Ashlynnmonroe:
New authors like me start with small presses and honest reliable publishers like WHP are hard to find.
That's one way of doing it. New authors can, however, also go down the route of trying to get a decent agent who can then submit their manuscript to commercial publishers who pay an up front advance for manuscripts.
Ashlynnmonroe:
Writers who are disrespectful of small presses and their authors surprise me. I try to support my fellow author’s by blogging about them, giving them encouragement, and buying only indie books. I use my facebook page to spread the word about other indie authors.
Okay firstly, where has anyone here been "disrespectful" of Wild Horse Press's authors? Because reading this thread, I don't see that anyone has.
Secondly, it is not being "disrespectful" of a publisher to point out where they are potentially disadvantageous to authors. That's what this site is for - to help authors make an informed decision.
Wild Horse Press is a publisher that's taking electronic and print rights, even though it appears to lack any in-store distribution for print books (the clue there is in the fact that the site only describes them as being available from websites). Why is this bad for authors? Because people do most of their book buying in stores - even people who eventually go and buy a book on Amazon are more likely to have seen it in a store first. However even if Wild Horse wanted to get books into stores (which, from its FAQ, it seems ambivalent about), it appears to be a POD operation which means they're not going to print enough to offer the discounts that stores need. In fact, Wild Horse's website says that the publisher doesn't even keep copies of its own books - stores/libraries wanting them for booksignings are told to buy them from Amazon or Ingrams. That's not the way most stores/libraries operate.
The royalty rate of 10% on print books is ridiculously low given that the publisher has not paid an advance. In practice, people will know about an author's books because the author has told them about it - why should an author therefore only get 10% of the benefit of their labour (and I notice that it's not stated on the Wild Horse website whether their royalties are paid on cover price or net).
Wild Horse doesn't seem to talk about doing any marketing beyond submitting to reviewers. That isn't enough. In fact, Wild Horse's website talks about how it's the author's responsibility to promote and market - it is not. Their advice to authors on how to promote their book is generic, involves the author spending a lot of time, energy and effort that the publisher should be doing and (without proper distribution in place) won't result in large sales.
Ashlynnmonroe:
Small presses are nothing to fear.
But not all small presses are equal and honestly, I don't see what Wild Horse gives an author that an author couldn't do for themselves using Lulu or another self-publishing company (and in respect of which, you'd get to keep more of the money from your labour).
Ashlynnmonroe:
I love seeing the success of other authors; sadly, I’m finding out that I’m a minority.
I find that offensive.
No one here hates seeing other authors be successful or want authors to fail. What we don't want to see is authors throwing their hard work away for pennies when there are other options out there for them to make more from their work.
If you're one of those authors who isn't bothered about making money from their writing, then that's fine. It's a personal decision. But please don't accuse others of wanting to see people fail just because they're raising points about your publisher that you'd rather not consider.
MM
