Morgan James Publishing

Did you search the index over in Beware and Background Checks?

It would probably be better to post this question there to get a more rapid response.

ETA: website is http://morgan-james-publishing.com

I'll let someone with more experience comment about their reputation.

Ack! All I have to read to form a Very Negative opinion are words like "revolutionized" and "entrepreneurial" from the first graph on the first page of their site.

It's a pay-to-play publisher, which, if that's what you want, may be okay. But a quick skim of "Services" shows weasel wording like "unique ISBN number" which is redundant, for starters.

If you want someone to pay YOU for publishing your book, this ain't the house for you.

I don't have time right now to check to see if B&BC has something on these guys. I'll be back later though and may punt it over to them.

Based purely on their webpage:

It's a POD. They stress Lightning Source and Ingram's.

I suspect that it's a vanity. They stress entirely too much on "partnering" with their authors.

The market seems to be people who want a book to sell from the back of the hall when they give presentations.

Aw, man- and to pull Habitat for Humanity into it.

Oh, who am I kidding? I've worked in non-profits before and I should know they aren't the most discriminating when it comes to getting donations.

Morgan James Publishers

Hi everyone, first timer here. Can anyone provide me with comments on /experience with Morgan James Publishers? They are in New York and seem to be trying to walk the line between traditional publishers and POD operations such as Trafford and iuniverse. They do not pay advances and do not charge (like the PODers) to publish your book. They DO charge for a course that helps the author market her book in ways neither the trad. pubs or the PODs are able to do. They are market oriented (always remembering its our job as writers to be the primary marketers of our own work--especially non-fiction) and are trying innovative ways to sell authors' books. They also pay higher royalties than trad pubs (20%). They seem to be selling well in some areas (biz and self help for two). Any comments pro or con re this publisher would be appreciated.
Huron

They don't seem to have a website.

They do not pay advances ....

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That means you should run through absolutely every publisher that does pay an advance before you even think of these guys.

They DO charge for a course ....

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Are you required to take this course? Is it possible that this course is their actual source of income (rather than sales of books to the general public)?

...its our job as writers to be the primary marketers of our own work....

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No, it isn't. Pulishers have access to markets and marketing venues that authors can't approach. Generally about half of the people at a commercial publisher are marketing and publicity folks. A publisher that leaves its marketing to underfunded amateurs (however enthusiastic they might be) isn't planning to sell many books.

If the list of books from Morgan James Publishing over at Amazon is accurate the only books they publish that aren't written or co-authored by Joe Vitale were written or co-authored by either J. Nicholas Vitale, Rob Vitale, or Mike Vitale. This may not be the right publisher for you if your name isn't "Vitale."

(As always, about any publisher: Have you personally ever read one of their books? Has anyone you know ever read one of their books? Have you ever seen any of their books in a bookstore? If not, why are you considering this publisher?)

Oh -- while searching on Morgan James Publishing I found this:

http://www.vidilife.com/video_play_1033480_This_New_York_Publisher_Was_A_Writer_Once_Too_And_.htm

and this:

http://awakentheauthorwithin.com/

All I can say is ... oh, dearikins me.

Have your speakers turned on for these.

Wow. That's it, wow.

From the Services page of their website:

We don't charge a huge price for services, and our costs are clear so you know exactly what you are getting prior to submitting your manuscript.

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So they do charge a fee.

- Victoria

Takeaways from the vidlife video if anyone is interested:
(sorry if some of the quotes aren't exactly perfect)

- "I (Dave Hancock of MJ) wrote a book, got it published, doubled my income in less than 8 months [but] I didn't realize how hard it was to get published."

- "[you] get beat up by your publisher"

- "getting published was the worst experience of my life" (DH on being published 3 times, although he doesn't name the books and I'm too lazy to search Amazon)

- refers to advance as a bribe (might have been the Glenn guy who said that)

Sign me right up!!! (not)

narnia said:

- refers to advance as a bribe (might have been the Glenn guy who said that)

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OMG, that's priceless! I'll have to tell my boss that paying people for work done is actually bribing them! Hee!

