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Green Shore Publishing

aliceshortcake

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Wow, these people certainly aren't lacking in the self-confidence department!

GREEN SHORE PUBLISHING

The UK and Ireland's New Standard In Book Publishing

Thank you for visiting us at Green Shore Publishing.
Here at our headquarters in London, we have established ourselves as the best option for success in the European book publishing market.
http://www.greenshorepublishing.com/home-page.html

Where are their headquarters?

86-90 Paul Street, London, UK EC2A 4NE

It may sound prestigious but actually it's a £20 per month "virtual office":

https://www.hoxtonmix.com/virtual-office-forward/

Anyway, back to GSP's website.

Book sales are very competitive here in the UK and Ireland, but our books keep succeeding.

Which books? How does GSP measure success?

Through our partnerships with Waterstones, Easons, WHSmith’s and many others, when you publish with us, your book is guaranteed to be available all over the UK as well as the rest of the world.

Partnership≠your book will be on their websites.

If you’re interested in working with us, we’re always looking for new books to publish, no matter what the genre.

ALARM BELLS RINGING MADLY.

So what does GSP offer?

HIGH QUALITY PRODUCTION

With Green Shore Publishing, your book will undergo a transformation, which can’t be found anywhere else in the industry. Not only will your book be comprehensively edited, formatted and designed, but it will be printed and distributed with the highest standards of quality in mind. Below we’ve included some of the high quality covers from several of our recent releases. You have our word that your book will be produced with the same level of detail and professionalism.

The three covers illustrated are absolutely typical of vanity/self-pubbed books - a minimally computer-savvy kid could have created all three of them in less than an hour. Bizarrely, a Google search failed to find a single reference to any of these books:

The Valley Rose by Candice Peoples (the unfortunate fancy font/dark background combo screams "unprofessional"). A Google search for Candice Peoples turned up three women; if any of them wrote this book or any other they're keeping quiet about it.

Blue Daylight by April Summers

The West Devon Mysteries by J M Harkin (this image is "the road in the woods", available as a free download here: http://all-free-download.com/free-photos/the_road_in_the_woods_198856.html) The only books by J M Harkin I could find are science textbooks.

INNOVATIVE PROMOTION

Here at Green Shore Publishing, we’re always on the cutting edge of promotion. Not only will be pushing our retail partners to feature your book, but we’ll be introducing your book to potential readers in many other ways. We offer radio ads, which have proven to drive up sales. These can be aired in your local area or nationwide, depending on what you prefer. We’re also one of the only company in the UK to offer book trailers, promoting you and your book to viewers on Youtube and even local television. This is all of course in addition to get your book into the hands of people in the media, who we have been working with for years.

(My bolding - GSP has been in business for years, apparently.)

Firstly, I hope the person who wrote that isn't one of the company's editors. Secondly, AFAIK radio ads and book trailers are unlikely to sell books by unknown authors. We're even given examples of two radio ads "that have recently aired".

*listens to ads*

Well, after hearing an American actor sing the praises of Tim Clark's The Last Stand and Marilyn Crenshaw's The Heart Grows Fonder I'm completely baffled. If anyone out there can trace these books, which must already have been released if they've been advertised on radio, their Google-fu is better than mine.

But wait, there's a "Reviews" page! Someone, somewhere, has managed to find and read a GSP book!

REVIEWS
From Authors

We've included a few video testimonials from UK authors. More to come in the days ahead!
http://www.greenshorepublishing.com/reviews.html

Ah...testimonials in the form of YouTube videos. Jack, Clive and Richard are all delighted with GSP, but they threw away an opportunity to publicize their books by failing to mention the titles. Or show us the books. Or tell us their surnames. Which was a shame, because Richard was justifiably proud of seeing his book on the shelf at Waterstones!

I hardly need add that GSP is a vanity press. Their four packages range from £300 to "The Ultimate Chance at Success" at £1500. Here's what you get for the most expensive one:

Comprehensive Editing and Proofreading
Signing Event (If Requested)
Full Cover Design
Distribution through Waterstones, WHSmith's and Amazon UK
All Printing and Distribution (International and Within the UK and Ireland)
Layout/Internal Design
70% of Book Royalties
Paperback, Hardcover and Ebook Publication
25 Copies (50% Discount on Further Copies)
UK & Ireland Based Promotions
Extensive Press Release Campaign
Online Reviews
Book Trailer Creation
Youtube Advertising Campaign
Three Guaranteed Media Interviews
Dedicated Website Creation and Publication
Audio Book Creation
Advertising Campaign (Guaranteed to Reach One Million Potential Readers)

All together now: WATERSTONES, WH SMITHS AND AMAZON ARE RETAILERS, NOT DISTRIBUTORS!

