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Luna Brillante Publishing

Silverhand

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About a week ago, I asked if anyone had heard of Nightshade Press. (which I no longer need to know about.)

However, in that time, I have recieved three contacts from my old agency letting me know that four publishers have returned their calls.

Epic Press
Luna Brillante Press
ArcheBook Publishing
Nightshade Press

Like I said before I know that Nightshade is a reputeable publisher. My question is about the other 3. I did some research and it looks like Epic Press is a advertising agency of some sort? Or is that just a portion of it? My ex-agent said all of them are legit, but for personal reasons, I do not trust her as far as I can throw her.

Any help would be appreciated.
 

mdin

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I don't know anything about Epic or Archebooks.

Night Shade Books (I don't know if that's the one you're talking about) is good small press, and I have a few of their books. Their books have been reviewed in Publisher's Weekly. I don't know anything about their business practices, but some authors I admire have used them.

Luna Brillante Publishing appears to be brand new, and they publish through Lulu, which is something you could do yourself. Plus they have some outrageous things in their contract, like charging you $250 if you want out, or $149 if you want global distribution... so they're a vanity press.

Which makes me wonder about your agent. Who is it?
 

waylander

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AZBikergirl who posts here sometimes has a book out with Archebooks. Worth searching for her posts.
 

Aconite

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Silverhand, why is your ex-agent still acting like, well, your agent? Why is she taking calls about a MS she no longer represents, and getting in touch with the author who terminated the relationship? Has she explained that, or is she going on as if you never fired her?
 

victoriastrauss

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Not to mention, why is this agent fielding your ms. to publishers like ArcheBooks? I've seen its contract, and I can't imagine a reputable agent being willing even to consider it for a client. And that's leaving out the fact that it doesn't pay advances.

- Victori
 

CaoPaux

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FWIW, I can’t find an Epic Press/Publishing/Publications that’s not a self-pub or a subsidy publisher. Where are they located?
 

Silverhand

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Sorry it has taken me a few days to respond. The agency that was working with me, has in its contracts, the ability to work on/with anyone they submitted to, regardless of cancellation of contract.

That was how she explained it to me. Unfortunately, I cannot say the name of the agency, as I know she visits these boards commonly. However, they are based in TX. :)

Thank you all for the response on who these publishers are. It makes me really wonder if my novel will ever find its way into reputable hands. Maybe it just doesnt have what it takes...
 

Aconite

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Silverhand, please see your PM.
 

Cathy C

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The agency that was working with me, has in its contracts, the ability to work on/with anyone they submitted to, regardless of cancellation of contract.


The agent might retain the right to represent the deal, but the agent can't make you accept the deal. Remember that you're the boss of your book. Don't simply walk into a bad contract because you're frustrated. You DESERVE the same for your book as any other author---a good advance and good terms. :Hug2:
 

mdin

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Silverhand said:
has in its contracts, the ability to work on/with anyone they submitted to, regardless of cancellation of contract.

That'll sure go over well with any future agents.
 

victoriastrauss

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Silverhand said:
The agency that was working with me, has in its contracts, the ability to work on/with anyone they submitted to, regardless of cancellation of contract.

That was how she explained it to me.
Is that what the contract actually says, or what she told you it says? This is highly nonstandard. An agency may claim commissions on a sale that results from a submission it made prior to contract cancellation, even if that sale is made by you or another agent, but it won't continue to represent you to publishers it contacted after your relationship has been terminated.

Silverhand, could you contact me privately with the name of your agent? My address is [email protected].

- Victoria
 

Silverhand

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Luna Brillante Publishing (LBP)

Whew! After what seems like an eternity, I logged into my Outlook account today to find a surprise.

"Great news! We at XXXXX Publishing have reviewed your manuscript, FoTG, and wish to extend this invitation to join our family. Please send a phone number and address so we may contact you."

Umm....seriously I about cried. :)

Now to the problem. This is a very very new publisher, as in only 1 year + old. They have sent me the contract, but I am unagented and dont know a dang thing about this.

So...go ahead and break my heart people. I am going to list several things in the contract...and I wish to know if it is normal.

1.) Zero cash advancements
2.) 10% Royalties on all net sales.
3.) I am granting exclusive rights to my work for 3 years to said publisher.
4.) I retain all subsidiary rights.
5.) Something about Galleys and Proofs, and it costing royalty money if it exceeds 10% of composition costs.
6.) If a larger publisher wishes the rights to the book, they must buy the contract from said publishing house.
7.)Book to be published 6-9 months after final copy-edit is accepted.
8.) Authors gets 5 copies, which cannot be sold. Any others I might want...can be purchased at 50% cost. It does not mention if I can sell them.
9.) In case of Bankruptcy, all rights revert back to me.

