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vmaxnick Three Star Member
Number of posts : 94 Registration date : 2012-11-29 Age : 61 Location : Somerset
| Subject: Novum Wed Nov 26, 2014 3:35 pm | |
| I can't find any negative stuff about this company Novum publishing. They seem very keen to attract new authors. they are a German company which is rapidly expanding into the franchise market. I wonder if anyone has experience with them? |
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vmaxnick Three Star Member
Number of posts : 94 Registration date : 2012-11-29 Age : 61 Location : Somerset
| Subject: Re: Novum Fri Dec 12, 2014 9:09 am | |
| No, they are a vanity publishing outfit wearing a nice suit. Avoid. (Unless that's what you're looking for) |
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vmaxnick Three Star Member
Number of posts : 94 Registration date : 2012-11-29 Age : 61 Location : Somerset
| Subject: Re: Novum Tue May 05, 2015 1:44 pm | |
| Austin Macauley too. In fact, every 'Traditional' publisher that offers me a contract should be scrutinised with suspicion. |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Novum Tue May 05, 2015 2:58 pm | |
| Ah, the penny drops. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! |
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dkchristi Five Star Member
Number of posts : 8594 Registration date : 2008-12-29 Location : Florida
| Subject: Re: Novum Tue May 05, 2015 6:59 pm | |
| A lot of small presses may not cost the author - but the cost comes in the end with the books authors buy to sell and with the lack of a professional edit.
Seems when they are overjoyed to accept the submission - the joy is short-lived for the author. |
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Abe F. March Five Star Member
Number of posts : 10768 Registration date : 2008-01-26 Age : 85 Location : Germany
| Subject: Re: Novum Tue May 05, 2015 11:42 pm | |
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vmaxnick Three Star Member
Number of posts : 94 Registration date : 2012-11-29 Age : 61 Location : Somerset
| Subject: Re: Novum Wed May 06, 2015 2:31 pm | |
| Waste of time writing to publishers traditional or otherwise, seems all any of them want to do is fill your garage with books. I didn't sign up for Amway, I'm not signing up for this either. Spinning for an agent is probably at least more interesting. I've been through the New York directory. Hmm, where to go next? I have a cunning plan though, what I'm going to do is write a book that's good. |
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vouivre
Number of posts : 13 Registration date : 2016-01-18
| Subject: Re: Novum Tue Jan 19, 2016 4:42 am | |
| I have heard of Novum publishing - a friend of mine was seriously considering publishing his book with them, in the end he didn't but that was for personal reasons (I mean that he didn't publish at all). In any case if I remember right, they were very friendly and helpful (it was going to be his first book, so he was very nervous about the whole thing and needed lots of reassurance). So I don't know really - maybe this whole vanity press thing has just gotten a negative connotation when sometimes it can be okay to pay to get your book published? I mean when you are starting and have no reputation, isn't that a good thing? Sorry if I get things wrong I am not an author myself but that's just how it seems to me. |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Novum Tue Jan 19, 2016 1:33 pm | |
| It is a good thing for those authors starting out with no knowledge of how to self-publish. Caution should be taken and expectations about sales should be low to avoid disappointment. Unfortunately, many are disappointed even when they claim that they knew what they were signing up for. |
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vouivre
Number of posts : 13 Registration date : 2016-01-18
| Subject: Re: Novum Thu Jan 21, 2016 6:57 am | |
| Shelagh: You seem to have published quite a bit of books if I get that right! So would you recommend self-publishing over choosing a publishing house, even if you don't really know what you're doing? Not that I am seriously considering it really, but I can imagine that if I ever did want to publish something it would be quite daunting to do it all on my own :S |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Novum Thu Jan 21, 2016 7:45 am | |
| CreateSpace and Lulu are two self-publishing platforms that make it easy to produce a paperback/ebook listed on Amazon and other online book stores. The biggest drawback is generating sales. This takes a tremendous amount of time. Self-publishers work for a living and prefer to spend their free time writing rather than selling books, which is why they are considered to be hobbyists rather than serious writers. That doesn't mean they write inferior books, although lots do; it means that they are not totally committed to earning their living from writing.
