Has anyone had any experience with Creativia or heard anything about them, good or bad? They have approached me to e-publish my work.
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[Publisher] Next Chapter (formerly Creativia)
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They are an "Amazon exclusive" publisher - meaning your book won't be available anywhere else.
And then there's this:
"Creativia operates on a revenue-based model, meaning that we deduct a percentage of book profits to cover our expenses. On average, our authors earn 30-50% of eBook list prices and 15-25% of the paperback list prices, depending on pricing, form of payment and place of sale."
Covers range from pretty good to pretty awful. A glance at the reviews for a random couple of the titles on Amazon show complaints about both the writing and editing.
And then there's this:
"Creativia operates on a revenue-based model, meaning that we deduct a percentage of book profits to cover our expenses. On average, our authors earn 30-50% of eBook list prices and 15-25% of the paperback list prices, depending on pricing, form of payment and place of sale."
Covers range from pretty good to pretty awful. A glance at the reviews for a random couple of the titles on Amazon show complaints about both the writing and editing.
1. They approached you. Not to rain on parades or anything, but that usually doesn't happen with strong, reputable publishers - unless you've won some major writing award or come to public notice, somehow.
2. Their terms are less than desirable, to put it mildly.
Caveat Emptor, with this one. If I were judging between it and Kindle, I'd just publish directly through Amazon.
2. Their terms are less than desirable, to put it mildly.
Caveat Emptor, with this one. If I were judging between it and Kindle, I'd just publish directly through Amazon.
Thanks
Thanks for the input. I only considered them because my sales on Amazon are virtually nonexistent. I'm not good at doing the marketing myself. I think you're right, though. I should probably avoid them.
Thanks for the input. I only considered them because my sales on Amazon are virtually nonexistent. I'm not good at doing the marketing myself. I think you're right, though. I should probably avoid them.
Tip: if you type in the publisher name into one search box at www.salesrankexpress.com, you'll see a snapshot of that publisher's Amazon sales ranks, arranged from best to worst.
It's not perfect. SalesRankExpress isn't accurate for books with high sales volume. But it is fairly good at showing publishers with low-selling books on Amazon. If any one publisher has a string of books with a one million sales rank or over, you can guess they're not selling well on Amazon, at least.
It's not perfect. SalesRankExpress isn't accurate for books with high sales volume. But it is fairly good at showing publishers with low-selling books on Amazon. If any one publisher has a string of books with a one million sales rank or over, you can guess they're not selling well on Amazon, at least.
This struck me as being a bit odd:
Clicking "New Films" on the Thunderball Films website brings up a page of posters - well, most of them are book covers. In addition to adapting the Creativa publications mentioned above Mr Porter is also the author or co-author of no less than six books waiting to be made into Thunderball films:
http://www.thunderballfilms.com/new2_categories.php?category=newfilms
One has to wonder who's financing these films and whether any of them will actually be made.
Clicking "New Films" on the Thunderball Films website brings up a page of posters - well, most of them are book covers. In addition to adapting the Creativa publications mentioned above Mr Porter is also the author or co-author of no less than six books waiting to be made into Thunderball films:
http://www.thunderballfilms.com/new2_categories.php?category=newfilms
One has to wonder who's financing these films and whether any of them will actually be made.
I have not been able to verify this but I've been advised that Creativia is hoping to republish a book which was previously published, and has told the author that they will be reusing the original cover for the book. This is apparently acceptable because the original publisher has closed down, and so there is no issue with rights there.
They might like to ask the artist involved about the rights issue. Meanwhile, I'm boggling.
They might like to ask the artist involved about the rights issue. Meanwhile, I'm boggling.
I just got contacted on there for one of my own books. I thought it was strange, as I only self-publish a poetry chapbook.
The fact that they take any genre raised some eye brows to me, as poetry and prose are way different markets.
The fact that they take any genre raised some eye brows to me, as poetry and prose are way different markets.
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Okay this was weird.
Someone on Twitter asked me to review their novel. Or rather, they provided a canned request that was so very weird.
The person who wrote the canned request said he represented the author and was from Crime Wave Press (http://crimewavepress.com). However, the book has been "published" by Creativia. Which now goes by the name Next Chapter (https://www.nextchapter.pub/).
Obviously I deleted the request, but I thought it was worth noting here that both Crime Wave Press and Creativia are engaging in some very strange antics.
Someone on Twitter asked me to review their novel. Or rather, they provided a canned request that was so very weird.
The person who wrote the canned request said he represented the author and was from Crime Wave Press (http://crimewavepress.com). However, the book has been "published" by Creativia. Which now goes by the name Next Chapter (https://www.nextchapter.pub/).
Obviously I deleted the request, but I thought it was worth noting here that both Crime Wave Press and Creativia are engaging in some very strange antics.
Hi new person, I'm sure others will come in and say some things to welcome you.
I imagine this is the company you're talking about? https://nextchapter.pub/
It says that they take pride in their transparency and that publishing with them is free, which is odd they have to say that. They used to be called "Creativia" and I googled it and found a thread on AW about it lol https://absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php?threads/publisher-next-chapter-formerly-creativia.291815/ (if a mod wants to combine)
The turn around from signing a contract to the book being released is 2.5-3.5 months. Which is...pretty fast. Also googling "rapid versatile publisher" only comes up with Next Chapter and their imprints (or people talking about them) it's not a term that anyone else uses lol. I am a book seller so I've heard lots of different terms, and I know different ways that books can be printed and distributed, and I've never heard of something like this before.
