All Things That Matter Press

[gotanenvoy]

Has anybody had a book published by - All Things That Matter Press?

Were they a reputable publisher or just a sham?

The speel they have on their website looks professional and they are offering 40% royalties for both hard copy books and ebooks.

The marketing tips page for authors has some good information on how to go about marketing your book once it is published.

I would be most interested to hear the views of authors who have had books published by the new publisher.

Regards,

gotanenovy

[Queen of Swords]

I just googled their site.

All Things That Matter Press

The front page is very new-author-focused - share yourself with the world, new authors have a difficult time navigating commercial publication, everyone has to start somewhere, etc.

They take short stories and poetry. That was a red flag for me. Then I came across this sentence:

Make sure your book is polished and all of your typos are corrected. Manuscripts with poor spelling and grammar and/or multiple typographical will be sent back to you for correction/editing.

And this one.

Congratulations to Lara Lyons, Nadine Laman and David Barber! There books are now in print.

They offer an editing service. Several of the books in their store were written by one of the owners of the company. There's also a page on how important it is for authors to market their books.

And here's something to consider-do you really want your books in mega bookstores? Just look at the competition.

I'd avoid this one.

[MickRooney]

http://www.allthingsthatmatterpress.com/aboutus.htm

Gotanenvoy,

Assume this is the publisher you are referring to. Looks like their publishing business is POD (print-on-demand) with 11 titles showing on amazon. They are a pretty new publishers with publication dates going back to Oct 2008.

There seems to be a big up sell on their site for use of their editors ($0.0035 per wrd) and maybe an area they depend strongly on for revenue, as there is no indication on the website or on line contract that they charge for publishing with them.

They are open about their contract (exclusive for one year) and there is some descent enough resource info on their site. I'd be a little concerned about the section in the contract which allows them to remove the book from publication or distribution at their discretion.


C. Publisher may, at its discretion, remove the Work from publication or distribution for reasons of poor sales, excessive returns, or other reason deemed by Publisher to be injurious to Publisher’s or Author’s best interest. Publisher shall give notice to Author of removal from distribution and the reasons for the withdrawal. If Publisher removes the Work from sale, this contract shall terminate and all rights granted shall revert to the Author.


In particular, what the publisher deems as 'injurious to publisher or author'!! Seems a little pie in the sky to me.

I'd at the very least try to contact one of their authors to see how they have found their experience with the publisher, but ultimately, Allthingsthatmatterpress are not a tradition publisher, with no advance given, but inflated net royalties of 40%. Not uncommon in publishing, in fact, more and more small publishing presses are no longer offering authors upfront advances. HarperCollins set up HarperStudios with this model of author/publisher contract.

If you do go with a publisher like this, they are open about saying that the author will have to take on a lot of the marketing of their book, 'to the best of their ability'.

My advise, you'd be just as successsful if you self-published, but if this form of publishing tickles your fancy, tread carefully, hang back and see how publishing companies like these develop over a longer period of time.

[KTC]

I think maybe their editors should edit the site. I run from sites with errors...it's a very good indication if they can't even get their own shit together.

[victoriastrauss]

Another red flag: royalties are paid on net profit:

B. Publisher agrees to pay the Author 40% of the net profits received. This amount will be the cover price minus printing costs, distribution discounts. Publisher agrees to pay the Authors 40% of the net proceeds received for all electronic copies sold off of the Publisher’s site, based upon generally accepted accounting principles.

Net profit (as distinct from net income) is never a good thing to see in a royalties clause; it can reduce royalties to a pittance.

- Victoria

[triceretops]

I do believe they are using the term "distribution' out of context, or very loosely also.

The demand that the manuscript be error free indicates to me that there will be little to no editing, and that it's probably a straight PDF dump.

Major red flag that authors are responsible for most/all of the marketing. Here we go again with the free sales force.

Avoid.

Tri

[BenPanced]

Originally Posted by KTC

I think maybe their editors should edit the site. I run from sites with errors...it's a very good indication if they can't even get their own shit together.

Especially if they're trying to sell editing and/or publishing services...

