Bumblebee Publishers

Unimportant · May 17, 2007

I received an email today from Bumblebee Publishers, who told me they'd found my email address on the net and invited me to contact them if I've got something worth their while to consider.

They describe themselves as "a newly established book publishing entity... a result of the diversification effort of our parent company, Ethos embassy - a well established corporate communication company headquartered at New Delhi, India. Banking on our decade long experience in event management, corporate brand building, live events, PR, bulk publishing etc, Bumblebee is our conscious take on book publishing."

www.bumblebeepublishers.com

I looked at their website but ended up more confused. Does anyone know what, exactly, Bumblebee is/does? They don't look like a traditional scammer like PubliSHAMerica, but neither do they look like a normal publisher.

veinglory · May 17, 2007

They have two books listed but no apparent point of sale yet. No indication whatsoever of how they will publish and distribute. No direct (fiction) experience and a lot of bombast on the website.

--and they are solicite authors...

The website does not inspire confidence with sentences like these:

"Print publishing, in the world that has seen, off late, an unmatched entertainment proliferation, though has taken a back seat indeed, much as many pundits had anticipated, but has refused to bow down totally in the face of competition by other infotainment avatars."

Beyond that, who can say... file under small press, no acheivements so far, perhaps sans clue.

Unimportant · May 17, 2007

I agree, V, they don't smell right. While the odd English is probably a product of this being an Indian company, some red flags were there -- the senior editor is the wife of one of their two current authors. They talk about their lists of book chains and distributers without actually giving any names. They say they provide top notch editing, cover art, etc, and they're advertising for an editor with a mention of pay rates unmatched in the industry. But their books don't seem to be for sale anywhere, not even Amazon.

I was expecting to see the "we want to help new authors" and "we expect authors to promote their books and to invest in them" claptrap that signals an author's wallet is about to be squeezed, but didn't notice anything like that.....yet.

Does anyone know anything about Bumblebee?

Silver King · May 17, 2007

Unimportant said:
Does anyone know anything about Bumblebee?

They sell mighty fine tuna fish in a can. It's better than Star-Kist, even.

victoriastrauss · May 17, 2007

Another red flag, from their Our Publications page:

In just a short span of first month in this newly established diversified publishing business, we have produced two titles and are in process of negotiating and printing a few more in the coming days.

What this says to me is that they're pretty much just digitizing things, throwing them out there, and hoping for the best. It takes much more than a month to publish a book effectively--not to mention, most professional review venues review three to six months in advance of publication.

- VIctoria

roach · May 17, 2007

veinglory said:
"Print publishing, in the world that has seen, off late, an unmatched entertainment proliferation, though has taken a back seat indeed, much as many pundits had anticipated, but has refused to bow down totally in the face of competition by other infotainment avatars."

Those two words just set off an explosion of cyberpunkish and/or pantheistic images! That there is one of those nuggets a writer could mine for a half a dozen story ideas.

...we now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion of Bumblebee Publishers...

janetbellinger · May 17, 2007

I got that email too but feared it was a vanity pub come-on.

AnneMarble · May 17, 2007

veinglory said:
The website does not inspire confidence with sentences like these:

"Print publishing, in the world that has seen, off late, an unmatched entertainment proliferation, though has taken a back seat indeed, much as many pundits had anticipated, but has refused to bow down totally in the face of competition by other infotainment avatars."

I tried diagramming that sentence but ended up in a Mobius strip. Ahem. And what are infotainment avatars?... Are those something that can be reached by echelon ladders?

veinglory said:
Beyond that, who can say... file under small press, no acheivements so far, perhaps sans clue.

I hope the person who wrote about an unmatched entertainment proliferation isn't the same person who edits the manuscripts.

And I just know someone is gonna come by and flame me for saying that. They'll probably call me an an unmatched infotainment avatar or something like that.

priceless1 · May 17, 2007

Eeek. They called the office a few days ago wondering if we'd be interested in doing business together. My answer: "You're kidding, right?"

abemorgantis · May 17, 2007

They'll probably call me an an unmatched infotainment avatar or something like that.

