Stoneybunny press left this link on my Facebook wall http://submissions.stonebunnypress.ca/ calling for submissions. Anyone know anything about them? I looked over their guidelines and found a red flag or two.
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Stonebunny Press
- Thread starter Shrouded
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2010
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- Location
- East Yorks, England
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- dave-blake.uk
Guidelines aside that site just says 'coming soon', for everything, their store included.
Not sure what they're about.
Not sure what they're about.
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2011
- Messages
- 2,295
- Reaction score
- 412
- Age
- 40
I would be immediately suspicious that they just popped up and messaged you on FB without having received a submission from you. That and yeah... they don't appear to have any anything on their site yet.
Well the fact that Stoneybunny is spamming people's Facebook messages suggests that they're more interested in soliciting authors than readers - that's never a good sign.
Then there are all these red flags on their website:
and
There is no money in poetry nor (I'd suggest) in medieval studies and the fact that they seem open to every genre suggests that they have no targeted (if any) marketing planned. Most commercial publishers start out in one or two genres, build up their reputation within it and then branch out - they target. If SBP isn't, then it makes you wonder who they're planning to sell to.
Then there's the weird Supporters page: http://about.stonebunnypress.ca/p/supporters.html
Which suggests that they don't have any real capital behind them. Many publishers find themselves under-capitalised and go bust within 2 years.
According to the SBP site they're planning on selling hardbacks, paperbacks, ebooks and audio. For starters, hardbacks tend to be low sellers - most commercial publishers find it easier to go with either ebooks and then POD paperback or a mix of both (and even then, I'd want to know about print runs for the paperbacks).
Then check out the About Us page: http://about.stonebunnypress.ca/p/about-us.html
Seems to me that neither Todd nor Melanie Fischer have much commercial publishing experience for print - although they may have good connections for audio books (which don't have a massive market).
All in all, not necessarily a scam but I definitely wouldn't want to be one of their guinea pigs.
MM
Then there are all these red flags on their website:
and
There is no money in poetry nor (I'd suggest) in medieval studies and the fact that they seem open to every genre suggests that they have no targeted (if any) marketing planned. Most commercial publishers start out in one or two genres, build up their reputation within it and then branch out - they target. If SBP isn't, then it makes you wonder who they're planning to sell to.
Then there's the weird Supporters page: http://about.stonebunnypress.ca/p/supporters.html
Which suggests that they don't have any real capital behind them. Many publishers find themselves under-capitalised and go bust within 2 years.
According to the SBP site they're planning on selling hardbacks, paperbacks, ebooks and audio. For starters, hardbacks tend to be low sellers - most commercial publishers find it easier to go with either ebooks and then POD paperback or a mix of both (and even then, I'd want to know about print runs for the paperbacks).
Then check out the About Us page: http://about.stonebunnypress.ca/p/about-us.html
Seems to me that neither Todd nor Melanie Fischer have much commercial publishing experience for print - although they may have good connections for audio books (which don't have a massive market).
All in all, not necessarily a scam but I definitely wouldn't want to be one of their guinea pigs.
MM
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Wouldn't be surprised if the missing step in their submission guidelines is 'pay us money'. Advertising for writers on Facebook makes me think they could be shady.
Ya'll might be jumping the gun here. I'm not saying they're top shelf, but there's not enough information to shout "bad form." Spamming on FB isn't exactly the mark of a scam. I get FB messages from lots of publishers re: books coming out and what not (respectable pubs like Flux). I also get FB messages from hundreds of other companies trying to get me in some form or another.
If they're new, they need to get authors somehow. Most every new publisher has to solicit authors. Some do it differently than others. Why not wait to see if they pay advances, if they have good covers, if they can generate sales ........ etc.
If they're new, they need to get authors somehow. Most every new publisher has to solicit authors. Some do it differently than others. Why not wait to see if they pay advances, if they have good covers, if they can generate sales ........ etc.
Just a note: If you 'like' a page or 'friend' a publisher on FB, and you get messages from them about their books. It isn't spam.
