[Publisher] Hatala Geroproducts

The information is mighty sparse on their "Submissions" page.

But their books are available at Amazon, and you can do a 'search inside'.

Go ahead & write them. See if you can find out about their distribution.

The books on Hatala's website all appear to be nonfiction geared to senior interests. Legit or not, it doesn't look like a good place to query for a novel.

- Victoria

They appear to have produced three titles since their opening in 2002. One title isn't available through Ingram. That title is 240 pages and has a retail price of $19.95. The other two are listed with Ingram and come up as nonreturnable. They also have very high retail prices. One title is 208 pages and clocks in at $19.95, and the other title, at 216 pages, boasts the same retail price.

My guess is that they're a POD. The fact that they use Lightning Source tells me that's how they're getting into the online stores. LSI charges a hefty premium for POD services, and it translates over to the high retail price. Other hints that they're POD is that the books don't have a return policy, have those high retail prices, and Amazon doesn't discount their books. Might want to think about querying a company who can get your book into the stores on a competitive level.

PurpleLady said:

Victoria,

Thank you for the comeback. I heard you speak at the 2005 Maryland Writers' Conference. A colleague and I spread the word about "Writers Beware" when we returned to our writers' group.

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That must have been my colleague, Ann Crispin--but thanks!

I thought I'd give Hatala a try because Writers' Market updated their entry for Hatala in 7 Feb 2008. According to them, Hatala is looking for Erotica and Romance (for the 60+ crowd).

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You want not just a publisher that's interested in the kind of book you've written, but a publisher with a track record of publishing, marketing, and distributing such books. Erotica and romance for the 60+ crowd is a really interesting idea--but a niche nonfiction publisher with just 3 books pubbed since 2002 may not have a clue about how to make an entry into those markets.

If they show interest in your book, you will need to ask some very specific questions about their publishing, marketing, and distribution plans, as well as their expertise.

- Victoria

Also bear in mind that general romance publishers are often interested in just this kind of content. Romance readers skew older anyway and many, myself included, prefer older to much older characters which are in short supply.

I have read romance with older characters at Avon, who don't require agents as far as I recall. Many 'not small' romance publishers accept queries direct from the author.