Severed Press

[S.C. Denton]

They are an overseas publisher who I submitted a story to a little over a month ago, for consideration in an upcoming anthology; and I was just wondering if anyone had heard anything bad.

I queried first because my story was more than twice their word count, so I was pretty surprised when they e-mailed me back requesting it.

Obviously, since they wanted to read my story I was skeptical. I checked P&E but couldn't find anything listed for them. I thought that maybe they only concern themselves with United States Pubs and Agents and what not. If anyone has any information on them good or bad I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[JerseyGirl1962]

I checked Ralan's; didn't see it there.

I checked Spicy Green Iguana; didn't come up.

Ah, came up on Duotrope:

http://www.duotrope.com/market_3286.aspx

They're called "Fledgling" on there, which I take to mean they're a start up.

Also checked out the Black Hole, but Severed Press isn't listed.

Sorry I couldn't come up with more for you.

~Nancy Beck

 

[S.C. Denton]

Thanks so much. I guess I overlooked Duotrope. Just sort of forgot about 'em if you can believe that. I popped over and checked them out on Duo and as far as I could tell they didn't really have anything bad to say. So... there's that. Once again I really appreciate the link.

 

[CaoPaux]

Adding link: http://www.severedpress.com/

 

[IDGS]

They're completely and utterly reputable as far as I can tell - they're publishing my first novel and seem to be really good people insofar as my dealings with them have been concerned. They take a little while to respond as they are a small-ish press starting out, but their finished products are spot-on and well worth the time!

 

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

Their grammar in the FAQs isn't exactly stellar, doesn't exactly say professionals. Plus they seem to state they market, but then later say this:

As the author of the book it is to your benefit to get your book out there as much as possible. Tell your friends speak to local bookstores; arrange book signings send your book to reviewers. The more you get your book out there the more you will sell

Sounds more like they rely on their authors than a sales team.

 

[Domoviye]

I'm planning on sending Severed Press a short story for one or more of their upcoming anthologies so I looked them over fairly closely.
They are fledgling so the pay isn't fantastic but its understandable, and they need to improve a few things on the site, but overall they're pretty good. They do make sure their books are in bookstores, and they have a decent presence on Amazon. Since they focus on zombie stories you can find mentions of their books I believe sent by the publisher on horror sites especially zombie sites. So they do some marketing.
But since they are small it seems to me that they are simply advising the author to help out for best effect, not "You do all the work for us" type of answer.
Hope this helped.

 

[Momento Mori]

IDGS:
They're completely and utterly reputable as far as I can tell - they're publishing my first novel and seem to be really good people insofar as my dealings with them have been concerned.

Are you able to share whether they paid an advance for your novel? Alternatively, can you provide details of the royalties that are payable?

Are you able to tell us what distribution they have in place - are they supplying chainstores like Barnes and Noble or are they targeting specialised SF/horror/fantasy stores? If the latter, do they have distribution deals in place for those stores and how many stores are they supplying?

Did they just take US/Canadian rights on your book or did they take worldwide rights? Did they take ebook rights or just print rights?

The FAQs state that publishing rights are only taken "for a specific length of time, which can be extended". Are you able to give additional details on how long this initial period is and how it is extended (e.g. the FAQs say that extension is by mutual agreement of the parties but I was wondering if there is deemed extension if one party fails to notify that it does not want to extend)?

For what it's worth, I'm not asking these questions because I think they're scammers (there's nothing that's an obvious red flag on their website in that respect), but it would be good to get more info on how they operate.

Domoviye:
I'm planning on sending Severed Press a short story for one or more of their upcoming anthologies so I looked them over fairly closely.
They are fledgling so the pay isn't fantastic but its understandable, and they need to improve a few things on the site, but overall they're pretty good.

The thing that concerns me about any small publisher that's putting out anthologies is that generally speaking, anthologies do not sell well. Even big commercial publishers will hesitate about putting out an anthology unless they can secure stories from big names who they think have the fan base to bring customers in (e.g. in YA fiction there have been a number of anthologies touting contributions from big name authors such as Meg Cabot and Holly Black because they have a massive fanbase who are likely to buy it).

If Severed Press are only selling anthologies with stories from authors without a name in the zombie/horror market (and I'm not saying that to denigrate any authors, I'm saying it because it's an unfortunate commercial reality) then it's difficult to see what the draw necessarily is for potential customers.

