Joined: 10/7/2013 Posts: 65
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I've been contacted by Grey Gecko Press. I've researched them on the internet and have not been scared away by anything I've seen. Does anyone else know anything about them?
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Avoid. They're a packager, not a publisher. All they do is format your work for Amazon and dump it there. You could do that yourself.
Real publishers never contact writers seeking business. They get 1000 submissions for every one they say yes to because they only invest in writing that people will want to buy in numbers large enough to pay back that investment. Phony houses like this one say no to no one.
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Joined: 10/7/2013 Posts: 65
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I contacted them months ago; they were responding to my query. Are they truly "phony"? I usually see negative comments on other web sites about the "bad" ones and haven't seen anything negative about Grey Gecko. I just wondered if anyone else had any previous dealings with them and what their experience was like.
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Joined: 10/7/2013 Posts: 65
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Thanks for the link; it gave opinions and concerns and allowed Grey Gecko to respond to concerns. But I was also wondering if anyone here at bookcountry has had any experience with Grey Gecko. I am leaning towards doing business with them if they like the synopsis and manuscript I sent.
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What can they do for you that you can't do yourself?
They say that specialize in new writers Why? Because all they can do for you is place you in on Amazon and the other online booksellers, hih you can do yourself, thorugh Amazon and Smashwords.
I did what you should have done and looked at a few of their stories on Amazon. I started with Dearly Departed Dating Service. I'm still shaking my head.
We begin with a woman getting ready to leave for her first day observing in surgery, apparently, as an intern. We find her in a bathroom, getting ready for work, finishing her hair, while her boyfriend showers, with "clouds of steam," so thick that when the boyfriend opens the shower curtain she can hardly see him. Seriously? And he comes "slowly" out of the shower.
First, how many woman do her hair in a steamy bathroom? And second, who the hell comes slooowly out of the shower. And after drying his hair, this wet yutz cuddles his wet body against her clothing and she cooperates.
Obviously the editing there isn't all that good, because right here is where most people would reject it as a submission. A real editor would have had the author fix it.
It's been out for two weeks, and has two reviews, neither from an actual customer. One is someone who regularly reviews that publisher's offerings and has never given less than four stars.In other words, a shill.
I looked at several others, and they're writen as badly, and selling about one copy a week.
So they spend no money on promotion, and the editing you get for a book that's going to see a copy a week won't be even close to professional. So if you must, put the damn thing out yourself. That way you won't have them, like a vampire, slurping down a chunk of your meager profits for doing nothing more than having run a spell check and converting your Word manuscript to a MOBI file. Calibre can do that and it's free.
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Joined: 10/7/2013 Posts: 65
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Not everyone has the time or ability to do that; Some people do; I don't. I write; I don't know enough about marketing, etc. to take that headache on myself. Thanks for telling me what I should have done; everyone just loves to be talked down to. Basically I have a decision to make and in the end it will be my decision. I just wanted to know if anyone had any firsthand experience with Grey Gecko. P.S. my work isn't "a damn thing."
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Joined: 6/7/2013 Posts: 1356
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Jay, the tone of your last reply to Theresa's question was disrespectful. She came onto the boards to ask the community about an ePublisher; that is what this board is for. When you respond in that tone, it discourages participation from other members. Talking down to other members is not okay. Please refrain from commenting further on this thread now that you've stated your opinion. Let's keep this discussion productive for the member who started it.
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Joined: 6/7/2013 Posts: 1356
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The Book Country Community Guidelines highlight the importance of respect in this community.
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Disrespectful because I said she should have looked at the publisher's product, and how well it was selling? Nonsense. That's how you evaluate any product. And their products, without exception, are selling poorly, because they're written poorly.
Disrespectful because I looked at Grey Gecko products and pointed out that the editing sucks and the writing is rejection worthy? I don't have a lot of patience with pretend publishers who, for doing no more than formatting an indifferently written manuscript for Amazon, take a chunk of any sales the author might steer to the page. I looked at the products they pushed as worthy of interest and found none that wouldn't be rejected by any publisher before the end of page one after that supposed publisher declared it ready for the market. None.
Writing is hard work. Writing well is a lot harder. But the solution isn't to find a "publisher" with lower standards. It's to raise the level of the writing, through study and practice. What good does it do to end up with an Amazon page that sells nothing because the potential reader says no after reading the excerpt? An acceptance by such a publisher is pretty much the same as a rejection from a real publisher, in terms of sales.
There's nothing wrong with self publishing. Hell, I do it, and I'm making tens of dollars at it. Nor is there anything wrong with going to a packager if you haven't the computer skills to do it yourself. You offer that kind of service, and more. And you're honest about it. I can respect that.
Grey Gecko press is pretending to be a real publisher. They get no respect from me, be it mandated by site policy or no.
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Joined: 11/17/2011 Posts: 1016
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Jay has given some very solid advice that, when I am ready to tackle self-publishing, I would want to hear. If anyone can criticize the content rather than the style of his delivery, I want to hear it.
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