World Audience Publishers

[larocca]

I've got a friend who's talking to them. Does anybody here have any experiences with them, good or bad? http://worldaudience.org/ is their site. Thanks!

Michael

 

[CaoPaux]

No experience, but it looks to be an established arthouse publisher. Best of luck to your friend.

 

[larocca]

Thanks, Cao. That's the impression I get of them too, and I see they've signed up Maggie Ball, so I recommended that my friend give them a try and hope for the best.

Best regards,
Michael

 

[Mayusan]

World Audience Publishers...

Has anyone heard of them, and if yes can you give me more information? My agent wants to talk to me about them. I guess they're a self-publishing company... I don't know much else about them since I've never heard of them.

 

[Unimportant]

Mayusan, are you talking about this company?
http://www.worldaudience.org/

If so, there's a thread on them here: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68410

 

[Eirin]

From their About page:

As for royalties, most publishers offer 10% or less to their authors; but rarely more than about 12%. World Audience, Inc. far, far exceeds that amount.

They don't actually say how many % they do pay, though.

If a writer's book is the correct fit for us, the writer enters into a partnership with us. He or she stands to gain financially and joins the World Audience.

"Partnership" is not a word you want to hear from your publisher. It usually means "pay up".


From their Submission Guidelines:

We plan on paying writers and artists for their work we publish, in a profit-sharing arrangement; however, we have not yet accumulated sufficient resources to do that.

It's not commercial publishing.

My agent wants to talk to me about them. I guess they're a self-publishing company...

Your agent wants you to talk to a co-op publisher? Is this for an off-beat project of yours?

 

[James D. Macdonald]

Who's your agent?

 

[Mayusan]

My book is in the pet-care genre. at the risk of sounded less than modest...It's really good, and I already have a long list of people interested in purchasing the book... as well as a pet store and book store who would feature it since I am a local author.

It's a very unique book, compared to other similar books on the market. I've done months of research and have not found a book as extensive as mine when it comes to this theme.

My agent is doing all he can to get it published, he's tried every well known publishing company that deal with pet genre books.

Unfortunately, we've been getting pretty much these replies...

"This is a great idea, I truly enjoyed reading the chapters you supplied, however... with the economy being what it is, and the market being what it is, we'll have to pass at this time."

There were 2 times the contact for the publishing company loved the book and wanted to work with it, but when they brought it to the bosses, the bosses said the same thing... "Good idea, however, in this market is it worth the risk?"`

The concern is the economy, how the genre is currently selling, and the fact that I'm a new, unknown author.

I emailed my agent Sunday with an idea to make the book more marketable. I've been working on a training book for several years, and I thought maybe if I added special bonus training chapters at the end of the book, for example, my chapter on potty training made easy, or if I should just scrap the initial book he's working with and just move on to the training book which could be more marketable since so many still turn to training books when they buy new puppies. He emailed me back...

"I appreciate your energy, but the book's theme is still what it is, and I would be disingenuous to tell you otherwise. I have two suggestions. FIst, think long and hard on whether you could write a training book that would be unique (and remember how important a platform is so it has to be really unique), and second, think about self-publishing themes book. I deal more and more in that area and some of my authors have had great success "

I didn't really know much about self-publishing except to avoid it... so I asked how much it would cost me, and what the process would be. He replied:

We can have a conversation about this since there are so many options, but I have negotiated a very good contract with a company (check them at http://www.worldaudience.org/) that seems to be doing a very nice job."

he plans on talking to me about it tomorrow, however, I was just trying to look for more information on them.

I'd like to get published, however, If we're talking about a lot of out of pocket money to do so, I'm just going to drop the book.

 

[Mayusan]

(also, thanks for sending me to the right thread.)

 

[Richard White]

Why would an agent be pushing you toward a self-publishing option? How do they collect their commission from that?

But more importantly, WHY would an agent negotiate a contract WITH a self-publishing company?

Mayusan, I really wish you'd post the name of your agent.

Something about this stinks to high heaven.

 

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

and second, think about self-publishing themes book. I deal more and more in that area and some of my authors have had great success

There's something very icky about this. Where is he making his money if not from commissions on sales to publishing houses? I smell kickbacks - recommend clients to a vanity or self-pub in exchange for money.

 

[Mayusan]

My agent is Neil Salkind of Salkind Agency - a division of studio B.

 

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69551

Dunno, I always get leery about agents who are also writers. Maybe non-fiction is different, but if he's steering clients towards a self-pub or something I'd still be leery about continuing with them.

 

[Mayusan]

I disagree on one aspect... he's worked really hard with big and small publishers to get this book published, unfortunately, in this economy, no one is picking the book up despite interest, due to concern on how this particular genre is selling with the economy being the way it is, Pet genre books are hard sells unless you're doing a pet training book, a marley and me book, or unless you're Ceaser Milan.

I think he's exhausted all avenues except this. So I don't know. I was just hoping to get more information on World audience before my conversation with my agent tomorrow, so I know a little about it before the meeting so I can make a truly informed decision based on what he tells me.

 

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

Well yeah I could understand that if it were just this instance, but if he's referred many clients to self-pub services I start to wonder about how capable he is as an agent. Sure, even agents could probably have a miss once in a blue moon. An agent who 'deals more and more' with self-pub places makes me wonder how well he's managing with commercial pubs.

 

[DreamWeaver]

...no one is picking the book up despite interest, due to concern on how this particular genre is selling with the economy being the way it is...

