http://www.raiderpublishing.com/
This looks like a vanity press; they're coy about their lineup of authors, telling you to go to their bookstore to check it out. However, if you take the trouble to investigate the titles in their bookstore, many of them are actually published by Tor, Bantam and other well known houses. This means if you weren't a suspicious person (like me), you'd think that writers like Robert A. Jordan and Dan Browne published through this outfit (they don't).
The website also uses language that raises a red flag with me, e.g. "Several of our books have also been considered for literary prizes such as the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction." Anybody who is willing to pay $50 can nominate *anything* for a Pulitzer prize, so being "Pulitzer prize nominated" means *nothing*. The testimonials seemed pitched toward people who feel their manuscripts have been under-appreciated by mainstream publishing. To add another red flag, these testimonials are not very well written.
Now none of this is conclusive. It may be that this is a wonderful outfit that does terrific work publishing unjustly neglected authors. But if I submitted my manuscript and it sailed through the publishing process until suddenly I was asked to front some of my own money, I would not be surprised.
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22776&highlight=raider+publishing
quote:
We were founded in 2005 by a group of writers who had become jaded with the industry and the poor treatment that authors usually receive
This language also raised a red flag for me. It seems like 'jaded author bait' to me. Seems like they are preying on frustrated writers with the 'we've been there, too' technique.
Their website makes it abundantly clear that they expect to make their money by being paid by authors, and not by readers.
(I particularly liked their boast that the Raider Literary Magazine has a circulation of 28,000... and is "available through approximately 25,000 retailers worldwide". That really doesn't work... and for a measure of the limitless writing talent on display, take a look at their "Spotlight": http://www.raidermag.com/Spotlight.html - it's really quite, quite bad.)
[This message has been edited by tchernabyelo (edited December 20, 2010).]
[This message has been edited by tchernabyelo (edited December 20, 2010).]
Makes me want to start my own "publishing house" so I can pay the bills.