[Publisher] Literary Road

kartim said:

Please don't take this in the wrong way James but you say that about all small indie publishers.

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Well, yeah. I wouldn't dream of submitting to a publisher unless I'd read two or three books in my genre that they published. How else do you know what level they're working at?

And if you haven't read or heard of any of their books, why do you think that anyone else will read or hear of your book?

If I could get a NY publisher or agent I would never consider these small publishers. But I don't have connections.

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You don't need connections. Honest.

I've gotten encouraging remarks from the big pubs but no deals and can't get an agent--they are harder than publishers except for the sharks.

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Keep trying.

There's nothing wrong with smaller or indie presses. Just make sure you go to the best small/indie press you can find. The only thing worse than remaining unpublished is to be published badly.

Looking at the About Ussection of their website, it appears to be a two-person company, neither of whom have any experience in publishing.

They seem to be both an e-publisher and a hard copy publisher, but there's no indication of whether and if so how they get books into stores.

MM

kartim said:

Please don't take this in the wrong way James but you say that about all small indie publishers. If I could get a NY publisher or agent I would never consider these small publishers. But I don't have connections. I've gotten encouraging remarks from the big pubs but no deals and can't get an agent--they are harder than publishers except for the sharks.

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I have to echo Uncle Jim's comments - there ARE good small publishers out there, but you have to look for them.

IF the publisher has no distribution set up forget ever seeing your book in stores. If they offer royalties on Net instead of on Cover Price, that's a red flag. If they seem to promote more to their authors than to the public, that's another one.

And if they accept in EVERY genre, how much attention do you think they'll put on YOUR book? You worked hard to create it and now you're going to hand it off to people who may not promote it or worse - print it and then toss the promotion onto your shoulders? Don't you deserve better?

Again - better to not be published at all than published badly. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Thanks for all the input. I turned down Zumaya Publishing but someone went from there to St. Martins and I turned down DSLIJ and here I sit. I had one agent agent say my book was laugh at loud funny and passed, I had an editor at big publishing houses say it was a tough decision to pass. At least my book is getting read--haha. So now what does anybody know about Kunati publishers?

I'm writing my second novel now and selling out a little becasue an editder at Atria was very flattering about my writing but she mainly publishes mysteries and told me to send her my second book when I finished it. So now it's becoming more of a mystery.

My book got a great review on fictionforum.net and still can't get an agent. Saps your writing mojo.

Karen

The thread about Kunati is here.

What do you mean by "someone went from [Zumaya] to St. Martins"?

I take it that this is your first book? By the time you've written your third perhaps you'll understand why it's a near-miss. Lots and lots of us have unsold first novels in our desk drawers. On re-reading them, lots and lots of us want to send flowers to the editors and agents who turned them down, because they saved us the trouble of hunting down, buying, and burning all the extant copies later on.

Gotcha. Her book sold ok at Zumaya and she got an agent and her next book was published by St. Martins.

kartim said:

My book got a great review on fictionforum.net and still can't get an agent. Saps your writing mojo.

Karen

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It's depressing. I know. But you keep going. You write another book, and you learn. And you write another and you learn more. My first book got great compliments, too, from published writers even. It never sold. Neither did my second or my third. My fourth landed me a well-respected agent (the book did that, not any connections I might have had, which are exactly zero), but only after 70 queries. It still hasn't sold.

But I think highly enough of my writing to not want to toss it into a marginal small press's chum bucket, even if it means I have to wait even longer to see my name on the cover.

kartim said:

Anyone know this publisher?

Thanks,
Karen

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I checked them out in Ingram iPage. They have very few hard copies - mostly e-books. The few printed books they have have no stock. They don't have any distribution.

IceCreamEmpress said:

No, he doesn't.

Seriously, what good does it do you to publish a book with a company that can't market it or sell it?

If you're looking for a small press, I recommend you start by querying the presses that have distribution deals in place with reputable independent distributors. There are hundreds of small presses who distribute through Independent Publishers' Group, for instance; why not query them?

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What are some of the best small to medium size publishing houses?

Sharonlind

kartim said:

... she got an agent and her next book was published by St. Martins.

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That was her and her book. Books aren't interchangeable.

Sharonlind said:

What are some of the best small to medium size publishing houses?

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For what kind of book?

James D. Macdonald said:

For what kind of book?

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Sorry, I should have been more specific.

Non-fiction--Psychology, Empowerment, Culture, Societal Trends & Issues, Health and Well Being

Sharonlind said:

Sorry, I should have been more specific.

Non-fiction--Psychology, Empowerment, Culture, Societal Trends & Issues, Health and Well Being

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Well, if I were looking, I'd go into my local bookstore and look on the shelves.

Failing that (like if I didn't live where there were bookstores) , I'd scan through the websites of the publishers represented by Independent Publishers Group, Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, and Publishers Group West (which seems to have made a recovery, somewhat, from its bankruptcy filing a while back). For myself, I'd skip AtlasBooks/Bookmasters, but I know some people think they do a good job with distribution.

Anyway, I'd check the websites of those hundreds of publishers and find the ones that seemed most appealing, and who published the most books on my topic.

Once I'd made a list of twenty or thirty possibles, I'd check out those publishers and their books as much as I could. I'd try to find writers' experiences with the publishers by looking here, at Preditors & Editors, at Writer Beware, at Publishers Marketplace, and in Writers Market; I'd try to assess the quality of the books by reading reviews (not so much the Amazon reviews, but reviews in newspapers/magazines/book review websites) and looking at the "Inside the Book" samples online where I could.

Of course, the best way to do this is by getting your hands on the books themselves, at bookstores or at your local library. But if that's not possible, you should be able to do what they call in the consulting business "an environmental scan" online.

Good luck!

Note: The above distributors are US-specific. I can't comment on what the analogous companies or organizations in other countries might be, but Googling "independent publisher distributing" might bring up similar enterprises.

Literary Road wants to publish my book, which thrills me to no end just because it's the first time I got an email with those magical words written on it.

They are starting a new imprint that will be line in the next three weeks that focuses strictly on the paranormal.

So anyone heard anything else about these people recently?

Literary Road

Has anyone got any info on this publisher?

http://www.literaryroad.com

Does anyone know if they still have the four week turnaround time?

bohololita said:

Does anyone know if they still have the four week turnaround time?

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I emailed them. The latest is now a 3-5week turn around. they also do print it seems