Double Dragon Publishing, Inc.

woodrow said:

I've been waiting for 15 weeks for a response though they sent me an email saying I would get one in 6-8 weeks. As they said they wanted exclusive submissions, I didn't submit to anyone else. Is it usual to wait so loong? I'm beginning to think I am not going to get a response.

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Once they've exceed their advertised 6-8 weeks, you're free to submit elsewhere. If they contact you after that point, advise them of all other pending submissions you have. Its simple professional courtesy both ways, they should understand.

Brindle Chase said:

Once they've exceed their advertised 6-8 weeks, you're free to submit elsewhere. If they contact you after that point, advise them of all other pending submissions you have. Its simple professional courtesy both ways, they should understand.

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Thanks for that advice. I'll take it.

WritersNotesAdvocate said:

I'm not actually a DDP author. However, I'm posting to this thread because something pretty bizarre occurred. I was checking my email today and saw an automated email with the subject line: "Royalty Statments [sic] for 1st-2008". I opened up the attachments and saw an empty statement about how royalties have to be higher than $25 before they're paid. The statement bore my name and address but listed no title or author info.

The bizarre thing: I never signed a contract or published a book with DDP. I submitted well over a year ago and was accepted, but I landed an agent at the same time and decided to go that route instead. I sent a reply about how I decided to decline, to which an editor responded cordially. I've since emailed that editor indicating this and trust that the matter will be resolved. As I googled myself and found nothing with my name published under DDP, I think it was an oversight. But what a bizarre oversight.

Never had anything like that happen before (either with a royalty statement from this publisher or another).

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You better run a virus scan just in case.

Travel_Writer said:

Hi all,
I was wondering if any of you have heard anything bad about Double Dragon, the reason I ask is that I sent a novel to them 9 weeks ago and have not received a response yet. Even though they said their response time was 6-8 weeks. I’ve contacted them twice and haven’t received a response.

Have had the same problem with Scrybe Press too any advice on what I should do?

Geraldine

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Geraldine,
Did you ever hear anything? I sent my novel on October 31, it's now March 14 and I've heard nothing. I've emailed them a couple of times but have got no reply! I reckon that by this stage they aren't going to respond

woodrow said:

Geraldine,
Did you ever hear anything? I sent my novel on October 31, it's now March 14 and I've heard nothing. I've emailed them a couple of times but have got no reply! I reckon that by this stage they aren't going to respond

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It's my understanding that DDP's editor had a recent death in the family.

Thanks for that info Dave. Delays would certainly be understandable in that circumstance.

I submitted a manuscript to DDP in Aug 09 and had a response by mid Sept 09. While their web page noted open for submissions at the time I queried them, the response noted that they were closed for 2010 print cycle. Still, the editor liked the story and suggested I remind her when they reopen submissions for 2011. She was going to keep the file.

Still not sure how I feel about the whole e-publishing thing. I feel like I am cheating, like I am using a POD service by going this route. Still, if it gets my name out there and I can create a fan base which I can then take to a traditional publisher...

Nick Anthony

thothguard51 said:

I submitted a manuscript to DDP in Aug 09 and had a response by mid Sept 09. While their web page noted open for submissions at the time I queried them, the response noted that they were closed for 2010 print cycle. Still, the editor liked the story and suggested I remind her when they reopen submissions for 2011. She was going to keep the file.

Still not sure how I feel about the whole e-publishing thing. I feel like I am cheating, like I am using a POD service by going this route. Still, if it gets my name out there and I can create a fan base which I can then take to a traditional publisher...

Nick Anthony

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I know what you mean. I had considered going the POD/EPUB route, but got some good advice from some ppl on this forum and decided that I couldn’t do it until I had exhausted every other option of commercial publishing (and even then I might need to consider that my book is just not good enough to be published). Also, I personally think that POD is above e-publishing in terms of how people feel about it (even if it's just by a hair). At least with a POD publisher someone has liked your work enough to invest money in printing it.
I would suggest you do everything within your power to sell your novel to a commercial publisher or agent before you go the e-pub/POD route (including being very critical with your work). I’m not an expert on the subject, but in my research I’ve found that most e/pod published authors sell a few hundred copies of their book, with the most successful selling no more than a couple thousand. Not exactly enough for you to make a living and certainly not enough for you to get any name recognition.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

lisa.miller123 said:

I’m not an expert on the subject, but in my research I’ve found that most e/pod published authors sell a few hundred copies of their book, with the most successful selling no more than a couple thousand. Not exactly enough for you to make a living and certainly not enough for you to get any name recognition.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

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Actually there are quite a few epubbed only authors who do make a living off of their ebooks. I'm only considered 'midlist' but I pull in enough money monthly to pay a large number of my bills. Some epubbed authors are easily pulling in far more than they could make at a 9-5 day job or with traditional publishing. I've personally spoken to several authors who pull in $2500 or more per month on ebook sales. Also many well established ebook authors have gone on to nice contracts with big NYC print publishers.

Keep in mind to that with ebooks your royalty rates are far higher than they are with a print publisher so 500 copies sold nets you a heck of a lot more than 5%-7% off a an equal number of print copies sold. (And print is no guarantee of big number sales. Average print titles sell 1000 or fewer copies--for newer authors--which is why the print book industry is in trouble.) There are a LOT of ebook authors making more on their ebooks than they are on traditional print books. Even the self publishing route can work out better. Case in point...
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2009/10/kindle-numbers-traditional-publishing.html

If you want reliable information on ebook numbers sold, I suggest this website.
http://www.erecsite.com/index.html

Emily Veinglory does a great job compiling information on ebook sales across a number of the larger epublishing outfits.

