*1/27/2013 UPDATE*
Current Immortal Ink Publishing Titles (as of 1/27/2013):
*UPDATE* The Forever Girl - Now to also be published in the German language by a imprint of Harlequin! (and even bigger news soon to come!) No edits were required! Way to go IIP team for doing such a great job on the editing! The Forever Girl was also voted one of Suspense Magazine's Best Books of 2012!
*UPDATE* Mirrors of Anguish is now bestselling it's genre!
Her Sweetest Downfall -- Best Selling!
The Portrait of Alatiel Salazar -- Best Selling!
Infernal Machines -- Over 50 copies sold on release day alone! Best Selling!
After the Fear -- Over 100 copies sold on release day alone! Best Selling!
To date, every IIP title has made a kindle bestseller list on their release day! We are working on amping up our marketing to help some of our authors who are too busy to contribute to marketing, but so far all of our authors get paid every month, many of them very well! Very excited about the 2013 line up as well. Congrats, authors, keep up the great work!
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*waves*
Current Immortal Ink Publishing Titles (as of 6/4/2012):
*The Forever Girl, by Rebecca Hamilton: over 5000 copies sold in 4 months. Bestselling for Amazon Kindle in US, UK, Germany, France, and Spain! Rebecca signed with TZLA!*
*Four in the Morning, by Christi Goddard: over 200 copies sold in the first two weeks!*
*Mirrors of Anguish, by RP Kraul: over 50 copies sold in the first week!*
FAQ Page for Immortal Ink:
http://www.immortalinkpublishing.com/faq.php
Newly Signed Authors:
Steven Katriel
Will Millar
*More to be announced soon!*
We also added a new team member this week. She has a degree in Creative Writing and will be assisting our marketing department and heading up our PR in the future.
Hi! I am the author! And, as I don't want to deceive in any way, I'm a co-founder of the publishing house as well. I'm one of the acquiring editors.
I'm in the top 1% for editing on elance.com, but we have other editors we work with as well. Around the same time I decided to self-publish, several books I'd previously edited were getting publishing contracts. My partner and I had the idea that maybe we could also help support other authors with our knowledge.
At Immortal Ink Publishing, we support indie authors (even if we can't financially support or publish all of them). We don't just publish our own books, though. We also publish submitted books that really grab our attention.
Because we're so small but want to do so much for the people we do publish, we will be keeping our list small. This isn't because we think many of the books we pass on don't deserve to be published; it's because we can only afford to publish a certain number of books, because we are investing and want to invest more into each author than most small publishers do. We pay for a professional book covers, we pay for marketing (and put a lot of time into marketing), and we pay for professional editing (beyond what services we offer ourselves).
Authors can do many things for themselves, and those authors won't need us. Our authors, however, are the people who don't want to invest the money or spend time marketing when they could be writing their next book. It's up to those who submit to determine whether what we offer is what they are looking for. I trust authors will be able to decide for themselves what publishing options would be best for them personally.
For those interested, we have another book coming out in May. I'm excited about this book (and this author!) and expect her sales to exceed my own. She's extremely talented. We got lucky.
For those who are reserving their feelings about us until they see how we do, THANK YOU. It's always wonderful to meet people who are willing to wait and see, rather than those who aim to be detractors from the get-go. That said, I do understand skepticism.
For LillyPu—None of my sales (that I know of) came from Authonomy. I'm not exactly popular over there (more like I was ran off the boards. There were even points where people were making fun of my Autistic son). It was so bad, that for a long time I feared Authonomy finding out my book was published. I waited until I had many sales and reviews before even mentioning it on Authonomy, out of fear that those who hate me there would send a flurry of one-star ratings on my book. I did reveal the publication of my book eventually, though, and I'm glad to learn I underestimated the community. So far, there haven't been any reviews on my book based on anyone's personal feelings about me, from Authonomy or otherwise. Most of my sales came through pre-release sign ups (which I gained through sample Sunday) and through reviews on book blogs (from STRANGERS). The only family that has read my book is my dad, my sister and law, and my uncle is reading it now. None of them have left a review (and it's not because I didn't ask them to, but I guess they forgot and didn't want to nag them so I won't be reminding them).
As for editors, Angela Zoltners is Deirdre Knight's editor. Leslie Holman-Anderson is on staff at Twilight Times Publishing. Lynette Labelle is a freelance editor who hosts workshops at writing conferences (that is how I met her). I also spent some time mentoring with Sol Stein and Toby Stein (Sol's sister), and I learned a lot from them in that time that I have since been able to pass on to others authors I have worked with. One of those authors' books was just released by Wild Rose Publishing. Another landed an agent and currently has several of the major publishers in a bidding war over her book. Another was getting no "bites" through querying; after I edited her opening fifty pages, she immediately began receiving full requests and winning contests on agent blogs.
As for literary fiction, I'm an avid reader of the genre, but I do have my tastes. I am not part of the camp that feels literary fiction needs to be slow-paced and heavy-handed. Take for example "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime." It's a quick read, and the writing-style is brilliant in its simplicity. You may not agree with my assessment of such novels, but the reality is that the lit-fic community is divided in regards to what makes literary fiction "literary". I know where I stand and respect if you feel differently.
I think the thing to remember is that no one is obligated to submit to us. If you think we "have it all wrong" or that my book is only doing well because of a community full of people that either a) hate me or b) feel indifferent toward me, then do not submit to us. Submit to the publishers you believe in! I think that is important. It's one of the reasons I started my own small publishing house. I simply couldn't find a small publisher that was "just right" for me, though many are lovely and simply perfect for others.
Some people may reserve their opinions while others may make up their minds before they have anything factual to base it on; that is up to the person, and I would never criticize either approach.
I would, however, ask that it be kept in mind that we're not trying to poach authors from all over the web. We aren't telling every writer we meet that we want to publish them. We aren't having anyone pay us to publish their books (quite the opposite lol). We aren't letting authors do all the work while we take a cut of their money—if they wanted that, they could self publish. We aren't publishing every book that crosses our desk and then throwing those books against the wall to see what sticks. We have a lot of respect for authors of all publishing paths, but we're selecting the authors we personally feel we are the best fit for. Those authors will receive a tremendous amount of attention and support; you will not see any lack-luster efforts from us. We will work for our share of the royalties.
While we might not be right for everyone, we aren't scam artists (of which there are too many). Instead, to those authors who make a good fit with us, we are another publishing option (of which there are too few). And beyond that, we also BUY, READ, REVIEW (and sometimes promote) other indie authors. We don't make any money doing this. We just do it because want readers to learn about great reads out there that they might not have heard about otherwise.
Any questions, feel free to send to
[email protected]. Thanks for your time, and thank you (again) to those who have approached our publishing company with an open mind. Feel free to sit back and watch from the sidelines before making a decision about us. We absolutely don't mind and completely understand.