Raider Publishing / Purehaven Press

What really slays me is that I found out about Raider from an ad here on AW. As in, those google ads that crop up at the top and bottom of every page.

Right now there's a Raider ad at the bottom of this page I'm typing in...

They're watching us! They've got us surrounded! *eyeroll*

Does anyone actually know someone who has published a book with Raiders. I would like to know. I am also very new at this game. And so far, from this thread, I have not seen any actual constructive criticism that has not been based on spelling??
I can’t spell! I am the first to admit that! However, you can be the most grammatically correct person in the world and still not have a bone of creativity in your body to write a book.
So....I would love to hear someone’s actual experience of Raider Publishing. I’m sure there are a lot of others out there who would too.
I would also like to hear if anyone can suggest good publishers that might consider a submission direct from the author and not through an agent. The agent thing just seems like yet another mine field. I had no idea that trying to get a book published can be such a minefield of scammers and dodgy dealers! Shame I didn’t find this site earlier!
K

It's a vanity press, ranga. You pay a lot of money to them to publish your book. That isn't how publishing should work.

I realize this is your first post, but take some time to look around and absorb how the publishing industry works.

ranga said:

Does anyone actually know someone who has published a book with Raiders. I would like to know. I am also very new at this game. And so far, from this thread, I have not seen any actual constructive criticism that has not been based on spelling??
I can’t spell! I am the first to admit that! However, you can be the most grammatically correct person in the world and still not have a bone of creativity in your body to write a book.

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They're a vanity press aka assisted self publishing company, how is that? You have to pay them $849 to be published with their most basic package. Money flows from the publisher to the author, not the other way around.

They claim that you will get distribution to their network of 25,000 retailers but what they actually mean is your book is on a database that a book shop can order from. Being able to order something is different from it being available to buy on the shelf.

You pay $849 for five free copies - that money doesn't even include line editing. You'll get a 51% royalty rate for each copy you sell. So if you're selling books for $10 you'll get $5.10 for each copy sold. You'll need to sell 167 copies just to break even. Most self published books sell between 40 and 200 copies. Most of those are to families and friends. Those figures would probably be a lot less if you could exclude the runaway best sellers of which there are a few, but not nearly as many as some people like to think.

If you want to self publish there are cheaper ways to do it and ensure you have a better quality product than you'll get from Raider. Check out the self publishing forum on here, the folks there should be able to give you some good advice on doing it properly.

I would also like to hear if anyone can suggest good publishers that might consider a submission direct from the author and not through an agent.

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What do you write - genre? I could suggest Harlequin as an example of a publisher who accepts unsolicited manuscripts but unless you write romantic fiction there is no point submitting to them.

The agent thing just seems like yet another mine field.

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It is but it is worth sticking with an Agent is there to get the best deal possible with the publisher. They're also valuable to have in the corner if something goes wrong - publisher deciding not to pay you for instance. You can check agents out on this forum, agent query, writer beware, preditors & editors etc. There are lots of places to get advice.

Possible lawsuit against RPI

a lawyer in New York is looking at the possibility of pressing a lawsuit against Raider Publishing International. (not releasing the name of the lawyer due to the fact he is not 100% committed as of yet)

I myself contacted the lawyer because I signed a contract with RPI not knowing the bad reputations that vanity publishing companies have and ofcourse I got stuck in their web of lies.

so basically I am looking for others who have had dealings with RPI, you can simply post them here or you can email me ([email protected] )if you dont want it to be public. I will be contacting the lawyer this friday (november 19th) with an update.

Thank you so much for this thread! You're doing a great job!
I have just received an offer from them, but I didn't like the idea that I had to pay the agent to be published (shouldn't it be the other way round?).
Anyway, thanks for warning me. I just hope I'll find another agent and have my book published...

Jennifer Smith said:

I have just received an offer from them, but I didn't like the idea that I had to pay the agent to be published (shouldn't it be the other way round?).

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Good call on your part. In commercial publishing, the only place a writer signs a check is on the back.

Anyway, thanks for warning me. I just hope I'll find another agent and have my book published...

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If you can't find a publisher, it would be cheaper and more effective to use a good self-publishing service than to pay a vanity press.

I had a quick search about this company, and the founders books. He appears to have only been published by iuniverse, PA and authorhouse.
http://www.publishedauthors.net/adamsalviani/bio.html

Interestingly, he seems to be trying to big up his publishing, as if to suggest that these publishers were not vanity/sp, and in the article and review section he talks abotu sending his book to iuniverse by saying

"They liked what I had," he said. For the first time, Salviani got to see his name in print on books not only nationwide, but worldwide as well.

