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Evershade Publishing

gckatz

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They're brand-new. Anyone know anything about them? Their website is very slick and reader-focused, which is good, but they're a bit vague on what "traditional-style publishing for indie authors" means.

https://www.evershadepublishing.com/
 

VeryBigBeard

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Any new publisher, give it 2-3 years. That's best case scenario.

It's great that the site is reader-focused, but that's like Item #4185874 on the list of Important Publisher Things, and all it means is someone's read enough of threads like these to know to make the site reader-focused. And it's not really reader-focused, anyway: where can I buy their books? Uh, wait, they don't have any. There's no team listed, either.

Publishers shouldn't launch without titles ready to go and/or experienced people on-board. It's about credibility--with distributors and marketers as much as authors. This is achieved by the founders Knowing People in The Biz and sweet-talking authors with established fanbases with whom they have an existing relationship into letting the start-up have a new title. Or various permutations thereof. The problem with launching and assuming you're going to pull your stable of launch authors from slush is that you set yourself a verrrry long runway: you have to screen the slush, you can't guarantee the slush is gonna be good (new publisher; it often won't be) and when you do find a diamond you're still launching with a bunch of debut authors. It's a lot more work, all of which costs money the company has to front, raising the question: where's the capital? Money like that is rarely quiet. Someone fronting $500K-1M gets more than a handful of books out of it. A founder putting up that much has a prior history and isn't shy about flaunting it. Or, the capital doesn't exist, which is why we wait 2-3 years.

Common trick to avoid the runway problem is to simply not spend any money on marketing and/or editing and leave it to authors. Thus the stuff about authors building their brands.
 

Undercover

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I would definitely wait to see what they come out with, who they are, what the covers look like, how they sell, etc. Right now, no way.
 

mrsmig

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Big Red Flag: no one listed in the "About Us" section. No way of knowing if the principals have actual experience in the publishing trade (and I don't mean experience self-publishing), or if they just talk a good game.
 

triceretops

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I had first confused them with Evernight. Okay, another new one, guh. By prolific they mean pumping out a novel every three months, and they would like to see a series out of it, complete with an outline/synopsis for ever following title. That is prolific. Very much so. Could also mean a hell of a lot of pressure with no grandiose expectations. No male MCs wanted. Hmmm? They specialize somewhat in a certain type of spec fiction. A mass of imprints. As VBB noted, nothing out there and ready to read. This is a huge wait-and-see publisher.
 

frimble3

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And, all they seem to want is series books, 3-5 books. Which means that once they've published your first one, for good or bad, you're kinda stuck with them.

Also "[FONT=avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496]While some of our more prolific authors are invited to specialized publishing services with a robust marketing budget, all of our authors receive unrivaled support from our publishing team to achieve their goals and grow with our publishing house."

While the less prolific get second-rate services with skimpy marketing? At least they're open about it. And I imagine once you sign, 'prolific' is going to mean 'crank it out or else'.

Because these are apparently their priorities for authors:
[/FONT]

  • "Commit to publishing a series with us consisting of 5 or more books.
  • Write a new novel for Evershade per 3 month period.
  • Commit to a 4-year contract for each published title.
  • Produce consistently well written stories with engaging plots and lovable characters."

    What kind of a publishing company puts 'quality' exactly last on their list of expectations?
[FONT=avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496] [/FONT]
 

Fantasy_freak

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Evershade is a front company for Rebecca Hamilton, which was started after she had her Amazon account banned for violating their TOS. That's why there is nothing in the about section, so nobody can connect the dots back to her. The other "authors" repped by the company were all intimately involved in scamming their way onto the USA Today bestseller list. I'm not sure if it is allowed to link to other forums here, but there is a big kboards discussion about the boxed set scams she was involved in and the subsequent law case. If the link is against rules, then google "passive voice boxed set scams" and "Hamilton vs Garner lawsuit" (https://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=250491.0).

There's also an old thread here on AW about a former company she had, with issues going back to 2012.
Edit: found it, it is the thread about Immortal Ink https://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?240635-Immortal-Ink-Publishing

Personally I would avoid it, if you want to keep your nose clean.
 
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Sonya Heaney

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Big Red Flag: no one listed in the "About Us" section. No way of knowing if the principals have actual experience in the publishing trade (and I don't mean experience self-publishing), or if they just talk a good game.

That. After their site froze my computer on the first try :)D), I searched it for who these staff members with decades of publishing experience (as they say) are - and found nothing. I then did a few Google searches to see if any editor or publishing director-type came up alongside the company's name, and found nothing. The site looks good, and I like their imprints, but who are these people?

Is it just me, or is that weird?
 

Sonya Heaney

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Evershade is a front company for Rebecca Hamilton, which was started after she had her Amazon account banned for violating their TOS. That's why there is nothing in the about section, so nobody can connect the dots back to her. The other "authors" repped by the company were all intimately involved in scamming their way onto the USA Today bestseller list. I'm not sure if it is allowed to link to other forums here, but there is a big kboards discussion about the boxed set scams she was involved in and the subsequent law case. If the link is against rules, then google "passive voice boxed set scams" and "Hamilton vs Garner lawsuit" (https://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=250491.0).

There's also an old thread here on AW about a former company she had, with issues going back to 2012.
Edit: found it, it is the thread about Immortal Ink https://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?240635-Immortal-Ink-Publishing

Personally I would avoid it, if you want to keep your nose clean.

Ah. I posted before I saw your post.