Bitingduck Press

I almost submitted to them once. Their books don't look bad. I haven't seen their contracts. Check them out on P&E before submitting anything.

They offer editing for sale through their copyeditor and while it's not a full red flag, it's a pink one for me. It's treading the line of Conflict of Interest.

I agree about the pink flag, and it would be a red flag if the author was required to pay for the editing.

What strikes me about the "Why Publish with Us" page is that all the things they say they offer (editing, responsiveness, marketing) should be standard.

But they have been around since 2012, but only two of their fiction titles are so far available. So they seem to be leaning toward non-fiction. The covers are ho-hum to decent, IMO.

Of the five NF books now available, only two appear to be available in print. One is an ebook reprint of a presumably OOP title. Cover designs are not impressive. Print distribution is unclear.

It's good that they're honest about the fact that they're "learning along with [their] authors", but... I still wouldn't take my car to a mechanic who's learning on the job.

I took a look at blurbs and covers, and this struck me as a bit weird:

What cruel fate is this for Stephen Gilmore Sloane, who only wants to spend the day making up with his girlfriend Emma Gummer? Stephen and the Duck squirm out of the clutches of the futuristic Sex Police as the mystery of Stephen's birth and the whereabouts of Emma Gummer unravel.

Click to expand...

The Crayola-colored cover doesn't hint that there's a Sex Police in the story. Maybe the book is erotic humor?

I didn't find the covers appealing either. I wouldn't submit anything to them.

Their tag line specifies that they are a "digital" publisher so I would assume a digital only contract as the default?