Lethe Press

Thanks, eqb!!

Fufluns:

Congratulations! I hope I can find a new publisher as well. I've been mailing a lot of the small gay publishers since then, and whether any of them is kind enough to accept me or not, the level of professionalism and politeness is worlds apart from I was seeing with Lethe.

Keep at it, Vandalous. I'm sure your work will find a home!!

A friend of mine (Jeffrey Ricker) has had good luck with Bold Strokes Press. He speaks very highly of his editor and interaction with them in general.

In the interest of fairness, since I talked of my feelings of paranoia due to lack of communication, I should say that Mr. Berman followed up with me in early January by phone and reaffirmed his commitment to publishing my novel, The Survivors. Since then, communication and progress on the manuscript have been fast, and I received the ARCs yesterday. The book will publish in early October. I've always been attracted to the design and production values of Lethe's books, and I think mine looks as attractive as their other products.

To answer one of the original questions in this thread, the book did receive copy editing by the press itself.

smeads00 said:

To answer one of the original questions in this thread, the book did receive copy editing by the press itself.

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I'm glad to hear that things are going well for you with Lethe, and that your book did receive copyediting from the press. You're right, the production values for Lethe are very high, and I love their covers.

My only problem with copyedits is that I never had a chance to review the copyedited ms., even though that was part of my contract. Obviously that was just an oversight, but it was annoying to have to fix things at the galley stage.

This is a long and sometimes acrimonious thread where the infantile attitude from some of the writers should surprise me but I feel I'm beyond being surprised by unprofessional conduct on public forums any more.

I recommend Lethe one hundred per cent. Steve may not operate a writers group for writers to gush at how wonderful everyone is, he may not spend hours emailing his authors and stroking their egos but what he does do is find good writers, wonderful stories and critically acclaimed books which do nothing but increase the reputation of a small but respected press.

Not to mention great covers and great sales. My novels with Lethe have sold better in one quarter than others for an entire year with other-just as small-publishers.

This forum (Water Cooler, not just this thread) is for professional people who want answers before they jump into contracts and the like - I wish people would remember this before posting juvenile personal attacks.

Erastes said:

This is a long and sometimes acrimonious thread where the infantile attitude from some of the writers should surprise me but I feel I'm beyond being surprised by unprofessional conduct on public forums any more.

I recommend Lethe one hundred per cent. Steve may not operate a writers group for writers to gush at how wonderful everyone is, he may not spend hours emailing his authors and stroking their egos but what he does do is find good writers, wonderful stories and critically acclaimed books which do nothing but increase the reputation of a small but respected press.

Not to mention great covers and great sales. My novels with Lethe have sold better in one quarter than others for an entire year with other-just as small-publishers.

This forum (Water Cooler, not just this thread) is for professional people who want answers before they jump into contracts and the like - I wish people would remember this before posting juvenile personal attacks.

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Yeah...he's an idiot. I queried him with a book (which I later sold), he told me he was interested and wanted me not to send it anywhere else, and that he needed a week to read it and give me an answer. I said fine.

Two weeks later I hadn't heard from him so I emailed him, he told me to give him a few more days, and then asked me not to send it anywhere else.

A month later I emailed him again, no reply and I never heard a word from him.

People "personally attack" him because he deserves it.

Lethe publishes great books, and Steve is a great editor. His tendency to lash out at his authors is not so great. With me, he dropped the ball on copyedits, contributor copies to Jim Kelly (who wrote my introduction) and Vinny Chong (the artist), tax forms, and basic communication not just with me but with his own staff. When I complained, he dropped my book and lied about me. His last letter to my agent was a wish that I would not sell any more books.

That's more than a simple lack of communication. That's abusive behavior.

And I'm not the only author with that kind of experience with Lethe.

Unimportant said:

I think there's general agreement that Lethe acquires excellent books and creates lovely covers, but the owner/publisher sometimes drops the ball or fails to communicate in a timely manner. As with any press, for some authors the Lethe system will be fine, while for others it'll drive 'em nuts. In any event, personal attacks aren't helpful.

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I actually think they are helpful. I have communicated with numerous publishers, of them all I would only classify one as an idiot.

That is about as helpful as it gets.

I am a Lethe Press author and have had an excellent working relationship with them. The publisher has nurtured my novel, The Butcher's Sons to success (including a great recent review on Kirkus Reviews). Professional, smart and forward thinking. I have only great things to say in recommending Lethe.