Read this from a successful self-publisher:
http://www.hughhowey.com/so-you-want-to-be-a-writer/ |
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vouivre
Number of posts : 13 Registration date : 2016-01-18
| Subject: Re: Novum Sat Jan 23, 2016 2:18 pm | |
| Ok, thanks for sharing this!!! Well I can imagine earning a living from writing is very difficult, even if you would want it to happen does not mean you make it. Sorry so you said that self-publishers are considered hobbyists? It does not seem to match your description of self-publishers, so maybe I misunderstood. Will have a read, thanks again |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Novum Mon Jan 25, 2016 9:03 am | |
| Just as swimming in an olympic-sized pool will not make you into an olympic swimmer, using the same self-publishing platform as successful self-publishers will not make you into a succesful author. Swimming along side olympic swimmers does not increase your chances of success, even if you spend the same number of hours in the pool and train just as hard. For some unfathomable reason, writers who are passionate about their own writing expect others to be just as appreciative of their work as they are. When you point out that readers do not necessarily gain the same pleasure from reading that writers do from writing, they defend themselves by claiming to write for themselves and it's just a bonus if readers enjoy their work. Can you imagine this attitude being acceptable in any other profession or business? If you want to become a serious writer, you have to take writing seriously, otherwise it is just a hobby. |
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vouivre
Number of posts : 13 Registration date : 2016-01-18
| Subject: Re: Novum Tue Jan 26, 2016 11:13 am | |
| Yeah of course. I think we misunderstood each other - I literally did not get your previous post because it sounded like you were contradicting yourself, but as I said I must have just gotten something wrong. So to recap: you are saying that self-publishers are hobby writers because they write in their free time as opposed to writing full-time. Correct? However I still don't get why being self-published necessarily menas you don't spend all your time on writing. I mean one doesn't exclude the other, right? And I don't know but I know many professions where people don't give it their heart and their soul at all in fact and still make it. It's not like life is fair and the effort or time you put into something will translate into making a living. Sadly. |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Novum Wed Jan 27, 2016 4:35 pm | |
| You are right about professionals who work for a living but don't enjoy all aspects of their working life. One of my friends who teaches full time would prefer to teach part time, but the time taken travelling to and from school is the same and all the paperwork and marking takes just as long, so part-time working means longer hours for less pay. I pointed out that she also enjoys the social side, which she agreed that she did, and part-time staff have less time communicating with fellow members of staff, since they have no free periods and are not around at lunchtime. The one thing that both have in common is that whether a teacher works full time or part time, the professionalism is the same. |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Novum Thu Jan 28, 2016 7:14 am | |
| This writer is about to go full time. He gives some insights into how long it has taken:
http://www.authorspublish.com/10-things-i-wish-i-knew-as-a-beginning-writer/ |
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vouivre
Number of posts : 13 Registration date : 2016-01-18
| Subject: Re: Novum Sat Feb 06, 2016 10:38 am | |
| Thanks for sharing Shelagh! Yes, it really does put things into perspective. I guess you really, really have to be motivated to make it - and of course, very talented, and a pinch of luck probably can only help. So all in all, not the best odds. So I guess to get back to the initial topic: you guys don't think they are trustworthy? Or just not the right way to go about it all? |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Novum Mon Feb 08, 2016 5:50 pm | |
| This report states that Novum claimed to be cost-free, but did actually charge for editing and book cover designs. If authors are to be charged, it should be clearly stated on the publisher's advertising blurb:
https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2013/7/Novum-Publishing-gmbh/SHP_ADJ_225574.aspx#.VrlFP5seLMJ |
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vouivre
Number of posts : 13 Registration date : 2016-01-18
| Subject: Re: Novum Mon Feb 22, 2016 6:13 am | |
| I had not seen this report, so thank you. Hm I see, yes I guess it is important to state costs from the start, but on their website it does say there are costs so maybe it was changed in the meantime. I guess it is just so hard to judge these things when you are new to the business. I would always give myself a lot of time to weigh up the different options. This isn't a decision that should be rushed. |
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dkchristi Five Star Member
Number of posts : 8594 Registration date : 2008-12-29 Location : Florida
| Subject: Re: Novum Mon Feb 22, 2016 12:04 pm | |
| The publisher that I went with for Bamboo Ring continues to say it's common to have errors in first books - and the reason from my perspective is that the publisher does no editing. You are encouraged to provide edited manuscripts and they recommend editors. Of course, even with my "sophistication," I thought I read in the contract that it included editing but I was wrong - "formatting" is not editing. They did change some things that were correct and made them wrong on the back cover - not terribly wrong - just not as impressive.
Their cadre of authors seem delightfully content and happy on the Facebook page - selling lots of books - and getting the support they need from the publisher for book signings, etc. I was offered a discount rate of $50 rather than their standard $75 to correct one word on one page that was a significant error - but in the end I decided the change wasn't worth my $50 either. It is completely correct on the ebook.
I do know that it's not easy for small presses to make a log of money with the discounting practices of the selling sites.
My best experience was Dreamspell and they spoiled me for other small presses - and they closed due to an untimely death of a major partner. Vinspire has also been wonderful in different ways. They definitely edit! I am an editor - who sees my own work "perfect" in my brain when it's not perfect on paper. I need an editor. I also need an editor to chop and paste.
I still go back and read Arirang from that Publish America about which we all said so many negatives - and it was well edited in a great format on lovely paper in a beautiful, striking cover. I'm so glad to have it! |
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vouivre
Number of posts : 13 Registration date : 2016-01-18
| Subject: Re: Novum Thu Feb 25, 2016 3:36 pm | |
| They actually changed things that were correct on your back cover? Didn’t that really upset you? It’s funny how these things work, and that changing a single word is so expensive. It’s true though, when you spend a lot of time on your own wortk, sometimes you simply oversee errors – it doesn’t happen to me with work that haven’t written, but with my own my mind will often overlook a missing word (I guess my brain fills it in each time I read the sentence in my head… Mainly because I know the sentences by heart I guess). |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Novum Thu Feb 25, 2016 4:12 pm | |
| Our stories are in our heads; words are just the mechanical form of our imagination. Readers only have the words on the page in front of them. Writers don't always succeed in conveying their stories through their own words, alas. Nothing you ever read will be as vivid as your own work, which is why authors get a real buzz when a reader conjures up images that are close to those in the mind of the writer. |
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Abe F. March Five Star Member
Number of posts : 10768 Registration date : 2008-01-26 Age : 85 Location : Germany
| Subject: Re: Novum Thu Feb 25, 2016 11:47 pm | |
| Agree Shelagh. Those images in our heads are not so easy to put into words and that is just one of the challanges facing the writer. |
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vouivre
Number of posts : 13 Registration date : 2016-01-18
| Subject: Re: Novum Tue Mar 22, 2016 9:09 am | |
| That was beautifully put Shelagh J And I agree, these images in our heads are just so magical. I am sure that what I imagined the characters in my favourite books to be like does not in any way match what anyone else imagined. But how would we ever find out anyways? The mind is a beautiful thing. |
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dkchristi Five Star Member
Number of posts : 8594 Registration date : 2008-12-29 Location : Florida
| Subject: Re: Novum Tue Mar 22, 2016 9:32 am | |
| I note that my current publisher is now offering authors more editing. |
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