Ridan Publishing

[IceCreamEmpress]

While I would not argue it is the norm, in some cases (Ravenous springs to mind) they do.

Fair point, though I can't think of any other than Ravenous. It is certainly not something authors should be expecting of their small press publishers, was what I was getting at.

 

[AlishaS]

Hey, I've been an AW member for over a year and didn't know you could "subscribe to a thread" so honestly we can't fault Robin for not knowing that either.
And sure, if your company has a thread, of course you should keep checking on it, but seriously, we are are going to fault her because she took a few days to get over here? I think that's crazy. People often get busy with work and life.

Thanks Robin for coming and answers everyone's questions, I know sometimes we can be a little harsh on here lol but hey I can say for sure you've done great at working through all the posts today

 

[veinglory]

I don't think telling someone about a feature is 'faulting them for not knowing'. Honestly I don't think the thread is very negative at all unless you consider curiosity negative. Folks hear love to work out exactly what is what, is all.

 

[AlishaS]

Harsh may not have been the right word, because I agree this is not a negative thread I just wanted her to know that she shouldn't take anything here personally, is all. That we all have the best interests in mind and want the facts and want to learn.

 

[thothguard51]

Robin,

Thank you for responding. I wish Ridan and its authors the best of luck and many sales.

 

[rsullivan9597]

Hey, I've been an AW member for over a year and didn't know you could "subscribe to a thread" so honestly we can't fault Robin for not knowing that either.
And sure, if your company has a thread, of course you should keep checking on it, but seriously, we are are going to fault her because she took a few days to get over here? I think that's crazy. People often get busy with work and life.

Thanks Robin for coming and answers everyone's questions, I know sometimes we can be a little harsh on here lol but hey I can say for sure you've done great at working through all the posts today

Thanks - if you read the whole post - since the beginning you'll see that this is not the first time I've been put through the wringer here. I don't mind answering questions.

 

[Old Hack]

Robin, if you didn't realise this thread was active perhaps you don't realise you can subscribe to threads and get updated each time anyone posts in them. Check your profile: it's in there somewhere.

Thanks Old Hack - I'll look for that - no I did not know that.

Hey, I've been an AW member for over a year and didn't know you could "subscribe to a thread" so honestly we can't fault Robin for not knowing that either.
And sure, if your company has a thread, of course you should keep checking on it, but seriously, we are are going to fault her because she took a few days to get over here? I think that's crazy. People often get busy with work and life.

I wasn't faulting Robin at all, and I don't think she took my comment as such (at least, I hope not).

Let's move on. Thanks.

 

[Crafty]

Ok, ok. I guess I have a hat I need to eat. Haha. Robin, my skepticism was clearly unfounded and if you're getting sales like that, which I'm sure no one questions, you are doing some amazing work for your authors. Those sales are better than some that I've seen in small press's with books in stores. I would love to see your website updated, but I guess I understand that it's a low priority if you're not getting a lot of sales through there. But your site would be visited by famliy and friends of your writers so I think maybe that's why it's outdatedness turned me off some. I want my publisher [when i find one] to have a pretty site so my friends and family can see my work displayed -------- I'm vain lke that 9:. Still you have done an excelenet job addrressing the questions without getting upset and if you ever reopen for submissions please let us know.

 

[rsullivan9597]

Thanks Crafty...Yes there is only so many hours in the day so we do what we can. Right now I'm working feverishly on putting out 3 new books by Leslie, one by Nathan, 1 by Todd, and 2 by new authors as a small press that's a lot to have on our plate!

In any case - I'll post here when we are become open for submission again.

 

[James D. Macdonald]

Publishers' websites aren't for writers, or for family and friends of writers. They're for readers.

 

[Sydewinder]

I have to ask, Robin, but why do you only have links to your husband's books in your signature? Why don't you have your other authors books in there? Why don't you rotate pics? It's not hard to do, it takes all of 30 seconds. Especially now when you've been declaring that Orbit has your husband's books, so why are you still promoting those titles under Ridan?

Your other authors must feel so slighted by you. I noticed above that you said that you don't generate much sales through your website, so you've let it become a rubbish heap of out of date information, but I sincerely think that you weren't generating sales for michaels books through there so you let it go. Honestly it looks like a mausoleum dedicated to "Michael Sullivan" whose name appears about a million times on that website.

Also, I checked out Nathan's webiste, and Todd's site and both of them seem to be wondering where their books are. Sorry, but if you're so successful, why aren't you hiring more help to meet deadlines?

ETA I really hate to ask these questions, not only because I actually know one of your authors, but also because I've been a fan of Ridan for a while and had such high hopes. But after a couple of your posts here and on the kindle boards I just had to ask. I'm not trying to drag you down, if anything because one of my pals is with Ridan I want you to succeed, but I'm just shaking my head over here.

 

[rsullivan9597]

Publishers' websites aren't for writers, or for family and friends of writers. They're for readers.

Exactly

 

[rsullivan9597]

I have to ask, Robin, but why do you only have links to your husband's books in your signature? Why don't you have your other authors books in there? Why don't you rotate pics? It's not hard to do, it takes all of 30 seconds. Especially now when you've been declaring that Orbit has your husband's books, so why are you still promoting those titles under Ridan?

This site is for writers - I'm not expecting to sell books from here the pictures are not for advertising. They are there because these are the books that I've had the most influence on and that I speak the most about as I'm willing to share Michael's numbers and data freely.

Your other authors must feel so slighted by you. I noticed above that you said that you don't generate much sales through your website, so you've let it become a rubbish heap of out of date information, but I sincerely think that you weren't generating sales for michaels books through there so you let it go. Honestly it looks like a mausoleum dedicated to "Michael Sullivan" whose name appears about a million times on that website.

