Summerhouse Publishing Website:
While, at some publishers, the reviewing editor’s feelings in regards to the subject matter and saleability are weighed heavily in regards to the acceptance of the work, that is not the case with Summerhouse Publishing. Adhering to submission and editorial guidelines, utilizing the self-editing checklist that has been provided and making sure that your work can be classified as a romance (sweet to erotic) or erotica book is what is important. A well written book is a well written book.
This seems to me to be contradictory. On the one hand, the final sentence here suggests that they're interested only in well written books (in which case, it's not a true self-publisher, which enables people to publish anything regardless of quality). On the other hand, they're perfectly open about not reviewing books in terms of their potential saleability, which means that authors are taking the risk that their book won't sell.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
Celia Kyle, Publisher, has over fifteen years of experience in the accounting and management professions and is responsible for a billion dollar portfolio at her day job. In 2006, in her off hours, she began her writing career and has published over thirty works as well as created the “Strange Hollow” series currently being published with Liquid Silver Books and the “Dragon Kin” and “Big, Blooming & Wild” with Changeling Press. With this experience came the knowledge of the inner workings of various publishing houses allowing her to best discern how to set up Summerhouse Publishing to both benefit authors and the house.
I very much doubt that being an author of books published by what seem to me to be only royalty paying publishers has given Celia the "knowledge of the inner workings of various publishing houses". You only get that knowledge by working for a publisher, which she patently hasn't.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
By focusing on certain aspects of the publishing process and broadening the type of content accepted, we’ve formed an environment that is tailored to the growing and demanding electronic book industry. We’ve raised the author’s royalty rate, decreased Summerhouse’s expenses by requiring a high quality manuscript, subsequently leaving us able to focus more on distribution and marketing.
The fact that they're looking for high quality manuscripts means they're not a self-publishing venture. As for high quality manuscripts supposedly decreasing their expenses, I don't see how that works at all. The costs of preparing a manuscript for publication are the same regardless of whether the book is good or bad. Quality only goes to saleability and unless they're being open about how they propose to market your book (which, incidentally, true self publishers will not do as it's left to the author).
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
What’s your experience in publishing?
I have been an author since 2006 with over thirty works published. In addition, I’ve organized three multi-author series’: Dragon Kin and Big, Blooming & Wild with Changeling Press as well as Strange Hollow with Liquid Silver Books. Several of my books have sold over 1,000 copies including Battered Not Broken with almost 4,000 copies sold, all in electronic format. While sales isn’t necessarily a good gauge for my ability to run a business, I do feel it shows that I have the ability to effectively promote and produce results.
Actually sales figures here aren't the salient information here. What I'd want to know is how much was earnt from those sales figures as against the amount she spent to market and promote those books in order to get the sales in the first place. I'd also want to know how much time that all cost as well and whether that's a service being replicated for authors or whether authors are required to do that themselves.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
Have you ever run a company before in any capacity?
No. I am, however, an assistant controller with a large company and am responsible for multiple associates as well as managing a billion dollar property portfolio in regards to cash management, budgeting and financial statement preparation for both the properties as well as the parent company.
Financial experience is good but none of it equates to actually managing a company from staff to sales and everything inbetween.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
What’s your business plan?
Summerhouse Publishing aims to give readers a romantic vacation for their minds. We provide a middle-ground between self-publishers and other electronic presses without sacrificing quality. While there is strong competition in the electronic publishing market, specifically in romance, we believe our approach to be particularly attractive to authors who are leaning toward self-publishing but are daunted by the process or authors who wish to have a publishing house to stand behind and assist in broader distribution while providing quality editing and cover art.
Can Summerhouse Publishing guarantee explosive sales? Absolutely not.
Can we guarantee we’ll treat you professionally, fulfill our contracts to the letter and work diligently to get your book seen by the electronic masses? Absolutely.
This isn't a business plan. A business plan would involve looking at placement of the company for sales as against the competition, an indication of marketing/promotional strategy to raise awareness and increase sales, a forward looking indication of the amounts that the company's hoping to raise as against operational expenditure and so on and so forth.
This is a vague aspiration and promises that don't actually amount to much if they fail to deliver.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
Have you secured sufficient funding to get this business off the ground?
Yes, but a woman doesn’t deposit and tell.
I don't need to know exact figures, but I would want to know how money was raised, rough ball park figures for those funding levels and an indication of how long that funding is estimated to last.
It's easy to say "yes I've got funding" but giving that answer is meaningles unless you back it up with some meat.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
Do you have realistic goals (starting small, focusing on your strengths, adding new lines only after you get established, not taking on too many authors)
Our primary objective is to produce quality romantic fiction in various sub-genres. We’d prefer to remain small, releasing one book per week in an effort to 1) not over-extend ourselves and 2) provide all of the support we can to our authors.
So they're planning to launch 52 books a year. So much for starting small. A book a week makes me question how much commitment an author will get for marketing and promotion and if you end up having 52 different authors that's a hell of a lot of admin and management to keep accounts etc in order.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
Do you have your distributors lined up before you open up for submissions?
