Red Queen Press

[K. Victoria Chase]

Another epublisher starting in July 2012.

http://redqueenpress.com/

Apparently they've had writing and editing jobs (About section) and some art experience. Seeking various genres. Four week response time. Oh, and 60% royalty on net purchases regardless if it's from publisher's site or third party. I believe that's the highest I've seen--not sure if it's net from list or sale price.

No covers to see.

 

[eternalised]

They're very, very new. I'm intrigued though. I like their website, it looks pretty professional, and I'm eager to see their covers. The subject of their special call - fairytales reworked - looks interesting as well.

That said, they make it all sounds great, but the question is how they will do once they're officially getting started in July. They also accept a lot of genres, which may not be the best of choices. And I'm confused about what they mean with 'mature' YA. But that's probably just me.

I'd love to hear someone's experience with this press. And if the publisher ends up on this board somehow, I'd love to hear more about their plans, especially their marketing plans. They take POD rights as well - do they actually plan on getting the books in bookstores, or will it just be 'special order' like most small POD publishers? Do they have a plan in place?

Edit: Their 'about me' page is very vague. That doesn't inspire confidence. No names mentioned - why not? - and no publishing experience. Some editing and writing experience, but editors and writers don't necessarily make good publishers.

 

[Undercover]

I think it would be best to get more information and see the covers first before submitting anything to them. Maybe even wait a few months after they open.

 

[veinglory]

How high 60% of net is depends on what costs are deducted before net receipts are determined.

 

[Fallen]

They have a few big names in their 'experience lists' Random House... art design for Dragonlance.... Frustrating with only first name, though. (That I could see.)

One author of theirs I could trace is Samantha Rideaux

http://www.facebook.com/SamanthaRideaux

RQP does have a site owner with the name Samantha, but it's not fair to say it's the same one.

 

[Unimportant]

They have an anthology (fairy tales) open for submission, but I couldn't find anything on the pay rate so I've asked. When they reply I'll post the info here.

 

[Unimportant]

Red Queen's reply is that they use the 'agency model' and that revenue is split between authors, editors, designers, and all other RQ staff involved in the book. For anthologies, authors receive shared royalties, split based on word count and calculated on net:

We define net revenues as total book sales minus any fees charged by distributors, third-party retailers, or credit card companies.

The royalties are broken down as follows:
7500-10,000 words = 8%
5000-7500 words = 6%
2500-5000 words = 4%
under 2500 words = 2%

I didn't ask about what rights they take for the anthos, or for how long; that may be on their website.

While I appreciate that an author may well earn more on a short story via shared royalties as compared to a single payment (flat fee or cents/word), with the latter option the author can be reasonably confident of collecting payment.

 

[CaoPaux]

Anthology was published, however Tw/FB are inactive and sub page says to "check back in 2013". Anyone have recent contact with them?

 

[tsrosenberg]

This one's dead, but in case it comes back from the dead, here's the warning:

I placed a novel with them and thought it might be okay, because even though they were a new press, I'd met three of the four people involved and they were all decent people. Then one of them, the main author they were publishing, left and started her own press (which now only seems to exist as a name on her own e-publications; there was a website at one point). This was all above board and I was told about it, though it seemed odd since they hadn't been around for that long.

I did a full MS revision with one of the people who stayed.

I emailed in March 2013 to ask if the press still existed, because the website had vanished, and I got this response from her:

We still exist, and you are not forgotten. The site was down because it was moving, or so I'm told. Just got access to email back today, I'm glad your message didn't sit there and languish for weeks or something. I'm sorry, I thought I'd mentioned we were moving servers. Even if I did, it took a lot longer than I expected. The website is back up and we're moving right along despite my extra long adjustment back to working full time.

I sent further emails in June and September. In November 2013 I sent official notice that I was taking the rights back. None of these were ever responded to. That's a huge long adjustment to working full time, and even if the website crashed and took every email with it, it's not as if she didn't know what my name was, and couldn't Google me to let me know that the press was closing down. I have no idea what the other two people were doing during this time.

tl;dr: Amateurish and unprofessional. Just because you love books and have copyediting experience doesn't mean you can run a press.

I'll keep an eye out for any future escapades and let you know if the names match up. (The complete absence of names on the press website should have been another red flag for me.)