JustFiction! Edition / Lambert Academic Publishing / Verlag Dr. Müller

I find it very troublesome that the JustFiction Edition! website looks and feels very real. It's a professionally designed website, and they have a large list of distributors all around the world. Who, upon closer investigation, are no real distributors at all. They list Amazon, which is a retailer and Ingram and Baker & Taylor, who are wholesalers. They also list Lightning Source as a distributor, who is a printer. I don't know about the distributors in the other countries if they're real or not, but that says enough for me. Unfortunately, for people who are new to the publishing industry and have neither heard of either of those, it looks like JustFiction has a lot of distributors in place.

Then again, when looking at their covers, you can see that they definitely didn't bother to hire a cover artist. Their covers are so generic I wonder what program they even used to make them. Slap a picture of a dog, scene, whatever on it, and use the same title font everywhere. In some cases, the background picture looks okay, but is then completely ruined by the blue and white background of the title. Hopefully their sloppy covers will put off some authors to submit their manuscript to them.

Also, their submission guidelines say that you have to submit a manuscript of at least 46 pages, and they'll get back to you within two weeks. Two weeks? That's a little fast. I wonder if they even read through all the submissions they get, or just send them an acceptance email.

[Publisher] Just Fiction

Got an email from this German company that looks like it's getting on the e-publishing band-wagon. They say there's no charge to the writer and give the impression that they review manuscripts. ... Still...? Sounds like the same-old, same-old.

Their url is: https://www.justfiction-edition.com

Does anyone here know anything about them ... or better, have any experience with them.

Thanks for any info.

Just Fiction Edition????

Has anyone had any experience with this German based outfit ... or heard anything about them. They are offering free worldwide publication with 3000 online stores, saying they make their money from "interest" [royalties?].

Heard about them via an email which referenced estory I have online. Url: www.justfiction-edition.com

thanks for any input.

They are a mill, they do not edit, or typeset.

I'd avoid 'em. This was linked earlier, but it pays to repeat the link:

http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2009/09/victoria-strauss-vdm-verlag-dr-mueller.html

Just Fiction!

I recently received an email from a representative for a company called Just Fiction! Edition www.justfiction-edition.com

I've never heard of them and I do not recall sending them a manuscript so that raised some red flags. Anyone heard of these guys? Here's what this person wrote to me if that helps:

Some time ago I contacted you, offering you the possibility of making your work available as printed book and e-book at no cost for you. JustFiction! Edition books are distributed by global wholesalers worldwide.
Since I did not hear back from you, I am now wondering if you received my email. I would appreciate if you could confirm your interest in our publishing house and I will be glad to provide you with detailed information about our services.
I am looking forward to receiving a positive response from you.
Thank you!
Kind regards
Acquisition Editor
JustFiction! Edition is a trademark of:
AV Akademikerverlag GmbH & Co. KG
Heinrich-Böcking-Str. 6-8,
66121, Saarbrücken, Germany
www.justfiction-edition.com
Handelsregister Amtsgericht Saarbrücken HRA 10356
Identification Number (Verkehrsnummer): 13955
Partner with unlimited liability: VDM Management GmbH
Handelsregister Amtsgericht Saarbrücken HRB 18918
Managing directors: Thorsten Ohm (CEO), Dr. Wolfgang Philipp Müller, Esther von Krosigk

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Well they won't edit your work so unless you're a really really good editor, you'll have to hire one, unless you want your book to look sloppy. (You in general, not you directly.)

There's already a thread on this operation, here: <snipped>

Not a lot of information in it, but hopefully what you need. I'm sure a mod will be along shortly to merge.

