Blue Spider Books (formerly Blue Spider Press)

[Bartholomew]

Howdy,

Looking to publish a comic book, and someone who is a fan of my stuff said to look into Blue Spider Press. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with them or information about them.

Site: http://www.bluespiderpress.com/

 

[ctripp]

Looks and sounds like a service provider? and I assume they charge for the services? A lot of self publishing press ads on their home page and a lot of talk to the writers, saying what many writers feel after a number of rejections.

But in all seriousness, we seek to take back publishing from an establishment dominated by both big businesses and out-of-touch academics. Write what you want! Are you constantly frustrated with thoughts of how you could outdo a lot of what is widely circulated by big book companies and Ivory Tower journals? Here's your chance to prove your worth.

We accept all pieces of writing you have--short stories, flash fiction, novellas, novels*, poems, essays, reviews, you name it.​

I don't see they have published anything, anywhere. It was a hard site to manoeuvre and figure out. Seems they are encouraging writers to sub to them and put their writing up on line, on their site... but again it's pretty confusing. There is something they are selling called the "Attic box" which contains a used book and coffee... like I say, I'm confused
I would say they aren't a publisher, in the way Authors mean publisher.

 

[CRMooney]

From their Submission guidelines page:

Flytrap Uprising currently has no concrete plans to publish new material.

PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO US AT THIS TIME. SUBMISSIONS WILL GO UNREAD.

 

[VeryBigBeard]

​We are currently revamping the future trajectory of the company.

I'd wait and see based on that nugget alone. You don't want to publish with a company and then have it disappear. Revamping trajectories sounds like, "what we were doing wasn't working and what we're going to try might not work either." Props for recognizing change is needed, but still a risk an author doesn't need to share in.

But in all seriousness, we seek to take back publishing from an establishment dominated by both big businesses and out-of-touch academics. Write what you want! Are you constantly frustrated with thoughts of how you could outdo a lot of what is widely circulated by big book companies and Ivory Tower journals? Here's your chance to prove your worth.

We accept all pieces of writing you have--short stories, flash fiction, novellas, novels*, poems, essays, reviews, you name it. We also encourage submissions of original artwork for our interiors and covers.

Red flags there. "Write what you want!" is an appeal to ego. Ego should have little to no place in this. Are you writing what readers want to read? Will this writing sell? Given they're revamping, and publish poetry, I wonder how much of a priority actually selling has been? Shots at supposed big publishers and some ivory tower sounds more like sour grapes than serious book trade experience.

The principals look like they're college friends and writers with a little local level experience.

He is currently working towards his goal of becoming a professional writer, and he looks forward to the opportunity to help you do the same.

Being a passionate writer is awesome but it's not going to help them effectively publish other writers. This isn't about development--that's what communities like AW and crit groups are for--this is about readers.

[name] is a firm believer in finding redeeming qualities in any piece of work.

Again, this is a lovely sentiment and totally legit in a crit group but it isn't a submissions policy and it's a bad sign in a publishing house, which needs to be able to discern.

The more I read on the blog the more questions come up--grammar, editing, myths about publishing. The company has first issue of its journal/zine available on Issuu, so you can take a look if you want.

This looks like a very well-meaning operation, but not really at a professional level.

 

[Marian Perera]

I looked up Blue Spider's submission guidelines, which say,

All submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter that includes an author bio, a short synopsis of the submitted work, and our application/contract.

I clicked on that link, which opened up a "General Nonpayment Application/Contract" form that said,

By submitting this work, I am giving Blue Spider Press, LLC the right to publish this work in Flytrap Uprising, in either and/or both print and digital editions.

Merely by submitting, you hand over the rights to your work (for nothing, which is what "Nonpayment" suggests to me). Run far, run fast and don't look back.

 

[ctripp]

Yeah, it's just a mess of a website and I'm scratching my head trying to figure out what they do, other then post any kind of writing anyone wants to do, on line and sell used books with a coffee.
Looking at the contract, good thing they have stopped accepting submissions.

[FONT=Karla !important]Blue Spider Press, LLC is currently unable to offer monetary compensation for publication.[/FONT]

[FONT=Karla !important]

Submission is currently free (as of October 2016). We may move to an electronic submission system that would require a nominal submission fee in the future.[/FONT]

 

[EMaree]

Merely by submitting, you hand over the rights to your work (for nothing, which is what "Nonpayment" suggests to me). Run far, run fast and don't look back.

Holy smokes. RUN AWAY. RUN AWAY SO FAST.

Submission is currently free (as of October 2016). We may move to an electronic submission system that would require a nominal submission fee in the future.

RUN LIKE THE WIND.

 

[CaoPaux]

Is now "a book subscription box service, Blue Spider Books, which pairs secondhand novels with coffee or tea and bookish/geeky/fun goodies." https://www.bluespiderbooks.com/

 

[frimble3]

Which is kind of an interesting idea, except that the wording on their site (when you get to it) strongly suggests that you will get whatever used book, in whatever condition, that they first lay their hands on. Presumably, the edibles are not previously used.

 

[VeryBigBeard]

Wonder what happened to the book rights of any authors who submitted to them before the previous start-up failed?

This is start-up culture 101. Offer a "curated experience" and jump on the latest trend, which is apparently delivery (I haven't been keeping as close track because, yanno, work). Get absolutely stomped by Amazon while simultaneously hoping the company gets bought by Amazon.

At least with this venture there's less likely to be collateral damage. Presumably they buy the used books somewhere, so that's good.

After a quick glance through the Twitter feed, though, looks like they say they've been doing the subscription service thing for "the past two years," which makes me very curious what they were doing around the time Bartholomew started this thread.

 

[EMaree]

Subscription boxes are a common 'get rich quick' trend for entrepreneurs with enough capital to start a small business. Blue Spider Books have shown in the past that they'll do anything to make money, grabbing rights and charging for subs, and I don't doubt that this new venture is another desperate scramble to make money out of gullible people.

This is the first book subscription service I've seen that's ballsy enough to give away second-hand books. I dread to think what condition they're in. $14 for two used books and a few teabags/coffee samples is just mind-boggling.

looks like they say they've been doing the subscription service thing for "the past two years," which makes me very curious what they were doing around the time Bartholomew started this thread.

[Image of the cat from the comic "Saga", a genetically engineered lie-detecting animal, hissing "LYING".]