[Philip Harris]

Hi Gang! I am a co-owner of ALL THINGS THAT MATTER PRESS and your comments are interesting. Yup we are new and yes we are POD-most are these days-and sometimes when I am tired I make mistakes on the web site. My apologies.

We do not at all push SundiskScribes as an editing service in order for us to publish a book. Please read the site carefully. As a matter of fact, we have three editors that have edited the books published-extensively-as part of our publishing and there has been no cost to the author. If you look at any publisher's submission requirements they will almost all tell you that ms's must be edited prior to submission and not riddled with typos, grammar and spelling errors. It is only common sense but you would be amazed at what some people submit as a 'finished' ms.

Please read the royalty section carefully and net profit is clearly defined and we are not screwing the author. Our royalty is industry standard. It costs to have a book printed and people like Amazon take a cut. We divide the rest.

We are honest that authors must also market and this is true for the Big Houses-just follow publishing news and you will see what is going on. We believe that in the near future, most sales will be over the internet--Read PublishersWeekly and you will see that this is the direction of all major publishers. Brick and mortar stores are losing sales and staff and independent stores are teetering on the brink. Several big publishers are not even accepting new books.

If you want to spend the money to self publish that is your option or you can try a small press at no cost. One self published author told us that she managed to sell $175 worth of books in 3 years with a self publishing company. Wonder what it cost her for the book?

We have only been around for several months and have a lot to learn but we work with our authors to help get the word out and suggest marketing opportunities. So far one book hit number 13-POETRY-in Amazon's African American category and another is in the 200,000 rank for all books-not bad for out of 5 million books. Someone said we publish short stories and peotry like that is some kind of taboo. Not sure the poets appreciate that. We have not done any short stories. Our stated focus in on full length books and in trying to help authors get their book in print at no cost.

Yes, a couple of my books have been moved to ATTMP and I also have other books with other publishers. One reason for the move is that a previous publisher is getting out of the business.

I will answer any questions but please read the entire site first. Would be happy to give author references if you want to submit.

Happy publishing and the best of holidays to you all.

[victoriastrauss]

Far from being "industry standard," paying royalties on net profit is not standard even among small presses.

It's certainly possible that at some point in the future, most books will be bought on the Internet. Right now, however, it's only around 20%. For volume sales, you need a balance of online and offline availability.

The kind of self-marketing that authors who sign up with commercial publishers must do is quite different from the kind of self-marketing that must be done by authors who sign with non-commercial publishers or micropresses. Commercially published authors' self-marketing efforts are supported by the publisher's own marketing (which starts many months in advance of publication) and distribution. But micropress-pubbed authors must not only do everything that commercially-pubbed authors do, they must also do everything that their publisher should do, including trying to get their books reviewed and into physical bookstores (not easily managed, as authors don't have access to the marketing or distribution channels of the book trade).

- Victoria

[KTC]

I find it interesting that you didn't address the errors on your site. Some were even hi-lited in post #2. Writers will run from publishing sites with errors. It's pretty much guaranteed. And so they should. It's a good indication of the company's abilities.

[Old Hack]

I've not looked at the website for this publisher: but the many typos, punctuation problems and contextual errors in Mr Harris's post are not a good advertisement for All Things That Matter Press.

To paraphrase Uncle Jim, it's better to be unpublished than poorly published.

[Khazarkhum]

Originally Posted by Philip Harris

Someone said we publish short stories and peotry like that is some kind of taboo. Not sure the poets appreciate that. We have not done any short stories. Our stated focus in on full length books and in trying to help authors get their book in print at no cost.

Hi

Could you please clarify this? "We accept manuscripts by email submission only. Please send a summary of your work along with the first 3 chapters. For short story and poetry submissions please include the entire manuscript."

This is from your Submissions Guidelines page. It seems to be saying one thing, while your post here suggests something else. Are you saying that you don't want short stories, or that you do want them?

[gotanenvoy]

Thank you for your posts, from the information received I shall not submit any work to All Things That Matter Press.

My main interest is children's writing (YA novels), but I have received a book to review that was published by All Things That Matter Press. When I have finished the review I will post my thoughts on the quality of the publishing.