James D. Macdonald said:

Oh -- while searching on Morgan James Publishing I found this:

http://www.vidilife.com/video_play_1033480_This_New_York_Publisher_Was_A_Writer_Once_Too_And_.htm

and this:

http://awakentheauthorwithin.com/

All I can say is ... oh, dearikins me.

Have your speakers turned on for these.

Wow. That's it, wow.

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Oh, this just...hurts...it hurts the heart. Tell me he hands out the ever-popular Ginsu knives along with his fabulous knowledge.

Thanx to all responders re Morgan James. Very useful stuff. Principally operations like these seem to be marketers first for themselves, next to their business/marketing asociates (through writing books), and finally, if ever, to their paying client writers.
The killer, of course, is that there should be new paradigms for publishing. We keep hoping that somebody will create one that works for authors rather than offers them another 'learning opportunity' for a fee.
Huron

James D. Macdonald said:

Oh -- while searching on Morgan James Publishing I found this:

http://www.vidilife.com/video_play_1033480_This_New_York_Publisher_Was_A_Writer_Once_Too_And_.htm

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This entire spiel reminds me of the late night infomercials where a millionaire is willing to teach me how to get rich quick by investing in real estate with no money down! That's right NO MONEY DOWN! All I have to do is send in five monthly payments of $19.95 each and I too will learn the secrets of getting rich quick while only working part-time and investing NO MONEY DOWN!

Can I just say "Yeah right?" I knew I could.

Birol said:

This entire spiel reminds me of the late night infomercials where a millionaire is willing to teach me how to get rich quick by investing in real estate with no money down! That's right NO MONEY DOWN! All I have to do is send in five monthly payments of $19.95 each and I too will learn the secrets of getting rich quick while only working part-time and investing NO MONEY DOWN!

Can I just say "Yeah right?" I knew I could.

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Well, of course it does: It says right on the page that it was launched January 17, 2002, at 2:30 AM.

The only way this would be 'improved' would be if Billy Mays was screaming the 'facts' at the camera.

Does anyone have any concrete information on Morgan James Publishing? I am very fortunate to be a published author by a well respected traditional publisher. However, I am intrigued by Morgan James' business model. Are they legitimately a cross between a self publishing printing house and a traditional publishing house as they describe themselves?

Vanity press. Pay to play. Nothing has changed.

edgyllama,

How do you know its a vanity press? If they pay royalties, doesn't that mean they're a publishing house? I thought vanity presses are when you pay to have your books printed.

Janis Love said:

How do you know its a vanity press? If they pay royalties, doesn't that mean they're a publishing house? I thought vanity presses are when you pay to have your books printed.

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They say they pay royalties.

Accent on "say".

Vanity presses, in my opinion, are any press where the author has to pay any money of any kind to anybody at the press to get their book published. This includes seminars, "editing fees", "marketing support", buying a set number of copies of the book--basically, anything where the author writes a check to the press.

If you're going to pay to publish your book, then do the work of self-publishing and self-marketing. That way, you get to keep all the money you make in sales.

Vanity houses pay royalties; it's just up to you have to pay up front to get published, and with the amount of sales you'll get, your chances of breaking even are slim.

Janis Love said:

Are they legitimately a cross between a self publishing printing house and a traditional publishing house as they describe themselves?

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That's like a cross between being pregnant and not being pregnant. Vanity publishing (self-publishing is a misnomer here; it's only self-publishing if you actually do it yourself, as opposed to paying someone else to do it for you) and commercial publishing are mutually exclusive. They are two entirely different business models--one of the main differences being who is paying whom at the outset. If the author is paying the publisher, it's vanity publishing. If the publisher is paying the author, it's commercial publishing.

I've gotten some advisories about Morgan James and its fees. Authors have to pay to join something called the Entrepreneurial Author Community, which costs $4,995. For this, you get the following:

A 12 month scholarship in The Entrepreneurial Author University, a $1,764 value.
Entrepreneurial Vision Mastermind Group, a $2,500 value.
Custom designed interior layout and custom designed full color cover, a $3,500 value.
Ten copies of your paperback book upon completion, approximately a $197 value.
Full Ingram wholesale listings and distribution services via Morgan James.
Inclusion in Morgan James catalog and representation at various events throughout the year.
Creation and distribution of at least two media releases and development of a media list that you can use to follow up with. A $1.200 value.
Personal consultation with one of the most powerful Publicists in the publishing industry, Rick Frishman, to help understand and create a powerful platform that will help you get attention with co-sponsorship of select publicity services. A $5,000 value.

