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[YADS] Swoon Reads

JulianaHaygert

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I don’t really have an opinion of them myself, but I know of 3 authors who are in my immediate author-circle, so to speak, who submitted to them, were selected (yes, after the 6 months thing), and are now on the 2nd or 3rd book published with them. And as far as I know, they have no regrets.
 

writera

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It's an okay deal IF you're selected, but only if. Otherwise, they're asking writers to throw away 6 months on an exclusivity when they could have been shopping it around to other places. So probably this one is ideal for writers who have already heavily shopped a manuscript around but failed to find a buyer, someone who has a spare manuscript they're not interested in shopping around for whatever reason elsewhere for 6 months, or someone who just really wants to be published specifically by Swoon Reads.
 
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writera

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I browsed their site and came across the full guidelines when submitting, which I've pasted below in full.

I'm still curious, though, if they can really enforce this exclusivity? There's no exchange of payment, no signed legal contract (other than the terms pasted below that you agree to on their website - can this constitute a contract?), etc. So let's say someone uploaded a book on their site, then sent it out to all and sundry and got an offer elsewhere? Or had already sent it out to everyone but got not bites, assumed there was no interest, uploaded it to Swoon then suddenly got an offer from an ancient submission they assumed was long past? Or some other circumstance occurred (suddenly signed with an agent, a friend submitted their manuscript to a publisher, etc. ec.)? Either way, let's say they get an offer somewhere else, what happens then? Would Swoon try to enforce this exclusivity? Would they refuse to take it down? Could they actually block the author taking the other offer? Surely not?

I don't know, but I'm fascinated by that possible conundrum. Anyone have any ideas?

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SWOON READS
Manuscript Submission Rules and Guidelines
Effective Date: November 3, 2015
(Please read carefully as terms have changed)

Submission of Your Manuscript
The following rules and guidelines apply to submission of Manuscripts through SWOON READS. They set forth details of the submission process, the rights we will have with respect to your submission, and certain obligations you undertake in connection with your submission. PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY AND THOROUGHLY. These rules and guidelines are IN ADDITION TO, and not in lieu of, the Terms of Use you must agree to in order to become a registered user of the site. If you do not agree to these rules and guidelines, you MAY NOT submit a manuscript to SWOON READS. If you have questions or need further clarification after reading the rules and guidelines, you may contact us at [email protected].

All Manuscripts submitted: a) must be original works of book length (no less than 45,000 words) written in the English language; b) must be written solely by the registered user submitting the work; c) must not violate any right of any third party or be libelous; d) MUST NEVER HAVE BEEN AVAILABLE FOR SALE AND MUST NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR SALE DURING THE 6 MONTH EXCLUSIVITY PERIOD ON SWOON READS; e) must not be under consideration for sale by any third party (e.g. publisher, retailer, website) during the exclusive period and f) must follow these rules and guidelines.
Employees, and members of their immediate families living in the same household, of SWOON READS (or a parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of either of them) are not eligible to submit Manuscripts.
BY SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT, YOU ARE GRANTING SWOON READS PERMISSION TO USE, REPRODUCE, DISTRIBUTE, AND DISPLAY YOUR MANUSCRIPT ON THE SITE AND TO CONSIDER YOUR MANUSCRIPT FOR PUBLICATION ON AN EXCLUSIVE, WORLDWIDE BASIS, WITHOUT CHARGE. SUCH PERMISSION REMAINS EXCLUSIVE FOR SIX MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF SUBMISSION AND IS NON-EXCLUSIVE THEREAFTER. However, SWOON READS is not obligated to post your submitted Manuscript to the site; we may post or remove submitted Manuscripts at any time in our sole discretion. During the six months after the date on which you submit your Manuscript, you agree that you will: a) not publish, or permit publication by a third party of, all or any part of your Manuscript in any form or medium, including without limitation in print, e-book or audiobook format, or on or through any other website or social media platform; b) not enter into discussions with or offer any rights to any third party for publication of your Manuscript in any form or medium. However, you may display a limited portion of your Manuscript, not to exceed the shorter of one chapter or 4,000 words, on your own website or social media page. After the end of six months from the date on which you submit your Manuscript, you will have the right to request that SWOON READS remove your Manuscript from this site, and you will be free to publish your Manuscript, and offer it for publication to third parties, at your own discretion.
If your Manuscript is being considered by SWOON READS for publication, it may be removed from the site in our sole discretion. If SWOON READS declines your Manuscript, your Manuscript may be removed from the site. Further, we may periodically remove lower-rated manuscripts, on a schedule determined by us in our sole discretion.
If SWOON READS does not post your Manuscript to the site within thirty (30) days after it receives your submission, or if SWOON READS removes your Manuscript from the site for any reason prior to the expiration of six months from the submission date (other than in the case of temporary, technical unavailability), then your permission to SWOON READS set forth in paragraph 3 above will no longer be on an exclusive basis.
Only three Manuscript entries are permitted per writer for consideration at any given time.
To enter, you must complete the online “Submit Your Manuscript” form and upload an electronic file of your Manuscript. The entry form will allow you to upload one manuscript and one cover, in electronic format. Only electronic submissions, uploaded through the online submission form, will be considered; do not mail or e-mail your manuscript submissions to SWOON READS.
Manuscripts must be submitted as Microsoft Word documents (.docx). All manuscripts must follow formatting guidelines as set forth on the ‘Submit’ page. All manuscripts must be saved as “Manuscript Title – Registered User Name”.
No manuscripts with interior images (any images within the word document) will be accepted for consideration.
You should keep a copy of your Manuscript(s) for your own protection. We will not be liable for loss of your Manuscript.
No critical evaluation or commentary will be offered by the editorial staff of SWOON READS unless, in the sole opinion of the editorial staff, evaluation or commentary is appropriate in the case of a Manuscript being considered for publication.
In case of dispute as to the identity of a registered user who submits a Manuscript, SWOON READS will have the right to assume that the user is the authorized account holder of the e-mail address provided to SWOON READS. “Authorized Account Holder” is defined as a natural person who is assigned an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization (e.g., business, educational institution, etc.) responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address.
Selection of Manuscripts for Publication
Manuscripts may be chosen for publication at the sole discretion of SWOON READS staff. SWOON READS staff may take user comments and ratings into account in choosing Manuscripts for publication, but is under no obligation to do so. Factors taken into account by SWOON READS editors may include, without limitation, the originality, creativity and writing skill of the submission. The decision of the editors as to which Manuscripts are selected for publication and which are not is final. SWOON READS is under no obligation to publish any, or any particular number of, submitted Manuscripts.

