P.D. Publishing, Inc.

[veinglory]

A small press for gay fiction. Any thoughts, tips, impressions?

http://www.pdpublishing.com/

 

[swvaughn]

They look legit to me (says the person who's fallen for three too many scams, and learned lessons). And I've been looking for another of these besides Allyson. Thanks!

 

[Unimportant]

They're small and new and, I think, POD only, but reputed to be author-friendly.

 

[citymouse]

PD PUBLISHING INC

I tried to search for PD Publishing before posting but the search engine requires 4 or more letters to work. If this outfit has been discussed in another thread, please excuse me and redirect.

Now to the question: Has anyone heard of this company? If so what's the skinny?
Thanks for your time and patience.
C

 

[Parametric]

Something I learned from this thread: When the search engine is useless, try googling the search string + "site:absolutewrite.com".

The PD Publishing thread is here, but I'm not sure how much you'll learn from it.

 

[Unimportant]

POD press. Lesbian/gay/bi/trans only. Focuses largely on romance and romance subgenres, with most of their titles being lesbian fiction and/or containing sex (the kind that doesn't fade-to-black at the bedroom door).

Their authors seem happy with them, but then most small press authors either gush or do a runner, so I'm not sure how much positive author feedback is worth. I've never heard of this press having any problems with royalty payments etc. I'm pretty sure they go through Lightning Source so the physical quality of their books should be fine. Their distribution is, I believe, limited to the usual LSI wholesalers so their books won't be stocked in bookstores for the most part.

The quality of their books from a craft perspective is....variable. (My opinion; YMMV.) They noted in an interview (here: http://lesbianfiction.17.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=4386) that their acceptance rate in 2008 was about 20%. It'd probably be worth seeking out some PD authors' websites, since many of them will have their book's first chapter available free-to-read, to get an idea of what they're publishing.

My personal experience with them is fairly limited, but I'd advise that their contract will need to be very firmly negotiated by the author, editing will not be at the pro level, and novel sales will probably be in the 400 - 1200 copies range.

 

[citymouse]

Thanks everyone for your responses.
C

 

[CaoPaux]

I tried to search for PD Publishing before posting but the search engine requires 4 or more letters to work.

Just FYI - There's an alphabetical Index available (within which your browser's "Find on page" function will pick up short words if you don't feel like scrolling), and at the bottom of every AW forum page is a Google box to search the whole site with no character limits.

 

[Unimportant]

PD Publishing is now "not recommended" on Preditors and Editors, and over on Veinglory's blog there's a very damning story about how unprofessionally PD is behaving towards one of its authors.

Yikes.

 

[priceless1]

All the more reason to always give new publishers a couple years. That's about how long it takes for their reputation to become clearer and/or to run out of their investment money.

 

[CaoPaux]

Holy huluing heffalumps.

The gist: Publisher demands 10k termination fee. 8k+ being for "lost sales" -- half of which in re: a format never released.

 

[veinglory]

The publish some great stuff, but seem to have out their foot in it--big time.

 

[Unimportant]

All the more reason to always give new publishers a couple years. That's about how long it takes for their reputation to become clearer and/or to run out of their investment money.

They've been around since at least 2005.

 

[priceless1]

They've been around since at least 2005.

Guess it took them a bit longer to implode.

 

[veinglory]

They may yet make it through this depending on what happens next.

 

[priceless1]

Getting rid of their termination fee might be a good place to start. And really, what publisher cc's a personal gripe to the author's other publishers? If a publisher cc'd me on their grievances with one of my authors, I'd invite them to put their big boy pants on. Geez.

 

[michael_b]

From what I've seen elsewhere regarding this, there isn't a termination fee in the contract at all. They've just decided to demand one.

 

[Unimportant]

I know there are two sides to every story, but as an author my feeling is that I don't care if the author involved in this issue was the most horrible, awful, badly-behaved, hysterical, bat-shit wackaloon to ever touch a keyboard. The publisher has not negotiated in good faith when the author requested a contract termination, and has not behaved professionally (cc-ing emails to her other publishers, WTF?). And that's enough to make me decide that this publisher is not one I'd touch with a barge pole or recommend to any other author.

The author, if she's found to be in the wrong, may have tanked her own career. That's her problem and it doesn't impact anyone else. The publisher, who is in the wrong no matter what, has tanked their business and to some degree the careers of all the authors who are signed with them. That really spreads the problem around.

 

[absitinvidia]

I would add my voice to any warning regarding this publisher. They are slow in responding to emails and to getting books published. Also, their editing quality is substandard. A former PD author told me her copyeditor liked her book so much she was able to edit it in three days. Not a good sign.

 

[batgirl]

To judge by the author's pleasant and good-humoured response to a brusque comment on her blog, I think we could rule out the author-wackaloon scenario.

For some reason I'm reminded of the tagline for the Funhouse movie - "Pay to get in--Pray to get out!"
-Barbara

 

[Unimportant]

To judge by the author's pleasant and good-humoured response to a brusque comment on her blog, I think we could rule out the author-wackaloon scenario.

Agreed.

The brusque "get over yourself" comment on the author's blog was written by the spouse/partner of a long-time PD author, so it's a bit disingenuous and I'm glad the author was able to brush it off.

 

[absitinvidia]

Agreed.

The brusque "get over yourself" comment on the author's blog was written by the spouse/partner of a long-time PD author, so it's a bit disingenuous and I'm glad the author was able to brush it off.

That particular comment-maker has long been considered a troll in the LGBT publishing community.

I wasn't surprised the publisher contacted the author's other publishers. I've never been overly impressed with PD's level of professionalism.

 

[Unimportant]

The author has noted that PD Publishing has now offered to release her from her contract for no fee -- if the author deletes every mention of PD and this debacle, presumably from the entire internet.

 

[JulieB]

The author has noted that PD Publishing has now offered to release her from her contract for no fee -- if the author deletes every mention of PD and this debacle, presumably from the entire internet.

Yeah, but the Internet never forgets.

 

[Parametric]

I keep mixing up PD Publishing with the entirely blameless small press of a similar name, PS Publishing.