Are you able to tell us what the pay rates are for anthology stories?

MM

 

[iowawriter]

Their upcoming anthology, Dead Bait 2, has some giants in the creature horror markets already. Meg author Steve Alten, Guy N. Smith and Ramsey Campbell are all going to have stories included. I would say they are considered a legitimate press in the horror market.

 

[brainstorm77]

Cool. I have a zombie novel, but it needs to be edited first. I may sub it to them after it's completed.

 

[Domoviye]

Are you able to tell us what the pay rates are for anthology stories?

MM

The pay rate is the one thing that kept me from jumping on board ASAP, and from some of the things I've read in the last two days about anthologies will probably keep me from sending them any short story.
Writers for the anthologies are unpaid, they only get a copy of the anthology.

On the other hand selling them zombie novels and a few other apocalypse books seems to be a good way to break into the market. I'm not sure of the exact rates for novels, but from some things I've read they seem fair. They also have a fast turnaround rate novels, much faster than the market average.

 

[priceless1]

They also have a fast turnaround rate novels, much faster than the market average.

This is an indication that they are possibly POD and lack proper distribution. Indie distributors' sales teams like at least six months lead time.

 

[Momento Mori]

Domoviye:
Writers for the anthologies are unpaid, they only get a copy of the anthology.

Ah. See in that case, I'd have thought it would be better to look on Duotrope for paying horror markets to see if they take the story instead - at least that way there's money up front.

I'd be interested to know if the named contributors for Dead Bait 2 have negotiated a better deal for themselves.

Domoviye:
On the other hand selling them zombie novels and a few other apocalypse books seems to be a good way to break into the market.

I don't know enough about the horror market to comment, so take this for what it's worth.

I know that there are some v. well respected small presses specialising in zombie and apocalypic novels e.g. Abaddon (sp?), which has adverts in relevant publications, (I believe) pays authors an advance and gets reviews for its books in relevant publications. I've not seen the same of Severed Press - which is not to say that it doesn't (especially if it's focus is the US market because I'm on the other side of the Pond) but it would give me pause.

I'm also not clear on whether they are actually paying advances for novels - it would be great if they are, but I haven't seen any information either way.

MM

 

[brainstorm77]

Permuted Press is another small press that has done very well with zombie fic.

 

[IDGS]

Sorry for my delay in responding, I forgot I had posted here to be honest.

To clarify:

The Severed Press is not POD. They do turnaround anthologies relatively quickly for industry standards, but they publish their anthologies in niche genres that have been selling quite well and getting very good reviews - see Dead Bait as an example.

The Severed Press does not pay author advances, which is typical for small publishing houses. I won't disclose my exact royalty rate, but I will say that it is higher than normal for paperback standards (which range on average between 2 and 6 percent).

The Severed Press is distributed through 30,000 retailers or so, using Barnes & Noble and Amazon, as well as Ingram (sp?) Books as their major distributor, being a high-grade bookseller.

They do promotion and marketing for novels locally in Australia, but for those of us living outside of it, it's in our best interest to do marketing ourselves. Any of you who turn your noses up at this, choose another occupation. I've already been on the front page of a newspaper distributed to 350,000 residents and had a televised interview with nothing more than persistant emails and phonecalls to put behind it. Marketing is great through Penguin Books and S&S, but Severed Press aren't a large-scale powerhouse, let's face it. They're seeking to find their niche in the horror genre publishing world, and doing a fine job of it so far.

Tim Curran, their main high-profile horror writer, has been published through Cemetary Dance - the same guys who have done Stephen King's stuff - yet still releases books through the Severed Press as well.

I'll put it this way - the Severed Press is a small-scale operation in comparison to big-time New York publishing houses, yes. BUT, you need to start somewhere, and getting in on the ground-floor of an operation is always a benefit to those involved when they have the chance.

Besides, Horror is a tough market to break into - I know a lot of people who submit just to see their names in print.

I believe their deal for antho's is pretty standard cents per word, but I'm not sure - along with contributor's copies.

Hope this helps, feel free to PM me with any question you may have about them, because god only knows I'll forget to check this thread for another couple of weeks.

EDIT: Thought I'd answer a few specifics I missed on first pass:

Did they just take US/Canadian rights on your book or did they take worldwide rights? Did they take ebook rights or just print rights?

