Pandamoon Publishing

[tbrosz]

I haven't found any threads on this company. Input?

Link

 

[veinglory]

Tradition publishers are evil, only we can do digital fancy stuff (unspecified).

Yeah. Not impressed. How about they just say, specifically, what they will do for their authors? And possibly who they are?

http://0370afd.netsolhost.com/wordpress1/about-us/

 

[christwriter]

Uh...this might be a dumb question but...where are their books?

Seriously. They are a publisher, their goal should be to sell books, but I can't find a link to any books they've put out.

How much can they possibly do for writers if they're not selling the books they print on their own bleeping website? Seriously, where are their books?

 

[veinglory]

I suspect they are new and have yet to release any.

 

[dale hollin]

their guidelines state they'll even accept unfinished manuscripts, as long as there's an outline detailing the unfinished parts. never have seen a publisher yet ask for manuscripts that aren't even completed.

 

[G. Applejack]

Not only was I unable to find any books PandaMoon has published, I failed to find out what exactly a Panda Moon is. (I imagine it's like a harvest moon, only with more bamboo.)

 

[frimble3]

Or short for 'Pandamoonium'?

 

[romancewriter]

They started following me on Twitter a few days ago. Also today they were part of the pitch madness on Twitter and they're making requests like crazy. Including one of mine. Not sure if I'm going for it though. A little leery given the lack of information and no stories yet pubbed to judge by.

 

[James D. Macdonald]

never have seen a publisher yet ask for manuscripts that aren't even completed.

I have: PublishAmerica.

 

[aliceshortcake]

They haven't actually published anything yet and are looking for a Freelance Editor and Freelance Proofreader.

Aha! LinkedIn comes up with the goods again:

Zara Moore Kramer
Publisher
Pandamoon Publishing
November 2012 – Present (5 months)Austin, Texas
http://www.linkedin.com/in/zarakramer

Sheila Busby, also of Austin, is an editor at Pandamoon: http://www.facebook.com/sheila.busby1/about

 

[herdon]

Bad writing on the website, inability to put together a wordpress website completely, about us that focuses on marketing experience rather than editing and publishing experience...

 

[Tromboli]

Zara Moore Kramer
Publisher
Pandamoon Publishing
November 2012 – Present (5 months)Austin, Texas
http://www.linkedin.com/in/zarakramer

Thanks for this. A friend of mine also got a request during #pitmad and asked if I would looking into them a little more (guess I'm know as the researcher ;-) This is helpful because I was able to see that she has NO publishing experience. Marketing, sure, but there needs to be some publishing, or writing or something!.

Maybe someone else has publishing industry experience here? Hope so, otherwise I'd stay away until they prove themselves a bit more.

 

[aliceshortcake]

The only Pandamoon people I've been able to trace are Mesdames Kramer and Busby. Sheila Busby is a semi-retired safety consultant - the 'Skills and Expertise' section of her LinkedIn profile makes no mention of any previous experience in publishing or editing: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sheila-busby/13/1a3/652

Also, from Pandamoon's website:

It’s imperative that our authors participate in the marketing process. We can and will be excited by a book, but no one will be able to project the same amount of passion that the author has for the book.

Call me old-fashioned, but since a publisher is (hopefully) going to MAKE MONEY from my hard work I'd prefer one whose passion equalled mine.

There’s a lot of buzz in the industry about authors needing a presence on Facebook and Twitter, but most don’t know how or what to do with those tools. At Pandamoon, we do. We’ve been engaged in the social media world since its inception and bring years of best practices from other industries to the publishing realm.

But...publishing isn't like other industries. In many ways it's weirdly unlike other industries.

We know how to develop programs that drive readers to purchase and recommend our books, building a base of fan followers vital to the success of any book.
http://0370afd.netsolhost.com/wordpress1/services/publishing-services/

You can't drive readers to buy books in the way you can drive consumers to buy food, booze or clothes. I'm a voracious reader but I've never bought a book via Facebook or Twitter. If a book isn't on the shelves of a bookshop, reviewed by a reputable publication/website, recommended by a friend with similar tastes or written by someone with whose work I'm already familiar I won't buy it. I won't even know it exists.

 

[Tromboli]

Call me old-fashioned, but since a publisher is (hopefully) going to MAKE MONEY from my hard work I'd prefer one whose passion equalled mine.

This isn't something that would bother me in the slightest. I think you're being a little over-critical. No one is going to be more passionate than the author, I agree with that.

But...publishing isn't like other industries. In many ways it's weirdly unlike other industries.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here.

You can't drive readers to buy books in the way you can drive consumers to buy food, booze or clothes. I'm a voracious reader but I've never bought a book via Facebook or Twitter. If a book isn't on the shelves of a bookshop, reviewed by a reputable publication/website, recommended by a friend with similar tastes or written by someone with whose work I'm already familiar I won't buy it. I won't even know it exists.

