Salvatore Publishing

[StevenJ]

The new & independent company Salvatore Publishing will be accepting fiction and non-fiction submissions from January 1st 2009.

Do you have a novel, a novella, or a nonfiction manuscript ready for potential publication? SP can help - you will receive a thoroughly personal service, including free editing advice from our staff with a view to having your work published by SP. We never charge reading fees and, once published, we will advertise your book on our website - free!

We are writers ourselves, so we're well aware of the trials and tribulations that new authors experience - let us help & guide you on the road to publication and a writing career.

Please send us a brief query letter describing your story and if we feel your material suits Salvatore, we will send you a release form and request a manuscript. You are welcome to mail with enquiries before 1/1/09, but please note that we are only looking for finished work.

In the subject line of your email please type as follows:

Query - Title of Book, Your Name

You can contact us via our website at:

http://www.salvatorepublishing.com/

Or directly by email:

[email protected] for general fiction and short stories.

[email protected] for literary fiction and horror.



Salvatore Publishing already has three books available online:

The Horde, Guy Cousins' thriller.

The Orpheus Tales, an anthology featuring new & promising authors.

A Writer's Christmas, our latest collection of short fiction in aid of the Great Ormond Street Hospital
& the Starlight Foundation charity. Further details of these books and other releases can be found at our website.

For those authors who specialise in short fiction, SP will be producing further anthlologies during 2009, so please view the Preview page for information.

Thank you for your interest,

Steve

 

[aka eraser]

Folks, because a company posts here does NOT mean AW endorses them. You must always practice due diligence.

I feel obliged to note that at first glance this company appears to be a more upfront version of Publish America. It seems they don't charge anything until you have the finished product in your hands.

From their website:

We regret we are unable to pay advances but we do pay 50% on the gross profit of each publication, plus you will receive two free copies of your book.

I'd like a clear definition of "gross profit." Vague terms like this allow too much wiggle room for creative accounting practices.

If you order copies yourself you will be entitled to an author discount, negotiable depending on the quantity of books you order. Salvatore actively encourages its authors to participate in the sales and distribution process and will discount accordingly.

Translation: You won't see your book in a bookstore unless a sympathetic manager responds well to begging. It seems apparent that Salvatore Publishing's sales/profits will depend in large part on author purchases.

If all you're seeking is a few copies of your opus for friends and family, this may be a good choice for you. But I'd recommend looking elsewhere if you aspire to see your book on store shelves.

I'm going to copy this thread over to our Bewares and Background Check people. Please look there for any further information. I'll close the thread here in Writers Wanted.

 

[mscelina]

I must admit that I had to chuckle at this:

We never charge reading fees and, once published, we will advertise your book on our website - free!

 

[StevenJ]

I've pm'ed Eraser now, seeking some information as to why he's linking Salvatore to the 'legendary' Publish America.

It might be worth bearing in mind that not every small-time publishing venture happens to be a scam.

Please feel free to check SP out - nothing incriminating will be found, and I expect an apology to be forthcoming, and also the removal of Eraser's post.

Thank you for reading

 

[aka eraser]

I've replied to Steve's PM and believe my choice of the words "more upfront" distanced his company from the toxic aspect of PA. However, the business models appear quite similar.

I hope an explanation serves to soothe Steve's feelings but I don't feel an apology is warranted, nor will I delete my post.

 

[mscelina]

It's an understandable position, aka eraser. After taking a look at the website, I've come to the conclusion that the books already available were written by the co-founders. As a matter of fact, of the five books listed, four are by the co-founders and the fifth is an anthology. And without a clear distribution plan in effect, it appears that you are correct and that distribution and store placement would be dependent upon author sales.

 

[Marian Perera]

It might be worth bearing in mind that not every small-time publishing venture happens to be a scam.

A publisher can be a very bad choice for serious writers hoping for good sales, without simultaneously being a scam.

 

[StevenJ]

The majority of the criticism posted here is completely understandable, though invalid, as I've now tried to explain privately to Eraser.

And honestly, considering that AW is so well-known for its association with Writer Beware, does anyone really think a company intent on scamming authors would dare post here?

 

[mscelina]

The majority of the criticism posted here is completely understandable, though invalid, as I've now tried to explain privately to Eraser.