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Now, I may be a bit niave here, but back in the day iuniverse liked anything that came with the payment.

Apparently the book 'sold out' which is interesting for POD.

There's this link as well http://raiderpublishinginternational.tvbubble.com/raider-publishing-international-former-writer-adam-salviani/ in which I particularly like the line about being a 'professional novelist'

There was an article about Raider here : http://www.ripoffreport.com/book-pu...g-in/raider-publishing-internationa-8f354.htm where an author paid to have the book out in fourth months, but it was nearly 2 years, the author copies never arrived,letters and emails went unanswered - it all seems terribly unprofessional from this account.

There's another author here who is also being ignored, also after a considerable delay, in this case errors appeared in teh book that were not in the MS, and the company have not repsoned to questions on how they are going to pay royalities http://www.ripoffreport.com/book-magazine-publishers/raider-publishing-ne/raider-publishing-new-york-po-dd79b.htm

Here Raider are claiming to be 'award winning' but I can find no evidence of this anywhere, and publishers of 'bestsellers on four continents' but again, I can't find proof of this http://biz.prlog.org/RaiderPub/

I'm also getting several addresses for them, all in New York, but it's not consistant anywhere. The 'John Raider' in the email address is nto a real person, the emails go through to Adam, John Raider was character in one of Adam's self published books in 2000 or so. There does seem to be one other person at least, a K Flatery, I found an email address for her too.

Here someone has posted about the same issues as others I mentioned http://www.justanswer.com/consumer-protection-law/54u3t-entered-contract-raider-publishing-self-publishing.html again with the long delay and no payments.

I'm not sure where their books are available, I ran a search for one of thier new released through Tesco and couldn't find any, i was able to find it on amzon.co.uk and amazon.com. I could find it on waterstones, but it was over £9 for a 250 page paperback and had no image and no synopsis.It did have one 5 * review, which is the same as it had on barnes and noble, which had an image.

On amazon.co.uk it has two 5* reviews, but one of them is from the authors wife and the other starts with 'i don't normally read fiction' which is a telling line that the reviewer is a friend.

I also did a search Raider on NovelRank and it came up with four titles, 3 of which were inactive.

So, not entirely sure who these 'bestsellers' are, or what awards have been won, Raider has been suitably vague on that and I've been able to find nothing out about it.

Not sure if any of this helps.

I have just had one of those smug moments... you see, Raider came up in a random search of publishers a couple of years back. I looked at the site, saw that they were offering really high royalties for print and immediately backed away, sensing a scam...

Having read this thread, I am now glad I did

Raider has now launched a secondary imprint called Purehaven Press, suggesting an attempt at wiping the slate and reinvention! I don't think so...

MickRooney said:

Raider has now launched a secondary imprint called

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MickRooney said:

Purehaven Press, suggesting an attempt at wiping the slate and reinvention! I don't think so...

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I found this on that Purehaven Press site:

RPI has published hundreds of books including award winners, bestsellers on four continents and books that have been nominated for international awards such as the Pulitzer Prize, The Man Booker Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction. Raider Publishing currently operates in over ninety different countries and is one of the few publishers who accepts submissions, no matter where the author is located.

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But no mention of what those books were, but I feel it's my duty to point out here that for the majority of prizes it's up to the Publisher to enter the book, so actually, any small press or publisher can enter a title from their press - this is no indication of quality or suitability for a prize. *disclaimer over*

In addition, their prices are insane. Seriously, four and a half grand! And yet, no concrete information about their experience or ability to actually sell your book..

In the 'why purehaven' section there is this little gem:

1.A Guaranteed Audience​

When you decide on publishing with us, it’s like you already have a built in audience waiting to hear about your work. Through all of our packages, we effectively bring word of your book to potential buyers through TV and Radio Advertisements, Web advertising, Internet Radio, Magazine placements and much more. Through these methods, we’re currently the only publisher in the entire world that guarantees that news of your book will reach at least a one to two million potential buyers, depending on the package you choose.

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A growing number of author complaints about Raider--including very long publication delays and slow or non-payment of royalties--suggest a company in trouble. More at Writer Beware's blog.

- Victoria

I sometimes intentionally browse vanity publishers because I'm bored and I need a good laugh.

That "diamond package" surely made my day.

I found a website called Ripoff Report that mentions numerous complaints about this vanity press. I found it by Googling "raider publishing warnings".

GFanthome said:

I found a website called Ripoff Report that mentions numerous complaints about this vanity press. I found it by Googling "raider publishing warnings".

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A Google of Raider on the Internet will reveal a right royal saga for many authors!

