Emerging Publisher Looking for Submissions

[Patrick Brothers]

My brother and I are currently in the process of wanting to start our own publishing company. Don't fret. I'm not some outsider who has come here to shamelessly promote his product. I'm an insider who has come here to shamelessly promote his product. You may know me by my alter ego "cjpatrick." This product, however, costs nothing right now. Why? you ask. Because I may be offering nothing in return...okay so I'm not the best salesman. Let me explain...

I am an avid Kindle reader. I think electronic publishing IS the way of the future. I think indie books will save our beloved art form from going to the way of television (realty based crap.) No longer will big publishing houses decide which book to publish with a "is this the next DaVinci code?" mentality.

So here is what I am offering: I am currently working a company that is essentially a publisher-lite. What I want to do is take manuscripts and turn them into highly marketable and exciting electronically formatted novels. I have a few people who happen to share this vision with me. I have an artist, a few graphical designers, and a couple of editors who are thrilled to undertake this project. We don't, however, know if this is going to be something feasible with our current careers, lives, financial backing, etc.

I promise, I'm getting to my point.

Here it comes...

So we want to do a test run. A free-trial version of what we hope to offer in the future. This is where all of you come in. If you're interested you may submit your manuscripts to us and we will be reading them over the next few months. We will then choose our favorite and have a small team of proofreaders and editors go over your work while staying in close communication with you. We will then design a beautiful, appropriate cover for your work and hopefully begin to advertise for your new novel. You shall retain all publishing rights to your work. I repeat we want nothing right now. Only that you give us your trust and a chance. I am a writer myself and I understand your fears that someone may snatch your work and make millions off of it. I encourage you to take whatever precautions you feel necessary before handing us your work. We can sign faxed papers, etc. Whatever you need. We simply want to test out our product and maybe give a talented aspiring author a hand in the process.

Any format is acceptable. We would prefer PDF or something that we may be able to read via Kindle (for eye strain purposes of course.) But we will accept anything.

Deadline for submissions is November 15th. The chosen work will be announced February 1st 2010. Email all submissions/questions to PatrickBrothersPublishing@gmail.com

Thanks for your help,
Cory Patrick
Patrick Brothers Publishing

[J.E.Johnson]

Hello Mr. Patrick,
    Your offer sounds like a pretty good one, but I'll have to think about it for a while.  Thank you for giving us this opportunity!
-Jenna Elizabeth Johnson

[J Dean]

I willl certainly keep you in mind, Mr. Patrick.  Would you be interested in a short story submission?

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

My brother and I are currently in the process of wanting to start our own publishing company. Don't fret. I'm not some outsider who has come here to shamelessly promote his product. I'm an insider who has come here to shamelessly promote his product. You may know me by my alter ego "cjpatrick." This product, however, costs nothing right now. Why? you ask. Because I may be offering nothing in return...okay so I'm not the best salesman. Let me explain...

I would suggest that if you are going to be a real publisher, not only should it not cost an author one friggin dime, but you should be PAYING THEM. 

The job of a real publisher is to take on all of the financial responsibility of the process and to pay the author.  Anything less is a scam.  Period. 

The job of a publisher is to:

Select works for publication.
Edit, proof, and design the work for publication.
Distribute the publication.
Market the publication.
PAY the author (royalties, or in the case of an anthology, a flat fee or per word fee)

No longer will big publishing houses decide which book to publish with a "is this the next DaVinci code?" mentality.

I guess you don't read ANY industry publications.  Have no idea that there are thousands of real small and university presses out there still publishing significant literary work.  Never occurred to you that while the top ten bestsellers are the DaVinci codes and Harry Potters, that bookstores stock more than ten titles.  In fact, they stock thousands.  The majority of which the publisher never expected to sell more than 10,000 copies. 

I'm tired of reading this urban myth, because it is self-serving and has no basis in reality.  It is not the industry's fault if you are too lazy to read beyond the NYT bestseller's list and you think that is all the world has to offer.

The problem is not that big publishing houses only publish bestsellers.  The problem is that writers think that there is nothing between the bestsellers and them.  There is an entire universe of presses large and small that have no interest in chasing bestsellers.  University presses, small presses, botique presses. 

Sorry to go off on a tangent.  But it is not fair to authors to feed your own desire to be a "publisher" without making sure you have the resources to do it right.  And from your own comments, you aren't sure if you do.  The world does not need another "publisher" with no bankroll that expects writers to work for free while he tries to figure out what he is doing.  You want to play publisher, experiment on yourselves first.  If you can turn a profit, then use that profit to invest in other authors.  You've published your own work on Kindle.  Have you turned a profit?  Yes, then you have the money to pay authors.  No, then you have no business trying to market other authors. 

[Thumper]

So here is what I am offering: I am currently working a company that is essentially a publisher-lite. What I want to do is take manuscripts and turn them into highly marketable and exciting electronically formatted novels. I have a few people who happen to share this vision with me. I have an artist, a few graphical designers, and a couple of editors who are thrilled to undertake this project. We don't, however, know if this is going to be something feasible with our current careers, lives, financial backing, etc.

No offense, but don't start this until you're 100% committed to it. As it is, anyone with beginning skills can electronically publish their own work and don't really need a middle man. If you're going to do it, go all the way--you have to get into the print side as well, complete with distribution and fulfillment.

