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Jolly Fish Press

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I came across it googling for YA publishers. They look really new and have some titles out already. Covers look good to me. They also have a list of future novels due out later in the year and the years to come. They have lots of info on there for writers. It's worth taking a look. I'd love to hear what you guys think. I recently submitted to them, so I will let you guys know how it goes.

http://www.jollyfishpress.com/#distribution
 

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Their website looks good, clean and professional. I like how much information they have on there.

I've checked their titles, and yep, they seem really new. I LOVE the cover of the third book (the one with the sharks). When I clicked The Housekeeper's Son, it brought me to a page with a brand new layout fitting for the book, and all kinds of info, about the book, author, reviews, etc. I thought it was neatly done.

What does worry me a bit, is this:

To learn more about how we can help you jumpstart your writing career, click here.
Which is on most of their pages. This is aimed at authors, not readers. Their 'About Us' page is not actually a page, and just includes that the editorial board has worked at HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin, etc. If that info is true, then that's great, but it's impossible to check without a name matching the credentials.

I'm curious to see how your submission goes. At first glance, they do seem to know what they're doing.
 
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Snappy

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Bump for any other info. :)
 

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I got a request from them to see the first 150 pages. That was about 2 weeks ago, but it might take a lot longer than that. It was about a week after a query with the first three chapters and synopsis so they were pretty fast.

I'm really impressed with them so far. They have a ton of information on their site, plus they do hardcover too which is another impressive thing. I emailed them with some questions and they were very professional too. They offer between 8 to 25% for their royalties and do (like I said) hardcover, trade paperback, and e-book formats too. No advances though.

The covers are amazing (imo), plus they do nicely done book trailers and have a good marketing plan too. I was glad I came across this one when I did.

Mine is YA, so whoever has that, they accept that too. MG too.
 

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I got a request from them to see the first 150 pages. That was about 2 weeks ago, but it might take a lot longer than that. It was about a week after a query with the first three chapters and synopsis so they were pretty fast.

I'm really impressed with them so far. They have a ton of information on their site, plus they do hardcover too which is another impressive thing. I emailed them with some questions and they were very professional too. They offer between 8 to 25% for their royalties and do (like I said) hardcover, trade paperback, and e-book formats too. No advances though.

The covers are amazing (imo), plus they do nicely done book trailers and have a good marketing plan too. I was glad I came across this one when I did.

Mine is YA, so whoever has that, they accept that too. MG too.

Did they say if royalties are based on net or cover?
Did they say if they have distribution?
Did they say if they give discounts to bookstores and take returns?
Did they say if they use off-set or POD? Their prices indicate the latter, imo, but I could be wrong.
 
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Undercover

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They have a list of distributors at the bottom of their homepage. Any other questions, I am sure they'd be glad to answer if you email them. Like I said, I emailed with a few questions of my own and they were happy to answer and fast at the response too, which was a plus.
 

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They have a list of distributors at the bottom of their homepage. Any other questions, I am sure they'd be glad to answer if you email them. Like I said, I emailed with a few questions of my own and they were happy to answer and fast at the response too, which was a plus.

Yeah, I saw their website, but the only thing is, what they have listed is not really distribution. I mean, yes, if you order a book, Ingram and B&T might have a hand in getting that book to you, but that’s misleading in terms of what a distributor is. I thought that Jolly Fish Press (JFP) must, at the very least, have an account with Ingram Publisher Services (IPS), which, I believe, is the actual “distribution” arm of Ingram where they have dedicated sales teams. But those presses who use IPS are listed here: http://www.ingrampublisherservices.com/publishers/publishers.aspx and I don’t see JFP among them.

I could totally be wrong. Perhaps they have solid distribution and will get books into stores, but I don't see a means to that end in their list. Again, I could totally be wrong. Alternatively, perhaps in-store sales is not part of their business plan.
 
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They want an exclusive when they request the full.
 

Undercover

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They have my full so I did some more digging and now I'm confused. In this link: http://wasatchwriters.org/articles/notes-from-our-meetings/9-heidi

They say they are both a traditional and self-publishing company, yet they don't mention that on their site.

"Jolly Fish Press offers both options to its clients. The self-published author can meet with Jolly Fish Press and design a personalized contract to puchase the services needed. They offer all services except for promotion of the actual book, although they can give some advice and recommendations. They are also a traditional publisher as a small imprint of Penguin called Country Books"
 

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They have my full so I did some more digging and now I'm confused. In this link: http://wasatchwriters.org/articles/notes-from-our-meetings/9-heidi

They say they are both a traditional and self-publishing company, yet they don't mention that on their site.