Michael,

Yes, I know a few ladies in the e-publishing from the Authonmy website forums, (romance writers), and they all say the same things...

I am still not sure, but I do want to give it a try to see if I can build my audience. Its just 2011 is soooooooo far away... lol.

Nick Anthony

It really all comes down to going with a publisher who knows what they're doing, whether they're commercial or epublishers. Someone who isn't experienced in epublishing especially who tries to run an epub is just as bad as someone with no experience trying to run a commercial publisher. You're going to get screwed either way. Epublishing isn't always a bad option, your book might be better suited to one. You just have to make sure you take the same care choosing an epub as you would an agent or commercial publisher. It's POD/Self-publishing that should be considered a last resort, not epublishing.

Looks like its been almost a year since there was activity on here. Ebook sales have jumped since then, and DDP is still around and seems to be doing a brisk business.
Has anyone else had any experiences, positive or negative with DDP in the last year?

DDP published one of my fantasy novels this spring. I got my first royalty payment recently (they pay twice yearly) and was pleased with the amount--low three figures, which was much more than I expected. They've since accepted a fantasy novella from me that will probably be released early next year.

I've been really happy with them from the beginning. I was assigned an editor who did a good job, and the publisher was quick to answer a question I had about my royalty statement--I think he responded to my email within a few hours, as I recall. I don't love my cover art, but that doesn't seem to be as important for ebooks anyway.

I haven't seen ebooks sales jump in the last year, on a per title basis they seem to be levelling out. There are more sales, but also more titles.

Thanks Saanen, looks like they are still treating writers fairly. I will assume that is the case until I hear otherwise.
Somewhere, I cant remember where, I heard that ebook sales jumped 190% in 2009. Of course, they still only account for 2-3% of total sales. The only figures for 2010 I can find show an even higher increase. These figures came from the SFWA Writers Beware site, so I trust them.
You could very well be right, individual sales are leveling out while there are a lot more titles available each month.

The jump in sales is mostly attributed to the introduction of various new reading devices over the past year. Whenever anyone gets a new device, they want to rush out and download several books at a time. (Rush out?)

I think the test will be once the sales of the reading devices spike and level out, will e-books also level out or even decline as the newness wears off...

Good point, but that posits the questions of: 'What is market saturation for ebook readers?" I hear conflicting opinions about this one, some say we are halfway there, others that we are not even 10% of market saturation.
Prices are just barely beginning to drop, new readers are still coming out almost every month, and the market is still settling down and deciding on a market-standard format.
Also, the manufacturers of readers will want to keep that growth going, introducing new features or combining readers with other machines. Tablets, smart phones, etc. Its all very sci/fi to me, and Im thrilled to be watching the technology growing.

Does DDP promote their authors? Or are they more like an author mill--once they get you to sign the contract, you're on your own?

They are an epublisher, and epublishing is a volume market. IMHO don't expect them or any epublishers to be arranging book-signings and radio interviews the second your book hits the website.

the bunny hugger said:

They are an epublisher, and epublishing is a volume market. IMHO don't expect them or any epublishers to be arranging book-signings and radio interviews the second your book hits the website.

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Well, not book signings or radio interviews--but do they advertise on the internet? Do they buy spots for Kindle or Nook advertising at Amazon or Barnes&Noble? Do they support blog tours or other online events to get the word out about the books they're publishing? Do they give their authors anymore time of day than simply listing the book in their huge database?

If they don't, then doesn't that make them an author mill?

Traditionally an author mill is one that sells books to authors. One that has many authors and minimal marketing is more of an author farm. That is more a matter of degree than a yes/no question when it comes to epublishing. Epublishers generally do not extensively promote individual books. They promote the brand across all the books. The support the author in doing their own promotions.

Of course they use online distributors like Kindle/Amazon (easy to check), but I don't know what you mean by "buy". That's just something you do, the retailer takes about 50% of cover, no upfront fee.

Will they specifically arrange blog tours and such for you? I don't know for sure but I doubt it. But they give you everything you need to do it yourself.

Given a realistic understand of what an epublisher is, Double Dragon is a good one--in terms of fantasy in my opinion they are probably the best, for sci fi in the top 5. I say that as a person with no direct connection to them other than as a customer (I epublish, but in other genres). I come across their books in webstores, I consider them well written and packaged, I trust their brand.

The last time I bought book because of a blog post or advertisement is... never. I think quality, branding and distribution is far more important than online promottional fluff.

Just my 2c.

I thought it was fairly obvious what "buy advertising" meant. That means the publishing house purchases advertising space on an internet venue to promote the sales of the (most likely new) release of a book.

So let me get this straight:

DDP is considered a "trusted" publisher because they buy a lot of ebook rights from a lot of authors they never promote individually and because they've been around a "long time."

How long is a long time? Like ten years or so?

Just trying to figure out the difference between an epublisher I should trust and one I shouldn't.

You're being very sly Ms Turner.

Please just come out and say what you mean...

Advertising for a specific book which is aimed at readers has very low effectiveness. Historically, successful commercial print publishers' campaigns are aimed at book buyers and bookstores--within the trade. I have no idea what the ebook equivalent will be, but to judge a publisher's ability to sell books by whether they buy internet ads aimed at readers is probably not the best strategy.

I don't believe that DDP is meeting the standard of author support expected by legitimate publishing houses and I worry that there is a bit of nepotism going on here.

If any other publishing house was stated as having only their own brand in mind and didn't support the individual author--they would be considered an "author farm" (not mill, I guess, because of the nature of ebooks.)

So I'm curious why I'm being urged to trust this publisher when, as it appears, that once the contract is signed and the book is released, that's all they'll have to do with me.