For any aspiring authors looking to get published

[amberdreams]

This might be of interest/useful. I'm not entirely convinced myself, and definitely don't think i'm the kind of writer they are looking for (seeing that I lack the energy they are talking about, and the will to self promote). But I thought this approach might suit some of my flisties.

NB - amended to point to dear_tiger's comments below as a buyer-beware type warning...

Submissions Open for “Near-Miss” Authors or Out-of-Print Books

Browse: Home » Submissions Open for “Near-Miss” Authors or Out-of-Print Books

Gary Lindberg February 9, 2017

Calumet Editions is always interested in publishing partnerships with authors who have been put out of print, and those who have had perennial “near misses” with books lauded by their agents.

We understand how irrational and sometimes ‘cut-throat’ the publishing industry can be. That’s why Lindberg & Leask started Calumet Editions. We do not cut throats. We are here to help authors develop their brands and build a readership for their books.

If you have a terrific product but publishers have cited those sad old rejection excuses—you know the ones: “there are too many like it in the market,” or “there aren’t enough like it in the market”—the good news is that near misses or books going out of print do not doom you to self-publishing. Instead, you can talk to us. And so can your agent.

Comments

[dear-tiger.livejournal.com]

I follow Janet Reid's blog (she's an agent, really great discussions of the industry), and there are a lot of stories warning against enterprises exactly like this. Just wanted to point it out. Not in sense that there's anything criminal involved, but that these companies pop up like mushrooms, created by well-meaning people who don't know their head from their ass in the industry but think they will "fix what's broken" and "help out the authors", and they end up inevitably fucking up. IDEK. I can see a lot of people jumping on offers like these without any idea what they're doing, same as people jump into self-publishing without any idea.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Mmm yes. I looked at a sample of the authors they have already got signed up and they didn't look like anything special.

[dear-tiger.livejournal.com]

Here is a good blog post along the lines, about well-meaning but clueless companies venturing out to fix what's wrong with publishing. I see similar "buddy buddy" proclamations on the website about how they're here for the authors and will combat that world of traditional publishing that is "dying a slow death" or whatever. There're a lot more on this blog, posts that directly address what's wrong with these companies (not scams - just utterly clueless, catering to people's hopes and feelings of disappointment, doing more harm in the end). The one I link addresses it in the context of another discussion. The blog is a gold mine, but navigation blows on it unfortunately, and I just don't feel up right now for scrolling through a bajillion good but untagged posts to find what I need :D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I don't expect tons of aspiring authors to read my post but I'll point to your caveats just in case! :D

[dear-tiger.livejournal.com]

I mean, we all choose who we want to listen to. You're not any aspiring author's mother, and neither am I! So hey, it's awesome that you put the information out there. People can decide for themselves what works and doesn't work for their writing.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ha ha I'm nobody's mother! (Thankfully...)

[dear-tiger.livejournal.com]

Amen, sister *fistbump*