I published a 5k short with Torquere in their Masks Off Too! anthology, which was released this past March. Torquere was the first publisher I worked with, so I had no experience and no idea what I should have been expecting.
Now that I have a little more experience and now that I'm working with another publisher, I can kind of see how... not good my experience with Torquere was? Their contracts are fair and their royalty rates are okay (aside from the fact that authors earn zero royalties on print copies), but the editor who worked on my story was not thorough and didn't seem invested in the story at all. The main issue I had with them, however, was promotion.
Torquere's marketing packet for authors lays out Torquere's general marketing attitude: they offer guest spots and guest days on their blogs, Romance for the Rest of Us and their LiveJournal. The packet also states that they send books out to forty review sites, and while not all books are chosen, they "do try." They also suggest promoting on their Yahoo social group, which is the main way that Torquere authors communicate.
Essentially, they give authors ways to promote... to other Torquere authors. There is almost no promotion that goes out outside of Torquere's blogs and social groups. They do not organize blog tours and they do not offer promotional materials to their authors. They suggest that their authors pay to take out ads on various book-related websites or purchase romance trading cards and bookmarks from places like Vistaprint.
I organized a short blog tour for myself when MOT! came out. Aside from a few tweets, Torquere was mostly mum on the release day. The book was listed on Goodreads the week it came out, as opposed to before. The book was not sent out to review sites prior to its release. Authors were given one free print copy, but print copies of the book didn't arrive until almost a month after the publication date.
Five months after MOT!'s publication, it has fourteen ratings on Goodreads, three reviews, and has been added by thirty-four people. Contributing authors were paid $50 each. There were eight of us, so $400--plus the cost of formatting, cover art, and ISBN. Looking at those costs, I can't see how Torquere is making money off the book.
I'm forever going to be grateful that Torquere gave me a chance, since they were the ones who kicked off my publishing career, but I think a lot of their publication process needs work.