Here's epub and POD that I haven't seen on here before. Anyone heard of Hearts On Fire Books? The website doesn't inspire confidence. When they talk about getting reviews, they mention that they have in-house folks to do it.
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Solstice Publishing (formerly Hearts On Fire Books)
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I believe they mean they have three people responsible for arranging reviews. It could be worded better.
The website doesn't inspire confidence. It was terribly hard to navigate.
The website doesn't inspire confidence. It was terribly hard to navigate.
Author-turned-publisher. Has one book with Red Rose Publishing (a romance/erotica e-publisher), self-pubbed two more books through her company and has another with Wild Horse Press (another e-pub). They're offering both print and e-book now, though whether they can do so and stay afloat I'm not sure. But I've seen too many author-turned-publishers around here to have any confidence about this one.
EDIT:
Someone with ebook experience should probably chime in here, but how much promotion did you epublished folks actually have to do?
EDIT:
Someone with ebook experience should probably chime in here, but how much promotion did you epublished folks actually have to do?
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Promo is fine, especially online promo, and can really help. But the biggest single factor determining how well your ebook sells is the publisher you choose for it--especially for romance.
Yeah, I didn't get the sense that they were vanity, but aside form the beautiful picture at the top of the main page, the website was very strange.
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Hmm. Here's an 3/2 interview with owner Melissa, which leads us to her website, from which all mention of Hearts on Fire has been removed (cache), and the books displayed are by Solstice Publishing, domain registered 3/11 and every book uploaded this past week....
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Melissa changed the name of the house and is building a new website to go along with it. All the old contracts were cancelled, and new ones issued to those wishing to remain. New cover art has been done. The whole nine yards. I like what I've seen of the new look, so far. Melissa is strictly legit. I've found her easy to work with and responsive. She seems to genuinely want what's best for the authors, hence the changes. Royalties are paid monthly, and promptly.
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The upshot being, Hearts of Fire Books has closed--but a new press has been opned with some of the same catalog?
I would be curious to know the reasons for the move. As mentioned above, a matter of weeks ago she was giving interviews anticipating HOF's anniversary. Are they just dumping their current readership without even a redirect?
I would be curious to know the reasons for the move. As mentioned above, a matter of weeks ago she was giving interviews anticipating HOF's anniversary. Are they just dumping their current readership without even a redirect?
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It bothers me that Hearts on Fire was 'a good experience to begin to learn the industry'. Essentially, you're saying that you had no experience and have been learning on the backs of aspiring authors to gain the experience you should have had when you opened Hearts on Fire. And considering you've now closed it and are starting anew as opposed to making the original work, that doesn't inspire any confidence. The only good thing is at least you didn't leave authors in a tangled mess. Sorry to be so critical, but learning on other people's works is grossly unfair to them.
Everyone needs to start somewhere. At least they are honest about it. I've seen worse.
Solstice, it's great that you've got capital and experience. Can you tell us:
What advance does Solstice pay?
How long does the Solstice contract run, and what rights do you take?
What is the mean/median number of copies sold per title for HoF?
Which distributor(s) is Solstice with?
What advance does Solstice pay?
How long does the Solstice contract run, and what rights do you take?
What is the mean/median number of copies sold per title for HoF?
Which distributor(s) is Solstice with?
Hello,
Thanks for asking. I'll try to answer all of the questions.
We will be using, amazon kindle (already set up), Coffeetime Romance (already set up), our own site, Fictionwise (we will be setting up soon), All romance ebooks (will be setting up soon) and a few more.
We don't pay any advances. We pay royalties monthly. The standard pay. 40% for ebooks and 10% for print books.
Which brings us to the next question. The rights are for ebook and print only. No movie or audio rights.
We had several authors who did very well with HOF. We had some that had sales of 150-200 ebooks a quarter. Then we had some that didn't sell very good.
The contract is for 3 years.
Thanks for asking. I'll try to answer all of the questions.
We will be using, amazon kindle (already set up), Coffeetime Romance (already set up), our own site, Fictionwise (we will be setting up soon), All romance ebooks (will be setting up soon) and a few more.
We don't pay any advances. We pay royalties monthly. The standard pay. 40% for ebooks and 10% for print books.
Which brings us to the next question. The rights are for ebook and print only. No movie or audio rights.
We had several authors who did very well with HOF. We had some that had sales of 150-200 ebooks a quarter. Then we had some that didn't sell very good.
The contract is for 3 years.
Hello,
I'm sorry I wasn't clear on that. The royalty is on the net profit that we make. Ebook gets 40% and print books get 10%.
I'm sorry I wasn't clear on that. The royalty is on the net profit that we make. Ebook gets 40% and print books get 10%.
Hello,
I don't take your questions personally at all. These are very good questions. Every site that we list our books on takes a %. Amazon kindle takes 40%, Coffeetime Romance takes 40%, fictionwise takes 50%. This is just to give you an idea. The author would then get 40% of what we get. If the book is sold on our own site then they would get 40% of the price of the book since we don't have to give up that %.
I don't take your questions personally at all. These are very good questions. Every site that we list our books on takes a %. Amazon kindle takes 40%, Coffeetime Romance takes 40%, fictionwise takes 50%. This is just to give you an idea. The author would then get 40% of what we get. If the book is sold on our own site then they would get 40% of the price of the book since we don't have to give up that %.
Short answer then is that net covers distribution costs only, correct?
But not on the backs of other authors. Carpenters don't get their start by building houses. Plumbers don't get their start upgrading pipes. Publishers don't get their start by practicing with other peoples' work to get a hang of the business.
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Yes, but where everyone should start is as an employee with a different, established epublisher, where they can learn the business without gambling on the work of others. Once again, "publisher" is not an entry-level job. (That's not directed at Solstice per se, as they have now gained some experience [though how valuable it is remains to be seen]; it's just a standard response.) Writers are not guinea pigs, and they shouldn't be treated as such.
That being said, though, I'd like to welcome "Solstice Publishing" to AW, and say thank you for answering our questions so promptly, and in such a calm, open, and professional manner. It certainly gives me a more favorable impression than I might otherwise have had, and is a refreshing change from representatives of other epublishers who've visited us recently.
ETA: Darn you, M.R.J.! You beat me to it again! *shakes fist*
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Thanks for answering, Solstice!
Can you tell me which distributor(s) you work with for the print versions of books?
Do all books go to print?
Do you use the POD business model or do you do print runs?
In your opinion, is 10% royalty on net for print books standard in the industry?
Do you have any longer sales figures for HoF books (e.g. total copies sold a year or more after release)?
Can you tell me which distributor(s) you work with for the print versions of books?
Do all books go to print?
Do you use the POD business model or do you do print runs?
In your opinion, is 10% royalty on net for print books standard in the industry?
Do you have any longer sales figures for HoF books (e.g. total copies sold a year or more after release)?
I had a novel and a short story with Hearts on Fire and was given a release. I'm now subbing the novel out to others. Neither of them had much time to sell well and they didn't. I went through it and rewrote and edited it which it needed.
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