Received offer from Crimson Romance - New Imprint

A Warning for authors submitting to Crimson Romance (F+W Media imprint)

A number of authors I speak with every day online have been afraid to post to this forum because they are afraid of damaging their public reputations.

I decided to come on to post a warning to authors regarding Crimson Romance. Please know that both RWA and WriterBeware are investigating practices at Crimson.

These concern the subscription service. Authors earn about fifty cents per month per titles. Non payment - royalty statements were not sent to many authors, many had difficulty collecting payment, and many sales were 'inadvertently' left off of the statements.

Also from an author standpoint, F+W's policy is that romance novels only get one edit. Other imprints/genres appear to have full edits.

Please know that for most authors sales have been paltry. Many who shared their royalty statements in private forums have not sold more than thirty copies. Check the sales rankings for the books. Buy and read one or two before you decide to submit.

I also draw your attention to the following post on DearAuthor that should give writers who are considering submissions to Crimson pause: http://dearauthor.com/news/thursday-news-4/#comment-545238

If you have any questions, please send me a private message and I will try to answer.

*sigh* You may want to post this in the Bewares section as well.

Sux to hear it. I've got a title with them coming out this month, so aside the editing & such I haven't had much experience with CR. So far it's been a positive experience though and I've been talking to 2 editors who work there, aside the acquisitions one. They're very fast in replying to any emails and questions, open to discussions about promo, and quick to solve whatever I throw their way.
What I do know is that there are some changes going on over there. There's a new imprint manager & acquisitions editor, for instance.

Anyone else had issues with them or negative experiences?

A first year is tough for any imprint/publisher/hey--any business. There will always be growing pains. It looks like CR is making changes and addressing concerns and that's a plus. In the end, they have to deliver. We'll see if they do going forward. Crimson Author's concerns and those addressed at Dear Author are legit, but they can be addressed going forward. I've read quite a few CR books. Some should probably never have been published (ouch, I know that hurts and I hate saying it, but it's true). The authors of those books will not have been happy anywhere. Quite a few CR books were rejected by big houses after much consideration. Those are very good books that just didn't fit a certain category's "formula" elsewhere. I've very much enjoyed those books and am happy they got the chance to be published.

Read this post: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8227782&postcount=1029 : it shows not even the big houses can ensure sales.

As with any new imprint, the first two years are crucial. I'm watching to see what happens. Everyone else must make their own decision: take a chance on a new imprint or wait and see. I totally respect both decisions.

A first year can be tough. There is no excuse, however, for poor editing, or non-payment. An author recently asked fellow authors on a public forum to help re edit her book because the publisher refuses. This is after a new management structure has been put into place. Same new.

So what you're saying is authors who had royalties bigger than the minimum stipulated in the contract didn't get their reports and royalties on the dates specified in the contracts, or the next term if the clause applies?

They decided to re-edit the MS after the production round of edits, after the novel was published? I think by contract once you've done your part in the production process it's considered a done deal, so to speak, and not just with CR. They won't go back on it, the time to check and ask for edits is during the production process, or forever hold your silence pretty much. What kind of edits are we talking about, typos, substantial, what?

I'm just trying to understand the situation and what you're saying here, because it's all just kind of vague. Are you saying CR is breaking contract terms with some authors? Or that there's some displeasure with results and the overall process for some authors? Because they're different things, imo, and while the latter is not pleasant, it's the first that really is a reason for worry.

Rumours of non payment are always very upsetting to hear, especially since I know a number of people who've signed with this press.

What I am saying is authors asked about the first missed royalty period. We were told, there was no statement because there were no royalties. When the second period came and some authors had unknown numbers carried over, the response was, yes statements were generated for that first period but we 'forgot' to send them out. The second royalty period was spotty. Some were lost, not generated, or according to Crimson, did not need to be generated because sales figures were cut off 'some time' in November though the royalty period ended December 31. Many authors were not paid despite repeated attempts to collect royalties. Perhaps they all finally got paid, I do not know. I haven't followed up with every author who complained in a private loop about non payment.

The editing issue often arises after authors turned in their manuscript after their first and ONLY round of edits, the manuscript - in many cases - was not reviewed - by someone other than the author - before publication.

Editors notes, etcetera remained in published versions. Authors have tried to have these kinds of eggregious errors fixed after publication with mixed results. Authors who tried to fix their own manuscripts before publication have been rebuffed because problems couldn't be fixed in the tight production schedule.

There is new management in place and we were told things would change. Authors know there are very big problems with their books and are trying to get them fixed with a new Executive Editor in place. Sure, edits after publication are generally unheard of. But so are horrible errors to the tune of more than ten or twenty in a book.

Is Crimson breaking contract terms. Yes. They agreed to competently edit the books and pay royalties. In many cases they are not doing that bare minimum before and after pubication.

CrimsonAuthor said:

Editors notes, etcetera remained in published versions.

Click to expand...

*eyes bug out of head*

I think the major issues being discussed here are addressed in this article by Victoria Strauss.

I for one see a lot of potential in CR, more so since the new management, and have yet to experience any unpleasantness in our collaboration.
Fingers crossed I'll say the same six months or a year from now.

300 titles in the first year? That's CRAZY.

Guys, I've copied the relevant posts from here to the Crimson thread in BR&BC. Can we please keep the Bewares-related discussion there? Some people don't read all the forums; they just check the publisher's thread in BR&BC, so we try to keep the information where it'll be seen.

Thanks!

Any updated information on this publisher? Is non-payment still an issue?

Have you checked out their thread in the Bewares section here?