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neilmarr · 03-28-2010, 04:32 AM

***We can only clean your book up so much, it needs serious work"--then offer to do that work, for a fee***

That, Steve, would put us in the same sub class as 'subsidised' publishing, which is really just a front to sell publishing services, including editorial.

ALL the time we have is dedicated to making good books better, empowering the author and satisfying the reader. Editors working for a specific house cannot afford the time to work on a sub-standard manuscript that isn't even ready for edit.

And if a house adjusts its policy on the lines you suggest to the extent that it becomes what amounts to vanity press, what does the reader get? You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Publishers working this model would soon find that it wasn't worth working pro bono on even good books. It would all become a matter of who pays gets published

If an author wants to pay for services, OK, let him/her go to a company or freelance whose job it is to do that. The net's bursting with 'em. Most authors will not spend the money, though, and want the free professional services of a publishing house with an experience and expert staff and that covers everything and all costs.

You'd be as amazed as I am disappointed to see terrible manuscripts I've declined popping up as self published at places like Lulu, word for word in their awful original form -- complete with bad grammar and spelling mistakes as well as wobbly story lines, carboard characters, wooden dialogue -- the whole catalogue of incompentence.

I must repeat, Steve, that not all self-publishers (some of whom turn to the system not because of rejection but because they cling to their independence) turn out unreadable nonsense. There are rare gems. But it's tough to find them in the free and cheap section which is to all intents and purposes a public slush pile.

My policy, though, is that the client is the reader and NOT the author. An author should pay NOTHING toward publication of his book. Not a red cent. I see that as a form of bribery and am profoundly hurt by the not infrequent offers I get from 'authors' to pay BeWrite Books to achieve publication with us.

For paperbacks, we use a print on demand (non-inventory) system, but POD -- once an innocent term for a new print technology -- has become confued with PUBLISH on Demand, which is a business model.

Best wishes.

03-28-2010, 04:32 AM	#18
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,215 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	*We can only clean your book up so much, it needs serious work"--then offer to do that work, for a fee* That, Steve, would put us in the same sub class as 'subsidised' publishing, which is really just a front to sell publishing services, including editorial. ALL the time we have is dedicated to making good books better, empowering the author and satisfying the reader. Editors working for a specific house cannot afford the time to work on a sub-standard manuscript that isn't even ready for edit. And if a house adjusts its policy on the lines you suggest to the extent that it becomes what amounts to vanity press, what does the reader get? You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Publishers working this model would soon find that it wasn't worth working pro bono on even good books. It would all become a matter of who pays gets published If an author wants to pay for services, OK, let him/her go to a company or freelance whose job it is to do that. The net's bursting with 'em. Most authors will not spend the money, though, and want the free professional services of a publishing house with an experience and expert staff and that covers everything and all costs. You'd be as amazed as I am disappointed to see terrible manuscripts I've declined popping up as self published at places like Lulu, word for word in their awful original form -- complete with bad grammar and spelling mistakes as well as wobbly story lines, carboard characters, wooden dialogue -- the whole catalogue of incompentence. I must repeat, Steve, that not all self-publishers (some of whom turn to the system not because of rejection but because they cling to their independence) turn out unreadable nonsense. There are rare gems. But it's tough to find them in the free and cheap section which is to all intents and purposes a public slush pile. My policy, though, is that the client is the reader and NOT the author. An author should pay NOTHING toward publication of his book. Not a red cent. I see that as a form of bribery and am profoundly hurt by the not infrequent offers I get from 'authors' to pay BeWrite Books to achieve publication with us. For paperbacks, we use a print on demand (non-inventory) system, but POD -- once an innocent term for a new print technology -- has become confued with PUBLISH on Demand, which is a business model. Best wishes.