So far these guys have published 2 novels since they have been a company.

Are there any questions I should ask? Anything I should look out for?

Like I said, tear this apart. I have been waiting a long *** time for this, but it needs to be right.

Oh, and I cannot say their name on this forum, as they use Absolute Writers. I actually found several posts from the editor in contact with me as I was looking for info on them. (I dont wish to cost myself anything. Hope ye all understand. If you need to know, you can always PM me. :) )
 
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Vomaxx

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Silverhand said:
"Great news! We at XXXXX Publishing have reviewed your manuscript, FoTG, and wish to extend this invitation to join our family. Please send a phone number and address so we may contact you."

I cannot answer your questions with any accuracy, but I am curious as to how one submits a manuscript to a publisher without that publisher knowing the phone number and address of the author. Are there publishers who accept anonymous submissions?? (I guess I must be behind the times again, as is so often the case.)
 

icerose

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Things you need to know before signing.

1-Is the company a POD (print on demand) or do they do actual print runs? If they are POD kiss bookstore shelves goodbye except if you are lucky and get in a local bookstore.

2- Marketing and promotion, what are they going to do for your book.

3- Why no advance? No advance typically means they have no faith in your book (could be wrong in this case but I am speaking in generalities)

4- Review copies, how many and to where are they going to send it. Why do you have to pay for galleys?

5- Distribution, through who, to what extent.

6- Why can't you sell your copies, people have no right to tell you what to do with your own personal property. If they are so worried about 5 less sales directly to them it means their sales are very low.

7- Promotion, what are they going to do to back your efforts and how much do they expect/require you to do. If they say all, run! Without their support, sales will be greatly minimalized.

8- Family, after my dealings with PA it gives me an icky feeling. Publishers are a business not a family circle and should be treated as such. It gives you a false set of trust and loyalty. Makes me want to ask, what are you hiding?

9- What and from what source are their expected sales?

10- Editing, level and scope. How long are they going to spend on your book. If they only give you a few days to run through it, they don't care about quality.

11- book format, is it trade paperback, hardcover, paperback, mass paperback.

12- support, who do you get to talk to, is it one person, is it a nameless e-mail (such as author support)?

13- Talk to the editor who would deal with your book. Make sure you have one editor and who is willing to work with you through the whole process.

14- Cover art, are they using clipart and photoshop or is there an actual artist creating it. Costs anywhere between 1000-5000, typically at least.
15- Cost of buying rights.

16- What rights are you exclusively granting? Printing rights is a no brainer, but what other rights are you signing away. Movie, radio, dramatic, e-book, audio, foriegn, library - all these things you have to weigh and consider. ( I think you meant these as subsidary rights so if that is what you meant ignore this one.)

17- Net sales is not the same as Cover sales. You will never know what will be counted as net sales because they detract all of their expenses first. So if the book is cover price at 20, it costs 5 dollars to print, they had to give a 50% discount for the book to sell, then it cost another 2 dollars shipping it, you are only getting paid for 3 dollars of the actual coverprice, which would be 30 cents a book. (Obviously this is a blanket figure and probably wouldn't be so little if the book costs that much.)

18- Cost of book, what is the coverprice going to be?

19- Percentage of discount given to bookstores. Standard is anywhere from 45%-55% Sometimes even higher! But never lower.

20- Return policy, do they have one? If they don't, kiss bookstore shelves good bye.

21- Royalty Statements. Ask to see a sample so you can know what to expect. If it tells you little to no information, request in contract that they give you detailed ones, or go elsewhere. If they say they do not have access to the information, they are full of it!

That's all the ones I can think of. Perhaps someone will come up with more.

New companies are hard to deal with because they haven't developed those all important relationships with distributors and bookstores, make sure they are working hard to get your books in bookstores otherwise you might as well be self published. If handled right it can be good to go with them, but they have to be working their butts off to make a good impression on the industry.

Good luck, I hope this helps. It doesn't mean they are bad to go with, but you should excercise caution and ask a whole lot of questions and keep everything they send you in case they don't follow through.

