I'll tell you one last thing, though. I've been on this site many times. I've always thought of it as a very reliable resource. I'm disappointed to see the CQ debate going on here.
If that's the case then surely you can see why there are questions being raised?
I'm no newbie, I know what I'm doing and I've been doing it for quite a few years now. Being unpublished prior to CQ doesn't mean I'm dumb and prone to making rash decisions, you know? I realize none of you said that, but I'm putting it out there anyway.
But by being unpulbished it would suggest that you lack experience of how the publishing industry works and what is good and bad practice. As such it makes it harder for inexperienced folk to see the concerns - this is why companies like Publish America still exist - they rely on inexperience authors who don't know any better.
Now, I'm not saying that CQP is a bad press, but I am saying that there are legitimate concerns based on their business model, experience etc. If you choose to ignore those concerns then by all means that's you perogative. But for all those other folk, new and old and lurkers alike, it's important to raise potential issues. It doesn't mean anyone is bashing the press. It's a rational discussion about the merits or potential problems with a new publisher using unconventional methods that those of us with actual experience in the industry have seen fail over and over and over.
You should have a read of CathyC's post here on why publishers fail -
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=241409
Shaldna, to clarify, yes we pay based on gross income, as received by ourselves. What started out as an attempt to clarify (for instance, in some cases we ship books ourselves, at which point we DO deduct shipping) turned into a massive confusion of terms. In plain English, royalties are paid out of what we receive from retailers / distributors / etc, and all marketing costs, cover art, editing etc are covered by CQ.
Thank you for clarifying.
As to some of our authors coming to talk to you, someone from this forum contacted CQ and said 'you're getting some bad press here, I like your stuff so thought I'd give you a heads up', so yes, it got around our author community.
Except it wasn't 'bad press' - it was a question on a public message board for writers - as I'm sure you've seen when you read the posts here.
That said, the sudden creation of brand spanking new accounts here created solely for the purpose of posting on this thread is suspicious - it makes it seem like it's CQP doing it. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that it's just 'passionate authors' - but those authors might want to realise how it looks to the common man reading this thread. Sometimes helping isn't really helping.
Curiosity Quills rocks. The "concerns" raised here remind me of the monkeys in a cage experiment.
Wow, you're very first post here is to insult people? Really?
The concerns raised her are legitimate concerns that would get raised about any other publisher. Trust me - just read some of the threads about the Big Six and even there you'll see concerns and issues getting raised.
Many of the folks who post here are either invested, or hope to invest, in the legacy publishing model.
And many of the folks here have self published, some have done both. What's your point here? Because it sounds like you are trying to say that the folks here are picking on a new publisher because they are what? Threatened?
Some of us are trying to write original fiction, not market-greased ya fantasy or sports novels, for example.
And again with the insults. It doesn't help your case.
The main rule we have here is Respect Your Fellow Writer - that means all writers, regardless of what they write or whether you think they are orginal or worthy enough to be called a writer.
For instance, I could just have easily said something like 'Some of us are trying to write something fun and entertaining, not over written, naval gazing pap.'
But I didn't. Because that would have been disrespectful.
Think about it.
My apologies. I see must have bruised some egos (not my intent), so I'll get to my point.
You didn't bruise egos, but you did insult an awful lot of people and a whole industry.
One thing I couldn't find on their site that I'm not certain if it's been mentioned upthread (quick scan reveals it hasn't) is who are these people? I see a lot about the authors but nothing about the staff. Who are they? What experience do they bring to the table? Have they worked in publishing? A detailed "about us" listing the staff and mentioning their experience would certainly help build their case, especially since they're still a relatively new publisher.
And again, this is something we see over and over again - usually when those folks don't have any experience.
Could you please explain to us how CQP is an experimental venture? Especially in light of the fact that, so far, they appear to be doing exactly what hundreds of micropresses -- most of which have, unfortunately, failed -- before them have done? Explicit details about what they're doing differently would be relevant to this discussion.
And again, I would direct folks to the link I posted above.