Ginger Top Publishers

rebeccalloyd · May 22, 2012

I would hate to have done a wrong thing to a perfectly straightforward new publishing company if Ginger Top Publishers really were that.
Has anyone else come across them? They were advertised through Firstwriter this morning and their website is so suspicious that I emailed them and asked them if they were a vanity publisher or some modern equivalent of the same thing and got a couple of short and very evasive answers back. So finally, I asked if the writer, at any stage, gives money to the publisher, the answer, again in as few words as the could be used to say it in, was 'no.' But something isn't feeling right.

http://gingertoppublishers.webs.com/

Undercover · May 22, 2012

It's really too early to tell, but it seems like it's set up as a self-publisher.

Terie · May 22, 2012

Gosh, you could play red-flag bingo on this one.

Red flag #1: Freebie website. Suggests the operation isn't backed by sufficient capital to pay for one of the least expensive things.

Red flag #2: No names on the About Us page, so no way for writers to vet the principals' qualifications. Successful start-up publishers provide this information, since the publisher will have no track record.

Red flag #3:The site is geared towards writers, not readers. Successful publishers focus on readers.

Red flag #4: They take all genres of fiction. Successful start-ups narrow their focus to just a few genres then expand as their operation grows (if, yanno, it does -- sadly, most fail within two years).

I'm sure there must be more, but those are the ones I saw at a glance.

James D. Macdonald · May 22, 2012

We read every novel that comes our way no matter how long it takes!

This tells me that it was set up by someone who couldn't sell his/her work to commercial publishers.

No, chum, your work wasn't rejected because no one read it. Your work was rejected because someone did.

The phone numbers on the contact-us page are in Great Britain.

Momento Mori · May 22, 2012

As a general point, it doesn't look as though Ginger Top Publishing is acting through a limited company (if it was, then the company registration information should be on the website - failure to do so is a criminal offence). There's a good chance that means that it's an individual operating as a sole trader. From an author's point of view, sole traders are bad news because it's a lot easier for them to stop trading without you knowing about it, thus taking your rights with them. I'm not saying that Ginger Top Publishing is set up to do so and I would say that there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that they will, but as an author it would concern me.

MM

Spanishdreamer · Jul 15, 2012

Ginger Top Publishing

Just gone onto GingerTop Publishing website/page and they say due to some 'personal downfalls' they are no longer trading. and gave apologies for inconvenience. They didn't last long, did they?

Eriador117 · Jul 15, 2012

No, they didn't, did they? I was just reading an ad for them in a writing magazine this week, LOL!

Take care,
Annette

Ginger Top Publishers

rebeccalloyd

Undercover

I got it covered

Terie

Writer is as Writer does

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

Momento Mori

Tired and Disillusioned

Spanishdreamer

Eriador117

Hobbit Botherer