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This array of so-called services allows Morgan James to present itself as a non-vanity publisher--because you aren't paying to print and bind your book. But the bottom line is still that you must hand over cash in order to be published.

Also, authors must provide "a proofread, edited, final manuscript," which suggests to me that Morgan James's fees don't include editing services.

In the old days, you paid a vanity publisher a big fee, and they printed the number of books you ordered and sent them to you in boxes. That was the end of your relationship; it was up to you to sell the books, and you kept all the money. There are still book manufacturers that will do this for you. But print on demand technology, which allows books to be printed when they are ordered and eliminates the need for print runs, has changed the way that vanity publishers operate. Since there's no print run, your upfront fee is smaller (with the honest vanity publishers, at any rate), and book production costs are recouped as the books are printed, with the publisher keeping most of the proceeds and paying you a royalty.

- Victoria

Victoria,

Thank you so much for your detailed and informative post. It really explained everything. Morgan James' website info is definitely a bait and switch.

about Morgan James Publishing

>>
Ah, the beauty of the web! A place that we all can share our opinions and ideas. It is unfortunate that sometimes the whole truth isn't always available, initially. But that is why comments and responses are so valuable.

I'm David Hancock, the founder of Morgan James Publishing. I founded it in 2003 with the sole intention of helping business people grow their business by the power of a book. I never imagined it would turn out as big as it is today. In fact you can read the whole back story at http://morgan-james-publishing.com/aboutus.aspx.

Let me get to the point of my post. Publishing is changing. The existing model is broken. I know this for many reasons but also because I've been told by those in the industry. The big houses. Sure traditional publishing has money flowing only to the authors but the average author stands to loose the rights to the work and never see a dime more than the advance. The average advance as reported by Simba, is only $1,500. Not a big win for the authors.

Publishers actually loose more than authors do. According to a similar report, publishers actually loose money on 94% of the books published each year. Our collaborative approach is a win win for both the author and the publisher. We share in the profits and like most traditional publishers bear the bulk of the risk. Certainly doesn't mean self publishing. We are very picky about which books we will accept. I'd bet that the 3,800 authors we turned down last year don't feel like we were a self publishing house.

Yes, we do use one of the nations largest printing houses, but not exclusively the on demand feature. Lighting Source does all of our printing. From large offset runs to shorter runs based on the success of the books and the current demand.

We do have a sales force and full bookstore distribution. It happens to be Ingram Publisher Services. The same company that sells for and distributes for publishers, like Berrett-Koehler, Bloomberg, O'Reilly Media, and Severn House to name just a few. And it works. Right now we have books on shelves in major and minor bookstores across the country. Some even with Cover Out placement in Barnes and Noble. From authors you know, like Jay Conrad Levinson, Mark Victor Hansen, Joel Comm, Mitch Meyerson, and some that you will soon know, like Mitch Ditkoff, Tony Rubleski, Monroe Mann and more.

Rick Frishman is a brilliant industry expert. We began referring business to his firm in 2006. We didn't require it, but the work proves itself. We've actually doubled our book sales through the bookstores because of his work. It wasn't until January of 2008 that Rick came on as a partner and our Publisher. Our author education model, which is designed to help the authors succeed as a business author, was in place from the beginning. Rick's added value is just that, added value, to the authors and to us.

Okay, thanks for letting me share my opinion. We are not for everyone, but we do offer a good option for those looking for a better option.

I'm happy to answer any questions, alleviate any concerns or just chat about the industry. Feel free to contact me via MorganJamesPublishing.com.

David Hancock

David Hancock, Founder
Morgan James Publishing
The Entrepreneurial Publisher
1225 Franklin Ave Ste 325
Garden City, NY 11530

Welcome to the forums. I would suggest looking around a little more. I suspect others will pick up the usual responses to the usual claims about the industry being broken (seems fine from where I sit, not just the big boys but also all the small press options--these are all part of the industry) and authors only getting their advance (that's the way it's supposed to work).