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Foster Embry Publishing

marlinort

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Has anyone heard anything about Foster Embry Publishing? They posted on Twitter Oct 4 asking for submissions. Their website seems legit. They are new - established March 2018. Anyone here have any dealings with them or know anyone who has?
 

VeryBigBeard

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*prepares for deluge of Google ads for vanity presses again*

Website's here.

You can tell from the meta blurb on Google that this is a bad idea: "A publishing company for authors, by authors."

Authors usually make very bad publishers. Different side of the business. People who understand publishing don't use the phrase "fiction novel" on the home page.

Foster Embry may not be a vanity press, but it doesn't pay advances and only does POD publishing. For technical and logistical reasons, this almost guarantees low sales, and that's before factoring in that "[w]e ask that authors actively participate in their own publicity, as we are, at this time, unable to launch full-scale publicity campaigns. We do have a marketing director, however, who is available to coach authors as they embark on the job of self-promotion." The wide cross-section of genres they publish, with several of their authors jumping between several, suggests there's no marketing strategy.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess they don't have distribution, either.

They "encourage" you to donate part of your proceeds to charity. No.

Being published badly by a small start-up press is very often worse than being published by a vanity press, as rookie mistakes with contracts and logistics can serious snarl your book up when things inevitably go bad.

If you're feeling especially charitable, wait 2-3 years, maybe longer, and see if the company still exists. This one won't.
 

Polenth

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This looks like one of those where you'd be better off self-publishing, because there isn't anything they can do that you can't do yourself. "Legit" only means it's not a scam. It doesn't mean it's a good idea.

I'd also assume they're people with comfortable incomes, as they don't really need the money they earn from writing and can donate it to charity. If you want to earn money so that you can pay some basic bills and eat, you don't need the guilt-trip. It may be stated as optional, but there's a heavy line that if you don't, you're not giving back to the community (and the implication to that is you're selfish). That's really the last thing a person struggling with money needs.
 

frimble3

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And as for 'encourage you to donate', they have a header marked 'charities' right there in the top line. I wonder if you say you're donating to charity, but it isn't one of theirs, or something they don't approve of, what the response would be.
Incidentally, that space marked 'Charities' goes right where a real publisher would have 'Staff'.
No mention of who does the work, that I could see.
If there's overlap between 'staff' and 'writers', fine and dandy, but tell us who's who and what's what.
FFS 'Foster Embry' isn't even the names of the founders, it's a way to disguise their names.
This seems more like a hobby than a business.
 
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VeryBigBeard

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If the publisher wants to donate book proceeds to charity, why is that not coming out of the publisher's take?
 
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frimble3

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Exactly! Then they can have total control over how much and what charity, w/o interfering in the authors' plans for their own earnings.
 

FosterEmbryLLC

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Good Morning! I am here and happy to see that you guys have opened up a chat about us. I'd like to address a few of your concerns.

Foster Embry is a new publisher, about a year old now. When we opened up we did it with the best intentions of giving back to the community and offering authors a chance to give back if they chose to. After consulting proper legal advisors, we were told that it's really not possible to work charitable donations in without mountains of paperwork. We have since done away with that part of our company, and decided that we as a company will be making donations in the future to charities with our own profits. Any charitable donations made by authors is entirely up to them. Our website update is long overdue, and in progress.

Our Name comes from our mothers. Foster and Embry are the founders's mother's maiden names.

We are new, and we strive to create a publishing house that treats authors better than many small presses, especially being authors ourselves. I am the COO, you can fine more information about me on our website (currently being updated), along with my email contact infromation.
 

eqb

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We are new, and we strive to create a publishing house that treats authors better than many small presses, especially being authors ourselves. I am the COO, you can fine more information about me on our website (currently being updated), along with my email contact infromation.

Hi, and welcome to Absolutewrite.

Could you tell us more about your experience with publishing? Have you worked for other publishing houses, and what was your role there?

Also, concerning Foster/Embry in general... What kind of editing do you provide? Do you have cover artists and designers? What kind of distribution have you lined up?

I confess I'm more than a bit concerned that you've been in business for over a year, and your website is 1) incomplete with placeholder pages, and 2) riddled with typos.
 

VeryBigBeard

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Do you habitually make business decisions without consulting, as you put it, proper legal advisors?
 

FosterEmbryLLC

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Hi, and welcome to Absolutewrite.

Could you tell us more about your experience with publishing? Have you worked for other publishing houses, and what was your role there?

Also, concerning Foster/Embry in general... What kind of editing do you provide? Do you have cover artists and designers? What kind of distribution have you lined up?

I confess I'm more than a bit concerned that you've been in business for over a year, and your website is 1) incomplete with placeholder pages, and 2) riddled with typos.

We provide developmental and line/copy editng, as many rounds as needed. We distribute through Ingram Spark, and we pay for all costs related including assigning the ISBN to the book. Authors that prefer to remain in KDP can do so, electing that option at the time of contract. We work with the authors on cover art and yes we do have a cover artist.

