Quartet Press

[Caramia]

They just sent out an announcement last week that they were hiring new editors. It's boggling.

[para]

Originally Posted by nkkingston

They honestly didn't look too good to be true; with the experience at the helm and the pull of Angela James on new authors it really looked like it was going somewhere.

At the very least, it'd be a lesson in start-ups to know what the heck went wrong!

I wouldn't say they looked too good to be true but all the hype surrounding them when they hadn't actually done anything, except make friends with the right people made me a bit wary.

I doubt we'll find out what went wrong, it's a very small group of people involved there.

[jennontheisland]

Further proof that waiting until an epublisher is established and has proven that they can sell books is a good idea.

[michael_b]

Wow that was fast. Reminds me of the old zine days when publishers often folded without putting out a single issue.

[Lainey Bancroft]

Not what I expected to see. At. All.

I feel for all involved. They appeared to have such great energy and enthusiasm. Not to mention contacts. Huh.

[MickRooney]

Originally Posted by jennontheisland

Further proof that waiting until an epublisher is established and has proven that they can sell books is a good idea.

Isn't this the core of the discussion?

A new epublisher or publisher of any kind can be phenomenal at putting their press right in the media foreground, but ultimately, a company will be judged by the reach and quality of their books rather than the promise of their brand and connections.

It is something we are going to see a lot of with so many editors and staff being laid off this past few months. They all want to be the next 'thing' but few actually realise it can take years of establishment.

http://mickrooney.blogspot.com/2009/...door-open.html

[Sakamonda]

I wouldn't say they looked too good to be true but all the hype surrounding them when they hadn't actually done anything, except make friends with the right people made me a bit wary

---They made contacts with a few people who run snarky blogs. That was it. The same snarky blogs who were cheerleading Quartet were trash-talking epublishers that had staff with decades of publishing experience and bona fide contacts in the traditional print publishing industry. Just goes to show that winning support in a very tiny internal blogosphere means nothing in the context of actual publishing----i.e., selling books profitably to actual readers.

[veinglory]

There is a little more to good online PR than that. But yes, it does come down to sales--reliable quantitative data. Which some publishers provide and others don't.

[Sakamonda]

I blogged about this today: jamaicalayne.blogspot.com

When are people going to learn to stop taking career advice from snarky bloggers who have their own agendas, and start connecting with people and professionals with an actual track record of success that spans decades, instead of a year or two (or in QT's case, a month or two).

Publishing can be a very slow-moving business when it comes to sales---even on the digital side of things. I wonder if the failure to realize that was Quartet's downfall.

[Nadia]

PW had more info about it. Apparently it has something to do w/ $$$.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6695620.html

[nkkingston]

Though both DA and SBTB are definitely snarky bloggers, I'd say they had a reasonable pull in the online romance community, and when the first line to be launched was a romance line it looked reasonably promising for luring in an initial reader base. But I guess if you've got nowhere you can afford to sell the books from, then it doesn't matter how many potential readers you have!

[para]

So it sounds like from the PW article that they didn't have a realistic business plan. Shame, they talked a good game.

[logophilos]

Originally Posted by Sakamonda

When are people going to learn to stop taking career advice from snarky bloggers who have their own agendas...

Quite. They should have turned to you for PR advice, Jamaica. You've done such a splendid job for Ravenous Romance. Really.

And I'm sure no one in the community will take offence at you dancing so gleefully on the grave of a potential rival. After all, no one's ever heard of any of the people involved. It's not like they'll remember your generous assessment of the situation, or the gracious manner in which you dealt with their disappointment.

Yes, true manners and professionalism on display there, Jamaica. As always.

[nkkingston]

people and professionals with an actual track record of success that spans decades, instead of a year or two (or in QT's case, a month or two).

It's also worth pointing out that most of QT's staff did have several years experience in the field, both of romance publishing and epublishing (in which it would be hard to have experience that spans decades, if we're being fair!). That's what made the fact they overlooked some of the set-up costs so boggling. Certainly what they exposed of their business plan looked similar to most ePub romance plans, at least from an author's point of view.

[Nadia]

Originally Posted by para

So it sounds like from the PW article that they didn't have a realistic business plan. Shame, they talked a good game.

