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

Tri, I agree that someone copied from someone else.

But...

Reading Edge's website, it looks like they are saying "You don't need an agent to submit here. We'll work with your agent, but we probably won't budge on contract terms unless you're a published writer." It's not something that gives me warm fuzzies, but a lot depends on the contract.

And look at the rest of the website. It's targeted to readers, not authors. They have real distribution. Their books get reviews in real trade magazines. And look at some of those authors, and the editors for their anthologies.

So until someone comes up with specific negative incidents, I think it's way premature to link them with PA's scummy practices.

Yeah, I hear ya. You know, all it takes is for one publisher to sour on one agent, and all of a sudden you see it in their mission statement. Those publishers should realize that agents are pretty normal fair hereabouts in this neck of the business woods. I do in fact like Edge because of their professional quality and distribution network. It just might be their way of welcoming newbies and I'm certainly all for that.

Tri

Questions about another publisher

Does anyone know anything or have experience with Edge Publications? They are a Canadian publisher who specializes in SFF. They say they do trade publications, but they aren't in our local Barns and Knoble.

Url:
http://www.edgewebsite.com/index.php

Thanks much for any info.

EDGE Publishing

My 2 cents on this publisher: They’re brilliant. I would love to be published with them. Their books are distributed nationwide and into the USA. I see their titles every time I’m walking through chapters, no matter what city I'm in. They pay an advance (I think it’s a standard amount for unpublished authors but negotiable for published ones—but I’m not sure as I’ve not been accepted by them).

I’ve seen their authors doing interviews on T.V (morning news shows), full page articles in local and national newspapers, and even seen launches where entire walls at Big Chapters stores are covered with the single title. Plus their authors are award winners. Some of my favorite books are ones they’ve produced. They only publish 5 or 6 titles a year (out of hundreds of submissions), but they clearly put serious dollars into marketing and getting those books stocked on shelves. They are not POD, not even close. Their initial print runs are in the several thousands and warehoused. I heard a rumor that they were looking at distribution in the UK and that will bump them even higher (if someone can verify this rumor I would love to hear). I will do a search for the article that mentioned it and post a link if I can find it, but it was a while ago.

I will say that their website sucks and I wish they would do something about that.

They just started a new imprint: Absolute X-press http://absolute-x-press.com/ its has a additional focus on eBooks but their books are produced as Print too, and not POD. I saw a recent book launch of one of their authors and her book was in several of the Chapters book stores. ( a mod might want to start a new thread for Absolute X-press)

I will keep submitting to them even though they do have long turn around times. I think the average is something like 4-6 months (they only want exclusive submissions...at least they did the last time I had something that fit their list). I know that's rough, but still, for what you get if you're accepted...it might be worth it.

The only reason they're not on the top of my list is because I always send to the Publishers who accept multiple submissions first.

Cheers,
D

A friend of mine just received a request for a full submission. it didnt take too long, 3-4 months I think. maybe that's long. But there are some agents who have longer turn-around times than that. I always expected publishers to have longer turn times than agnets.

EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy

Anyone have experience with / knowledge of Canadian publisher "EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing"? Their website (www.edgewebsite.com) makes them look like a small but legit press, and they list some well known authors. However, I can't find too many of their books in Canadian bookshops.

Anyone have the scoop on EDGE?

Thanks!

Very legit, but slow to respond even after requesting partials. They have good distribution. I'm surprised you didn't see more of their titles in Chapters. I always see their books there. good luck. keep us posted if you submit.

Hey there, perhaps I can provide a few more answers.

We (EDGE Publishing) are a legitimate small press and we publish only Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. We are open to submission from new authors (an agent is not required), but please do follow the submission guidelines stated on our website (which is also in the process of getting a face lift). You do not have to be Canadian to submit your work to us, we accept manuscripts from any nationality worldwide. We also do have a distribution throughout North America.

Our company has just undergone some major changes in the last 6 months, that should speed up the acquisitions process and make us more efficient. We now have a full time Editor handling acquisitions - and she's managed to reduce her response time on new submissions to about 3-4 weeks. And we just hired a new Projects Manager - me! I'll be helping with the day to day management and specifically focus on trying to reduce our production time for new books to about 8-12 months. Our Marketing/Events Director is also dedicated to working with and promoting all our current releases.

In regards to our imprint Absoulte XPress. This was started by a former employee who is no longer with us at EDGE. He wound up taking it in a direction fundamentally different from our core business (that being into the Romance genre) and then unexpectedly left to start his own company. This is why there was such confusion around the imprint, and we are profoundly apologetic about the entire situation, and now we've got someone taking over the imprint and re-focusing it back on SF/F/H.

