The Word Cloud

I see the Cloud has a new member - DIP Publishing. I had a message from DIP Publishing through another writer's website a few weeks ago. The agent said that he was looking for a limited number of authors for a project in which underrepresented authors would have a real chance of being published in the 'Traditional' way.

DIP Publishing is another version of Lulu. You pay to have your books printed. That's great. I may use such a service myself in the future.

But the man from DIP said he was offering traditional publishing which he inferred to be publication of a book on merit rather than payment.

I didn't believe it but I said okay I'll go along for the ride. He emailed me straight back and said "

Just found out a prospective author needs to pay $300 up front.

Also, the website isn't complete yet http://www.dippub.com/#/power-partner-publishing/4553129892

Come on DIP/Argus, let's hear from you. I'm not saying you haven't got anything to offer, but so far it's not looking good.

So there is no such thing as a free lunch... ! :)

Ah right. Am I being naive then, Nashelle?

Is publication on merit finally dead? Must the unpublished author always expect to pay money to see her/his work published?

If so then fair enough. I didn't know. Then again I am relatively new to the writing game.

DIP Publishing - please humour my naivety and accept my apologies for the suspicion that it provoked.

It's the digital age and everyone is a publisher! It's so easy to set up as a print on demand. But there are still legit small publishers out there who don't charge but sometimes you only find them by word of mouth.

We are in the right place then eh!

The bottom line is still that you don't pay to have your book 'ttraditionally' published. Anything else is self-publishing, sometimes with a lot of (expensive) bells and whistles attached, including promises about marketing, distribution etc.

I've contacted WW to ask them to check DIP out. My feeling is that they don't belong here on the Cloud.

And ... they've gone. Wham, bam, zap that spam.

I knew sanity would prevail!

Nice one Debi.

I joined up yesterday and had a message from a Sophia from DIP publishing regarding the very thing you mentioned Veek. So I guess they have found other avenues to get onto The Cloud.

It does sound too good to be true.

Yes, SJ, 'Sophia' sent me a message yesterday too.

DIP must see so much 'potential' in my writing because that is the third message I have had from them in 2 days - and after the way I have treated them!

Well, they're no longer on the Cloud so all messages should stop. If anyone receives another one, give me a shout. I'll get my steel toecaps ready, just in case.

Grr. Go, Tiger.

Debi's a London gel. Alright Sis? Bet you ran with skinheads in the seventies.

Nah, Veek. I ran from them. And occasionally after them (but only when I had lots of back up).

We took a similar approach then, Debi.
I bet you always had plenty of back up when you needed it.

Where might I find some of your writing?

Oops, sorry, Veek. Only just spotted this. You can never have too much back up, eh?

You can see excerpts, reviews etc of my books at my website. www.debialper.co.uk

No you can't Debi!

I already found your work a few days ago.

I doubt if you'll be needing any advice on writing from me on the cloud then ;0) I might be needing yours though.

Your website is interesting. Respect to you for the things you have done.

Take care

Vic

I was contacted by DIP on WorthyOfPublishing.com. I'll give you some snippets of the conversation between me and DIP.

DIP: "Hi, I've read some of your stuff and it's pretty good..."

ME: "Thanks for the compliment. Was there something in particular that you liked?"

DIP: (responded to all my questions, except to answer the above question - which I ask to see if he's actually read it)

Eventually I get the details of the agreement, which requires me to find ten sponsors to buy signed copies of my book at $30 each. I responded to let him know that I need the publisher to take all of the risk to prove they're actually going to try to market & sell my book. I get a polite response.

A few days later I get the revised details, in which the price has dropped to $20 X 10. I reply to say I'm going to email my friends and see if I can get 10 sponsors.

DIP asks me to send my novel for review, so I email it. 10 hours later I get this email:

"I have reviewed your works. Very impressive, and interesting...I have yet to see such a concept thus far. I am confident in the marketing potential behind this book. It has potential to really do some amazing things on the market." (No specifics about the content of the novel)

I'm curious as to whether anyone else has sent their novel for review? Did anyone get a similar response? I was very surprised that they managed to review my book in less than 10 hours of me submitting it. Put it this way: The time in Georgia (where DIP is located) was 6:42pm when I sent my novel. I received a response at 4:05am (Georgia time). Is it actually possible that they reviewed a 320 page book between 6:42pm and 4:05am? Not entirely unheard of since I know someone that did read my book overnight, but seems HIGHLY unlikely.

I also received a contract to sign. Besides the $20 X 10, there's one other part of the contract that bothers me: "While this Agreement is in effect the Author shall not, without the prior written consent of the Publisher, write, edit, print, or publish any material that competes with the Work."

My understanding of this is that I'll have to remove my currently self-published version of the book from the market. My novel gets loads of hits on Google, but a DIP employee's book seems to be difficult to find.

Okay... I've written enough. What do you think? Anyone want to send them an old, badly written novel, and see how they respond?

Hi Lost Hobbit and welcome to the Cloud. DIP's turnround time for reading your novel does sound exceptionally fast! And it is fishy that they don't mention any details of your novel.

Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. They were good reasons for them being chucked off the Cloud.

Oh and welcome, Lost Hobbit. Nice piece of detective work.

Dip Publishing are still contacting me, giving me lots of compliments about my book (without saying anything specific about the content). They also explained that the reviewer only reads a few chapters, so that explains why they could review it overnight. I just wish there was a way to be sure.

I'd steer clear if I were you.

Lost Hobbit, what is it you're not sure about?
We all want the validation of someone liking our work, but if they haven't said anything specific at all, it sounds to me like false prophets bearing gifts. How hard would it be to make a specific reference to your book?
I think you have your answer, sorry.
I believe you could self-publish for that kind of money - and at least you'd know what you're paying for. If they'll publish it if you pay them $200, why does it matter whether they like it or not? Sounds very much like they're being disingenuous.
And fancy them asking for some sort of exclusivity when they're not offering you anything at all!
[Are they offering you anything? Sorry if I've misunderstood]
So what is in it for you?
You ask for a badly written novel to be sent to them. Why don't you send them a copy of the obituaries column in an old newspaper and see if they'll publish that?
Even their response that you quoted isn't the most eloquent English and it does sound like a standard response.
Ever so sorry to burst your bubble, but it's what I think.

Go with someone you feel you can trust. You clearly have misgivings already about this lot.

Thanks for the advice I'll steer clear!