The Wild Horse Press

Questions from Customers

1. What if I have a problem with my download?

   All E-book sales are done through Wild Horse Press's LuLu E-store. No products are sold directly from us. If you have an issue with your order, please contact LuLu directly through their customer service team.

2. Do you offer E-books through other places?

   Yes! We currently sell e-books through:

    

   All Romance Ebooks

   Amazon Kindle

   Coffee Time Romance

   Books On Board (added February 2010)

   iBookstore (in progress as of May 2010)

   and other online retailers

    

3. Where do you sell your paperbacks? Can I get them in a bookstore?

   You may purchase any title produced in paperback through Amazon.com. In addition, we began submitting titles for distribution in January 2010. Titles available in bookstores, via distribution, will be marked as such.  If you do not see the book on the shelf of your local store, you may have to ask a customer service rep to order it for you.

    

   Currently, our books can be found on the following website (only the titles submitted for distribution):  Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Hastings Entertainment.

    

4. I want to contact one of your authors. How do I do that?

   Our authors have their own website.  Please visit their website in order to contact them. If you aren't sure of your favorite author's site, find it here.

Questions from Bookstores/Libraries

1. If we want to purchase your titles for our bookstore/collection, where do we buy them?

   We are currently adding our print titles to the Ingram database through our printer. Titles currently available via distribution are marked as being available at bookstores. Any other titles would have to be purchased through the printer or Amazon.com. We do not keep a stock of paperback titles so purchasing them through Wild Horse Press is not an option.

2. Do we receive a discount on titles purchased?

   Our titles available through Ingram should be discounted for you, but Ingram sets the discount price, not Wild Horse Press.  You will need to contact your Ingram representative for more information on discounts.

3. We have set up a book signing for one of your authors, but their title isn't available in print.

   If you have set up a book signing for an author who does not currently have a title in print, All Romance Ebooks has a way for the author to do signings for e-book copies.  The e-book copies would need to be purchased up front from All Romance Ebooks, then the customer would purchase the download code either from you or from the author.  The author would have to "sign" items they bring with them (such as bookmarks, book plates, or other promo materials).

4. We want one of your authors to come do a reading/signing event. Does Wild Horse Press set that up?

   No, we do not set up readings or signings for our authors.  If you wish to have them come to your store or library, please contact the author directly, via their website.  If you do not see the author's page listed on our site, you may contact us and we will be happy to give your information to the author so they may contact you.

Questions from Authors

1. What types of books do you publish?

   We only accept Romance and Erotic Romance (all sub-genres, including YA Romance). All books accepted for publication will be formatted for e-book. Select titles will be available in print (see contract sample for details).

2. Are authors required to publish a certain number of books while under contract?

   No. Wild Horse Press offers contracts on a book by book basis. However, if you are submitting part of a series, our contracts do give us first option on the remaining books. If we decide not to publish the additional books, you are free to submit them elsewhere.

3. Why are all of your titles not in print?

   Short stories are typically not put into print unless they are in an anthology, or come out to 100+ pages in paperback format. However, books that sell at least 25 e-copies per month over a 3 month period will be considered for print. Any book that sells 100+ copies per month will automatically go into print through print-on-demand and be available for purchase through Amazon and Target websites.

    

   As of December 2009, we have begun submitting titles for distribution. Titles will be added monthly, beginning with titles already in print. Our distributor is Ingram.

4. If my title is submitted for distribution, will it be available at all bookstores?

   That depends on which distributor your bookstore uses, and it also depends on whether or not the distributor approved it and added it to their database. We can submit a title, but we can't control which stores purchase copies for their shelves.

    

   As of May 2010, our books are listed with Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Hastings Entertainment.  Again, they may only carry them on their website and not necessarily in the store.

5. What is the difference in Erotica and Erotic Romance?

   Erotica is a story that is purely based on sex. An Erotic Romance has a romantic tale in which there are several scenes of graphic sex. However, an erotic romance can still stand on its own two legs (metaphorically obviously) without the sex scenes and erotica cannot.

    

   Wild Horse Press will not accept an erotic romance with sex scenes if the characters are under 18 years of age. At no time will WHP publish a "YA" erotic story!

6. What do you consider a YA story?

   YA stories do not have sex scenes in them, unless they happen behind closed doors (which means it can be referred to, but you don't actually write the scene into the book). Some bad language is acceptable, but don't get carried away. The characters should be around 19 years of age and under.

7. How much are Royalties?

   40% for E-books

   10% for Print books

8. How do I get paid?

   We are a royalty paying company. Your royalties will be paid every quarter (Jan - Mar sales will be paid by May 20th, Apr - Jun sales will be paid by August 20th, etc). You will only receive a check when your sales reach a minimum of $10. UK authors will be paid via PayPal only. US authors have the option of PayPal or a check.

    

   As our titles are not sold directly from our site, but are sold through e-book sellers, your commission will be less any listing fees. (EX: Title A sells for $6.00 The E-store charges 50% of that amount. Your royalty will be paid from the remaining 50%. Your royalty for this sale would be $1.20).

9. What are the contract terms?

   Contracts will be for 2 years. The contract will be for both e-book and print rights, with the exception of short stories, which will be e-book rights only (unless the paperback would be over 100 pages, the Author wishes to submit an anthology of short stories, or the story is part of a series).

    

   See a sample of the contract here.

10. Can I submit my story if I'm under 18?

    No, at this time we are not accepting manuscripts from persons under the age of 18.  

