Hey, guys! I can fill you in on whatever you need to know about 48fourteen!
My pen name is C.K. Brooke, and I've been an author with 48fourteen Publishing since April 2014. I currently have 4 novels under contract with them, 3 of which they've published. Their website has recently undergone a major makeover (as of summer 2015) and they now publish paperback versions of their eBooks. I encourage you to check out the changes:
www.48fourteen.com.
Personally, I've had a very good experience with the company. They're a small, independent, royalty-paying publisher based out of TX. Their contracts are for 4 years, with the agreement that your book will be on the market within 12 months of signing the contract. If for whatever reason you should want out of the contract, all you have to do is provide 30 days written notice, and the manuscript will return to you in the state in which it was originally submitted.
They have some exceptional freelance editors they work with; I happened to be lucky and get the very best, Denise DeSio, for all four of my 48fourteen novels. Her editing has totally revolutionized my writing and been an invaluable asset to me. The company's books undergo as many rounds of professional editing as needed. The publisher also works with talented graphic designers that know their market, such as Amanda Matthews (
http://AMDesignStudios.net) and Lyndsay Johnson, which is why 48fourteen books' cover art is so gorgeous (IMO). The publisher formats the interiors of their print & eBooks with individually and artistically designed headers and chapter titles, etc. You can "Look Inside" one of their books on Amazon (such as one of mine, The Red Pearl) and see the TLC they put into the unique design. The paperbacks are printed on heavy cream stock paper, giving them an overall aesthetically pleasing, professional look & feel on par with anything else you would pull off a bookstore shelf.
As for eBooks, they are all present in the Kindle market and some of their titles have been Amazon bestsellers in their categories (see Checked, Fire of the Sea, Born in Flames, etc.). Someone mentioned Mobi - Mobi *is* the Kindle eBook format. ePub is for NOOK and there's another kind of ePub for iBooks, I believe. 48fourteen sells their eBooks on Kindle, NOOK, iTunes, and Kobo. You can also purchase PDF eBooks from their website. The print books are not in physical bookstores, but they can be purchased online from B&N and BAM's websites, and most other major book retailers' sites, including Amazon, of course.
As for the social interaction/communication part you were discussing, what I think they mean is that their authors are expected to actively market and interact with readers via social media, like Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, etc. If you check out their Facebook page (
http://Facebook.com/48fourteen), or that of one of their authors (I'm at
http://Facebook.com/CK.Brooke, for example), you'll see we actively market by connecting with our followers, holding lots of contests and fun giveaways, playing around and posting pictures pertinent to our books, and just reaching out to people and having a good time online in general. For a lot of indie authors, this is a way to build your author platform, by "selling your personality" first (in essence), and thus you build a loyalty and connection between yourself & new potential readers. The company just wants their authors to be authentic and active in the reading community - not just publish a book and let the listing sit dormant on Amazon. In a perfect world, having a great book and being a great writer would be all it takes to sell your work, but in truth, even if you have a great product, most of us have to market it over a long period of time to be successful.
And 48fourteen wants their authors to market their work first & foremost by being themselves and reaching out.
They don't have a huge marketing budget so authors do some marketing on their own. I paid for my own blog tour, bookmarks, Facebook & Goodreads ads, etc. (They do design attractive bookmarks and Facebook banners, etc. for you if you ask.) They do not give you a release date until maybe one or two weeks out (which can make advance marketing/booking tours or reviews, etc. a little difficult).
Overall, they are personable, ethical, and easy to work with. They're wonderful especially if you're brand new to publishing and a little scared...they're patient and will hold your hand through every step of the publication process. They invest an amazing amount of effort in the production, appearance and content of each of their publications. And they won't choose a cover you aren't happy with. They seem to be attracted to original, genre-bending stories, especially chick-lit, YA and fantasy sub-genres, like dystopia, folklore, mythology, knights & castles, paranormal romance, vampires... They like meaningful romance but not cookie-cutters, and don't expect them to publish anything with a bare-chested man gripping a semi-dressed woman in a compromising pose on the cover, LOL. (Too bad for me, as my next stream of novels are genre romances of this ilk and so I might have to shop those around.) Most of their authors are outgoing and the writing carries a degree of humor, whether outright playfulness and sarcasm, or that subtle, nod-and-wink J.K. Rowling style. The humor is one of the common threads I've noticed, having read several of their novels.
Alright, I hope any of this has been helpful and if anyone has questions, I'm happy to answer them! Have a great weekend.