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Trestle Press

emaxwell

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"I am new here, and wonder if it is common for commenters to hide their real names when discussing small press credentials."

I don't have an issue with people not using their real names. I was just inquiring as to the custom on this site.
 

LindaJeanne

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But while I'm at it, what is meant by OP?
Depending on context, it can either mean "Original Post" (i.e. the first post in the thread) or "Original Poster" (i.e. the person that posted the first post in the thread).
 

amergina

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Their logo looked really familiar to me. Google Images agrees . I *think* they've got it free from LogoSnap which, given that it's used on the covers of the books is...odd. A visual identity is an important part of a business. You can get a stock logo for a couple of hundred dollars.

I wouldn't condemn them for it, I'd just advise them that it's a false economy.

I'm interested to see how this pans out.

Am I the only one annoyed by the fact that their logo shows a suspension bridge and not a trestle bridge?
 

emaxwell

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I read through their web site last evening.

The number of novels and novellas and short stories they released all at the same time is concerning. Do they really have that many editors who can review, provide feedback, get the revisions back and release that many simultaneous books? Or do they get a quick run through the spell checker and out the door? Heck, my friend, who's a professional freelance editor took several days to edit a short story for me (albeit he worked it in around his paying jobs).

Their FAQs raised more questions with me than they answered.

Thanks, Richard. You summed up many of my concerns.
 

JulieB

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"I am new here, and wonder if it is common for commenters to hide their real names when discussing small press credentials."

I don't have an issue with people not using their real names. I was just inquiring as to the custom on this site.

Most of us who don't post using our real names can be found via links in sig lines or our profiles. Some of us are known by those names on other fora, and it makes sense to use the same usernames. (Click the link to my blog below to find out more about me. I'm not hiding.)
 

jeseymour

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I did get a response to my concerns, and have been assured that I will receive a complete list of sales to date after the first of the year. And payment. I'm okay with that.
 

SJM001

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I found this discussion (and this forum) after googling Trestle Press. I don't have anything to do with them directly, but through friends know a number of writers who have either published with, or been approached by, this outfit. I've had misgivings about their operation for months.

Much of what they put out is, frankly, not of publishable quality — and I've been given the impression that they barely seem to read what they publish, never mind edit or proofread it. Their e-books are riddled with errors, sometimes before you get to the writing itself. By way of example, one of their recent releases, Harry Charters Chronicles, has its first typo before you even reach the copyright notices — the title page says Harry Charter's Chronicles — and that's leaving aside the fact that on their website it was publicised as Harry Chambers Chronicles. I've seen at least two of their other titles with typos on the front cover. If your publisher can't even get the name of your book right, surely that has to be cause for concern?

Their cover designs for the most part seem to be low-resolution images downloaded from the internet, with some horrendous font and a Trestle Press logo pasted over it. I have serious doubts about whether any of their cover "art" has copyright clearance — a quick glance through some of their covers reveals images lifted from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, promotional art from the Hitman computer game series, art from Japanese anime series etc.

I agree with emaxwell's conclusion that Trestle Press gives every impression of being a one-man outfit run by Giovanni Gelati. He becomes very vague when asked about who else works for the company (e.g. editors): http://www.examiner.com/books-in-ch...he-world-one-digital-short-download-at-a-time

Their current release schedule seems to run to around 10-15 titles a week — as an editor myself I can tell you that represents a considerable amount of time editing and proofreading ... assuming those things actually happened. Gelati talks a lot about "quality", but that's not something that seems evident from their publications.

I noticed a few months back that Giovanni Gelati had given EVERY Trestle Press title a glowing five star review on Amazon, none of which mentioned his connection with the publishing "company". Some might argue that that's part of the modern marketing game, but I strongly feel that no respectable publisher would ever leave such misleading reviews on their own publications. The Amazon reviews have since been taken down (presumably for breaching the site's review policy) but his reviews on Trestle Press publications remain on Goodreads and, I believe, Shelfari.

I've been advised by others who have worked with Trestle Press that there is no formal contract in place. It surely goes without saying that a "contract" that takes the form of an email that isn't signed by either party isn't a contract at all, and I can't understand why any author would enter into what is (at its heart) a financial agreement without a signed, legally binding contract.

If MysteryRiter is indeed 14 years old, you also have to question the integrity of an outfit that would enter into a financial agreement with a minor, without full consideration of the legal implications of such an action.

With regard to LillyPu's question about publishing individual short stories — yes, this seems to be the main thrust of Trestle Press's self-proclaimed "digital publishing revolution". And you just need to look at the number of one- and two-star reviews on their Amish Knitting Circle titles to see how well it's gone down. Many readers obviously feel duped as they thought they were buying a book, but in fact were buying a 10-15 page instalment (labelled as a "volume"):

jeseymour, I do hope you receive your royalty payments when due, but it will be interesting to see if Gelati's accounting practices are on a par with his questionable editing and cover design skills.

