One thing that bothers me and hasn't been mentioned: You have personal info and photos mixed with the business end of Black Rose Publishing on your website. Just a thought, you might want to keep the two separate.
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[Publisher] Black Rose Writing (Reagan Rothe)
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What services?
Pay royalties based on what? Gross? Net? Cover price?
And please understand when we ask questions, it's only to learn more about how you operate your business and we're not out to get you. Many, many, many people have trod down the same path you're about to (search the forums; there are many micropublishers that burn out in less than a year because they're funded only on good intentions) and it pays to have everything lined up, spelled out properly, and ready to go before you consider soliciting business.
Again, all of the questions we've asked are the same questions we'd expect any publisher to answer without getting upset and accusing anybody of hidden malice. If you can't/don't/won't answer them or have information readily available to your prospective clients, then good luck to you.
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Then that business or service should have a separate website.
Who is the "our" in this? Just you and your fiance? What level of experience are you able to offer? When I was 25 I was still in recovery from the crappy Texas educational system--which included university level credits. None of that helped me much as a writer. I learned more about publishing and writing craft by reading the local library, especially the 808 section!
How much does your help cost? AW has all that covered for free, unless members choose to donate.
At this point your apparent experience is such that you can warn people away from Publish America--which is hard to do while you're still trying to sell the book you have with them.
Putting up excerpts of the book might get more people interested in buying it. I have excerpts of several of my novels on my website, with links to Amazon and B&N for buyers.
Right, then. Brace for incoming. I am not known for pulling punches.
The name of your site is confusing. Black Rose WRITING does not look like a publishing house. It seems to be more of a writing advice kind of venue.
Black Rose Publishing (or Books) is better.
Lose the writing help and advice stuff. You're a publisher or you have a site that helps neo writers. Both on the same page confuses people.
Pimp your book on a page separate from your info for publishing.
Starting with the bio page, take out the cute pics of kids and significant others.
You are running a business. Family pics are for a My Space page and have no place on a business website; they send mixed signals to potential clients.
And just so you know, nasty kinds of stalker types just LOVE pics of cute kids and pretty girls. Ew.
A website should let a client know what it is that qualifies you to be trusted with his book. You may be the nicest guy in the world, but no one cares about that. They want your publishing resume, if there is one.
The notebook paper background distracts from the information you're trying to convey. The lines don't match up to the print lines, making it hard to read.
Bios read better when done in third person.
The Google ads and other ads are also distracting. Are you selling your business or getting cash for directing traffic from your site?
LOSE the Publish America ad. ANYONE who's been warned about them won't touch your site with a ten foot chopstick when they see you're apparently still pals with that bunch of slimers.
If you want to sell that book, get out of your PA contract and put the book with Lulu, or print copies through your printing service. The book will have a lower selling price. PA is infamous for overpricing.
A link called "The Portal" needs to be renamed to "Submission Guidelines."
You do not need to put in that you wrote each page and the date. Here's how Harlequin does their guidelines.
Here's Benbella's.
Both different, but they get the information across in simple language.
Most of the fonts on the website are hard to read. Plain old Arial or Times New Roman will serve better.
Here's a Texas publisher I've worked with:
http://www.benbellabooks.com/staff.htm
Check out their website to see how it's done.
I know Glenn Yeffeth personally, and he is one of the nicest guys in the world--but he also has a solid business background that served him well when he decided to open a publishing house. He is a total professional who loves all kinds of books, not just the ones he wrote himself.
Check his bio and that of his staff. They're great people, but you won't find personal information up on the website. With all the sleazes on the 'Net, it's just a bad idea.
Some of your website, edited:
Reagan Rothe is the CEO of Black Rose Writing, a publishing house located in Wichita Falls, TX.
Rothe's first novel, Misanthropy: Book I: The Tower was released by Publish America, LLLP. in 2006. (It's the kiss of death with that name on the page.)
A freelance, Rothe has worked for (insert name of newspaper here) as contributing writer and editor.
Rothe has published in: (List professional credits, paying markets only.)
Currently, Black Rose Writing has several products (Products? Are you selling books or Amway? Maybe you meant projects?) nearing completion--ready for publication Summer 2008 or sooner. (Cut that paragraph and NAME your upcoming releases. SHOW the covers for each. Name the month each book is due for release. Being vague on the date is not reassuring.)
See how this bunch does it. Or this one.
