RainTown Press

[KYcactus]

Does anyone have experience with this independent press in Portland, Oregon? It's relatively new, started in 2010.

http://raintownpress.com/

From their site:

"Established in 2010 by Cory Freeman, RainTown Press is Portland, Oregon’s first and only independent press dedicated to publishing literature for middle grade and young adults. Portland serves as the perfect backdrop for a press dedicated to young readers—the diversity of culture, literature, and landscape here encourages us to be strong, autonomous, and even outright rebellious."​

 

[eternalised]

So far, there are only about four books listed, which might be a good sign considering the publisher is a small, start-up press. They also offer hardbacks of their titles, which is quite unique for small presses.

I don't see a list of people working for them though. To me, that's a red flag.

 

[Stijn Hommes]

They ask for a few things I feel are not necessary (intended audience, comparitive titles), but the books they have, appear to be well made (good cover, online look-inside feature up-to-date).

There are a couple of red flags though. They call your query a "proposal" and the top of the submissions page reads: "We are not currently accepting submissions, but we will be accepting again in February. Please check back."

It's a bad sign when the submissions page is out of date by a month...

 

[priceless1]

I can't find a distributor for them. Bookscan doesn't list their one title that is out. Might be a good idea to find out how they sell, market, and promote their books.

 

[Undercover]

Any more on these guys?

I do like their covers and that they offer them in hardcover

 

[ThePeanutGallery]

Might have closed

I've met the (very nice) people behind Raintown Press before in Portland, and also one of the authors they've published. I recently heard from a local writer friend--but I can't promise this is true because I haven't seen any confirmation--that they're closing shop.

They definitely canceled one release (according to the author). At some point they changed their website to say they're switching to an e-model with a POD print option versus an offset print run. So it looks like they're still accepting submissions but maybe they just haven't updated their website. Their twitter account has been inactive for a while so maybe they just haven't officially closed shop.

To make a long story short: if you submit and they request material--I'd ask a lot of questions.

 

[Undercover]

Okay, thanks for the heads up, Peanut.
Man, and they looked so good too. Just another one to cross off the list.

 

[CaoPaux]

Both Tw & FB activity ceased in July, and blog linked from site is gone. I'm calling it.

 

[ThePeanutGallery]

Still selling books, though

I'm guessing CaoPaux is right. But I just checked and they're still selling books. Amazon has six physical copies of one of their titles, plus a kindle version. Barnes and Noble sells it as an ebook.

But still selling titles they've published is different than publishing new books. Hopefully--if they've officially closed--their authors have an easy times with rights reversions and all of that fun stuff.

Darn, I'd hoped RTP would make a go of it. I've known a handful of presses in Portland all started by graduates with masters in publishing from a local university and the story always ends the same.

 

[tylermarab1987]

Defunct Publisher

Is there a way to find out if a publisher has gone out business? I submitted a query for a novel a few months ago with Raintown Press. I was going to email them about my submission but cannot find the site. I get the 404 server error message (whatever that means).

Raintown Press is (or maybe was) a small press with relatively a few years of experience. I didn't get scammed did I?

 

[Marlys]

It's always a good idea to check the Bewares and Background Checks section before submitting--RainTown was reported closed last year.

But scammed? No, if they're closed and you sent material, all you lost was some time.