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Thread: Snow Leopard Publishing / Allegiant Publishing Group

  1. #1
    Nefarious Ghost Fan AnneMarble's Avatar
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    Snow Leopard Publishing / Allegiant Publishing Group

    Some people I follow on Twitter seemed excited about this publisher, so I started following them as well. Now I'm wondering what all the fuss was about. Maybe it was because they promote themselves as "The Next Wave in Indie Publishing." But when I visited their website, I thought "Meh." Not a scam, and well-intentioned, but what makes them the "next wave"? I came here to see if there was a thread and decided to start one in case anyone else looks them up.

    On the website, they advertise themselves as "Letting Indie Authors Have The Time To Do What They Do Best... WRITE!" But some of their covers are hideous (others are quite decent), and even good reviews of their books on Amazon mention bad grammar and bad editing (such as misusing "you're" and "your"). So far, all of their eBooks seem to be available on Kindle Unlimited, which is not a good fit for all authors. Also, their FAQ makes me wonder how little they know about publishing. For example, they accept reprints but warn "Keep in mind, however, that in many ways republishing a book is more difficult than publishing it originally since most of the "easy sales" (those to friends and family) have already been made." Uhm...What? They also take all genres (except erotica), and no publisher can specialize in all genres. Some of the text clearly comes from boilerplate text -- for example, "Perishable goods such as food, flowers, newspapers or magazines cannot be returned. We also do not accept products that are intimate or sanitary goods, hazardous materials, or flammable liquids or gases." Uhm...

    On the other hand, they say that it can take up to six months to hear back from them, so they do seem to be making an effort, rather than doing like some companies and accepting everything. On the other hand, why wait up to six months to hear back from a publisher with bad editing, sometimes awful covers, and so-so marketing and sales.? I know everyone has to start somewhere, but there are also better places to start.

    They're a subsidiary of Allegiant Publishing Group (here is something about their executives), and also have sister imprints, Wizards Keep Publishing and Centum Press. But why would you need "sister imprints" if you take all genres? Their marketing guy was previously with Helm Publishing -- here is our thread on that and with Something or Other Publishing.
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  2. #2
    Write. Write. Writey Write Write. mrsmig's Avatar
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    The variables available from their "Pick Your Own Contract Program" made my eyes cross. And then their PAP Program Contracts (scroll down to see those) made my eyes roll back in my head so far that I swear I saw grey matter.

    The PAP contracts essentially mean that Snow Leopard will pay you higher royalties if you cough up money in advance ($7.50 per 1k words gets you 15% royalties in lieu of their usual 10% in one model; $14 per 1k gets you 20% in the upsell version). About these plans, Snow Leopard sez:

    These investments allow us to work with more authors than we would be able to otherwise and deliver much better service. We know there are many great writers out there with huge potential, but some of them just need that little extra help and development to reach their potential. PAP funds help us to help them so theat they aren't just left out in the cold with a pile of rejection letters. Let's just say we are always looking for that diamond in the rough! Many authors that join the PAP program will make back their investment and then some, all while helping another writer grow and develop their craft.


    So in other words, give us some working capital that we can spend however we see fit, and there's a snowball's chance in hell that you'll make that money back in royalties. It's basically vanity publishing wearing an adorable woolly suit.
    Last edited by mrsmig; 05-31-2016 at 06:06 PM.
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  3. #3
    Nefarious Ghost Fan AnneMarble's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mrsmig View Post
    So in other words, give us some working capital that we can spend however we see fit, and there's a snowball's chance in hell that you'll make that money back in royalties. It's basically vanity publishing wearing an adorable woolly suit.
    Oh, ugh. I guess Snow Leopards can't change their spots, either.

    On the plus side, they don't have a lot of authors. But that will change -- I saw more books on their website than on Amazon.
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  4. #4
    Needs hugs. Lots of hugs. Saoirse's Avatar
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    Two of their editors favorited my tweet at #PitMad, but I've never heard of them. Steering clear. Doesn't sound like a publisher I'd want to be involved with.
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  6. #6
    practical experience, FTW SaraC's Avatar
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    I had a children's manuscript accepted by them, and now I am just waiting for the contract to run out and hoping they forgot about it so I can send it somewhere better. I paid about $20 for editing so I would get extra royalties. They never did the editing. I read a couple of their books, which were poorly edited. They wanted me to pay my own illustrator or share my royalties with theirs instead of giving him his own set of royalties. I asked to see samples of the illustrators work, but they never came. My husband, who is an artist, offered to do illustrations, but I was waiting for editing that never came so we would know how many pictures to make and what words to pair them with. However, after, I thought if he were going to illustrate, then we would be better off either self publishing or getting an agent and going a traditional route. My contract is up in June or July, so then the rights go back to me, the story is still unpublished and I can start sending it out again.

    Stay away from these people. Your better off self-publishing than working with a company like them.

  7. #7
    practical experience, FTW akaria's Avatar
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    Paying $20 for editing so you could get more royalties doesn't even make sense. Editing of any kind costs a LOT more than twenty bucks and you should NEVER pay your publisher for it. Was this some sort of sales pitch they gave you? Sounds like nothing but a blatant cash grab. How long have they had your book and never published it? That's awful! Good contracts will say they must publish your work by X time and if they don't, the contract is voided. Time would be defined as something specific like six months after the finished MS is turned in.

    I'm glad you're rid of them. Good luck finding a better home for your work.
    Last edited by akaria; 05-13-2017 at 11:23 PM.
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  8. #8
    practical experience, FTW SaraC's Avatar
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    The contract is void after a year if they don't publish my book, and I signed it in July. I'm almost free. And yes, it really was kind of dumb to give them money...it would have been a lot more had it been a novel, but since it was a picture book, the word count was low, and they were charging per word. They were trying to get funds to get themselves going, but it was a bad idea. I've learned my lesson.

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