Sara

Oh and one more thing, if it isn't on the beware and backgrounds thread, ask there, if anyone has dealt with them and had a good or negative experience, chances are you will find them there!
 

reph

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icerose said:
4- ... Why do you have to pay for galleys?
This provision probably makes you responsible for charges for resetting type in excess of 10% of the typesetting bill. It applies only to "author's alterations" – that is, you changed your mind from what the ms. said – not to printer's errors. That's standard.

The advice to try Bewares & BC is excellent.
 

HConn

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FYI: if the publisher goes bankrupt, you will almost certainly not get your rights back. It doesn't happen.

Contact Writer Beware and ask if they've heard of this publisher.

Also, in the future you should do this sort of research before sending you ms to someone.
 

Silverhand

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Hi Hconn,

I totally understand that. I was actually referred to these guys through several contacts I made over the last year, people I consider to be trustworthy. At that time they told me the company was extremely new, but they were legit...and that I would be seeing some of their novels in the next several months. (That was 8 months ago)

Too be honest, I submitted because I trusted their judgement. I never really expected a reply. I guess this entire process has gotten me to realize how normal rejection is. hehe

Oh, and I should have been much more explanatory about the address. I was asked to reconfirm my # and address, as I let editor know I was closing on a house and was moving.
 

Albedo of Zero

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Is there any reason we can not know the publisher's name?
 

Maryn

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Albedo, that's my first thought as well. The people here know a lot about publishers. If Silverhand provides the name, the odds of someone having useful information get a whole lot better.

If it's a reputable publisher, although new, there's no reason to hide it. The fact that Silverhand doesn't seem to want to name them makes me wonder if there are already suspicions that something isn't as it should be.

If that's the case, Silverhand, please don't worry about any potential embarrassment. There are people here who've been duped in every way imagineable in regard to their writing, and they've all learned from it. Most are glad to pass it on, and will provide sympathy and support rather than judgment. Heck, I'll buy you coffee or a drink to celebrate a close call, if that turns out to be the case.

Maryn, hoping this is coherent
 

James D. Macdonald

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1.) Zero cash advancements

Not unusual in small-press and academic-press settings.


2.) 10% Royalties on all net sales.

This would be a deal-breaker for me. Royalties on cover price, or see you later.

3.) I am granting exclusive rights to my work for 3 years to said publisher.

Better would be a reversion based on sales.

4.) I retain all subsidiary rights.

I hope you're planning on making an effort to sell those subsidiary rights. This isn't bad -- if the press has no practical ability to use the subsidiary rights, they shouldn't have 'em.

5.) Something about Galleys and Proofs, and it costing royalty money if it exceeds 10% of composition costs.

Could you be more specific? This isn't unusual if they're talking about changes that aren't due to printer's errors. If you're rewriting the book after it's already in galleys, you should expect to pay for the luxury. Printer's errors the printer should pay for.

6.) If a larger publisher wishes the rights to the book, they must buy the contract from said publishing house.

Well, yeah.

7.)Book to be published 6-9 months after final copy-edit is accepted.

Not unusual. And if they don't print it, all rights revert, yes?

8.) Authors gets 5 copies, which cannot be sold. Any others I might want...can be purchased at 50% cost. It does not mention if I can sell them.

Not at all unusual for authors to be forbidden to sell promo copies. You can certainly give 'em as gifts, send 'em to reviewers, or anything else you want with them. Just don't sell them.

9.) In case of Bankruptcy, all rights revert back to me.

The bankruptcy court won't let this happen. A clause without meaning.
 

Silverhand

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The reason I hesitate to mention their name is due to the fact that I have not signed yet, and if they see me questioning...they may withdraw. I deal with negotiations for my company...and that is common for my practice. So, this was just a good way for me to start asking questions with little risk.

I dont know if that's the way it is...but just covering all my bases. The editor does post here...which kind of has me freaked out...especially if someone starts to slander (bad) / or tells me some bad truths (good for me). Once again in my line of work stuff like that is not so good.

I have no problem offering the name via IM's....in which you can ask...and maybe help me. :)
 

Silverhand

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James,


That is alot of really great info.

Is there an exact definition for the Net Sales? Or does it vary per publisher? If I should steer clear of this type of structure is it common to negotiate something like this?

Heh...I decided to just print the majority of the clause...so I can convey the right thing:

The Pub will pay the author royalties based on net sales as reported by the pub's distributors as follows: All copies sold at the full retail price as imprinted on the cover: 10% for the first $100,000 and 20% thereafter. For all other copies sold at special rates, names a bunch, a percentage of the per-copy amount recieved by the pub equal to 60% of the percentage of the per-copy amount....etc etc etc

Normal..or bad?
 
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