They are pretty new and have been specializing in female written erotica. Lately they seem more than willing to take on different genre', to the extent they sent me three contracts for three books and partial books I had posted on Worthy of Publishing. I was interested, but leary, since I couldn't find any positive recommendations online about them, such as an author who says "I was happy with our arrangement, with their professionalism, with the editor to whom I was assigned, and, importantly, when they sold my books, they sent me a royalty check with a full detail of the people to whom they sold (so I could audit them if necessary)"
So, in the absence of same, I asked them to explain a few terms in the contracts, including one which said they expected authors to participate in the publicity effort for the books. When I asked, more or less, how much they were going to charge me for that participation, they suddenly said I was 'too negative' and had a bad attitude, so they were withdrawing their contract offer.
Now a couple of months have gone by and perhaps there are other authors out there who have been accepted by xoxo publishing, authors who can relate their own experience with them. The attempts for a dialogue by interested folks on Absolute Write and Authonomy haven't gotten a response from xoxo.
Steven J Pemberton2010-04-28T12:05:55Z
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I always thought sites like Worthy of Publishing were a waste of time, because no reputable publisher would ever bother looking there for new books. Agents and authors would already be sending them more manuscripts than they knew what to do with, so they'd have no need to go looking for any more.
If they offered to publish a book where only part of it was on the site, that screams "scam" to me. No reputable publisher would offer a contract without having read the whole manuscript.
Withdrawing their offer because you asked too many questions (or perhaps the wrong sort of questions) sounds unprofessional, so perhaps you're better off out of it.
And what sort of a name is "xoxo", anyway? It sounds like "so-so". Is that the point?
I would not trust them then, because they could be a former failing publishing comapany, or scam artists that have multiple companies. If they are asking for any money (That isnt a percentage of what you make like 15% is common) then they are about making them money and nothing for you. Check Predators and Editors website. They don't sound legit and should not have flipped out because you asked what their charging (most likely they will see you as a threat to their foe business). I could be wrong, but myself is sending out books and I have done alot of research (not just for my genre, checking for the future) and I have yet to come across this company. Hope this helps.
Have you tried Siren Pupblishing?
And I have BIG ADVICE FOR YOU! Get a literary Agent because they will do all the work of finding publishers and striking deals for you and most publishing companies (other than small press's) no longer take submissions if you don't have an agent (due to the high volume, they only want books that are good enough to have an agent (that is a whole other ball game).
Based on the Absolute Write thread I'm reading right now, I'd probably run far, far away from them. Their "employee" is not representing the company well at all, and she's being awfully cagey about what sort of royalties and advance their writers get, telling people to contact the publisher directly. The interesting stuff starts on page 2 of the thread.
I'm not seeing anything that looks good about them. Nothing that looks really awful, either. Preditors & Editors has virtually no information on them other than that they exist. However, the fact that they contact writers who post their work publicly says two highly negative things about them. One, they accept second publication rights, which no good publisher wants, and two, they're not getting submissions, which suggests their work doesn't sell.
Either of those should wave a huge red flag of warning, regardless of their behavior toward you.
They are listed on Preditors and Editors, but, as they're new, P&E doesn't rate them. When a publisher is reluctant to answer questions, that would make me leary, especially when your questions are about the contract.