Silver Moon Books

[SafetyDance]

http://silvermoonbooks.co.uk/index.php?index

I'd never heard of these guys until I noticed their books in WH Smith earlier. I've emailed them to ask about a submission policy etc (although given the lack of info, not sure they're acquiring). There's next to nothing on Google besides a very spare Wiki page--they've apparently been going since 1992.

Can anyone share any info?

 

[Old Hack]

I was told that Silver Moon is run by the same people who run Barrington Hall, but I've not been able to verify that.

A quick search of Amazon suggests that several of Barrington Hall's titles have not appeared on schedule this year. I don't know why. But if Barrington Hall is associated with Silver Moon (and I repeat, I might well be wrong on this point) then I'd want to find out why those books have not been published according to schedule before I'd consider submitting to either BH or SM.

 

[SafetyDance]

I was told that Silver Moon is run by the same people who run Barrington Hall, but I've not been able to verify that.

A quick search of Amazon suggests that several of Barrington Hall's titles have not appeared on schedule this year. I don't know why. But if Barrington Hall is associated with Silver Moon (and I repeat, I might well be wrong on this point) then I'd want to find out why those books have not been published according to schedule before I'd consider submitting to either BH or SM.

Thank you--I appreciate your effort there. I write and read a lot in this genre, and it seemed strange that here was this publisher I'd never heard of, with lots of titles in a high-volume store. Hmm.

 

[Old Hack]

It's often a good idea to check the Companies House website.

According to that, Silver Moon Books was dissolved in March of this year; and Barrington Hall is still active but has a "proposal to strike off" listed against it, and it hasn't filed any accounts. It could be that the company has informed Companies House that it has or is going to cease trading; or that Companies House has taken exception to BH's lack of accounts and is in the process of removing its limited status. In which case BH can continue trading, but without the protection that being a limited company provides to its principals.

As I said earlier, I've not been able to confirm that these two companies are connected in any way but I have been told that they are. If I'm wrong, I apologise wholeheartedly.

 

[Old Hack]

Ah.

A little bit of googling led me to this from November 2009 (it's the cached version, as I didn't want to have to sign up to the website in order to read it--naughty me).

This is to introduce Barrington Hall, a newly incorporated publishing house that has acquired the right to publish Silver Moon books.

Some more careful searching should uncover a lot more information, but I'll leave that to anyone considering these imprints.

I don't quite understand why Silver Moon apparently handed its books over to Barrington Hall nearly two years ago, but has only been dissolved very recently; nor do I know why Barrington Hall is apparently on the brink of being wound up as a limited company, or how or if this is going to change its ability to trade. But I do know that I'd think very carefully before submitting to either of them, bearing all of this in mind.

 

[SafetyDance]

Thanks again, OH. (I wish I had your research skills!).

I had an email this morning with a very cheery and specific submission policy, so they're still acquiring, both for print and ebook shorts. I don't have anything to sub right now anyway, but the sheer lack of info (as well as the "covers" on the site--the print ones were much nicer!) don't exactly make me jump for joy. It's a shame, because it's becoming increasingly difficult to get into print erotica outside of the very mainstream stuff.

 

[Old Hack]

Safety, I have been told before that Silver Moon and Barrington Hall have some sort of association: but apart from that, I knew no more than you did. My research skills are very basic, though, and you too could have them. Here's all I did.

I typed this into Google:

"silver moon" "barrington hall"

Then I looked at all the results and ignored the ones which took me to review sites or to places where books were sold.

I knew that these were UK companies so I looked at the Companies House website, which is always useful as it gives the trading status of a company and also tells you a little about the company's background.

I'd also look at Writer Beware, Preditors and Editors, here, of course, and I'd see what the publisher had actually published in the last couple of years (you can do that on Amazon). And I'd do a bit of random Googling to see what I could find out about the people behind the publishing company, and what they'd been involved in before.

All you need is time, and a bit of lateral thinking. You can do it too. It's not that difficult.

 

[Bertram Fox]

I wish to Hell I'd seen this at the time. I signed up with them what is, IMHO, the best book I've written yet, and they've basically buried it.

They only told me after I'd signed that they weren't putting it out in hard copy for the foreseeable future (and therefore wouldn't be paying me the promised advance.) Their website is broken so that no new titles are visible or searchable since last October, and they don't show any interest in fixing it, so any sales I might be getting will only be coming thru secondary vendors like Amazon.

I would have done a whole lot better self-publishing it on Kindle; I only went to them because I wanted to get onto physical bookshelves at last. Is it possible to get out of a book contract if the publisher isn't publishing?

 

[Old Hack]

It depends on what the contract says. Is there a termination clause? Does the contract specify that they'll produce a print edition? Have they breached the contract in any specific, quantifiable way?

 

[Bertram Fox]

It depends on what the contract says. Is there a termination clause? Does the contract specify that they'll produce a print edition? Have they breached the contract in any specific, quantifiable way?

Having read through it since I posted: it says that "it is the Publisher's intention" to produce a print edition, but that's not an obligation.

However, it does explicitly specify the advance, and there is a termination clause "if the Publisher is found to be in breach of any material obligation" - and not paying an advance certainly meets that test. So I do have an exit if it comes to that.

Armed with that information, I'll go back and see if I can get some sense out of the editor. BTW, the contract shows them as trading as "Cambridge House Publishing Ltd."

 

[Old Hack]

the contract shows them as trading as "Cambridge House Publishing Ltd."

Really? That's interesting.

Here's AW's thread about Cambridge House Publising.

 

[CaoPaux]

Here's AW's thread about Cambridge House Publising.

That's for Cambridge House Press, in New York (and defunct).

 

[Old Hack]

Ah--it helps to have someone round here who knows what they're talking about. Thanks, Cao.

 

[Bertram Fox]

OK, an update. Turns out I was wrong about their website: they had migrated it from a .co.uk to a .com address and left the old one to gather dust, while the new one is being fixed and polished busily. I told them to put a link on the old one, if I could be misled that way, so could their customers. And though the market for print books in general and erotica in particular is on the floor, they are getting their regulars buying again, so I will probably be in print this year. I reckon I'll leave this one with them and see what happens.

 

[LindaJeanne]

OK, an update. Turns out I was wrong about their website: they had migrated it from a .co.uk to a .com address and left the old one to gather dust, while the new one is being fixed and polished busily. I told them to put a link on the old one, if I could be misled that way, so could their customers.

More than a "link", they should already be sending every hit on that domain to a re-direct to the new domain. That they'd leave the old site up at the old domain to languish, rather than putting up a re-direct, makes me wonder if they have any idea what they are doing. This is basic stuf.

 

[CaoPaux]

Updating link (NSFW): http://silvermoonbooks.com/index.htm

 

[CaoPaux]

Is now an imprint of Fiction4All.