[Publisher] Canonbridge LLC

These folks?

http://www.canonbridge.com/

jacquiegum said:

Anyone heard of them or dealt with them?

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I have. What do you want to know?

Hi Jacquie,

Welcome along to AW.

If Canonbridge is a small print publisher, then it would be better posting this to the Bewares & Background Forum - unless it turns out they are a paid-publishing service.

Do you have a website address for them?

Adding link for Canonbridge LLC

Took a quick look at Canonbridge, based in Iowa.

They are a pretty small independent press at the moment with approximately a dozen authors. They use Ingram Group, Baker & Taylor, Amazon etc for distribution/availability - they use Lightning Source for print, meaning all their paper titles are print-on-demand. They use Kindle and ePub for their ebooks, but do not appear to support their own online bookstore referring site visitors to Barnes & Noble. IBPA & MIPA members with a page in Publishers Marketplace.

They seem upfront are honest about their distribution reach with book placement concentrated on independent bookstores and not large nationals (US). Majority of their authors are US-based and it is stressed that most of their marketing is viral and requires much input from authors. They look like they have not been in business for more than 2 - 3 years and have no pretensions to expansive development. They have four imprints, children's, nonfiction, fiction, also one for 'non-genre'?? They recently started an online writers community - Writers Connect.

I would like to see a little more information on the site about who runs Canonbridge and what background in publishing they have, if any.

General provision and points of contract:

No advance paid
No fees charged to author for publishing
They describe contract as traditional
Royalties are 50% of net (one assumes they mean after retail and print discounts) - paid twice yearly

Mick.

Jacquie,

Do you mind me asking if you have already signed with this publisher. There is a reason I ask that.

Generally, it is better to research and know a good deal about a perspective publisher before signing or agreeing to anything regarding your work.

We do not. It is high-risk for both the author and the publisher. More than 80% of books on the market don't make enough to cover the advances the authors have received. That is, realistically, the only money the lion's share of authors will ever see, whether it's $500 or $5,000. It's a sad fact. Big publishers will give you 10-15% of net sales, but it's a moot point until after the book has made a large enough profit to pay back the advance. (That's what the word advance means, you know - money in advance, and it must be reimbursed.)
Agents take 15% of the advance an author receives, so that needs to be calculated by the publisher and the author in the case of asking for and receiving an advance. Agents "respectfully decline" to work with small publishers like us because, quite frankly, there's no money in it. We, as a small publisher, "respectfully decline" to work with agents just because they are in it for the money. That is a bigger concern to them than the author's work. For authors, these works are their babies. We are aware of this, and it is for this reason we cut out the middleman and work directly with authors.
No advances = bigger royalties realised by the author.

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This says to me there's a gross misunderstanding of advances and royalties and agents. On one hand it's a business; everyone's in it for the money including the authors. So painting agents as money-grabbers is plain-out unfair. But many agents enjoy their job, and not because of the money. Kind of sounds like the sour grapes of people who couldn't get agents. Advance must be reimbursed? Uh no. Except in very rare circumstances, your advance is yours. And I don't believe the big publishers even pay on net, but someone else may actually know. Right now not a publisher who's going on my query list.

@Unimportant, RE Book Covers:

My instinct is you're right that the author may have to pay, but there are plenty of mixed messages here.

2. Am I financially responsible for the setup of my book?

Our authors are not financially responsible for anything that has to do with getting their books published. We are a standard trade publisher, not a vanity press. We believe in teamwork, but we don't believe in sticking it to the author. Everything involved with getting an author's work published is our responsibility. We do not charge fees to our authors or our illustrators/designers for anything.

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And then this:

Now you're going to ask..."But who does book covers?" We have illustrators and designers we'll be happy to connect with authors if they don't have someone in mind already, but this is entirely up to the author. We'll give our input during the process, of course, but arrangements between illustrators/designers and authors are entirely up to them.

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Things seem to be a little at odds here and a greater deal of clarity would certainly help from Canonbridge. Either publication is 'free' or its not. And, no, the author signing up with a publisher claiming to be 'traditional - not vanity' does not usually ask, 'Who does book covers?'. That's the job of the publisher and not an arrangement 'between illustrators/designers and authors'

I noticed one of the listed authors had done illustrations/covers for another author's book listed on the site. If this is the sign that this is more a 'publishing community of authors', then it is certainly not a traditional publisher. Likewise in regard to the limited distribution/availability of books - as has been said above, there appears no dedicated distributor deal for physical books in place - national or even provincial.

Amateur Hour.

Keep looking for a commercial publisher.

You don't need to know anyone. All you need is an outstanding book.

And yes, first fiction is a pull. Everyone's looking for the next big thing, and, for all anyone knows, it's you.

jacquiegum said:

LOL. I will...don't know anybody do ya? LOL First fiction, wow that's a pull today, isn't it? LOL Thank you thank you...I do appreciate the response immensely.

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Jacquie,

If what you are writing now is along the lines of 'Confessions' your first book, then I would stick to mainstream publishers with a broad appeal rather than very small presses with little distribution (or none!) reach.

Best of luck and hang around the forums here and some folks may point you in the right direction.

They put the book covers up at photobucket????? Well that's where it goes when you click one of the books along the bottom in the slide show on the home page. Not to any info about the book. Jezzz ... think that says enough right there.

Beware: Maggie Stewart-Grant [merged with Canonbridge LLC thread]

Ms. Grant is formerly of Canonbridge, LLC, out of Iowa, a self-styled "small publisher." Yes, I was one of their authors. WAS. Things were going well with them until the September royalty checks were due. Suddenly Ms. Grant, who was the "managing editor" at the company, developed a mystery illness, the details of which she did not care to share with us. She took time to recuperate, and we bided our time. She stopped responding to e-mails, or would only respond sporadically. Even in her responses, she leaned too much on her illness as an excuse for work not done and royalties not paid. She accepted payment in advance from one of her authors for a case of finished novels. Not only were those novels never sent to print, but she never refunded the money.

I tell this story now to say that she has abruptly left Canonbridge and there are rumors that she is starting a new company with new partners. I want to warn all writers to stay away from any company of which she's a part.

Welcome to AW. There's already a thread on Canonbridge located here . I expect a mod will be along shortly to merge your post into that thread.

~brianm~

Threads merged. Carry on.

I wanted to post a general warning about her because she has left Canonbridge, though.

I'm curious. Have your problems at Canonbridge been resolved, now that she's left?

Nope. No royalties paid, no materials returned. She's poisonous.

Ok, I'm still not clear on this. With her gone, does Canonbridge still exist, and are you still having problems with the current management? It seems like if she were the only problem, you might have seen some improvement. However, if it was a one-woman enterprise, her leaving would seem to end the whole thing?