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bergdorfboy said:

I am a Lethe Press author and have had an excellent working relationship with them. The publisher has nurtured my novel, The Butcher's Sons to success (including a great recent review on Kirkus Reviews). Professional, smart and forward thinking. I have only great things to say in recommending Lethe.

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I am Scott Alexander Hess, author of The Butcher's Sons http://www.scottalexanderhess.com/

I posted about my experiences with Lethe quite some time ago, mainly about lack of communication. I can say that particular issue was brought on by the publisher, Steve Berman, caring for his dying father over many months, so that certainly explains a lot of the radio silence from that time period. I just think the press somewhat fell by the wayside for him during that time period, and I think that's understandable, though it did cause me quite a bit of anxiety at the time because I didn't know why there was silence from his end.

Lack of communication has never been a problem in our subsequent author-publisher relationship, and I talk to Steve by email and on the phone fairly regularly (more email than phone, but that's my preference) about projects and marketing opportunities.

The Survivors, my first novel with Lethe, was finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in 2013. Lethe published my second novel, Lord Byron's Prophecy, this October. The editing process was extensive--three separate rounds--and Lethe hired Scottish author Hal Duncan as the manuscript's editor. I didn't pay for anything, and it was a very good experience that I think produced a far better book than I originally crafted.

I did pay for some promotional items, like making a book trailer, but I don't think most publishers tend to put up the money for that anyway. I think Lethe has some of the same problems that most small publishers have when it comes to insufficient marketing budgets, and that's compounded a bit by Lethe's determination to represent LGBT issues in speculative fiction--which isn't likely to ever produce a mainstream blockbuster. The only other negative thing I can think about Lethe is that they were once two months late paying royalties. But I was sent a notice in advance of that, and otherwise royalties have been paid like clockwork too.

So my own experience with Lethe has been very good. As always with a manuscript, you should start at the top of the publishing chain and work your way down; but by no means should you feel like you've settled for second-best (or third- or fourth-best, whatever you want to label it) if you're fortunate enough to get an acceptance from Lethe. Their catalog of authors isn't paltry by any means, with books by Richard Bowes, Tanith Lee (the reason I submitted to Lethe in the first place), Lee Thomas, Christopher Barzak, and so many others. Associating with a publishing house that features winners or finalists for the World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, Lambda Literary Award, Stoker Award, and Shirley Jackson Award isn't something to be ashamed of as a general rule.

Sure, late royalties, having to pay for your own promotional materials, and him coming on here and bullying everyone. He sounds great!

In the realm of funny coincidence, Steve Berman just today posted one-star reviews of (nearly) all my stories and books on Goodreads, including one story he bought for his Magic in the Mirrorstone anthology. Make of that what you will.

(Me, I feel sorry for the dude. He's a talented editor, but he has some serious issues.)

I don't care what his business is like. That kind of behavior is going to cause problems.

I just want him to leave me alone. And I'm tired of people making excuses for him.

I have published with Lethe Press. My collection, Comrades-in-Arms: Stories, came out this fall. Prior to that, I had a short story in the anthology, Time Well Bent. The publisher, Steve Berman, also edited an anthology for Prime Books and solicited a story from me for Zombies: Shambling through the Ages. I've found Mr. Berman easy to work with and have received payments in timely fashion. I was never asked to pay for copy editing and my collection was indeed professionally copy edited and designed. I was able to proof the manuscript before publication and even had input into the cover art. I've been very happy with the professionalism of the press and am proud to call myself a Lethe author.

bergdorfboy said:

I am a Lethe Press author and have had an excellent working relationship with them. The publisher has nurtured my novel, The Butcher's Sons to success (including a great recent review on Kirkus Reviews). Professional, smart and forward thinking. I have only great things to say in recommending Lethe.

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smeads00 said:

So my own experience with Lethe has been very good. As always with a manuscript, you should start at the top of the publishing chain and work your way down; but by no means should you feel like you've settled for second-best (or third- or fourth-best, whatever you want to label it) if you're fortunate enough to get an acceptance from Lethe.

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roakes said:

I've been very happy with the professionalism of the press and am proud to call myself a Lethe author.

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All three of you seem to have no posts except for those in this thread. Given that none of you are regulars here: what prompted you to come here and post?

I hope this isn't rude. I'm just curious. It's unusual for three new posters to show up at the same time to defend the same publisher.

Viridian said:

All three of you seem to have no posts except for those in this thread. Given that none of you are regulars here: what prompted you to come here and post?

I hope this isn't rude. I'm just curious. It's unusual for three new posters to show up at the same time to defend the same publisher.

