Comments on: Guest Author: Emily Veinglory

by: Karma

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 12:54:17 +0000

Not sure if this information helps, but a few days ago it was announced that Amber Quill Press is now considered a “recognized” RWA publisher since several of their authors have applied and have been accepted for PAN status (meaning their book sales are high enough to qualify). Since Amber Quill puts all of their e-books into paperback within 1 to 2 weeks after the e-book is released (they don’t have any “quotas” of e-sales before doing the paperback versions), several authors (M. L. Rhodes, for one) have had books on the Amazon best-seller lists. M. L. Rhodes even hit #1 on the “Gay Best-Seller List” for her book “Falling.” Therefore, the sales numbers at AQP between e-versions and paperbacks combined must be quite nice for several authors.

by: Dil Marion

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 12:48:37 +0000

This is a most interesting and useful site. I wish I had discovered it some time ago. It will be interesting to see how many, and if, my two current releases sell. One is with The Wild Rose Press, a great and most helpful company to write for, and the other is with the older established company, Wings.
Dil

by: vanessa jaye

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:27:59 +0000

I have a number of writing buddies who are pubbed by ebook and NY who were more than willing to share info and their experiences with various publishers, but if I didn’t have that type of luck, your site would have been a life saver, Emily. Kudos! I’m still bookmarking your site cause it never hurts to understand the larger picture.

by: Emily Veinglory

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 22:35:02 +0000

[prod]

;)

by: AllyBlue

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:02:58 +0000

I totally lucked out, getting in with Loose Id with my first book, then later being invited to submit to Samhain. My sales from either won’t support my family, but I think I’m doing pretty well. Forgotten Song, my very first book, still sells at a steady rate each month. And it still sells a far cry more than TEN copies, btw LOL. That’s been the case with all my titles so far. And both publishers have been responsive, helpful, and professional across the board. I do love that I have print books as well, from Samhain *g* Those have been doing very well, btw. Willow Bend consistently stays in the top ten in gay/lesbian fiction on Amazon.

Thanks for an interesting and informative article, Em I keep meaning to send you info for the site. Prod me, maybe I’ll remember eventually O_O

by: Wylie

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:33:21 +0000

Brilliant, Emily. I sure could have used this info 2 years ago!! But all is well now that I’ve learned the hard way

by: Emily Veinglory

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:41:05 +0000

I agree that other things are important, although in my experience larger presses also tend to be the one with more responsive and more skilled editors, better cover art and more interaction and investment. Whereas new small presses that promise to be friendly on the website let loose the dogs of war when questioned IMHO some presses have it all.

There are some of the smaller, newer epresses that I have a ‘publisher crush’ on but that is a subject for another day

by: Lauren Dane

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:37:21 +0000

You’re totally right. It’s a point that’s often lost. In the rush to get a book bought and published, some folks tend to not take into account the size of the publisher. So sure, a relatively new epub will buy you and put your book out two months later, but you’ll sell 5 copies. If you invest patience and send it to a bigger epublisher and wait for a reply - you can sell a hell of a lot more at EC or Samhain. It may take up to a year but thousands of copies in your first month versus ten is worth it, IMO.

There are other things to think about than sales - how you’re treated, if the publisher is invested in you as an author, what the final product is like (as in, how’s the editing? What do the covers look like? What does the cart look like, is it easy to use or does it only take paypal when you dance around the room counterclockwise on the first Tuesday of the month, etc). Are they responsive to you? I hear about authors emailing editors ten times before they get an answer for something totally simple. That’s unacceptable. Do your questions get answered?

This stuff is all big picture stuff, which is hard sometimes, to focus on when you’re brand new and you want to be published so badly. But it’s important and in the long run, you’ll regret it if you miss the forest for the trees so to speak.

All of us have our own goals. We find different things important so it’s not like my bottom line is yours or someone else’s. But I’m glad your site is there for people to get the info to make decisions better.

by: Bonnie Dee

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:52:03 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you, and I wish I’d known all this as a newbie a few years ago. I had to struggle and make one very poor choice before I learned the truths about the epub industry. Emily, I’ll be sure and give you some of my numbers to help in your survey site.

by: Bettie

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:29:05 +0000

Great article! I’m bookmarking it, and the EREC site.