Marketing IS a big part of publishing, I have no problem with a publisher who puts a lot of emphasis on marketing. That's a great thing. But I agree that marketing can't be ONLY what a publisher is about. There is a lot more to it.


My problem with this company (from what I've seen so far, that is) is the lack of writing/books/publishing experience. You can't just do some marketing and think you will know what sells, what good writing is, what's already been done and what readers are looking for.

 

[tbrosz]

...But...publishing isn't like other industries. In many ways it's weirdly unlike other industries.

You can't drive readers to buy books in the way you can drive consumers to buy food, booze or clothes...

Yes, you can. It's done all the time. If things like fancy display racks, ads, TV and movie tie-ins, talk show interviews, websites, and social web campaigns didn't work, they wouldn't be doing it.

I don't know what percentage of your average publishing company's budget is marketing/advertising, but I bet it isn't small.

And as far as self-publishing goes, if you look at any of the self-published success stories they almost all involved a large dose of what you'd have to call advertising in one form or another, usually internet-based. However, I've noticed that most of them did this stuff on their own. If there's a big consulting company success story, I haven't seen it yet.

 

[joshuadavidbellin]

Pandamoon started following me on Twitter a couple days ago. I'm new to Twitter, so I don't know how irregular this is, but it seems a bit odd. I think this is a definite "wait and see" publisher, not a "must send my stuff to them right away" publisher.

 

[nkkingston]

It's fairly common for small publishers to follow authors and writers on twitter. It's not just about gaining submissions - writers are guaranteed to like books, so they've got a better shot at selling you theirs than someone who tweets about a non-book related subject. Bigger, more established publishers don't need to do this; readers come to them. So it's neither really a bad sign or a good; it's just a follower.

 

[joshuadavidbellin]

It's fairly common for small publishers to follow authors and writers on twitter. It's not just about gaining submissions - writers are guaranteed to like books, so they've got a better shot at selling you theirs than someone who tweets about a non-book related subject. Bigger, more established publishers don't need to do this; readers come to them. So it's neither really a bad sign or a good; it's just a follower.

Though interestingly, they stopped following me the very day I posted my previous comment (and that after only a week as my follower). So who knows?

Either way, they're such a new publisher I agree with the others in this thread who are advising caution for the time being. Follower or not, I can't buy their books until they have some to sell!

 

[jacksonbaer]

They have this listed under "FAQ" that their first titles are set to be released in June with a new website launching simultaneously including author pages. They currently have 7 non-fiction and 22 fiction works in some stage of production. I'm not sure where all the concern is coming from about there being no books since they are a new company. You can't just start a publishing company with books already published, it takes time. Also, they state that they are a royalty paying, non-subsidy indie publisher. That sounds pretty good to me. I guess there's no way of knowing until you see a contract and/or actually publish with them but they seem legit.

 

[jacksonbaer]

Signed

I just signed with them and they don't ask for any money from the author. They are a non-subsidy publisher, just new, that's all

 

[pmhale]

ebook publishers

Does anyone know anything about Pandamoon Press? It's a new publisher out of Texas. Anyone have more info?

 

[cmtruesd]

I don't think this is the right spot for this question. With that said-- never heard of them.

 

[James D. Macdonald]

I don't think this is the right spot for this question. With that said-- never heard of them.

Threads merged.

 

[Plot Device]

This is a huge red flag for me. Sounds like PublishAmerica crap.

It’s imperative that our authors participate in the marketing process. We can and will be excited by a book, but no one will be able to project the same amount of passion that the author has for the book.

Sounds like they want YOU to be the sole marketer of your book. Sounds like they will merely "advise" you on how to promote it, but that they won't lift a finger --nor allocate a budget of any sort-- to help you with that promotion.

Sure, they will likely "advise" you on all kinds of strategies. Such as, I suspect that they will verbally give you lots of advice on how to set up a Facebook account, how to set up a Twitter account, and probably give you pep talks on sticking with it every day. They will also probably suggest you call the local TV station in your area and see if you can get an interview, and ditto that you try the local public access channel. But will THEY do any marketing themselves??

I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Plot Device]

They have this listed under "FAQ" that their first titles are set to be released in June with a new website launching simultaneously including author pages. They currently have 7 non-fiction and 22 fiction works in some stage of production. I'm not sure where all the concern is coming from about there being no books since they are a new company. You can't just start a publishing company with books already published, it takes time. Also, they state that they are a royalty paying, non-subsidy indie publisher. That sounds pretty good to me. I guess there's no way of knowing until you see a contract and/or actually publish with them but they seem legit.

I just signed with them and they don't ask for any money from the author. They are a non-subsidy publisher, just new, that's all

Congratulations.

Would you care to post the contract online for the rest of us to read??