Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Book Readers
What do you look for in a publisher?
We are a meduim sized publisher in Michigan, and we are curious as to what YOU look for when you are thinking about getting a publisher? We are looking for constructive feedback on this..
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sean Noonan on
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Hi Moon Press
for publishing I would like to find some professionals to help me bring my adventures to life in the best possible way. Like minded folks who love the stories, love bringing fun to the world and have the necessary contacts and expertise to help achieve this. Guidance mentors, and friends. I know business is business but great teams are built out of mutual respect.
Is that too much to ask?
Does this help?
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Permalink Reply by Robert L. Allen on
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Do you publish first time authors? Unagent authors? What word count are you accepting? Do you ask for a synopsis and how many pages. Most importantly, do you read the MS sent to you and then return it (SASE) with comments? How many chapters do you ask for? When scrubbing, at what point do you give up? Not to say the work isn't polished!!! What is your time frame on getting back to the author whether accepted ot not. I have tried the larger publishers and I'm not impressed, not that they care. However, the ones who turned down JK Rollens are probably kicking themselves. And yes to Sean, do you work with the writers to make the book marketable? And are you a self publisher? When looking for a publisher, it would be nice if the self publishers identified themselves as such, therefore writers who are not interested won't waste time and money sending out MSS to them. I'm not saying self publishing is bad, it's just not what I'm looking for. I hope this answered the question...
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Permalink Reply by 2 Moon Press Publishing on
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Sean,
The team is all important. We have found that even when dealing with out of State clients, communication and respect is key. Being available for questions, concerns is something that should never be desired, it should be expected by the author and given freely by the publisher.
You are trusting something very important to a publisher. The real shame is that this is rare these days..
Sean Noonan said:Hi Moon Press
for publishing I would like to find some professionals to help me bring my adventures to life in the best possible way. Like minded folks who love the stories, love bringing fun to the world and have the necessary contacts and expertise to help achieve this. Guidance mentors, and friends. I know business is business but great teams are built out of mutual respect.
Is that too much to ask?
Does this help?
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Robert.
We specialize in first time authors. None of our authors have agants either, as far as word count we do not have a limit or a minimum. What we ask for in way of a submission is this...
You can send it to us in hard form (printed) or email it via a WORD or Txt doc. We ask that you give us a brief synopsis of the story, and your contact information.
As far as scrubbing, what we do is something different. We feel that sometimes a book may need work, our editing team which is 4 strong, will help you in this, by suggesting changes, additions, etc... If you require help in polishing it up a bit, we also help the author do that. We average 7 - 14 days gettign back to authors. Even though we are a pay to publish operation we do not accept everything we get. We are not and will never be a "puppy mill" publisher.
As far as self publishing, even though we charge a fee, we do not consider ourselves a self publisher. Reason is simple. We print and bind our own books, we stock EVERY book we publish in quantiry, authors with us are NOT pressured into buying books. We market our books, and distribute our books. We tell authors all of the time, to worry about going to the events we set up, the signings, write more.... Let us do the marketing...
Robert Allen said:Do you publish first time authors? Unagent authors? What word count are you accepting? Do you ask for a synopsis and how many pages. Most importantly, do you read the MS sent to you and then return it (SASE) with comments? How many chapters do you ask for? When scrubbing, at what point do you give up? Not to say the work isn't polished!!! What is your time frame on getting back to the author whether accepted ot not. I have tried the larger publishers and I'm not impressed, not that they care. However, the ones who turned down JK Rollens are probably kicking themselves. And yes to Sean, do you work with the writers to make the book marketable? And are you a self publisher? When looking for a publisher, it would be nice if the self publishers identified themselves as such, therefore writers who are not interested won't waste time and money sending out MSS to them. I'm not saying self publishing is bad, it's just not what I'm looking for. I hope this answered the question...
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Permalink Reply by Kay Elizabeth on
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Why is the 2 Moon Press Publishing website called 800Publishing.com? Did any of you run a publishing company under that name before and change it? I would look for a company where the website name matches their business name for a start. And I would also expect the About Us page to give specifics. Nothing says who any of you are. Your current questions page answers nothing in that respect either.
Your employees all having degrees is of interest only if they are in writing related fields. You don't say so we have no way of knowing. What you judge as extremely qualified isn't necessarily what an author would think if their degree was in say engineering or archaeology.
The point is if any publisher wants writers to trust them with their book and their money, their company has to be transparent.