Regards,

Gotanenvoy

Regards,

[Queen of Swords]

Originally Posted by Philip Harris

...sometimes when I am tired I make mistakes on the web site.

Are you also too tired to proofread the website later?

So far one book hit number 13-POETRY-in Amazon's African American category and another is in the 200,000 rank for all books-not bad for out of 5 million books.

It's not difficult for a book to spike in its Amazon ranking. If a few people buy the same title simultaneously, it can shoot up in the rankings, and some authors have had their friends coordinate their buying efforts so that they achieve this moment of fame (which says nothing for the book's distribution or sales over a longer period of time).

Someone said we publish short stories and peotry like that is some kind of taboo. Not sure the poets appreciate that.

Whether they appreciate it or not is irrelevant. The point is that there's not much money in the poetry or anthology market, which is why it's a warning sign when a publisher offers to print these.

We have not done any short stories. Our stated focus in on full length books and in trying to help authors get their book in print at no cost.

Pretty much anyone can get an author's book into print (interesting that you didn't say published) at no cost these days - that's a claim proudly made by one of the worst vanity publishers around.

If your focus was on selling books to readers, that would be a better sign for prospective authors.

[Momento Mori]

There is some spectacular misinformation on the Authors & Marketing page of the ATMP website:

Patricia Fry:
I meet many authors who are disappointed in their book sales. I think it's fair to say that 100 percent of the time, the fault lies with the author.

Erm ... what? Although authors can help market their book, they've got an uphill battle if their work isn't being sold in stores or they're using a publisher that simply isn't equipped to market or promote their work. Also, authors should not have to worry about organising their own book distribution.

Patricia Fry:
The author writes the wrong book for the wrong audience. Way too many authors write the book they want to write without truly considering their audience. It's no wonder they fail in their attempt to promote the book. They're trying to reach an audience that doesn't want or need the book.

Your publisher should know what the market is for a book that they're publishing. If they don't, then how can they help you market it?

Patricia Fry:
[Gerald] wrote a book featuring scientific proof that there is no God and planned to sell it to a general audience. As it happens, the audience for this book is most likely comprised of people just like him-people with the same belief system.

I suggest that Gerald drop Richard Dawkins an email. The God Delusion seemed to reach a good cross-section of the population and was not limited to atheists and agnostics.

Patricia Fry:
The author doesn't know that he is responsible for promotion.

No. The author should be prepared to get involved in promotion, but his main concern should be working on his next book.

Patricia Fry:
Start now soliciting book reviews in appropriate magazines and at related Web sites and set up speaking engagements, for example.

No. Your publisher should be organising reviews and ARCs.

Patricia Fry:
For a novel, choose a setting that is conducive to promotion-a town that others want to read about and that would welcome your promotional appearances.

Or here's another suggestion - write a good book that people want to read regardless of where they live.

Patricia Fry:
For a novel, give a character a popular ailment. If you present it in a positive light, related associations might agree to help with promotion.

... There are no words to describe my reaction to this. At least, there are no good words that can be used in polite company to describe my reaction to this.

Patricia Fry:
Many new authors don't know what a platform is. It's the author's following, his reach, his way of attracting his audience. Most successful authors today have a platform in place before they produce a book.

Erm ... no. Celebrity authors may be writing to a platform, but there are plenty of debut novelists published every year that don't have a platform for their work. They do however have publishers willing to market it and get it in stores for them so people can buy it.

Patricia Fry:
The reality is that few people outside of traditional royalty publishers with track records can get new books into bookstores-no matter how brilliant and beautiful they are.

No, the reality is that some of these 'small' or 'independent' publishers have no idea how to negotiate the discounts and returns policy that bookstores require in order to stock books on their shelves.

Patricia Fry:
And here's something to consider-do you really want your books in mega bookstores? Just look at the competition.

Yes - and look at how that same "competition" is also there on website retailers like Amazon. Your point, Patricia?

Patricia Fry:
Make a big enough splash with your book that readers are swarming to bookstores asking for it by name. This might mean appearing on TV and radio with your book, presenting large seminars all over the U.S. related to your book and getting tons of press by creating news and submitting press releases to newspapers everywhere. Become high profile and get enough exposure for your book and, even if you are self-published, when enough readers start asking for your book by name, it will be accepted by bookstores everywhere.

