Austin Macauley Publishers

[ChrisLewando]

Hi, all. I sent my YA book to Austin Maccauley, believing they were a bonafide publisher and, of course, received back a note saying they were interested in the partial, and could they see the full typescript. Of course.

From what I am reading on the internet, it appears they are a Hybrid publisher, a term I've not come across before; another word for vanity publishing. It appears that they have taken on very few people with a traditional trade publication deal, and a great many who are invited to pay a substantial amount to see their book in print. Please correct me if I'm wrong. There is no indication that they have sold anything or paid out any royalties... It also appears that their 'contract' includes a lifetime ownership of the writer's work, no reversion clause, which is totally unethical. If I want to vanity publish, I'll dump my books on Amazon, which I have, in fact, done with a few books which are 'out of contract', and a perfectly reasonable YA that I think will not sell to a traditional publisher for various reasons.

It disturbs me that I could have been taken in by their advertising, and it disturbs me further that this advertising was on a bonafide website run by people I thought trustworthy. Is it just about the money? I know, I should have been more careful, but it's a bit of a kick in the teeth, to be truthful.

I did send the typescript to them, and will let everyone know the figures they come up with.

I once sent a book to the 'agent' Daren Jewell, who also appeared, on second glance, to be making a very good living by charging his clients on the number of submissions would make on their behalf.... Anyone else come across him?

 

[Richard Turner]

I was similarly taken in. As soon as the book was published I got no further help from the publishers - the promotion was all down to me. The agent thing is a new one to me though. Writers Workshop offer services which appear to up your chances of being accepted by an agent or bona fide publisher, but I haven't put that to the test yet!

 

[Carol Rose]

While some of the regulars on the site linked below have been known to be downright ruthless and over-the-top snarky, and people do occasionally gang up on legit publishers and agents who come to answer false claims against them, if you have time to wade through all that drama, the site is useful for weeding out hybrid/vanity publishers, as well as agents who have questionable business practices.

Absolute Write Water Cooler

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Writers are, for the most part, nice people...which makes us easy to scam! I've had a couple of encounters with shady agents and publishers, as have several of us.

See: New lit agency which guarantees feedback within 6 wks is prob scam :(

https://colony.litopia.com/index.php?threads/the-bad-guys.3117/

Greetings! - new chap here

 

[Lady M]

Hi, all. I sent my YA book to Austin Maccauley, believing they were a bonafide publisher and, of course, received back a note saying they were interested in the partial, and could they see the full typescript. Of course.

From what I am reading on the internet, it appears they are a Hybrid publisher, a term I've not come across before; another word for vanity publishing. It appears that they have taken on very few people with a traditional trade publication deal, and a great many who are invited to pay a substantial amount to see their book in print. Please correct me if I'm wrong. There is no indication that they have sold anything or paid out any royalties... It also appears that their 'contract' includes a lifetime ownership of the writer's work, no reversion clause, which is totally unethical. If I want to vanity publish, I'll dump my books on Amazon, which I have, in fact, done with a few books which are 'out of contract', and a perfectly reasonable YA that I think will not sell to a traditional publisher for various reasons.

It disturbs me that I could have been taken in by their advertising, and it disturbs me further that this advertising was on a bonafide website run by people I thought trustworthy. Is it just about the money? I know, I should have been more careful, but it's a bit of a kick in the teeth, to be truthful.

I did send the typescript to them, and will let everyone know the figures they come up with.

I once sent a book to the 'agent' Daren Jewell, who also appeared, on second glance, to be making a very good living by charging his clients on the number of submissions would make on their behalf.... Anyone else come across him?

Thanks for the warning on this one. There are many sharks out there preying on the gullible!

 

[Amber]

Don't kick yourself too hard. Their website is slick. It's gorgeous.

The only clue I got was towards the bottom where it says: "Publish with us" - and - "How to Become an Author"

....and I was looking for it because you gave me a heads up. I never would have noticed anything was off otherwise.

