Riptide Publishing

[Erastes]

The name has been used again with Riptide Publishing

http://www.riptidepublishing.com/

Run by Rachel Haimowitz, Aleksandr Voinov and others

 

[CaoPaux]

Since this has no relation to Riptide Press, I'm splitting it into its own thread.

ETA: ePub for the M/M market. Founders do have industry experience, but -- as with any new publisher -- best to wait at least a year to see if they can translate it into production and sales.

 

[Kara_Lyndon]

It should be noted that Riptide Publishing is an invitation only press. It appears to be just a bunch of authors banding together to self-publish their own work. They will only publish works from people who have agents, have a huge following in the M/M genre (with thousands of sales and royalty statements to prove it), or are recommended by one of their friends already in the loop.

So, yeah... It appears to be more of a self-publishing co-op instead of an actual publisher. This might change in the future, but for now, the submissions info they have up on their site is pretty much moot.

--Kara--

 

[KariGregg]

It should be noted that Riptide Publishing is an invitation only press. It appears to be just a bunch of authors banding together to self-publish their own work. They will only publish works from people who have agents, have a huge following in the M/M genre (with thousands of sales and royalty statements to prove it), or are recommended by one of their friends already in the loop.

So, yeah... It appears to be more of a self-publishing co-op instead of an actual publisher. This might change in the future, but for now, the submissions info they have up on their site is pretty much moot.

--Kara--

Riptide isn't a self-publishing co-op. I haven't fronted any money, nor will I. I don't edit other authors, work on their covers or anything else. That's purely management's domain. I work on my book and my book only. Honestly, I wouldn't have become involved with anything that remotely resembled self-publishing or DIY. More power to the people who like it and can make self-publishing work, but I'm not one of them. It's just not for me. FWIW, my contract is essentially the same as the contracts I've signed with other publishers, too.

As for the submission guidelines...Not moot at all. Riptide is going to put out an open call for an anthology. Not sure when, but soon.

 

[veinglory]

What would make it not a co-op in my opinion would be that someone other than the author decides if the book is suitable with a real prospect of rejecting it, and provides editing and art etc in return for a share of the royalties. In which case it would be less like Alinar (a co-op) and more like Amber Quill (a by-invitation epub).

 

[KariGregg]

What would make it not a co-op in my opinion would be that someone other than the author decides if the book is suitable with a real prospect of rejecting it, and provides editing and art etc in return for a share of the royalties. In which case it would be less like Alinar (a co-op) and more like Amber Quill (a by-invitation epub).

Uh...

I didn't decide whether or not my book was accepted. Riptide did and yes, my book could have been rejected it. If it makes any difference, I know that stories have been rejected. Getting an invitation to submit doesn't guarantee acceptance for publication by any means.

Riptide provides editing. Riptide did my cover art. Once my book releases, I'll get royalties...

I am genuinely confused why anyone would think Riptide is a self-publishing co-op. Genuinely, truly confused.

 

[RiptidePublishing]

Hi guys,

Aleksandr Voinov here, co-founder and co-owner of Riptide Publishing. Also Senior Editor and one of the authors.

Thank you for your interest in our new venture. I believe our FAQ offers a comprehensive overview of the business:

http://www.riptidepublishing.com/faq

You can also get a lot of additional info, an author & project list and sample covers here:

http://www.riptidepublishing.com/media

(Just download the attachment and browse at will.)

I am here to emphatically state that Riptide takes NO money whatsoever from its authors. Two of our authors actually offered us money to buy into the partnership, but I felt there was a conflict of interest. Also, I don't like outside investment, and I like to keep things clean - accepting money would have made things like rejections and R&Rs way more difficult and might have compromised us - or might even have *looked* like it might compromise us. So, no. It's 100% clean and kosher, with very clear lines.

Also, Riptide is fully cash-funded (no bank loan or any outside interest) in a sustainable model that can be kept going indefinitely. While we fully intend to make money and have a few breakeven point scenarios, we have a very solid, very robust budget that will allow us to keep going for as long as we want.

