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Hellfire Publishing

E. S. Lark

Editing all the time
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Doesn't look professional to me. When you click on a book, you're told to make the purchase through Smashwords. I thought most ebook companies sold the books themselves? This doesn't look good to me. The site is attractive, but if they're taking 40% from Smashwords sales, that doesn't leave much for the writer.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Read a bunch of their titles. How's their editing, and how's their publicity, and how are their covers?

Are they getting their books reviewed?

How are their sales figures?
 

CaoPaux

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Characters, you care about
You were asking about editing? This is their freaking masthead.
 

Marian Perera

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Major red flag: although they describe themselves as a small company (which is why marketing has to be a "cooperative effort" between author and publisher), they take all genres.

An interview with their executive editor:

I am an executive editor, which is a fancy word for slush reader, lol. I have been an executive editor since September 2010. I have been a writer for over twenty years... My particular job is to make sure that the stories that come across my desk, have the complete package.
They'd better. I wouldn't trust Hellfire to edit a shopping list.
 

MysteryRiter

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I read the bio page.

I cried for the sake of the English language.

:(

More like attempted to read the about page. With all those mis-used commas I couldn't even tell what I was reading. Here's a quote from the executive EDITOR:
"She believes, without writers the world as we know would cease to exist."
What is up with that comma?
 

jaksen

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More like attempted to read the about page. With all those mis-used commas I couldn't even tell what I was reading. Here's a quote from the executive EDITOR:
"She believes, without writers the world as we know would cease to exist."
What is up with that comma?

You, just don't know how to write. It's obvious that, this is just a pause as if to take a breath or, something, similar.

:D
 

shelleyo

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More like attempted to read the about page. With all those mis-used commas I couldn't even tell what I was reading. Here's a quote from the executive EDITOR:
"She believes, without writers the world as we know would cease to exist."
What is up with that comma?

It's the one that was missing from the sentence before it:

Dawn Binkley, a writer since her late teens is driven by the written word.

The COPY EDITOR has this sentence in her bio:

My library card was one of my most cherished positions.


I think this is another publisher that gets an A for enthusiasm but not much else. This is why people need to carefully read publishers' websites and some of the books they put out. After reading all the mistakes on the site, I wouldn't expect much from their books.

Shelley
 
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jaksen

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She doesn't capitalize her two cats' names either. But that's enough from me. If I keep up the criticism, somebody might go looking for my writing to pull apart, too.

Edit add: Haha, missed the part about the library card positions. Mine fav. is over behind the history stacks.
 
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MysteryRiter

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I know. I'm done too. I don't want to offend anyone who is published with them or who works, there. :) Okay, that was the last joke.
 

shelleyo

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Oh, we all make mistakes. But as editors and copy-editors, they really should present themselves more professionally. I think those are fair criticisms, especially from writers who might be considering them.

They do have some pretty covers. The proceeds from one title goes to St. Jude's. A for enthusiasm. But it takes more than enthusiasm, or I'd be dictating this to my houseboy while reclining on my fainting couch and trying to decide which personal chef to employ. :)

Shelley
 

MysteryRiter

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A for enthusiasm. But it takes more than enthusiasm, or I'd be dictating this to my houseboy while reclining on my fainting couch and trying to decide which personal chef to employ. :)

Shelley

That's an "if only" moment...
*sighs*
It is really terrible, though, that the editors don't even take the time to edit their public bio page! They don't even bother. I'm a teenager and I feel like a more proficient editor. I know I'm not, but a boy can dream...
 
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ShyWriter

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I looked at the bios for the excutive editor, editor, and copy-editor. Beyond a love of reading, especially in the copy editor's case, and the excutive editor being a "well-known" published author (and I would argue the use of well-known here), I see no meaningful editorial experience among them.


-- hmmm, now I am looking askance at my own comma usage... I blame it on reading too much Poe. It hurts my ability to cut down on the liberal sprinkling of commas within my prose when I see how skillfully he made it work.
 

MysteryRiter

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Other than editorial issues, they look pretty good. Unfortunately, editorial is the main piece to an independent publisher and with that gone...
 

Chris1981

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As a reader, the numerous mistakes on the publisher's Web site give me reason to doubt the quality of the titles. The odds of me buying from this publisher are extremely small.
 

Stacia Kane

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...and the excutive editor being a "well-known" published author (and I would argue the use of well-known here), I see no meaningful editorial experience among them.


I would ditto that argument, sorry to say. "Well-known" is something it's extremely difficult for writers to be; there are very few writers out there who are actually "well-known," IMO, and most of them turn up way more than >6000 hits when Googled. In fact, most authors I still wouldn't consider "well-known" show a larger number than >6000 when Googled, and have autofinishes set up on Google, too.



That author has an excerpt of her book on her site, which is also on the Hellfire site. It has...problems, with grammar, punctuation, and style (including misused/incorrect dialogue tags).

So it seems the errors do not only exist in bios, where you might think the editors in question were simply typing quickly or not proofreading as carefully. (And for that reason I chose a book by one of the editors to link to, rather than an author whose work may have been made incorrect by the editors through no fault of their own.)

So, yeah...newbie micropress loaded with language/grammar/punctuation errors, and an editorial staff unaware of those errors? I'd give it a pass.
 

aliceshortcake

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An extract from one of Hellfire's books:

"The door to the bathroom opened easily, exposing a small marbled floor with an elegant ivory sink and toilet before her. Lyn quickly entered swiftly, locking the door behind her."


I could go on but it's too easy.
 

aliceshortcake

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I know. I quickly read through the extract swiftly and that's just one of the errors that fairly jumped off the screen.