes try. There is not much an agent can do for most new authors, other than try to locate a publisher. If you have already signed up with an agent, tell them to contact us with your work, and we will gladly study their proposal. But it will be no different than when you contact us yourself.

Now, besides that nonsense, I still wouldn't mind having Edge publish one of my books.

Tri

Yeah, that is a little disturbing. Wonder who lifted what from who.

Also, agents harrass publishers for money for their clients. At least mine does.

That's probably another reason Edge and PA aren't too crazy about dealing with agents.