Interviewed by romance author Rebecca Goings (http://rebeccagoings.gather.com)
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I recently sat down with Leigh Collett, publisher and owner of Resplendence Publishing (www.ResplendencePublishing.com ), a brand new publisher to the business. She was willing to answer a few questions I had for her, and I thought I would share them with all of my friends!
RG: Leigh, I had not heard of your publishing company until just recently, but I must say I went to your website and I love it. I have many author friends who would be interested in learning about a new publishing house, and I thought I might ask you some questions to share with them, as I know they'd be interested.
LC: Hello Rebecca! Thank you so much for the lovely compliments. :) We are very excited to begin our publishing endeavor, and plan to be around for a very long time. I would be delighted to answer any questions that you and your friends may have.
RG: When did you open your doors?
LC: We conceptualized Resplendence Publishing in January of this year (2007), and opened our doors for submissions in February. The response was spectacular, and we've been receiving regular submissions ever since. We will begin releasing titles October 1st, and will have weekly releases thereafter.
RG: Will your books be available in stores other than your own store on your website? (ie, Fictionwise, MobiPocket, etc.)
LC: We will be offering e-titles on Fictionwise and Mobipocket after a minimum amount of time in the Resplendence store. We will also be offering most titles in print, after having met the minimum e-book sales requirements. We realize the importance of having print copies for signings and convention promotion, but first and foremost Resplendence Publishing is an e-book publisher. We will make print overstock available for sale on Amazon.com.
RG: You mention you'll be doing print books as well. What is your print policy? Will your books be going to brick and mortar bookstore shelves?
LC: We realize the importance of having print copies for signings and convention promotion, but first and foremost Resplendence Publishing is an e-book publisher. We will make print overstock available for sale on Amazon.com.
***Addendum: Resplendence is a Lightning Source partner (ie. Ingram’s) so our titles will be made available to all brick and mortar stores.
RG: How do you pay royalties? Every month? Every three months? Every six?
LC: Per our current contract we pay royalties on a monthly basis. We know that certain publishers have added addendums to their contracts changing royalty payouts, but we have no plans to make any such changes to ours.
RG: You mention doing some promo for your authors. What can an author with your house expect in the way of Publisher Promo?
LC: Resplendence Publishing has designed a Six-Point marketing strategy for their authors. As we only present the marketing package to contracted authors, I will reveal that we do purchase some promotional materials (ie. pens, postcards, bookmarks, etc.), print and e-advertisements, and aid our authors in setting up a strong internet presence. :) I feel certain that Resplendence is the only e-pub with this sort of marketing strategy.
RG: Do you accept partial submissions and/or proposals or only finished manuscripts?
LC: We prefer finished manuscripts to partials, unless the author has been previously published. We do accept proposals from our in-house authors, and they get first dibs in specialty lines such as WICKED, Shivers, and Handcuffs and Lace.
RG: Do you have a list of authors currently contracted?
LC: Our authors are listed on our website, please check out the Authors page (you'll find the link on the Home page).
RG: Thank you, Leigh, for taking time out of your day to answer my curious questions. Your website is VERY professional, and with Trace Edward Zaber as your cover artist, I'm sure you'll be making waves in NO TIME. :)
LC: Thank you for your interest! And if you have further questions please don't hesitate to contact us.
Regards,
Leigh Collett
CEO, Submissions Editor
www.ResplendencePublishing.com
www.myspace.com/resplendencepublishing
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Comments: 12
Definately keep this house on your radar. :)
~~Becka
My company, Bookwise, is starting their Authorwise series next week and they will be sponsoring live calls with publishers, publicists and all of the key people in getting published. I'm looking forward to learning more about getting published. . .
Cool site too. One tip for them, when I clicked to add it to my favorites, it plugged the name in as 'Home' instead of 'Respendence Publishing'. It's a small thing, easily fixed.
That's wonderful! I'm so glad you love ebooks. :) A lot of authors have been marketing them to the "go green" community, since you can load those eReaders with a LOT of books and make travel easier, whether to Barbados or to the doctor's office. There are a lot of environmental types who love eBooks as well, because they don't use any paper (unless you print them out. :P)
~~Becka
Another altenative in my house is audio book format. Hubby is a poor reader (learning disability), and had never read a novel in his life. I bought him his first audio book years ago, and literally opened up a whole new world for him. He was like a child who had suddenly been invited into the candy store. They also fit nicely on a PDA, in MP3 format.
And yes, the bigger houses are now moving into the foray of eBooks, which is why I believe one day, it won't *matter* whether your published with New York or not. With New York moving into eBooks (while keeping their print) and ePublishers moving into print (while keeping their eBooks), it's all going to be a hodge-podge one day. So I'm staying right where I am. :)
As far as eBook pricing, true, you don't have a "product" technically in your hand, however, the publishing house, the author, and the editor all need to be paid from that sale. I'll tell you right now, unless you write for Ellora's Cave, you make *peanuts* in the eBook world, even if you do get 40% royalties on your sales. The audience just isn't as big as the print world, unfortunately. So suggesting ebooks should be sold for cheaper implies that the authors would never be able to quit the day job to write for a living.
The same amount of blood, sweat, and tears goes into an eBook that goes into a print book. The only difference is having the physical book in your hand. I don't believe authors, editors and publishers should be paid any less for their efforts simply because you don't have another paperback for your bookshelf.
My $.02.
~~Becka
And most of the time, the books are priced according to length, so short stories/novellas will (or should) be cheaper than say a 100K word book. But I have seen certain ePublishers charge waaay too much for eBooks.
coughcough**Ellora'sCave**coughcough
I mean, who wants to pay $7.95 for an ebook?? Unless it's some thick tome, I think that's a little pricey. I saw one of Johanna Lindsey's new releases out in eBook on Fictionwise that was upwards of $20. WTH?!?!? It hadn't yet come out in paperback, so they were charging the HARDCOVER price for the eBook.
Now THAT'S insanity. :P
~~Becka
The other advantage of e-books is the instant gratification. Log on, buy a book, be reading 1 minute later. And all without getting out of my jammies!