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Cobblestone Press

first time writer

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Can anybody tell me about an e publisher called Cobblestone Press.

Also I am a male and I like to write erotica, unfortunately a lot of e publishers that write erotica cater to woman and most of the authors are women. How do I get around that? Can I just use an initial and last name or write using a female name.

thanks
 

JeanneTGC

I *am* Catwoman...and Gini Koch
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Do you have a url for them?

Also, your writing question will get much more help if you go to the writing forums, versus this one, which is background checking.

We have a good assortment of writing forums, including a very active one on Erotica, and the posters there will be able to help you very well, I'm sure.
 

chibeth

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Cobblestone is a legit company, founded by author Deanna Lee and artist Sable Grey. I haven't dealt with them personally, but I know many authors who have, and they are all satisfied with their experiences there.
 

Moon Daughter

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I haven't dealt with them, but for an e-publisher, they have very nice cover art. Not many e-publishers (that I've seen), IMO, have good looking covers.
 

veinglory

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Cobblestone is a mid-rank erotic romance epublisher who I was happy to be published with.

As for writing for women, I doubt they care if you are a man or not--many erotic romance writer use initial sor male names even when they are women. What is crucial is to know how to write *for* women whether you are one or not.
 

cakegirl

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Wait time for submissions is now over 180 days, and almost that high for current authors too. No review copies of books went out to reviewers all summer long. Royalties have been consistently later and later for the last 3 months, with various excuses ranging from fictionwise error to computer viruses. Computer viruses also blamed for review copies not going out. Either the company is lying, or they are incredibly unlucky. Either way, work's not getting done. Questions and concerns by authors are completely ignored. On the rare occasion they're answered, it is usually curtly. Most authors afraid to speak out or complain publicly because both owners have a reputation for getting vicious. A lot of bad warning signs, which is sad to see in what was such a great author-friendly publisher.
 

veinglory

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Are your writing erotica that will appeal to women? If so your pen name is a detail. If you are writing erotica that is also romance see erecsite.com

If you are writing erotica that is not romance you need to look at a different set of publishers and I would need more info to make suggestions, Exotica, Logical Lust...?
 

Deanna Lee

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Wait time for submissions is now over 180 days, and almost that high for current authors too. No review copies of books went out to reviewers all summer long. Royalties have been consistently later and later for the last 3 months, with various excuses ranging from fictionwise error to computer viruses. Computer viruses also blamed for review copies not going out. Either the company is lying, or they are incredibly unlucky. Either way, work's not getting done. Questions and concerns by authors are completely ignored. On the rare occasion they're answered, it is usually curtly. Most authors afraid to speak out or complain publicly because both owners have a reputation for getting vicious. A lot of bad warning signs, which is sad to see in what was such a great author-friendly publisher.

Our review coordinator had a problem with a virus over the summer, but is fixed and has been fixed for sometime. She has caught up sending out review copies.

My business partner got hit with a spyware problem about seven days ago. Due to the confidentiality issues-- we took her computer out of the picture to avoid problems while it's being cleaned. This is just good business sense.

Our submission time has increased because we receive more submissions, it's the nature of growing larger.

We answer all emails sent to our business emails within 48 hours of receiving them and encourage authors to follow up if they don't receive a response.

We have never once failed to post royalties on time. Contractually, we have 30 days from the end of the month on Cobblestone sales to pay and never once have we missed that deadline.

We have a transparent process and we communicate to the best of our ability. I would hope that any author contacted with Cobblestone would have no problems coming to me or Sable with a problem.

I can't and will not comment on the Fictionwise problem because it would be inappropriate to do so due to our contract with their company but we were assured the problem was being addressed by Fictionwise.

It is disheartening, to see to confidential information being posted on a forum but that is the nature of the Internet.

Hope this answers any questions and ANYONE reading this may feel free to email me personally if they have questions.

[email protected]
 
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para

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Is all not well at cobblestone? I've seen vague allusions in a couple of places recently.
 

veinglory

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re: the review copy problem--it seems like a lot of authors struck this problem and did not, somehow, ever receive an explanation. It is often this kind of the gap between problem and explanation that pushes issues into the public domain. i.e. they could have sent review copies themselves and not missed out on those 'new release' reviews.
 

madmumbler

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Very slow submissions responses. I sent a query to them on June 15th, 2008 (email). Just received today, January 11, 2009 (via email) a response thanking me for my "recent submission" (their words) but passing on it. (This is a book due out with BookStrand on 2/3/09. *LOL*)

So there's a good reason for authors not to sit around biting their nails on a manuscript and to keep sending out queries.
 

djherren

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Cobblestone submissions process

So there's a good reason for authors not to sit around biting their nails on a manuscript and to keep sending out queries.

My co-writer and I have several short stories and novellas published at Cobblestone Press. One caveat about their process is that they are no longer accepting simultaneous submissions. Their website FAQ lists their response time as 180 days.

the Donna half of Moira Rogers
 

Wood75

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I don't worry about them having any problems, but they recently passed on a manuscript of mine, too, after a very looong wait. I wonder why they don't close their doors to new submissions until they've caught up? Samhain has done it in the past, if I remember correctly.
 

MartinD

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The last AW comment about Cobblestone Press is over a year old. Can anyone offer an update on this publisher before I submit? Are they still slow to respond and author-unfriendly (as posted waaaay back on 11/23/08?)
 

AngelaA

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I'm published through Cobblestone and I've had great experiences. All of the staff has been prompt in replying to my emails and I've learned a lot. I just received an offer on my second piece with them.
 

Carlene

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I, too, have one of my books with Cobblestone and have been very happy with them. I get quick responses to my emails, have been paid on time and have found all the staff and other authors to be friendly and very nice. Also, I've found they are one of the most helpful publishers in giving their authors marketing ideas, they give free classes and have tons of helpful information at their site. Can't say enough good things about Cobblestone.

Carlene

Mysterious Gift - an erotic paranormal romantic suspense novella
www.cobblestone-press.com
 

Kensington

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Very slow submissions responses. I sent a query to them on June 15th, 2008 (email). Just received today, January 11, 2009 (via email) a response thanking me for my "recent submission" (their words) but passing on it. (This is a book due out with BookStrand on 2/3/09. *LOL*)

So there's a good reason for authors not to sit around biting their nails on a manuscript and to keep sending out queries.

Agreed. If we sent out submissions on an exclusive basis to every publisher, it would take years to finally get an acceptance, if ever.
 

AngelaA

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Actually, my first submission came back with a contract offer in about two weeks. So I can't say that I've had to wait for long.
 

newbound

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Most authors afraid to speak out or complain publicly because both owners have a reputation for getting vicious.
Wanted to quote this, since it's very true. I will never publish with them again.