Breezeway Books (formerly Llumina Press, Metier Books)

AnneMarble · Mar 9, 2006

Does anyone know what kind of publisher Media Creations Inc. is? Is this a small press, micropress, POD?... A Google search brought up too many companies using this name, or variations of it.

I'm wondering because I ordered a reprint of Susan Kay's well loved Phantom, put out by this publisher in October, and according to Amazon, it takes one to two weeks to ship. (I can attest that their estimate was overly generous as I am still waiting for mine to ship!) I guess if the covers curl when I get it, I'll know that it's POD.

Oddly, the hardback reprint edition came from a different publisher. Llumina I think, which appears to be a vanity press. Yet the original this book came out from a major publisher years ago, in both hardback and paperback editions. It's in demand from collectors, and the mass market paperback has been known to go for $40 on Amazon. Surely a better small press would have been interested!
:rant:

CaoPaux · Mar 9, 2006

Llumina is an imprint of Media Creations Inc. (as is Metier Books). Based in Florida, FWIW.

AnneMarble · Mar 9, 2006

CaoPaux said:
Llumina is an imprint of Media Creations Inc. (as is Metier Books). Based in Florida, FWIW.

Aha! That explains a lot. Thanx.

Llumina's home page mentions the reprint of the Susan Kay book (although the image shown is a rotating image of different covers), so this is obviously something "special" for them. I have no way of knowing if she actually had to pay to get it back into print, or if they gave her a special deal, similar to the one Amy Fisher was offered by iUniverse. They ain't cheap, and I hate to think that the author of a book that was once published by a big name publisher and that was in that much demand by fans would think she had to pay to get it into print when there were legit small presses (and no doubt larger presses) that would have been willing to reprint it and pay the author! (I know several SF/horror publishers that are doing lots of wonderful reprint editions and getting them on the shelves of bookstores.)

I did see the hardback in a book store (a Barnes & Noble), but they had only one copy. I don't know if they ordered it for their stock, or if it ended up there because someone ordered it and then decided not to buy it after all. I don't blame them as it was almost forty dollars and yet looked quite plain. Yikes! For that price, I can get a slipcased NEFSA Press edition or even a numbered and limited edition from a speciality house like Ash Tree Press! And to make things worse, Borders didn't even list the reprint edition of the Phantom book on their in-store inventory thingie. This is a disaster for Phantom phans!

snook · Jan 2, 2009

Checking out LLumina Press..........

Looks like it might be an avenue worth pursuing if I can't attract an agent. What say you? Here's the link: http://www.llumina.com/

cpickett · Jan 3, 2009

Hi,
Just in case someone reading this isn't familiar, Llumina is one of many in the category fee-based/POD publishers. In perusing the site,they operate similar to most others. As a general yay or nay, I've yet to see a fee-based publisher that doesn't have at least some fans and some that feel ripped off completely.

A few items to consider for any company in this category is overall price for the services offered, quality of the final product, what you will make per book if you sell through a wholesale partner (i.e.Amazon), and what it costs you to buy your own books if you plan to sell direct or give them out.

I noticed their site does a comparison of such things, but it's best to do your own research competing websites that catch your interest for as much accuracy as possible.

Beyond that, it is also key to make certain all of the results you discover fit well into your overall publishing goals. For example, does it fit your goals if you're only going to make x % of the retail price? If yes, why, if not why? Break down each piece until you find a good match. If it's not, move to the next.

Hope that helps.

CaoPaux · Jan 19, 2010

Adding links to print-as-is arm, http://www.metierbooks.com/, and parent company, http://www.mediacreations.tv/.

Violet · Aug 4, 2010

Llumina is a Vanity Press

Llumina Press is a vanity press that pretends it isn't. Phantom is a republish of an out-of-print book.

Here's what they say about themselves:
"Unlike other print-on-demand companies, Llumina will not print any book unless it meets high editorial standards. When a book bears the Llumina imprint, booksellers, libraries, and specialty stores know they can depend on it to be a quality work." (From their website, www.llumina.com)

However, I highly recommend that anyone considering using this company go to the link below for an example of what they are publishing. Appalling!

http://www.llumina.com/store/lilyellowschoolbus.htm if you want to see the kind of work they turn out! Read the blurb, which came word for word from the back cover text, which Llumina claims to edit as a part of their publishing package.

