[ePublisher] Booktrope (formerly Libertary)

ramurphy20 said:

I got an offer from these folks:
www.booktrope.com

I looked at the site. But I'm baffled.

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Booktrope on their website said:

Libertary has changed its name to Booktrope. Why? We needed a name that better reflected our business direction and wasn’t quite as confusing.

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Hmm...the not-quite-as-confusing part is evidently not working.

E-book publisher. Editors, designers, and "book managers" have a role in their business model, and the glimpse I caught of their offerings didn't make me flinch, so there may be a kept gate in there somewhere.

E-publishing can be so inexpensive that the old rules for what is and isn't a legit publisher may not apply -- the normal constraints aren't there.

How much good they can do you is another question, and I'm not sure I can answer it.

Booktrope

Has any author out there had an experience with Booktrope, good or bad, that they care to share? Let me know if you want to communicate privately. Thanks, Jack

I have a FB friend who recently signed with them. I will ask him if he wants to email you or let me give you his contact info.

Thank you, Lena. I hope he or she will speak with me. Jack.

Booktrope

Booktrope looks interesting--they publish novellas. Anyone heard of them?

www.booktrope.com

I'm published by Booktrope.

How do you find working with them? I was looking at their site, and this stood out:

70% of book revenues goes back to the Creative Team – royalties are paid monthly

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That's 70% split, as far as I can see, between "Author, Editor, Cover Designer, Proof-reader and Book Manager (marketing)". I'm wondering what cut of the 70% actually gets to the writer.

That and the website as a whole looks geared more to authors than readers.

Don't get me wrong, I want them to be legit, especially if they do novellas (I has them) but something's holding me back. I don't have a very extensive experience with publishers, so am I missing something?

I emailed one of their authors and he told me the author gets something like 35%-40% and the rest is divided amongst everyone else. He was happy with his publisher, get lots of marketing help, book signings, guests on blogs and interviews. His sales, he says, were "OK" for an eBook.

The 70% split is divided between a book manager (publicist for a book), project manager (a person who helps with all the stages of getting the book published, who makes sure things run smoothly with editing, cover design, and so on), editor, proofreader, cover designer and author. The author gets the majority of the share, at about 35%. I'm not sure exactly how much the author percentage is, I'd have to check my contract, but I know it's about that.

You form a team with a group of people who help with your book. I get more marketing here than with my other publishers, and the staff is quick to respond to questions.

As for sales, I haven't had much sales yet, about the same numbers as I have with my other publishers, though.

I was told that much of the marketing/promotion, to include web presence and comprehensive social media involvement, was still the author's responsibility. I was never very clear on what marketing/promotion they (as opposed to the author) would actually do. It appears the Book/Project Manager role (often the same person) is more of a "coach to the team" relationship. Royalties are derived from "net profits" less "costs". Is this still the case?

Well, my book manager organized a cover reveal for me, then later on a book tour, and Booktrope also paid for another book tour for my book. We also had a release day event on Facebook, which my manager helped organize. The book manager also made promo graphics to use on Twitter, contacted reviewers and lined up some interviews for me. It's online marketing only, but I'm happy with it. I haven't really had to do anything in terms of promotion, except answers interviews, and help tweet/mention the book on Facebook, and blog about the book.

When compared to other small presses where, as you said, marketing falls mostly on the author, I feel like I've had a lot more marketing support with Booktrope.

http://www.geekwire.com/2015/startu...d-round-for-its-book-team-publishing-service/

Booktrope, a Seattle-based startup with a platform and service for book authors, has raised $1.2 million of a planned $2.3 million funding round, according to a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Booktrope’s approach to publishing — which it calls “team publishing” and some call hybrid publishing — provides authors with editorial, promotion and distribution services for both eBooks and paper books, working on its Teamtrope platform in small groups that share in revenue. Booktrope says 70 percent of book revenues go back to the creative team, and there are no up-front fees.

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Interesting structure.

I just signed with Booktrope's Forsaken imprint (horror/specfic), and while I'm not very far into the process, I'm greatly intrigued by their alternative model. In theory, having multiple people invested in a project ensures better visibility; two heads are better than one and all that. I'll keep you posted.

ironmikezero said:

I was told that much of the marketing/promotion, to include web presence and comprehensive social media involvement, was still the author's responsibility. I was never very clear on what marketing/promotion they (as opposed to the author) would actually do. It appears the Book/Project Manager role (often the same person) is more of a "coach to the team" relationship. Royalties are derived from "net profits" less "costs". Is this still the case?

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This has absolutely been my experience. I was told that a book manager would mostly be coaching me and that I'd still be doing most of the work. Turns out I did all the work. My book manager did nothing but tell me I should be doing more on social media (when I was already doing so much that I had no time left to actually write) and then convinced me to pay for a book blog tour that turned out to be a disaster, and that I'm still on the hook for financially (in other words, my royalties from what few books I've sold have gone toward paying off a book tour that I never wanted in the first place). She got angry when I asked her for a weekly update, and left my team. I was told at that point that I really didn't need another book manager, that all I could really do is the social media stuff I was already doing.

Keep in mind, though, that one of the things about this approach is that your mileage may vary significantly. I know of some people who have had great relationships and success with their book managers...particularly people who have already published elsewhere and come to Booktrope with a proven track record. That's great. But there are also other people who are dropped into the deep end and left to flounder with little to no help. In those cases, I wonder if this approach is any better than either going traditional or self publishing.

ETA: I would like to note that recently Booktrope has introduced an author liaison. Hopefully this will help a lot with keeping new authors from floundering.

I'm thinking about them and so is a friend of mine. Does anyone who has experience with them think they'd be open to an email asking ?'s?

I can. PM your email address.

Rachel Thompson is the director of their Gravity imprint. She's active on Twitter and would probably be able to answer questions.

Do the authors have to pay anything to get published? Are print books on the horizon?

All books they publish appear in print. And no, authors don't have to pay anything to get published.

eternalised said:

All books they publish appear in print. And no, authors don't have to pay anything to get published.

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Thanks!

eternalised, I've also got an offer from them (from Gravity), and had a couple of questions.

Did you have a previous publisher to compare their contract with, and did anything stand out as far as being odd, or making you nervous?

Are you under Booktrope, or one of their imprints?

Can you talk some about the team-building process? Hard? Easy? Fun? Tedious?

Thanks!

Compared to my previous publishers, the contract sounded quite fair. Of course the whole team aspect makes the contract a little different than what I was used to.

I'm under Booktrope, their imprint Forsaken and I've also submitted something for their children's books imprint, Updrift.

I found the team-building aspect fun but a lot of that depends on the genre of your book. My books are YA, and a lot of people seem eager to work on YA books. Authors in other genres often have more trouble building a team. I like the freedom Booktrope gives me about the projects I want to publish and I like building teams because it allows me to choose the people I want to work with. For instance, if a cover artist has covers that just aren't my style, I'm not forced to work with him/her, but I can just go ahead and contact another designer.

It's not for everyone. You need to do a lot of things on your own (especially in regards to building the team) but on the other hand, you get a lot of freedom other publishers don't give.

I'm pretty happy with Booktrope. When I started out they were a much smaller outfit and now they are really ramping up the promotion and marketing departments.