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Adams Media Corp. / Crimson Romance

James D. Macdonald

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A Crimson author passes this along:

I don't know what current contracts look like, but pay attention to how they calculate 'Gross Amount Received' and any part that talks about combining with other material. I recommend you look at their website and make sure you understand how everything works there. A lot of their marketing to date has been focused on the subscription service.
You should have a clear understanding of the subscription service and how you are paid for it to decide if it is right for you. I also recommend negotiating the termination terms if the boilerplate is the same as the ones I've seen.

Don't be afraid to try to negotiate better terms!
 

KatMo

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@James: The boilerplate was what @htrent indicated. The copyright is in my name though (or pen name) and I think that was where I was confused. I guess if it's in my name, then all would be good. I think. *calls lawyer and leaves ANOTHER message.* He's so gonna be sick of me soon. LOL

@htrent: yeah, I had that boilerplate language but I did, so far, negotiate it down from the entire length of the copyright to a way shorter period of years (I think it's 5, but don't have it in front of me.) So they are willing to work with authors on that.

@Fluffbunny: I totally forgot about the subscription service thing. I will have to send off an email to them to see just how that works.

Thanks everyone for your responses so far!
 

gingerwoman

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For reasons I don't really know a lot of people I know are choosing this publisher.
 

L.E.Olteano

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Sux to hear it. I've got a title with them coming out this month, so aside the editing & such I haven't had much experience with CR. So far it's been a positive experience though and I've been talking to 2 editors who work there, aside the acquisitions one. They're very fast in replying to any emails and questions, open to discussions about promo, and quick to solve whatever I throw their way.
What I do know is that there are some changes going on over there. There's a new imprint manager & acquisitions editor, for instance.

Anyone else had issues with them or negative experiences?
 

Stacia Kane

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The content of that post:

A number of authors I speak with every day online have been afraid to post to this forum because they are afraid of damaging their public reputations.

I decided to come on to post a warning to authors regarding Crimson Romance. Please know that both RWA and WriterBeware are investigating practices at Crimson.

These concern the subscription service. Authors earn about fifty cents per month per titles. Non payment - royalty statements were not sent to many authors, many had difficulty collecting payment, and many sales were 'inadvertently' left off of the statements.

Also from an author standpoint, F+W's policy is that romance novels only get one edit. Other imprints/genres appear to have full edits.

Please know that for most authors sales have been paltry. Many who shared their royalty statements in private forums have not sold more than thirty copies. Check the sales rankings for the books. Buy and read one or two before you decide to submit.

I also draw your attention to the following post on DearAuthor that should give writers who are considering submissions to Crimson pause: http://dearauthor.com/news/thursday-news-4/#comment-545238

If you have any questions, please send me a private message and I will try to answer.
 

girlyswot

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For reasons I don't really know a lot of people I know are choosing this publisher.

I've noticed that too. Until today I didn't know much about them. Now I'm wondering if it's because they're offering contracts to a lot of writers to fill their subscription requirements quickly.

I really don't get it. I pay $12.99 and can download their entire catalogue? That.... seems like a bargain as a reader and not such a good deal for their authors. I guess I could understand it if you only had access to each month's books. That would be like the traditional Harlequin subscription. But to give access to everything? Weird.
 
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FluffBunny

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Fifty cents a month for their books? *boggles* Their authors deserve a heck of a lot better than that!

CR also states on their submissions page that they're seeking what amounts to slash fic of classics for their "Wild and Wanton" line -- http://www.crimsonromance.com/submissions/ Really? Rewriting something like A Tale of Two Cities and inserting sex scenes between characters? I'm not objecting on the grounds of prudishness, but that seems like being more than a little disrespectful to the intentions and writing of the original authors. I would be more than a little cranked (and likely break out my hand-and-a-half sword) if someone decided that a book I wrote needed to be "spiced up".

ETA: At least Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was meant as a parody.
 
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oh_my_words

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A first year is tough for any imprint/publisher/hey--any business. There will always be growing pains. It looks like CR is making changes and addressing concerns and that's a plus. In the end, they have to deliver. We'll see if they do going forward. Crimson Author's concerns and those addressed at Dear Author are legit, but they can be addressed going forward. I've read quite a few CR books. Some should probably never have been published (ouch, I know that hurts and I hate saying it, but it's true). The authors of those books will not have been happy anywhere. Quite a few CR books were rejected by big houses after much consideration. Those are very good books that just didn't fit a certain category's "formula" elsewhere. I've very much enjoyed those books and am happy they got the chance to be published.

Read this post: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8227782&postcount=1029 : it shows not even the big houses can ensure sales.

As with any new imprint, the first two years are crucial. I'm watching to see what happens. Everyone else must make their own decision: take a chance on a new imprint or wait and see. I totally respect both decisions.
 

KatMo

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I am definitely going to wait to sign anything until I get an answer on the subscription thing. Although that might be a good deal for the reader, I'm a bit nervous as to what it means for how much an author would make per book. (To me, it seems like it would be close to nothing.) I'm not looking to make enough dough on this book to quit my day job (although wouldn't that be awesome?!) but I would like to make the royalty % on the cover price of the book, not some subscription thingy where my share would be watered down.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Fifty cents a month for their books?

Don't laugh at fifty cents a month. That's the magic of long-tail marketing on the Internet.... At the end of a year the author will have earned six buck for their novel and that's enough to buy a combo meal at McDonald's!

In just over three hundred years they'll have earned as much as they'd have gotten in advance from almost any reasonable commercial press. I can't see why someone would turn that deal down.
 