Well, my long post about JF!E seems to have vanished into thin air but most of the points I made have been covered by other people. One thing I came across in the 'News' section of the JF!E site made my blood boil:

Ben Markus’ books under Media’s spotlights

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“A cancer ‘lifeline’ and two successful novels in one year”
“… Greta the novel was snapped up by a German publishing company and is now available and selling well at all major booksellers online…” (Bedford Today 27.07.12)

Our prominent author and musician, Ben Markus, has proven to be very successful with his two novels. Being increasingly sought by the media, he was recently one of Bernie Keith’s guests on BBC Radio Northampton, he also participated in the Meridian FM radio show and was interviewed by Derby Radio. Bedford Today also highlights Ben Markus’ strength and success in several articles.
His first novel “Greta”, based on a true wartime story, has captured Hollywood Producers’ interest. The film-script of the first scenes of “Greta” the movie is ready! We keep fingers crossed that the movie will soon be in theaters.
“New Jersey Exile”, the 2nd book of Ben Markus, is an autobiography featuring his career as a pro guitarist, a fireman, a father and, foremost, his fight against cancer.
The success of Ben Markus’ books contributed to his nomination for the Pride of Bedford & Luton award, which will take place on the 29th of November 2012 in the Bedford Corn Exchange.


Cancer will not stop Ben Markus’ literary ambitions

“… out of the blue I had an email from a German publisher who had read about the book on the internet … I sent them the manuscript and within seven days they said they liked it and wanted to publish it.” (http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/local/bedford)

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Mr Markus' book Greta is unedited (as is obvious from Amazon's 'Look Inside' feature), has 154 pages and costs £12. Its Amazon ranking of 1,146,222 makes me doubtful of the claim that it's selling well online in general, and JF!E's e-book royalties are below average. I hope Mr Markus won't be too disappointed when his royalties are due in January.

As for the claim that Hollywood producers are interested in Greta, I'm afraid it sounds like something PA would dream up.

The JF!E site does look professional enough to fool a newbie but on closer inspection it's very, very odd. The 'Rights' section tells us nothing at all about rights but merely warns against plagiarism, specifically the type of plagiarism associated with academic texts - obviously a carry-over from the 'let us publish your thesis!' arm of the scam:

Adopting large portions of text such as passages, figures, tables, etc. from other works is strictly prohibited for copyright reasons. This also applies to any text appendices.
https://www.justfiction-edition.com/site/rights/36

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Potential authors hoping that the 'Commitment' page might tell them more about how JF!E intends to market their book will be disappointed:

Being an imprint of AV Akademikerverlag GmbH & Co. KG, JustFiction! Edition is an associate member of the American Booksellers Association, the Booksellers Association in the UK and a member of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, the German booksellers association and also a member of PEN Zentrum Deutschland.
We are thus involved in promoting the interests of our authors in the most important associations of the bookselling industry.
https://www.justfiction-edition.com/site/commitment/17

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Well, that was enlightening.

Apparently JF!E does employ editors:

If you are ready to make your short story, novel or fiction work known worldwide, get in touch with our editorial team who will guide you through the whole publishing process!

After reviewing your work, we will inform you whether we would like to move ahead with publication and of any suggested corrections, should there be any.

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And yet:

JustFiction! Edition offers talented, aspiring authors a chance to get published and perhaps start their journey to international recognition – for free. This unfortunately means that we have to keep our costs as low as possible, that is why we do not perform proofreading, as it would not be financeable – the author is responsible for the content-related and linguistic quality of the work.
https://www.justfiction-edition.com/site/service/30

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Editing but no proofreading? That makes perfect sense!

JF!E's Catalogue makes for a heartbreaking read. It's abundantly clear that English isn't the first language of many writers (students in Africa and Asia are a prime target for Lambert Verlag). Does JF!E even bother to read submissions? Here are a few cover blurbs from the company's unedited, overpriced books:

A vampire lived through a life time of pain and loss, lives alone in the mystery castle. It's in the middle of the French Revolution, and he get's a run away.

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Cancer is a symbolic story written in a very intriguing manner. Peace, a 22 year old boy, is missioned in a letter from her deceased mother to deliver a highly sensitive message...

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How would you feel to know that you're a part of something bigger than what you have hopelessly imagined? An escape route out of all your mundane and repetitious daily events that you could never have guessed-in a million years-about its existence suddenly greets you in the most unexpected of manner?...You may start turning the pages now, my friends. And see if there is a place in here for you as well, heheheh!

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...I logged in to my system and started scraping my thoughts. One thought to another, when I realised that why am I dilapidating my experiences of life that could guide someone, somewhere around the globe.