Cut all of what's below. It's not helping you. Really. I'm glad you like intellectually stimulating books, but the mission statement makes you look like a literary snob. I'm one of those vast numbers of readers who just want to be entertained, and it put me off. As a writer (and potential client) I figured MY stuff wouldn't be good enough to pass, so I moved on.
I would love to become a complete author, (you have missing body parts?) not only working on my novels from home, but also helping others in their search for a writing career or becoming a published writer.(Aren't the two one and the same? You're broadcasting that you don't know what you're doing. Delete this.)
Simply, I love to read and write masterful (you're modest, too) pieces that require a deeper thinking. Something that's meaning is forced or handed out to the reader like a tossed-away flyer grows tiresome for a yearning mind. It insults the reader's intelligence; a hungry brain that's core searches for a higher understanding. (Nothing in this paragraph indicates you're a pro or are good with grammer; less is more, delete it. )
That's just for starters. I could do more, but you've got some research and web-tweaking to do.
Realistically, you need to intern at a real publishing house, big or small, doesn't matter. You need professional training. That's why so many are harshing on you here. You mean well, but it's all too obvious that you don't have a solid base of experience.
One publisher I know of began as a kitchen-table home based business: Ellora's Cave. The women there wanted to publish their Romantica books, their website was the venue. The venture has been a howling success, so it CAN be done. But figure in that they did take the trouble to learn the ropes before hanging up their shingle!
Good luck!
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What is "personal publishing"?
This is a conflict of interest.
PA says the same thing.
Yes, but everything you've said indicates you don't really have a promotion budget or a distribution plan in place. This is not good, especially for authors.
I can forgive the occasional typo or misused word, but every post you've made has multiple mistakes in them, words that are used incorrectly. An "editor" who does not have a basic grasp of the English language is not someone recommend to anyone.
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Actually, both were founded by industry veterans.
If you were looking at Random House in its opening month, you'd be able to assess the strong track records of its founders: Bennett Cerf had been vice-president at Boni and Liveright, and Donald Klopfer had worked at a variety of publishers and newspapers. Also, the two had purchased the Modern Library series from Boni and Liveright two years previously, and had garnered acclaim for revamping the popular reprint line.
Del Rey was created as an imprint of publishing giant Ballantine, and its eponymous heads, Lester and Judy-Lynn, were respectively one of the era's top science-fiction writers and one of the era's top paperback editors. The del Reys' skills were well known, and the backing of Ballantine lent both credibility and financial stability to the enterprise.
I sent a query and asked these questions posted here. She responded and said she is in the process of getting a release from PA for her book and she has no other ties to them. She answered other concerns I have and asked to see my MS of a novel I have had around for some time. so I sent it to her. I will wait to see what happens. she seemed sincere and willing to do what she can to get authors books in stores. I know these are only promises but I am willing to check it out. What is in the contract will be very important.
Jennifer Robins
Jennifer Robins
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The question is what she can do, which you can know in advance. A publisher either has the capacity to produce a book that is stockable (deep discount, unlimited returns etc) or they don't. A publisher needs either experience/expertise *or* a track record. That's just how it is. In the absence of that you are letting your book be their learning experience.
Sorry about that I thought it was a woman. (never assume)
As far as them lerning...I think many of them do that and most likely continue to learn, but don't we all. The idea is that they are willing to and that way they will grow.
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I'm sorry again you are so strongly against my efforts to create something special. I wish you all the best of luck with any future endeavors!
See it's attitude like this that will get you nowhere. Please stop with the "pity me" business. This whole "you're all trying to keep us new guys down" mentality never works and will only lead authors to avoid you as we've all seen too many scam publishers use this line, so if you're legit, don't use it. See the "Lies scammers tell" sticky topic.
First, we are only a publishing house, and a NEW one. We offer freelance services outside of publishing. It isn't really that hard to decipher. I'm sure Random House and Del Rey had an itemized list of successful clients and testimonials their opening month. We are offering our help and knowledge to new, inexperience writers, making sure they have the best education presented to them and can make a choice that benefits their needs.
So you're a new publisher yet you have the experience to teach others? What are your credentials? Where did you get this knowledge you wish to pass on to us all?
Again, if you're legit then tell us what anyone would want to know, don't give us a pity-party.
See it's attitude like this that will get you nowhere. Please stop with the "pity me" business. This whole "you're all trying to keep us new guys down" mentality never works and will only lead authors to avoid you as we've all seen too many scam publishers use this line, so if you're legit, don't use it. See the "Lies scammers tell" sticky topic.