It's not easy and it's not exactly cheap, but you're playing with writers' professional lives here, so there's no doing it halfway.

And pick right from that start--are you a straight-out publisher or a subsidy press? You can't start out doing freebies and then switch mid-way...it taints your writer's reputations if they're suddenly associated with "vanity" publishing when they wanted nothing to do with it from the outset. There's nothing wrong with subsidy publishing, but be fair to the writers coming to you; either charge from the outset, or learn what it takes to launch and keep a publishing house running.

[Patrick Brothers]

I think you misunderstand us. We are not asking anyone to work for free. On the contrary, we are offering a service that we are charging nothing for at the moment. We have the money to edit, format, advertise, and make covers for the author that allows us to work on their book. They stand to lose nothing. In the future, yes, we will buy the rights to the books. As for now, we want nothing in return, no part of the profits. We only want to help someone out. We are going to invest a good deal of money into whichever novel we choose to "publish." And we are doing so without any claim to the book. They will get whatever profits their book manages to sell. Essentially we are not a publishing company yet. We are in the beginning stages of becoming one. There truly is no risk here for the author. We look at this expenditure on our part as an investment towards the future of our company. Needless to say, nobody is charging the author a dime as it has been put.

If you still believe this is a scam, then there is nothing we can do to convince you otherwise. You have the right not to submit to us, and that is fine. But if someone else chooses to take advantage of this opportunity I see no reason why that should offend you on any moral basis. We are well aware of smaller publishing houses, we are also aware that they have very limited availability. We feel that the electronic format is a way to reach the masses for a smaller cost than traditionally associated with paper publishing. So no. We will not be doing paper publishing as well. Electronic publishing is the future. There is a desire to bring some legitimacy to electronic publishing. If an independent author chooses to sell us one of their works, knowing full well it will only be published electronically that is their choice. If anyone has any questions please feel free to email us.
Thanks,
Cory Patrick
Patrick Brothers Publishing

[J.E.Johnson]

I will be keeping a close eye on this thread, but I do have another question:  do you prefer any genres or do you want anything and everything?
-Jenna

[Patrick Brothers]

We are looking into anything and everything at the moment. I would say we're probably going to shy away from the Romance genre. But all is accepted. What we really desire is fictional work that rings with truth. We love to read a book and feel touched. We want to know our characters as if they were our own family. Better even. We want to live inside the minds of people, something we never get the chance to do in real life. That's what makes fiction so wonderful. In ways it can be more real than reality.

[Thumper]

I think you misunderstand us. We are not asking anyone to work for free. On the contrary, we are offering a service that we are charging nothing for at the moment.

This makes it sound like subsidy is a potential part of your business future. I'd find another way to state it, if that's not your intention.

If you still believe this is a scam, then there is nothing we can do to convince you otherwise. You have the right not to submit to us, and that is fine.

Never said it was a scam, just that you needed to decide right from that start what kind of company you choose to be. There's no moral judgment here, only an interest in fairness to writers who might seek publication through you. There's nothing wrong with offering subsidy services, as long as writers you publish know upfront that's the business model you may or may not pursue. It did sound like that was a consideration.

But no, I will not be submitting anything as I already own a publishing company--it does not nor will it ever purchase an author's rights, as they should own them outright--and it's doing quite well. If I didn't have this, who knows? If you offered DTBs, perhaps.

I can tell you this: from a profitability standpoint, offering co-existing print publishing is still necessary. E-books are becoming more and more accepted, but most people still want a book in hand--and that includes the authors who want something tangible. Utilization of print quantity needed makes this side of it extremely doable and softens much of the risk involved.

[Greg Banks]

I don't have a problem with what you're trying to do, Cory, but if you're going to call yourself a publisher, you either need to commit to it all the way (even if you're only doing a test run right now), or find another term for your business. I think your intention is to be a publisher who helps authors publish and market their ebooks, but your description sounds more like the kinds of services I offer authors, and I am in no way remotely acting as a publisher on their behalf. This is a field where there are a lot of subtle and blatant scams, so you just need to be very specific about what you're planning to offer and how you're planning to go about it.

[Patrick Brothers]

We will be publishing.

[Patrick Brothers]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their submissions so far. We have read some really great stuff. We appreciate your interest in this opportunity immensely. Keep them coming!


Thanks,
Cory Patrick

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

I think you misunderstand us. We are not asking anyone to work for free. On the contrary, we are offering a service that we are charging nothing for at the moment. We have the money to edit, format, advertise, and make covers for the author that allows us to work on their book. They stand to lose nothing. In the future, yes, we will buy the rights to the books. As for now, we want nothing in return, no part of the profits. We only want to help someone out. We are going to invest a good deal of money into whichever novel we choose to "publish." And we are doing so without any claim to the book. They will get whatever profits their book manages to sell. Essentially we are not a publishing company yet. We are in the beginning stages of becoming one. There truly is no risk here for the author. We look at this expenditure on our part as an investment towards the future of our company. Needless to say, nobody is charging the author a dime as it has been put.

What "rights" will you be buying?  Because in order to publish someone else's work, they will need to assign some rights to you already.  If you are actually serving as the publisher, you will legally NEED to request certain rights in order to manufacture and distribute the book.

If you are NOT manufacturing and distributing the book, but only formatting and marketing it, then you are NOT a publisher, but a publicist.