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Jolly Fish Press

Undercover

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Found out, they did offer consultation services in the past, but to avoid confusion from writers, they discontinued it and erased it from their site. They do not require authors to pay anything, so that's solved.

I will say, everything I hit them up with, they've been very responsive and professional so far. I should have just asked them directly in the first place, sorry for the confusion. And I meant, "Book Country" not "Country Books"...my bad.
 

JFP Head Publicist

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Hello everyone,

I'm the head publicist at Jolly Fish Press. This thread turned up in our google alerts, and we were delighted to hear some serious discussion about us, especially when someone (who it seems came from this forum) sent us an email with some related questions. Of course, I hope I am not breaking any rules by responding, and I definitely encourage serious discussion about publishers without the publisher intervening. However, there are a few things I'd like to clear up for your benefit.

1. We are not in anyway affiliated with Country Books and/or Book Country. In fact, we've never heard of them until this forum mentioned it.

2. We are also not in anyway affiliated with self-publishing. We have, from time to time, offered consultation services to local authors in our immediate area in order to support our local writing community, but that is the extent to which we have dealt with self-publishing, and it is a practice that we have since distanced ourselves from due to confusion from authors (like right now). As a traditional publisher, we follow the guidelines and practices of major publishing houses while constantly scrutinizing these practices to see if there is room for innovation. As a result, we strive to maintain a transparency with our authors and prospective authors, which is one of the reasons I am responding to this thread.

3. As a traditional publisher, we do not require our authors to pay anything. Such bad practice is something we definitely frown down upon, and as we invest thousands of dollars and endless amounts of manpower into each of our books, it is something we are very distanced from.

4. (Asked by someone who sent us an email who we assume came from this forum) Our royalty rates are determined by the contract for each acquired title, ranging between 8% and 25% and, depending on the contract, ranging from both net and cover price. The reason for such variation is due to certain requirements and preferences of literary agents, among other things. Of course, we will always strive to provide a reasonable royalty rate for our authors as they are our first priority.

5. We have very wide distribution channels, both national and international. Each of our titles are available basically everywhere online as a hardcover, trade paperback, and ebook (some books may have a delayed trade paperback release). Our brick & mortar presence is also stellar, as our books are available to any bookstore that has access to large distributors like Ingram and Baker & Taylor. Our books are also available through Barnes & Noble (both online and in physical stores). While we cannot promise all of the bookstores, especially Barnes & Noble, will carry our books, they do have the ability to carry our books. As head publicist, I work with my publicity team to contact all of the Barnes & Nobles and several independent bookstores in our author's area (usually statewide) for stocking and signings. In addition, We submit to several bookstores'/booksellers' corporate offices (Barnes & Noble, Costco, etc.) for nationwide stocking. We also have wide distribution in Canada, Australia, Europe, Asia, and many other places, including working with subrights agents for foreign language publishing and movie and entertainment rights.


Hopefully this clears up some confusion. Now, I don't want to intrude on the conversation (trust me, we encourage it!), so if you have any direct questions, I invite you send them to our general email at [email protected]. Thanks!

Kirk Cunningham
Head Publicist
Jolly Fish Press

P.s. I know it may not be common practice to include your name in forums like this, but a quick google search pulls up my name and email on all of our press releases. So for the sake of transparency, I thought, "Why not?"
 

profen4

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Thanks for the information, Mr. Cunningham, looks like you guys are doing some good work. I was pleased to hear that you have an in house marketing team that actively pursues bookstore placement.
 
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Undercover

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Yes, and I thank you too, Mr. Cunningham. I had a writing friend of mine ask, since she was interested in submitting too. I have a novel under consideration and we were both confused about the self-publishing information. But you've answered everything thoroughly. I am very pleased with JollyFish so far. What impresses me most is the quick and efficient responses. Plus the bookcovers are amazing!

And knowing now that (if my book gets accepted) it will be an actual bookstores too.
 

Terie

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And knowing now that (if my book gets accepted) it will be an actual bookstores too.

No, that's not what Kirk said. He said:

...our books are available to any bookstore that has access to large distributors like Ingram and Baker & Taylor. Our books are also available through Barnes & Noble (both online and in physical stores). While we cannot promise all of the bookstores, especially Barnes & Noble, will carry our books, they do have the ability to carry our books. As head publicist, I work with my publicity team to contact all of the Barnes & Nobles and several independent bookstores in our author's area (usually statewide) for stocking and signings. In addition, We submit to several bookstores'/booksellers' corporate offices (Barnes & Noble, Costco, etc.) for nationwide stocking.

None of this means that JFP books are (yet) likely to be carried widely IN bookstores. It sounds like they're working on it, which is good, but it's very hard for new presses to accomplish and they're not there yet.
 

Undercover

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No, but they're working on it. It does sound like they can at least get it in bookstores near the author's area.
 

JamesOliv

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Well I'm glad that was cleared up.

The page that linked Jolly Fish Press to vanity publishing seemed odd, particularly as it wasn't being mentioned on the JFP website.

In any case, I'm glad Kirk was able to clear that up. I'm far more likely to submit to a startup that is trying to get somewhere than a farce that only pretends to have done it already.

Good luck Undercover, and thank you for the clarification JFP!
 
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twiharder

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So a girl from my critique group has been waiting for a reply on a full. Has anyone here heard back on a full submission?
 

Undercover

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Did they request a partial first?

