UKA Press

[claire burns]

Does anyone know of UKA Press? http://ukapress.ukauthors.com/index.php

They say are not a Vanity or POD publisher but it all looks a bit too good to be true as usual. I would be grateful if anyone who knows of/had dealings with them to let me know.

Many Thanks

[dwight evans]

No I havent. I just joined to ask the same sort of thing. There's these guys in Thailand called www.artselfpublish.com
they say they are writers living in Thailand and can print book real cheap but still good quality. For 500 copies they quoted me less than a third of what I was quoted in England. Almost sounds too good to be true but they do seem genuine and pretty down to earth. They say their writers. excuse my lousy spelling. Anyway, just saying hello. Since we were on the same subject, like.

[Mya Bell]

Dwight,
Make sure the quote includes shipping costs and look into import taxes, as well, so you get the full picture on prices.

Books that are imported for commercial resale may be dutiable.

--- Mya Bell

[Mya Bell]

Claire,
UKA Press may say they are not a vanity press, but their business model is similar to vanity presses except for the fact that they claim they are planning to adjudicate the submissions to select the best.

In other words, the royalties on net (15% on actual receipts [not cover price]) are similar to vanity/POD publishers, the contract is longer than most POD/vanity (10 years), and there was no mention of any advance against sales.

Here's my guess. They probably looked at that huge pool of authors who reject or are rejected by traditional publishers (the ones who are the target market for vanity/subsidy presses) and said to themselves, there must be some good books in there and maybe we can do better than vanity/subsidy by printing a higher quality of book.

Maybe it's possible. But ask yourself these questions:

1. Can they get the books into regular book stores?
2. Can they get the books into the hands of top reviewers?
3. Can they compete with the huge number of vanity/subsidy presses that have sprung up since digital printing made setup costs lower and the Internet made marketing easier?
4. Can they compete with traditional publishers who have connections and working relationships with bookstores and reviewers?
5. If they "cream" the better books from the vanity/subsidy authors market, can they print enough books (and sell enough books) to make a profit and remain in business?

I hope these thoughts can help you evaluate the situation and make a good decision.

--- Mya Bell

[claire burns]

Hi Dwight & Mya.

Thank you for replying.

Mya,

I suspected so but had hoped otherwise. Your comments put things in perspective and I wasn't sure what the net 15% was, so now i'll definately give it a miss.I don't want to be tied into something unfruitful for the next ten years so it's probably worth sticking to the traditional route and trying harder.

Many thanks.
Claire

[Robert Stephenson]

POD does not get into mainstream book stores - know this as a fact. Some stores may carry seachable data bases and ordering systems for POD but not too many considering the crap that is being put out.


I do know a guy in OZ who runs Magellan Books, but has a self publishing service (no he doesn't hide the fact under any kind of smoke screen) and from my own research he is bloody cheap. I asked him about it and he simply said why charge more than you'd get from anyone who would have at least done some research on prices.

I think you can get to him via www.easywaytowrite.com If you do go with him with a future project, tell him I sent you; never know, it might help.

Robert N Stephenson

[Michel Anton]

UKA Press are not POD. I have checked.

They do print runs (I\'m a member of
UKAuthors.com and it\'s common knowledge on the site;
members and other people from outside are
the ones submitting and being published and it\'s
all much discussed)and they send
out review copies and flyers and that kind
of thing (they have lots of authors here in
Canada, and the authors do quite a bit of
their own promotion here. There was an article
about it the UKA Press in the Globe & Mail a couple
of months ago).

They give very extensive editorial help.

No charges.

They offer cover service where you can
design your own cover with a professional
(free). Pretty impressive, in my opinion.

I like the look of their books, so far.

I think they are looking to expand later,
and get a reputation for fine books in
the first place.

A lot of their writers are professors, universtiy creative
writing teachers, winners of poetry awards, etc, but
some seem to have no higher eduction at all
(even, in one case, no high school to judge from the
author\'s bio; was unable to write at all until a few
years ago); seem to be a mixture.

They are getting great reviews, at any rate.

Believe they are looking for high quality
manuscripts, or those that can
be developed.

I loved the look of the Morelle Smith and John
Thomson excerpts, and some of the novels - (most are
not in in print yet, only a handful are out
I think, but the excerpts on the press site look alive and alert to me).
The Tom Saunders book of short stories is out and
has impressive reviews on Amazon.

I think it\'s worth looking into, at least. Best
not to knock anything without looking.

[Michel Anton]

I emailed the UKA Press publisher to ask about
the 'TEN YEAR' thing above (couldn't make
head or tail of what it meant) - got reply
that there is no time contracted at
all - the authors can opt out whenever they
wish - after one day or one week, if they want to.
(Where'd that strange ten year idea come from?)