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Hi - I have a few comments I'd like to contribute to this discussion.

Firstly, in the interest of full disclosure: yes, this is my first post, and I am writing in here because the discussion has been drawn to my attention by Lethe and by a couple of the other authors who publish with them (which I imagine addresses the concern quoted above.) Whilst I understand this might be construed as 'calling in the cavalry' or similar, I'd still like to suggest that that doesn't devalue either mine or any of the other Lethe authors comments. None of us are employed by Lethe, and we all have our own reputations to maintain irrespective of who we publish with. I personally do a lot of work with Lethe - I have published fiction with them, have two anthologies forthcoming from them as editor, and I also do a great deal of work behind the scenes, including cover design and social media management, so I am probably the one person aside form Steve Berman with the most in-depth understanding of what happens behind the scenes at Lethe. I do all of this on a freelance basis, and I also do all of these jobs for other companies - I note this because I would like to stress that my own personal reputation and integrity is important, and that the contents of this post are honest and not just 'spin'.

To address a couple of the general issues that have been raised across this thread:

1. Lethe authors are *not* asked to pay for editors for their work. This is black and white. Whilst it is true that there is an expectation that manuscripts are submitted in as clean a state as possible, that's not peculiar to Lethe, it's industry standard, and I whole-heartedly subscribe to the notion that *any* author submitting a manuscript to *any* publisher should not be submitting something which is sub-par on a simple spelling and grammar level. By my estimate, roughly fifty per cent of novel manuscripts that Lethe publish are edited by Steve himself on a first-pass basis; many are then covered by a copy-editor (one who, I can confirm from having working with him, is almost-frustratingly stringent!) and I can name several manuscripts that have also gone through rounds of editing from established writer-editors (including the award-winning Hal Duncan) though this is usually more about content and story than it is about copy-editing. And of course there is a degree of business-consciousness to how much investment is placed into the editing, but I can categorically confirm that a) all manuscripts see editing to one degree or another and b) no author has ever been asked to pay for this service. I can't speak to wording of contracts of those who have commented, but I can confirm that all the contracts I have both received from Lethe for my own work and issued to those people featured in my two anthologies does not contain any wording that would suggest a writer would have to.

2. I also can't speak to issues of late royalties, etc., other than to point out that with any small press publisher cash flow is naturally an issue, and that on most occasions when payments have been late the author has been informed beforehand. I'm not saying this as an ideal situation, but I am stating this as a business reality, and anyone who has any extensive experience of working with small presses will understand this. I can't comment specifically on any of the complaints that have been raised in this thread because I don't have any personal knowledge of them, but I'd like to point out that a majority of issues raised are over four or five years old. I have no intention of defending any issues that have arisen in the past, but I think more importantly for a thread whose purpose is determining whether a writer wishes to submit to a press it's worth noting that none of these issues have arisen in the last half-a-decade. I imagine all companies have issues in their past; what's important is the publisher now.

3. Re: an above comment about Lethe 'making authors pay for their own marketing materials'. Phrasing it like that is misrepresentative. Lethe does all the usual marketing within the constraints of its budget. The particular example (Sean Eads regarding his book Lord Byron's Prophecy) was a case of an author looking at what else they could do to boost their book, and the publisher putting them in contact with someone who could produce media (in this case, the person was me, as I was the designer who produced the trailer.) A book trailer is above and beyond what most publishers would produce to market a book; in the case of this book, and all of its other books, Lethe marketed to the best of its abilities, and did not require an author to finance any of it.

4. Placing a book out of print is a publisher's prerogative. This is always true; unless otherwise stated, contracts do not specify a length of time that a book must remain in print (though they may state a length of time after going out of print that rights revert to the author.) I'm not going to comment on the rights or wrongs of placing an author who has publicly defamed their publisher out of print, but more crucially I can say, for the sake of both Lethe and himself, Steve Berman would not place a book out of print if it was still selling no matter personal feelings towards the author -- the need for a small press to sell books and make money is placed above all others. If however a book is *not* selling, and the author clearly does not wish to work with the publisher, then the situation becomes a different matter. (For what it's worth - if I publicly criticised any of the publishers I worked with, or any of the companies I have worked with as an employee, I would expect immediate termination of any contracts or employment. That isn't bullying by a publisher or employer, that is business, and I think anyone savvy in the way of the world understands that.)