If any other author feels "slighted" by me they can leave Ridan at any time. I think each of them are better off with Ridan than they would have been on their own. Show me any other publisher who is willing to be so free with an author's freedom.

Also, I checked out Nathan's webiste, and Todd's site and both of them seem to be wondering where their books are. Sorry, but if you're so successful, why aren't you hiring more help to meet deadlines?

Because most of my income goes to the authors. (As it should be). If I grow Ridan too fast, and go bankrupt in the process, where will they be then?

ETA I really hate to ask these questions, not only because I actually know one of your authors, but also because I've been a fan of Ridan for a while and had such high hopes. But after a couple of your posts here and on the kindle boards I just had to ask. I'm not trying to drag you down, if anything because one of my pals is with Ridan I want you to succeed, but I'm just shaking my head over here.

I'm sorry you don't approve of me and what I do. I strive to make Ridan the best it can be for my authors and if you were one of my author's then you would have every right to vote with your feet. I'm not sure why you feel the need to "protect" them from the dastardly villian that is me.

 

[shaldna]

Originally Posted by James D. Macdonald
Publishers' websites aren't for writers, or for family and friends of writers. They're for readers.

Exactly

Which raises the question of why your website hasn't been updated since October 2010

That's 7 months that readers haven't seen anything new there. Websites are a wonderful resource for both writers and publishers (and pretty much any industry). Most of us now look at a publisher or agents website as one of the first things we check out when considering a publisher or agent.

 

[shaldna]

This site is for writers - I'm not expecting to sell books from here the pictures are not for advertising. They are there because these are the books that I've had the most influence on and that I speak the most about as I'm willing to share Michael's numbers and data freely.

I know that I buy books from links on this site quite often. Many of the members here do. So I think it's good to have work linked into your sig.

Because most of my income goes to the authors. (As it should be). If I grow Ridan too fast, and go bankrupt in the process, where will they be then?

I fully agree. The temptation when things are going well is to try and grow too fast, which, as you pointed out, can result in problems down the line when the company grows faster than you can keep up with. I think this shows quite a sensible approach.

 

[Kmarshall]

Will Ridan be at Book Expo America this year?

 

[priceless1]

If any other author feels "slighted" by me they can leave Ridan at any time. I think each of them are better off with Ridan than they would have been on their own. Show me any other publisher who is willing to be so free with an author's freedom.

I can't speak for any other publisher, but I can say that if I'm spending thousands of dollars on my authors' marketing and promotion, I need to be assured they're going to be around long enough for that huge expenditure to pay off.

So I guess the natural question is how much money do you spend on your authors' marketing and promotion, that you're willing to potentially see go down the tubes should they decide to leave?

 

[dgaughran]

Which raises the question of why your website hasn't been updated since October 2010

That's 7 months that readers haven't seen anything new there. Websites are a wonderful resource for both writers and publishers (and pretty much any industry). Most of us now look at a publisher or agents website as one of the first things we check out when considering a publisher or agent.

A lot of publishers' websites are awful, a lot of agents barely have a landing page.

 

[shadowwalker]

A lot of publishers' websites are awful, a lot of agents barely have a landing page.

Examples? Numbers?

Regardless of who the publisher's website is supposedly for, poor presentation, lack of updates, etc etc doesn't invite confidence in their professionalism. That goes for *any* publisher. Heck, goes for any business.

 

[priceless1]

A lot of publishers' websites are awful, a lot of agents barely have a landing page.

I'll agree that many sites are awful, but they're updated. They have to be because those sites are for buyers. A website is a publisher's and agent's business card.

 

[dgaughran]

Examples? Numbers?

Regardless of who the publisher's website is supposedly for, poor presentation, lack of updates, etc etc doesn't invite confidence in their professionalism. That goes for *any* publisher. Heck, goes for any business.

Do you really want me to have to prove that?

Do you think I can't find an out of date publisher or agent website?

Come on, you don't have to dispute everything I say.

 

[Sydewinder]

I can't speak for any other publisher, but I can say that if I'm spending thousands of dollars on my authors' marketing and promotion, I need to be assured they're going to be around long enough for that huge expenditure to pay off.

So I guess the natural question is how much money do you spend on your authors' marketing and promotion, that you're willing to potentially see go down the tubes should they decide to leave?

I wasn't going to come back, but since I was a bit harsh on Robin earlier, and since she did come back to answer my question and managed to maintain her cool, which I was grateful for, I will say this. Clearly Ridan doesn't skimp on marketing since her sales are better than almost any small publisher I've seen. I mentioned my concerns in previous posts so I won't do it again, but the marketing and production are the two things that don't seem to be issues with this publisher.

 

[thothguard51]

The marketing we have seen appears to be geared more towards Michael than any of her other authors and I think this is the point most of the AW members are pointing out.

 

[Sydewinder]

The marketing we have seen appears to be geared more towards Michael than any of her other authors and I think this is the point most of the AW members are pointing out.

It was mine too but then she showed figures for two other authors in her group. I still don't like a few things (mostly the look of favoritism), but it seems despite what I thought, we are not seeing the (or at lease all) marketing efforts (so they must be behind the scene) since her authors are selling thousands of copies of their books.

 

[shadowwalker]

Do you really want me to have to prove that?

Do you think I can't find an out of date publisher or agent website?

Come on, you don't have to dispute everything I say.

Only when you say things like 'a lot'.

My point stands that if you want to be a professional, everything connected with your business should look professional.