Hydra Publications

JaneD · 02-03-2013, 06:28 PM

I hope this is the right place to ask this question (my very first!), but has anybody heard of Hydra Publications?

http://www.hydrapublications.com/

They look quite reasonable to me, judging by the website, but they don't seem to figure on any list, for good or ill. Can the experts see why?

priceless1 · 02-03-2013, 09:15 PM

They don't appear to have any disribution. None of their titles show up on Bookscan, which would indicate that they have zero store placement with any of the thousands of outlets who report their sales to Bookscan.

Their website is geared toward writers, and not readers.

For a small press, they accept quite a few genres, and one might wonder how they can effectively edit, market, and promote titles from so many unlike genres, such as childrens', horror, fantasy, mystery, romance, and YA.

JaneD · 02-03-2013, 10:19 PM

Thanks Priceless. I looked on Amazon and none of their books do better than very average. Maybe it isn't one to go for after all.

aliceshortcake · 02-03-2013, 11:10 PM

I wasn't impressed by the editing of some of the Hydra Publications books you can sample on Amazon. This one, for example:

Quote:

Wincing, she bit her tongue, holding back wretched screams that sought her torment.

Swallowing against invisible tears, Nardrissa calmed her breath to an even cadence, the rise of her chest rhythmic to the waiting silence.

The trolls of Vvaarlek were fierce, brutish beasts - mountainous giants with rough skin of gray and calloused faces. Gromlics fared similar marks...their deceptive needs allowed they horde what is not their own...

...the creatures of stone despised tolerance, reacting harshly towards outsiders and suppressing passerby with violence.

To venture west would claim eyes on Erandor, the ancient nation of man. Not far from its walls spanned an ancient wood...

Such is the advantage of the dryad, for with no means to decipher a distinction, many a chance passerby becomes entranced with its death-song, with no choice but to obey the creature's every beckon.

And so it continues , a cavalcade of misused words and contorted grammar. Hydra Publications has done the teenage author no favours by publishing what reads like an unedited novel.

JaneD · 02-04-2013, 12:05 AM

That snippet is breathtaking. If that's the kind of thing they're looking for then I wouldn't fit. And as my grammar and punctuation skills are pretty hazy, I think I need a rather more rigorous editor.

aliceshortcake · 02-04-2013, 12:20 AM

Quite a few Amazon reviews mention typos, poor grammar and weak editing in Hydra books. To be fair, though, the one I quoted above is in a class of its own!

JaneD · 02-04-2013, 12:39 AM

I've just found the aforementioned tome and dipped into it forthwith. It is...surprising.

Amanda R. · 02-05-2013, 08:44 AM

They are offering a free book for 3 days, Dragonthology. http://www.amazon.com/Dragonthology-ebook/dp/B00AVLQZ6G

JaneD · 02-05-2013, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amanda R.

They are offering a free book for 3 days, Dragonthology. http://www.amazon.com/Dragonthology-ebook/dp/B00AVLQZ6G

This seems to be from somebody called Untold Press. I can't see any link with Hydra. I'll download a copy though, it's all good research. Thanks, Amanda.

02-03-2013, 06:28 PM	#1
JaneD New Fish; Learning About Thick Skin Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 24	Hydra Publications I hope this is the right place to ask this question (my very first!), but has anybody heard of Hydra Publications? http://www.hydrapublications.com/ They look quite reasonable to me, judging by the website, but they don't seem to figure on any list, for good or ill. Can the experts see why? __________________ My blog http://janedougherty.wordpress.com/ My book The Dark Citadel, first volume of The Green Woman trilogy coming in May from Musa Publishing

02-03-2013, 09:15 PM	#2
priceless1 Under a messy desk Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Somewhere between sanity and barking mad Posts: 1,629	They don't appear to have any disribution. None of their titles show up on Bookscan, which would indicate that they have zero store placement with any of the thousands of outlets who report their sales to Bookscan. Their website is geared toward writers, and not readers. For a small press, they accept quite a few genres, and one might wonder how they can effectively edit, market, and promote titles from so many unlike genres, such as childrens', horror, fantasy, mystery, romance, and YA. __________________ www.behlerpublications.com and blog ----------- OFF THE STREET: Redemption Fancy Feet Learning to Play With a Lion's Testicles

02-03-2013, 10:19 PM	#3
JaneD New Fish; Learning About Thick Skin Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 24	Thanks Priceless. I looked on Amazon and none of their books do better than very average. Maybe it isn't one to go for after all. __________________ My blog http://janedougherty.wordpress.com/ My book The Dark Citadel, first volume of The Green Woman trilogy coming in May from Musa Publishing

02-04-2013, 12:05 AM	#5
JaneD New Fish; Learning About Thick Skin Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 24	That snippet is breathtaking. If that's the kind of thing they're looking for then I wouldn't fit. And as my grammar and punctuation skills are pretty hazy, I think I need a rather more rigorous editor. __________________ My blog http://janedougherty.wordpress.com/ My book The Dark Citadel, first volume of The Green Woman trilogy coming in May from Musa Publishing

02-04-2013, 12:20 AM	#6
aliceshortcake Consulting nosey parker Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Oop North Posts: 623	Quite a few Amazon reviews mention typos, poor grammar and weak editing in Hydra books. To be fair, though, the one I quoted above is in a class of its own! __________________ "He radiated fun and he never lost the sense of mischief which had prompted him as a small boy to write 'bugger' with a pin on a burgeoning vegetable marrow in a vicarage garden." Obituary of a Cambridge academic, quoted by Karl Sabbagh in A Rum Affair Absurdly tenuous link with literary greatness: my great-great-grandfather James Sunderland was baptized by the Revd. Patrick Brontë!

02-04-2013, 12:39 AM	#7
JaneD New Fish; Learning About Thick Skin Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 24	I've just found the aforementioned tome and dipped into it forthwith. It is...surprising. __________________ My blog http://janedougherty.wordpress.com/ My book The Dark Citadel, first volume of The Green Woman trilogy coming in May from Musa Publishing

02-05-2013, 08:44 AM	#8
Amanda R. She who must be obeyed Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Changsha, Hunan, China Posts: 206	They are offering a free book for 3 days, Dragonthology. http://www.amazon.com/Dragonthology-ebook/dp/B00AVLQZ6G __________________ Amanda R. "Literature is the most noble of professions. In fact, it is about the only one fit for man." ~ Edgar Allan Poe Check out the Kickstarter campaign for my cookbook Crazy Dumpling! Read about my adventures in China. My Writing Blog Sometimes I Tweet WWII WIP

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