First, we are only a publishing house, and a NEW one. We offer freelance services outside of publishing. It isn't really that hard to decipher. I'm sure Random House and Del Rey had an itemized list of successful clients and testimonials their opening month. We are offering our help and knowledge to new, inexperience writers, making sure they have the best education presented to them and can make a choice that benefits their needs.
So you're a new publisher yet you have the experience to teach others? What are your credentials? Where did you get this knowledge you wish to pass on to us all?
Again, if you're legit then tell us what anyone would want to know, don't give us a pity-party.
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Okay, I've never done this before to another publisher, and I'm not comfortable stating my reasons why I'm doing so now; but please, please, please give this company a wide pass.
Oh, I do so wanna know more... But I certainly respect your position & will heed the advice - in part because the website itself doesn't exactly inspire confidence that a writer is in capable hands.
Like Donette, I also noticed that he intro'd himself on QueryTracker, and when met with skepticism and questions, all he posted was, "Yes, we are legit," and that was that.
So they must be, right? 'Cause he said so.
A bit strange is all.
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All I know is, the very first thing Reagan must do is purge every bit of "PA published my novel" from his CV, his website, his blog (if he has one), everywhere. Unless and until he does that, he'll never leave the starting gate.
Couldn't agree more with that. I also think he might want to go a step further and remove the buy-my-book plea. Not to look for the negative here, but if his book is essentially the only available title from BRP, the moniker of 'Publisher' feels a bit disingenuous to me. Sure, there are more promised titles allegedly on the horizon... but I'm a bit put off thinking that this site sells nothing but his own PA published book.
priceless1
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He needs to do a lot more than that, John. I've recently had firsthand experience with Reagan - things that no author would ever have the chance to discover, and I felt strongly enough to shell out a warning to steer clear.
All I can say is: Whoa.
I've emailed him twice, stating what he could do to better his website. He seemed willing to listen. But then he only took off the part where his book is pubbed by PA. He took off most of the personal stuff, including the photos of his little nieces and nephews. But--I still don't see where he has the publishing acumen. That's an important clue he has to still learn the ropes.
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I went a step further and begged him not to accept any new authors for their sake. Yes, I feel that strongly about this guy.
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And he doesn't. Which is why it's good he mentions PA. It's a red flag that can save would-be submitters a lot of time.
- Victoria
Assuming they know about PA. Before I joined here, I knew nothing about PA - so it wouldn't have been a red flag for me.
Of course, knowing what I know now... well... that's a whole nother ball game right there
Of course, knowing what I know now... well... that's a whole nother ball game right there
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And by getting all of this straightened out before he goes any further, the person he'd be helping the most is himself.
He took that off. And as Jersey Chick said, there are people who don't understand what PA is about.
Agreed. He definitely does not need to pull that info down, people need to see it. But to his credit at least he's forthcoming, that's more than can be said for some.
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You can blame my post above for urging him to remove the PA stuff, but in private mails I strongly urged him to remove the personal pics and full names of those two babies.
Any sick creep could have found them, given time and enough Google.
At this point, I think he really wants to help writers, but lacks a serious resume that would allow him to do this. Hopefully writers will twig to that.
I'll give him credit for taking down the personal pics. You can't be too paranoid when it comes to keeping your kids safe.
A couple years back I had a cute pic of a kid on my website. It was over forty years old from an old family album, and nothing about it could be considered salacious by a normal human being. When I checked my site stats a month later I found over a dozen kiddie p**n sites had linked to it.
After throwing up I took the pic down and reported them to my host server AND the FBI AND my local police. I got a call back from the FBI who told me I did the right thing, and it was the agent's good opinion that proud parents should keep their babies off the Internet. It's as bad as putting their kid pics up on a billboard with a "please kidnap" message.
You parents--please-please-please, be SAFE.
Any sick creep could have found them, given time and enough Google.
At this point, I think he really wants to help writers, but lacks a serious resume that would allow him to do this. Hopefully writers will twig to that.
I'll give him credit for taking down the personal pics. You can't be too paranoid when it comes to keeping your kids safe.
A couple years back I had a cute pic of a kid on my website. It was over forty years old from an old family album, and nothing about it could be considered salacious by a normal human being. When I checked my site stats a month later I found over a dozen kiddie p**n sites had linked to it.
After throwing up I took the pic down and reported them to my host server AND the FBI AND my local police. I got a call back from the FBI who told me I did the right thing, and it was the agent's good opinion that proud parents should keep their babies off the Internet. It's as bad as putting their kid pics up on a billboard with a "please kidnap" message.
You parents--please-please-please, be SAFE.