And honestly, considering that AW is so well-known for its association with Writer Beware, does anyone really think a company intent on scamming authors would dare post here?

If it's understandable but invalid, why not try explaining it to us here, publicly?

 

[Marian Perera]

And honestly, considering that AW is so well-known for its association with Writer Beware, does anyone really think a company intent on scamming authors would dare post here?

You'd be surprised.

 

[aka eraser]

Steve, I'd also prefer keeping the discussion public.

Nobody is calling your company a scam. In this POD age, there are probably hundreds (thousands?) of "new" publishing companies founded by disgruntled authors. If you post here looking for clients, then you have to be prepared for public scrutiny. We simply want to ensure that writers know exactly what to expect from their association with any given publishing company.

 

[StevenJ]

If it's understandable but invalid, why not try explaining it to us here, publicly?

Well, I will try...

The absolute truth is that Salvatore is founded by two newcomers to the publishing business (Guy Cousins and myself) who were tired of receiving praise from publishers who, nevertheless, opted not to publish our work. That's completely fine, particularly in light of the current financial climate, and is their prerogative entirely, but it made us want to help others like ourselves - arguably promising writers who weren't getting a break. Sure, Salvatore is a business too, but our ideals are sound, even if our model can be criticised by more experienced publishers/writers - what many here perceive as greed or slick talk to bedazzle potential authors is in fact, akin to naivety. For example, my co-founder and I were led to believe that 50% gross profit for an author was actually very generous, yet according to some of the comments in this thread, that is not the case; if we find that these criticisms are correct, then obviously we will alter that figure accordingly.

As newcomers, we won't get everything right, as you all have noted in your criticisms, but we are genuine people & in no way are we attempting to swindle anyone. Yes, it could be said that SP is a glorified POD company, but we aim to offer much more than this to authors - at the very least, SP gives a chance for people to get their work published (and this explains why my own work, as well as that of friends from the forums I frequent, is available in Salvatore's anthologies) given time to learn & grow; this thread itself has been an education to me...

I'm aware that AW staff look out for, and stand up for writers, and consider this a wonderful thing, but perhaps it sometimes leads to (understandable) mistakes, as in this case. To reiterate, any investigation of us as a fledgling company & as individuals will lead to, at the very least, a retraction of the ludicrous claim that we are linked to Publish America, the company which is (allegedly) a byword for swindle in this industry.

Once again, please feel free to check up on us; I actually welcome this, because therein lies our vindication. As I mentioned, criticism of particular aspects of our business model could possibly be valid, because we are newcomers - other criticisms are either totally false, wide of the mark, or based on the exploits of others with whom we have nothing to do with.

I do understand that this business is, unfortunately, full of scam artists, and I applaud AW for fighting in the best interests of writers; but this time, a mistake has been made - we may be naive, we may make errors, but our ethos is sound & our track record perfect.

 

[eqb]

Hi, Steve,

Welcome to AW. I have a couple questions about your company.

Does your contract specify whether you pay royalties on the cover price, or if not the cover price, exactly how the net price is calculated?

Also, I see from your website that you have plans to use offset printing for larger print runs. That's good to hear. Beyond that, however, what kind of distribution do you have set up?

And about the anthologies. To be honest, it bothers me that you don't offer any payment for those stories. Unless you do a great job getting those anthos to readers, the "exposure" won't do an author much good. (And if you do reach a lot of readers, it's only fair to share your profit with the people who provided the stories.)

 

[Torin]

The links to the books redirect to Lulu.com, which means they're using Lulu for printing. In that case, why not just use Lulu without going through Salvatore Publishing?

 

[StevenJ]

Hi, Steve,

Welcome to AW. I have a couple questions about your company.

Does your contract specify whether you pay royalties on the cover price, or if not the cover price, exactly how the net price is calculated?

Also, I see from your website that you have plans to use offset printing for larger print runs. That's good to hear. Beyond that, however, what kind of distribution do you have set up?

And about the anthologies. To be honest, it bothers me that you don't offer any payment for those stories. Unless you do a great job getting those anthos to readers, the "exposure" won't do an author much good. (And if you do reach a lot of readers, it's only fair to share your profit with the people who provided the stories.)

