quote:

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My name is Mary, and I am contacting you on behalf of our paperback and
hardcover new publishing company. We are looking to publish 500 novels from
new authors this year as paperbacks to start. If certain novels perform well
as paperbacks, then we will consider them for hardcover printing. Cash
advances up to $5,000 and stock options are available for authors we find
most promising. Please visit our website at www.399novel.com and contact us
if you have submissions you'd like us to consider. If you have a manuscript
complete, we would like to review it in synopsis form (3 pages at most).
Before you construct or submit a synopsis, please review www.399novel.com
'For Authors' section paying particular attention to The Plot.Commonly Made
Mistakes. Our telephone number is 516-484-7501 and email address is
editor@399novel.com. Further details are available at our website.
Thank you.

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Perhaps the security of our identities as hatrakians has been comprimised by some rogue hacker, intent on leading us all down the primrose path. But, I would like to point out several points to allay anyone's concern.

First, if you can prove origination, your copyright is safe. There is little danger in sending out your submission to a prospective publisher if you have existing hardcopies and drafts of your own work.

Second, there is such a thing as a 'dime novel' market, although these books are going to sell more in the $4-$10 range (man, what happened to the good ol' days of prices?). Dime novels sell more on the basis of novelty and originality than on being best sellers. So they need a lot of unknown authors, just like 'starving artist' showcases need a lot of unknown artists. In fact, if you check their page out, it mentions that some of the books they sell are available as autographed paperbacks, which means that you'll literally be filling the exact role of the 'starving artist'. They also sell in two divisions, best selling authors and other authors. Guess which catagory we'd probably start out in if we submit?

Third, and I think this is most important, they are not asking for a commitment up front. You don't sign away all your intellectual rights by submitting, and the recompense is negotiable (true, the negotiation consists mostly of them telling you what they're willing to give you for it and you're acceptance or declination, but it's still a negotiation process).

Now having said all this, I've read their page, or parts of it, and they claim to be very selective, rejecting over 99% of all submissions. Still, I think that's pretty good odds, for us And they have a page that's worth reading about basic plotting and story concerns (including a point on my own personal peeve, POV ).

Anyway, apparently this is a startup kind of gig for them. They really are actively looking for new novels. They have a system where they can apparently publish in 1,000 copy runs, increaseing the book price for each run, until demand runs dry (increasing the price is the clever part, since it puts the buyer under pressure to buy now rather than wait for a better price). If a book goes through three thousand copies, then they consider publishing it in a hardcover edition. I think it's a clever marketing scheme, at least. I suppose that new publishing technology has made it possible to produce this kind of limited run paperback without dramatic startup costs, which makes this sort of model inevitable.

Anyway, they only have one author so far, although he appears to be a genuine member of some kind of freaky, unofficial investigatory society (al la "Millenium" by Chris Carter). I don't know if any of us can match up to that sort of thing. I mean, I have some interesting real life experiences, but most of them would fall in the 'extremely alien life humor' catagory, for which there simply is no market.

Maybe if we all reinvent ourselves as a secret cabal, bent on world domination, then one of us could write a revealing expose of the inner workings of our real life struggle to take over the world.

Quotes from a discussion on 399 at another site (FM Writers at hollylisle.com):

"The wording of the message left me with the impression that this was not legitimate. I do not believe a brand new publisher could put out five hundred new paperbacks in a year."

"In dealing with publishers, a good rule of thumb is that you have to go to the reputable ones -- they don't come to you.

(And not all the ones you go to are reputable, but you can immediately eliminate any email offers you get from consideration.)

Holly"

"Their claims of $5000 advances for each and every one of the 500 books they hope to publish are in fact ludicrous. Where are they planning on getting the requisite 2.5 million bucks from? I don't know of anyone who has actually bought into this deal, so who knows what happens if you respond."

Hope it helps.

If they indeed have a publishing setup that allows them to do copy runs of only a thousand books and price them under $4, then I have no trouble believing that they are willing to let 500 novels have a shot. That's only 50,000 copies, at probably $2 a copy publishing cost (cost inferred from pricing and assumption of use of new publishing technology) which is only a $100,000 investment (investment over and above any startup costs for their publishing setup, distribution, marketing, and sundry costs). If they sell half the copies, they make that back, and potentially discover a few bestsellers, which they can then increase the price on, as well as becoming the publisher for a new talent.

By the way, when is someone going to take the hint and open one of those in my neighborhood? It would make loosing a book so much less frustrating. Also, I could take in my own work, as an e-copy, and get it printed. That would be so cool!