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[Submission svc] MyManuscripts (Norm Thomas)

Clairels

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One of their employees has been pushing this pretty hard on a Facebook writers' group I belong to. I asked her a bunch of questions, and she says she'd get back to me, but in the meantime, I thought I'd throw it up here. The head honcho is a guy named Norm Thomas, who has no publishing background that I can discern. There's no real info on the site except a sales pitch for their free "get published" e-book, but his LinkedIn says this:

---------

As founder of MyManuscripts I help authors and writers ‘connect’ with publishers and literary agents to get their book published.

I’m committed to changing the face of the traditional submission model.

I built MyManuscripts so publishers never have to suffer the overwhelm of wrongly categorised or poorly presented submissions and so authors and writers would finally understand how to get their book published.

I have built a strong team of Digital marketers, PR experts, technology designers and media consultants to build a collaborative platform with a 'search' & 'match' process that uncovers the best IN the market manuscripts & writers, not simply ON the market.

▶︎CAN MYMANUSCRIPTS HELP YOU?

Maybe, Maybe Not.

YES IF YOU’RE A PUBLISHER OR LITERARY AGENT THAT WANTS HELP TO:

• Reduce the overwhelming amount of manuscripts your receiving
• Be proactive & ‘seek out’ new talent and unagented submissions.
• Lower your overheads

Many publishers & Literary agents are struggling to justify allocating human & financial resources to the flood of ‘unfiltered’ manuscripts without it translating into NEW novels, authors & revenue.

That’s where MyManuscripts comes in.
---

There's also "testimonials" from some unnamed agents and publishers, despite the fact that the site isn't up yet.

To me, the whole "changing the face of publishing" line is gigantic red flag. Is this just me, or does this sound like something that's been tried many, many times before?
 
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cornflake

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Yeah, because agents and publishers have no way of finding talent now. Suggesting agents and publishers need a way of reducing the "amount" of manuscripts they receive, when those are mainly received by request only, betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the business.

Also, call me petty, but --

Reduce the overwhelming amount of manuscripts your receiving

Nope.
 
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Gillhoughly

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What a load of BS.

The flaw in this idiot's grand plan for sweeping change is that not all books are ready to publish. I am sure he knows this, but his target market will be exploiting hopeful and wholly inexperienced writers. If the writing ain't ready, there is NOTHING this twit can do to change it.

Aspiring authors, take note: getting rejected is part of the damn job. Put on your game face, hone your craft, and don't waste time on publishing parasites like this lamprey. Follow the publisher's / agents' submission rules. It's your first test to see how professional you are.

Moses on a moped, run like hell. We have seen this many times before and it doesn't work. Yet Another Display Site -- see YADS. Legit publishers and agents do NOT have the time for them.

PS to Norm: you've got typos / grammar issues. Please tell us where you worked in publishing prior to hatching this old scam?

Hm, that could be a PBS series, "This Old Scam." ;)
 
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Clairels

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I am sure he knows this, but his target market will be exploiting hopeful and wholly inexperienced writers.

Unfortunately, that's mainly what this Facebook writers' group consists of. Below the scantily-detailed post to try to drum up interest, hundreds replied along the lines of "yeah, I'm in!" Kind of unsettling, actually.
 

Gillhoughly

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Unfortunately, that's mainly what this Facebook writers' group consists of. Below the scantily-detailed post to try to drum up interest, hundreds replied along the lines of "yeah, I'm in!" Kind of unsettling, actually.

You can't buy that kind of enthusiasm, but I feel bad for the ones who will be shoveling cash at this wanker thinking he will be of any use.

It IS unsettling. When I do signings, the main question is "How much does it cost to get published?" Oi vey.
 

Maryn

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In a way, I feel really sorry for people who fall for bozos like this guy, but a part of me is angry at them for not doing any research into how publishing works. A writer puts a lot of hours into the creation of a novel, then just rolls the dice and goes with whatever? That's pretty foolish.
 

mrsmig

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Invoking AW's own Filigree and her Rule:

SOME AUTHORS DESERVE SOME PUBLISHERS.
 

ctripp

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$312 US a yr (introductory price, which implies the cost will go up) to have a manuscript SIT there on the chance it will be seen.
No list of the Agents and Publishers, so you can make sure they aren't Vanities before deciding to pay an outrageous sum.
They state they will help you connect with an Editor (always a worry to see that) They should really follow their own advice and get an Editor to go over the website.

We have talked in depth to publishers and literary agents around the world. Almost to a person they said that the ability to conduct a database search of our authors would be key to them using our website.
 

Harlequin

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Her reply;

"Sunyi Dn we currently have over 70 publishers & agents signed up before we've even gone live. We are looking to grow this all the time (one of the reasons for my research question is to see what countries we could be focusing on next, as we don't want to support just US/ UK). We're now at a stage where imprints of some of the biggest publishers worldwide are contacting us asking for accounts. Many of those already signed up are very excited about the possibilities and have been working closely with us on the testing phase."

I call bullshit
 

Marian Perera

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we currently have over 70 publishers & agents signed up before we've even gone live. We are looking to grow this all the time (one of the reasons for my research question is to see what countries we could be focusing on next, as we don't want to support just US/ UK). We're now at a stage where imprints of some of the biggest publishers worldwide are contacting us asking for accounts.

And you had to turn away literally dozens of top agents because your roster was just full of major names in the industry. Some of them even bid against each other for your services, and all the ones who didn't make it asked you to call them at once if you ever had an opening.

Yeah, I can write make-believe stuff too.
 

BarbaraSheridan

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They may have 70 publishers & agents signed on but I doubt they're "good" ones who make an actual living in the business. I would hope those publishers and agents are jsut some type sock puppets who will charge the unsuspecting even more fees.