Regarding out website, it's been recently updated. Thank you!

- - - Updated - - -

We have a legal advisor on our staff, Thank you for your question!
 

Roslyn Reid

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Update: I'm very UNhappily published by Foster Embry. The pandemic has really driven them into the ground. I don't expect them to be around much longer.

Roz
 
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mrsmig

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Good to know! How have your sales been?
 

Allison_Miller36

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I’m aware that this post is old but I was signed with this company and I would like to share my experience with them. First thing to note is they claim to have a brick and mortar building, but they’re really paying seventy dollars a month for a virtual address. I don’t know how common that practice is, but with the way they treated me, I find it very suspicious.
The second thing to note is my cover was made from a royalty free photo while it seemed every other author on their website had an original cover made. Once again, not sure how common, but suspect nonetheless.
The copy editing process consisted of the editor puking up stupid phrases on my book, one particularly stupid and confusing line about Chuck Woolery, rather than finding the comma splices or misspelled words.
The developmental editor just had to introduce herself as international best selling multi award winning author, and if it wasn’t for the superiority in her tone, I think I would have liked her more, but all I got from my interactions with her was “how come I’ve never heard of you?”
I know that’s childish but I don’t care.
When developmental edits were done that was when the proofreading started. Started is such a funny word since we went from March to October saying we were going to be done soon only for me to get mad and demand something be done about it.
In March they sent me an old version of my manuscript that needed edits. The last round of developmental edits was in January and I patiently waited until March before inquiring about the book.
So I sent the proper version to the proofreader and then it got buried in the pandemic emails and she never checked in and I thought it would be impudent for me to check in. So, we started going in late April. And then I needed to edit something. I did as they asked and from May to October it was me checking in and then getting told “I’ll get back to you”
When I finally got mad and said I wanted results, they said they wouldn’t let me down and then ignored me from October to January. I reminded them that I was still waiting for them to finalize my book on the twentieth of January and they acted like they didn’t know what I was talking about, but a week later I get an email saying that they had an outside source take a look at my book, and there were just still way too many errors spelling grammar and otherwise and they would not be going through with publishing the book. They dissolved my contract stating that the bulk of a two-year contract has been taken up by edits and blamed me and said I was the incompetent one even though I was prompt with my responses. This outside source had checked the book one time in October absolutely no times in November or December. I know because Google Docs tells you when an edit has been submitted. And the edits weren’t even edits. It was just more stupid phrases. None of it was actually editing. And the kick in the teeth was that the outside source had the same last name as the proofreader. Not really much of an outside source if you had your husband look at it. And I tried to defend myself and state my case but ultimately they said that the delays were entirely on my end and it doesn’t matter that I have screenshots begging to be acknowledged in emails. According to them everything is entirely my fault. My fault that the proofreader sent out the wrong thing at first, my fault she never got back to me properly and my fault I was ignored for three months. And I think she’s wrong about the edits she made me do after proofreading was already underway. Isn’t it after a character says a quote you don’t capitalize he or she because they aren’t proper nouns?
The cherry on top of this lovely poop cake, is that two times a year the developmental editor would have a book come out, both through this company and through another company. Every year a woman who worked with foster emby would have a book come out. And they’ve got more than just the three people that they claim to have on their website. Stay as far away as you can. Learn from my mistakes and don’t be too eager to go and be with a company. As much is this makes my book sound like crap they value quantity over quality, and themselves over the authors they’re supposed to help. I wasn’t as problematic as they made me seem and I was silent on this for so long, but I don’t owe them that.
Also, after much thought I am sticking to my quantity over quality idea because my book is good, but it was buried under a bunch of crap. I’m a horrible self saboteur and put in jokes and dumb stuff that I should have gotten a revise and resubmit for. That is my part in this whole travesty. I have Shane Dawson syndrome and I think it’s funny, but it makes others uncomfortable. I’m working on that.
 
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Unimportant

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Gosh, AllisonM, that sounds pretty dreadful. I'm sorry you had to go through this, but many thanks to you for sharing your story. Writers who come after you will benefit from your experience and words of wisdom (and caution).

What are you looking to do in the future with your writing?
 

Allison_Miller36

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Gosh, AllisonM, that sounds pretty dreadful. I'm sorry you had to go through this, but many thanks to you for sharing your story. Writers who come after you will benefit from your experience and words of wisdom (and caution).

What are you looking to do in the future with your writing?
I have the book I had with them published on the kindle. I’m going to pay off some bills and buy a cover when it’s financially responsible to do so. I have a perfect cover in mind. But other than that, just get the computer fixed and publish on the kindle.
 
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Unimportant

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It sucks to have a book effed over. Hugs, sympathies, and hopes-they-die-horriblies.

But I expect and believe that you have more books in you.

Spend some time here at AW. New members can learn not just how to write better, but (in your case) how to publish more successfully
 

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