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Ari's Editing House / Time-To-Read (Roxane Christ)

Judi Bee

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Listmates,

This is my first post here. I hope someone can give me some information I need for a writer-friend. She has been approached by an "editor" named Roxane Christ to be included in her periodical which she will use for promoting new writers to agents/publishers. My friend has asked my opinion. I think it's a scam, but I would like someone else's input before I say that to her. I could be wrong. Following is my friend's email to me:

"The catch is, it costs. I'll give you the outline of the costs below. I
have no idea if this is just a money making scheme for her or if this is the
sort of thing one must do these days to get noticed/published?
COSTS
The editing fee is included into the 'participation package', which
comprises the editing and publishing of your story. The minimum 'insertion
fee' is $50 US for a 2750 word story (or a 10 pages story). Anything over
ten pages, if selected for insertion, would incur a further $5.00 US per
page (a page containing 275 words).

If you wish for your story (within the publication) to be presented to an
agent or to a publisher, the submission fee vary according to the number of
agents and/or publishers to which the publication is presented. The average
number of agents and/or publishers that would be interested is 7 (up to 10).
For example, there are only a few publishers in the US which publish
children stories or short stories. Therefore, we select the best suited
publishers/agents for the type of story and write a submission dedicated to
your Work.

Each submission fee covers the writing of the submission and the shipping of
Time-To-Read to these selected agents and/or publishers. The minimum fee is
$30 US per submission. Thus, if we have selected 5 suitable agents and/or
publishers for your story, we would call for a fee of $150 US.

Please Note: The 'minimum' fee is based on a straight forward submission,
which contains a brief biography of the author, and which answers all of the
questions the agents and/or publishers needs to make a selection. However,
if your story contains complex layout (i.e. photographs, graphics, complex
tables, etc...) or is destined to a particular readership (i.e. schools,
universities, etc...) the submission fee may be as high as $100 US per
submission."

Any comments will be welcome. I don't want my friend to make a costly
mistake, but neither do I want her to miss an opportunity if that's what
this is.

Thank you.

PS--If any of you belong to Publish-L, you'll realize this is a cross-post. I know a person's not supposed to do that, but I feel this is kind of a desperate situation.
 

MacAllister

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Judi,
I'm off to do some digging for google-dirt on this "editor"-person and her publication, but it sounds very much like a display-site sort of thing.

Display sites do not work--for a variety of reasons. Time and again, this has been discussed. You can do a search on it here in the Beware's room, and I expect other people will be along to confirm this.

Also, it flies directly in the face of Yog's law: Money flows toward the writer.

So the short answer is that yes, it sounds like a scam at worst; a waste of time and money, at best.
 

StoryG27

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Sounds like a scam, at least it is a huge waste of money.
 

MacAllister

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Okay, Roxane Christ has a editor, translator, cover-designer, ghostwriter freelance website up, here.

There's a testimonial from an author who has a self-published book through Lulu.com, here.

The publication your friend seems to be asking about is posted here. It looks, essentially, like they're (mysterious, non-specific "we" used, but no other names mentioned besides Ms. Christ's) planning to self-publish a collection of short-stories and excerpts--you pay to be included.

Then, you pay again if you want her to sub your work somewhere.

Tell your friend to run away.
 

CaoPaux

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I won, w00t! :banana:

Good Ghod, do you think she's accepting money to submit folks to AuthorHouse?!
 
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DaveKuzminski

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By submitting to publishers, in effect, she's acting like an agent. P&E's opinion would rate her a "not recommended".
 

MacAllister

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I won, w00t! :banana:
That's cuz you were already googling while I posted my thoughtful reply and went looking for the link to Yog's law...heh. That'll learn me!

Good Ghod, do you think she's accepting money to submit folks to AuthorHouse?!
Oh, geez...I hope not! It sorta looks like that, though.
 

CaoPaux

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DaveKuzminski said:
By submitting to publishers, in effect, she's acting like an agent. P&E's opinion would rate her a "not recommended".
I nominate this to be the understatement of the year.

ETA: I checked the rest of the books on her site...although a few don't give pub info, ALL of the rest are by AuthorHouse. :faint:
 
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victoriastrauss

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Another consideration: it's pointless to submit short stories to agents and publishers. Agents don't represent short stories. And publishers publish books.

I don't think this is a scam. IMO, it falls squarely in the "clueless" category. Which, resultswise, is more or less the same thing.

- Victoria
 

Dhewco

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Hey, Dave, you reckon she makes them pay .32 (or whatever a stamp costs these days) to send them the 15 percent of that dollar? LOL
 

Judi Bee

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Roxane Christ

I can't thank you all enough for your replies! I guess my instincts were right. I'll pass all these comments along to my friend.

JB
 

erinbee

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From her website:

Many would-be author are afraid to write. If you feel you would like to write your story (or stories) and you don't know where to begin, this is where writing tutorials can be helpful in getting you started.

*
Shudder*I wouldn't want her editing my book.
 

HapiSofi

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What Victoria said: scam or clueless, useless either way.
 

JennaGlatzer

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Let's just say that we find out AuthorHouse offers a referral fee.

http://www.authorhouse.com/AboutUs/AffiliateRules.asp

"For each individual referred to AuthorHouse, you shall be entitled to receive from AuthorHouse a referral fee in the sum of $100.00, subject to the following:
  1. The referred individual must publish at least one manuscript in paperback or hardback form with AuthorHouse; and
  2. The referred individual must meet all payment obligations to AuthorHouse."
Would this answer some questions?
 

Judi Bee

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Roxane Christ

Thank you all, again. I wasn't able to access her website for a long time and whether it was my server or her site I don't know. I did finally get onto it and, boy, there are a lot of misspellings. I gather that English is a second language with her, so I wonder why she's editing English-writing authors.

As somebody said (and so did Monty Python in the Holy Grail) "Run away, run away!"

My friend has reluctantly decided to forget the whole thing.

Thanks a bunch! I think you saved her bank account.
 

CaoPaux

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She's not exclusive to AuthorHouse any more...other vanities (like Xlibris and Crew Publishing) can get her clients now, too.
 

citymouse

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Christ has been editing with Crew Publishing for about two years. She also has three of her own books with CP.
Her association with Author House began when she was very ill with breast cancer. She was unable to work for a long time. Someone (I don't know the name) saved her financially by directing would be AH authors to her for editing jobs. That's how she got connected with AH. Christ is featured as one of several editors for Crew Publishing.
I don't know the connection with Xlibris.
C

She's not exclusive to AuthorHouse any more...other vanities (like Xlibris and Crew Publishing) can get her clients now, too.