WOW! Women On Writing Blog: advances

Penner Publishing: An Advance-Paying Small Press Looking for Submissions

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Today, we welcome Jessica Gadsden, publisher and founder of Penner Publishing, an independent traditional publishing house that PAYS ROYALTIES AND ADVANCES! Read the interview below to get inside information from Jessica, and then check out their website to see if you have a manuscript they are looking for. Here's the link: http://www.pennerpublishing.com/

WOW: Welcome, Jessica, we are excited to talk to you today about Penner Publishing. Let's just start out with some facts about your company. First, is this a traditional, royalty paying publisher?

Jessica: Yes, we’re a traditional publisher. We will edit, create beautiful genre specific cover art, and distribute our authors books. All books will be released in eBook and print.

WOW: Sounds great! Are you currently accepting submissions? And if so, what types of manuscripts are you looking for?

Jessica: We are open for submissions. What we’re looking for are books driven by strong heroines. Whether that’s romance, women’s fiction, or a genre bender doesn’t matter. These are the stories we’re looking for. We are accepting books from new authors, published authors and agents.

WOW: Strong heroines? I bet we have a lot of writers with those type of characters who read The Muffin! What are some tips for our readers who have something to submit to you? Can you give us a link for submission guidelines, too, please?

Jessica: Please include a polished query letter, a synopsis, and your full manuscript. We’d like to know what your book is about and whether it’s for us. http://www.pennerpublishing.com/?page_id=11

WOW: What makes Penner Publishing different than other small publishing houses?

Jessica: Penner Publishing is different because we’re an advance paying publisher. Many small presses have forgone advances, some in favor of higher royalties, but not all. We strongly believe a publisher needs to invest in an author and their story. If there’s little investment, there is sometimes little incentive for a publisher to market the book. I’ve met many authors who have written five or ten books for a publisher with little remuneration. We strongly believe that for the arts to be a strong and positive influence in our society, artists have to be paid.

WOW: We agree! Thank you for paying artists for their work! I also noticed on your website that you are interested in hiring some editors. What positions are open and how do qualified people apply? Are these work from home positions?

Jessica: We are nearly fully staffed. But we are still looking for a few editors. These are work-from-home independent contractor positions. The editors we’ve hired, and the editors we seek to work with, have substantial industry experience whether that’s with other publishing houses or with agents. We are looking for men and women who love books and reading, first and foremost, but also want to bring out the best in author’s stories and are eager to share those stories with readers.

WOW: Anything else you'd like to add?

Jessica: We are excited to join this new and changing world of publishing. We ask authors and readers to keep an eye out for announcements about our 2015 and 2016 lists.

WOW: We definitely will. Thank you so much for talking with us today! Muffin readers--if you have a question or comment for Jessica, now is the time to ask!

5 comments advances, Independent publishers, Penner Publishing, publisher interview, royalties

Publisher Controversy: Random House in the Hot Seat

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Random House in the Hot Seat (iBrotha Flickr.com)

I'm not sure if you've been following the controversy over Random House's new digital-only lines: Hydra, Alibi, Loveswept, and Flirt. Writers have been up in arms because no advance was being offered on these books, like with Random House print authors, and also because copies and other miscellaneous expenses were going to be taken out of the author's royalties. When I first heard about it, I was reading a discussion on the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) listserve I belong to, and the argument was mostly with Hydra and whether or not a book published with this imprint would qualify a writer to belong to the SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America). It turns out the way the Hydra contract was originally written an author was not eligible for SFWA membership.

The good news is that Random House has buckled under the pressure from the writers (YAY!), and they have revised the contract. They didn't give in 100 percent, but they now offer two different models of payment, and one of these offers an advance.

Authors and others in the publishing world who were up in arms seem to be happy with Random House's changes and have said so on blogs and Twitter. To read fully everything that has been going on, you should visit Writer Beware.

What I was hoping to discuss with Muffin readers today is this whole notion of having to get an advance in order to be considered "professional" enough to belong to a writing association. And in some of the blogs I read about this issue, they said that authors weren't taking themselves seriously if they didn't demand an advance. John Scalzi, an author with a popular blog, even said that we should question publishers that can't offer advances and wonder if we will ever get paid our royalties.

So, I'm sitting at my computer in St. Louis, thinking, Well, golly gee, I have three books under contract and am not going to get advances on any of them. I was super excited to get royalties and someone wanting to publish them. I think it helps me with my writing goals of doing school visits, teacher workshops, and teaching online classes. Plus, I like small and regional publishers, and I think they often don't offer advances to an author the first time they work with her or him. And I take myself and my work seriously.

What do you all think about this? If you have a book, did you get an advance? Was it hard to meet your advance? Did you feel pressure? If you aren't published yet, will take a contract without an advance? Would love to hear from you on this issue!

Margo Dill is the author of Finding My Place: One Girl's Strength at Vicksburg (White Mane Kids, 2012) and writes a blog at http://margodill.com/blog/. She teaches online classes for WOW! See her classes here.