#indiepublishing transparency
Yesterday, there was a kerfuffle on Twitter over a US-based small independent publisher, who shall not be named. They withdrew a publishing offer from an emerging author and then proceeded to post bizarre statements on their personal account that included identifying information about the author.
Besides reneging on their offer, there were so many parts of the story that didn’t sit right with the Wild Hunt Books team. All companies operate differently, but there is a general set of etiquette that we tend to follow (if anything, for our own organisational needs). I can’t speak for anyone else besides the WHB team, but I was astounded when I heard this unnamed publisher wouldn’t allow the author a review of the contract before they signed. Also, the publisher claimed to offer publishing deals to 1/5 (20%) of querying manuscripts. To give you a perspective, last year we accepted approximately 0.05% of manuscripts received. We’re not trying to be exclusionary, but we want to give authors the best experience with us and publish excellent fiction. I can’t even imagine getting close to a 20% rate.
I thought I would add some information to the discussion with the hopes that emerging writers have a more transparent perspective of our publishing procedures but also so they can use this info in any of their publishing endeavours or journeys.
The Publisher/Editorial Director is Ariell Cacciola, who is a member of the Independent Publishers Guild and the Society of Young Publishers, and Amy Douglas, Marketing Assistant, who is also a member and mentor with the Society of Young Publishers. We put our information and freelancers we work with in our About and Meet the Team pages.
Our company is registered in England and Wales. Our company number is 13054137 (which we display in the footer of our website).
When we are interested in signing an author, we explicitly state this in our email of interest.
We then set up a video call with Amy and me so the author can get to know us, ask questions, hear about our advance payment and our editorial structure.
I then send a follow up email that includes our contract, which outlines rights, advances, royalties, etc. Questions can be asked at this time and guidance from the Society of Authors can be pursued.
All signed authors receive an editorial schedule. This states dates of typescript due and edits from both sides (editor and author).
Each author/book has a Slack Workspace setup so we can all keep in contact. Authors also have private channels with me where we can discuss their work and drop editorial documents.
After an editorial round, we setup a video chat to discuss.
Our social channels are run by the fantastic Amy (which I occasionally pop into) where you can keep up to date with our events, authors, opportunities, boosting projects, polls, etc. Twitter @wildhuntbooks and Instagram @wildhuntbooks_uk.
Running Wild Hunt Books is not our full time jobs, but we both work in publishing in various capacities.
While, WHB is a company registered in England & Wales and I’m not familiar with the US company registration process, I did check the company filing website for the US government and was unable to find the unnamed company. Of course, they could be registered under another name and trade with the public name, but I’m curious if they are setup correctly and filing tax statements, etc.
Publishing your work should always be in your best interest:
Most publishers want a complete manuscript not a WIP. I’d be sceptical of a small publisher who is signing people without finished novels.
You should always be able to review your contract and terms before agreeing to sign.
Seek out an organisation like the Society of Authors to help you review the contract terms.
Do not hesitate to ask questions of the publisher before signing! If they don’t have good answers or solutions for you, that could be a red flag.
What’s the publisher’s track record? WHB is new and we’re working on our first list, but we also run a magazine for over six years with award winning writers, and theme issues and competitions. We’re not perfect, but we transparent with our credentials and experience.
Who are the other authors the company is signing up? This is trickier, but when I saw the amount of authors that were being signed (many without completed manuscripts), my Spidey senses were tingling.
Small independent publishing is a scrappy affair, but there are great books coming from independent publishers in the UK and Ireland (some of my favourite books in the past years are from our indie friends). I’m less familiar with the US landscape, so I can’t speak as widely to that point.
This is a learning process from us and we appreciate the writers and readers who have stuck with us on this journey to bring great fiction into the world from an independent perspective.
Remember to keep yourself at the forefront of your mind when having discussions with agents and publishers. They should be working for you to bring your work in its best form to the public readership.
-The Editor