I find it hard to believe.

According to their interview at DearAuthor.com Don Linn has some impressive background: Harvard MBA, Wall St. experience, experience running a publishing house, etc.

[para]

Originally Posted by Nadia

I find it hard to believe.

According to their interview at DearAuthor.com Don Linn has some impressive background: Harvard MBA, Wall St. experience, experience running a publishing house, etc.

Yes there is something not quite right there methinks. However Don's impressive background is all in traditional publishing. Was there anyone there that had experience in epublishing besides Angela James?

[Giant Baby]

Originally Posted by Sakamonda

I blogged about this today: jamaicalayne.blogspot.com

When are people going to learn to stop taking career advice from snarky bloggers who have their own agendas, and start connecting with people and professionals with an actual track record of success that spans decades, instead of a year or two (or in QT's case, a month or two).

Publishing can be a very slow-moving business when it comes to sales---even on the digital side of things. I wonder if the failure to realize that was Quartet's downfall.

What people? To what career advice are you referring? That bloggers form opinions and express them is pretty much par for the course.

It seems to me that a press that's determined their business plan is flawed and aborted mission before tying up authors' rights is behaving in a responsible manner. I'm sure folks over in the Cacoethese thread would have appreciated it.

[Sakamonda]

It's also worth pointing out that most of QT's staff did have several years experience in the field, both of romance publishing and epublishing (in which it would be hard to have experience that spans decades, if we're being fair!). That's what made the fact they overlooked some of the set-up costs so boggling.

Experience as editorial staff and "new media marketers," whatever that means. I don't have a lot of faith in Harvard MBAs, either, since those are the same self-serving people that torpedoed Wall Street, gutted banks, looted real estate, and helped bring about the worst economy since the Great Depression. What these people seemed to seriously lack was business administration/startup experience.

It takes a lot of time, money and energy to launch a startup of any kind. And publishing has very narrow profit margins and a long potential growth curve under the best of circumstances. I think on the surface it is obvious that the Quartet people had a flawed business plan, along with very unrealistic profit expectations. Probably more info will seep out later, but that's the gist of it.

I feel bad for some of the authors that got taken in by this charade, but that's all.

[nkkingston]

The impression I actually get is that there was too much experience; the company was top-heavy for a start up. All those positions were presumably salaried, rather than "on commission" as it were (i.e. the editors were per-word plus royalties, and the authors by royalties - both dependent on the amount of work done and the health of the press). I couldn't imagine trying to live off an e-press until it's very well established, but trying to get one established is a full-time job. I'd argue they didn't lack publishing experience, but I'll agree they probably lacked start-up experience specifically.

[veinglory]

Indeed. Epublishing is a long tail business. You don't immediate have money for multiple large salaries, or to pay off your mainstream agent with more than bus fare.

[Unimportant]

Originally Posted by Sakamonda

When are people going to learn to stop taking career advice from snarky bloggers who have their own agendas, and start connecting with people and professionals with an actual track record of success that spans decades, instead of a year or two (or in QT's case, a month or two).

Sakamonda, who are the people you are referring to? The principals of Quartet? The readers who looked forward to more romance novels to choose from in e-book format? The authors who welcomed an e-press who looked like they were trying to do things right? I'm a bit confused.

[Sakamonda]

The authors who welcomed an e-press who looked like they were trying to do things right?

I'm not sure how they managed to do anything right when they didn't even manage to get off the ground.

What many authors don't understand is, publishers aren't there to serve authors. They're there to serve READERS. Without readers, you don't have anything to publish, or sell. Quartet seemed very focused on authors, not at all focused on finding readers to actually buy their books.

[Jersey Chick]

But without the authors, there'd be no books to sell to the readers. I don't really get the point there. Publishers need authors to get readers.

[Sakamonda]

Supposedly they'd only signed seven authors, which doesn't seem like enough to launch a new publisher, esp. an epress, which requires higher volume of titles to make up for lower per-unit sales.

[para]

Kassia Krozser has blogged over at booksquare How I spent my summer vacation. There seems to be some info there hidden away amongst all the waffle.