Everybody involved with us - such as cover artists, coders, or proofers - gets paid in cash and immediately. We do not ask our authors to provide their own cover art and we surely do not ask them to edit texts beyond providing a clean copy of their manuscript and working with an editor during the long and involved editing process (which comprises one or several rounds of developmental edits, copy edits, and proofing).

Lastly, I've just checked my spreadsheet. While we are invite-only, I have invited a couple dozen authors and have already received about a dozen submissions, partials and pitches. Out of these, I have acquired or expressed an interest in around half.

Of the texts I have received, I have sent one outright rejection, and around 50% R&R letters, which are detailed and actually pretty hard work, but I enjoy it and two of these authors have already stated they would return the text once it's rewritten.

Note that two R&Rs were issued to a partner and co-owner of the firm.

So, yes, we reject our own books. The owners and editors have agreed, straight off the bat, that the text from any owner will be treated and vetted along the exact same guidelines and standards as any rookie out there or any house author, or any prospective.

We are not a cooperative, and we are a far cry from self-publishers.

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me at

[email protected].

There's also a forum where we hang out and discuss our model and are generally open to be contacted:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/49622



Best,
Aleksandr Voinov

Senior Editor
Riptide Publishing
www.riptidepublishing.com

 

[xccorpio]

It looks pretty good, checking out their page today, I learned they have an Open Submission Calls!

 

[michael_b]

A Few Numbers:

Query sent: October 24th.

Reply received, more information requested: October 27th.

Reply to info request sent: October 27th.

No Response to info request. Follow Up Sent: November 16th

Novel withdrawn due to a lack of any type of response: November 30th.

Make of this what you will.

 

[thethinker42]

Another Riptide author chiming in...

The editors have been great to work with (the editing process is BRUTAL, and I love it), the royalties are competitive, and thus far it's been a very positive experience. I've worked with nine ebook publishers, and Riptide has been among the best. I will definitely be submitting more work in the future. Thumbs up from me.

 

[Kara_Lyndon]

Just weighing in here quickly. I think it's great that you've been published through Riptide, Lori, and I hope things are going well, but I feel the need to point out that your book has been out less than a month. Even with the press paying monthly, you can't really speak to the royalties quite yet, because you haven't been published with them long enough to have the numbers. There's the basic breakdown of what you theoreticly make and such, but I'd love to see you come back and comment again once you've seen your first royalty statement and can share how they stack up to your other press experiences. Also, how have they been promoting you? Do they do a lot to help, or has it been like any other presses where they give you a little help but you're mostly on your own?

--Kara--

 

[mscelina]

I believe Lori is talking about the royalty RATE being competitive, Kara.

 

[Kara_Lyndon]

I do understand what she meant by the royalty rate. What I meant was no matter how good the royalty rate is in the contract, what ends up mattering are the sales figures.

The difference of getting, say, 30% of 100 books versus getting 70% of 5 books. I hope I making a bit more sense. I know individual books are different from one another, which means each sale will be different, but if you have a lot of experience like Lori, maybe there's some good comparison that can be shared.

--Kara--

 

[Fallen]

but if you have a lot of experience like Lori, maybe there's some good comparison that can be shared.

--Kara--

Oh, I think msc has a just little, erm, experience.

 

[thethinker42]

Just weighing in here quickly. I think it's great that you've been published through Riptide, Lori, and I hope things are going well, but I feel the need to point out that your book has been out less than a month. Even with the press paying monthly, you can't really speak to the royalties quite yet, because you haven't been published with them long enough to have the numbers. There's the basic breakdown of what you theoreticly make and such, but I'd love to see you come back and comment again once you've seen your first royalty statement and can share how they stack up to your other press experiences. Also, how have they been promoting you? Do they do a lot to help, or has it been like any other presses where they give you a little help but you're mostly on your own?

--Kara--

I believe Lori is talking about the royalty RATE being competitive, Kara.

I do understand what she meant by the royalty rate. What I meant was no matter how good the royalty rate is in the contract, what ends up mattering are the sales figures.

As mscelina said, I was referring to the royalty rate. Sorry I wasn't more specific.