At this time we will be releasing via iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Sony, Kobo, Diesel eBook Store, Smashwords, All Romance eBooks and Bookstrand. Fictionwise is not currently accepting new publishers and cannot provide an ETA as to when they will reopen that arm of their business. We plan to enter eBookMall.com once we’ve reached their maximum number of titles required for bulk uploading. Books on Board is currently revamping their system and we will be engaging them as soon as the redesign is complete.
That seems to me to be a fairly good distribution list. Epublished posters here are better placed to comment.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
Who’re your editors?
We’ve hired Marisa Chenery, multi-published and bestselling author. She also works for both Lyrical Press and Liquid Silver Books within their editing departments. With her strong sales record and keen eye for detail, we believe that she’s an asset to Summerhouse Publishing and someone that will assist with finding what sells and polishing it until it shines.
Only point I'd make here is that one editor for a list of potentially 52 books at 1 book a week seems like a recipe for over-work. I'd query whether Marisa would be able to do it all on her own.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
How many authors do you expect to publish a year?
I anticipate keeping our author pool small in order to focus on each author’s needs as individuals. While we will not turn away a good story, we hope to assist authors in growing their careers with Summerhouse Publishing.
This doesn't seem to tie in with the aspiration of releasing a book a week. Either Summerhouse is going to focus on a small number of authors each with multi books or it's going to need lots of different books from lots of different authors.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
Who’s handling publicity for your company?
At this time both I and my assistant will handle promotions and publicity. We’ve developed a marketing plan that I believe will be successful, yet ever changing, with today’s shifting market.
I'd want to know what that plan is.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
Have you established a realistic time line to release ARCs to readers/reviewers/etc. before the book is ready to sell?
It is our intent to submit ARCs to review sites a minimum of three weeks prior to release date.
That's a tight time frame for someone to read the book and get a review in on full length novels. I'd rather see a minimum of 4 weeks (and preferably 6).
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
Do you intend to use your authors as an unpaid sales force?
Absolutely not. While we hope that authors will assist in the promotions process, we do not expect them to carry the burden of all of the marketing.
I'd be interested in knowing what authors are expected to do in assisting promotions.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
What can you tell people considering your publishing company regarding reliability of reaching you / the company in the longterm? You (your company) is moving into a position of being in control of authors’ work and I feel this is an important issue to be addressed.
At this juncture, the primaries in the company are my husband and I. While I will be the public face of Summerhouse Publishing, Craig will be the driving force. He’s working full-time as a Summerhouse Publishing employee and will mange day-to-day operations. I have the publishing experience, know romance markets and am plugged in via various contacts while he has over twenty years of retail managerial experience and excels at office and employee management.
While I am a piece of the puzzle, I am definitely not the only piece of the puzzle.
If Craig's doing all the operational stuff, what's his experience in publishing?
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
This might be the toughest (sorry) but do you (or your editor) plan on publishing your own work through SHP?
Our editor (Marisa Chenery) doesn’t have plans to submit at this time. However, I will be publishing works through Summerhouse Publishing. I will never promote or publish my own works in the place of a contracted authors, and all manuscripts will be treated equally, regardless of the author. I know this can be a slippery slope for some publishers and it is important to me that this is understood from the beginning.
Although it's laudable that they're being open, this would be a big issue for me. It's a conflict of interest when it comes to marketing and promotion because the temptation is always going to be to focus on your own books - especially when budgets and time are tight.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
We prefer not to receive multiple submissions and request that you do not submit simultaneously.
I always laugh when a publisher that doesn't pay advances tells me they don't want simulteaneous submissions.
Summerhouse Publishing Website:
1-400: 60% Net1
401-1,000: 65% Net1
1,001+: 70% Net1
Those rates look attractive but according to their pricing page, books will go from $1.99 to $6.99, which isn't a huge amount.
Summerhouse Publishing Contract:
Author will be responsible for registering the copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office, including payment of any fees and the costs of preparing printed and/or electronic documentation of the work as required by the U.S. Copyright office.
Nope. I'd want that to be the publisher's job.
Summerhouse Publishing Contract:
If the Work is sold as part of a “Buy One, Get One Free” or similar sale where this Work is chosen by the consumer or Publisher to be the free book, Author shall receive full royalties as if his/her book had been the one selected to be paid for in full.
Good for the author, but I'd question how this will work in practice. Also, it's a cost to the publisher, which makes their funding even more important.
Summerhouse Publishing Contract:
Contract shall be in force from the date it is signed by all parties until 365 days from the actual release date of the first released format covered in Section I.
This could cause the author problems if there are substantial delays between contract signature and the book's release.
Summerhouse Publishing Contract:
Author will be asked to produce proposed back blurb text and suggestions for cover art.
The publisher should be producing blurb text.
Personally, I admire the fact that they're being transparent but I'm not seeing enough experience there for me to want to submit a manuscript and personally, I'd see what the experiences are like 12 to 24 months from now.
MM
