Rain Publishing

[Axler]

I had a cat named Tilly once...her breath smelled like fish.

Make of that what you will.

 

[Elincoln]

Looking Up Tilly

I have a suggestion. If you have her address, send word to her local Chamber of Commerce about her 'habits' of not paying what she's owned. Trust me, if this company of hers is listed there, she'll notice.

 

[writeroftheheart]

hey

i got burned by PA too because they would'nt accept my 1st book of poetry. it sucked really bad. I haven't given up though.

 

[Richard]

Er... wrong thread? And wait - you got burned by PA by being REJECTED?

 

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

writeroftheheart, you dodged a bullet. Hie thee to one of the PublishAmerica Threads--this one's a great start. You'll be much better off self-publishing, or using LuLu.com, or an honest vanity publisher, than signing a contract with Publish America.

 

[CaoPaux]

M'kay, update time.

Still at http://www.rainbooks.com/

Lots of "press releases" for their books via PRweb, but I can't find any listings on Amazon.com or .ca. Or any online bookstore, for that matter, other than the publisher's. If anyone has better Google Fu this morning, please chime in with any sales rank(s).

And then there's this: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55284 wherein it appears they are trying to justify their lack of distribution (read: sales) with bad data.

 

[Tsu Dho Nimh]

ERF!!!! The prose has not lost any of the purple tinge! And they still can't write worth a tinker's dam.

"Rain Publishing’s vision of new or never-before-published authors, giving you, the reader, a chance to experience their passionate prose."

Here's a sample of Tilly's:
"For days he had listened to the legend of the Robe Ritual from the local towns’ folk and wondered…
Wondered until the stories of the sexual secret rite called to him to find the altar.

Discovering the stone alter in the clearing the woods seemed like a miracle, hehad stumbled and fallen, felt lost and disoriented…looked up and there it was. He could have sworn he had been in the area, looking, searching…only to find nothing."
**************

 

[mysterygrl]

Alright, so i wasn't just asking. I did some work for Ms. Rivers' site which I have yet to be compensated for (it has been well over two months). I see she has posted my work on her site and I am still being fed stories about how the money is on it's way.
If her silly little blabbering solicitation for manuscripts isn't emberassing enough for her, add scamming a graphic designer out of much needed money and promising it is on it's way for several months. I am naive for believing her for so long, but her accomplis who is listed on the "friends" portion of the site made it seem like she was just accentric and didn't deal well with the business aspects of her job.

I've freelanced for over a decade, tvwritergal, and unfortunately, this kind of thing happens--even with legitimate businesses. Here's how you can protect yourself in the future: Be sure to get a signed estimate, so there's a record of your agreement. Always ask for a 50% deposit. And DON'T RELEASE THE FILES until payment is received. At the very least, the client won't be able to benefit from your work.

 

[Bleak House Books]

http://www.rainbooks.com/

Lots of "press releases" for their books via PRweb, but I can't find any listings on Amazon.com or .ca. Or any online bookstore, for that matter, other than the publisher's. If anyone has better Google Fu this morning, please chime in with any sales rank(s).

No Google Fu, but I did go to Nielsen's BOOKSCAN, and there are no listings there for any of the big winter titles.

It should also be noted that a search for "Tilly Rivers" on Bookscan returns zero results.

 

[triceretops]

Yep, Cao, this is disturbing. I can't find any internet presence, which would indicate at least a bare bones promotion campaign for any of their books. For a company that is approaching its 4th year in business, this makes no sense at all. Doesn't PA at least have five times this amount of book listings on the internet? How could a publisher possbily survive by selling books exclusively from their website? Two possbile answers:

The authors are buying them.
They have a Canadian grant to keep them fluid.

Now, how much does it cost to get listings on the online bookstores? What is a general, typical fee? Does it cost per title? Per year? It doesn't seem to me that it would be cost prohibitive. And, as a matter of course, wouldn't it be the FIRST thing that is done (along side having a distribution system) to set things up?

Tri

 

[CaoPaux]

Here's their EDI certification listing on pubnet.org. Could one of our resident publishers/booksellers translate, please?

http://www.booknetcanada.com/mambo/...Itemid=121&mode=0&catid=1&navstart=0&search=r

 

[triceretops]

I can't make head or tails of what those figures mean. But Rain seems to be missing the checks in those catagories.

A current author has stated that they have books listed at Bowkers Books in Print, Baker and Taylor, and possibly Ingrams. I'm not a member there so I couldn't verify this.

Tri

 

[Scribhneoir]

The 810, 850, 855, 860 etc are industry standard EDI documents used to conduct business electronically. That chart indicates that Rain is not EDI compliant. That's not too unusual for small companies, although there are web-based platforms out there they could use to become EDI compliant and play on the same field as the rest of the retail industry.

 

[PeeDee]

"Go Go Photographer Extruder!"

 

[janetbellinger]

Well, I emailed this publisher and asked about the numbers of copies of one book they publish at once (to see if they are POD.) I also asked if their books are on Amazon and in brick and mortar bookstores. I will reserve judgement until I receive an answer.

 

[CaoPaux]

Have you received an answer, Janet?

 

[triceretops]

According to them first runs are offset and from 500 to 1,000 printed.

Tri

 

[fsr44]

Any word from them on what their position is with Amazon and bricks and mortar stores?

 

[ColoradoGuy]

They just spammed me. Perhaps that is their marketing plan.

 

[eqb]

And they spammed me *twice* today.

Idjots.

 

[Gravity]

Spam from them as well. Deleted unread.

 

[triceretops]

My heart-felt apologies, folks. Don't know why they would be doing this. I only have seven authors on my release list from this group (that are private emails), and none of you were on it. This suspiciously coincides with my release. I'm telling them not to spam the board.

I will say that, with the help of other authors, we have been instrumental in getting them to change their policies--targeting readership--using the internet bookstore sites more effectively, and lowering shipping charges. We have a way to go, but progress is being made.

Sorry for the inconvienence. Heck, I haven't even seen my own release, if that is what is being sent around here. PM me and let me know what this entails.

Kind regards

Tri (real name--Chris Stevenson).

 

[southernwriter]

Well, crap. I saw the name Rain Publishing in the index and had to look because my novel's title is Rain Coming. You know ... that might be worth a query. Now all I want is to get far, far away.

How in heaven's name can anyone who is serious about starting a publishing company not know enough about AW to realize it's one of the Top Five responsible for outing scammers? That, to me, screams Scammer! *headdesk*

 

[scottVee]

Hi Chris,

I was actually glad to get the email from Rain today. Can't imagine what everyone's complaining about. Was good to see you have a new book out!

I bookmarked your Alpha Adventures site. The name brought back memories ...

Cheers,

= scott

 

[triceretops]

Hi, Scott. Glad it's okay with you. Thought I'd let you know. Actually I loved and remembered the name AA from our years ago. Just had to use it as a website title. Brings back very fond memories to me, too. I use it as a credit in my bio. Bless you, and good luck.

Sorry, southern. Well, they ain't the best in the west, that's for sure. Not scammers--just need the clue stick wallop. There's three of us who are walloping away. That's what it's all about, eh? To make things better for writers?

Tri