And yes, sales figures certainly make the difference when it comes to how much royalty rates really matter. That said, my books usually sell roughly the same number over time, and when I see the copies/royalties stacking up from one book to the next, the differences can be mind-boggling. I have two books that came out the same year and have made almost the same amount of money -- within $135 of each other -- but there's a difference of nearly 800 copies. To boot, the one that's made more money also has a significantly lower cover price. When a book can sell 800 more copies at a higher cover price, and only come out $135 ahead of the cheaper book, that's when I start paying a lot of attention to royalty rates.

As far as my Riptide book, as I said, my books typically sell about the same number of copies. Overall sales and the first month/quarter are fairly consistent from company to company. So far, going by my first royalty statement (pre-sales), third party site rankings, and a conversation with one of the powers-that-be, sales of my Riptide book have been on par with those numbers, if not a little higher. When I get my next statement, I can be more specific, but I do know my Riptide book is off to a good solid start. I'll post an update when I get my statement in the next couple of weeks.

As far as promotion, Riptide has been great. The promotional blog tour for the company's grand opening has been extensive -- I can honestly say no other epub has ever asked me to write that many guest blogs or interviews! lol I've seen significantly higher traffic to my website coming directly from the Riptide site, also an uptick from Goodreads (which is one place where Riptide has been very actively promoting our books). Of course some of this was because of their grand opening, and authors are (understandably) expected to do some legwork (guest blogs, etc), but Riptide has a person on staff whose sole purpose is promo/advertising, so I don't see them slowing down on promo. Plus I got a nice big box of swag for my book, which is something I've never had before.

Of course, being a new publisher, it's impossible to say how things will play out in 6 months, a year, five years. I can certainly understand an author not wishing to take the gamble of signing with a new publisher. I'm usually hesitant to do so myself, but when Aleks and Rachel approached me, their business plan was solid, as was Rachel's experience editing for a NY publisher.

At this point, from my (so far brief) experience with them, I'm a happy author, and I think *IF* an author is considering working with a new epub, they could definitely do a lot worse than Riptide.

 

[michael_b]

They are, according to an email I just received, closed to submissions. Their submissions page does not note this yet.

 

[thethinker42]

My understanding is that they are invitation only except for the submission calls, which are open to anyone. I'll let them know the website is unclear.

 

[RiptidePublishing]

They are, according to an email I just received, closed to submissions. Their submissions page does not note this yet.

I'd like to draw people's attention to our FAQ:

http://www.riptidepublishing.com/faq

We are invitation-only, but we are making exceptions for authors with a well-established track record (based on available sales, reputation, total review rating and exposure), and we have opened submission calls.

The primary reason behind this caution is sustainability of growth, as we've all learnt that growing too fast is one of the main killers of a start-up.

Regarding Michael's post: Our FAQ states that we are looking at six weeks to get back to people. If the case is extremely clear (awesome story, awesome writer), I've accepted stories in thirty minutes (yes, a short story that I already knew).

Just recently I sent a contract to an existing Riptide author based on the first draft I knew and a pitch, which was pretty much: "Remember TITLE? You want it?" The contract was with the author in ~1 hour and scanned and signed back with us is 1.5hrs. But this is an author with a very good track record and an amazing voice and we're extremely proud to have her.

Let's put out the - entirely theoretical - case of an author pitching a multi-book series, of which most books aren't written yet and one book has been previously published, without sufficient sales data being available.

Let's assume that this represents, for Riptide (which at this point is a 2-month-old start-up) an investment in the (up to medium) five figures in terms of wo/manpower, layout, marketing, cover design. This is most definitely an investment on which all owners need to be consulted.

November was our first month of "full" operations (we did pre-sales promotion throughout October), and during that time we acquired the now defunct Guiltless Pleasure Publishing, which, you may imagine, took a lot of paperwork, time, and thought. The acquisition gave us access to all GPP assets and also meant we've taken another partner on board, who needed to quickly immerse herself in the editorial/acquisition side of things, too, while winding down her publisher.

So while the partners did discuss acquisitions this month (we made 3-4), we did not reach decisions as quickly as would have been desirable, but day-to-day operations and consolidating the acquisition were simply our priorities.

