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Hobbes End Publishing

MysteryRiter

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Hi, everyone! I have been emailing a few small, independent publishers regarding an anthology I am putting together. I found one pubisher who seemed pretty excited about the idea. He is the president of Hobbes End Publishing. I know that they published an anthology that I like, which is how I know of them, but I was wondering if anyone with experience or knowledge of them can give me their opinions. Here is their wesite: http://www.hobbesendpublishing.com/
 

MysteryRiter

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I dont mean to double post, I just want to add that it would work too if you just look at their website and tell me what you think. I'm really interested in opinions, because I just can't tell if a publisher is good or not.
 

CaoPaux

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To start, the site is flash-based: meaning its content is invisible to search engines. Not the best way to establish a presence.

Looks to be another e/POD founded as a self-publishing venture. Covers are fair to mediocre. Of the three books on Amazon, none display a particularly impressive level of editing or sales.
 

MysteryRiter

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Okay. Thank you for your insight!
 

HobbesEndPublishing

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Hobbes End

To start, the site is flash-based: meaning its content is invisible to search engines. Not the best way to establish a presence.

Looks to be another e/POD founded as a self-publishing venture. Covers are fair to mediocre. Of the three books on Amazon, none display a particularly impressive level of editing or sales.


Hello there. Our company is by no means a POD press. We carry inventory. We've been highly reviewed and normally spend most our time in the top 1% on amazon. Our corporate site is indeed a flash site-our goal with it is to not be search engine friendly. We do have an SEO site in the works which will be search engine friend.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.
 

priceless1

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I'm confused. None of your books show any listing with Bookscan, so for a non-POD company, you don't appear to have any movement with bookstores who report their sales to Bookscan - which comprises of a huge list of stores. Can you shed some light on who distributes your books?

Also, you mention "high reviews," I was expecting the usual suspects like PW, Kirkus, Booklist, etc. Midwest is comprised of lovely people, but they aren't what I'd consider highbrow.
 

HobbesEndPublishing

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I'm confused. None of your books show any listing with Bookscan, so for a non-POD company, you don't appear to have any movement with bookstores who report their sales to Bookscan - which comprises of a huge list of stores. Can you shed some light on who distributes your books?

Also, you mention "high reviews," I was expecting the usual suspects like PW, Kirkus, Booklist, etc. Midwest is comprised of lovely people, but they aren't what I'd consider highbrow.

Hello there. We never made the claim to be listed with bookscan. We will be included in the Ingram database by the end of the year. We needed to have more titles before moving ahead in that world. Until now, we've relied solely on indie bookstores and a vast amount of signings, as well as online retailer and direct sales. This year alone we've done twenty four signings, so our way of selling books varies from other presses.

We rely mostly on customer reviews as we feel the customer matters more so than a review company. As a small press it's tough to have PW review your work, but we've been reviewed by Midwest and Dead Trees Review.
 

DreamWeaver

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We rely mostly on customer reviews as we feel the customer matters more so than a review company.
You might want to revisit that review outlook eventually. Just as one avid reader's experience, I've learned to discount almost all customer reviews on Amazon. They are so often posted by friends & family, or even sock puppets. If a book has a review in the body of the description from an identifiable, respected review source, I'm going to give that much more weight.

JMO, offered in a friendly and non-snarky manner.
 
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HobbesEndPublishing

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You might want to revisit that review outlook eventually. Just as one avid reader's experience only, I've learned to discount almost all customer reviews on Amazon. They are so often posted by friends & family, or even sock puppets. If a book has a review in the body of the description from an identifiable, respected review source, I'm going to give that much more weight.

JMO, offered in a friendly and non-snarky manner.

Oh, we totally agree and are working on that.

:)
 

akaria

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MysteryRiter, I took a look at their site and I think you can do better. Fourteen authors listed on the author page but only three books for sale on their own website sends up a huge red flag for me. Only three for sale on Amazon. They've been in business since 2004. Where are the books???
 

HobbesEndPublishing

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Hobbes End Publishing was founded in 2004. The company focused all its efforts on non-fiction, mostly annual reports, business plans, textbooks and manuals, which are not available for purchase to the public. Only in the past few years have we began taking steps into the fiction world. We currently have eight slots open for publication next year, seven of which are filled (fiction). We have never represented ourselves as anything more than a small press.

MysteryRiter, if you feel our company isn't the right company to submit to, we completely understand and wish you all the success in the world!
 

CaoPaux

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No activity at site since last book pubbed Dec '14 (and everything but the home page is 404). FB continued into mid-'15, though. Anyone have recent contact?

ETA: no further activity.
 
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