Monkfish Book Publishing Co.

These guys?

http://www.monkfishpublishing.com/DEFAULT.HTM

Have you ever read anything that they published?

The obvious test is to go to your local bookstore and see if you can find any of the books on the shelves. The link to their POD operation sets off warning bells (I note that they have a trade publishing arm as well but it seems a bit on the small side and there's no guarantee of getting your book in actual shops if it's subject to individual negotiation).

If you want to know what kind of publisher they are, look at the books in their catalogue, and then see whether they get any shelf space at your local bookstore.

I don't mean to sound testy, but research is one of a writer's basic skills.

I'll give you a freebie: Monkfish picks up where Llewellyn leaves off. They're publishing real books, though many of them look like old out-of-print titles from other publishers. I don't know what kind of distribution deal they have, and I don't know how long they've been in business.

The published a book by Gerard Jones [ http://www.everyonewhosanyone.com/ ]. Other than that I am not familar with them. But if they were terrible, I am assuming that of all the writers in the world, Gerard Jones would say something about it.

Gerard Jones said:

A bunch of stuff worth reading and writing gets written but not read 'cause people only read what gets hyped and what gets hyped is nothing but sickeningly stupid, money-grubbing schlock, fatuous political folderol and celebrity twaddle. I'm perfectly happy with the design and production of the book Monkfish made out of Ginny Good. They did distribution and a little publicity, too, but the main thing I'm happy about is that it got published exactly the way I wanted it published. I thought it would sell more copies than it did, but I learned a lot by it not having sold many copies...things like, 'Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Click to expand...

ColoradoGuy said:

I read Gerard's book, Ginny Good, from Monkfish. I bought it in a bookstore. It was a standard-type, well presented trade paperback. The book was pretty good, too.

Click to expand...

Yup, ditto. Well-made, nice cover, thought Monkfish did a good job. And Ginny Good is an outstanding book.

Yes, I also first heard about them through Gerard Jones, bought his book in a bookstore. I too am thinking about them, since my agent is looking for ideas after not having success in placing my book (something of an offbeat memoir) with the bigger publishing houses. We've come close...but at this point it seems smaller independent houses and university presses are the way to go. I like the look of the site and the flavor of the books. Most seem to have more of a "spiritual transformation" element than Jones's book, which is kind of a picaresque SF sixties memoir. Some of the same "in-your-face" quality of his site, where he chronicles his uphill climb to publication. (I'm beginning to identify



Susan