And then you can sit back and work out just how much it's cost you to arrange your tv interviews and press releases (which, incidentally, should be organised by your publisher) and how much time it's taken for you to do so, and how all this means that even if people are clamouring at your local Barnes and Noble for your book, it's still not there in the store because your publisher doesn't have a distribution deal in place to get it there and how in some cases your publisher isn't even set up to deal with bulk orders necessary to fulfil them. Yup. Great strategy there, Patricia.

Patricia Fry:
Authors need to understand that book promotion is ongoing. It should start before you write the book and continue for as long as you want to sell books.

Actually, there's little point in doing anything until your book is finished and polished and with a publisher with the resources and expertise to sell it effectively.

Patricia Fry:
Start by compiling a mailing and emailing list.

Then consult your friendly local attorney as to your potential liability under anti-spam laws.

Patricia Fry:
Successful promotion takes time, energy, patience and lots of persistence.

And I note that Patricia doesn't say that it also takes money.

ATM Press Contract:
A. Author agrees to grant the Publisher exclusive rights to produce, publish, and sell an English language paperback edition of the Work. Author agrees to grant the Publisher exclusive rights to produce publish and sell the Work in electronic format. The Publisher shall have first option to conclude an agreement with the Author for continued publication rights to the Work on terms to be mutually agreed upon. Should no such agreement be concluded within (60) days of the expiration of this agreement, all rights will automatically revert to the Author.

At the very least I'd want to see that limited to a territory.

ATM Press Contract:
A. Print rights will be exclusive for one year commencing on the date the Work becomes available for sale on the Publisher’s site. Electronic rights will be exclusive for one year commencing on the date the Work becomes available for sale on the Publisher’s site. After the contract expires it can be renewed depending on both parties’ agreement.

So they're grabbing both electronic and print rights but only for a year. How is an author supposed to build up sales in such a short period of time?

ATM Press Contract:
A. Author shall be responsible for registering the copyright of the Work with the U.S. Copyright Office, including payment of any fees and the costs of preparing printed and/or electronic documentation of the Work as required by the U.S. Copyright Office. Author shall provide a photocopy e-mail/facsimile copy of the Copyright certificate to Publisher within 45 days of receipt. Publisher shall be listed as the publisher of the work in digital format.

I always understood that this was done by the publisher.

ATM Press Contract:
Publisher reserves the right to raise or reduce the price as needed to stimulate sales.

So a price that will (most likely) already be higher than comparable sized books in the market can be raised arbitrarily by the publisher if it wishes.

ATM Press Contract:
B. Publisher will not pay an advance to Author. Publisher agrees to pay the Author 40% of the net profits received. This amount will be the cover price minus printing costs, distribution discounts. Publisher agrees to pay the Authors 40% of the net proceeds received for all electronic copies sold off of the Publisher’s site, based upon generally accepted accounting principles.

Victoria has already said why "net profits" is a bad thing for authors, but I'd also point out that the definition of "net profits" is vague - are the printing costs and distribution discounts limited to the author's book or the publisher's general costs? In addition, how do printing costs and distribution discounts apply to sale of an ebook (which should not incur the same)? Also, what happens if it's the author who organises distribution discounts?

ATM Press Contract:
C. Publisher has the right to contract with distributors, bookstores, vendors, organizations, and or outlets of electronic books to sell the Work in association with the Publisher’s name. For all sales through these outlets the Authors will receive 40% of the net proceeds.

Note that the publisher has the right but not an obligation.

ATM Press Contract:
E. Payment will be made by through PAYPAL unless other arrangements have been made between Publisher and Author(s). PayPal IS REQUIRED FOR ALL AUTHORS OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.

Assuming you make money from the royalties, you might lose a proportion of that to Paypal's fees. Note that the contract is silent as to who is responsible for Paypal fees.

ATM Press Contract:
F. No royalty shall be paid on copies, print or digital, distributed for review, advertising, publicity, promotional purpose, samples, or other similar purposes, or on copies sold below or at cost.

