Chateau Publishing House

[robinslick]

Of course when something seems too good to be true...well, we all know about THAT, but someone told me about a new company called Chateau and Google (so far) has no scam mentions but of course that means nothing, either.

So here's their website - thoughts?

http://www.chateaupub.com/

The reason I bring this up is that I have a book currently with an alleged indie publisher who turned out a truly inferior product; my book is not available in brick and mortar stores, and after over a year I have yet to receive anything more than a royalty statement saying I earned twelve cents.

Yeah, I kid you not. Even though I personally have bought 25 books from Amazon to see if they ever fixed the 1,000 formatting errors throughout the book including half sentences, dropped paragraphs...arghh...and I'm no rookie, I've been with Mundania/Phaze for five years and went with a new company because the book I'd written was not a genre they publish.

So I could easily yank my book away from this "vanity" publisher now...I haven't done it sooner because I know once a book has been published, it's not going to be published anywhere else easily and it's a book I'm proud of, damn it!

 

[Marian Perera]

I'm guessing Chateau Publishing is a vanity press, judging by the offer of

Low-Cost traditional publishing services

They have two authors listed, and all but one of the cover prices for their books are $24.95.

 

[CaoPaux]

From their "50/50" offer page:

About Chateau Publishing House, Inc. – Chateau Publishing House has been publishing books since 1997. Their mission is to create a turn-key operation that provides everything an author needs to edit, design, print and distribute their work. It accomplishes this by offering a low-cost alternative to the big publishing houses through their suite of innovative services. This is not self-publishing, but rather independent publishing.

Yeah. At best, they're a subsidy publisher.

 

[JulieB]

If it were me, I wouldn't submit now. There are two authors listed, and the distributor appears to be connected with one of the two authors.

They may be just getting started, which is all the more reason to give them some time.

In addition to what everyone else has said, ask yourself: Do they get books in stores?

 

[robinslick]

Ah, my thoughts exactly..to all of what you say. And of course I knew it was too good to be true but it surprised me when Google did not reveal anything.

What sucks is that I screwed up by publishing a book I really cared about with what I foolishly thought was an indie press based on a recommendation from someone I trusted. And now even if I pull it, it's worthless. Ah, well. Lesson learned but heart broken.

Thanks for your prompt replies!

 

[JulieB]

By the way, welcome to AW!

 

[robinslick]

Thank you! Lots of great information here...

 

[James D. Macdonald]

What sucks is that I screwed up by publishing a book I really cared about with what I foolishly thought was an indie press based on a recommendation from someone I trusted. And now even if I pull it, it's worthless. Ah, well. Lesson learned but heart broken.

If the book was never effectively distributed it may not be as dead as you think it is.

Get the rights back. Write (and sell!) a different book. Then see what your agent can do about reselling this one.

 

[robinslick]

Really? I thought it was hopeless.

But of course I'm writing a new book. I'm always writing.

 

[MickRooney]

And of course I knew it was too good to be true but it surprised me when Google did not reveal anything.

This is a very typical 'mom and pop' operation with no track record. Though many authors use Google to enter a publisher's name along with a key word like 'scam' or something similar, it really is not the most reliable way to check out a publisher's credentials.

It is no surprise nothing came up on Chateau Publishing, simply because there is nothing on them!

Your best bet when checking out a publisher is visit your local bookstore and see if the publisher's books are on the shelves. If not, see if they can be easily ordered. A good bookseller will let you know if the publisher is using one of the main distribution channels.

 

[CaoPaux]

They've revamped their site to drop mention of payment (the pages still exist, just aren't linked from the home page), but they haven't published anything since '10.

 

[CaoPaux]

Put out a new book by owner this year, but naught else.

 

[Maryn]

They're apparently still contacting people, though. I answered a question about this press elsewhere, from someone who said they'd received an email from Chateau. I directed them here, of course, and shared tips on checking the legitimacy of any press.

Maryn, practical

 

[CaoPaux]

Several new books last year; all by owner.