The Wild Rose Press / Wildflowers Books

chracatoa said:

I'm an author published by The Wild Rose Press (TWRP). Authors that are helped by the assisted publishing are not considered TWRP authors. They just help with the publishing and distribution.

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Thanks for clarifying.

Sonya Heaney said:

Does anybody know if they have always had a vanity publishing section? I didn't think so, because in the past (before I signed with my current publisher) I had them in mind to submit to. They started the careers of a few of my favourite authors, including two who went on to write for Big Five publishers. I think they put out some great books.

However, I looked them up again today when I was updating a list, and... https://www.thewildrosepress.com/publishingprograms

Now, listed alongside "traditional publishing", they also offer "assisted publishing" and "audio publishing", and they say:





The audiobook option is probably really helpful for self-published authors, but I'm not so sure about the "assisted publishing" thing. Do they also get called "Wild Rose Press" authors?

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Yeah, the audibook option might be helpful to SP authors, though there are many other places they can get help with that too. But the assisted publishing thing? This is vanity publishing. Writers who know better understand they would do better going about everything on their own. If Wild Rose isn't going to do anything for them besides offer distribution, I don't see the point. A self-publisher can distribute their book themselves. Why would they go to WRP to do it?

cool pop said:

But the assisted publishing thing? This is vanity publishing.

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It is. I'm disappointed to see they've put the real submissions information side-by-side with the vanity publishing information on their site. I'm certain it wasn't like that a few months ago.

Sonya Heaney said:

Now, listed alongside "traditional publishing", they also offer "assisted publishing" and "audio publishing", and they say:





The audiobook option is probably really helpful for self-published authors, but I'm not so sure about the "assisted publishing" thing. Do they also get called "Wild Rose Press" authors?

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The audio distribution section seems to be gone, and the assisted publishing section is rather reduced.

RosalieStanton said:

The audio distribution section seems to be gone, and the assisted publishing section is rather reduced.

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Wow, that was fast.

Now, though, they've revamped the page so that the vanity publishing information (such as it is) is posted ABOVE the submissions information for actual publishing. That makes me mad on behalf of their authors.

Sonya Heaney said:

Wow, that was fast.

Now, though, they've revamped the page so that the vanity publishing information (such as it is) is posted ABOVE the submissions information for actual publishing. That makes me mad on behalf of their authors.

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Yeah, that's some shady shit.

I think more and more these small publishers are discovering they can make more $ from authors willing to pay for services than they can from actually publishing books. The truth is, if they were more careful with what they published and used their resources to promote a handful of great books and authors rather than shoving a ton of content out the door that immediately gets lost in the ocean of releases... they ideally wouldn't need an additional business model to sustain them. Authors shouldn't be [financially] supporting the publishers; it should be the other way around.

Wild Rose Press is fast becoming a Writer Beware publisher. I would steer clear of them, based on direct experience. I published two books with them in 2016-17. To break my first refusal contract I sent them a subsequent manuscript I knew needed work, so they would turn it down. Their marketing support, thin to begin with, shrivelled to nothing very quickly. Their current contracts don't even copyright your work. Their audio book access was cancelled for murky reasons. They charge writers for everything, even info on Amazon keywords, how to tweet effectively etc. Their 2019 website relaunch, as well as looking amateurish, is geared towards selling things to authors, not FOR authors. There have been recent complaints of rapaciousness, eg to the main American romance writers association. I don't think they are evil people but I suspect the changes are due to a failing business (everyone got on the print on demand bandwagon and there has been too much competition) and I doubt they will be around much longer, unless they go full on vanity press.

Moriarty7 said:

They charge writers for everything, even info on Amazon keywords, how to tweet effectively etc.

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Really? Wow.

I've never published with them, but have had some behind the scenes experience with a few of their editors. I also think they mean well, but the editors seem to be working on only one book each per year, and - even considering how slow publishing is - they seem to be operating at a snail's pace now.

They've changed their website *again*. Now they have a "Publish Today!" button on the front page, and the vanity publishing arm completely dominates the submissions page, with the actual submission part buried at the bottom:



Honestly, while I've seen a few good covers from them, they should have done their business a big favour from the start and hired some professional cover designers. Unless it's Harlequin, nobody buys a book based on who published it, but nobody wants to pick up a book with a cover that looks like it was made in Microsoft Paint. They shot themselves in the foot from the outset.

Edited: Because, oh my goodness, their "make the magic happen" "publishing" costs $4500, and if you want to "work with Rhonda" it's an extra $300 an hour...

I did a forum search but nothing came up about this press being in the Bewares/Background checks. If there is, please direct me to it! I feel like the search function doesn't always bring up everything it should?

Does anyone have experience with this press? The covers are pretty atrocious, but I'm still curious to know if anyone has experiences they could share.

It kind of feels like the kind of place that puts your stuff out but then you can expect little marketing help and few sales? Am I right? I'm mostly interested in sending in short stories/novelettes to their specific romance lines.

Thanks.

Link: https://www.thewildrosepress.com/

Absolutely check the Index first; Cao Paux sends a lot of time keeping it up to date.

I'm going to move this to the correct thread.

Ah, sorry! I usually just use the search function and it brings me where I need to be, but it doesn't seem to work the same in the new forum.

MaryLennox said:

Ah, sorry! I usually just use the search function and it brings me where I need to be, but it doesn't seem to work the same in the new forum.

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The reason for the index is that many businesses have changed names, multiple times.

The index is a well organized alphabetical list. Cao Paux, the Bewares mod, spends a great deal of time updating links and making sure the Index is current.

