Pike Inc Ebook & Books in Print Publishing Co.

[Penny Graham]

I found this publisher on another site and they are inviting everyone to submit books to them. Previously they only printed ebooks for the public and books in print were reserved for the Pike family. Now they are doing both. Has anyone heard of them? Preditors and Editors don't have any comments either way. Thanks

 

[Little1]

Link?

 

[Penny Graham]

Link is here.

http://pikeincebooks.webs.com/

 

[DreamWeaver]

http://pikeincebooks.webs.com/ [ETA: Penny_Graham beat me on that one!]

Red flag right off the bat: "We are not a vanity publisher."

Then a bit further down we see "If your book is except for publishing...", which inspires no confidence in their ability to edit.

I'd keep looking if I were you.

 

[jennontheisland]

I had to click to see that for myself.

Holy crap it's real.

And in the same paragraph:

"Our author's get 50% of all royalties on their published works. This is not 50% of retail price, it is 50% of royalties."

What.

 

[Penny Graham]

thanks you guys! I saw those too, but still wondered if they already have the scam reputation. Appreciate your responses.

 

[jennontheisland]

No one's saying they're a scam, Penny. They are likely completely legit. They just seem totally clueless and not qualified for the job.

 

[CaoPaux]

And Lulu front, to boot: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/PikeInc

 

[Annayna]

wow......

 

[triceretops]

No wonder print-on-demand is getting a bad rap. Sinking lower into the abysss, day by day. POD houses asking for copyright fees, asking for catalog numbers, asking for minimum book purchases, asking for friend's lists, low royalties on net, no advances, no major reviews, no bookstore placement 'cause there ain't no sales teams...and the list goes on and on and on.

Tri

 

[defyalllogic]

um the products had not rhyme or reason and... well, if you don't mind being among them, that's cool. i like to seem some consistency and a noticeable bar i'd want to be a associated with reaching...

 

[Momento Mori]

Pike Website:
We have been publishing books since 2004 for members of our family. We just recently expanded our publishing experience to the public.

Have you ever heard of a book published by a member of this family? Have you ever found a book published by this company in a bookshop?

If the answer to either of these questions is "no" then you have to question whether anyone would hear of your book if it was published by this company or whether your book would ever be found in bookstores.

Pike Website:
Our author's get 50% of all royalties on their published works. This is not 50% of retail price, it is 50% of royalties.

Okay, so this is proof that they have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. Royalties are calculated from the returns made on selling the book calculated either by reference to cover price (which is the best option for authors) or net (and if it's net, then the contract needs to be clear on what costs come off before the royalty is paid.

Pike Website:
A book that is 300 pages, would cost $8.00 to print. That is paper and ink cost. Then the retail cost is set at $16.00, that is $8.00 in royalties. You get half of $8.00 for each book sold.

This suggests that they're paying royalties off cover price, which is good BUT they talk about themselves as an electronic publisher (making books available in PDF format), which makes me wonder where that $8 cost has come from because there shouldn't be any printing costs if books are only printed in eformat.

The following suggests to me that they also make a further deduction on books sold on Amazon and Barnes and Noble:

Pike Website:
Once you book is placed on Amazon, Barnes & Noble they will add another $4.00 to their retail cost for marketing your book. This does not apply as royalties, it is a price that we did not set it is the company that markets your books. Store prices may vary.

Pike Website:
We are the only publishing company that gives our Author's 50% of all royalties on their books.

No, you're not.

Pike Website:
Amazing! We have only been open for business for a short while and have had an amazing response. We are now working on a few books. We will soon have more to add to our online Ebook store plus Books in Print store.

This immediately makes me question what their quality control is like (or indeed, if it exists). If there is no quality control, then it's basically no different to self-publishing, which you can do yourself anyway and probably keep more money from book sales.

Pike Website:
I had Pike Inc Book Cover Service create me a book cover for my in print book. I had many sales because of that cover. I had several people post on my guestbook, "The reason I bought your book was because of your fabulous cover, and I am glad I did." Thank you so much Pike Inc. You made my book sales sky rocket."

You shouldn't have to pay anything for a cover and it certainly isn't some additional service. It should all be part of what Pike are doing anyway.

Pike Website:
Q. Can an author supply their own cover art?
A. Yes. We wish you to supply your own art work. If you do not have a cover design we can do it for you. But our cover design cost $35. However we do offer a free cover for authors that do not have one, but it is just a plain Jane cover with author and title on it. If you wish to submit your own cover, There are stipulations for using your own cover art though so please email admin with "cover art inquiry" as your subject line and we will send you the information regarding using your own art.

In particular, authors should not be having to supply their own book covers, let alone paying their "publisher" $35.

Pike Website:
However we do free cover art for our authors, but it is a basic plain cover with title and author name on it.

That's simply not good enough. Another sign that this is not a good option for authors IMO.

Pike Website:
Pike Inc Publishing's standard contract rights are for 5 years. The author does however have the option of terminating the contract after the first year if he/she is not satisfied. If you decide to terminate your contract we wish to have a detailed email telling us the reason why, so we can better our services to Authors.

Ridiculous. If you want out, you should have the right to terminate without having to give reasons. It also speaks volumes as to what their customer base is - they should be looking to service what the book buying public want and selecting authors who they think can deliver.

Pike Website:
Yes, we do minor editing. We will format and check for spelling errors, however if you wish to use our detailed editing service it will cost a little more. To check out our prices visit our site at Pike Inc. We have a great staff of editors that will do their job to make your book an outstanding read.

No. Commercial publishers do more than run a spell check on their book - full and comprehensive editing should be part and parcel of what you're getting and you certainly shouldn't be charged a fee for it.

