Comments on: Some hard truths about e-publishers

By: Ann Somerville’s Journal » Blog Archive » Epublishers and spotting the bad ones

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:34:05 +0000

[...] timely reminder from the EREC blog about an excellent article on how to spot bad [...]

By: Sybil

Sybil — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:48:08 +0000

I can! Can’t ever member how to spell it though…

By: Gwen

Gwen — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:14:11 +0000

Hmmmm… Seeing the wave coming…

Can anyone say “tsunami”?

By: Lynne Connolly

Lynne Connolly — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:08:49 +0000

No need to be envious – it was hairy!
And seeing the wave coming? I have to confess I’m a marketing professional and I used to specialise in new markets, so I just applied the model to it.

By: Barbra Novac

Barbra Novac — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:58:49 +0000

Thank you so much for this piece Lynne. I am a first time writer with Loose Id, and I had no idea about the history of Romance E publishing (though I am VERY envious of you being there in the wild west days – WOW – how CLEVER of you all to see this wave coming) and you have given me an appreciation for something I was taking for granted without realising it.
I also want to thank you for speaking out. It is very important in concreting this industry in its professionalism.
Warm regards
Barbra

By: Marianne LaCroix

Marianne LaCroix — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:02:46 +0000

[...] Some hard truths about e-publishers — Lynne Connolly The sort of advice we all need to be aware of. *Marianne LaCroix @ 10:02 pm || [...]

By: Laura K

Laura K — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:29:10 +0000

This was a wonderful piece, Lynne, and something every new author should bookmark when shopping for an epublisher. I know if I as a reader, read a few lackluster books from a site, I don’t go back. I stick to the tried and true myself. Continued success to you!

By: Lynne Connolly

Lynne Connolly — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:40:29 +0000

“what really killed Triskelion was the returns. ”

What does this mean? A publishing term? Or possibly I’m being thick and it’s obvious…?

Sorry! I meant that when they went mass-market paperback, they had to accept returns of books from the stores and they got far more back then they’d expected. Financially, that crippled them. There were a lot of problems with management style especially, but if the money had been there, they could have been overcome. Kristi Studts was a law unto herself. She could change her mind from one minute to the next and she wouldn’t cede any control to the others.

What I remember from them was I couldn’t buy from them without a huge ordeal. Site navigation was, hands down, the worst I’ve ever seen. I would have spent tons of money there if it wasn’t so hard to do! They had some really good authors.

The last two sites were both disastrous. Neither had the storefront on the front page, and Kristi was so determined to make it look “different” that it was really hard to work it out. When I promoted my books I used to put direct links to the buy page of my books, as it was the only way to ensure a buyer got there before she got bored or frustrated. That could have been sorted out, if she’d given the site designers more freedom or had the site adapted when it became obvious it wasn’t working.

By: Alicia Thomas

Alicia Thomas — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:42:36 +0000

“what really killed Triskelion was the returns. ”

What does this mean? A publishing term? Or possibly I’m being thick and it’s obvious…?

What I remember from them was I couldn’t buy from them without a huge ordeal. Site navigation was, hands down, the worst I’ve ever seen. I would have spent tons of money there if it wasn’t so hard to do! They had some really good authors.

By: Denise Lynn

Denise Lynn — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:43:02 +0000

As someone else who came up through the SWP, RFIWest and NBI debacles, I can empathize–(Although, I always did like the role playing on RomanceForetold and still remember the Troll, the Duke of Earl and the ferrets fondly…I digress). Since I “played” the review liaison for NBI for a few months, another hazard of being “family” (cough), I got to read some great work while formatting it – I remember yours and Linda Blesser’s and I’m glad to see/read that you’ve found some houses that work for you. Kudos and Huzzah to that! You deserve whatever success comes your way.

Take care,

Denise Lynn — (Alexis Kaye Lynn in a past life)