Publishing at Another Sky Press

(Je tenterai de traduire cet article en français bientôt)

Here's a copy of an e-mail which was sent to me by Kristopher Young of Another Sky Press (ASP). I asked Kristopher if I could post it on my blog because I like:

• their straight-forward approach and transparency
  
• their no-bullshit policy (I won't get rich with Thirty Something Blues :)
  
• the fact that they actually apologize for sending me a contract!
• the agreement is non-exclusive (that's bloody rare)
  

In short, ASP cares.

Did any of the publishers with which you work take as much care in describing the publishing process?

Of course ASP is a small publisher so it should be particulary nice with their authors. But in this day and age, I think it's fairly rare to see such devotion.

What do you think?

###

Kristopher Young of Another Sky Press wrote:


Dear Authors,

First, I would like to thank all of you.

The Another Sky Press anthology, Falling from the Sky, is coming together nicely. We are hard at work making this happen - Craig's been spending all his spare time with your stories, I've been getting the layout for the anthology set up, Chris Roberts has been absolutely acing the cover, and Mike and I have been working on getting the relevant website pages prepared. Everything is in motion.

Craig has already requested bios and images from all of you; all but one or two have already responded. Thank you. Craig will be following up with the rest, making sure everything is in order.

We plan to complete and release the anthology early next year. We will begin promotion of the title and begin accepting pre-orders in the very near future.

ROYALTIES:

This is how it's going to work:

Once Another Sky Press has recouped the direct costs (printing, promotion, etc.) that went into releasing the anthology, we will divvy up any profit on Falling from the Sky sales into royalties. This will be done by dividing up the total into 'shares'. Every author will get one share (regardless of number of stories or length, it gets far too complex otherwise). There are also a handful of others shares going out - one for the editor, Craig, and another for the cover artist, and another for layout, and another for accounting (we are working on finalizing the exact breakdown of tasks). We are still waiting on a couple of late submissions - but it should work out to be about 40 shares in total since we already have an author count in the mid-thirties. This will make each share about 2.5%. In other words, it's unlikely anyone is going to get rich off of this - but we're still offering a royalty rate not far off from what most novelists receive for an entire novel (often 4-5%). Once we break even, we may decide to send out a second round of review copies - ultimately, this is about getting all of us exposure, not making money (though both would obviously be nice).

In case you didn't notice, Another Sky Press isn't taking a share, nor is it taking a cut off the top. You can, if you so desire, contribute a percentage of your earnings back to Another Sky Press - in other words, you can 'tip back' part of what you make. This money will not be lining our pockets - it will go directly towards allowing Another Sky Press to take on more projects. Contributing back to Another Sky Press is completely optional.

CONTRACT:

We are attaching a contract in PDF format for you to sign and mail back to us. We would very much appreciate a very prompt response; we are putting a huge amount of energy into this project and want to make sure we can legally include your work. We can not even properly promote the work (for example, list included authors) until we have this paperwork signed and returned.

We apologize for the fact that we need a 'contract' at all - we are generally of the friendly hand shake variety. Know that we have your absolute best interests in mind and seek only to promote Another Sky Press, Falling from the Sky, and all individuals involved to the best of our ability. Nothing in the contract is meant to allow us any level of control over your work that is outside the boundaries of common sense.

The agreement is non-exclusive - you can allow the story to be reprinted elsewhere. The contract we are providing is based on three other contracts that have been used by other anthology publishers - we stripped them down and removed everything we didn't think was needed (or we felt was overly confusing) and then had the final version reviewed by a helpful lawyer.

A fully signed copy of the agreement will be sent to you along with your complimentary copy of Falling From the Sky.

If you have any questions about the contract please feel free to ask and as always, when signing something check with your own advisors.

AND FINALLY:

We would appreciate it if you could take the time to answer a few questions.

Please provide:

1. A mailing address to which we can send your complimentary copy of Falling >From the Sky when it is complete.
2. The best email address at which we can contact you (private; for our use only)
3. Your Public email, if you wish to have one listed. We advocate providing one, but that's up to you.
4. Your 'Official Website', if one exists, or other URL where people can find you.
5. Your Paypal email address for royalty payments. This is greatly preferred over cutting checks, so please provide one if at all possible. If you don't have Paypal, please visit their site for details about opening and maintaining an account. It's free.
6. If you choose to 'tip back' a percentage of your royalties to Another Sky Press, please let us know for our records. You're welcome to change this percentage at any time - just let us know.
   

Kristopher Young
Another Sky Press