FluffBunny

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Don't laugh at fifty cents a month. That's the magic of long-tail marketing on the Internet.... At the end of a year the author will have earned six buck for their novel and that's enough to buy a combo meal at McDonald's!

In just over three hundred years they'll have earned as much as they'd have gotten in advance from almost any reasonable commercial press. I can't see why someone would turn that deal down.

Shoot! Had I had children, someone several generations from now could've been rolling in cash! *kicks self for short-sightedness* ;)

Oy. That's $3.19 less than minimum wage for one hour's worth of work in my state. For the amount of time an author spends writing, editing and revising, that's just criminal in my opinion.
 

CrimsonAuthor

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A Warning for authors submitting to Crimson Romance (F+W Media imprint)

(xposting from a different thread)

A number of authors I speak with every day online have been afraid to post to this forum because they are afraid of damaging their public reputations.

I decided to come on to post a warning to authors regarding Crimson Romance. Please know that both RWA and WriterBeware are investigating practices at Crimson.

These concern the subscription service. Authors earn about fifty cents per month per titles. Non payment - royalty statements were not sent to many authors, many had difficulty collecting payment, and many sales were 'inadvertently' left off of the statements.

Also from an author standpoint, F+W's policy is that romance novels only get one edit. Other imprints/genres appear to have full edits.

Please know that for most authors sales have been paltry. Many who shared their royalty statements in private forums have not sold more than thirty copies. Check the sales rankings for the books. Buy and read one or two before you decide to submit.

I also draw your attention to the following post on DearAuthor that should give writers who are considering submissions to Crimson pause: http://dearauthor.com/news/thursday-...comment-545238

If you have any questions, please send me a private message and I will try to answer.
 

CrimsonAuthor

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A first year can be tough. There is no excuse, however, for poor editing, or non-payment. An author recently asked fellow authors on a public forum to help re edit her book because the publisher refuses. This is after a new management structure has been put into place. Same new.
 

L.E.Olteano

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So what you're saying is authors who had royalties bigger than the minimum stipulated in the contract didn't get their reports and royalties on the dates specified in the contracts, or the next term if the clause applies?

They decided to re-edit the MS after the production round of edits, after the novel was published? I think by contract once you've done your part in the production process it's considered a done deal, so to speak, and not just with CR. They won't go back on it, the time to check and ask for edits is during the production process, or forever hold your silence pretty much. What kind of edits are we talking about, typos, substantial, what?

I'm just trying to understand the situation and what you're saying here, because it's all just kind of vague. Are you saying CR is breaking contract terms with some authors? Or that there's some displeasure with results and the overall process for some authors? Because they're different things, imo, and while the latter is not pleasant, it's the first that really is a reason for worry.
 

gingerwoman

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Rumours of non payment are always very upsetting to hear, especially since I know a number of people who've signed with this press.
 

CrimsonAuthor

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What I am saying is authors asked about the first missed royalty period. We were told, there was no statement because there were no royalties. When the second period came and some authors had unknown numbers carried over, the response was, yes statements were generated for that first period but we 'forgot' to send them out. The second royalty period was spotty. Some were lost, not generated, or according to Crimson, did not need to be generated because sales figures were cut off 'some time' in November though the royalty period ended December 31. Many authors were not paid despite repeated attempts to collect royalties. Perhaps they all finally got paid, I do not know. I haven't followed up with every author who complained in a private loop about non payment.

The editing issue often arises after authors turned in their manuscript after their first and ONLY round of edits, the manuscript - in many cases - was not reviewed - by someone other than the author - before publication.

Editors notes, etcetera remained in published versions. Authors have tried to have these kinds of eggregious errors fixed after publication with mixed results. Authors who tried to fix their own manuscripts before publication have been rebuffed because problems couldn't be fixed in the tight production schedule.

There is new management in place and we were told things would change. Authors know there are very big problems with their books and are trying to get them fixed with a new Executive Editor in place. Sure, edits after publication are generally unheard of. But so are horrible errors to the tune of more than ten or twenty in a book.

Is Crimson breaking contract terms. Yes. They agreed to competently edit the books and pay royalties. In many cases they are not doing that bare minimum before and after pubication.
 

L.E.Olteano

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I think the major issues being discussed here are addressed in this article by Victoria Strauss.

I for one see a lot of potential in CR, more so since the new management, and have yet to experience any unpleasantness in our collaboration.
Fingers crossed I'll say the same six months or a year from now. :)
 

articshark

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Does anyone know who the new Executive Director is?
 

Jamiekswriter

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Does anyone know who the new Executive Director is?


From Publisher's Lunch: "Tara Gelsomino has joined F+W Media's Crimson Romance digital/POD imprint as executive editor. She was most recently executive marketing manager at AudioGO."
 
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Author! Author!

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1st Year Growing Pains...Sorry, but no.

I for one see a lot of potential in CR, more so since the new management, and have yet to experience any unpleasantness in our collaboration.
Fingers crossed I'll say the same six months or a year from now. :)

I held that hope too long. And every week seems to bring a new screw up at Crimson Romance. The Writer Beware post only scratched the surface. Read the comments in that post. They reflect a lot of what is happening.

The 2 biggest red flags against any publisher is lack of proper editing and non-payment of royalties. Crimson is guilty of both and doesn't show any signs of turning things around.

What Crimson Romance Author said above about an author asking other Crimson authors for help editing her book because Crimson refused to edit it for her...COMPLETELY TRUE. And this is under the new managing editor. I've seen a lot of talk about change, but no real change.

I can't stress this enough... STAY AWAY FROM CRIMSON ROMANCE. Stay far, far away.