A contract, but is it worth it?

[Alistair Roberts]

I've been patiently waiting on a reply from a publisher and finally I got en email saying they love the novel (Merlin and Ceridwen) and would like to publish it. Living on a limited budget, I finally breathed a sigh of relief until I kept reading. As I am a new author, they want me to pay them a small fee to cover initial printing costs. Like, I don't have money to buy clothes f...........
Seriously though, since when do publishers ask you to pay them? Once actual sales start, I would get 25% on royalties, on net sale prices. Has anyone heard of anything like this?

 

[Marc Joan]

Odour of rat. My gut feeling would be to run a mile; but I may be paranoid. Agent Pete would be the best font of wisdom to consult.

 

[tabby3]

Odour of rat. My gut feeling would be to run a mile; but I may be paranoid. Agent Pete would be the best font of wisdom to consult.

Ditto!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

They're a so-called vanity publisher, by the sound of it. They charge. You'd have to do the Marketing legwork yourself, I'd imagine. Whose job would it be to make the sales happen?

 

[Jennifer Stone]

yes i've had this twice one for £2,500 the other £8,900. unfortunately the only two offers of publication i've had. A literary agent i approached afterwards warned me against accepting offers that requires upfront payment.

 

[Carol Rose]

RUN AWAY

 

[Elysium]

You pay them - and then you only get 25%! Don't go there.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

25% seems better than expected, but don't worry I'm not touching it. I might do a fairly length re-edit of it, and then re-self publish it until I get lucky! Thanks for the replies folks.