Shrouded, I just want to add my two cents on this. I'm also a member in the Amazon ABNA writer's forum and a fellow writer of mine is friends with the owners of Stonebunny Press. They are a new Canadian Press and are just getting off the ground and are looking for authors. They are accepting queries from Americans as well. I write middle grade and right now they're just doing adult MS's. However, Todd offered to forward my name and info onto another press who does middle grade.
Quite a few of us on the ABNA boards had some of the same questions posted here and Todd as well as his wife graciously entered our forum and answered them. They are very efficient in returning emails if you contact them. I can tell you that they offered an editing service for a fee and after those of us in the forum voiced our concerns about this and how it could have deep implications that may derail their company, they have elected to and have removed that from their business model.
I have pasted the link from our forum below if you wanna go check it out.
http://www.amazon.com/tag/amazon%20breakthrough%20novel%20awards/forum/ref=cm_cd_tfp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx6TTNZ0V5TDQ5&cdThread=Tx1PZ4KXE36K6WU&displayType=tagsDetail
Quite a few of us on the ABNA boards had some of the same questions posted here and Todd as well as his wife graciously entered our forum and answered them. They are very efficient in returning emails if you contact them. I can tell you that they offered an editing service for a fee and after those of us in the forum voiced our concerns about this and how it could have deep implications that may derail their company, they have elected to and have removed that from their business model.
I have pasted the link from our forum below if you wanna go check it out.
http://www.amazon.com/tag/amazon%20breakthrough%20novel%20awards/forum/ref=cm_cd_tfp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx6TTNZ0V5TDQ5&cdThread=Tx1PZ4KXE36K6WU&displayType=tagsDetail
TDR, thanks for the update. I was concerned about the editing fees and wanted to get a handle on the backing of the Publisher and who they were. It's good to see so many eyes out there.
S.
S.
I don't doubt that Stonbunny's intentions are entirely honourable. My concern (to repeat myself) is whether they have the capital and industry expertise to support that and, to be honest, I don't see that they do.
It's good that they are no longer planning to offer a separate editing service but the unpleasant fact is that they should never have been offering it in the first place. Editing should be provided for free by experienced editors working for the publisher and this isn't just copy editing - editing is about working on the overall product. Neither Todd nor Melanie appear to have any professional editing experience so how do they plan to manage this (and if not, then that means they're risking putting out poorly written books and what author wants to have their work put out by a press that has a reputation for sloppiness and lack of quality control?)
The fact that they're planning to publish books across a range of categories suggests to me lack of marketing and promotion focus. That is not good for an author. Successful publishers start small and build up. They should either be focusing on genre fiction within one or two genres or non-fiction in a particular area. Doing all things to all men will mean that they're spreading themselves too thinly.
Honestly, I'd wait and see how they're doing in 2 years time and I'd want to know what they're planning to do that an author can't do for themselves.
MM
It's good that they are no longer planning to offer a separate editing service but the unpleasant fact is that they should never have been offering it in the first place. Editing should be provided for free by experienced editors working for the publisher and this isn't just copy editing - editing is about working on the overall product. Neither Todd nor Melanie appear to have any professional editing experience so how do they plan to manage this (and if not, then that means they're risking putting out poorly written books and what author wants to have their work put out by a press that has a reputation for sloppiness and lack of quality control?)
The fact that they're planning to publish books across a range of categories suggests to me lack of marketing and promotion focus. That is not good for an author. Successful publishers start small and build up. They should either be focusing on genre fiction within one or two genres or non-fiction in a particular area. Doing all things to all men will mean that they're spreading themselves too thinly.
Honestly, I'd wait and see how they're doing in 2 years time and I'd want to know what they're planning to do that an author can't do for themselves.
MM
Nothing published after '11. Only recent activity was to close to subs (in Sept).
ETA: Resumed publishing in '14 (so far, about 1/3 not by owner).
ETA: Resumed publishing in '14 (so far, about 1/3 not by owner).
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