Queen of Swords said:

If you can't find a publisher, it would be cheaper and more effective to use a good self-publishing service than to pay a vanity press.

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True as far as it goes; but what's even better is to improve your writing and your submission strategies.

That Ripoff Report for Raider makes for heartbreaking and sometimes infuriating reading:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/directory/raider-publishing-international?&pg=1

Infuriating not only because of Salviani's dishonesty, but because of the almost willful ignorance of publishing and lack of common sense displayed by some of the victims. I can only shake my head at the behaviour of the man who paid Raider £4000 to publish two books...and then paid another £2000 to re-publish them with another vanity press:

They are under new titles and a nom-de-plume to make sure that Raider cannot benefit from the new exposure in any way. I chose Author House who did me a two for one deal as my wife has a book with them and they have been fantastic! Admittedly their royalty rate is not very high, but the service is second to none, speedy responses to e-mail, regular phone contact and this has resulted in two books re-published in a little over two months. The new titles are: [redacted]. My pen name is [redacted].

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Those two AuthorHouse books are available on Amazon, where they're priced at almost £16 in paperback and £24-26 in hardback.

Unbelievable! Not to mention illegal, since Raider didn't return his rights. But on Amazon the author is cheerfully oblivious:

It is also important to let you know this is a work previously published in 2010 under another title by another publisher who breached contracts by failing to deliver contracted services, did not pay any due royalties, ceased all communication with the author and continue to sell unsanctioned and illegal copies of the book in its original form on the internet and elsewhere. This is the only currently sanctioned and legal version of this work. Please help the author stamp out rogue publishers and distributors, only purchase sanctioned and legal copies.

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This is the sort of person you want to hug and smack at the same time.

To be frank, this is why repeat vanity publishing is on my checklist for Filigree's Rule. I've found (not a complete statistical analysis, but at least over three quarters of the 500+ vanity authors I recently researched on a two-year project) that once an author has published with a vanity press of any stripe, that author appears more likely to repeat the process with another vanity. Twice, with two separate vanities, and the author's forward trajectory seems set in stone - they seem to gravitate toward vanity pubs and lower-ranked small presses with no real marketing power.

They're also much more likely, as in Salviani's case, to start vanity and/or marginal publishing houses of their own, to spread the bad information.

Those two AuthorHouse books are available on Amazon, where they're priced at almost £16 in paperback and £24-26 in hardback.

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In American money, Book 1 is $7.88 for the Kindle version, $37.07 for hardback, and $21.91 for paperback. Book 2 is the same for Kindle and hardback, but 5¢ cheaper for paperback.

Neither book has an Amazon ranking yet in any of its versions. So, they've been out since March 2013 and sold no copies on Amazon. Sad, very sad.

Filigree said:

I've found (not a complete statistical analysis, but at least over three quarters of the 500+ vanity authors I recently researched on a two-year project) that once an author has published with a vanity press of any stripe, that author appears more likely to repeat the process with another vanity.

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It does seem par for the course. I've just found another Raider victim who paid good money for a book that never appeared...so he published it with a "partnership" (ie vanity) press which will soon be the subject of a BRBC thread.

ETA: Surprise, surprise! I followed Jurgen Wolff's inspiring example and searched Fiverr.com for the happy campers who supplied Raider with video testimonials. It took me less than an hour to find three of them! A Google Images search also revealed that "Jennifer Holloway", supposedly a senior executive at Raider, moonlights as the face of Spark Sphere:
http://www.sparksphere.com/

aliceshortcake said:

That Ripoff Report for Raider makes for heartbreaking and sometimes infuriating reading:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/directory/raider-publishing-international?&pg=1

Infuriating not only because of Salviani's dishonesty, but because of the almost willful ignorance of publishing and lack of common sense displayed by some of the victims.

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That's a good description of many of the writers who've contacted me with Raider complaints. These authors have been horribly exploited, but at the same time you can't help wanting to shake them.

- Victoria

I couldn't resist it. After spending a few hours wallowing in the slime-pit otherwise known as the Videos and Animation section of Fiverr.com, roughly one-third of whose denizens are so desperate for $5 they're happy to provide fake testimonials and reviews for anything and anybody, I feel compelled to share the fruits of my labours regarding Raider Publishing International's happy customers and the company's ability to promote their authors.

