HI,
Shinzy, and welcome to AW.
Shinzy:
This seems a little harsh considering the company seem very professional. They might have one book but it's listed on all major sites for Pre-Order. Seems ligit to me.
This Forum is for sharing any information about publishers, agents and other book service providers. It's not an indictment on the publisher (if you check out the index, you'll find plenty of perfectly legitimate publishers, agents and other providers on here), but rather a way of asking questions.
Can I ask how you found out about Centrinian given that they do appear to be set up as a self-publishing outfit first and foremost?
It seems to me that Centrinian are trying to publish well. It's good that they're beginning their marketing prior to their first book's release in May 2012 and that they're already listed on Amazon for hardback and paperback versions. However, I'd point out that hardback books for YA audiences don't tend to do well unless the author is already well known or the publisher is really pushing it and the £9.74 price, although better than a lot of self-published books, is still more than other hardbacks (e.g. I've recently bought David Almond's latest book THE TRUE TALE OF THE MONSTER BILLY DEAN from Amazon for £7.29).
The trailer is certainly very slick, but there are a few things that I'd question about it. For example, they have the caption "Failure is not an option" immediately before the caption "It happens every 26,000 years" and the first time I saw it, I thought they meant that failure happens every 26,000 years.
Then they have the caption: "Only a few ever survive" and "This time ..." then "No-one will", which in addition to being opaque seems to me to be contradictory and confused.
Then there's the fact that although the book isn't available until May 2012, there's already a review up on Goodreads, which would be great except that the review is by "Centrinian", i.e. the publisher and the review doesn't actually tell you anything about the book:
Centrinian's Goodreads Review:
Brilliant read for the present and future generation of teen readers. Mythology at its best. An absolute must read. Full of adrenaline, adventure, magic, mystery and a fantastic plot sure to be a hit.
It's not great advertising for the book and to be honest, they'd be better served getting ARCs out to some of the YA book blogs out there to get some honest feedback rather than reviewing it themselves. It's a classic newbie error.
There's no information on whether the books will be stored within bookstores (note that being available to order from a bookshop is not the same as being available within a bookshop) and there's no information about electronic copies, which is really a must in this day and age.
I'd also be concerned about how the publisher is going to operate with third party authors because the concern is always that the publisher's relatives end up getting priority on marketing and distribution.
Centrinian Publishing Limited is properly incorporated in the UK and has been since 5th August 2011. That's good news and shows they want to do things properly. The bad news is that it looks to me like the company's registered to a residential address and you should check out what the share capital is and its assets because if it goes under, you might not get your money back (it's not uncommon for companies to be set up with only £100 share capital) and you'd have no recourse against the individuals. Plus if it goes under (which many publishers do within the first 2 years of trading), it can take your rights with it. There are many cautionary tales on these boards about people who've been left in limbo by companies going under.
To be honest, I'd recommend to anyone thinking about this publisher to wait for a year in order to get sales figures because that will get you an idea of how effective they are.
Shinzy:
It's always good to be aware but I think it's only fair to give them a chance to prove themselve before slandering them.
Shinzy, you're new here so you should do yourself a favour and go and have a look at the boards and the Newbie guide to see how it all works. Then you should give yourself a quick education on defamation law because if you're going to throw around legal terms it helps to use the right one. For future reference, it's "libel" not "slander". "Libel" is when it's written. "Slander" is when it's spoken. Using the wrong phrase to insult people makes you look like an asshat. Try not to do that.
Shinzy:
Since they're not accepting submissions, there's nothing really to be aware of right now.
So if they're not open to submissions and, apparently won't be until summer 2012, what was your purpose in promoting them on AW? If you're not here in an honest capacity - i.e. you're associated with the company in some way and posting on these boards to promote the book, then there are other ways of doing that. Indeed, there are boards here specifically set up for self-promotion. If you're not going to declare your interest, then you should be prepared for scrutiny and people asking questions. From your behaviour and the wording of your posts I would suggest that you're here to schill the book and to be honest, your snotty attitude hasn't done the book or Centrinian any favours.
MM