Pike Website:
Yes we market you to our customers, as well as some online reviewers. But most of the marketing is up to you. You as an author should create a website, get business cards, to help promote your book as well.

So they basically do little and leave it up to the author. And their marketing techniques suck - who here has ever bought a book on the basis of getting a business card? (Unless it was a business card from Stephen King ...)

Pike Website:
Pike Inc Publishing is dedicated to its authors. We will go above and beyond to help new authors succeed in marketing their work and we will help veteran authors by giving them new marketing ideas. If after a years time you are not satisfied with your level of success you can terminate your contract. It is that simple. If you want to start out small, just to get your feet wet with us, write and submit something small, like a novella. You will not be disappointed that you did.

Yes, it's so dedicated that it requires its authors to pay for a decent cover, pay for proper editing and do all of the substantial marketing themselves.

Pike Website:
We are not a vanity publisher.

Yeah. Okay. Whatever you say.

The whole thing screams to me that this is a lousy publisher for authors - you can and probably would do much better self-publishing with lulu.

MM

 

[Marian Perera]

One of the authors behind this company previously ran a Book Hall of Fame Literary Reviews service.

Reviews cost between $20 and $50, but for the higher prices I believe you got a certificate.

This part was especially interesting:

We are striving to be the Nation's number one book publisher!!

They may have to displace another company which claims,

We are the Nation's number one book publisher!!

Same font, same color, two exclamation marks and all.

 

[jennontheisland]

Well, I think Queen of Swords just pulled the "scam" card.

 

[Marian Perera]

Heh. They couldn't even write their own claims - they copied PublishAmerica's!

PA :

1. 
   [*]We publish more new titles than any other traditional book publisher. PublishAmerica has a history of regularly putting thousands of its titles on the market in hardcover.
   [*]We accept more new and unpublished authors than any other traditional book publisher in the nation.
   [*]We receive more queries from new authors than any other book publisher in the nation.
   [*]According to the Guinness Book of World Records, we hold the record for the largest booksigning in history.
   [*]We are the first traditional publisher in modern times to reverse the trend of outsourcing book printing, by building our own printing facility.

We are always happy when a new author finds his or her way to our door--opportunity knocks on both sides!

Pike:

1. 
   [*]We will publish more new titles than any other traditional book publisher. Pike Inc Publishing will eventually have a history of regularly putting thousands of its titles on the market in hardcover.
   [*]We will accept more new and unpublished authors than any other traditional book publisher in the nation.
   [*]We receive more queries from new authors than any other book publisher in the nation.
   [*]We are the first traditional publisher in modern times to reverse the trend of outsourcing book printing, by working with the worlds best printing presses.

We are always happy when a new author finds his or her way to our door--opportunity knocks on both sides!

I thought it was a parody at first.

 

[Marian Perera]

When a PA author sets up their own vanity press, that's not really newsworthy.

But when they copy PA's claims about itself verbatim, down to the font color and italics - except using a different tense and replacing "PublishAmerica" with their new company's name - I thought you guys might want to check it out.

Scroll down to the We are striving to be the Nation's number one book publisher!! part, then read the claims below it and compare to PA's front page.

 

[KTC]

oh my god. bad on so many levels. i want to hit them just for their command of the English language. nice copying of the Nation's Biggest Scammers too. These people have no idea what they are doing...which makes teh evil show through...even if they are well-intentioned. They get seventybillion thumbs down from me. and i'm the Nation's number one trusted opinion!! so there.

 

[ResearchGuy]

. . . I thought you guys might want to check it out. . . .

What jumped out at me was the odd use of the phrase "books in print" to mean, well, BOOKS. Apparently they are unaware of Bowker's Books in Print (or are untroubled by the confusion that their use of the phrase might engender).

--Ken

 

[Don Davidson]

When a PA author sets up their own vanity press, that's not really newsworthy.

But when they copy PA's claims about itself verbatim, down to the font color and italics - except using a different tense and replacing "PublishAmerica" with their new company's name - I thought you guys might want to check it out.

Scroll down to the We are striving to be the Nation's number one book publisher!! part, then read the claims below it and compare to PA's front page.

They help with book editing?!!! The first paragraph of their web page reads like it was written by someone who never made it through 6th grade English.

 

[CaoPaux]

Yup, Tabitha Pike (Robin) has two books with PA (pubbed '07): http://www.freewebs.com/tabitharobin/

 

[PVish]

I thought you guys might want to check it out.

And their site is on one of the free website thingies. Think of the money Random House or Simon & Schuster could save it they used a free website, too.

"Striving to be the Nation's number one book publishing company" does not equal actually becoming the nation's number one book publishing company.

Somehow I doubt this claim:

We receive more queries from new authors than any other book publisher in the nation.

 

[merrihiatt]

This, among many other things, made me cringe:

We are always happy when a new author finds his or her way to our door--opportunity knocks on both sides!

 

[jennontheisland]

Well, it's a business model that she knows works.

 

[AudioGenius]

Somehow I doubt this claim:

We receive more queries from new authors than any other book publisher in the nation.

It's literally copied and pasted directly from the front page of Publishamerica.com.

Hey PA, I don't like you ... but feel free to smack these Pike idiots around.

 

[James D. Macdonald]

Pike Incorporated offers many marketing offers. Pike INC. are here to meet your book publishing needs. However Pike's Publishing only publishes book written by the Pike family, we do help authors with editing services, and book cover services. If you are a book author and need your un-published book edited for the book publishing process or need a cover for your book we can help you. If you need a publisher or printing press we however can refer you to one. We offer many services. If you will look through our pages your will see. We also offer free book reviews. We can help you with most of your publishing needs.

Pinches bridge of nose. Shakes head.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Anyone who submits to these people deserves to be published by them.