As I've said at the start, my personal reputation and integrity is important to me. As such, I have no intention of defending any person actions of Steve Berman when it comes to personal disagreements with individuals who have been his author. I've worked with him in a number of capacities and I would describe him as follows: frank, insightful and blunt. I've worked with very large number of editors; many of them were very nice people, but that didn't make them good editors. Steve is the best editor I've ever worked with. Quite often (as a freelance designer and as a writer) this means that I have to have a very thick skin, but that is the nature of publishing. In the case of a personal disagreement, Steve can be very forthright; I don't want to pass judgement on this or the interactions that brings about, and I absolutely don't believe that a personal disagreement should spill out into professional engagement. (For what it's worth, I consider this to go both ways: I don't believe grievances should be made public from either the publisher of the authors, but I also do not think that a response such as one-star reviews is acceptable either. That particular response is unfortunate, but also not representative of dealing with Steve in general.)

The bottom line for any writer considering publication with a press though is the results they will achieve. Small presses are never going to buy you your island in Barbados, but if you wish to publish LGBT fiction with a press with a solid reputation for putting out high-quality literature, has a *very* strong track record of winning awards (five Lambda awards in a *row* for Speculative Fiction, and a litter of others), is reviewed in major publications, has a strong pull with libraries and independent bookstores and a stable of critically-acclaimed and well-known names (Tanith Lee, Richard Bowes, Hal Duncan, Melissa Scott...) then Lethe is the right home for you. If your concern is with Steve Berman personally, I can vouch that he is an exceptionally good editor, with great respect for dedicated and talented writers, and I'm not the first person to do so on this thread. As I've said, I've worked with quite a number of small presses, and given the choice I would always place my work with Lethe.

Matthew Bright

A couple things:

By my estimate, roughly fifty per cent of novel manuscripts that Lethe publish are edited by Steve himself on a first-pass basis; many are then covered by a copy-editor

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I wish my collection had been edited, or even copyedited. My contract certainly spoke about copyedits. I had to do my own copyedits at the galley stage. Granted, all but one of the stories had been published in other venues, but one was new for the collection.

(For what it's worth - if I publicly criticised any of the publishers I worked with, or any of the companies I have worked with as an employee, I would expect immediate termination of any contracts or employment. That isn't bullying by a publisher or employer, that is business, and I think anyone savvy in the way of the world understands that.)

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Good thing I didn't make a public post about Lethe, then. I made a private post speaking about snow, unemployment, more snow, and some general observations about how publishing with large or small publishers isn't always sunshine-and-roses. The next day, Steve put my collection out of print. Make of that what you will.

I complained to Goodreads about the one-star reviews. They are now gone, though similar attack ratings remain for other authors. As you said, some of these issues are from five years ago. That the owner of a press would suddenly lash out at me, for no reason at all, does not speak well of his professionalism. Which is a shame, because as I tell everyone, Lethe does good work.

This isn't how you conduct business. That alone would be reason enough for me never to even think of working with Lethe in any capacity.

There's nothing personal about this. That this thread has obviously been passed around the entire carousel of authors and staff every few months as some sort of attack speaks volumes about how this company reacts to mistakes. Every company makes mistakes. It either learns and adapts or it (eventually) fails, taking books and people with it. There have been countless examples of publishers having flaws and mistakes pointed out on AW. Some engage and fix them and that says a lot to prospective authors. So too when some get defensive--if you can't take crit, you're in the wrong business. It's a mindset thing. If you really, really think a complaint is baseless, ignore it. Basic business best practice.

That's all it is. To any author coming across this thread: the signs are all there for you to make your own decision.

I've bought Lethe books. I have friends who are published by Lethe. I was one of the people who stood up and said "Hell, *no*" some years ago when an author who couldn't take mild criticism in a anthology review tried to drive Berman into committing suicide. And when Bergdorfboy made his first ever post here as a spirited defence of Lethe in a thread that had been dormant for over a year, I thought to myself, "Oh god, what's going on elsewhere that Steve Berman feels the need to rally the troops, and how many more of these glowing character references are we going to get over the next few days?"

Guys, this is not doing Lethe any good. All you're doing with this attempt to swamp the thread is making Lethe look like a cult. mbright may be correct about the issues discussed in this thread having been some time in the past. They *were* some time in the past, but you've just brought them bang up to date by making it extremely obvious that the troops are expected to turn out and support the collective. It's one of the classic "run away!" markers for sensible authors considering the likelihood of a press imploding and taking their rights with it. As someone who appreciates the existence of Lethe and would like it to go on existing - please stop doing this.