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Kay,
In answer to your post. When a web site is developed, traditionally the URL is chosen based on familiarity. We all have grown up with "Call 800..." and so on. Thus the web address. We stayed away from www.2moonpress etc, because the confusion of "Is that a TWO or a 2, or is a NEW Moon Press?" Etc...
As far as transparency, I agree. However what degree of such do you want? Unlike most Publishers, 2 Moon Press welcomes authors into their business location, we place photos of events, our operation online. You can call and talk to someone immediately during our hours of operation. We do not fool authors with false internet "Publisher locators" such as other online publishers do. We post very openly our costs, and exactly what you get for that price.
Plus in the next week or so we are adding video content, with the various employees talking about 2 Moon, some authors talking about their experiences, and also myself as I am the President of the company. Now in cross answer to your degree question. I will agree, we should list these if they apply.
One has a degree in Graphic Design.
I have a degree in Divinity & Ancient history, however I carry an A.C.E Certification in ADOBE for several programs, and have 20 plus years as a cover designer and layout tech for books.
Editors all have minimum BA's in English. And one is a Editor part time for a newspaper.
My 3rd editor has over 25 years experience as a book editor.
My marketer has degrees in English, and Marketing with 35+ Years experience.
Not sure if this satisfies the requirements of being qualified. However we feel it helps. I agree that with the flux of online publishers an author has to be careful, however also I am not sure what kind of transparency you are wanting?
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Permalink Reply by Marti Melville on
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My expectations evolve as my experience increases. When I published my first book, I was interested only in getting the story in print (mainly for the benefit of my posterity). The publishing company was able to do that for me, provided a minimal advance and the book was on the market. Unfortunately, the publisher has been unable to keep up with the demands of the market (based on sales). As a new author, I did not anticipate the tremendous success the book's received. As a result, my expectations have changed for publishing the sequel.
The second book is ready for submission and I will begin the process of looking for a publisher that can keep up with sales. My expectations have developed into a larger picture for the book(s) with sales already anticipated prior to the release of the book. So, as of now, I am looking for a publisher that can produce and support a solid market for a novel series. Marketing is necessary as well, particularly as I am assertive with marketing on my end and already have several book sigining and speaking engagements scheduled into 2011. I will need a publisher that can keep up with the schedule and the market of the book. At this point, I have been without an agent. After speaking in depth with a marketing rep. last night, I'm reconsidering the need for an agent in lieu of an aggressive marketer. Again, this would be an avenue the publisher would need to be able to support, something I have not experienced from the first novel's publisher.
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Permalink Reply by scribbler on
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Marti, that was a very useful post. Thanks for telling us what happened to you. That's a real shame your first publisher couldn't keep up with the demand but a good complaint to have (your book being a runaway success I mean).
If you decide to start looking at agents, you'll want to check out AgentQuery if you haven't already. I think the link's here on the site somewhere, could be in the Resources group perhaps. I'll add it again anyway to make things easy. It's free to use. http://agentquery.com/
Marti Melville said:
My expectations evolve as my experience increases. When I published my first book, I was interested only in getting the story in print (mainly for the benefit of my posterity). The publishing company was able to do that for me, provided a minimal advance and the book was on the market. Unfortunately, the publisher has been unable to keep up with the demands of the market (based on sales). As a new author, I did not anticipate the tremendous success the book's received. As a result, my expectations have changed for publishing the sequel.
The second book is ready for submission and I will begin the process of looking for a publisher that can keep up with sales. My expectations have developed into a larger picture for the book(s) with sales already anticipated prior to the release of the book. So, as of now, I am looking for a publisher that can produce and support a solid market for a novel series. Marketing is necessary as well, particularly as I am assertive with marketing on my end and already have several book sigining and speaking engagements scheduled into 2011. I will need a publisher that can keep up with the schedule and the market of the book. At this point, I have been without an agent. After speaking in depth with a marketing rep. last night, I'm reconsidering the need for an agent in lieu of an aggressive marketer. Again, this would be an avenue the publisher would need to be able to support, something I have not experienced from the first novel's publisher.
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Thank you! I will definitely check out that site.
scribbler said:Marti, that was a very useful post. Thanks for telling us what happened to you. That's a real shame your first publisher couldn't keep up with the demand but a good complaint to have (your book being a runaway success I mean).
