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General
Publishing FAQs
The general information provided below is not meant to
represent the final terms of any contract for any individual work.
These are summarized guidelines intended only to help acquaint you with
our company and what you might expect from Bold Strokes Books. Production timing, contract specifics, and author payment
may vary depending upon the attributes of the work, sales projections,
author’s previous publications etc. Also the information provided below
may be changed at any time.
We hope that you find this introductory information helpful. More
specific information on the ins and outs of the publication process is
available on our Production FAQs
page
or simply contact us at
bsb@boldstrokesbooks.com.
After I Sign, Then What
Preparation: Once your contract is signed, you can post an announcement on your Web
site and/or electronic mailing lists. Be sure to include a synopsis of
your book—the back cover blurb is good for this. Your publisher will
want to pre-market your books on the Bold Strokes Books website as well
as via email and snail mail, so you should prepare an excerpt of the work (a
500-1000 word section that gives a flavor of the book or depicts a
compelling scene), the back cover blurb, and a short bio of 50 to 100
words.
Editing: In the interest of developing a consistent approach to the works we
publish and to assist in the enhancement of each author's craft,
every accepted manuscript undergoes an initial review by a senior
editor and a 4-6 page summary guide for editing is prepared. A
substantive editor works with the author to make these revisions, and
then a copy editor and team of proofreaders has a final look. The
process takes about 7-9 months from the final call for the manuscript.
The author is an integral part of this process.
Production: Once the contract is finalized, a production schedule will be provided
outlining the deadlines for editing, cover graphics, proof preparation,
typesetting and galley production, and release date. Average production
time from acceptance to publication is 10-18 months.
The production structure of Bold Strokes is traditional in that we employ webpress print runs rather than Print-on-Demand.
Books are then warehoused in a central location and shipped to
distributors, wholesalers, and retailers throughout the world. ISBN and listing
with Books in Print, Amazon, Ingram, Baker and Taylor, Bookazine, CDS, Bulldog Books in
Australia, and United Kingdom Publishers Group UK in Europe is provided by the
publisher at the publisher's expense. The publisher will copyright the work
in the author's name upon publication. It is the author's
responsibility to obtain copyright permission for any song lyrics
included in the manuscript and provide this upon submission of the the manuscript
for consideration.
To maximize the
sale of your PUBLISHED work, Bold Strokes Books asks that authors
remove any full length versions of the work (including first drafts
containing more than 25% of the finished work) from the Internet upon
signing a contract for publication. We encourage authors to provide
excerpts of the published work on their websites and will make these
available on the Bold Strokes Books website as well.
Distribution: All titles from Bold Strokes Books will be distributed by Bella
Distribution, CDS, Baker and Taylor, Bookazine, United Kingdom
Publishers Group UK (Europe), Bulldog Books (Australia), and
Ingram to retailers throughout the US, Australia, Canada, and Europe.
In addition, our titles will be made available for direct sale to
customers online via the BSB online bookstore. BSB
titles will also be available at Bella Books, Amazon.com, AmazonUK, Amazon.ca, Barnes and Noble, and Borders. We are using every
available option to get your books to your readers.
(See the Sales
Information page for more about these distributors and direct
sellers.)
Royalty Scale: Royalties are disbursed quarterly
and based upon compensated sales less returns. The author payment is
determined using a percentage of cover price with the base rate increasing with the number of titles sold.
Marketing: In
a unique new collaboration designed to bring our titles to the
attention of readers everywhere, as of January 1, 2005, Bold Strokes
Books titles are being marketed and distributed by Bella
Distribution to wholesalers nationally and internationally (CDS,
Bookazine and Ingram in the US, Bulldog Books in Australia, and
United Kingdom Publishers Group UK in Europe), large scale retailers (Borders, Barnes & Noble, and
others), as well as directly to independent GLBT bookstores worldwide. In addition, our titles available for
direct customer sale online at
www.bellabooks.com. Please see our sales information page for further information about all
our distributors.
Bold Strokes Books has an active marketing program via its multiple distributors
(newsletters to online buyers, retail promotional catalogs, and direct
customer mailings) as well as by the BSB monthly newsletter. As is standard in the present marketplace, authors
are expected to take an active role in promoting their work via
reasonable means (website, update lists, book signings etc). Sales of
LGBTQ fiction titles fall far below their counterparts in the
“mainstream” fiction marketplace, but through our
aggressive marketing plan that includes LGBTQ outlets as well
as mainstream venues, we at Bold Strokes Books are committed to
bringing your books to as many readers as possible.
(more details listed at
Production
FAQs)
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