Great post by Lee on Book Country scam. http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/a_writers_life/2011/11/sucker-country.html
Dean’s Short Bio
Bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith has written more than one hundred popular novels and well over two hundred published short stories. His novels include the science fiction novel Laying the Music to Rest and the thriller The Hunted as D.W. Smith. With Kristine Kathryn Rusch, he is the coauthor of The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th Kingdom. He writes under many pen names and has also ghosted for a number of top bestselling writers.
Dean has also written books and comics for all three major comic book companies, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, and has done scripts for Hollywood. One movie was actually made.
Over his career he has also been an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books. He is now an executive editor for Fiction River.
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WMG Publishing Inc. is now my major publisher of all my coming novels, collections, and short stories.
Fiction River Volume #1 Is Available!
Fiction River, an original fiction anthology magazine edited by me and Kristine Kathryn Rusch is available for subscriptions. Unnatural Worlds, the first volume, shiped on April 23rd.
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“As troubling and opportunistic and disingenuous as all of this is, what struck me as ironic — and by ironic, I mean mind-bogglingly unbelievable — is that Penguin is now apparently prepared to pay self-pubbed writers 70% of net for ebook sales. While they’re reportedly paying their traditionally pubbed writers, those with “real” publishing contracts, 25% of net for ebook sales.”
Quoted from KD James: http://kdjames.com/2011/11/19/book-country-apparently-a-whole-other-world/
An aspect that should make the Penguin authors think, imo.
I still can’t shake the feeling that I’ll wake up tomorrow and find out that this is all just another comedy bit by Onion News.
It’s simply astonishing that they could have ever thought this would be a good idea. But it does go to show just how out of touch with current events publishing houses are…even in their own industry.
Hey, vanity press was a strong business when it cost thousands of dollars — Penguin’s going to do fine with this model.
Standing back from my outrage at the sheer crookedness of it all, and my sorrow at the foolishness of the suckers who fall for it…I have to admire the forward thinking here. (In the same way you admire a supervillain’s evil plan.)
Penguin is thinking way ahead of everyone on this. (Maybe a little behind Amazon — but more on a level with Amazon than most people in publishing.) They’re moving beyond publishing into aggregration and social networking. That’s exactly where the future is.
The parent company must love them.
I agree, Camille, this is very smart business on the part of Penguin when looked at from a corporate level. They know they have a world of writers desperate to be published and will pay for the honor of doing it themselves and paying someone to then punch the button. Fantastically smart on Penguin’s part, sad for the writers who fall for it.
<sarcasm> It’s called “Book Country,” y’all, because them city slickers in New Yawk think they’ll make the hayseeds from the country (that is, not in New Yawk) more comfortable with a name that sounds more rube-like.</sarcasm>
Yet another screwed-up attempt at branding in the best/worst tradition of American MBAdom from Pearson (the corporate parent of Penguin). There’s a list as long as my arm of branding failures in that conglomerate… and the only branding success they’ve had is with Penguin itself, which Pearson purchased as an already-successful brand.