Have you considered holding the book for a year or two until the economy improves? If it's that good, it may sell to a commercial house then, and you'll be way ahead of self-publishing. It doesn't seem like a subject that will be outmoded in a year or two, like, say, a book on how to operate Vista <G>.

 

[Donna Pudick]

I can't imagine an agent dealing with a self-publishing press. There's somthin' funny goin' on.

 

[priceless1]

None of the agents I have worked with would EVER advocate this idea. In fact, I had this same conversation with an agent of one of my authors, and her reply was, "are you kidding? I would never, never, never, try to sell them to a POD or vanity because it's not good for my author. If they were determined to go this route, I'd have to dump them."

I asked if she would help negotiate their contract with a POD or vanity. Her answer was, "Absolutely not. If they want to take that option, they have to do it without me. I won't rep anyone who wants to do this."

 

[Eirin]

Perhaps these last posts should be moved to the Salkind Agency thread? It's worrisome when what otherwise looks like an up and up agency does something weird like this.

I don't buy the "current economic climate" excuse for sending someone to a pay-to-play house. It may be harder, but books are still bought and published by commercial houses. Besides, if a trade house don't feel they can sell your book, there's absolutely no reason to think you'd have better luck on your own. Quite the opposite, in fact.

 

[Marian Perera]

I don't buy the "current economic climate" excuse for sending someone to a pay-to-play house. It may be harder, but books are still bought and published by commercial houses. Besides, if a trade house don't feel they can sell your book, there's absolutely no reason to think you'd have better luck on your own. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Agreed. I had a manuscript which an agent tried to place in the big commercial houses, though that didn't work out. I sent it to a small press instead. There are options besides self-publishing.

 

[Mayusan]

You know, I regret even bringing it up.

Neil has been doing everything he can to get the book published because he really believes in it.

I know he's sending queries to reputable publishers... most of them I have heard of when looking up other books in the same pet genre to find out who the publishers of those books were. (I went through books at Barnes and Nobles and Petsmart to look at the publisher's name.)

I've read the responses these publishing companies have sent back as he forwards the replies directly to me whether it's by mail or by email. In fact, some of them have directly sent me their replies since my address is on the proposal.

It's not from his lack of trying to get this published, and it IS the economy they are blaming in their rejections (Perhaps it's not true, maybe they are just concerned about the marketability of the book and are trying to be nice... but it's the reason they give.)

He is not going to a vanity press that is requiring you to pay $1000 for 1000 copies of the book...

He offered the idea, if I CHOOSE (not steering me in the direction, just giving me the option), of world audience if all else falls through.

he submitted more queries to reputable publishers today... but he's holding this as an option because I've been getting antsy.

basically it sounds like World audience is not too different from a small publishing co. the only difference is, you don't pay them to publish the book, and they don't pay you to publish the book, they get a certain keep from the sales, and you get a larger percentage from the sales to make up the difference. (if I understand how he explained it properly)

World Audience does not publish any book that comes to them, he has seen many books get rejected, they also don't require me to pay them to publish my book. Like I mentioned before, most self-publishing companies normally require you to pay $1000 up front for a few books they dump on your doorstep and let you go.

World Audience doesn't make you pay, and they dont' just dump the books on your doorstep and tell you 'get on with it'. If they like the book, they will publish it and help get it out there for sale. They keep a percentage of initial sales, then factoring in his commission, I am left with a certain percentage from each sale... (He's negotiated one contract to give the author 40%.) And while you do a lot of the promotional stuff yourself, they don't leave you on your own. They do help get the book into bookstores, on their website and on amazon.com. (If I understood him properly)

he said he does NOT use this as one of his standard publishing queries, however, when the sell is tough, and the author impatient, he thought he'd mention the option. He's had a few clients go this way who have been very happy with the outcome. They got their book out there, and were later picked up by bigger publishing firms.

I know how hard Neil has been working, I've seen evidence of what he is doing, and he continues to do all he can... he gave me this as an option... I just wanted more information on world audience publishing, not to turn this into a crucify the Salkind Agency question.

He just gave me an option to think about and I wanted more information before going into the conversation with him this morning.

 

[BenPanced]

Then ask yourself the time-tested question: can you walk into a brick-and-mortar bookstore and find World Audience books on their shelves?

 

[Mayusan]

I called a barnes and Nobles about 3 titles... two are in stock and one is orderable. (Update: I searched for about 7 titles on Barnes and Nobles online and found they carried 6 of the 7 titles...)

I also called a local bookstore in the town I live (which is a very small town few have even heard of) about one of the titles, and they have that title in stock. (update: I just got back from said book store and found one of the two other titles I was using to research) for a small town like this to even have one of these books in stock, I'm surprised.

I called Borders, they have one of the three titles I asked about, the others they said I may find online, but I was unable to. They carried fewer of the titles from world audience than Barnes and Noble online, and the local bookstore had in store.

Like I said, he's not saying this is our only option. He is trying with other publishers in the mean time, he left it open to me as an idea since he has had a few clients in the past who have had a good experience with world audience. While it's not the best deal in the world, it doesn't seem they ask you to pay in order to get published, and they do give a good percentage deal for the authors compared to other publishers to make up the difference for not paying you.

 

[CaoPaux]

Site went down in '14, but is still publishing new editions of older works.

ETA: URL currently redirecting to their base site: https://sites.google.com/site/worldaudiencepublishers/

Resumed publishing new stuff in '17.