Furthermore, the publishing house is a trade publisher and not a vanity outfit. P&E’s criteria does not penalize agents for owning a portion of an honest trade publisher. We see a conflict only when a vanity house is involved, though there remains a possibility of a conflict of interest in other situations.

While P&E will continue to monitor this event, I antifipate that P&E’s criteria will evolve based on how this develops and what other facts emerge. Regardless of how it settles out, P&E’s criteria will change appropriately to reflect the best advice it can offer to writers.

Dave Kuzminski, Editor
Preditors & Editors ™

So…Ravenous has huge pots of money to throw around, but not enough to hire full-time professional editors.

If I’m reading their ad correctly, they want long-term contracts with these freelance editors, which amounts to full-time…but since they’ll be contract workers, RR won’t be responsible for things like unemployment taxes and benefits. The freelance contract editors would be responsible for filing and paying their own taxes (including self-employment taxes – blech), based on a 1099 they’ll receive from RR at the end of their fiscal year.

Lots of big (and small) companies do this, and there are positive and negative aspects for doing so. Saves the company money – unemployment taxes can be huge, and I’m not sure if it’s a Federal law or not, but I know in NC, if you offer one full-time employee company-paid benefits, you have to offer the same benefits to all your full-time employees. But on the downside, you don’t have as much control or leverage (only what’s provided in the contract), and it doesn’t build a sense of company loyalty quite the same way hiring them on as an actual employee might.

Most companies use contract workers for short-term assignments (relatively speaking), or as a stepping stone toward full-time employment. In other words, in this case, RR could use contracted freelance editors for six months or a year, weed out the poor potential employees, “train” the good ones on how things are done at RR – and save money (unemployment taxes, etc.) during the process. Then, once an editor or group of editors are “up to speed,” they can hire them on as full-time employees. This is a very common business practice. Just sayin’. :-)

http://www.erecsite.com/2008/08/from-craigslist.html:

Quoted from Craiglist, found via Jan Darby at the Absolute Write forums

Ravenous Romance needs freelance copyeditors for erotic romance novels (50K words) and short stories (2500-7500 words). Quick turnaround. Interested in long-term contracts for high volume of work.

Compensation: $200 per novel, $25 per short story

#

Ravenous Romance needs interns to read and evaluate erotic romance novel and short story submissions and copyedit manuscripts. Must have some copyediting training and/or experience, an affinity for erotica or romance books, and great communication skills. We offer a fun work environment and great experience for your resume!

Compensation: no pay

So…Ravenous has huge pots of money to throw around, but not enough to hire full-time professional editors.

http://www.erecsite.com/2008/08/ravenous-correspondence-veinglory.html

Ms. Miller was kind enough to explain a few things further, and to correct several erroneous statements made here (like that Hollan was responsible for the Cosmo Kama Sutra; they were not).

BTW, Publishingguru, it’s not entirely true that none of the major houses name their editors on their sites. True, they don’t have a section for guidelines and which editor to submit to, but the names of the editors are certainly available–for example, Penguin has a blog where editors often post. Random House has imprint newsletters where editors write short articles or answer questions, or even simply announce new acquisitions under their own names. It may take a little more hunting, but the info is there.

Angie

10 Facts About Ravenous Romanceâ„¢

1. Hollan Publishing and Ravenous Romanceâ„¢ are two different companies majority-owned by the same people.
2. Hollan's non-fiction print packaging business and Ravenous Romanceâ„¢ are run as two completely separate businesses.
3. Lori Perkins is a paid editor and minor shareholder in Ravenous Romanceâ„¢. She does not take a commission on any book sold to Ravenous Romanceâ„¢.
4. Ravenous Romanceâ„¢ pays an advance on all books contracted and their royalty rates are competitive.
5. Ravenous Romanceâ„¢ does accept non-agented submissions. You can email us at submissions@ravenousromance.com for submission guidelines.
6. E-books and downloadable audiobooks are tremendous growth areas in publishing, while the bricks-and-mortar print industry is shrinking. This is why the founders of Ravenous Romanceâ„¢ have launched this business.
7. You do not need to buy an e-reader to read Ravenous Romance'sâ„¢ books – if you're reading this, you already own the technology to read these books. They can also be downloaded to your iPod Touch, iPhone, or smartphone (Blackberry, Treo, etc.).
8. To illustrate the strength of the market: FictionWise.com, the largest online retailer of e-books of all genres, reports that 51% of their sales are erotica or romance titles.
9. Ravenous Romanceâ„¢ is committed to connecting exceptional writers with passionate readers.
10. Ravenous Romanceâ„¢ has been developed by seasoned professionals who are sensitive to the issues faced by their readers and writers. A sophisticated website and comprehensive marketing plan will be revealed in the coming months.

Thank you for your interest in Ravenous Romanceâ„¢. Your feedback is very valuable to me and my clients at Ravenous Romanceâ„¢. Lori Perkins has conducted her business over the past 20 years with the highest level of integrity, and will continue to do so. She is dedicated to and passionate about the erotica and romance genre, and is held in the highest regard within the publishing community.

Ravenous Romanceâ„¢ will be beta testing in November, and we'd like to invite dedicated readers to help us test. Please email us at michelle@ravenousromance.com to sign up.

For more information or with specific questions, please email me at dalyn@dalynmiller.com. We'd love to hear from you. Thank you.

Dalyn A. Miller
Dalyn Miller Public Relations
http://www.dalynmillerpr.com

Really? What major houses are these? Cause when I visit Harlequin to check out the submission guidelines they give me the name of the editor to address it to. I've seen the editors named at other houses even if they don't allow un-agented submissions.

Random House (and all their imprints), Simon & Schuster (and all their imprints), Viking, the list goes on and on. NONE of these houses list their editors’ names or writing guidelines on their sites, because they only take submissions through agents. THey only guideline you’ll find says something to the effect of “We only accept submissions through literary agents. Unsolicited submissions will be returned unread.”

FWIW, Ravenous’ parent company, Hollan Publishing, is a successful book packager with established ties to the several major houses for which it has successfully packaged and sold books.

Really? What major houses are these? Cause when I visit Harlequin to check out the submission guidelines they give me the name of the editor to address it to. I've seen the editors named at other houses even if they don't allow un-agented submissions.

Random House (and all their imprints), Simon & Schuster (and all their imprints), Viking, the list goes on and on. NONE of these houses list their editors’ names or writing guidelines on their sites, because they only take submissions through agents. THe only guideline you’ll find says something to the effect of “We only accept submissions through literary agents. Unsolicited submissions will be returned unread.”

FWIW, Ravenous’ parent company, Hollan Publishing, is a successful book packager with established ties to the several major houses for which it has successfully packaged and sold books.

I did not have an agent, but submitted a story through the editorial guidelines,

What editorial guidelines? Do they list guidelines somewhere?

I’m one of the authors signed to do some books for Ravenous, I did not have an agent, but submitted a story through the editorial guidelines, and ended up signing for several books with them. All of my books are definitely erotic romance in several genres (paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy) and while I may not make a ton of money here, I’ve been impressed with the editors. I have no previous e-publishing experience, but do have a mystery novel and several short stories out in print, not self-published. I figure publishing is pretty much a crapshoot no matter what and I can use the self-discipline with the writing schedule… So, like all of you, looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Ravenous!

They only accept agented submissions, and don't post editors' names on their site-’-just like the major houses.

Really? What major houses are these? Cause when I visit Harlequin to check out the submission guidelines they give me the name of the editor to address it to. I’ve seen the editors named at other houses even if they don’t allow un-agented submissions.