Sands Press

[UnbearableLight]

Didn't see this one in CaoPaux's index and a search failed to turn up a thread, so... Does anyone know anything about Sands Press? They are participating in today's pitch 2 pub twitter event.

http://www.sandspress.com/

The front page shows books, so they are at least facing readers more than writers, and they have a webstore. Their covers look amateurish and I'm put off by the $500.00 web dev service they're selling through the store. I haven't checked the books' Amazon rankings.

The website doesn't list who's on staff, but I have my suspicions based on the catalog. I might have missed it, though.

"Sands Press strives to provide full publishing to all of our clients, however we reserve the right to discuss co-publishing as an option for certain projects."

That looks like a red flag. There's no further discussion of co-publishing anywhere else, nor any mention of advances/royalty fees structures that I can see.

e: The site may be unsecure/have malware -- browse with caution.

 

[petrepan]

I second this question. Anyone have any experience with them? I know they're brand new, and that can be a good sign or a not-good sign.

 

[tiakall]

Symantec warns that there's something unsafe on the website being blocked (looks like the site is trying to download an .exe to my system), so I wouldn't click on that link if you don't have a good firewall, FYI.

 

[UnbearableLight]

Oh! Weird! I didn't get anything through Chrome with up to date MSE. I'll edit the OP.

 

[aliceshortcake]

This is an odd one.

Sands Press has the same Ontario address as Sands Medical, which as the name suggests is a medical supplies provider:

http://www.sands.ca/

The Sands Press website was registered by Kevin Davidson. From his LinkedIn profile:

Marketing, Relations & Regulatory Affairs

Sands Canada

February 2010 – Present (6 years 1 month)
Email, print and other media advertising. Maintaining the Sands web site while offering methods for manufacturers and other industry related companies to advertise on our site.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevindavidson2009

 

[authorMAF]

Has anyone published with them?

http://www.sandspress.com/

They liked my #Pit2Pub pitch, but I'd really like some feedback on authors who have worked with this press


p.s. I checked through (and did a search) for this press, but I couldn't find anything on absolutewrite.com - really hoping I didn't miss it or something!)

 

[Kerosene]

<link snipped>

Just earlier today. A mod will soon merge threads.

Use the Google custom search bar at the bottom of the page for searches. it came up on top.

 

[Kerosene]

Some observations from poking around:

Most of the books on their shop aren't published by them. You can find them all on Amazon and they are listed under different presses (some you can find info on, some not), and only two of what I've seen are published by them. Sometimes the other press or "self-published" is listed on their site, sometimes not.

Makes me think this is a press put together by an author or two because they believe they can pull it off (probably Dennis Stein and/or Perry Prete as most of their books, both self-pubbed and through a press, are up). Which is worrying. Wouldn't know as their "About us" says nothing about people.

The reviews that are up are either doctored as they were copy+pasted from other sites and altered and given five stars regardless of prior review rating or just seem fabricated (and, of course, as this is a private site and thus fully controlled this is entirely possible).

Like I said, seems like a press put up because an author or two thought, "Well, I(we) can self-publish, why not publish other people?"

Pass.

 

[Peaceshaman]

First time posting on AW!

I've been considering submitting to Sands Press for the past couple months, but I've been hoping to find out more about them first.

I've actually read a couple of the books written by authors attached to them. From what I gather the books are self-published and the writing quality is not terribly good, but I am a pretty critical reader.

It seems to be that Perry Prete has started Sands Press after having several of his own books being published (I'm not sure if they were self-published or not) and I suspect that Willsauger is correct about a few self-published authors setting up Sands Press as a way of publishing their own work and then publishing the work of other writers in order to make some extra money.

Now, with that being said, it seems like they're looking for books to publish traditionally (not a vanity press), but I'm suspicious since at least some of the authors they work with don't seem to have a track record of being published with a traditional publisher.

 

[UnbearableLight]

The co-publishing issue and probable lack of actual distribution makes me think we can't call this trad publishing.

 

[FluffBunny]

Hmmmm...the website's registered to a Kevin Davidson who lists his current employment as "Sands Canada" and "Kevin Davidson. (sic) Hosting, Design & SEO Services". He lists his position with Sands as "Marketing, Relations & Regulatory Affairs". Aside from the use of an ampersand and the lack of an Oxford comma, I find the statement, "Maintaining the Sands web site while offering methods for manufacturers and other industry related companies to advertise on our site" a little...odd. Does he simply mean that he's their web designer and that they support their website by allowing third-party ads or what?

No apparent experience with publishing as his LinkedIn profile lists his university major as "Radio".

As for Perry Prete, LinkedIn has the skinny on "Sands Canada" not to be confused with Sands Press. Sands Canada "designs and manufactures a complete line of EMS deployment bags and now, travel luggage" according to the info given for Mr. Prete. His work experience is as a paramedic, self-employed president of Sands Canada since 1987, author since 2013, and, as of 2015, President of Sands Press.

I'm not seeing any publishing or editing experience, but I could be missing something.