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JF!E's 'editors' obviously weren't concentrating when these little errors slipped through the net. And can they really be asking the equivalent of $77.88/£48.33 for a 228-page novel?
https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/incognito/isbn/978-3-8454-4804-6

The fact that JF!E's stock image covers make everything look like a textbook doesn't really matter; after all, none of these doomed volumes will ever be seen in a bookshop and the only people likely to buy them are the authors' friends and relatives. Having said that, I have to wonder what the author of Like Father Like Son - "a story of Kimelil a great Nandi leader and a fearless warrior before the advent of the White man" - felt when he saw the cover of his book (https://www.justfiction-edition.com...b/book/978-3-8454-4764-3/like-father-like-son).

The only way an author mill like JF!E can stay in business is by reeling in new victims and selling books back to the old ones, every one of whom is no doubt convinced that he or she is a Published Author just waiting to be discovered.

One of the latest releases from the LAP Lambert academic author mill is - wait for it - Lease Financing; Hindrarnces to Adoption By Business Enterprisses. Yes, that's what it says on the actual book jacket. It has 72 pages and can be yours for the equivalent of £39/$62.

The LAP Lambert catalogue has 6518 pages of grossly overpriced, unedited books by students and academics who didn't do their homework about how real publishing works.

aliceshortcake said:

JF!E's Catalogue makes for a heartbreaking read. It's abundantly clear that English isn't the first language of many writers (students in Africa and Asia are a prime target for Lambert Verlag). Does JF!E even bother to read submissions? Here are a few cover blurbs from the company's unedited, overpriced books:

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I'm a Norwegian, so I understand some of the challenges with translating, and I'm used to seeing it translations every day (-every English TV program is subtitled in Norwegian). It looks to me like all these examples are the results of using Google translate, or a similar program. I have used Google translate to go from Norwegian to English, when tweeting an interesting article to my English speaking followers, and you end up with something very similar to these examples.
You mention students in Asia ,and Africa, being the writers of many of JF!E's books, and it looks like the books are written in whatever they native language is, and have never seen a human translator. -Not something you'd want to see from a serious publisher.

All your books are belong to us.

Weirdmage said:

I'm a Norwegian, so I understand some of the challenges with translating, and I'm used to seeing it translations every day (-every English TV program is subtitled in Norwegian). It looks to me like all these examples are the results of using Google translate, or a similar program. I have used Google translate to go from Norwegian to English, when tweeting an interesting article to my English speaking followers, and you end up with something very similar to these examples.
You mention students in Asia ,and Africa, being the writers of many of JF!E's books, and it looks like the books are written in whatever they native language is, and have never seen a human translator. -Not something you'd want to see from a serious publisher.

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I suppose it's possible, but don't forget that large parts of the Indian sub-continent and Africa were once part of the British Empire. Many people from these countries speak English with a competence ranging from perfect fluency to a few basic phrases. Most of the LAP Lambert books by Asian and African authors are written in good but not perfect English, a defect any editor could have sorted out. Of course, LAP Lambert doesn't provide editing.

JF!E is another matter - I get the impression that the examples I quoted in my earlier post are by ESL writers with a mistaken confidence in their ability to write in English.

Going back to LAP Lambert, there's an hilarious blog post here about the company's use of stock photos to portray members of their staff:
http://journalology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/lambert-academic-publishing-or-how-not.html

I recently sent JF!E the first 46 pages of an obscure 1940s novel with large chunks of text copied and pasted at random. Within four days they'd expressed an interest in publishing it and asked me for the rest of the ms! They also sent me their contract which I've passed on to Victoria Strauss.

Bloggingbooks

Haven't been able to find much about this anywhere, but received an email from them this morning about an offer from an "Acquition [sic] Editor" to "publish my blog in book form." Seems to be a German-based site/company. Offers free publication of your blog. Seems like a typical vanity press, but it doesn't look like they're asking for payment from what I can see. Not something I'll be utilizing because it seems shady (see aforementioned typo, and they didn't refer to me by name ["Dear Madam"] and mentioned no specifics about my blog, which tells me they're just fishing).

They are visible at bloggingbooks (dot) net or bloggingbooks (dot) de.