Hi Beth, and thank you for the polite tone of your post

I have to upfront about this - I am not, as readers here may have guessed, the brains behind Salvatore Publishing, certainly not the business brain anyway, and so I'm attempting to address criticisms (valid or otherwise) as best I can. In this instance, it was my chosen job to post at various forums (here, AuthorsDen etc) to publicise SP's launch (and that of our website & Christmas anthology). Therefore, it isn't really possible for me to discuss the first point you made in-depth, simply because that aspect isn't my 'area'.
I will, however, encourage Guy to sign up here, and doubtless he will clarify matters. I'm sorry I'm not able to explain this myself as, despite my involvement in this thread, I don't deal with contractual matters.

Yeah, the 'non-payment for short stories' thing is under review. I do appreciate people's concerns with this. When we started, a few months ago, it was a thrill for us & others we knew to see our names (and work) in print. This was enough reward for us, plus, we gave out free copies of our first anthology to all the contributors. Our second anthology is Christmas-themed & the profits made will be donated to two children's charities; my co-founder has stated publicly that records/receipts of said donations will be available to view online.

The first collection was basically published for these reasons:

1. To get the company started.
2. To allow unpublished authors (myself included) to be published.
3. To use the funds raised for such purposes as: purchasing ISBN numbers etc - basically, any profit made was used to reinvest in SP - this is not greed, it is an attempt to help SP grow, which will eventually benefit potential authors.

The second collection was basically published for the reason stated above - the excellent cause - plus of course, it helped to publicise SP - that is our reward for the work.

 

[StevenJ]

The links to the books redirect to Lulu.com, which means they're using Lulu for printing. In that case, why not just use Lulu without going through Salvatore Publishing?

Once again, this is valid criticism so I'll address this:

The anthologies, and the first novel we published are available through Lulu & other online sellers such as WH Smith, Waterstones etc. But, as Beth mentioned in her post, we plan to print & publish under our own imprint in 2009.

 

[Momento Mori]

Hi, Steve, I just had a couple of questions on points arising from the website:

Firstly, has a company been incorporated for Salvatore Publishing or does it exist as a partnership structure? Please don't take this the wrong way, but the reason for the query is because given the current economic climate, the corporate structure can affect the position in the (hopefully very unlikely) event of insolvency.

Secondly, the website states:

Please send us a brief query letter describing your story and if we feel your material suits Salvatore we will send you a release form and request a manuscript.

Why are authors required to sign a release form before submitting their manuscript? What are they being asked to release?

MM

 

[StevenJ]

Hi, Steve, I just had a couple of questions on points arising from the website:

Firstly, has a company been incorporated for Salvatore Publishing or does it exist as a partnership structure? Please don't take this the wrong way, but the reason for the query is because given the current economic climate, the corporate structure can affect the position in the (hopefully very unlikely) event of insolvency.

Secondly, the website states:



Why are authors required to sign a release form before submitting their manuscript? What are they being asked to release?

MM

Hi MM

My co-founder will sign up here this evening, and respond in-depth to the more technical questions people ask. I apologise for my lack of knowledge about certain aspects of business, but then, this is not my area of expertise; obviously, if I could respond to the more technical questions, then I would - I'm not hiding anything here, and I'll continue to be honest when I can't answer some questions. As I stated, hopefully Guy Cousins will be along tonight to deal with these matters.

As far as I'm aware, the release form is basically giving us permission to view the manuscript. One point I should make clear is this: an author who publishes with SP retains the rights to their work - we don't own it, they do.

 

[StevenJ]

One more thing I'd like to ask publicly: when it is found that SP has no connection whatsoever to outfits like Publish America, will an apology be made on this thread? While I completely understand that moderators & admins might have a 'shoot first, ask questions later' approach, (as there are so many questionable publishing companies around), the fact remains that this false accusation will make people suspicious of Salvatore, and link our name with PA; this is grossly unfair...

I'm not being argumentative here, and as I wrote, I do understand that often it's better to err on the side of caution (on behalf of writers everywhere), but in this case a mistake has been made, and this will adversely affect SP. So please, if the AW administration can be swift enough to act against us, at least act on our behalf just as swiftly when the truth of the matter is revealed.

Thank you.

 

[Carmy]

Hi, Steve, and welcome.

As you can see, we writers are a suspicious lot. Not surprising when we encounter scams every day. I'm sure I'm not the only one who looks forward to hearing what Mr. Cousins has to say and many of us will do so with an open mind.

In the meantime . . . . Thank you for answering our questions so honestly. If you were out to scam us, you wouldn't have bothered but simply gone away and reopened your publishing site under another name. (We've experienced many scammers on this site, agents and publishers.)

Somewhere on the thread, a member asked why we shouldn't publish directly through Lulu rather than going through Salvatore. Well, for one thing, formatting for Lulu is something I'd rather leave to someone else.

I admire your spirit and hope your venture is successful.

 

[StevenJ]

Thank you for your kind and open-minded reply, Carmy

I think we're guilty of being naive, and though it's a shame that we should effectively be accused of scamming our fellow writers, I understand why people should jump to conclusions. The truth is, we're newcomers, with all the error-strewn ways that the term suggests. We're not claiming to present the moon & stars to new writers, merely offering a hassle-free way of publishing their work. The learning curve is steep and we will make mistakes, that's for sure. But our intentions are good.

And yes, I realise that the above makes us out to be misunderstood saints, but the fact of the matter is that we're trying to gradually build up a company which is more approachable than many other established ones - we're not 'disgruntled writers', we're optimistic, optimistic that people will actually enjoy working with us; any growth we experience will only help new writers to have opportunities. That was always our aim: to beat an easier path for people who want to be published..without having to wait months n' months only to receive (perhaps) a bland, anonymous rejection slip...

It's a pity this thread wasn't just deleted by the mods, as it's led to improper accusations; on the other hand, I'm glad I've had the chance to explain a few things publicly.

 

[Torin]

Formatting for Lulu is a matter of setting your page size on your word processing software to whatever size book you've chosen and saving the document. I used Lulu to print a copy of my NaNo novel a couple of years ago when Lulu offered a free copy to anyone who had completed NaNo. It was insanely easy and didn't take that much time. Mind you, things might have changed in the past few years; I haven't used them since then, but still, I'd rather spend the few minutes to format my doc and keep 100% of all profits, than to get 50% of the gross profit (whatever that might work out to be). Just saying. Your mileage may vary.

And as for an apology being due, I didn't see anywhere that SP was accused of being affiliated with PA, just an observation that its method of operation is not unlike PA's: no money upfront, discounts for buying your own books, authors being asked to do their own marketing and so on. IMO, an apology wouldn't be due until happy authors can come forward and say they had a great experience with SP, royalties paid on time and all that good stuff. Here's to success with your venture.

 

[cdoctor13]

I'd advise any would be writers to wait a year and see where this company is at before submitting.

 

[StevenJ]

Hi Torin

Lulu formatting can be time-consuming and finicky; this is just one reason why we're striving to do the printing ourselves next year.

As for the association between PA & Salvatore; the very fact that aspects of the two companies are (supposedly) comparable, in the view of an AW moderator, and that this supposed comparison was made public in this thread is enough reason to expect an apology of sorts once the truth of the matter is revealed. By it's very nature, a stated association or comparison like that can only be injurious to the innocent party, however explicitly or implictly it is stated & whether the intent was malicious or otherwise (I don't think it was malicious, by the way).

If, when this matter is clarified, I receive an apology, then all credit to AW.
Otherwise, it's as ludicrous as someone comparing Hitler to Obama (which happens a lot...) and as unfair.

 

[Torin]

I'd advise any would be writers to wait a year and see where this company is at before submitting.

But SOMEONE has to submit so we can see where they are in a year. I probably won't be doing so, myself, but I'd be interested to see how well they do.

I admit to being mildly concerned by this:

It's a pity this thread wasn't just deleted by the mods, as it's led to improper accusations; on the other hand, I'm glad I've had the chance to explain a few things publicly.

It doesn't sit well with me. I haven't read any "improper accusations", just questions and observations. So far, the answers have been polite, but there is an increasing tone of frustration, if not paranoia, and the suggestion that the thread should have been deleted altogether smacks of censorship, which is not really called for in this venue. And I don't mean to make SteveS more paranoid. We're not out to get you; we're just clarifying information. And again, I wish you all success in this venture. Small business has to start somewhere, and using Lulu as a printer isn't a bad idea: they do put out a decent product at a reasonable price.