This book is now being re-edited and republished by another publisher. It is a good story, but unfortunately Llumina's incompetence reflects poorly, aa great disservice to the author who spent a large amount of money to publish with these hacks.

Lifeprint · Aug 16, 2010

Yes, Llumina is incompetent!
If you were caught in their strangle hold of incompetence, notify the Better Business Bureau in Broward County Fla. They are accepting on line reports.
I've been aggravated for 5 1/2 months with Llumina's incompetence. As much as I tried to cooperate, they say I have to accept it their way. Or?
I want a refund for the work not done so I can get on with my life. Still trying to negotiate with them. BBB helps by logging the complaint and giving us an avenue to "talk".

Sydewinder · Aug 17, 2010

They don't seem to hide the fact that they're a vanity press. http://www.llumina.com/prices.htm

People shouldn't be surprised when the editing is non-existent and the covers are sub-par (saying sub-par is very polite for what they use for covers). I'm having a very hard time understanding why people would rather use a vanity publisher than self publish. I really can't understand it.

victoriastrauss · Aug 17, 2010

Charging to publish doesn't preclude a company from exercising some level of selectivity (even if it's only to institute a quota--so many manuscripts accepted per week, every ms. over the cutoff point rejected). Many fee-based publishers claim to be selective, and sometimes it's true.

Llumina offers a publishing service, and doesn't attempt to conceal that fact. Whether it does a good job or not is a different question.

There seems to be some kind of complaint coordination going on--Writer Beware has gotten several complaints over the past couple of weeks that sound very similar to the two above.

- Victoria

Sydewinder · Aug 17, 2010

victoriastrauss said:
Charging to publish doesn't preclude a company from exercising some level of selectivity (even if it's only to institute a quota--so many manuscripts accepted per week, every ms. over the cutoff point rejected). Many fee-based publishers claim to be selective, and sometimes it's true.

Llumina offers a publishing service, and doesn't attempt to conceal that fact. Whether it does a good job or not is a different question.

There seems to be some kind of complaint coordination going on--Writer Beware has gotten several complaints over the past couple of weeks that sound very similar to the two above.

- Victoria

As a curiosity, Victoria, are you aware of any fee-based publishers who do well by their authors? In terms of consistently generating noteworthy sales, and producing an industry standard product, I mean. It's not something that I am personally considering, but it would be something that those interested in Vanity Publishing might find of interest. If for no other reason, it could be used as a comparable standard for other such outfits.

Lifeprint · Sep 6, 2010

NO Llumina Press in Fla.

Don't go there unless you like incompetence and manipulation!

AlishaS · Sep 6, 2010

Probably better to have this in Bewares and Backgrounds... also might I suggest adding a little bit more. A post like this doesn't actually benefit anyone, we need more information on why this Press is incompetent and manipulative as you say.

AlexPiper · Sep 6, 2010

There's also already a thread about Llumina in the Bewares forum. You might want to share your particular experiences (if you feel comfortable) there, to help warn off others in the future.

<link snipped>

M.R.J. Le Blanc · Sep 6, 2010

I don't think you're ever going to find a vanity press who generates noteworthy sales for their authors. That's not the nature of a vanity press - their income comes mostly from authors paying for services, not selling books to the public. Any author who manages good sales does so through their own efforts and I don't think that'll change unless vanity presses get marketing departments.

Soccer Mom · Sep 8, 2010

Threads merged. Lifeprint, please keep all posts about this publisher in this forum.

Thanks.

CaoPaux · Nov 24, 2013

Parent company Media Creations has been renamed Llumina Productions; same URL.

CaoPaux · Apr 23, 2016

Parent now listed as Aeon Publishing, Inc. (http://www.aeonpublishing.com/), another of the owner's enterprises.

ETA: as of Sept '16, dba Breezeway Books https://www.breezewaybooks.com/

Breezeway Books (formerly Llumina Press, Metier Books)

AnneMarble

Nefarious Ghost Fan

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless

AnneMarble

Nefarious Ghost Fan

snook

cpickett

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless

Violet

Lifeprint

Sydewinder

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess

Sydewinder

Lifeprint

AlishaS

Is swimming with creativity frogs

AlexPiper

Wayward Wordsmith

M.R.J. Le Blanc

aka Sadistic Mistress Mi-chan

Soccer Mom

Crypto-fascist

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless