Sunday 16 May 2010

Egads, I would not send these people my book...

Direct quotes from a publisher's website - name excised to protect the guilty...

"When a submission is made to [our publishing house], it is judges on it's content"

"Do you pay advances to author's?"

(To which the answer is no, and they only pay royalties on books bought at full price)

They also ask me to 'please not[sic] that a small charge will be made for illustrations completed by [our publishing house]'

This is a publishing house who will charge me to illustrate my book if it's deemed necessary, they will not pay me anything unless my books sell at full price, and, more to the point, their website contains language mistakes that a child could spot. Now, we all make mistakes, but we don't all claim to publish quality books. It doesn't give me confidence in their editing process...

Suffice to say that I don't think I'd be desperate enough to see my work in print to send it to these folks.