WinePress Publishing / Pleasant Word

greetings everyone as i am new here. In fact, I have read a lot over here about publishing than anywhere else i could remember. Good work you're doing here.

my question is that has anyone come across Wine Press publishing and is there a woe I should watch out for? I am looking forward to publishing a Christian book on Prayer and Revival. Apart from the traditional press and POD like lulu has anyone has other recommendations?

I am a traveling pastor so I don't have that much problem with marketing my own book.

all suggestions welcomed!

[Robin Bayne]

If you definitely want to subsidy publish, I've heard nice things about Wine Press.

Another you might investigate is ACW Press.

very quick reply, thanks. I am still investigating Wine Press, the pricing seems to be beyond high lol But I will find out what is involve. I have requested a package to look at.

I will start a research on ACW Press too as you said. I really feel subsidy is good for my first book at the moment though I have read a lot of things here to cause me to avoid it. But I know I can generate that money back and promote the book to make far more than I had spent on it.

[James D. Macdonald]

If you're planning to sell books from the back of the hall when you speak, and planning to put books on consignment in bookstores in areas you visit anyway, please check out the over-all cost of getting your manuscript printed by a local printer (check the Yellow Pages), and genuinely self-publishing. I think you'll be surprised by how reasonable self-publishing is compared to going the vanity/subsidy route.

[CaoPaux]

Just adding link: http://www.winepresspub.com/

[chuksa]

can any one tell me something about the Pleasant Word Publishers ( a division os Wine press publishers)?

[Unimportant]

Chuksa, if you check the Index, you'll see there's a thread on WinePress Publishing here. Is this the press you mean? (Their website is here)

They look to be an upfront vanity press: you pay, they publish and distribute your book. This may or may not be what you're looking to do.

[chuksa]

Thanks,

WinePress Publishing is a commercial publishing or traditional from what I read from their website, but the PleasantWord Publishing which is one of their publishing company nothing has been said of it.

I want to know if it is a subsidy publishing or self publishing,

Chuksa

[HapiSofi]

They're not evil, but I don't see anything particularly admirable about them either. They're not cheap. Their design is generic. Their marketing and publicity packages look like the usual list of useless and expensive services. Their contract leaves all the rights in the author's hands -- good thing, that.

Saying they're Christian means nothing.

Why not be picky and shop around? If subsidy publishing is what you really want, you're the one who's in control -- or rather, you are until you sign a contract.

[MickRooney]

Chuksa,

There are certainly better options than Pleasant Word out there if you are looking at subsidity services to publish your book.

There are plenty of reviews of various services on my site here.

[Momento Mori]

Website for PleasantWord Publishing is here. It looks like a straightforward vanity press that uses POD. It's upfront about its charges, which are pretty expensive - $999 being the cheapest package. There are statements in it's Q&A page that I'd take issue with.

It should be borne in mind that royalties are only paid on net, which is defined as follows:

Pleasant Press Publishing:
The net profit is the actual sale price minus the publishing costs.

It is calculated by taking the price your book is sold for, and then deducting the printing cost and the package premium. A small fulfillment fee may also apply if Pleasant Word directly processes the sale.

e.g. For a 200 page Blue Ribbon book sold at the full retail price of $17.99 on the Pleasant Word on-line store, the author would receive a royalty of $9.20.

Wholesalers and on-line retailers normally require large discounts of up to 55% in order to stock your book

Given that you're paying for the package and it's a POD operation, I don't see how they can have any additional publishing costs that aren't already factored into the price.

There are statements about ownership of rights as well, which I disagree with - notably the idea that you're keeping full ownership rights when from the looks of it, you're ceding first publication rights to them.

MM

[chuksa]

This is a good insight. I never thought of this. Thanks for that.

[Unimportant]

Originally Posted by chuksa

Thanks,

WinePress Publishing is a commercial publishing or traditional from what I read from their website, but the PleasantWord Publishing which is one of their publishing company nothing has been said of it.

I want to know if it is a subsidy publishing or self publishing,

Chuksa

I can't see anything that suggests WinePress is a commercial press. Quite the opposite. They're very upfront about the fact that they are a vanity press.

Editing to add: We probably need a Moderator to split this off from the Aventine discussion into a separate WinePress/PleasantWord thread.

[HapiSofi]

Mick Rooney, are you saying you're an expert on this subject?

[Deb Kinnard]

OP, you might also want to check Thomas Nelson's new vanity/subsidy arm, WestBow. Not to be confused with the old WestBow which was a regular royalty paying publisher. They are now pay-to-play.

[chuksa]

Do you know about "Westbow" publishing company?

[DeadlyAccurate]

Originally Posted by Deb Kinnard

OP, you might also want to check Thomas Nelson's new vanity/subsidy arm, WestBow. Not to be confused with the old WestBow which was a regular royalty paying publisher. They are now pay-to-play.

If they're going to use a sleazy, overpriced print mill, they might as well just go straight to AuthorHouse. That's what TN is using anyway, and at least this way they won't be paying a middleman.

[chuksa]

or rather how much do you know about them

[chuksa]

someone has warmed against Authorhouse somewhere in the blog

[DeadlyAccurate]

The Index stickied at the top of this page has a link to a thread for Thomas Nelson/Westbow. Each thread in this forum discusses only one publisher or agent.

[CAWriter]

I know the gals who run WinePress and have known a few people who have used them and ACW Press and were satisfied with the product.

ACW has changed hands since I was familiar with it, but I know that WinePress does put more into editing/proofing and layout than you would get if you went completely 'self-published.' This might help if you don't have great proof-reading or book layout skills.

[Carlene]

I agree with James here. My husband and I owned a small commercial printing company for 23 years and printed books for several people. We live in San Diego, a big military town, and had some retired military that simply wanted ten or 20 books to either sell to a specific market or give to relatives. We had an in-house graphic artists for cover design and set-up. We were able to run the pages off on the copier and only had to print the covers in color. The biggest expense was the perfect binding.

I think it would be worth the time to contact a few printers in your area. Just be sure they've actually printed books before! Ask for samples.

Carlene

[HapiSofi]

There's a lot to be said for a good local job printer that's been in the business for a long time.

[WillfromSF]

Mark Levine's The Fine Print of Self- Publishing 4th Edition is mostly a review of some 24 self-publishing services and he ranks WinePress Publishing in a class by itself - literally "The Worst". I don't know the details but they are now suing him for libel.

[CaoPaux]

Pleasant Word absorbed into WinePress early '11.

Oh, and they lost their suit v. Levine: http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal...593/159220/16/