Should I go with this publisher?

[namechange1032]

I've had a contract sent to me by a publisher. I should be delighted but feel really down as the publisher has tacky book covers and seems to sell a lot of romance and erotica.

My book is a crime novella. I have a writer friend who told me to pass on the publisher. I'm still waiting to hear back from 40 publishers, or thereabouts so it's early days. I'm really concerned that if I turn down this publisher, that I won't get another offer. My writer friend says, you've got one offer so should get another and to take the gamble. I really don't know what to do.

The publisher has already reformatted my book. I told them to stop work on the book until I've signed the contract. They said ok. If I accept I'd speak to the society of authors to check over the contract.

What would you do?

I'm also leery of a publisher who starts formatting without a contract. It's a good idea to find some authors and ask them what they think. I could get some books from Amazon but judging by the covers, I'm not expecting great quality. I read some Amazon reviews and there wasn't anything about typos or grammar mistakes.

I tried to get an agent with my last novel but was unsuccessful. I really can't be bothered to try again as it's so time consuming. I'm applying to publishers myself. I'll show the contract to the society of authors and get their opinion on it if I do ho ahead. Which is looking unlikely.

The royalties looks pretty average to me. The best I've seen is 50/50 split between publisher and author. There's no advance.im going ahead without an agent. I don't think they are print on demand and the contract is for paperback/ebook/audiobook.

As well as erotica, they do YA and mainstream books such as paranormal, fantast and horror. My crime book is mixed genre as it entails some speculative elements.

I've checked both lists thank you for posting them.

Sounds to me like you should negotiate. Say you’re keen to go ahead but want your book cover to be classy and can you have a right to final approval / commission your own designer if theirs can’t produce a design you’re happy with.

Formatting with Vellum software takes a few seconds, not a big deal at all.

Doesn't sound like a legit offer at all.

I also think the approach of the publisher is concerning. You're right about the copyright/editing process. They've sent me a list of things to change but it's minor things like quote marks. Nothing major. Also no notes about changes to the story or anything like that.

I don't really want to go with them as their covers are so tacky. They sell other types of book including paranormal and horror as well as YA. They just seems to have a lot of erotica on their homepage.

The only reason I would go with them is because I'm concerned about not getting another offer. There are lots of crap publishers out there, you're right and I don't want to get ripped off.

That's a really good point, re distribution and marketing and something to be confirmed before any contract is signed. I really don't want to self publish. I tried and got ripped off.

You can’t go with them out of fear of not getting another offer - nothing you’ve said about them sound promising, good or right for you. There’s absolutely no point in going with them - IMO it’s a bad professional decision to make. But it’s your decision, so good luck with whatever path you choose.

Negotiation is definitely on the cards if I do go ahead. I don't think there's a chance I'll have a say in the cover. They actually have already sent me a list of info they want about the protagonist such as eye colour and height so they can start on the cover. Their covers are mostly men with six packs.

It's 'legit' in that it's a publisher of twenty years who make and sell books. That's as far as it goes.

As I'm writing about them, I'm seeing that this probably isn't a wise choice. Thanks for your concern though. I'm reading and taking in the warnings and concern. My friend who writes has also told me to turn them down as they're not a good fit.

They don't sound at all credible to me. The royalties are definitely not what you would expect from a traditional publisher - normally you'd only get about 10 percent of the retail price as obviously print publishing has high costs. It sounds more like some kind of print on demand thing to me which would mean no physical copies in any shops.

Tread with caution because if they own the rights for 3 years but your book doesn't reach an audience because they don't market then you are much, much worse off than self publishing because your book won't be selling and you won't be able to do anything.

I've seen trad publishers offer up to 50 per cent royalty to authors. These are small indie book publishers.

It's not print on demand, their website says:

"Our books are not only available on our website, they are distributed worldwide through many third-party channels. We strive to bring the best of fiction to the reading public."

So they distribute their books rather than do print on demand. I get what you're saying about treading carefully and am moving towards giving them a swerve, even though I want to be published.

Ingram Spark distributes, many small
publishers use them, but they ARE POD.

"Distribted worldwide" doesn't necessarily mean they are stocked in bookstores, only that they are available to distributors worldwide. I think if you avoid for now you can always come back to them later if nothing better turns up. It doesn't sound like a now or never offer.

It would be interesting to find out whether they market their books, and if so then how. They no doubt spend very little on covers, and essentially don't bother with editing. Formatting doesn't cost anything. So anything the book makes is close to pure profit for them. That having been said, if they do no marketing at all a book is likely to sell very few copies. My guess is that once the contract has been signed they put pressure on the writer to do lots of marketing themselves (which, to be fair, I think respected publishers do too). I think it would be similar to self-publishing, but with no choice over the cover and with half the royalties.

"Our books are not only available on our website, they are distributed worldwide through many third-party channels. We strive to bring the best of fiction to the reading public."

I read something recently - possibly by the author who runs the Author Beware list - saying that 'distributed worldwide' means absolutely nothing, given the accessibility of e-books to international readers.

This sounds like a very bad idea. I'd be interested to know what their acceptance/rejection rate is. I also wouldn't be at all surprised if the contract turns out to have a clause requiring you to pay towards costs of editing etc, or to purchase copies of your own book. I recently found out that someone I know who has books out with two very small publishers actually had to purchase a large number of copies of the first one. I was horrified, as I thought both of his publishers were legitimate, albeit tiny and lacking in reach. There are some very murky grey areas between self-publishing and trad publishing and if something doesn't look quite right, it's probably not.

I'm sorry to say this but if this is the only offer you've had and no agent has taken you on ( and debut novellas wouldn't be picked up from a debut writer) it might be better to submit to a professional editor and get a professional critique before submitting again and again.

This is all moot as I received another offer today. I'm just waiting for a copy of the contract. Thanks everyone for your great advice. I really appreciate it.

Great news. Congratulations.

Thanks

Fantastic! And you're happy with this publisher? Hurrah !

The publisher is very small. So I'm holding back waiting to see if I get anymore offers. There are a couple of publishers who are my favourites that are medium sized and have a lot of reach. So I'm holding out waiting for more offers.

Exciting times.

I'm worried now. The publisher has given me until September 1st for a decision on their offer. I've sent the contract to the society of authors to check it out but it looked ok to me. I've asked about book distribution ie are the books in the shops or if it's print on demand. I haven't heard back yet.

I don't know whether to turn them down and wait for a better offer from a larger publisher, or take the offer and get my book published. What if I don't get another offer?

My writer friend told me to turn them down and wait for a better offer.