Well, that's it in a nutshell. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. And, if you're submitting to us, best of luck!

As an uprooted Calgarian, I've been reading Edge books for years. Excellent cover art, great editing and a solid product. In a country where it's hard as heck to get SFF works (or genre fiction for that matter) published by Canadian publishers, Edge is a bright ray of light for geeks like me.

My two cents.

They have a full of mine *fingers crossed*. I hope to hear back sometime in Jan or Feb. my correspondence with them thus far has been very professional. I will keep you all posted.

EDGE Publishing said:

Well, that's it in a nutshell. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. And, if you're submitting to us, best of luck!

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Any chance of accepting electronic submissions in the future? I know paper submissions are easier on the eyes and can actually cut down on the number of submissions, but saving the trees is good isn't it?

Pulpwood is a cash crop. Not using paper as a way to save the trees is like not eating bread as a way to save the wheat.

Well, I'll say it in a way that doesn't involve trees: I wish they accepted electronic submissions so I didn't have to print a 99,000 word manuscript and mail it to Canada. I've always heard good things about Edge (although they don't seem to get into bookstores in the states), but they're off my list until they accept esubs. I'm sure they're all broken up about that.

James D. Macdonald said:

Pulpwood is a cash crop. Not using paper as a way to save the trees is like not eating bread as a way to save the wheat.

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I'm gluten sensitive, so I'm all for the death of wheat!

I'm publisher sensitive, which is why I can't offer a hearty cheer for a publisher who puts their reputation and brand on a new imprint/division, blames an employee/ex-employee when things don't go well, and instead of seeing things through leaves a half dozen authors twisting in the wind.

Lainey Bancroft said:

I'm publisher sensitive, which is why I can't offer a hearty cheer for a publisher who puts their reputation and brand on a new imprint/division, blames an employee/ex-employee when things don't go well, and instead of seeing things through leaves a half dozen authors twisting in the wind.

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That's not good. Could you share more specific details?

Apologies, eqb. I was not being deliberately obtuse. I guess I just hoped raising questions might encourage readers to explore further back in this thread. Reading the most recent 'sunny' posts in ANY thread here does not necessarily offer fair insight.

CaoPaux wisely explored things and wisely linked earlier to a post with more disclosure.


Despite numerous civil contacts by email and snail mail, this issue remains unresolved. AXP contracted my book--with a Letter of Agreement signed by Brian Hades of Hades Publications--about this time last year. They 'published' and listed the book. I know people bought it because I have heard from readers, and yet, I CAN NOT get a straight answer about sales data or reversion of rights.

Lainey Bancroft said:

Apologies, eqb. I was not being deliberately obtuse. I guess I just hoped raising questions might encourage readers to explore further back in this thread. Reading the most recent 'sunny' posts in ANY thread here does not necessarily offer fair insight.

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Thank you for clarifying. My own impression was that Edge had a good reputation, an impression I got from several sources and not just because of a few "sunny posts," so having specific details is helpful.

Perhaps EDGE could address that issue a bit more fully when they return.

eqb said:

Thank you for clarifying. My own impression was that Edge had a good reputation, an impression I got from several sources and not just because of a few "sunny posts," so having specific details is helpful.

Perhaps EDGE could address that issue a bit more fully when they return.

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If they're not doing timely reversions of rights on manuscripts acquired for a now-closed imprint, that doesn't reflect well on their professionalism.

The ball's in their court to resolve this matter promptly.

Absolute X Press

Anyone had any dealings with Absolute X Press? And at the risk of asking a stupid question, what exactly does Direct To Reader mean?

http://absolute-x-press.com/

This is the only thing I could find. The covers look okay and I don't see any redflags, but I could be wrong. I'm assuming that direct-to-reader would mean they don't have a presence in bookstores or online book sites? Maybe. It sounds like they want readers to buy their books directly from them. I'm sure someone with more knowledge will come along and be more helpful.

Thanks for the info and linky. I subbed to them about two months ago so will hopefully hear something soon.

I think it recently became a POD line for EDGE. Apparently they had some management issues that are getting resolved. I've been looking in bookstores, I see EDGE books all the time, but the Absolute X-Press books I've yet to see. Which I thought strange. wouldn't it be easy to just add books to the distribution? I might not fully understand it all.

If their wait time is anything like EDGE, I'd say go get some slippers and a snuggy... it'll be a while.

Their email to me said they hoped to reply to subs within 6 to 8 weeks but obviously it might be longer.