The covers they showcase are gorgeous. The website asks me to enable cookies and it loads a different site depending on where it thinks I am. The first time it thought I was in the UK. Now it thinks I'm in NY. The two are different and not because of the pounds/dollar difference, or contact information. They are marketing TO writers and have different buttons, color schemes, and general feel to the website based on the writer's location.

Publishers are supposed to market to readers, distributors, and I suppose agents -- although .... really? Ideally don't agents sell to publishers? Or, don't publishers say, "We really think a New York cowboy story would do well..." and agents look for those?

Anyway, the most disturbing possibility to me is that this might start looking like a good idea to more people than it should. The money is going the wrong way and they're producing what looks like a good product.

It seems to me the last part is relatively new and that part bothers me. In the past, we really have been able to at least gauge a book by its cover. By which I mean, the quality of the work that went into producing the book which includes everything from size, paper, artwork, font, font size, pages devoted to extraneous material (how much was the author indulged?), and the reputation of the publisher. Can't do that with these people .. can we?

 

[MrDisco88]

I found this article on writer's workshop, which does a pretty good job of exposing them. Austin Macauley – what a terrible vanity publishing contract looks like

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Yep. I thought they were legit, too, as they say they do traditional deals, but what they offered me was more like--pay us an exorbitant fee and we'll pretend to do something while we essentially let you flounder, because, let's face it, your book isn't worth us taking a chance on, and you're lucky to get a deal even this good. It was a lovely piece of persuasive writing (entirely wasted on me, I'm afraid), aimed at making me feel I hadn't a chance in hell of getting published any other way. I honoured their offer by tossing it directly in the recycling bin.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Not long ago here (in the Rejection thread I think) I warned that I too discovered they were a vanity publisher. Hybrid my arse! NEVER does a real publisher charge you, gees why would be spend hours/years, only to be charged to publish our own work. We have P.O.D. sites where we can get prints done for a modest amount per book, rather than pay those thieves 2,000 pounds or so!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I visit my local public library once a week, which helps to keep me sane(ish) Last week, my eye was caught by a slim novella in the Cornish Book section, and checking the publishing details, I saw it was published by Austin Macauley Publishers Limited.

This rang a doomful bell in the belfry of my brain, so I borrowed it. At 122 pages, it wouldn't take much of my time to read, and as the story was set in Cornwall I was intrigued to see how the author dealt with the county where my detective novels take place. I won't name the author or the book title, for fear of causing offence, though if you're feeling like playing amateur detective, you could probably find it on Austin Macauley's website.

I gave up on reading it after ten pages. There was nothing wrong with the formatting, spelling, punctuation or grammar, but the story read like it had been written by a 14 year-old for their school magazine. That it's penned in the first person, which should impart some intensity, makes the shallowness of the protagonist's thoughts even more noticeable. The author would benefit from attending a few writing courses.

Touchingly, the author thanks Austin Macauley for being "prepared to publish" her story. You bet they were prepared—prepared to take her money, for she undoubtedly paid them to do so—as they're primarily a vanity publisher!

All the same, I'm glad that she's so pleased, and a bit of research shows that she's attended several local literary festivals on the strength of being a published author. Then again, paying someone to publish your book is like paying a prostitute for sex...they didn't choose you out of desire, and there's no love involved. (I'm such a bitch! )

Slightly depressed by such travesties in publishing, I turned to the thoughts of Harry Bingham, a crime novelist and founder of the excellent The Writers' Workshop site. His observations made me chortle at the glee with which he tears into Austin Macauley:

Austin Macauley: some questions

Austin Macauley: our opinion

If all that you want to do after writing your first book, is to see it in print as a physical object that you can hold, then there are plenty of print-on-demand options, such as bookbaby, that are more affordable, more honest and more efficient than vanity publishers.

The book world in a vast and tempestuous ocean, and here be monsters, so keep a watchful eye open!

 

[AgentPete]

They've been mentioned here before. Avoid.