"Jolly Fish Press offers both options to its clients. The self-published author can meet with Jolly Fish Press and design a personalized contract to puchase the services needed. They offer all services except for promotion of the actual book, although they can give some advice and recommendations. They are also a traditional publisher as a small imprint of Penguin called Country Books"

The word "purchase" stands out to me. Definitely a red flag.

Then, I found this:

http://paidcontent.org/2011/11/19/419-self-published-authors-sharply-criticize-penguins-book-country

Which seems to indicate that their penguin imprint "country books" is basically a vanity press (that they disguise as a self publishing company)
 

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"They are also a traditional publisher as a small imprint of Penguin called Country Books"

And to add another thing, how can they be an "traditional publisher" through Country Books if they are a vanity press wanting money?
 

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Yet they make no mention of that on their JollyFish site.

I agree, there's something weird here.

There is a self publishing link on their front page, but I don't see them mention this "Country Books" imprint anywhere.

Maybe they aren't affiliated with it. But then why do they have a link to "self publishing information?"
 

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"They are also a traditional publisher as a small imprint of Penguin called Country Books"

And to add another thing, how can they be an "traditional publisher" through Country Books if they are a vanity press wanting money?

I have a theory.

Maybe they are using country books to publish.

So I other words, if I accepted manuscripts, reviewed, edited and did a marketing plan, but then published through xlibris, say. Then I'm saying I am a traditional publisher through xlibris?
 

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I don't know, maybe they are using Country Books to self-publish. I emailed them a while back asking questions and they call themselves "a traditional publisher." What's weird is that they make NO mention on their site that they offer both to authors. I'm tempted to just email them and ask.

And I can't find any other sites mentioning Jollyfish and Country Books is related, why that is, I don't know. The only other thing I could think of is that one site I got gave out the wrong info.
 

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I don't know, maybe they are using Country Books to self-publish. I emailed them a while back asking questions and they call themselves "a traditional publisher." What's weird is that they make NO mention on their site that they offer both to authors. I'm tempted to just email them and ask.

And I can't find any other sites mentioning Jollyfish and Country Books is related, why that is, I don't know. The only other thing I could think of is that one site I got gave out the wrong info.

That is also very possible. Sorry I couldn't find more. I'm pretty curious about these guys now.
 

Undercover

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Well everything was going great till I read that site. They do request an exclusive on a full and offer between 8% to 25% on royalties. No advances though. I was so excited about them requesting my full, now I don't know. I do appreciate you trying to help me out. If I find out anything more, I post it.
 

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Well everything was going great till I read that site. They do request an exclusive on a full and offer between 8% to 25% on royalties. No advances though. I was so excited about them requesting my full, now I don't know. I do appreciate you trying to help me out. If I find out anything more, I post it.

Those would be fair royalties on cover price. Where did you see "no advances" ?
 
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icerose

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Well everything was going great till I read that site. They do request an exclusive on a full and offer between 8% to 25% on royalties. No advances though. I was so excited about them requesting my full, now I don't know. I do appreciate you trying to help me out. If I find out anything more, I post it.

I would go by what they say on their site and ask lots of questions. I don't see anything about country books anywhere on their site, nor do I see anything about them being a self publisher. They have an article on self publishing, but they do not offer those services.
 

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I would go by what they say on their site and ask lots of questions. I don't see anything about country books anywhere on their site, nor do I see anything about them being a self publisher. They have an article on self publishing, but they do not offer those services.

Thanks. I'm hoping that that one little site, the only site that has this info, is wrong. You can't believe everything on the net these days. Hopefully it's wrong. And yes, if they accept my novel, I will ask a ton of questions. Thanks for putting me at ease.
 

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They have my full so I did some more digging and now I'm confused. In this link: http://wasatchwriters.org/articles/notes-from-our-meetings/9-heidi

They say they are both a traditional and self-publishing company, yet they don't mention that on their site.

"Jolly Fish Press offers both options to its clients. The self-published author can meet with Jolly Fish Press and design a personalized contract to puchase the services needed. They offer all services except for promotion of the actual book, although they can give some advice and recommendations. They are also a traditional publisher as a small imprint of Penguin called Country Books"

I wonder if Penguin knows that Jolly Fish Press is a small imprint of Penguin.

Also, the Penguin Self-Publishing/community thing is called Book Country, not Country Books.

Hmm. This might be something to ask someone associated with Penguin and Book Country.

ETA: I see that's not something Jolly Fish actually claims on its site, but was claimed via someone else. Never mind!
 

profen4

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I wonder if Penguin knows that Jolly Fish Press is a small imprint of Penguin.

Also, the Penguin Self-Publishing/community thing is called Book Country, not Country Books.

Hmm. This might be something to ask someone associated with Penguin and Book Country.
I can find no place on the web that has JFP saying they are an imprint of penguin. Did you see them saying that somewhere?
 
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