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Beaver's Pond Press

JournoWriter

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Due diligence is exactly what's being done here. If I can determine from your website that you're not a company I'd submit to, that's as much work as I need to do.

Some serious questions have been raised here about your company. If you refuse to address them, that's your call. But people aren't going to stop talking and asking questions.
 
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Marian Perera

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We understand that one must have some experience with a company, its clients, or its products in order to publicly review it, and we are standing by, honored to assist.

All the experience I need comes from reading your website. If that does not accurately represent your company, perhaps you need to do some work on it.
 
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shelleyo

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I'm not sure our presence here is a good or a bad thing, as the bulk of our business is local and comes via word-of-mouth.

It's a good thing for writers. It's about letting writers know whether a publisher/agent/service is probably worth their time. Respectfully, it's not about you or what's good or bad for your company. If you look at the threads in the forum, you'll see some that offer warnings and others that confirm a press as legitimate and/or good to work with.
 

kaitie

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On another side-note, I think more openness to publishing insignificant results would go a long way.

On the other hand, media would probably interpret absence of evidence as evidence of absence.



It's a bit dismaying to be getting attention from folks who've never worked with us or read our books. It's like owning a corner sandwich shop here in Minnesota, and getting reviews from people around the world who've never tried our food, but have simply seen our website. It's nice to get the attention, but we're not sure why we're getting it. I don't believe we advertised to anyone here, made promises, or asked for your business, because that’s not our model. And unless, Waylander, you hop across THE pond, you needn't fear being invited to jump into our pond. ;)

But I do wish you and all writers here the best of luck finding and reaching your readers.

Actually, that's not at all an appropriate metaphor. Authors work with publishers from all over the world all the time. My agent is in New York, and I've never met or seen him. I've submitted to small publishers that are nowhere near me, and I've never met those in charge.

When an author is choosing to submit, a website is often all we have to go on (aside from the books we see in stores). Obviously looking at a restaurant website would in no way compare to eating their food, but for an author, the website should contain all relevant information, and we must make responsible choices based on the information given. That includes whether or not the publisher charges or not, what royalty rates are, what contracts look like, and (perhaps most importantly) the experience of the people working at the company and the distribution.

If the information on your site is lacking, we are going to recommend here that authors avoid it. If the information is non-standard, or in any way negative for the author (for instance, charging for anything, or nonstandard royalty rates), then that information is well within our rights to mention. The standard rule here is that an author shouldn't have to pay to be published, so if you charge for publishing and are a vanity press, and will not be recommended to authors as very few authors will ever make back the money they have paid to be published.

Now, you will no doubt have plenty of people who are willing to pay you, either because they don't want to put all the effort into self-publishing on their own (which is tough and can be expensive in its own right), or because they believe the myths, or because they just want to take a chance and try something new, or whatever reason. It's not like this thread is going to dissuade any of those people. However, this site is for professionals, and the first rule of being a professional is that you get paid for your work, and not the other way around.
 
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jodymabry

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I'm a writer in the Minneapolis area and have worked with multiple publishers, including Beaver's Pond. First, you need to distinguish the difference between publishers like Beaver's Pond and, let's say, Createspace or Lulu.com. You do pay to publish your book through Beaver's Pond...not a surprise this far down in the thread. But, the positive you will have with BPP is that they do encourage you to come to their office in Edina. One reason this is important is you have the ability to meet and speak with your team. If you are a new writer and have an idealistic idea of how you would be treated by a traditional publisher once/if you get to walk through their doors, that is what you will find at Beaver's Pond.

They will be honest with you in regards to the quality of your book, they read your book and individualize a cost summary, and they are in constant contact with you throughout the process. Every step you go through with a traditional publisher you will go through with BPP. The cover artists, editors, proof readers, are the same as you will find at a traditional publisher.

As a writer you need to do your diligence in choosing a publisher, whether traditional or independent. There are positives and negatives to both. Traditional can give you much more exposure due to their name with limited flexibility in decisions such as cover, layout, and sometimes the writing itself. Independent offers much less in regards to exposure and marketing, but you have the final say on every aspect of your book. Traditional offers a much lower royalty, and contrary to what many think advances aren't typically in the millions. Independent publishers charge you their cost and publishing cost, while the rest is yours. Both will require that you market your own book.

I have worked with Beaver's Pond on three of my clients books and I've been impressed from day one. If you're not entirely sure about them, look at their list of award winners. They have a ton of National and Regional book awards.

While I think it is sad that they have been put on this thread, I have to say that hopefully they are getting some positive exposure out of this. You should hardly "Beware" when someone is forthright with you from the beginning.
 

mrsmig

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While I think it is sad that they have been put on this thread, I have to say that hopefully they are getting some positive exposure out of this. You should hardly "Beware" when someone is forthright with you from the beginning.

Look at the title of this thread again. It's Bewares, Recommendations & Background Checks. There are many good companies out there, and probably triple the amount of unscrupulous, uninformed or just plain misguided companies, too. This thread is for the purpose of examining any and all of them. Have a look at the greyed-out companies in the Index for this section. Those are publishers that failed, and in many cases took their authors books down with them.

As you said, due diligence is necessary when choosing a publisher, an agent, or publishing services. This sub-forum has been an invaluable part of that due diligence for me. I'm glad you've had a good experience with Beaver's Pond, and that you can add your recommendation to this thread. For many hopeful authors, though, paying to have their book published is neither feasible nor desirable.
 
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Round Two

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As a writer you need to do your diligence in choosing a publisher, whether traditional or independent.

Since when is "independent" an antonym of "traditional" when talking about publishers?
 

Thedrellum

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Traditional offers a much lower royalty, and contrary to what many think advances aren't typically in the millions. Independent publishers charge you their cost and publishing cost, while the rest is yours. Both will require that you market your own book.

First, I don't know ANYONE who thinks advances are typically in the millions. Anyone. Anyone at all.

Second, trade publishers don't require you to market your own book. The job of selling the book is on them, and your job is to write the book. This isn't to say that you can't be involved, or they don't encourage you, just that it is not a requirement.
 
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CaoPaux

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To sharpen a couple points: marketing is the publisher's job. Period and full stop. The author might be involved in promotion, but that's a different issue. And a publisher which doesn't knows the difference -- or demands the author do either -- isn't one you want to work with.
 
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paulcosca

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If you have to pay, you might as well just get the book printed yourself through Createspace and cut out the middle man. If no one is promoting your book besides you, you might as well save some dough.
 
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