So even if the publisher negotiates those distribution discounts that are deducted to help achieve the net profit used to calculate royalties, those copies sold at a discount won't earn you any royalties in the first place.

ATM Press Contract:
I. If the author should die before all royalties have been paid, Publisher will pay royalties to Author’s estate, heirs, assigns, or beneficiaries. The contracts shall remain in effect, at the Publisher’s discretion, or for the full length of the original copyright.

I'd be interested to know a US attorney's view on this. I'd always understood that the heirs of the author retained control over the estate. Given that this contract provides for termination following renewal after the initial year on provision of 90 days notice, I'd have presumed that the heirs would also benefit from this right.

ATM Press Contract:
Author agrees to give Publisher the right to use the Author’s name, likeness, title of work, and biographical material for publishing, advertising, and promoting the Work.

I wouldn't be comfortable with anyone using my name, likeness etc without my prior approval.

ATM Press Contract:
D. Author agrees to self promote the Work to the best of his/her ability up to and including events the Publisher hosts (i.e., podcasts, author interviews, or book clubs).

Note that there's nothing saying what the Publisher is going to do to promote the book.

ATM Press Contract:
E. If Author has his/her own website there must be a link to the Publishers website. Any “significant” promotional work that originates with the Author must be reviewed the Publisher.

So not only will the Author have to do most of the promotional work, but the Publisher gets a right of pre-approval over it. Great. And I'd like to see a definition of what "significant" means.

ATM Press Contract:
H. Publisher will make every effort to maintain an attractive, updated website. Publisher will not be liable for site downtime or interrupted transmission.

My definition of "attractive" means that it's free of typos. Otherwise, I don't see the point of this clause.

ATM Press Contract:
I. Upon Publisher’s request, Author will provide autographed copies of Work for Publisher’s use in marketing, promotional activities, reviews, or for sale. The publisher will provide the books to be autographed and pay shipping to and from the Author for this purpose.

There's no limit on the amount of books that could be autographed and I don't understand why a reviewer would want an autographed copy.

ATM Press Contract:
A. On publication the Publisher shall give each Author ONE (1) copy of the published work, which may not be resold.

Wow. One whole shiny copy of your own.

ATM Press Contract:
Author may use books purchased from publisher at Author’s discount rate, for marketing, promotional activity, reviews, or for sale.

I would assume that books purchased at the discount rate are then ineligible for payment of royalties, but it should be made clear in the clause.

MM

[Momento Mori]

Philip Harris:
If you want to spend the money to self publish that is your option or you can try a small press at no cost. One self published author told us that she managed to sell $175 worth of books in 3 years with a self publishing company. Wonder what it cost her for the book?

Okay, but (and correct me if I'm wrong) you're not paying advances, you're not placing books in bricks and mortar stores and you're expecting authors to engage in "substantial" promotion of their work. How much do you think it's going to cost your authors to engage in the promotion and contracts necessary to sell their books if they go with your press and how much do you think they're going to make, on average, in return?

Philip Harris:
So far one book hit number 13-POETRY-in Amazon's African American category and another is in the 200,000 rank for all books-not bad for out of 5 million books.

At the end of the day that really doesn't mean anything. No one really knows how Amazon calculates its bestseller lists and the places are constantly changing. As others have pointed out, it's pretty easy to spike a position on Amazon's bestseller charts with concentrated sales.

Philip Harris:
Someone said we publish short stories and peotry like that is some kind of taboo. Not sure the poets appreciate that.

It's not intended to denigrate poets or short story writers, it's a reflection of the fact that the market for poetry and short story anthologies/collections is very small. Put simply - people don't buy it, which means it's difficult for publishers to make money from it.

Philip Harris:
I also have other books with other publishers

Are those other POD/self-publishing outfits or commercial, advance paying publishers?