I grabbed a random book from their website and looked it up, and it's available new directly through Ingram. And they say they're a print on demand only thing, so they're doing IngramSpark's print on demand stuff. I also googled another book and all the results are just where to buy it. Not anyone talking about it, or an author website, or anything that looks like any form of marketing.
Which is weird, because they say part of working through them is they have a big marketing platform and get the books out to reviewers and in news letters and stuff. Which, if they were doing, shouldn't there be something I can find? And barely any reviews on Goodreads, so are reviewers being given copies of these books? Part of the Creativia thread is someone getting a request for a review but the request was just so sus that they deleted it. Does that happen a lot to these guys?
So, yeah, personally I would stay away from these guys.
I imagine this is the company you're talking about? https://nextchapter.pub/
It says that they take pride in their transparency and that publishing with them is free, which is odd they have to say that. They used to be called "Creativia" and I googled it and found a thread on AW about it lol https://absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php?threads/publisher-next-chapter-formerly-creativia.291815/ (if a mod wants to combine)
The turn around from signing a contract to the book being released is 2.5-3.5 months. Which is...pretty fast. Also googling "rapid versatile publisher" only comes up with Next Chapter and their imprints (or people talking about them) it's not a term that anyone else uses lol. I am a book seller so I've heard lots of different terms, and I know different ways that books can be printed and distributed, and I've never heard of something like this before.
I grabbed a random book from their website and looked it up, and it's available new directly through Ingram. And they say they're a print on demand only thing, so they're doing IngramSpark's print on demand stuff. I also googled another book and all the results are just where to buy it. Not anyone talking about it, or an author website, or anything that looks like any form of marketing.
Which is weird, because they say part of working through them is they have a big marketing platform and get the books out to reviewers and in news letters and stuff. Which, if they were doing, shouldn't there be something I can find? And barely any reviews on Goodreads, so are reviewers being given copies of these books? Part of the Creativia thread is someone getting a request for a review but the request was just so sus that they deleted it. Does that happen a lot to these guys?
So, yeah, personally I would stay away from these guys.
The index usually gets a notation when a publisher changes names and (I am not sure but) I think it ends up being the same thread.
My finger is hovering over the report button to request the merge but I can't do it, I'm too scared.
My finger is hovering over the report button to request the merge but I can't do it, I'm too scared.
I did too, because it wasn't fair to let you go on your own.
Chase, you seem to have a generalised view of them with nothing really specific. I have checked a number
Posted in error. Continued down below:
I have checked a number of their authors, and some have gained a lot of Amazon reviews, others, very few. I suppose a thing to note is that they always seem open for submission, unlike the vast majority of independent publishers who are so inundated, they have to close periodically to wade through all the submissions. In Next Chapter's favour, is the fact authors don't have to share any publishing costs. It makes you wonder about the quality of covers etc.
I have checked a number of their authors, and some have gained a lot of Amazon reviews, others, very few. I suppose a thing to note is that they always seem open for submission, unlike the vast majority of independent publishers who are so inundated, they have to close periodically to wade through all the submissions. In Next Chapter's favour, is the fact authors don't have to share any publishing costs. It makes you wonder about the quality of covers etc.
Bond&Sloane, can I strongly recommend that you take the time to read more of the threads here about how publishing works? Trade publishers don't ask authors to share any of the costs of publishing. That you equate those "publishers" with small presses (some of which do have submission windows and at other times are closed to submissions) suggests you need more information to distinguish legitimate publishers from vanity.
(And it would be excellent if you'd introduce yourself at New Members, read the Newbie Guide, and get cozy with the FAQs as your registration materials said to.)
Maryn, trying to look out for everyone
(And it would be excellent if you'd introduce yourself at New Members, read the Newbie Guide, and get cozy with the FAQs as your registration materials said to.)
Maryn, trying to look out for everyone
Unless you can get someone who has worked with them (which you apparently have) all we can do is generalize from the outside looking in. I have no idea what they have for staff, or who they have on staff, but that they go straight to "send us your full manuscript" without making you jump through hoops simultaneously makes me nervous and also makes me want to submit. I have no idea what poor soul has to wade through the submissions, seeing that there isn't even a drop down by genre, just a "tell us about yourself and your book" field.
The covers that I glanced at look okay to me and, as Maryn said, in trad publishing the author doesn't pay for the cost of publishing *up front*. The site doesn't have any information on their royalties, etc.
They do have different imprints - the one book I looked up on Amazon (which has over 1,000 reviews), was from Evenfall. The different imprints are presumably for different genres.
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I'm sorry Bond&Sloane, but this hasn't been my experience ever. Most of the publishers I've worked with are always happy to see submissions and never charge for any services at all. The ones that aren't open to submissions have been absorbed by bigger publishers. NONE have started charging.
On the very rare occasions that a publisher has asked me to spend money, the flatly refused to tell me where. Example: Hippocrene told me I needed to hire a cartographer (for a regional cookbook) and when I asked for a suggestion, they said "no, we can't help there."
Each time you repeat mistakes like these, you make it easier for crooks and harder for real, honest, independent publishers. Please help us here.
I've seen numerous publishers (and agents) who have closed periods, but I am only talking about the ones who take unagented submissions. And I'm talking about big ones like Harlequin and their imprints. I don't think it's a sign of a publisher being good or bad, it just is. I think it just depends on the publisher.
ETA: for anyone wondering, sales rank express no longer works.
ETA: for anyone wondering, sales rank express no longer works.
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byarvin, I didn't say that some independents have started charging. Just that they have to close for submissions periodically because they get inundated. I could name a few British independents who do this in order to wade through their submissions, then reopen. It is normal.
My point was: in Next Chapter's favour, they don't charge.
My point was: in Next Chapter's favour, they don't charge.