11. How do I submit a book?

    Email your complete manuscript. In the body of the email, be sure to include your name, pen name (if any), working title, word count, genre, and a 1 or 2 paragraph blurb about your title. Be sure that the file is attached as a .doc or .rtf file. DO NOT send your document in the body of the email! Partial manuscripts will not be considered.

     

    Please see our Submission Guidelines page for more details on formatting your submission.

12. When I submit my book, how long does it take to get an answer?

    When you submit your file, assuming that is formatted and emailed correctly, it will take approximately 4 weeks for review. If there are no other manuscripts pending, then it may take less. If we have a heavy influx of submissions, it could be a little longer.  If it looks like it will be longer than 4 weeks, we try to let you know ahead of time.

13. Do the author's have any say in cover art or formatting?

    No. As much as we would love to cater to everyone, we would never get anything done. A cover artist will design a cover for you and your book will be professionally edited and formatted. A final copy will be provided to you.

     

    However, should an author wish to provide their own cover art, they may do so as long as it was paid for through a legitimate cover artist and they can provide proof they have permission to use the artwork. Wild Horse Press will require the artist's name and contact information, along with a statement or receipt showing you have permission to use the artwork.

14. What is an E-Book Directory?

    An e-book directory is a site that lists e-books and links directly to the e-book. It might also list a description, price, and cover art. Historically we have submitted our e-books to e-book palace, e-book freeway, e-book jungle, and e-book heaven in the UK. This doesn't mean they have been accepted and posted to all of these sites, but that we sent them to the sites. Whether or not the sites chose to accept and list them is up to the sites themselves.

    E-book Cafe will only accept books submitted by the author. If you would like to have your book listed with E-Book Cafe, you will have to open an account with them (free) and submit it yourself.

I've signed a contract with Wild Horse Press. Now what?

1. Cover Art

   Once we receive your signed contract, our cover artist is notified that we need a cover to place on our Upcoming Releases list. A copy of the cover will be provided to you once it's completed. As previously mentioned, unless you plan on hiring your own cover artist, you do not have a say in your cover. This may seem harsh, however, if we allowed every author to dictate how their cover looked our cover artist would be making the same cover over and over and all productivity would be lost. So keep in mind we don't say that to be mean, simply to keep things flowing smoothly.

2. Editing

   After the cover is finished and has been posted to our site, an editor will be assigned. Now, just because an editor is assigned does not mean they begin working on your book immediately. Our editors are very busy people and there is a waiting list. Our authors usually receive their books back from the editor's first cursory glance about 3-4 weeks prior to their release.

    

   If the author makes any changes at that time, it needs to be notated precisely and the author will need to notify the editor. Depending on the changes made, it could alter your release date. We advise against making changes once the book begins the editing process, unless the changes are requested by the editor. If you have a fabulous idea you want to incorporate into your story, please ask to do so before the editing actually begins. It will save both you and your editor time.

3. Proofing Your Book

   Once you have determined that you are not making any changes and the editor has done their job, the book will be emailed back to you for another read through. As our editors are human, they do miss something from time to time. If you see anything, simply notate it and let us know. If you see numerous mistakes, please let us know as they have sent you the wrong file by mistake. We're human so mistakes happen from time to time.

4. Book Reviews

   Ah... it's been edited and proof-read. Now comes the fun part. Okay, it's more like the nail biting part. Now your book is ready for review. We submit to a large list of review sites. Typically a title is submitted to 5 or 6 places. If we do not see results from the first batch, a few more sites will be contacted. We never give up!

    

   If you'd like to submit your title for review, you certainly may. Just be sure to let us know where you are sending it (preferably ahead of time in case we've already sent a copy to that site).

5. Sales

   All Romance Ebooks allows an item to be posted for Pre-Sale. We usually do this about 2-3 weeks prior to the release date. The other sites we use, including our own, will not have the title listed/submitted until 24 hours prior to the release date. Once your title is submitted to Amazon Kindle, it takes up to 72 hours for the title to show.  There is also a lag with the iBookstore and Books on Board.

6. Is there a set timeline for all of these things?

   No. There are many factors in the above mentioned items. If you press us for a deadline for each of the above items, we'll do our best to give you one. However, things in life happen that we cannot control. So regardless of how much we'd love to say "A" will be done by this date and "B" will be done by this date, it doesn't always happen that way. For one thing, the editor may start working on your book and may find more things than we initially noticed when we accepted the manuscript. That alone takes up a lot of time. So please be patient and we'll get your book back to you just as quickly as we can.

7. What do I do while all of this is going on?

   What do you, as an author, do during this lengthy process? Simple. You promote yourself, your website, and your book.

    

   If you do not yet have a website, there are several free websites out there with easy to use templates (wix, wetpaint, weebly, homestead - just to name a few). It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just tell the readers who you are, what book(s) you have available or coming soon, and if you'd like you can add a guestbook. Check out the "Our Authors" tab to get a feel for what others have done.

    

   Not sure how to promote yourself or your book? We have a "Promo Ideas" section on our site. We aren't saying you have to use those sites or ideas, but it might help you figure out a game plan.

    

   Blogging seems to be one of the more popular options, and it's completely free! Not only can you set up your own, but there are plenty of authors and review sites out there who would love to have you send them something about your book(s).

    

   If you'd like to give out free copies of your book (you are allowed up to 3 per month, but we prefer you give out no more than 9 per year), you may do so. If you are blogging or hosting/attending events prior to your books release date, simply tell them a free copy will be available to them when the book is released. Take note of their name and email and you can send it to them when the time comes.