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Authors 4 Authors Publishing

KieraC45

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Does anyone have any experience/information on Authors4Authors Publishing?
 

cornflake

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From a quick browse of their site, it looks like a bunch of self-pubbed/vanity-pubbed people went ahead and set up a press to ...god only knows? There are SO MANY of these 'we're for authors, and were frustrated with being rejected by actual agents and publishers so we set up our own press!' deals I can't even count how many I've seen. They usually go out of business in a year or so, if they do any business besides their own books at all. I can't find specifics on whether they're a vanity or masquerading as an actual publisher, but the 'once you earn back... your royalties increase' thing is suspicious.

There are errors all over their pages, btw, in addition to a disturbing number of exclamation points. To wit --

We want you to be as involved as you like in the production aspect of your book. Unlike a traditional publisher, you can help with cover selection and blurb writing and many other distribution decisions—or not!
 
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-Riv-

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From a quick browse of their site, it looks like a bunch of self-pubbed/vanity-pubbed people went ahead and set up a press to ...god only knows? There are SO MANY of these 'we're for authors, and were frustrated with being rejected by actual agents and publishers so we set up our own press!' deals I can't even count how many I've seen. They usually go out of business in a year or so, if they do any business besides their own books at all. I can't find specifics on whether they're a vanity or masquerading as an actual publisher, but the 'once you earn back... your royalties increase' thing is suspicious.

There are errors all over their pages, btw, in addition to a disturbing number of exclamation points. To wit --

In the FAQs on this page, it says the author pays nothing and will receive royalties. No specifics.

There are definitely errors on the pages (not good when they are claiming to be proofreaders). I couldn't find anything that says what publishing qualifications their people have apart from being writers.
:Shrug:
 

zmethos

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Any time the entirety of their promotional support is "we want to develop a community of authors supporting each other," I walk away. I've been with presses who do that, and it never works. You're just preaching to the choir rather than finding new readers.
 

Marian Perera

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Ah, the usual nonsense...

The more we learned about traditional publishing, the more ridiculous the whole scenario felt. You get an idea, work your butt off writing, revising, editing, proofing, and finessing the idea. You then send a...wait for it...letter?

It's like applying for a job. You're supposed to show up at the workplace, right? Not send a...wait for it...resume?

To an agent? Who may or may not read anything beyond that letter?

Likewise, a reader may or may not read anything beyond the blurb before deciding whether to buy your book.

For the lucky few who get an agent to read part of your novel--congrats! But then the agent has to choose your book. And while they are reading it, don’t even think of sending it somewhere else!

That's only if the agent wants an exclusive, and an exclusive has a time limit.

After rejections, some of which are form letters that automatically populate your name, you might, after months, finally get one agent who then TRIES to sell your book.

Or you can go with an amateur startup press that TRIES to use scare tactics.

That’s right, folks. No guarantee of a book deal yet. And IF a publisher picks up your book, you’re given an advance you have to earn back before you can earn a paltry 10% of the sales price in royalties.

More misinformation. They also do their best to discourage self-publishers ("most of them are lucky if their sales can earn back their production costs") so I'd avoid this one like the plague.
 

mrsmig

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Those are some seriously bad covers.

Indeed. And I can't figure out what a "Spy vs. Spy" character is doing on the cover of one of their latest releases.
 

BenPanced

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Pardon my Fronch, but sweet holy Jeebus, not ANOTHER one crowdfunding before/during their initial start...

Run fast. Again, speaking from experience, if they don't have the funds NOW, it'll only end in tears.

ETA: Just looked closer and it was closed Jan. 28. Barely one quarter of their initial flexible goal.
 
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Helix

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Those are some seriously bad covers.

Oh my goodness. That one with the six-legged amblypygid. They've got eight legs. They're related to spiders. And the legs omitted in that illustration are the longest. It's as bad as the time someone drew a nine-legged octopus. When questioned about the extra leg, I was told it was for artistic balance. And then that reminded me of the Monty Python sketch about Michelangelo painting the Last Supper...
 

Luzoni

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Has anyone heard of them?

So in Pitmad it looks like two or three of my pitches were liked by different representatives of this publisher. I'm not really looking for publishers as much as agents, but as usual agents just don't seem very interested in Pitmad, at least not my Pitmad I guess. So now I'm left in a bind like do I submit just because? I looked at their website and I was more than a little skeptical.
 

-Riv-

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Has anyone heard of them?

So in Pitmad it looks like two or three of my pitches were liked by different representatives of this publisher. I'm not really looking for publishers as much as agents, but as usual agents just don't seem very interested in Pitmad, at least not my Pitmad I guess. So now I'm left in a bind like do I submit just because? I looked at their website and I was more than a little skeptical.

Here's a recent thread on them. LINK
 

Stytch

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I feel you. I tried out Pitmad on a whim yesterday and was ... less than whelmed. Oh well, it was an interesting way to get through one day. And it was kinda fun to see everyone else's pitches. Some purely because they made me feel better about my own, others because they were actually good. Mine was probably not good, since it got so little response.
 

Luzoni

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Sorry about the double post! I tried searching the forum but I couldn't find a result...or I wasn't using it right. Seems highly likely it was the latter now.

But this definitely answered my question and confirmed my gut reaction. Vanity press junk. Not something I want to waste my time on.
 

Maryn

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(Side note: The Google custom search box at the lower left corner of every page often produces far more complete results than the other search.)