I was unable to find any information about who owns GSP, although the company's name and references to the Irish bookshop chain Easons indicates a connection with the Emerald Isle. If they've been working with media people "for years" they should have left a sizeable internet footprint, but it's as if the company appeared out of the blue.
 
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dondomat

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Thank you for the presentation, grinned a lot with my glass of beer. Cheers!
 

aliceshortcake

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Out of curiosity I took up GSP's offer and submitted the first twenty pages of my sole literary work to date, The Twin Brothers - an adaptation of Plautus' Menaechmi. The whole thing is only 48 pages long. Now, I'm quite proud of this little play but I'd have to be hopelessly deluded to imagine that even if I chose GSP's budget £300 package I'd ever earn enough to cover my initial investment.

Surprise, surprise! Two days later I heard back from 'James' at GSP:

After careful consideration and thought, we've decided to accept your work for publication with our company. It's a true honor for us to be offering you a publication contract and we look forward to working with you in the days to come.

"Careful consideration and thought"? You want me to pay you for the privilege of being published!

The attached 'acceptance packet' was disappointingly coy about who owns the company:

Congratulations on being one of the select few who have been accepted by us at Green Shore Publishing. It is a great honour for us to offer you our contracts and we sincerely hope to work with you in the months ahead and add your book to our growing title list.

The Staff @ Green Shore Publishing

"Select few" is something of an understatement. I suspect it would be the only real book on your title list!

The contracts only added to the mystery:

Agreement made between this --- day of ---, between party of the first part, ---, hereinafter called the Author, and Green Shore Publishing a subsidiary imprint of the Castello Book Group, party of the second part, hereinafter called the publisher.

The only connection between 'Castello' and 'Books' I could find on the net was the Castello Book Club, a rather odd partnership between the manufacturers of Castello cheese and Penguin Books:

http://castellocheese.co.uk/news/enjoy-good-book-fine-wine-and-sumptuous-cheese-aut/

The Castello Book Group is as elusive as Green Shore Publishing.

I emailed GSP, declining their offer and drawing their attention to this thread. Their reply:

Thank you for letting me know about the site you've mentioned. Unfortunately there is no end to the misinformation and slander that the internet can produce and I think you'll find that almost any publishing company has these kinds of baseless claims made about them on message boards.

In any case, the reason you're not finding information on our titles is because our imprint was only established six months ago. We are part of a larger group, as mentioned, but we as a company only began opperations in January.

I asked them for the titles and ISBNs of their books and the surnames of the authors featured in the videos; they didn't reply.

In my four years on AW I've read about many vanity presses whose books were poorly edited, shoddily made and overpriced, but I think GSP's are unique in being completely imaginary.
 
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Sixpence

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Thanks for highlighting this lot, aliceshortcake!

A quick gander at their website does indeed sound all kinds of alarms (not least that it's "powered by" website builder, with a button saying so in Spanish for some unknown reason). The tab on Chrome for their homepage isn't branded at all and just says "Home Page"...even my silly little blog has a branded tab and I'm no web designer.

They were really quick to jump to "misinformation and slander", weren't they? No effort at all to refuse these "baseless claims"...oh dear.

Their acceptance mail made me chuckle too, would read more honestly as "we'll be honoured to take your money".

Another nit that may be worth picking is that although people on the street here in Ireland will talk about "Easons", the company is actually called (and registered as) "Eason & Son Ltd". I'm off for a browse around their website to see if I can find any of these mysterious titles. To bowdlerize Oscar's niece Dolly: They must be books of paradox.

:Shrug:

ETA - just watched the videos - why is "Clive" very badly green-screened into a "study", and how has he been working with them for over a year if they've only been in "opperations" (sic) since January? Curiouser and curiouser.
 
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aliceshortcake

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Yes, I noticed the "Easons" thing too! I've just emailed them to ask if they've even heard of Green Shore Publishing.

We shouldn't really mock the videos, you know. They probably provided a couple of hours worth of work for "resting" actors...
 

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Yes, I noticed the "Easons" thing too! I've just emailed them to ask if they've even heard of Green Shore Publishing.

We shouldn't really mock the videos, you know. They probably provided a couple of hours worth of work for "resting" actors...

