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[Publisher] Ravenous Romance

Lainey Bancroft

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So true, Victoria. That's why, in typical 'timid Canadian' form, I was waiting to see the fallout.

Meanie me says "!@#$%^#^ conflict of interest." period, end of story.

Pollyanna me says "Hmm, but if it can work to her benefit and mine, in the scrambled atmosphere (particularly in romance)...is that really such a bad thing?
 

mscelina

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Just a mention of something I found interesting.

I received an email today from Ravenous Romance "in hopes that you will post this information on your site." The email was from a PR firm announcing the best-selling authors that have signed with RR--including Cecilia Tan, Mimi Leahy, John Skipp--and so forth. This in particular caught my eye:

Ravenous Romance is publishing both previously published authors and talented new voices, and is buying both agented and unagented work.

I'm not sure how I got on this mailing list. I just thought I'd pop this out there for a general FYI.
 

JulesJones

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You got on the list by having a public interest in writing and a publicly accessible email address. They've been spamming for a while -- there's a long thread about it at Dear Author.

I know Cecilia Tan has definitely signed up with them, as she's put out a couple of calls for anthologies she'll be editing. I was considering submitting something, but on the editor's merits rather than the publisher's.
 

veinglory

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I notice an author with announce one sale, then as many as 9, all on proposal, then be editing and anthology. Looks like a rather rapid expansion.
 

Chumplet

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I'm still chugging away at the one I'm contracted for. It's not a grind (yet) and the deadline is giving me more incentive to finish the damn thing. We'll see how it all plays out. I don't have alarm bells ringing in my head, but I haven't been in the game long enough to tell.

Holly's been very nice about extending my deadline, though.
 

Fae Sutherland

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Today Lori Perkins writes on her RR blog that she's asked one of her interns to post on the "official" National Novel Writing Month board that RR is looking for 50,000-word novels to publish.

Shooting ducks in a barrel?

Do publishers normally do this?

Funny, their PR person, Dalyn Miller, said on Dear Author that the person who was spamming authors on the NaNo boards did so without RR's knowledge or approval. So that's not true? Very interesting indeed.
 

IceCreamEmpress

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Well, to be fair, posting a call for submissions on a public board isn't the same as spamming individual people. A posted call for submissions is something people can either respond to or scroll past; an email in your inbox is something you have to deal with, even if it's just to throw away. I think that this is a better answer than spamming people with "press releases."

(I'm assuming here that the "posting" referred to is starting a thread with the submissions call, rather than posting the submissions call in lots of different threads on other topics. If it's the latter, then that's still spamming in my book.)
 

mscelina

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Writing on Walls--is this like your hobby or something? I mean--I posted just as an FYI and because I was curious about what the response would be. But you've got six posts total at AW and they're all in this thread.

*shrug*

Just strikes me as curious, that's all.
 

Fae Sutherland

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Well, to be fair, posting a call for submissions on a public board isn't the same as spamming individual people. A posted call for submissions is something people can either respond to or scroll past; an email in your inbox is something you have to deal with, even if it's just to throw away. I think that this is a better answer than spamming people with "press releases."

(I'm assuming here that the "posting" referred to is starting a thread with the submissions call, rather than posting the submissions call in lots of different threads on other topics. If it's the latter, then that's still spamming in my book.)

No I agree, posting a single call for submissions thread isn't spamming. But that person also mass emailed, using NaNoWriMo's internal NaNomail system (and had been reported to the mods, btw, though apparently nothing's been done yet), a good number of authors soliciting for submissions as well. Had it just been the Call thread on the marketing board, it might have made me tilt my head a bit but not set off any real warning bells. But now with the information from Lori Perkins herself that she not only knew about it, but authorized the intern to do it? That rings some warning bells. Especially when their PR rep adamantly denied on Dear Author that Ravenous had any knowledge their intern was doing that.
 

Stacia Kane

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This is a thread I've been following due to all the surrounding hubbub, here and elsewhere. I posted today to try and understand where/how it all began. I find the whole scenario quite strange.

Personally, I appreciate your posts and don't understand why it's a problem. Lots of people here only participate in one or two threads, or join just to participate in a single discussion. So?
 

IceCreamEmpress

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No I agree, posting a single call for submissions thread isn't spamming. But that person also mass emailed, using NaNoWriMo's internal NaNomail system.

That's definitely inappropriate, I agree. If Lori Perkins authorized that, she's a fool to brag about it publicly.

But if the intern was told "post a call for submissions" and then went off and spammed on her own say-so, then it's her poor judgment, not Perkins's.

I don't think the call for submissions is itself a breach of propriety on the NaNo board, regardless of how one parses the rules. Writers are looking for publishers, after all.
 

