[Publisher] Supposed Crimes LLC

[Eva Lefoy]

Has anybody heard of Supposed Crimes LLC?

It looks to be a bunch of authors who band together and do anthologies.

Their website says:

Why publish a novel with us?

Competitive Royalties
eBooks (epub, Kindle, PDF, etc.) author receives 35% of net sales
Print books (paperback, 5.5×8.5) author receives 10% of net sales

Monthly Payments by Direct Deposit

Editors

You conceive and control your own cover art with help from our graphic designer.

Genre-bending possibilities. Your book doesn’t quite fit in anywhere else? It’ll fit in here.

Communication. The staff is always available by email and IM.
We love fan fiction and will never make you take yours down.

Short contracts. We publish your work within a year and retain the rights for three years. We don’t demand rights to future work, even involving the same characters. No need to sell your soul. But it doesn’t matter, because…

We have happy authors. We’re a small publisher and we won’t make you rich, but you’ll find a home here and your work will thrive.
Marketing

Virtual tours, cover reveals, author interviews, Facebook and Twitter promotion, convention appearances, and a built-in audience. We’re getting better and better at this whole bookselling thing. Three of our properties have sold TV or web series rights.



Any info appreciated. Thanks!

Eva

 

[JulieB]

Adding a link: http://www.supposedcrimes.com/

 

[aleighrose]

From their site:

First Pass Reading Service - Not sure your book will fit in with Supposed Crimes, but wrote one and want someone to have a look at it? Have you just finished National Novel Writing Month? Send your draft into [email protected] and we’ll evaluate it and give you our opinion on what you should do with it and where you should submit. If we love it, we may solicit it for publication and create an imprint for it! This service was previously open to reddit users only, but is now available to anyone for as long as submissions are open.

The coloring is mine.
Why would a publisher want to publish a novel that does not fall within their market?

 

[Eva Lefoy]

maybe they're new and don't know what all kinds of submissions they will get yet? they might not want to limit themselves?

 

[Filigree]

Founded four years ago. Focus on lesbian fiction, beyond romance. They're asking for people to send them just-completed NaNo novels.

 

[Eva Lefoy]

Founded four years ago. Focus on lesbian fiction, beyond romance. They're asking for people to send them just-completed NaNo novels.

Well they'll never have a dull moment that's for sure!

 

[eqb]

maybe they're new and don't know what all kinds of submissions they will get yet? they might not want to limit themselves?

That's not how it works, generally. A publisher sets their own focus, which is what drives the submissions they get. A small publisher can't take on all genres successfully because they don't have the resources to cover all those different markets. And by resources I mean money, time, and expertise.

 

[Filigree]

...And when someone says 'send us your (unrevised) NaNo novels', I have to praise their optimism but wonder at their sanity. Most agents cringe around this time of year, because of all the unpolished NaNo mms floating around.

 

[EvolvingK]

We love fan fiction and will never make you take yours down.

The lawyers, however, are a different story. ??? Or are they talking about authors who were fanfic writers and are asked by their publishers to take things down? Does that happen?

 

[Supposed]

Or are they talking about authors who were fanfic writers and are asked by their publishers to take things down? Does that happen?

This. Some publishers don't want any connection to fan fiction at all, some publishers don't want previous, fanfic-styled first drafts out there competing with published material.

I'm the publisher. I'm happy to answer any questions, but I intend to keep a low profile and not interfere in the organic development of the thread. Criticisms welcome. We are a little weird.

 

[Eva Lefoy]

they've answered all my questions so far!

I'll be working with them shortly.

Eva

 

[Cathy C]

Welcome! Thank you for being willing to answer questions. A few off the top of my head:

1. What is your average percentage of list price that's deducted to become your "net"?
2. Is your graphic designer an employee or a freelance contractor? If a contractor, do you have a monthly contract to produce all your covers or do you only contact them on a book-by-book basis?
3. If book by book, would the author need to have written permission from the artist (instead of the publisher) and/or pay additional money to the artist for use of the cover image, which would appear in other locations on the web, as avatars, as print materials, etc. for any or all promotion?
4. May an author use their own cover artist instead of yours?
5. Do you actively distribute to Amazon and B&N and populate individual product pages with details, or do you just make it available to those outlets on a publisher page?
6. Is each book and format provided a separate ISB number that follows the book from outlet to outlet, or just the product number assigned by the outlet?
7. If your contract does include a mandated publication clause, what happens if more than a year passes while the book is in production?
8. How do you deal with returns by end buyers as far as author payments?

I might think of more later.

 

[Supposed]

1. What is your average percentage of list price that's deducted to become your "net"?

Amazon takes 30%, generally.
Smashwords varies by publisher, but takes 15-30%

We sell print books at a 55% discount of list price.

Authors generally make a dollar per eBook, and pennies per print book.

2. Is your graphic designer an employee or a freelance contractor? If a contractor, do you have a monthly contract to produce all your covers or do you only contact them on a book-by-book basis?

She is a contractor. She is paid on a book-by-book basis. She works at her own pace, with generally 6-8 upcoming covers in the queue.

3. If book by book, would the author need to have written permission from the artist (instead of the publisher) and/or pay additional money to the artist for use of the cover image, which would appear in other locations on the web, as avatars, as print materials, etc. for any or all promotion?

All publicity uses are included in the arrangement with the graphic designer, as well as with the artists, models, or stock photograph contracts she may be working with.

4. May an author use their own cover artist instead of yours?

Yes. I offer the budget I would usually pay the graphic designer to the author to make his/her own arrangements.

5. Do you actively distribute to Amazon and B&N and populate individual product pages with details, or do you just make it available to those outlets on a publisher page?

We distribute eBooks directly to Amazon. B&N is handled by Smashwords. We populate individual product pages, and authors can further control their products through their Author Central pages.

Print is handled through Ingram.

6. Is each book and format provided a separate ISB number that follows the book from outlet to outlet, or just the product number assigned by the outlet?

We assign a print and eBook ISBN to each title.

7. If your contract does include a mandated publication clause, what happens if more than a year passes while the book is in production?

Rights pass back to the author immediately.

8. How do you deal with returns by end buyers as far as author payments?

Print-wise, if the author is paid first, and then the books refunded later, we don't worry about it.

eBook-wise, the vendor handles it entirely. We see the -1 or whatever on the balance sheet, but we don't have to do anything special to address it.