So true!

I went a-sleuthing and could find no listing for Green Shore publishing or Castello Book Group in either the UK or Irish registered companies listings.

Then I had a notion about the bit of Spanish on the site and googled Librós Castello - and found this. "Unique books at discounted prices!"

I wonder...
 

aliceshortcake

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How very peculiar - I've emailed Libros Castello just in case there's a connection.

Yes, it does seem as if the people behind GSP and CBG are painfully shy. You'd think that a Google search would turn up something, even if it's only a LinkedIn profile for the CEO.

Honestly, that "High Quality Production" paragraph cracks me up every time I read it. It gives the impression that Penguin, Bloomsbury and those other bungling amateurs print their books on toilet paper, have them edited by seven-year-olds and sell them at flea markets.

And I see that those three "author testimonial" videos on YouTube have trebled in popularity since being mentioned on AbsoluteWrite. I hope the mysteriously nameless people at GSP are grateful for the increase in traffic!
 
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aliceshortcake

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Whoa! Look what I've just found on a weird little blog - if that's what it is - called Business and Finance: creative ideas for business and arrange Finance:

Green Shore Publishing – Looking For The Best Publishing

Posted on July 9, 2014 by handry

As a new book writer, your first order of business in order to realise success is to get your very first book published. Today, there are many writers who take the route of self-publishing by reason they get more control over the process, they retain all of the rights, and their book will be available much quicker. However, if you live in the UK and Ireland published a book can be a difficult job.

If you live elsewhere it's a piece of cake!

This is because, the UK and Ireland’s New Standard in Book Publishing. Do not worry, if you want to make a success of your books on the market, visit the publisher can be your choice.

:Shrug:

Nowadays, many publishers have an important role when developing a book author.

Things were very different when I was a nipper. Publishers just handed over the advance, patted your cheek and then sat back and left things to chance.

*adjusts ear trumpet*

They are involved in the main steps of the process of editing, cover design, development, marketing, production, printing, and distribution. But, before you contact the publisher, you must negotiate rights and royalties, and then work out a plan for producing the book.

Someone's missing from this scenario. Wait - it's the agent! Not that a reputable agent would steer you in the direction of GSP.

Looking for publisher is very easy. You can find them in your area or over the internet.

Yes, you can find them in your area by visiting a bookshop or library, finding books similar to yours and making a note of the publisher (and perhaps finding out who represents the author).

However, if you want to save your money and time, searching for online publishers can be your choice. On the internet, you will find hundreds of sites offering publisher services.

Quite a few of which will be predatory vanity presses. Being suckered in by one of them will not save your money.

I suggest, you should do some research first before deciding to choose a publisher. It aims to find the best publisher. If you are looking for the best publishers, you can visit http://www.greenshorepublishing.com/.

Green Shore Publishing is a publishing company based in London. They are the best publishers that will help you to succeed in the European market book publishing. Although sales of the book are very competitive in the UK and Ireland, but their books still succeed. Do not hesitate! Not only will your book comprehensively edited, formatted and designed, but it will be printed and distributed with the highest quality standards in mind. In addition, they partnered with Waterstones, Easons, WHSmith’s and many others. This means, when you publish your book with them, the book you are guaranteed to be available throughout the UK and around the world. So, what are you waiting! If you want to make a success of your books on the market, visit the Green Shore Publishing can be your choice.
http://www.blogfirstteam.org/green-shore-publishing-looking-for-the-best-publishing/#comment-20068

This reminds me of the almost incomprehensible "spun articles" we came across in the great Paradon Books saga.

GSP, you're looking more ridiculous by the hour.
 

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:Jaw:

/brain implodes

If you are going to pay for some pretend "business and finance" (even their header makes no sense) site to host a "testimonial" in order to puff up your internet presence/massage search results then surely you should also provide said site with a coherent and legible puff piece to reproduce verbatim for you.

Because otherwise you will end up looking terribad.

The "writing" there is so bad it's making my brain itch. I know marketing bods are traditionally ham-handed when it comes to language, but this is a new low.

I did laugh out loud at you adjusting your ear trumpet though!
 

aliceshortcake

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However, if you live in the UK and Ireland published a book can be a difficult job. This is because, the UK and Ireland’s New Standard in Book Publishing. Do not worry, if you want to make a success of your books on the market, visit the publisher can be your choice.