Worldwide rights, as well as electronic media, although I currently don't have any plans for an ebook release yet.

The FAQs state that publishing rights are only taken "for a specific length of time, which can be extended". Are you able to give additional details on how long this initial period is and how it is extended (e.g. the FAQs say that extension is by mutual agreement of the parties but I was wondering if there is deemed extension if one party fails to notify that it does not want to extend)?

My publication rights were taken for 5 years, with one year renewals after that if both parties mutually agree before 30 days of the expiry, otherwise deemed kaputz.

Hope this helps - like I said, real bang-up operation. Wishing you all the best!

 

[suemont]

I also submitted a short story to them. The deadline's July 1st and then they'll start replying. Site looked fine to me. Let's wait and see...

 

[IDGS]

I also submitted a short story to them. The deadline's July 1st and then they'll start replying. Site looked fine to me. Let's wait and see...

Dead Bait II, eh? I did too - here's to hoping! Best of luck! Gary (the editor) said responses would be out by the end of July!

 

[triceretops]

Could have sworn I saw a deal for Severed Press listed on the free PM newsletter. Is that typical with small press?

Tri

 

[IDGS]

No idea, Tri! Probably not, but they've been having a lot of success with a few of their anthologies so that could be what you've seen.

 

[Stacia Kane]

. I won't disclose my exact royalty rate, but I will say that it is higher than normal for paperback standards (which range on average between 2 and 6 percent).

Just saw this, and wanted to ask if those royalty rates really are typical for Canada? Because print royalties in the US can be more than double those amounts; 8% on mmps is pretty much standard, although you can negotiate for more; hardcover royalties start at 10% and can go as high as 15%, and I don't recall what trade paperbacks start at.

Not arguing your experience, and I'm glad you're so happy with Severed, but just saying that's not accurate as far as US royalty rates, or any royalty rates I've ever heard of; certainly I get more than that in my foreign rights deals.

 

[profen4]

Just saw this, and wanted to ask if those royalty rates really are typical for Canada? Because print royalties in the US can be more than double those amounts; 8% on mmps is pretty much standard, although you can negotiate for more; hardcover royalties start at 10% and can go as high as 15%, and I don't recall what trade paperbacks start at.

Not arguing your experience, and I'm glad you're so happy with Severed, but just saying that's not accurate as far as US royalty rates, or any royalty rates I've ever heard of; certainly I get more than that in my foreign rights deals.

I have several friends published by canadian publishers (small to mid sized presses --- lobster/orca/tradewinds) - 8-12 percent (on gross) royalties is the range that they're in. I don't think that 2% is typical anywhere.

 

[jennontheisland]

Just saw this, and wanted to ask if those royalty rates really are typical for Canada? Because print royalties in the US can be more than double those amounts; 8% on mmps is pretty much standard, although you can negotiate for more; hardcover royalties start at 10% and can go as high as 15%, and I don't recall what trade paperbacks start at.

Not arguing your experience, and I'm glad you're so happy with Severed, but just saying that's not accurate as far as US royalty rates, or any royalty rates I've ever heard of; certainly I get more than that in my foreign rights deals.

Granted I spend most of my time looking at US publishers, but the few Canadian ones I've seen have royalty rates on a par with the US. I've never seen any royalty rates lower than 6% anywhere, Canada, US, or overseas.

Bad enough our dollar is usually valued at less than yours, would be even worse if our royalty rates were lower too.

 

[elindsen]

just wondering if anyone knows of the turn around time. their site says 21days on queries but otherwise? also are their books in major bookstores? also interested in in pay rates. i knoww it changes but an average?

 

[IDGS]

Hey guys,

Books in major bookstores - no. Distributed through Ingram though, so they can be ordered. 21 days I believe is typical, but I'm just one of their authors and not in editorial, so I can't give a solid answer on that. Pay rates - varies on the book - and I'm not sure for anthos.

To the debate on royatly rates - you are correct - 2% would be extremely low, but I have seen 6%. 12% in my experience is quite high - if you can get that, I would lock it down in a heartbeat. In any case, this is all I know.

Best of luck and happy writing.

 

[IGLOOGREENHOUSE]

So Permuted and Severed are great presses, but anybody know of a list or database of Horror specific publishers?
In particular Post-Apocalyptic is what i'm after.