Overall, my impression of Trestle Press is increasingly that they largely seem to publish writers who respectable publishers (large or small, traditional or ebook) wouldn't touch — at least not without heavy editing. I'm not so sure about "one step above self-publishing" ... personally I see them as "one step above vanity publishing". They're taking a percentage of writers' royalties with, it seems, very little input to justify such a deduction.

I have to stress that this is all pretty much hearsay and personal opinion — I haven't dealt with them directly but do know people who have. I'm not saying Trestle Press is fraudulent or a scam ... but to me they do seem to be a singularly shoddy, sloppy outfit and I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.
 

kelliewallace

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Ive just been offered a contract with Trestle. But Rogue Phoenix Press has offered me one too but i havent agreed to either yet. After reading this thread I'm thinking Rogue is the way to go.
 

Richard White

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Ive just been offered a contract with Trestle. But Rogue Phoenix Press has offered me one too but i havent agreed to either yet. After reading this thread I'm thinking Rogue is the way to go.

Have you ever read a book put out by either publisher?

What made you decide to pitch to them and not other publishers?

What makes Rogue Phoenix a better choice for you? Do their books sell better than Trestle Books? Is their editing better? Do they advertise better.

If not than why is either place the place you want to publish your work?
 

LindaJeanne

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NicoleJLeBoeuf

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This is the part of emaxwell's story that struck me as the first red flag:

In fact, they contacted me on Twitter and asked me to submit my traditional mystery.

Did Gelati just contact you out of the blue, or was his tweet in response to your having queried Trestle Press?

(It is very, very rare for legitimate publishers to initiate contact with writers they've never worked with before.)
 

jeseymour

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Got my spreadsheet today. I should have been paid in October for some of the sales, but had only sold 11 copies at that point. As of today, I've sold 73 copies of the 3 short stories. Payment has been promised. Take what you will from this, I don't know if anyone else has been paid. Just reporting my experiences.
 

SJM001

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Thanks for the update. I know my position on Trestle Press has already been made pretty clear, but for me the key phrase in your post is "I should have been paid in October"...
 

jeseymour

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Thanks for the update. I know my position on Trestle Press has already been made pretty clear, but for me the key phrase in your post is "I should have been paid in October"...

Yeah, but, I had only sold 11 copies at that point. I would actually prefer to get a larger amount all at once. My regular publisher also works this way. If I sell only 1 copy during a quarter, they don't send me a check, they just let it build up.
 

SJM001

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Yeah, but, I had only sold 11 copies at that point. I would actually prefer to get a larger amount all at once. My regular publisher also works this way. If I sell only 1 copy during a quarter, they don't send me a check, they just let it build up.

Fair enough if you're happy with that ... but this is exactly the kind of detail that should be stated explicitly in the publisher/author contract. No published author should be left wondering if and when they will receive their royalty payments.

The more I learn about Trestle Press the more of an issue I have with their claim that "the authors once onboard enjoy all the “normal” things a “legacy” publisher does". Like, for example, an advance? A legally sound contract? Professional editing and proofreading? Professional cover design? Regular sales statements and timely payment of any royalties when due?
 

thebloodfiend

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Their logo looked really familiar to me. Google Images agrees . I *think* they've got it free from LogoSnap which, given that it's used on the covers of the books is...odd. A visual identity is an important part of a business. You can get a stock logo for a couple of hundred dollars.

You can commission a deviantart artist for even less. Hell, a lot of them will do it for free if you link to their page in your footer.

I don't ever comment in this section, but I l do a lot of lurking.

I know nothing, and I repeat, nothing, about Trestle Press, or any other short fiction/small presses. I have no intention to ever publish with one.


That being said, I do have an eye for graphic design. I've studied it independently for several years. I do web design, even if I suck at code. I've never done it professionally.

I know that everyone can't afford a graphic designer or web designer. A decent one, that is. They're expensive. But when you are a company, trying to solicit readers, and you have to resort to contacting authors, your appearance should be the first thing you care about.

AbsoluteWrite isn't exactly the most stylish site out there, but it doesn't look like it was put up yesterday.

My first instinct, when I look at their site, is to leave. They've still got the blogger favicon up. Their header isn't centered. They haven't bothered to put up a footer. They've still got blogger's bar across the top of their site. Their sidebars are cluttered and disorganized, making it hard for me to follow their train of social media.

All of that can be fixed inside of blogger. It doesn't require outside assistance.

How you present your company is very important to me. I use duotrope when I submit to magazines. I don't submit to anything below a semi-pro, unless their website impresses me.