Aha... I thought the layout of that website looked familiar. Bloggingbooks is yet another offshoot of Lambert Academic Publishing/JustFiction! Edition. The company was notorious for publishing Wikipedia articles in book form, so I suppose it's only logical that they should attempt to publish blogs.

Perhaps one of the lovely mods would care to merge this thread with the existing one about these predators: <snipped>

Their list of 'distributors' is hilarious - it includes bookshops, online retailers and printers!

Yeesh. Yet another tentacle of this company. I'm off to blog.

- Victoria

ETA: Here it is.

My God, that was quick. I barely had time to ensure that my arms and legs were safely within the thread before Victoria waved her magic wand.

Received two emails from them in the last month. Came to check the board and sure enough....

Here's my info so that it hopefully comes up on google or other search venues. Hope that is okay to share.

Some time ago I offered you the possibility of making your academic paper about ******* (Title of my thesis), original short fiction available as printed book. Since I did not hear back from you, I am now wondering if you received my first email.

I would appreciate if you could confirm your interest in our publishing house and I will be glad to provide you with detailed information about our services.

I am looking forward to receiving a positive response from you.

Best Regards,

Laura Dean
Acquisition Editor

LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing is a trademark of:
OmniScriptum GmbH & Co. KG

Heinrich-Böcking-Str. 6-8,
66121, Saarbrücken, Germany

l.dean (at) lap-publishing. com / www. lap-publishing. com

Handelsregister Amtsgericht Saarbrücken HRA 10356
Identification Number (Verkehrsnummer): 13955
Partner with unlimited liability: VDM Management GmbH
Handelsregister Amtsgericht Saarbrücken HRB 18918
Managing director: Thorsten Ohm (CEO)

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Don't touch Just Fiction Edition! They will publish your book but it will look like crap with the terrible cover. I know, I did it. I wish there was some way I could withdraw it and publish it elsewhere. But, what is done is done.

They are very difficult to contact and are notorious for not giving useful information. They provide just enough of the truth to claim they are not a scam. But in my books they lead the pack. I regret I ever decided to 'give them a try.' If you are thinking about it...don't!

I have work that needs to be done to the book which was published a couple of years ago and it is almost impossible to get any useful assistance from them. And when you do, it comes with a price. Never, never again will I send my material to a publisher (traditional or self-publish) without checking with the "Water Cooler" first.

They're still at it (or JF!E is anyway). Got this email today:

I am D**** F******** of the editorial team of JustFiction Publishing, a publishing house specializing in publishing novels, fiction, poetry and short stories of all genres from new, aspiring and experienced authors.

I am contacting you with the view of a potential collaboration, where you will be able to publish and print your work in the form of a book and benefit from:

-free of charge publication
-worldwide sales of your book(s)
-simple and quick publishing process with swift responses to your questions
-eco-friendly, print-on-demand technology

We operate in a relaxed yet professional and efficient way and would be delighted if you want to work with us! If you could indicate your interest with a response it would be greatly appreciated!

Would you like to receive a detailed brochure about our services?

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This was at the bottom:

Just Fiction! Edition
is in cooperation with:
MoreBooks! Marketing SRL
Balti, 4 Industriala street, Moldova, Europe

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Got an email from these sneaky sneaks today.

Dear Mrs. Sarah-Jane Lehoux,I am Ion Artin from JustFiction Edition. We are an international publishing company, specialized in publishing novels, fiction and short stories of all genres. In this context, would you be interested to publish one of your fiction writings? Our worldwide distribution network as well as the free publication services are great tools for sharing your creative works.What do you think? Would you agree to receive more information?I am looking forward to your reply.

Sincere regards,
Ion Artin
Acquisition Editor

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I don't know how anyone could fall for this, but obviously they are fooling enough authors to keep their scam going.

Got another one.

One week ago I sent you an email regarding the publication of your fiction works in book format. May I ask if you took your time to analyze our offer?

An eventual collaboration implies:
~ free of charge publication
~ worldwide distribution of your book through a wide network of international bookstores as Amazon, Morebooks, Hachette
~ 12% royalty commission
~ dedicated assistance throughout the entire publication process
~ copyright retention and possibility to republish the work
~ free e-copy of the book

For more details about our publishing house, feel free to access our website and Facebook page.Thank you!

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