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Whosoever Press

Harlequin

Eat books, not brains!
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An acquaintance asked me for an opinion of this press, in particular the package offered on the homepage. I said I'd take a look (trying not to sound doubtful) but... they have a $250 submission fee?!

http://www.whosoeverpress.com/publishing-companies-near-me.html


Billed as a hybrid, but that sub fee makes my eyes water (or whatever cliche reaction you prefer).
 
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Marian Perera

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Some of the more questionable requirements in a submission (outside of the fee) :

Author Picture
Endorsements
Please list all social media platforms in which you are currently active.
We want to know the amount of follows you have on each platform.

There's also the usual nonsense about how it's perfectly fine to charge fees to publish books because grocery stores don't give you groceries for free. But then I came across this gem of marketing advice :

Here’s a list of a few places where you can hang flyers to help you get back to the basics. Going back to the basics in our current day will give you an advantage against the competition, because they have stopped operating in the basics.

1. Subway Stations
2. School Offices
3. Senior Citizen Centers
4. College dormitories - hallways and restrooms
5. Churches
6. Local community clubs and organizations
7. Laundry mats
8. Apartment buildings
9. Telephone poles - especially a day or two before large city events
10. Community activity centers
11. Grocery stores bulletin boards
12. Shopping malls
13. Car Washes
14. Hotel lobbies
15. Doctor’s offices
16. Gas station counters
17. Public Libraries
18. Your local Chamber of Commerce
19. Waiting rooms at car repair and tire shops
20. Highway rest areas
​21. Banks

Why stop there? Museums. Hospitals. Airports. Police stations. Funeral homes. Private homes (hey, if people have lawn signs about politicians, maybe they'll be willing to advertise your book too!).
 
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frimble3

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... back windows of cars, push them into people's hands at street corners, hand them out with Hallowe'en candy...

It's a wonderful list, almost completely consisting of places people don't look for books.
Garage band tapes, lost pets and witnesses for car accidents, but not books.

And, from their 'marketing advice':
"7. Laundry mats"
That should, I believe, be 'Laundromats'.
Between that, and an eye for random capitalization that makes even my eyes water, if you're lucky they don't provide editing.
 

folclor

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No, no, they mean to launder your mats and then add fliers to them. Certainly. The only proper way to imagine this as making more sense somehow.
 

Deadeyemouse

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The sheer amount of scammy agents out there is quite discouraging in its own unique way, but man, thankfully many of them are polite enough to be incompetent and obvious.
 

Marian Perera

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Between that, and an eye for random capitalization that makes even my eyes water, if you're lucky they don't provide editing.

I checked out the start of one of their books. At one point, the following was inserted into a paragraph, between two sentences :

was hard to stay my reading and

Italics and all. I actually read that page again, trying to figure out where these random words were supposed to be. No luck.
 

Scythian

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I'm sure you did your best, Harlequin, and the best of luck to your acquaintance.