ETA: I'm always a tad leery of publishers that are so shy of naming their staff. If I pop over to Tor, say, and have a look at their "About" page, everyone's listed from the associate publisher down to (this isn't meant in a slighting manner) the publicity and marketing manager. Here? Mr. Prete's name is mentioned here and there, Mr. Davidson has written one of the site's blog entries. Two other people have written blog entries, but whether they're authors of the house, employees or random strangers, there's no way of knowing. Why so shy?

 

[Deb Kinnard]

My crit partner published her debut book with a Sands Publishing out of California in 2001, but it doesn't sound as though these are the same parties. If any detail is wanted, PM me and I'll try to answer.

 

[Ladybell5]

Anyone Heard of Sands Press??

Hello All,

Sands Press participated in #Pitdark on Twitter and liked my tweet -- I would like to get more information on this establishment if anyone has had experience with them.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Maggie Maxwell]

Hi Ladybell, and welcome to AW! It looks like we have a thread on Sands Press right here, though it doesn't have any recent posts. It's a place to start, at least.

 

[Ladybell5]

Thanks very much -- I read through this thread and it's a bit alarming -- I think I'll pass!!!!

 

[Sephrenia14]

Hi folks,

I'm an author with this press and thought I'd share a bit of info.

They are a small publishing house based in Canada that follows a traditional publishing model. Authors accepted pay no fee whatsoever. The royalty deal is about standard, however I had a pretty negative experience with them which led me to submit elsewhere. In short, the author is given little control over the cover or how the book is promoted (this is important), the editor was terrible and while you will make some money from the royalties, I wouldn't work with them again. They do however market your book which is more than some indie presses do.

I wont go into detail to avoid getting a rep as an author bad to work with, but if you wish to know details, pm me.

 

[Tabra]

I'm also an author with this press. While they do have a trad model, they also have a vanity press imprint. Or at least I was offered one to publish further work with them. I have also had a negative experience with them and wouldn't recommend them. Considering their back list consists of 26 books and hasn't changed the in last couple of years, that says quite a bit.

 

[Barbara R.]

The staff of the publishing house seems to have no publishing experience, judging from the lack of credentials. The president of the company (a paramedic) and possibly some of the other staffers have published their own work through the press. The submissions page invites anyone who wants to submit an entire ms., not a query package, synopsis or sample. That's nuts, unless what they're really about is selling services but not being upfront about it. I wouldn't go near this company.

 

[Tabra]

They also require exclusivity for any future work, so they get first refusal on everything and 90% of any digital rights if the authors sells them for movie, TV, etc.

 

[mrsmig]

They also require exclusivity for any future work, so they get first refusal on everything and 90% of any digital rights if the authors sells them for movie, TV, etc.

Sorry, but that's just wrong. I can see asking for first refusal on connected works (say, if they've published a book with series potential), but for any future work? Nah.

I also don't understand how they can ask for 90% of digital rights (which generally refers to e-books) if one of their books is optioned for film. Digital rights and film rights are two separate things. Presumably their contract calls for them to have both print and digital rights because that's standard in the industry. Some will also take audio rights IF they produce audio books, or are planning to do so in the future.

I think these people just don't know what they're doing, so they're trying to grab any and all rights. A small trade publisher without the staff or experience to pitch books to film/TV companies has no business trying to obtain those rights. It's another big red flag for an outfit that's already peppered with them.

 

[Sonya Heaney]

Sorry, but that's just wrong. I can see asking for first refusal on connected works (say, if they've published a book with series potential), but for any future work? Nah.

Yes, that. My contracts have the "connected work" clause, but I wouldn't expect anything else. Grabbing the rights to the rest of my work? No way. The idea of that scares me.

 

[mrsmig]

My former publisher had right of first refusal on books in or connected with my fantasy series - but suppose I had also written...oh, I dunno, a chemistry book? Why would I want a genre publisher to have first grab at that?

 

[Unimportant]

Sorry, but that's just wrong. I can see asking for first refusal on connected works (say, if they've published a book with series potential), but for any future work? Nah.

I also don't understand how they can ask for 90% of digital rights (which generally refers to e-books) if one of their books is optioned for film. Digital rights and film rights are two separate things. Presumably their contract calls for them to have both print and digital rights because that's standard in the industry. Some will also take audio rights IF they produce audio books, or are planning to do so in the future.

I think these people just don't know what they're doing, so they're trying to grab any and all rights. A small trade publisher without the staff or experience to pitch books to film/TV companies has no business trying to obtain those rights. It's another big red flag for an outfit that's already peppered with them.

I've seen contracts like that. It's not that they don't know what they're doing: they know exactly what they're doing, and they're counting on authors being too naive (or desperate) to question it. The odds of them ever activating such a film clause is minimal, but if something goes viral they want to make sure they can cash in on it, and they also want to make sure they've locked their authors in so that the authors can't go elsewhere with any future work -- which means authors even if they wise up can't change their contract conditions, so they're stuck with that publisher for life.

 

[Tabra]

I would give them a hard pass.

 

[Shayna.Grissom]

Hard pass.

I published several books with them and each time there were serious issues. I asked for the rights back and they refused.