If you decide to start looking at agents, you'll want to check out AgentQuery if you haven't already. I think the link's here on the site somewhere, could be in the Resources group perhaps. I'll add it again anyway to make things easy. It's free to use. http://agentquery.com/
Marti Melville said:
My expectations evolve as my experience increases. When I published my first book, I was interested only in getting the story in print (mainly for the benefit of my posterity). The publishing company was able to do that for me, provided a minimal advance and the book was on the market. Unfortunately, the publisher has been unable to keep up with the demands of the market (based on sales). As a new author, I did not anticipate the tremendous success the book's received. As a result, my expectations have changed for publishing the sequel.
The second book is ready for submission and I will begin the process of looking for a publisher that can keep up with sales. My expectations have developed into a larger picture for the book(s) with sales already anticipated prior to the release of the book. So, as of now, I am looking for a publisher that can produce and support a solid market for a novel series. Marketing is necessary as well, particularly as I am assertive with marketing on my end and already have several book sigining and speaking engagements scheduled into 2011. I will need a publisher that can keep up with the schedule and the market of the book. At this point, I have been without an agent. After speaking in depth with a marketing rep. last night, I'm reconsidering the need for an agent in lieu of an aggressive marketer. Again, this would be an avenue the publisher would need to be able to support, something I have not experienced from the first novel's publisher.
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Supply... This is one of the most crucial aspects of publishing. The "What if" of the book. This was a worry of ours when we first started, as we wanted to ensure that in the event if a hit book we could stay with the demand, that is why we own our own printing and binding facility, and can handle up to 5000 books per week if need be. However, also we have access to offset press facilities if demand dictates this.
Being a publisher these days is demanding, however the author deserves to have their book treated like it is the only one the publisher has.
Marti Melville said:My expectations evolve as my experience increases. When I published my first book, I was interested only in getting the story in print (mainly for the benefit of my posterity). The publishing company was able to do that for me, provided a minimal advance and the book was on the market. Unfortunately, the publisher has been unable to keep up with the demands of the market (based on sales). As a new author, I did not anticipate the tremendous success the book's received. As a result, my expectations have changed for publishing the sequel.
The second book is ready for submission and I will begin the process of looking for a publisher that can keep up with sales. My expectations have developed into a larger picture for the book(s) with sales already anticipated prior to the release of the book. So, as of now, I am looking for a publisher that can produce and support a solid market for a novel series. Marketing is necessary as well, particularly as I am assertive with marketing on my end and already have several book sigining and speaking engagements scheduled into 2011. I will need a publisher that can keep up with the schedule and the market of the book. At this point, I have been without an agent. After speaking in depth with a marketing rep. last night, I'm reconsidering the need for an agent in lieu of an aggressive marketer. Again, this would be an avenue the publisher would need to be able to support, something I have not experienced from the first novel's publisher.
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Thanks for the reply. That is the kind of transparency I look for and exactly for that reason. I see too many getting ripped off. I'm not including your business in those that do so I hasten to add but what seems to me like obvious questions aren't addressed on the site. This is sincerely a constructive criticism and I apologize if I sounded harsh. You might want to think about how many other writers would have just left your site instead of asking and how much business that's losing you.
I would consider adding that information to it, particularly the name selection part so they know you didn't just throw your site up on an old domain or had to change the publishing house name because it had a bad reputation. Try seeing it through an author's eyes. It doesn't take much to put them off handing over their baby to a stranger. Thanks again for your response and Merry Christmas.
2 Moon Press Publishing said:.... I agree that with the flux of online publishers an author has to be careful, however also I am not sure what kind of transparency you are wanting?
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Kay,
Sound advice, and soundly taken.
We are in the process of doing many changes to the site for January 1st, and I plan to heed your opinions and add some more definitive info about us. Great points all around from everyone...Thank You...
Kay Elizabeth said:
Thanks for the reply. That is the kind of transparency I look for and exactly for that reason. I see too many getting ripped off. I'm not including your business in those that do so I hasten to add but what seems to me like obvious questions aren't addressed on the site. This is sincerely a constructive criticism and I apologize if I sounded harsh. You might want to think about how many other writers would have just left your site instead of asking and how much business that's losing you.
I would consider adding that information to it, particularly the name selection part so they know you didn't just throw your site up on an old domain or had to change the publishing house name because it had a bad reputation. Try seeing it through an author's eyes. It doesn't take much to put them off handing over their baby to a stranger. Thanks again for your response and Merry Christmas.
2 Moon Press Publishing said:.... I agree that with the flux of online publishers an author has to be careful, however also I am not sure what kind of transparency you are wanting?
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