If a Manuscript is selected for publication, SWOON READS will offer to enter into its standard form of author's agreement with the author for publication of the Manuscript. Our standard terms include, without limitation, a grant to us of exclusive, worldwide rights in all languages, and an option on your next work. If an author is a minor in his or her place of residence, then we will only discuss publication with the author’s parent or legal guardian, and the author’s agreement, if agreed to by both parties, must be signed by the author’s parent or legal guardian. IF YOU ARE A MINOR, YOU AGREE TO PROVIDE US WITH YOUR PARENT OR GUARDIAN’S CURRENT, ACCURATE CONTACT INFORMATION UPON REQUEST. After execution of the standard form author's agreement by both parties, the author will receive an advance against future royalties of $10,000. THE AUTHOR OF A SELECTED MANUSCRIPT WILL NOT RECEIVE ANY PART OF THE ADVANCE UNTIL THE STANDARD FORM AUTHOR'S AGREEMENT HAS BEEN EXECUTED BY BOTH PARTIES. Those terms of the author’s agreement not specified in the printed text of the SWOON READS standard form will be determined by SWOON READS at its sole discretion. Reasonable changes in the offered terms may be requested, but SWOON READS shall not be obligated to agree to any such changes.

I agree to the terms and conditions
If you’re not happy with the way your manuscript looks in our eReader, or if something is missing, you can always go back to step one to try uploading again.
 
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hester

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Juliana, it's heartening to hear that your friends have had success on the site!

writera and Sonya, those are excellent points!! I'm still very much on the fence regarding whether I want to submit a manuscript--I do have one in mind, but it's dark with an unlikeable narrator and I'm not sure how well that would go over :). There's also the sticking point of that six month exclusivity period...:(.
 

Sonya Heaney

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writera and Sonya, those are excellent points!! I'm still very much on the fence regarding whether I want to submit a manuscript--I do have one in mind, but it's dark with an unlikeable narrator and I'm not sure how well that would go over :). There's also the sticking point of that six month exclusivity period...:(.

I absolutely get the appeal, don't get me wrong. When I first heard about it I was like 'Wow! What a great chance for a huge contract!' And then I considered if that was something I, personally, would ever want to get caught up in and realised it wasn't. I just feel like it's a publisher exploiting a lot of people and making others do the slush reading for them. And even then, aspiring authors with not much skill but with a big social media presence will do "better" and have a higher chance of getting picked up. Just. Icky.

I feel the same way about people getting famous in music or dance or anything else via a publicly-judged reality show. Writers can be pretty shy, and this is forcing them into a situation that doesn't feel all that good.