Oh, hang on a minute. I've just had a revelation (thanks, coffee!) Is it possible that Handry, whose first language is clearly not English - the blog is registered to one Dinda Pramudani - misunderstood the phrase "UK and Ireland's New Standard in Book Publishing" and thought it referred to some sort of legislation that makes it difficult for new writers to be published?

Here's Handry's Elance profile:

https://www.elance.com/s/handrytse/resume/

He works for a minimum of $5 per hour and I'd say that GSP got their money's worth.

This is comedy gold!

I asked WH Smith if they have a partnership with Green Shore Publishing. Their reply:

I'm concerned to learn of this advertised partnership, as I cannot find any record of this on our systems. I've therefore forwarded this information to our website team, and they will investigate this matter further.

Oh, dearie me. It's not looking too good for "the best option for success in the European book publishing market", is it?
 
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Sixpence

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Oh, hang on a minute. I've just had a revelation (thanks, coffee!) Is it possible that Handry, whose first language is clearly not English - the blog is registered to one Dinda Pramudani - misunderstood the phrase "UK and Ireland's New Standard in Book Publishing" and thought it referred to some sort of legislation that makes it difficult for new writers to be published?

I'd guess that's very possible. Most likely Handry was given a bullet point list of "talking points" and one of those was this "New Standard". Pretty embarrassing for them (but oh, delicious irony) that he'd take it as a bad thing and an obstacle to publication. I wonder if they're seeking "content" through elance, or if they're sourcing paid articles from somewhere else?

I did start to look through jobs posted on elance but the sheer volume of stuff there made me flee in search of a strong restorative coffee.

Great work with the emails, that's really paying dividends. I love that both responses so far boil down to a corporate-style "Who?".
 

aliceshortcake

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The plot thickens!

It turns out that there's another Handry Swastika:

https://www.apsense.com/user/maorin2014

About Handry

I was a girl who pursue the world of internet marketing and web design. I will give you the best service for you and I am sure you will not regret it...I will help increase search your product / website into top rankings on Google from $ 250 and free maintenance for 1 year. Guaranted!!

There's a photo of Handry II in which she looks like a beauty queen. I think this calls for a Google image search.

*does Google image search and marvels at modern technology*

Yes, it's a photo of the Indonesian beauty queen Aisya Adiputri. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Handry I and Handry II are the same person.

It can't be a coincidence that the blogfirstteam article (and I use the word in the loosest possible sense) turned up a couple of days after GSP's dodgy claims were exposed on this thread. Rarely in the field of vanity publishing has an attempt at damage limitation backfired so badly.
 
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Sixpence

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So much gold.

You have to wonder at the thought process behind hiring either version of Handry, given that their blurbs are either extremely short (Handry I) or gleefully ungrammatical (Handry II). I wonder whether the picture or the promised 2k back-links was the primary deal-maker there?

Looks like Handry II was the version hired by GSP, that was the kind of service I expected them to employ.

Bad decisions all round. But oh, so entertaining!
 

aliceshortcake

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Although GSP's website has more than its fair share of grammatical errors it does seem to have been written by a native English speaker. However, the company's bizarre decision to use Handry Swastika's services makes me wonder if there could be an Indonesian connection. The samples of Handry's work available via the Elance profile make it painfully obvious that his (I'm going to assume that Handry is a man) command of English leaves a lot to be desired. Yes, he works for next to nothing, but if GSP wanted to salvage what little reputation they had couldn't they do a better job of it themselves? And how on earth did they hear about him in the first place?

The whole thing is fractally weird.

*spooky music plays in background*
 

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If I had to make a guess it would be that they went prospecting for the cheapest SEO "guru" they could find. It wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility that Handry was then subcontracted by the person they did hire - rather than being a direct choice.

I'm not sure if that would point to GSP having an Indonesian base or point more towards them employing an Indonesian content farm to outsource a bundle of backlinks/"articles" that could make them look like a substantive enterprise to a lazy googler.

I'd tend towards thinking it's the latter, but if they have any sense at all they must be cringing now. It will be interesting to see if more of these articles pop up over the coming days, and where they come from.

I also wonder if they've managed to attract any paying customers authors, because if they haven't the sensible thing would be to cut and run asap, pop-up with another pre-fabricated site and hope no-one notices. Of course, I really hope they keep NOT being sensible, because this is all rather a lot of fun...as long as I can convince myself that no-one could possibly already have fallen for their patter and handed over an ms and a wodge of cash for a book that may prove chimaerical.