Seleer Press / Editorial Seleer

Torgo said:

It's translated (very badly) from Spanish, I think.

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Spanish still uses periods at the end of sentences, though. Unless their translator randomly does away with end punctuation, their grasp of grammar is still weak, even in the original language.

(Then again, the translator came up with "sales pussycat", so what do I know?)

Seleer Press was asked a couple of questions on Twitter and responded with this on 22 August:

I would like to clarify that we are a serious company. We have published over 200 titles in Spain and South America.

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However, on 14 August Seleer said this on Facebook:

Charbel M. Tadros will be our first author!

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If both those statements are true, Seleer Press must have published over 200 titles in the eight days between 14 and 22 August of this year. If it did, then it's not a publisher I want to work with: such a dense publishing schedule is bound to lead to problems in quality control. And if it didn't, well: would you sign with a confused or dishonest publisher?

Then there's this.

Have you visited any book fair this year? Do you plan to do so?

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Compare Seleer's photo of a "book fair" in that link with images of the Frankfurt Book Fair or the London Book Fair.

I understand that this might be yet another problem with translation, but it is also yet another pointer towards this publisher's lack of understanding of trade publishing, and lack of knowledge about how books are sold.

Old Hack said:

Compare Seleer's photo of a "book fair" in that link with images of the Frankfurt Book Fair or the London Book Fair.

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What it looks like is, that's the sort of thing that pops up when you google 'book fair'. Some of those results are from trade shows; a lot of them are from things like Scholastic Book Fairs or The Book People, where companies will set up pop-up shops in schools or workplaces.

It's hard to tell what Seleer means to refer to (which is the main problem in general it seems.)

Dear users,

First of all I want to thank Luca Veste (@lucaveste), Jane Smith (@hprw), and @medievalist because they brang me here. I want to thank you all of you because your comments are gold for us.

I work for Editorial Seleer/Seleer Press, and I want to chat with you about our project. Moreover, I am an Author myself. My job consists on answering emails, receiving manuscripts, managing signings, sending press-kits, and so on. For season 2013-2014 I won't be deciding what manuscripts can be published since there is a Reading Department for that.

I have read your messages, and I agree on:

- The website needs polishing

- The texts from the website need careful revision, and we will work on them very soon. I will start working there by early September

- The idea is not to atract just Authors (I think your definition of "sales pussycat" does not fit on here). At this stage, we plan to publish 5 books per month which is not that much compared to other companies. For the moment, we cannot afford publishing more than that. There will be a section dedicated to interviews for those who want to know more about our Authors. Readers will be able to download first chapters before a book is released. Furthermore, we will upload press-kits and promotional material for each release

- We accept manuscripts from the mentioned countries, but always measuring our budget. Of course we matter if Authors are from one country or the other!! Publishing is very different depending on where you live. We won't publish an Author if we previously know that we are going to have difficulties with distribution

I am new in the press so the website was made before my coming. I have not asked about who translated it, but yes it is awfully done. Personally, I do not like the design because it does not seem compatible with Android, and I cannot see all the pictures.

I am designing a new website. If possible I would like to know your thoughts on it.

I wanted to clarify some things:

- Editorial Seleer have been publishing since early 2012 over 200 titles which you can check on our website. Our books are also available on Amazon, and in other stores such as Fnac, El Corte Inglés, and La Casa del Libro. You may not be familiar with them, but not all publishers are distributed in malls

Someone (sorry I cannot remember the nickname) said that it was contradictory because on our wall on Facebook it is posted "Charbel Tadros is our first Author". Indeed, he is our first Author soon-to-be published by Seleer Press and not Editorial Seleer!

ABOUT SIGNINGS / COSTS / MINIMUM of COPIES

In Seleer Press, our budget is very limited, so we cannot publish every manuscript we receive. We do not want our Authors to pay anything. It is not fair. I have read several comments related to this. I want to explain more explicitly:

To start with, before submitting a manuscript, we have a list of terms (Read our Facebook) in which it says that we need to sell 50 books in the first signing (we give up to three weeks to do so, as we understand it can be difficult in some cases). Between the release the signing of a contract, and the first signing there is a month. A good way of start marketing a book is pre-ordering. We design posters for the signings (which can be managed by us). When the first signing takes place, you sell the copies we have sent you (free, of course!). But in case that some of them remain unsold, we give you up to three weeks to sell them. Another option is to sell the remain copies to libraries of your city or cultural centers, for example. After that time, if you was not able to sell the copies, contact us so we can see what to do with them. In case we cannot sell the copies, we would terminate our contract, and royalties would be paid of those sold copies. We would not retain the rights of your Work.

- About the "Book Fairs picture": for the moment we won't have a stand in a book fair. At least for this season, I cannot travel and represent my publisher as I do not have time (I am coursing my last year at the Uni). It was just a random question. In our soon-to-be opened website, we will publish dates and venues of our Authors' tours

I would be pleased to answer your questions.

Best wishes to all of you.

Pablo Solares
@solaresacebal

I don't know what kind of signing you have been holding, but I've never sold 50 or more books at any signing, or seen it done. How many of your books meet this goal?

psolares said:

- The idea is not to atract just Authors

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Currently, the website is focused on attracting authors, rather than attracting readers. This is usually the sign of either a vanity press or else an inexperienced start-up: most commercial/trade publisher websites focus on the readers, since it's readers that fund the operation.

psolares said:

(I think your definition of "sales pussycat" does not fit on here).

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What definition? We couldn't figure ou what the "sales Pussycat" mentioned on the website was supposed to be about. Do you know? I'd love to know what that part of the site intended to say.

psolares said:

At this stage, we plan to publish 5 books per month which is not that much compared to other companies. For the moment, we cannot afford publishing more than that.

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No need to apologize for not putting out more books. Each publisher needs to decide what release schedule will allow them to do a good job on each book -- no one here is concerned that your release schedule is not more aggressive.

psolares said:

- Editorial Seleer have been publishing since early 2012 over 200 titles which you can check on our website. Our books are also available on Amazon, and in other stores such as Fnac, El Corte Inglés, and La Casa del Libro. You may not be familiar with them, but not all publishers are distributed in malls

Someone (sorry I cannot remember the nickname) said that it was contradictory because on our wall on Facebook it is posted "Charbel Tadros is our first Author". Indeed, he is our first Author soon-to-be published by Seleer Press and not Editorial Seleer!

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Could you please clarify the difference between "Editorial Seleer" and "Seleer Press", and what the relationship between them is?

psolares said:

In Seleer Press, our budget is very limited, so we cannot publish every manuscript we receive.

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No publisher can publish every manuscript it receives -- unless it's a vanity press, and funded by the authors themselves.

psolares said:

we need to sell 50 books in the first signing (we give up to three weeks to do so, as we understand it can be difficult in some cases). Between the release the signing of a contract, and the first signing there is a month.

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I share Veinglory's concern: in the absence of a publisher with solid distribution to the trade, it is my understanding that very few authors manage to sell fifty books a year, let alone in a month.

So I'll echo the question: about what percentage of your authors manage this, with your support?

psolares said:

When the first signing takes place, you sell the copies we have sent you (free, of course!). But in case that some of them remain unsold, we give you up to three weeks to sell them. Another option is to sell the remain copies to libraries of your city or cultural centers, for example. After that time, if you was not able to sell the copies, contact us so we can see what to do with them. In case we cannot sell the copies, we would terminate our contract, and royalties would be paid of those sold copies. We would not retain the rights of your Work.

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This is good to hear . The website made it sound like perhaps the author was expected to purchase the unsold copies -- which is how a back-end vanity press works. Terminating the contract after paying royalties on the copies actually sold is much more reasonable.

Um, yes. So what happens to the unsold books? The author would have to pay for them, right?

I had no idea the author was actually taking possession of books. The number of my books that I actually hand sell is miniscule. That is not how most people buy (and by extension, sell) books. Having a garage full of books is something most authors have not had to worry about for the last few decades.

Given that most authors won't be able to sell that many copies in three weeks, you're going to be cancelling most contracts three weeks after publication. I can't see how that benefits anyone involved.

Hi Pablo! Thanks for dropping by.

psolares said:

I work for Editorial Seleer/Seleer Press, and I want to chat with you about our project. Moreover, I am an Author myself. My job consists on answering emails, receiving manuscripts, managing signings, sending press-kits, and so on. For season 2013-2014 I won't be deciding what manuscripts can be published since there is a Reading Department for that.

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That's an unusual way to work. Trade publishers don't have a Reading Department. What's the acquisitions process?

- The texts from the website need careful revision, and we will work on them very soon. I will start working there by early September

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Glad to hear it. May I just say, though, that as good as your English is - and it is a thousand times better than my Spanish - it's not perfect or particularly idiomatic? Are you intending to publish English-language titles? As an author in any language I would worry about my book being edited by people who are not native speakers.

- Editorial Seleer have been publishing since early 2012 over 200 titles which you can check on our website. Our books are also available on Amazon, and in other stores such as Fnac, El Corte Inglés, and La Casa del Libro. You may not be familiar with them, but not all publishers are distributed in malls

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Ah, but if I'm choosing publishers to approach with my book, I want someone who can distribute into bookshops. Do your books get shelved widely in Fnac etc? If they're just available for order on request, it's not enough.

To start with, before submitting a manuscript, we have a list of terms (Read our Facebook) in which it says that we need to sell 50 books in the first signing (we give up to three weeks to do so, as we understand it can be difficult in some cases). Between the release the signing of a contract, and the first signing there is a month. A good way of start marketing a book is pre-ordering. We design posters for the signings (which can be managed by us). When the first signing takes place, you sell the copies we have sent you (free, of course!). But in case that some of them remain unsold, we give you up to three weeks to sell them. Another option is to sell the remain copies to libraries of your city or cultural centers, for example. After that time, if you was not able to sell the copies, contact us so we can see what to do with them. In case we cannot sell the copies, we would terminate our contract, and royalties would be paid of those sold copies. We would not retain the rights of your Work.

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I don't quite get this. What is a 'signing'? Literally a book signing event? So you give the author 50 copies, set up an event, and let the author sell the books?

Will you as the publisher be making efforts to sell copies of the books to bookstores, libraries etc, or will the burden of selling copies fall on the author? Because, again, I wouldn't pick a publisher with no sales force.

Thanks again in advance for any more info you can share.

psolares said:

To start with, before submitting a manuscript, we have a list of terms (Read our Facebook) in which it says that we need to sell 50 books in the first signing (we give up to three weeks to do so, as we understand it can be difficult in some cases). Between the release the signing of a contract, and the first signing there is a month. A good way of start marketing a book is pre-ordering. We design posters for the signings (which can be managed by us). When the first signing takes place, you sell the copies we have sent you (free, of course!). But in case that some of them remain unsold, we give you up to three weeks to sell them. Another option is to sell the remain copies to libraries of your city or cultural centers, for example. After that time, if you was not able to sell the copies, contact us so we can see what to do with them. In case we cannot sell the copies, we would terminate our contract, and royalties would be paid of those sold copies.

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I'm certain that your motivation is different. But this is very similar to the scheme of a notorious scam publisher that requires authors to "pre-sell" 100 copies of their books before they can be published. It's pretty hard for an individual author to sell an existing book, let alone one that hasn't yet been published. And because publication is dependent on making the sales goal, the overwhelming incentive for authors who aren't able to drum up enough pre-orders or orders will be to buy the books up themselves--even if the publisher doesn't require that. It's not the classic definition of vanity publishing, but in my opinion it comes pretty close.

Also, selling books to libraries won't be an option for US authors. US libraries don't buy from individuals.

- Victoria

The lack of editing alone is a honking great red flag. The only thing about this company that appealed to me was the Sales Pussycat, and even he or she seems to have retired.

The claim of putting books in malls is preposterous and totally misleading. And I seriously doubt they will even proof-read. This is a case where "show me the money" is relevant after it's left my wallet to purchase copies of my own book to make my quota sales or paid for a pro editing service.

tri

I suspect that "putting books in malls" means "selling the author copies which he or she then attempts to re-sell in the local mall before being thrown out by Security".