The Wild Rose Press / Wildflowers Books

[akaa1a]

Nothing for P&E
Goggled for complaints...none
They do E and print


Does anyone have an opinion on this publisher?

 

[James D. Macdonald]

URL?

Have you personally ever read any of their books? Have you ever seen one in a bookstore?

 

[veinglory]

White Rose the sweet imprint of Wild Rose? They do some print (over 55k, as I recall) but I have yet to see them stocked in my local chain stores.

 

[akaa1a]

Right, it's the Inspirational romance imprint for them. I will start looking in bookstores for them.

Thanks

 

[CaoPaux]

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

 

[Khazarkhum]

In the most recent RWR, there's an interview with Rhonda Penders, one of the owners of Wild Rose Press. In the article, she talks about self-promotion and she states that:

The big thing is no matter what promotion your publishing house might do, it's entirely up to the author to sell her book. No one cares about your book as much as you do.

Is it just me, or is that eerily similar to the PA line about promotion?

 

[MissLadyRae]

Rhonda said once in an interview that they're working toward stocking their books in stores in the near future but they aren't quite there yet. I have a book coming out in the Faery Rose imprint so I can't really comment on the White Rose section but the editors and proofreaders I've worked with are very lovely and definitely know their stuff. Marketing sends your work out to romance reviewers and keeps you abreast of promotional opportunities via their groups.

TWRP is definitely small press so they can't really afford the big marketing dollars of the larger presses to do major marketing campaigns. I think that's what Rhonda meant in the above interview.

I'm happy with my pub experience there and would definitely submit more of my shorter works in the future.

Hope that helps!

 

[Khazarkhum]

In the article she says they have 60 full-time staff & 300 writers. That sounds a whole lot bigger than a micropress.

When I think 'micropress' I think of someplace with fewer than 10 people handling it.

 

[Jennifer Robins]

I have been offered a contract and had to do some revisions which I have. Looking foward to working with them.

Jennifer Robins
www.jenniferrobins.com

 

[priceless1]

In the article she says they have 60 full-time staff & 300 writers.

I don't know anything about this publisher, but I'm amazed they can pay 60 people if they don't have distribution. How do they sustain themselves?

 

[edgyllama]

Probably from this:

There are, however, optional buy-ins for advanced marketing.

Wonder what you get for that?

 

[priceless1]

Probably from this:

There are, however, optional buy-ins for advanced marketing.

Wonder what you get for that?

I'm probably missing something here, but it's vital to know what that the optional buy-in for "advanced marketing" encompasses. Unless they're talking about cooperative advertising, I wonder why they don't do this advanced marketing as a matter of normal practice.

All I know is that A + B has got to equal C. By their own admission, they aren't in the stores. Considering they don't have distribution, it's illogical to believe that "advanced marketing" would make a large enough impact on sales in order to employ 60 employees. Like I said, I've possibly missed something.

 

[Khazarkhum]

I'm probably missing something here, but it's vital to know what that the optional buy-in for "advanced marketing" encompasses. Unless they're talking about cooperative advertising, I wonder why they don't do this advanced marketing as a matter of normal practice.

All I know is that A + B has got to equal C. By their own admission, they aren't in the stores. Considering they don't have distribution, it's illogical to believe that "advanced marketing" would make a large enough impact on sales in order to employ 60 employees. Like I said, I've possibly missed something.

I'm still trying to figure out how a micropress/ebook publisher manages to pay 60 people in the first place.

If they're paid minimum wage, which is currently $7.15 in New York, that's $14,500/year. Multiply that by 60, you get $870,000. And that's the minimum. No benefits, no overhead. Just wages.

Now, if they allow most of the editors/staff to telecommute, that cuts down the need for a physical plant. But there's still servers & sites to maintain, plus whatever the print runs cost.

So a conservative estimate would be $1 million/year just to run it.

 

[veinglory]

They do list about 60 staff. However, I suspect mainly part time or on royalty payments. 60 full time would be almsot impossible to believe based on the earning potential of 300 ebook authors.

 

[Khazarkhum]

No, their article states 60 full-time.

 

[veinglory]

Yes, the article does indeed state it. But even with sales figures rather higher than this press seems to have, there is no way they are paying 60 full time wages. I would guess a mis-quote. Either than or someone is choosing to invest at least 10x more into the company than it yields in profits and I think Wild Rose are far too professional to do that.

 

[Khazarkhum]

I agree it doesn't make sense.

I hope they last. My sister has a book that would be great for one of their lines. Now I just have to convince her it's worthwhile. She's a real overachiever, and had the agents jumped for her the way she expected them to, she would be in heaven. They didn't, and she's been down on publishing ever since.

I've heard so many good things about Wild Rose, but then there's these oddities. I don't know what to think about them anymore.

 

[Stacia Kane]

I've heard so many good things about Wild Rose, but then there's these oddities. I don't know what to think about them anymore.

Personally? I think there are other ebook publishers that have been in business for much longer that your sister could submit to. Just my opinion.

 

[Susan Gable]

I think some of their editors are paid royalties on the books they edit. So, no sales, no pay. Few sales, little pay.

This comes from a discussion I had with someone who used to edit for them. Not sure if she still does after the discussion we had regarding how she got paid.




Susan G.

 

[Khazarkhum]

I think some of their editors are paid royalties on the books they edit. So, no sales, no pay. Few sales, little pay.

This comes from a discussion I had with someone who used to edit for them. Not sure if she still does after the discussion we had regarding how she got paid.

How does that work? The author gets royalties, but the editor, too? What about the publisher? How do they get their cut?

Is this a typical arrangement for the epubs/micros?

 

[veinglory]

The publisher takes its share. Then the author gets there share.

Some small presses pay editors, copy editors and cover artists this way too. I consider it a bad idea. For a start why should an editor for a book in a sub-genre that sells well be paid more than one for a book in a genre that sells less well? They didn't choose the genre, the author did. Also it can be a stealth way to pay very low wages. But basically these salaries are 'costs'. A legit publisher should have the money to pay them, up front.

Just my opinion, natch.

 

[Khazarkhum]

The publisher takes its share. Then the author gets there share.

That's how I thought it worked.

Some small presses pay editors, copy editors and cover artists this way too. I consider it a bad idea. For a start why should an editor for a book in a sub-genre that sells well be paid more than one for a book in a genre that sells less well? They didn't choose the genre, the author did. Also it can be a stealth way to pay very low wages. But basically these salaries are 'costs'. A legit publisher should have the money to pay them, up front.

How do they do this without running afoul of the IRS, among many others? Consider them as 'Independent contractors' ? Uncle Sam starts getting mighty interested in how those people are paying SSI et al.

 

[veinglory]

Ouch, wrong their/there.

There is nothing to stop them paying piecework to anyone who accepts those terms as far as I know. I do wonder how it works re: minimum wage legislation.

 

[Popeyesays]

Ouch, wrong their/there.

There is nothing to stop them paying piecework to anyone who accepts those terms as far as I know. I do wonder how it works re: minimum wage legislation.

It works because these folks are NOT employees under the law, they are independent contractors.

Regards,
Scott

 

[Khazarkhum]

How do they call them staff? Are they edited by the company or by an individual? I can see how having them as independents could make for inconsistencies.