Fae Sutherland

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I don't believe it's against the rules to post a submissions call on the NaNo boards, they have a Marketing forum where you're allowed a single thread to promote whatever you want, so if Brattyhack wanted to use her one thread up posting that, no harm no foul. I've seen *lots* of threads on the Marketing forum for self-publishers, start-up epublishers, vanity presses etc. and no one's ever said they couldn't be there so I'm assuming they're allowed, as long as it's just the one thread.
 

veinglory

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I heard the only 'it wasn't me it was the intern' explanation when I was spammed by Zazzle. Maybe using untrained interns to do promotion just isn't such a great idea.
 
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mythicagirl

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Hello all,

I'm new here, and I just submitted a paranormal to Ravenous in Oct. I haven't heard anything back so far, but I figure a blonde vampire who rises to Marvin Gayes' "I Want You" each night and loves to play air guitar wouldn't be a traditional, brooding vamp.
 

mlhernandez

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Hello all,

I'm new here, and I just submitted a paranormal to Ravenous in Oct. I haven't heard anything back so far, but I figure a blonde vampire who rises to Marvin Gayes' "I Want You" each night and loves to play air guitar wouldn't be a traditional, brooding vamp.

Oh, that is just too funny! I totally heart air guitar players!

BTW, does anyone know if the response time to submissions has slowed? I submitted a short story a few weeks back and haven't heard anything yet. I'm torn between resubmitting or just waiting it out. Any thoughts?
 

ELMontague

I put one in for the "Sex and Politics" anthology and got a response back pretty quick saying I'd hear something in December. Of course, that was a specific piece for a specific anthology with a scheduled release date.
 

mlhernandez

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Hmmm. I have a sub in for the Sex & Science antho too but no response acknowledging submission. I'm tempted to check in but I think I'll wait until next week. I'm sure the extended wait is due to backlog. No biggie. Besides, I need to work on my waiting skills. Patience being a virtue and all that...
 

ELMontague

There's also the issue that "Sex and Science" isn't until February. I'd bet she's under water with "Sex and Politics."
 

mlhernandez

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I figured as much. I was more interested in the response time to general subs to RR, not the short I've subbed for the antho.
 

cameronknight

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Hey guys, I've been reading this thread thoroughly and now am a little confused - so has it been discovered whether RR is a scam or not? Combing through all this information, it seems like a lot of folks are convinced it is a scam, and yet some others are steadfastly praising and defending RR.

As for the comment about Writing on Walls - I've been an AW member for quite a while now but mostly just read posts for information-gathering purposes - I only post when a thread catches my particular attention or if there is a specific question I need answered - therefore you will only find my posts in one or two threads. That doesn't make me weird or suspicious - just selective.

Still wondering about RR ... anyone??
 

veinglory

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I don't think anyone thinks it is a scam. And I say that as some one who has raised a lot of questions about their approach. There is a big difference between questioning specific aspects a publisher's approach and market plan and accusing them of being a scam.
 

Unimportant

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My take on it is that it's not a scam. It's a brand new publisher, but the owners have publishing experience so it's not likely to implode in a year the way the well-meaning-but-clueless start-ups do.

However, there exists with RR, due to the multiple hats worn by the involved parties, the potential for conflict of interest. Whether any conflicts of interest are affecting the way the business is being conducted, I have no way of telling.
 

Stacia Kane

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Hey guys, I've been reading this thread thoroughly and now am a little confused - so has it been discovered whether RR is a scam or not? Combing through all this information, it seems like a lot of folks are convinced it is a scam, and yet some others are steadfastly praising and defending RR.

Just dittoing Emily here to say despite my doubts about this company's ability to sell millions of books right out of the gate (as they claim they will), and despite my doubts that they're even really aware of what the current ebook market is and what it is looking for, and despite my discomfort with the inherent conflict of interest, and despite my dislike of the attitude they've shown toward the current ebook publishers and anyone who asks any questions at all about them, I never, ever suspected them of being a scam.

Nor did I--or anyone else of whom I'm aware--ever accuse them of being such, despite what certain windmill-tilters seem to think.

Asking questions or expressing reasonable, logical doubts (how many startup publishers do you know of, who sell thousands upon thousands of copies their very first day? Yeah, me either) does NOT equate with accusing a company of being a scam or suspecting them of being such. Not at all, not one bit. Nor does it equal claiming the publisher will fail--again, no one I'm aware of said that; all that was said was that writers should be careful and really consider whether or not they want to submit to a start-up publisher, of any type, in any genre or format.

So I hope that helps. I've been very vocal in this thread and I stand behind everything I've said. But not once did it even cross my mind that this publisher was out to scam authors.