My guest today is Nicole Langan, owner of Tribute Books. She’s here to share some exciting news about upcoming changes at the publishing company.
Lillie: Welcome to A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye, Nicole. Please tell us what is changing at Tribute Books at the beginning of the year.
Nicole: Thank you for inviting me, Lillie. It is great to be here. Exciting things are happening at Tribute Books. Beginning in 2012, we will transition into an ebook publisher of young adult titles.
Lillie: How did you decide to publish only young adult titles specifically in electronic formats?
Nicole: Our main reason is the explosion in popularity of e-readers such as the Kindle, Nook and iPad. Over the course of 2011, we’ve watched our ebook sales outpace our print sales by 2 to 1. The under $5 price point of most of our titles and the ease of purchase and delivery are surely contributing factors.
On a business level, the young adult genre sells especially if it is well written and has a paranormal romance theme. On a marketing level, the devotion of the young adult fan base is unparalleled. On a personal level, I thoroughly enjoy a good young adult novel and review many on my blog at http://tributebooksreviews.blogspot.com.
Lillie: What electronic formats will you offer, and where will the ebooks be sold?
Nicole: In terms of formats, we’re looking at .epub, .mobi, .pdf and .doc. The ebooks will be available through Kindle, Nook, iPad, Smashwords and as PDF downloads through Tribute-Books.com. They will retail between $2.99 and $4.95.
Lillie: Please tell my readers what you are seeking and where they can find guidelines to submit to Tribute Books?
Nicole: Manuscripts that have already been professionally edited will receive greater consideration. Our preference is to work with previously published authors who know the ins and outs of book promotion. An established social media platform is a must, and we will not consider writers who do not have a well-followed blog, Facebook page, or Twitter account.
Our preference is for darn good writing, the particular topic is secondary in importance. However, books written with a series in mind or those that delve into the paranormal will have a slight edge.
We’re looking for submissions that are not explicit or erotic in nature. In keeping with the young adult age range, we’re looking to keep things PG-13.
Interested authors can submit their manuscripts via email to info@tribute-books.com. There will be no charge for the authors we select to work with, and they will receive 50% of the net profits of their ebook sales in quarterly royalty payments. We’re looking for Microsoft Word documents with a maximum of 350 pages of text with no photos, charts, illustrations, graphs, etc.
The complete list of guidelines can be found at: http://www.tribute-books.com/publish.html.
Lillie: Is there anything I’ve failed to ask that you would like to share with my readers?
Nicole: My hope is that we are able to recruit some talented writers of well-written, well-crafted stories in order to develop an eager fan base for the titles we publish. We want readers to be excited about the ebooks we produce. Young adult authors have the most devoted fan followings out there, and we’d like to introduce that audience to a whole new host of talent.
We try to keep an active online presence with our web site, Facebook, Twitter, and blog. We’d love to have anyone who loves young adult literature to join us for the ride.
Lillie: Thank you so much for stopping by and letting my readers know about Tribute Books’ change to become an ebook publisher of young adult titles. They will probably have more questions for you. Will you check in during the day to respond to comments and answer questions?
Nicole: Absolutely! I’m looking forward to it.
Lillie: If you have questions for Nicole, leave a comment below.
Nicole Langan has spent roughly the last 12 years in the publishing world. She was awarded a B.A. summa cum laude in English and Communications from Marywood University. From 1999-2004, she went from being an intern to an editorial assistant to an associate editor of a regional Pennsylvania magazine. In 2004, she started Tribute Books. Since that time, she’s worked with dozens of authors, illustrators, photographers, and editors in publishing over 30 books. Some of these books have gone on to win awards such as the Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year and the Mom’s Choice Award, while others were endorsed by PBS and The Thoreau Society. In 2012, she’ll embark on a new transition becoming solely an e-publisher of young adult titles and continue to coordinate blog tours for outside publishers and authors via Tribute Books Blog Tours.