If it doesn't look better than something I could do, I won't even bother. It's called marketing. A lot of small presses have very unappealing sites. Their designers don't understand the rule of three, or anything about contrasting colors. And it makes me very suspicious.

Blogger is one of the easiest blogging tools to use. Albeit, not as easy as tumblr, but much easier than wordpress. I would not use it as the base for my company.

Sorry for the rant, but I just can't stand bad design. For me, it's akin to showing up for writing conference without taking a shower. You don't care about the way you present yourself in public, or don't care enough to find out how you should present yourself in public.

Everyone doesn't have a million dollar budget, I know. But it doesn't take a lot. Looking at the big five, they don't have complicated websites. S&S has a design that's very similar to one of the free templates on wordpress. Penguin's is simpler. Hachette's is even simpler than theirs.

Notice that all of those sites have clean, web 2.0 designs. They use white, which indicates simplicity, trust, and honesty. They use at most three other complimentary colors, like dark pastel blue, or olive green, or light orange. Their columns are all aligned. Their link bars are organized. Their featured bars are simple, either flash or java, and most of them can be implemented for free.

Anyway, that's all. This post wasn't to pick on Trestle. I have nothing against them. I just wish more small presses tried to emulate the big five's website designs, rather than going for the Publish America look.

ETA:

@priceless1: You have an attractive website. Easy to follow and very professional. No clutter. I like it. Kudos to MBC design. If you don't mind me asking, how long did it take to design that, and what was the price range?
 
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thebloodfiend

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thebloodfiend — your comments are uncannily similar to something John Dishon said about Trestle's site and book covers on Crimespace: http://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/the-rebirth-of-the-short-story?x=1&id=537324%3ATopic%3A321832&page=1#comments

I've never heard of him.

As for their book covers, well, I don't do book cover layout. I do typography. I do posters. I do portfolios and presentation templates. I do 3d typography. This is my dA pages from a few years ago. I haven't uploaded work in a year. I've since improved. I do know what I'm talking about.

I used to do photomanips and darkroom photography, but I got bored learning on my own so I'm taking time off until a class starts up in the spring. Those elements are involved in making book covers, I suppose. I mean, I am an art studio minor.

I'd have to agree with John on that cover. It's rather... um... unappealing. I don't know how Trestle distributes their books or what they pay, so I don't know if they're a good choice. But from how they present themselves, and their authors, they wouldn't even be on my list to submit to.

That cover is sloppy. Very sloppy. You would do better downloading free vector art off of sxc.hu or asking a dA artist to do it for you.

It almost makes me want to start a few tutorials for small presses and self-pubbers on how to make their work look professional.


ETA: Covers are like commercials. Good commercials stick with you and influence your decision on a subconscious level. When I'm in a bookstore, they're a huge factor in deciding whether or not I'll pick up your book. Online, visuals are even more important. People like me don't have the attention span to read your blurb first. We go straight for the cover. I suppose that's why I'm being so anal about this. I'm the type of person who simply won't click on a book on Amazon if the cover is poorly designed. And that's not just limited to self-pubbers and small presses. The big five have bad covers as well.

It's just more prevalent with the little guys because they don't have suscriptions to istock or jupiterimages. They can't afford to pay thousands of dollars for a hotshot artist like Nik Ainley or Chris Spooner. I understand. But that's no excuse for putting something so unappealing out there. It tells me that you don't care for your work (even if the opposite may be true).

And the author protests were almost kind of amusing in that they reminded me of this poster. It makes me understand why some houses don't let authors have a say so in their covers.
 
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SJM001

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I'm the type of person who simply won't click on a book on Amazon if the cover was poorly designed.

You're not the only one. Of course a cover is no indication of the quality of writing you'll find inside the book ... but it is a very good indication of how much care/effort/money the publisher has been willing to invest in the product. If they've cut corners on cover design (or their website design), you can be pretty sure that their efforts will be lacking in other areas too.
 

thebloodfiend

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You're not the only one. Of course a cover is no indication of the quality of writing you'll find inside the book ... but it is a very good indication of how much care/effort/money the publisher has been willing to invest in the product. If they've cut corners on cover design (or their website design), you can be pretty sure that their efforts will be lacking in other areas too.

I hadn't thought about that, but it's also something to take into consideration. If they can't do better than comic sans, metallic text, and a pixelated image (that I couldn't make out until I showed it to my sister), how much effort are they putting into editing, copy editing, and marketing?
 

thebloodfiend

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And I kinda want to leave this alone, but this image is looking awfully familiar to Jim Clark Dawe's avatar. I mean, c'mon now. Using memes in your covers? I don't really want to see trollface or clean all the things or creeper's gonna creep on the cover of my book.