[Michel Anton]

Went and looked at a copy of the contract
that is on the UKA PRESS site - it *is* a bit
misleading! The basic agreement is for ten
years, but that's just a publisher's promise,
it seems; the contract can be cancelled at any time.

Number 1b of the contract states it can
be cancelled at any time at all, if the author or publisher so wishes; they just need to put it
in writing (and the publisher must present
accounts and make payments as usual,
after the cancellation).

I think the smaller publishers, including
university presses, can't do huge
print runs and sent out through the big
distributors, however! so although the
books are on Amazon and elsewhere and sent
to bookshops that order copies, the huge
publishers like Random can get orders from
more bookshops through their sales people.
(Mind you *my thoughts!* most of the huge publishers'
books sell in tiny numbers; they'd be lucky
to sell a thousand of most books. A couple
of hundred would be average for a first novel -
and they don't get behind their authors with
promotion, unless it's a big name. Often, it's
much better to go with a small Press, even if,
like academic publishers, some university presses
and many small publishers, inc poetry publishers
and UKA Press, they don't pay an advance.)

[C S]

I keep reading over and over and over and over about all the people who spend years working on a book, then for some unknown reason destroy any hope and promise of the book being successful by getting involved with bad contracts. Tell me, why on earth would you simply give away your book without spending a mere $200 - $500 to have a lawyer look at the contract?? Isn't your book worth that?? If you don't think it is, why should anyone else??

I am not a lawyer, but here are some questions to consider about that contract. Maybe it is a great contract, but only a lawyer can really tell you that:

IT SAYS: a. The Publisher retains the right to set the Recommended Retail Price of the Book and to change the actual selling price to stimulate sales.

This means they can price your 100-page book of poems at $30, who do you think will buy it then?? Yes, I "know" you're going to tell me it makes no sense for them to do this, FINE..then put it in writing and have them agree to the change by signing it - both a maximum and minimum price. PROTECT YOURSELF.

They can also "dump" your book for a price only 2 CENTS about their "costs" meaning you're getting 15% of 2 cents per sale. There is simply nothing to prohibit this, and with the way most self-published books or vanity press books sell, it's likely what you'll get. Very few sell more than 70 copies (and those are to family and friends).

IT SAYS: ...minus all costs directly attributable to the Book relating to production, distribution, sales or marketing.

This needs to be specified. If they spend 2 hours sending out a news release, then will you be charged $20 or $2000 for that work? You've basically given them signed permsission to take your cash. What are they going to do in terms of marketing, for you?? This needs to be spelled out. How many releases will they send out, how many review copies?? Will they arrange book signings?? Can they bill you if the costs of marketing exceed the sales??

IT SAYS: a. The Publisher will design front and back cover artwork and spine and provide imagery unless the Author provides his or her own artwork for this purpose.

Take a look at their book covers (I can't see the interior), now pop on over to Random House or Simon and Schuster and take a look at books in the same genre, noticing a difference here?


If you end the contract do you OWN THE RIGHTS TO STILL USE THE COVER design, or the edited text, or the layout?? Will you be supplied with the NATIVE files (300 dpi, editable, native formats - you'll need them).


If you do leave and do own the rights then you still need the files and you will still need to pay to have them altered because the ISBN, bar code, logo and copyright info will all reflect this company, not you.

I SAYS: b. The Publisher will design and layout the text body of the Book.

How? By doing it in Microsoft Word and advertising to the world that it's self-published?? Professional layout is done in Quark, InDesign or PageMaker - (the latter now discontinued) and this is what ALL...100% of ALL traditional publishers do. I can spot a book done in WORD in 2 seconds, as can most bookstore owners (your first "sale" - you can't get to the public without selling to the store owners unless you sell completely online or to specific groups, ie. students in a class you're teaching).


IT SAYS: b. The Author will be allowed to purchase copies of the Book at a price set at 75% of the Recommended Retail Price (plus shipping).

Now, how much of a deal is this to you if you're doing a booksigning?? It also doesn't say it you'll get royalties on the books you purchase directly. Since statistically most of these book sales WILL be made to you, the author, then it is definitely in their benefit to keep the price nice and high, ensuring no one else will buy it.

In addition:

Can they get your book into bookstores. Do they take returns (a big issue with retail stores)? They do mention this, but it's vague. If there are returns, how long from the sales date are they accepted (you could end up owing them money 9 years from now, it's happened). Who pays shipping on the returns??

Can you make changes if you're unhappy with or find errors in the galley?? Will you see hard galley proofs, or only soft mechanicals??

If you have a viable product that traditional publishers may not want (it's a niche market, for instance), then simply publish it yourself and keep ALL the money.



Cathi