AW Admin said:

The reason for the index is that many businesses have changed names, multiple times.

The index is a well organized alphabetical list. Cao Paux, the Bewares mod, spends a great deal of time updating links and making sure the Index is current.

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Yes, thank you! I have it bookmarked now.

Has anyone had any recent dealings with this press? In 2015, I submitted my WW2 fiction novel to them and they tore me to shreds in their rejection. They said my novel's drama "went on and on" and it sounded like a "WW2 soap opera." I thought it was rude at the time and completely turned me off. Its been so long I had hoped their attitude may have changed

Given their website & business changes over the years, I'd personally give them a pass. There are many other small (and large) publishers out there who will do more for you.

Drives me crazy how these dodgy publishers take on a name of another publisher with a subtle difference to muddy the waters. One of my critique partners publishes through Black Rose and I'm always getting the two mixed up!

Anyone have any updated thoughts on The Wild Rose Press? They're taking a look at my full novel.

I have a book under contract to TWRP. Before I signed with them, I talked to a couple of writers who have recently published with them. Most seemed happy with the press.

Couple things to know about:

1. Their covers are still hit or miss. If you browse the site, you'll find some good ones, but a lot of bad ones, too. You do get to make suggestions about which cover designer you prefer, but there are no guarantees you'll get a designer whose work you like.

2. Publicity/promotion is pretty much up to you. They recently put together a publicity guide to help new writers figure out how to get started, and their online community (see below) has seasoned writers who share promo tips.

3. They have a very active online community of writers who support each other. TWRP writers help each other by writing reviews, retweeting book announcements, etc. This part impresses me, though for all I know, it might be common with small presses. But seriously, there are a lot of great people who publish with them and many are willing to help support other writers.

4. The editor I work with has been very communicative, responding in a timely fashion. No complaints about that!

I only just finished edits for my book, so I don't have a publication date. But I intend to come back and update this thread after my book comes out. My advice to anyone who is thinking about signing them is to look up some of their writers on social media & talk to them to see how happy they are.

mrsmig said:

Thanks for the update, TeresaWrites2018.

My former publisher tried to muscle its stable of writers to promote each others' work. I did it to a degree, but I always resented it, because it took time away from writing (and meanwhile, the publisher was pocketing the lion's share of our royalties while we did their work).

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Yeah, I could see how that would be annoying. And potentially problematic, if the authors are promoting work they have not read/are not familiar with. Like, how much is promotion worth if you don't know how good the novel is?

mrsmig said:

Thanks for the update, TeresaWrites2018.

My former publisher tried to muscle its stable of writers to promote each others' work. I did it to a degree, but I always resented it, because it took time away from writing (and meanwhile, the publisher was pocketing the lion's share of our royalties while we did their work).

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It usually comes across as fake when a bunch of authors from the same publisher are reviewing each other's work and giving glowing reviews to every single book.

So far in my experience, I've learned that there is pretty much nothing a small press can do that I can't do for myself, and sometimes I can do it better on my own because I don't have to constantly ask permission to do things. And then I get to keep 100% of the royalties.

This has been my personal experience and I have since asked for the rights back for all of my books I had with small presses. You live and you learn and you figure out what works best for you and your books.

imaginepeace20 said:

Anyone have any updated thoughts on The Wild Rose Press? They're taking a look at my full novel.

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I'd not do it again, personally.

Be aware that The Wild Rose Press (TWRP hereafter) writers must sign a non-disparagement clause, so one must evaluate comments from authors with that in mind. Like mine following, they will probably be brief, factual, and devoid of subjectivity and emotion.

On the good side, my editor was competent and had excellent communication. Writing a story for a specific line is easier in some ways, because of the expectations of that particular series, and they permit really short novellas. They not only accept romance, from sweet to erotic, but other categories entirely. Their covers run the gamut, but mine was decent. Publishing through TWRP is a way for an author to claim they are "traditionally published" if that is important to someone. One might possibly make some connections with other authors, too.

Less ideal: They may ask you to do your own copyediting & proofing, because "otherwise publication will be delayed." Their marketing director recently stepped down and is not being replaced. Prior to that their marketing consisted essentially of listing the book on their website and Facebook; the bulk of it is an author email chat group consisting of "please retweet this" (which gets throttled by the algorithms as a "bot promo" circle). TWRP's choice not to enroll in KU or allow any free days or sales limits an author's options--the promo sites want a discounted or free book. TWRP does offer a free downloadable "how to market your own book" guide but it's pretty basic.

Those chat circles also encourage authors to read & review other author's books, which I've done many times before elsewhere to support indie authors, but the second I hit "submit" on my first and only TWRP review, I got an Amazon flag that said there had been "suspicious activity" and Amazon was taking away every review I had ever done and blocking me from doing any more, forever! I was able to get reinstated but now I'm hesitant to do anymore reviews.

TWRP used to offer NetGalley but has stopped that entirely now. They recently notified authors they are altering their terms and will no longer will pay out any royalties until the total is > $25 unless the author writes specifically to ask. Reaching $25 may be difficult for many, if one extrapolates from the rankings; even for their new releases, the titles have very low Amazon rankings. Though Wild Rose doesn't do print or audio for many of its titles, it still wants to keep those rights in case they choose to do it later.

Their vanity publishing is now listed under "The Write Advice" but is still prominent on their website: https://thewriteadvice.com/ That'll cost $4500 to 6500, and "require a 25% royalty share."

I think TWRP has good people but the current market is a challenge.