That's what they did with me. They requested the first 150 pages and upped it to a full. It's on an exclusive basis. That was about two weeks ago. It took them about a month to read the partial and they seem to be pretty fast, so hopefully I'll hear soon. I'll let you know when I do.
 

twiharder

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Anyone hear back on a full yet? I know a couple people who have been waiting 10 weeks so far. They say up to 8 weeks, but maybe they'\ve been innundated wtih submisisons lately.
 

Undercover

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They read my first three chapters and got back to me in a week, requesting 150 pages. So, I'll wait for the R or the full request. Gosh, I wish they paid even a token advance of a couple hundred. But HB, Trade and e-book launching has GOT to cost some bucks for this press.

tri

Congrats Tri! They've got my full right now and yes, I wish they paid out advances too. But like you said, and they even do hardcover, so that's a great plus. I heard their marketing is solid too. Anyways, I've read nothing but great things for this publisher. Even though they've only been around a year, they've got quality work out there already. Good Luck to you!!!
 

twiharder

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Congrats Tri! They've got my full right now and yes, I wish they paid out advances too. But like you said, and they even do hardcover, so that's a great plus. I heard their marketing is solid too. Anyways, I've read nothing but great things for this publisher. Even though they've only been around a year, they've got quality work out there already. Good Luck to you!!!

I want more information. Tri, sorry to put you on the spot, but you have an agent, right? Is your agnet making this submission for you? If so, your agent has probably spoken to the publisher, right? Did they say it was a POD press? How do you know they don't pay advances?

Hardcover is not impressive. Sales are impressive. Competitive pricing is impressive. Getting stocked in stores is impressive. Their amazon numbers are not impressive. But I know they are jut ramping up, so time will tell of course.

I wish I could have a sit-down conversation with the publisher and just ask all my questions, but I suspect I couldn't do that until they offered a contract. But I don't want to submit because they ask for an exclusive, so what if I didn't like their answers after they offer the contract? Would I have to sign with them? Would they think I was a pretty big jerk for giving them an exclusive and then not signing the contract? What if they have no room for negotiation? What if there is an aspect of the company you don't know about until you get the offer (like if it's a POD press), and it's a deal breaker for you, and now you have to decline the offer even though you gave them an exclusive.

How can new publishers ask for exclusives without giving all the information? eg. like posting the boilerplate contract on their site somewhere.

This press is very frustrating to me. I've read one of their books and it was great. Well designed, well edited, very pretty. I want to believe they're doing good things. I see that a couple agents have dealt with them, and I thought that was a good sign. But maybe it speaks more for the calibre of agent rather than calibre of press.
 

Undercover

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Twiharder, you could just be asking the publisher themselves. Mr. Cunningham was just here. I've asked a lot of questions too so far. So has a friend of mine. They are pretty good at getting back. And no, you don't have to go with them if you don't like the contract afterwards. That's the fun part, you're the author so you have whatever choice. Unless you're with an agent, that might sway you into picking a certain publisher, it's STILL your choice first.

I mentioned hardcover was impressive (to me) and it still is, that's just my tastes in what I like to see with a publisher.

You've seem to be tracking them aggressively. All you have to do is ask directly and I'm sure you'll get some answers.

Oh, and if you get a contract, ask a lot of questions. Or better yet search for an agent to help you through it.
 

triceretops

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In answer: I'm pro-active with my agent. I'm allowed to query some of the smaller guys while she takes care of the high road. I just have to let her know who has what. I shoot for token advances and above, which limits me. I screwed up on this one, and found out after the fact that they didn't provide advances. I think I saw that on Duotrope or Ralans when I double-checked--can't remember. It might be on their website.

Another reason I query the smaller outfits: I examine any and all rejection comments. If I get two or three that show flawed consistencies that are valid, I'll rewrite accordingly and send the fresh version to my agent. So I use small press rejects as a free editing service. I've always done that and it's worked out for some good revisions. If I'm offered a contract of any sort, I pow-wow with my agent to see if we can leverage it in any way.

But, admittedly, I really do not have tons of faith in fairly new publishers. There are exceptions, like Entangled and a few others who show promise.
 

Undercover

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That sounds like a good strategy. Whatever the case, I hope it works out for you, whatever publisher you decide on.
 

triceretops

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Got the full request today. Stopped my submission train, but hey, I've got some others out there and there's nothing I can do about those. Not really anticipating anything big here. Now, you've got to read their distributorship claims very carefully. It really appears that it's nothing more than online listings kind of puffed up to appear as more than it is. If I'm mistaken and they really do and can get books into stores, then I'll eat my fedora.

Stunning book covers. Editors that have allegedly worked in the big six houses. All print mediums covered.

Strange though. I went from synop and 3 chapts to 150 pages, then to full. A little weird but tolerable since they're really fast up until the 150 sub, then it's eight weeks for a final determination.
 

Undercover

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I received a rejection about 8 weeks after they requested the full (after requesting the first 150 pages.) They pretty much said they loved everything but the end. I asked if I could re-submit if I revise it and they said they'd be happy to look at it again.

Very polite, very responsive and efficient this publisher is. I would submit to them again for sure.
 

triceretops

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Well, I had them up until the last 70 pages at least. A very nice and complimentary R on the full. I went from 3 chapters, to 150 pages, and then to the full. It all took about two months--pretty swift for all that back-and-forth. Had excellent marks for premise, pace and solid narrative. Fell short with a weakened plot after the second act. Overall, nice, swift outfit.

tri