Magnus Books

[proudtobedad]

Hi there,

I'm interested in any info folks have on Magnus Books. Don Weise, who used to head Alyson Books, started the imprint, which focuses on works with LGBT themes.

www.magnusbooks.com

While their website lists their goals for future publishing, just wondering if anyone has info on clients/future books/etc. Anyone know their response times???

They have my manuscript, so just looking for any info I can. Thanks!

 

[CaoPaux]

Anyone?

Here's some press it received at launch, FWIW: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/featu...e-launches-indie-lgbt-publisher-magnus-books/

 

[KosseMix]

Has anyone heard anything further about this publisher?

 

[proudtobedad]

Has anyone heard anything further about this publisher?

I had a great exchange with Don Weise. He had incredibly complimentary things to say about my manuscript, but ultimately passed, as my genre is lit fiction, which is a very tricky area to get published in right now.

If you go to their homepage, they are only publishing a handful of fiction, with the rest non-fiction.

For a full read, it was about a 12 week turnaround. Really nice guy.

 

[KosseMix]

The reason I ask is that the owner's name brings up this as the first hit on Google:
http://scottkenan.blogspot.com/2010/04/letter-to-don-weise-king-of-my.html

I'm unsure whether to think the blogger is spouting hatred or has a bit of truth in the rambling. There are individuals in this world that cannot be pleased and will be happy to ruin reputations, but of course I don't know if the blogger is one of them, or what the publisher's side would be. Your experience leans my opinion toward the publisher and owner being legitimate. After all, the link (albeit the first to pop up on Google) seems to be the only of its kind.

The publisher itself "Magnus Books" brings up positive reviews regarding the upcoming titles to be published. Doing some research on the titles shows the titles to be stocking (well, pre-release) in Amazon and B&N at competitive prices with the big publishers' publications, which is another good sign.

What do you think?

 

[priceless1]

Seems he has quite a bitter dispute with one of his authors. But he's distributed by Perseus, so he has good distribution and appears to sign authors who have a nice platform. He has an active list for 2011 and 2012.

The downside is this is a new company (though he lists his industry experience), so it might be a good to wait a year to see how the company works out. We've all seen companies that had excellent distribution and plenty of money to burn, and watched them implode in a glorious, sickening fashion.

 

[proudtobedad]

Long story short: Mr. Weise is totally legitimate and one of the best editors in the business. He used to head Alyson, which used to be the biggest LGBT publisher, and he had a long, storied run with them.

But then Alyson was bought by Regent Media, along with the Advocate and Out magazines, and other LGBT offerings. But Regent is a terrible company and when they bought Alyson, they moved it to e-books only and dumped many contracts. There were a lot of angry people out there, and I believe there is a thread somewhere in the Forums if you want more info on that.

Mr. Weise tried to buy Alyson from Regent (since they were trashing the company he'd long championed), but couldn't come to terms, so left and created Magnus. Magnus is a new imprint, so there isn't a lot of info out there on them. Their current slate of books is mainly by established authors.

Regent filed for bankruptcy, and the general feeling is that -- given their questionable business practices -- they'll likely be going away for good.

But Mr. Weise is not associated with them, and while some of those authors who were dumped took it out on him, from everything I've read, he is not the one to blame.

Hope that helps!

 

[bcohen7719]

To the best of my knowledge, "Here Media" (owner of Alyson) has not filed for bankrupcy. Their firm is sometimes confused with "Regent Media," the owner of a chain of radio stations, which is sometimes confused with "Here Media," the LGBT print/movie producer & publisher,
which either has or had a legal subsidiary utilizing the name "Regent Media" or utilized that corporate title at some point in their holdings. The information found in the "Wikipedia" may not be accurate or up-to-date in that area.

The blogger mentioned seemed to have a conflict, essentially, with Here Media, not Don Weise. The author may have been frustrated, but it is not clear what his expectations might have been. Mr. Weise, also, was acting purely in the capacity as an employee at the time.

I know Don very well over some period of time. He is an established and tireless contributor/thought leader in LGBT publishing. I wouldn't doubt that he is being flooded right now, and overwhelming so, with trade book submissions, but I know he deals with authors with utmost respect, as well as contributes to any project with a unique intellectual creativity and vision. He is a gem.

Bill Cohen, Founding Publisher/Owner
The Haworth Press, Inc. (now part of the
Taylor & Francis Group / Routledge / Informa Health Care)

Publisher/Owner, Harrington Park Press, LLC
NYC

 

[bcohen7719]

The reason I ask is that the owner's name brings up this as the first hit on Google:
http://scottkenan.blogspot.com/2010/04/letter-to-don-weise-king-of-my.html

I'm unsure whether to think the blogger is spouting hatred or has a bit of truth in the rambling. There are individuals in this world that cannot be pleased and will be happy to ruin reputations, but of course I don't know if the blogger is one of them, or what the publisher's side would be. Your experience leans my opinion toward the publisher and owner being legitimate. After all, the link (albeit the first to pop up on Google) seems to be the only of its kind.

The publisher itself "Magnus Books" brings up positive reviews regarding the upcoming titles to be published. Doing some research on the titles shows the titles to be stocking (well, pre-release) in Amazon and B&N at competitive prices with the big publishers' publications, which is another good sign.

What do you think?

Below is a quote from this blogger's site. What do you think?
------------------------------------------------------------------
I greatly enjoyed meeting Ed at the Decatur Book Festival a few years ago, but the viruses that have riddled my computers since I signed the contract with Alyson have stripped his (and other important) addresses from my address book. These viruses are Chinese-made, employed by the Republican Party, and so impossible to be rid of, the techs at Apple are still trying to figure out how to disinfect my computer. I'd also like to add that your Republican/Chinese Communist Party pals have placed a TON of hidden files on this computer, many written entirely in Chinese characters. I did find those.

 

[Filigree]

I would say this is another example of 'Nature's Way of Saying Do Not Touch', and leave it at that.

 

[CaoPaux]

In Dec '12, became one of the initial/founding imprints of Riverdale Ave Books: http://riverdaleavebooks.com/