Whiskey Creek Press

I like to check out all venues for future reference.

Hi, WCP is publishing my novel, BOUND BY BLOOD, in January 2007.

They are mainly an e-publisher but you can arrange to have your novel also published in trade paperback. The company who does the paperbacks for them charge a one time set up fee of $90. Other than that, there are no charges and they are a royalty-paying publisher with a pretty good track record, mainly in the romance department.

Whiskey Creek--"All ye who enter, abandon all hope"

Whiskey Creek Press is without question the poorest excuse for an e-book peddler that exists!

I have been scammed and burned by this thoroughly disreputable bunch of losers!
From the hack editors who will destroy your work ruthlessly until it bears no resemblance to your submission and then gloat that they're doing you a favor.

Once they've gouged you for their trumped up "fees", your submission can remain in limbo indifferently. When they do get around to it, in a year or so, they are indifferent, argumentative, disrespectful and completely unprofessional.

No writer can ever be so desperate that they would enter into the nightmare of doing business with this bunch of losers!

My book, BOUND BY BLOOD was just released at Whiskey Creek Press www.whiskeycreekpress.com I had some trouble connecting with the editor in the beginning but have no problems to report so far.

Whiskey Press charges fees? I have never heard that about them. Ever.

I won't even touch the editing thing.

I believe Neurofizz's first novel was published by WCP. You may want to check with him for his input.

Whiskey Press charges fees? I have never heard that about them. Ever.

I won't even touch the editing thing.

Christine, the e-book production services are free. The POD paperback option requires a $95 first time startup cost. So they are charging just under a hundred bucks for a print version, if you are so inclined to go that route. I don't know whether this is a conflict of interest or not. I don't know if the marketing for the print book is any more extensive than the e-book version. I guess it's a matter of choice.

Tri

Oh, ok. I see. I've always heard good things about them.

I've been told that Whiskey Creek contracts have a buyout clause--if you want to get your rights back, you must pay the publisher a fee. Could someone with a contract confirm whether or not this is so? Thanks.

- Victoria

Is a buyout fee considered unusual, even after edits or art have been completed?

I know many authors with Whiskey Creek. They are one of the few that will take any genre if they like the writing. They do have a buyout fee for early termination of the contract. That money does not go to reimburse editors or artists who get paid per copy sold. From the last person I spoke with, that money goes straight to Whiskey Creek. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

If you choose to cancel just the print option after signing, they still demand the set up fee even if no set up was ever done.

I've heard many epubs turning to this fee option even if they offer no print books. Again, the money is not for operating costs but loss of time. Rumor has it that some authors were waiting until their work was edited then cancelling the contract to try to find a better publisher. I don't know if that's true or not.

I don't mind buyout fees if the money was spent for work on the book. An artist shouldn't spend time making a cover for free. The same goes for the editor. These small places don't pay people up front for work, everyone is on royalties.

Well, some of these small places don't pay for art or editing up front--others do.

Haggis said:

I believe Neurofizz's first novel was published by WCP. You may want to check with him for his input.

Click to expand...

Neuro shared his personal experience with the publisher in this thread.

The problem with a buyout clause is that the publisher can hold it over an unhappy author's head, essentially holding rights for ransom. If an unhappy author wants to get out of a contract, but the publisher wants to recoup its investment, it can simply refuse to provide early termination. Like a reading fee, a buyout clause is an invitation to abuse.

- V

I noticed they've got two MySpace pages:

http://www.myspace.com/whiskeycreekpress

http://www.myspace.com/whiskeycreekpresstorrid

The romance division tried to friend me, which is how I found out, but I wasn't sure so I declined. The publisher sounds like it might be on the iffy side from posts here. While I'll friend authors that I don't know, I'm reluctant to friend agents or publishers that are unknown or that sound even slightly iffy. It might be seen as an endorsement and I might thusly lead some poor soul to get fleeced. I'd rather avoid that chance than err on the side of good faith.

I just read the WCP submission guidelines:

'WE DO NOT ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS IN MICROSOFT WORKS, MAC, OR WORD PERFECT FORMATS'

Does this mean no one with a Mac can submit?

It means you have to click 'save as doc' or 'save as rtf' which is not that difficult.

What's a MAC? I thought they are Macs. Silly me ;P

Oh. Thanks, veinglory.

I heard the same thing about the start up fee of 90$.

They have published two of my books and they do a lot with sending out the books for review, publicity, etc., which is a good thing. The only thing that stops me from submitting anything else is that $90 set up fee. Time will tell if my sales earn it out.

I would hope that wouldn't take long across both formats. IMHO most small e/POD presses should move 100 copies or so right out of the gate.

p.s. if you release only the ebook there is no fee.

Actually, the eBook won't make any money unless there is quite a bit of volume. Sales of eBooks and paperbacks via the Whiskey Creek site pay the royalties stated in the contract, but those via "third party sales" which means anyone else's site, are "less expenses."

I've seen a Whiskey Creek royalty statement, and sales via Fictionwise pay approximately 3%, or less than twenty cents on a $5.99 download. The Whiskey Creek authors I know have reported more sales via the third party outlets, so low payments are the norm.

For the POD books, Whiskey Creek entrusts the Amazon listing and fulfillment to the printer's Amazon marketplace seller, which upprices the books and charges shipping, making a book which lists for $13.95 at the Whiskey Creek site cost over twenty dollars. Most customers won't pay that for a trade paperback book.

The only way to make back the set up fee is to buy copies at the author discount and resell them for whatever profit can be had.

Hi, scifi. It's good to see you join the discussion.

Welcome to AW.