Wow. Seriously, WOW.
It finally happened.
After nearly two years, and rejection after rejection,
someone actually said, “Yes!”
A publisher is interested in my book. They sent a
contract and everything. So, being the
responsible writer that I am, I looked into them. (After I did my crazy happy spazz dance and Facebooked my friends)
The first thing I did was
check out their site. Pretty covers, nice priced books, they sell on Amazon,
and in Brick and Mortar stores, good, good…
Now I moved to check the Preditors and Editors website. This is where things started to go bad. The site actually uses the words “strongly do
not recommend.” There are complaints against them, and even a lawsuit filed by
a group of their authors. Claims of failure to pay royalties, rude editors, an
inability to get a hold of anyone at the company when an author has a question,
the list goes on…
Then we have the contract that my husband and friend, Nancy
had to explain to me. A few things in it don’t really jive. They are worded in
such a way that it seems unlikely that I’ll have to worry, but…I could end up
paying a whole lot of money for their mistakes.
So, what do I do? Jump in, hope that the fact that they love
my book is enough to keep me from running into any problems? Or back out, even
though I have no other offers, and potentially never will?
I am totally sick about this. I still don't know what I'm going to do...But it's part of the journey, right? RIGHT?
Your head's in the right place. The only thing I take issue with in this post is the phrase, "potentially never will."
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean you'll be "paying money" for their mistakes? Don't go with a publisher that asks for any money.
ReplyDeleteWhich book did they ask for? I'm excited for your "yes" and proud that you are being cautious. Yay for you!
ReplyDeleteAfter having a bad agent experience with Gary's book, I would say pay attention to those red flags and don't get yourself into something that will potentially be a bad deal. I strongly agree with Heather Moore above that you should never go with anyone who makes you pay money upfront (another red flag). I'll have Gary read all this stuff too and I'm sure he'll have an opinion.
ReplyDeleteThey aren't asking for money up front. It's more like, "If this goes wrong, it's the author's responsibility to pay for it." But the thing that's sort of worrying me is just the number of complaints they have on Preditors and Editors. And if you google them, a whole lotta stuff comes up, which could be just bitter people, or things that they've fixed since then, but I really don't know. Also, they sent me a contract right away instead of talking to me about the MS, like revisions they would want, etc. I know it's not perfect. It's my first one, and I wrote it nearly 2 years ago. If I expect that there's stuff to fix, why don't they? So I sound stupid, being like, Um...it's not really that good to just take it "as is" right? Don't they have an editor? Or, maybe I am going to burn the one bridge I've got. It's not like people are beating down the door for this thing.
ReplyDeleteLove this post, love that you're being careful. And it's great to have such a good sounding board by way of friends and associates who've been there. Hugs hugs, and more hugs. :-)
ReplyDeleteMaybe ask an agent to step in and help you. You want to make sure the contract is fair. Plus, the agent may know things about the publishing house the average Google search may turn up. I think that might be your best bet.
ReplyDeleteI was reading a CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL book and stumbled upon a story called "How Much Does It Cost?" The story talked about how actions come with a price, and instead of asking "how much does it cost?", you should ask "how much might it cost?"
Ask yourself "how much might this cost?" and figure out if it is worth it to you.
Good luck! :)