However, I'll begin by introducing you to a couple of Raider authors who couldn't be found on Fiverr. The first is poet Charlotte Branch, a young lady who expresses her ecstacy with Raider by rolling her eyes heavenward at every mention of the company's name, not unlike St Teresa of Avila in the famous statue by Bernini:


http://www.raiderpublishing.com/Testimonials.html

I was unable to find any books by Charlotte Branch. Mick Rooney has already pointed out that 'Charlotte' looks remarkably like a friend of Adam Salviani's whose photo appeared on his Facebook in 2006:



Now meet 'Gina', who provided one of the shortest and most generic testimonials I've ever seen. She doesn't mention the title of her book (none of these people do), but she's looking forward to hearing from Raider again:


http://www.raiderpublishing.com/Testimonials.html

Anyway, on to the really fun stuff.

'Paul' has been with Raider for two years and couldn't be happier with them. They took his book from obscurity on a "free publishing website" and now it's on the shelves of a bookstore in his home town!


http://www.raiderpublishing.com/Testimonials.html

But wait a minute...isn't this Paul?


http://www.fiverr.com/winningwithpa..._type=rating&funnel=2014080115003820113783040

By Jove, I think it is. 'winningwithpaul', no less!

Our next up-and-coming young author is my personal favourite. Adrian Brody lookalike 'John' would hate us to think there's anything shady about Raider. There can't be, because thanks to them his book is on the shelves at Barnes and Noble and he's just completed a book-signing tour!


http://www.raiderpublishing.com/Testimonials.html

Feel the sincerity washing over you as 'John' gets into his stride. "There's a lot of scams out there. Let's not beat about the bush, there's a lot of scams. But Raider's not one of them."

Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much. Here he is on Fiverr as 'jordan831':


http://www.fiverr.com/jordan831/rec...t_type=rating&funnel=201408010920352573631100

Next, allow me to introduce two Raider authors for the price of one. 'Bruce and Carol' are the co-authors of a predictably nameless book published last year and they're planning to work with the company again:


http://www.raiderpublishing.com/Testimonials.html

You know what's coming next, don't you? Meet 'oranjegirl' and the obliging Mr Oranje:


http://www.fiverr.com/oranjegirl/do-a-couples-testimonial-video?funnel=2014080108575615818454520

Our next video star isn't on Fiverr either (or at least I couldn't find her). Do you remember Raider's senior executive 'Jennifer Holloway' coming to the company's defence when those nasty Raider detractors were saying nasty things, nastily?



I don't know how much senior executives at Raider earn but the poor woman has been forced to take a second job at Spark Sphere:


http://www.sparksphere.com/

Look at her! She can't even afford a new blouse!

*shakes head sadly*

Oh, Adam. Adam, Adam, Adam.

Now that we've all enjoyed the pretty pictures I'll say a few words about Raider's radio ads and YouTube videos (all from here:http://www.raiderpublishing.com/Why_Raider_.html).

Astonishingly, at least after the Green Shore Publishing fiasco, a Google search revealed that these books actually exist! Sadly, if their Amazon rankings are any indication of overall sales Raider's publicity machine doesn't seem to have helped them much:

Radio ads:
If Tomorrow Never Comes by Amal Bissessar, 2010
7,378,353

West Indian Chronicles: Mamie by Tricia Trotman-Maraj, 2010
4,077,199

Another Day in Paradise by Mark Reece, 2009
2,249,565

Videos:
His Perfect Woman by Pamela Wootton, 2010
11,561,791

Right Place, Right Time by Tom Eccles, 2010
No ranking

Evil Deeds of the Subconscious Mind by Annette Lawrence, 2013
No ranking, and the publisher is CreateSpace. In the video 'tragedy' is spelled 'tradegy', which is interesting as another Raider author used the word in the title of his book The Tragedy of Kashmir...and it was spelled 'tradegy' at the top of every alternate page.



It gets worse. Whoever made the video gave the title as Evil Deed of the Subconscious Mind - just one evil deed - and, being a bit pressed for space, rendered the words "tribulations and everything else that life has to throw at them" as "tribulation...etc." I wonder how much Ms Lawrence paid Raider and what she thought of this awful video? I've made better films with Windows Movie Maker.

Adam Salviani, I can honestly say that what you lack as a publisher you more than make up for as a source of unintentional hilarity.

At the bottom of all the video testimonials are some written testimonials with authors' names and their books. I checked a few on Amazon, and the rankings were abysmal. Part of one author's lengthy testimonial:

Ever since I was twelve, I have always dreamed of becoming a published author. I was told by many that such dream rarely came to fruition because the publishing world was a very competitive one and that there were millions of books that were being rejected on daily basis by publishing houses. I was a bit discouraged but then I knew it was impossible to give up my dream being that it was a burning zeal.

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He has two books with Raider: This one ranks over 9 million; so does this one.

This book, published in 2008, has no ranking.

This one, published in 2007, ranks over 9 million. The next book in the series, published in 2008, has no ranking.

And there are a few others.