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[Publisher] Melange Books (formerly Midnight Showcase / MS Fiction)

BonnieD

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Does anyone have any info on Midnight Showcase? They are an e-book and print publisher to which I recently submitted a story for an upcoming anthology. Thanks.
 

para

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Anyone have any recent experience with them?
 

michael_b

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Yes, and it was not good. They never paid on time. They issued statements with a certain amount showed as being owed and then paid less than the statement showed should have been paid. Payments, when they did come, took 6 months or more to arrive beyond their 'payment schedule'. Sales volume was non-existent. On two stories in two separate anthologies I earned out less than $15 in two years (consider the average flat fee would have earned me $50). Their editing 'house style' was nothing short of dreadful. There are also many negative reports regarding them at: http://hipiers.com/publishing.html

The quality of their print books when I was with them was so bad I was too embarrassed to show them to anyone, including most of my family.
 
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para

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Thanks. I know someone who recently published with them and I was curious.
 

Dafol

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[Publisher] Midnight Showcase

Does anyone know anything about Midnight Showcase? They have offered a contract but I am nervous about accepting until I have some feedback from authors who have had first hand experience with this publisher
 

allenparker

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I checked Amazon for their listings. I couldn't find one of their books with an ISBN number or with a ranking below 3 million. Their may have been some, but I couldn't find them.

If you put that up against my niche book and think about how hot their market is, it doesn't look good.

YMMV.
awp
 

michael_b

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I'm a former Midnight Showcase author. I wouldn't recommend them as they never pay on time--I still hear complaints about very late or non-existent royalties payments from their current authors.

See my earlier comment in this thread.
 
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veinglory

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According to their website they are closed, or become Melange Publishing (or some combination of these things)
 
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Prophetsnake

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I'd like to know as well. Are Melange brand new, or a warmed up offshoot of Midnight?
 

BarbaraSheridan

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What do I do now?


Did you sign the contract? If so, you can ask to be let out of it before they incur any expenses or assign an editor/cover artist. If they refuse, make the best of it and take it as a lesson learned.

If you did not sign. Tell them you've decided not to accept the contract as offered and wish to withdraw the book.
 

g2taylor

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I noticed on Amazon there are two Melange publishers. One is the LLC and one is not.
I published with the LLC at http://www.melange-books.com with a release date of January 28, 2013. The one drawback has to do with distribution that is done through LuLu.com. I really expected to see my book, The Kitchen Dance, on Amazon by now. Right now, it is only available on the MB website.
www.g2taylor.com
 

Authorlady22

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I recently signed with Melange (LLC) and so far everything's been on the up and up. I had the contract reviewed before signing and from what I understand it's a good one. My release date isn't until September of 2014, so I haven't had much in the way of interacting with them; but Nancy Schumacher (owner) has been very receptive to my questions and gets back to me with answers in a timely manner. I'm sure I'll come back to post more about them as things progress. Hopefully, they'll be positive.
 

dale hollin

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i recently had a novella accepted by them, to be released in July, 2014. as the above person said, my interactions with them so far have been great. after talking to a couple other writers who already have books released by them....they had pretty much all good things to say about them. they told me i'd pretty much have to do most of the marketing and promo myself, but i already expected that from a small publisher.
 

Aubrey Wynne

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I had a novelette accepted from them. It was published in an anthology and and as an ebook single. You won't get onto B&N shelves but they have POD. You are online at Amazon, Smashwords, and B&N. My royalties came on time.
I think they are really working to improve the marketing. They now have a blog with interviews for their authors and a mentoring system. You will have to promote on your own for decent sales but the editors and cover artists are easy to work with and want to help.
 

veinglory

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IMHO if you have to promote on your own for decent sales that rather gives an edge to other similar epublishers where this is not the case--and thus author promotions gild the lily rather than growing it.
 

dale hollin

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i absolutely LOVE the cover they had done for the novella. i still can't say much on how much they'll do on the marketing end yet. looking forward to finding out. but i have zero complaints so far.
 
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April Marie

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i recently had a novella accepted by them, to be released in July, 2014. as the above person said, my interactions with them so far have been great. after talking to a couple other writers who already have books released by them....they had pretty much all good things to say about them. they told me i'd pretty much have to do most of the marketing and promo myself, but i already expected that from a small publisher.

I would love to know how it is going and if you have any more information about Melange books.
 

dale hollin

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I would love to know how it is going and if you have any more information about Melange books.

well, it just got released a week or so ago. all i really know so far is that they gave it a beautiful cover, and that i was very happy with how the book was edited. admittedly, i'm not good at self-promotion and marketing, so i'm wondering if it will do better or worse in sales through Melange than my other book has through another publisher. i'll have to wait and see on that, though. here's the amazon link, so you can check out their finished product, though. i really like the artist they assigned to the project. it wasn't some "stock" piece of art, either. i talked to the artist herself. she created the cover specifically attuned to my novella....http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KMIUZBY