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[Publisher] Claren Books

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ShaunHorton

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Does anybody know much about them or the guy running it, Bill Adler? They have a few books out, and the website is only copyright 2017.

They have an open submission call for a series called "The Binge-Watching Cure" which sounds interesting, but I wanted to see if anyone knew anything before I drop into it.

Website.
 

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I think that's good that they show their bios, but it doesn't sound like they have a whole lot of experience. I just noticed one book on the Binge Watching page. In Bill's bio, it says he was a literary agent. Ok, from where?

They pay a nice amount for short stories so I can see how it would be interesting. I would still be careful and keep checking around though before I would submit.
 

CameronJohnston

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He does seem to be on the level, and certainly The Binge-Watching Cure is paying good rates for accepted stories. This bit from the FAQ seems decent for a start-up publisher, though depending on how well things go you might get practically nothing. I suppose what experience they have will show over the next few years...

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What are your royalty rates?

We pay authors 50 percent of our net receipts.

Claren books is a royalty-paying publisher: Money only flows from us to you. We are responsible for all the publishing expenses including proofing, editing, cover design, production, and marketing. We don’t pay advances, but use those funds to make great book covers, hire excellent editors, and market books with all our energy and creativity. We pay authors half of our net receipts (total income, minus our costs); we share equally in the profits.
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ShaunHorton

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Yeah. It was the payment for their Binge-Watching Cure anthology which made me really question things. $200 for stories under 5000 words, and $500 for stories over? That can't be right, can it?
 

HapiSofi

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Has anyone who's sold a story to The Binge-Watching Cure confirmed that they've actually received payment? I've gotten a query from one of their contributors.
 

CaoPaux

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First antho published last month. A second is in the works.
 

Lemontree

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I submitted a piece for their second anthology, the horror themed one. They just sent out final decisions last week.

I'd love to say I got accepted or rejected but the truth is I never heard either way, and judging from some of the feedback on their Facebook page, I'm not the only one. They were pretty quick to respond when I asked about it, but the response was sort of 'guess we didn't get it. Bummer huh?' That was fourteen months of waiting for no reason, so yes, I'm annoyed. They use email submission with no acceptance confirmation. I guess in the end I should have followed up sooner, but since I didn't know I needed to . . . urgh.

It is worth noting that their listing on The Submission Grinder shows them at ~6% for submissions that are lost/never got a response. A quick survey of other publishers in the genre shows the same rate at less than 0.5%.
 

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