I gotta use that for a title.

veinglory · May 18, 2007

They're actually calling people? [mind, boggling thereof]

gvm · May 18, 2007

I got this mail too sometime in March, and replied asking for more details. For what its worth, this is the response I got:

We donot have any strict boudaries to stick, at the presnt time as regards
genre within the broad categories our company has indicated. As a thumb
rule, we will go for any genre that has mass appeal. To put it more
bluntly, whatever sells.

Publishing schedule: We have plans to publish six books in Apr this year.
But by August this year we will be able to publish about ten. Let us see
how this works out. So far, the response has been good.

Yes, like any other good publisher we also have a standard
'author-publisher' contract. I am afraid, as a matter of our company poilcy
we discuss this strictly with authors.

Whenever you are ready, please feel free to send a synopsis, a brief bio
and at least three sample chapters.

victoriastrauss · May 19, 2007

gvm said:
Publishing schedule: We have plans to publish six books in Apr this year. But by August this year we will be able to publish about ten. Let us see how this works out. So far, the response has been good.

Right there they disqualify themselves as a professional publisher. Six books a month, a few months after startup? Ten books a month, four months after that? That's way too many for a small company to market effectively--startup independent publishers that want to do it right limit their lists so they can give careful attention to each book. Not to mention, it takes at least a year, not a few weeks, to professionally edit, design, and market a book.

Just another POD operation, IMO.

- Victoria

Enigma101 · Jul 19, 2007

I've been in talks with them for a while. They have accepted my collection of short stories. I've yet to receive the contract, but from the terms they listed, it sounds very much like a P.O.D. You have to buy 150-200 books and they do the marketing, promotion etc.. However. the author gets 8% royalties on the what the distributor pays for the copy.

Get your head around that!

I've sent them an email, asking for a layout of actual cost and what their distribution methods are.

I'm hoping this is the way they run things in India and it isn't just a scam!

veinglory · Jul 19, 2007

If you have to buy over 100 books something is rotten in the state of Bumblebee

DaveKuzminski · Jul 19, 2007

Enigma101 said:
I've been in talks with them for a while. They have accepted my collection of short stories. I've yet to receive the contract, but from the terms they listed, it sounds very much like a P.O.D. You have to buy 150-200 books and they do the marketing, promotion etc.. However. the author gets 8% royalties on the what the distributor pays for the copy.

Get your head around that!

I've sent them an email, asking for a layout of actual cost and what their distribution methods are.

I'm hoping this is the way they run things in India and it isn't just a scam!

Email me a copy of that contract if it arrives. Thanks.

James D. Macdonald · Jul 19, 2007

Enigma101 said:
You have to buy 150-200 books

They're a vanity.

Keep looking; you can do better.

JerseyGirl1962 · Jul 23, 2007

Enigma101 said:
You have to buy 150-200 books

Enigma,

This part sounds like Libros Intl./Wild Cherry Press, and they only set up their marketing department two weeks after they started up. (And the PA model is no better, as they press all those writerly buttons so you'll buy your own books.)

Run away.

And like Uncle Jim said, you can do better.

~Nancy

victoriastrauss · Jul 26, 2007

I'd appreciate a copy of the contract also.

- Victoria

herdon · Jul 26, 2007

The first thing I look at when hitting a publisher's website is whether it is targeted at selling books, or targeted at authors. That one is targeted at authors. Always a big red flag.

CaoPaux · Jan 14, 2010

Site is gone and I'm not finding any books published after 2008. Looks like Ethos Embassy dropped the venture.

Bumblebee Publishers

Unimportant

No COVID yet. Still masking.

veinglory

volitare nequeo

Unimportant

No COVID yet. Still masking.

Silver King

Megalops Erectus

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess

roach

annoyed and annoying

janetbellinger

AnneMarble

Nefarious Ghost Fan

priceless1

abemorgantis

veinglory

volitare nequeo

gvm

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess

Enigma101

veinglory

volitare nequeo

DaveKuzminski

Preditors & Editors

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

JerseyGirl1962

I heart Malamutes! :-)

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess

herdon

What's up?

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless