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[Publisher] Ravenous Romance

Sakamonda

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The last figure I heard was 6000 books sold in under forty minutes. I don't have a final total though, and the books are continuing to sell on the HSN website. And RR will continue to make appearances and sell more books on HSN in the future.

As far as what kind of books RR wants to buy right now, you would need to ask the editors.
 

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As far as what kind of books RR wants to buy right now, you would need to ask the editors.

Thanks, S. My bad -- I thought you were one of their editors. D'oh!

I did try asking on the blog a couple of times, but my comments never went through.
 

Lainey Bancroft

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I'm not an HSN shopper--or much of a shopper at all for that matter--but I did think this was a nice spot and terrific exposure.

However, I second Michael_b's question. At five bucks a pop for trade paperback, who is making any money on this deal?

Also, if RR is an 'erotic romance/feminist smut' pub, de-sexing for a certain sales market--regardless of the great sales/exposure--strikes me as misleading.....
 

BarbaraSheridan

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Also, if RR is an 'erotic romance/feminist smut' pub, de-sexing for a certain sales market--regardless of the great sales/exposure--strikes me as misleading.....


If it takes off perhaps they may consider ranching out the way EC began the Cerridwen Press side for non-erotic romance?

Overall I think the HSN deal is a pretty neat and different bit of marketing.
 

Chumplet

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Although I'm an RR author, I'm looking at this development from the outside. It reminds me of the way Champagne Books evolved from general fiction to romance, and then erotic imprints on the side. Same thing with The Wild Rose Press. They had several imprints, and changed them according to the market, then introducing a separate erotic imprint with a different webstore.

Ravenous Romance seems to be morphing in the other direction, starting out with erotic, then branching out into less explicit categories. I'm hoping The Toast Bitches will fit into one of those categories since it didn't end up as explicit as expected (which is okay with me). It was a struggle writing the sex scenes as they were, considering my state of mind at the time.
 

DreamWeaver

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Looks like Ravenous Romance is going to be on HSN again this Friday, according to their Twitter feed. How did that work out for the authors last time?
 

mlhernandez

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I haven't received my 3rd or 4th quarter royalty statements yet. Today I learned my royalty statements won't come through RR but that I should contact the editor of the anthology for that information.

Having worked with a handful of the best epubs out there, I find this development really odd. As far as I'm concerned, it's not my editor's job to chase down royalty statements--especially since she isn't an employee of this company. Am I wrong to think this is why the accounting department exists?
 

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I think the editor in question would be if an anthology is involved. Our 3rd quarter anthology statements were really late -- I just got mine yesterday - but my Toast Bitches one arrived roughly a month after the close of the third quarter, which is typical.

For late statements for stand alone books, I'd go directly to Holly.
 

nkkingston

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I got my payment for an anthology a couple of weeks ago (about a three months after the anthology was released, which looking through the contract and so one seemed about right). Unfortunately, despite being overseas they sent me a cheque rather than paying by paypal as the contract initially stated.

$10 is apparently £6.03, but my ever-so-lovely bank took a £5.50 cut. Any suggestions for how I spend my 53p? :D
 

Polenth

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I got my payment for an anthology a couple of weeks ago (about a three months after the anthology was released, which looking through the contract and so one seemed about right). Unfortunately, despite being overseas they sent me a cheque rather than paying by paypal as the contract initially stated.

Did you ask RR to correct the mistake before trying to cash the cheque?
 

cooeedownunder

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I got my payment for an anthology a couple of weeks ago (about a three months after the anthology was released, which looking through the contract and so one seemed about right). Unfortunately, despite being overseas they sent me a cheque rather than paying by paypal as the contract initially stated.

$10 is apparently £6.03, but my ever-so-lovely bank took a £5.50 cut. Any suggestions for how I spend my 53p? :D


I would have framed the cheque before I gave a bank the option of being the only one to make use of it.
 

nkkingston

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No, it didn't occur to me, unfortunately. If I'd realised the bank would take such a large proportion I would have emailed RR about it, but it's my own fault for not asking the bank first. At least i know better for next time!
 

brainstorm77

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I think the HSN move was great. Sales are sales. Congrats to RR.
 

nkkingston

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They do mention paying by paypal for non-US residents, which I was I was little surprised when it arrived. I suspect I may have been the only non-US in the anthology, though, so whoever was doing the accounts may have just skimmed over that fact and bunged everything in the post.

I don't know - anyone else received a cheque from RR despite living outside the US?
 

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I haven't received my 3rd or 4th quarter royalty statements yet. Today I learned my royalty statements won't come through RR but that I should contact the editor of the anthology for that information.

Having worked with a handful of the best epubs out there, I find this development really odd. As far as I'm concerned, it's not my editor's job to chase down royalty statements--especially since she isn't an employee of this company. Am I wrong to think this is why the accounting department exists?

I agree it seems unusual. In my case, the anthology was published about nine months, and I've heard precisely zero. However, the RR contract includes this clause:
10. Right to Audit (a) Upon written request from the Author, but no more than once a year, the Publisher shall provide the following information: the number of copies of each edition of the Work published by the Publisher; the cumulative number of copies sold; copies of any licenses made by the Publisher; and any other information the Author may reasonably request on the basis that it is required in order to ascertain the accuracy of accounting rendered.
So I suppose at some point I can contact the publisher and ask for the sales info. Has anyone done this, and have they got a timely response?
 

mlhernandez

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I received my statement today. The editor hadn't received a statement with the proper breakdown. FWIW I still don't think authors should have to chase down statements. RR sells via the same outlets as every other epub I work with and those publishers all send out monthly detailed statements and checks.
 

veinglory

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I am with four that all pay monthly. It may not be ubiquitous, but it is IHMO the norm. For a company that touted themselves as a great new force on the format and genre, I would expect them to start by meeting basic standards already common across existing publishers.
 

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I can see that it wouldn't be feasible to pay monthly royalties to authors who have short stories in anthologies, since the payments would be pennies -- worth less than the paper they were printed on. However, if they are going to insist on paying royalties rather than a flat fee for anthologised stories, I think it'd be fair dealing to send out a royalty statement every 6 months by email so the authors have some vague idea of when, if ever, they might be able to expect payment in excess of their ten dollar advance.

(The fact that their contract allows them to withhold royalties until they have accrued to one hundred dollars does suggest that unless anthology authors negotiated changes in their contracts, they'll never see a dime past that initial ten dollars.)
 

veinglory

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Payment threshold are pretty common, but that doesn't stop an automatically-generated sales report being sent--and the threshold is generally more like $10-$25 : /