So far I have nothing bad to say about them. Wait untill my book comes out then I'll be able to tell you more. And I will to, good or bad.
How fast did they sign you after reading your manuscript? Did they do any editing?
Does anybody know why P&E has added "Poor Contract/Not Recommended" to their listing of Blu Phi'er? Just a few days ago it didn't have the dreaded red type next to it.
I was asked this so here we go...
So far it's been great. Their not Harper Collins or Random House by any means, they are a new company, but their not Publish America either. I was impressed with the idea that I recieved 15 free copies of my novels, and the marketing director called me asking where I wanted to sign. In a week I was signing books in book stores, so I had no problem there. They offer a 55% discount to stores with returnability. I've done three more signings since.
Now as far as newspaper reviews and that sort of thing I did that myself, but the marketing team put my book in every resource available. None of this cost me anything. They also sent me a PDF Catalog and a monthly royalty statement which I won't recieve anything for another 5 months. But so far after being slammed by PA, Blu Phier is awesome. Easy to work with, they call you right back when you have a question. I like them. Great place to start.
I also hear from one of the authors my space pages that an NBC exec signed up with them, and one of their illustrators used to work on the Aliens Vs Predator comic. (If anyone knows what that is.)
In any case, so far I've enjoyed it. I guess we'll see what happens when royalty time comes. I know they got my books in every store in my town and outside cities, so I'm hoping they can achieve a world wide magnitude. Of course, I imagine it's hard for any smaller press to do that.
Wow. Doesn't sound very promising. Hopefully, as Scott suggested, their contract will be overhauled to become more author friendly. What do you think the possibility is of that happening?
I've seen a recent copy of the Blu Phi'er contract, and it's an unprofessional mess.
It's an all-rights contract (despite the fact that there's no evidence the company has arrangements in place to market subsidiary rights). While the grant of rights appears to be for the life of copyright (exact wording: "Client herein irrevocably assigns all rights associated with the publishing of the aforementioned book to Blu Phi'er Publishing, L.L.C.") there's no provision for the return of rights to the author when the book is taken out of print--in fact, there's no out-of-print/reversion clause at all.
Also, the publisher takes all rights, but not only are these rights not enumerated, there's nothing in the contract to indicate what the author would be paid be should the publisher actually manage to sell or license any of them.
The royalty clause provides for payment on the book's cover price, but qualifies this by saying "after all funds expended by B.P.P. in the production of the book have been reimbursed." The wording is unclear, but it suggests either that the publisher won't pay royalties until production costs have been recouped, or else that the publisher will deduct the per-book production cost from the amount on which royalties are calculated. Either way, it's a net royalty.
Other issues too numerous to mention, including no time frame in which the publisher is required to publish; no obligation for the publisher to place a copyright notice in the book; nothing about the editing process or about the author getting a chance to approve proofs.
- Victoria
On their author's page, it lists one author's credits as having published with PublishAmerica, and the only novel that I can find of another author is also with PublishAmerica. This could just be an author's past booboo's, but a publisher like Avon wouldn't list a PA credit. If the leader of Blu'Phier doesn't know how bad PA is I'd be a little wary of Blu'Phier (it alludes to inexperience)--good luck though, JimmyD! I'll be looking for the book!