MM

[Philip Harris]

We at All Things That Matter Press wish you all the best in your writing and publishing endeavors, and in all aspects of your lives. Should you at some point decide to submit a manuscript to us, we will certainly give it serious consideration. Should you decide that you do not wish to submit to us, that is most definitely your prerogative, and we respect your right to pursue whatever course suits you, be it self-publishing, working with an agent, or submitting to the "big" houses. We feel no obligation to justify to you what, how, when, or why we do what we do, and, therefore, are leaving this little "chat" to those of you who choose to pursue it, wishing you much joy in the process.
My books are not with self-published outfits.
I guess no one should publish poetry.
I promote my books all of the time and I have not spent any money doing so. You need a reality check about how to sell books.
We pay PayPal.
Nothing means nothing-numbers do not count-okay. I am sure you are all best selling authors and expert publishers so we will review your comments in the spirit in which they are intended. We are new, we are trying.

Happy Holidays to you all.

[Queen of Swords]

Originally Posted by Philip Harris

We feel no obligation to justify to you what, how, when, or why we do what we do, and, therefore, are leaving this little "chat" to those of you who choose to pursue it, wishing you much joy in the process.

In other words, you cannot or will not address any of the concerns raised here. Thanks for making that clear.

I guess no one should publish poetry.

I'm sorry that you're unable to see the difference between "most publishers don't publish poetry because there's not much money in it" and "no one should publish poetry".

I promote my books all of the time and I have not spent any money doing so. You need a reality check about how to sell books.

Thank you for showing how courteous and professional you can be. That is valuable information for anyone who might be considering submitting a manuscript to your press.

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

Wow...Philip if there was any hope of your publishing house redeeming itself I think you just shot it. You're running once people start asking the hard questions. Not to mention you don't seem to get what others are saying. I'm sorry sir, but all you've achieved here is making yourself and your company look bad. Good companies aren't afraid of scrutiny.

And by the way, I am neither a bestseller or a published author - yet. But your company is definitely not going on my people-to-sub-to list.

[KTC]

I'll just quote this so that future googlers will be able to see the viewpoint of the publisher.

Originally Posted by Philip Harris

We at All Things That Matter Press wish you all the best in your writing and publishing endeavors, and in all aspects of your lives. Should you at some point decide to submit a manuscript to us, we will certainly give it serious consideration. Should you decide that you do not wish to submit to us, that is most definitely your prerogative, and we respect your right to pursue whatever course suits you, be it self-publishing, working with an agent, or submitting to the "big" houses. We feel no obligation to justify to you what, how, when, or why we do what we do, and, therefore, are leaving this little "chat" to those of you who choose to pursue it, wishing you much joy in the process.
My books are not with self-published outfits.
I guess no one should publish poetry.
I promote my books all of the time and I have not spent any money doing so. You need a reality check about how to sell books.
We pay PayPal.
Nothing means nothing-numbers do not count-okay. I am sure you are all best selling authors and expert publishers so we will review your comments in the spirit in which they are intended. We are new, we are trying.

Happy Holidays to you all.

[Wayne K]

I don't trust anyone who googles the net to see what people are saying about them.

[Sheryl Nantus]

I think that if people read Mr. Harris's previous posts on this board they'll get an idea of what they're getting into if they sign up with this publisher.

There are MANY authors who decide that they want to go into publishing to make sure their works get published. The number that can do so effectively and professionally are very, very small. Publishing is not a business you take on as a part-time job or as a hobby or as a lark in order to get your work out there.

I think it's pretty obvious where this attempt falls from the information given.

[KTC]

Everybody googles. I hope people looking for a publisher googles this one before deciding.

Originally Posted by Wayne K

I don't trust anyone who googles the net to see what people are saying about them.

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

Originally Posted by Wayne K

I don't trust anyone who googles the net to see what people are saying about them.

I think in something like publishers and agents, what other people are saying can matter. If I was a publisher and googled myself to see what people were saying and found a lot of negativity, I'd try to figure out why and remedy it. For me, if I google a publisher or agent and find a great deal of people saying negative things about them (legitimate things, not 'oh they didn't accept me so they suck') that matters. I'm not going to query someone with an overall bad rep, especially if that rep checks out.

[StevenJ]

Mr Harris, recently I spent over three stressful days on this forum replying to valid criticism of the small press outfit I work for, so it disappoints me that you should react badly & depart after just two posts rather than respond to people's legitimate concerns.