Regarding sales numbers - my own royalties at Riptide are already better than at any other publisher I've ever worked with. There are two publishers that sell more copies, but as the royalty rates are a fraction of what I get from Riptide (no special deal for owners, I get the same rate as everybody else, BTW), my bottom line at Riptide is better than anywhere else.

If anybody has a question, please feel free to email me at [email protected].

Kind regards,

Aleksandr Voinov
Co-Owner/Senior Editor
Riptide Publishing
http://www.riptidepublishing.com

 

[A.P.M.]

Is there any new information about this publisher? They've been around for some time now, and while their library seems small what they have seems high quality.

 

[KimJo]

High quality, and from what I've heard, high standards. Good editing and royalties. (This is all second-hand, and hopefully someone who's actually published with them will weigh in.) They're currently invitation-only, other than a few open themed calls. From what I've been told, they have a great marketing department and work hard at getting their books/authors the visibility they need to keep the sales up, both individual titles/authors and the company as a whole.

 

[thethinker42]

Is there any new information about this publisher? They've been around for some time now, and while their library seems small what they have seems high quality.

High quality, and from what I've heard, high standards. Good editing and royalties. (This is all second-hand, and hopefully someone who's actually published with them will weigh in.) They're currently invitation-only, other than a few open themed calls. From what I've been told, they have a great marketing department and work hard at getting their books/authors the visibility they need to keep the sales up, both individual titles/authors and the company as a whole.

What KimJo said. The editorial process is extremely thorough and intense, and the end result is an excellent book. I'm not only sending most of my own books there these days, I'm buying most of what I read for pleasure from Riptide as well because I know they'll be well-edited, which is very important to me as a reader.

The editing, royalties, marketing, etc., are all excellent. I'm currently editing my fourth Riptide release, and have several lined up for 2013.

Even when we've run into bumps in the road (i.e., things beyond anyone's control), everyone has worked hard to get things back on track without compromising quality. When I say "bumps in the road", in this case I mean a book that needed to be edited, but the editor and I both had to deal with real-life issues (I was sick for a month and a half, she was injured in a car accident, and life just generally kept us as far from this book as possible). The book was getting down to the wire, but everyone involved -- the developmental editor, copy editor, historical editor, and proofreader -- still put in the same level of work they would have if we'd had a cushion of a few months. There was never a single moment of "well, we'd do more, but we just don't have time." In the end, it was finished on time, and the quality was excellent.

Their marketing and art departments are top notch as well. Authors are required to do blog tours (which are arranged by the marketing department) for every release, and the company brings all kinds of swag to conferences. In fact, I'm working with two other authors on a series set in a fictional town, and as part of the promotion for the series, Riptide built us a website.

TL;DR: I've been with Riptide since they opened their doors, and will continue sending them books because they're very author-friendly, the product quality is simply second to none, the marketing is awesome, and the royalties are excellent.

 

[gingerwoman]

What are the royalty rates at Riptide? I can't find them.

 

[Oldbrasscat]

It's listed in their FAQ, Ginger.

 

[Anna_Hedley]

Hello,

Sorry to bring this very old thread back up to the front page, but I was wondering if anyone knows Riptide's current wait time for submissions is please?

Long story:
I submitted a manuscript for one their open calls last year and received a revise and resubmit request. I doubled the manuscript in length as requested and resubmitted, received a reply to say it had been received. All fine.

I waited the four months advised on the website and sent a chaser to the editor who requested it. No reply or auto-reply for three weeks. I was slightly worried the email either hadn't sent or hadn't been received so I sent another chaser to the general submissions email explaining the situation. The auto-reply to that said I would receive a reply from the acquisitions team within forty-eight hours. That was a few days ago. I'm concerned that my emails just aren't getting through, I know Yahoo has had some issues with that recently.

Or possibly I just need to be more patient. I understand Riptide are a very busy press, so I thought I'd ask here and see if anyone was having similar issues or knew what was going on?

Thanks.

 

[thethinker42]

Could you PM me with your title and the name/email it was subbed under? I can ping one of the editors and find out.