Prodding the Pub: Liquid Silver Books

So, I decided to poke and prod at my publishers to hopefully give some insight into what works, what doesn’t and your publisher’s favorite chocolate should bribes become an option. Okay, bribing is entirely optional, but…

My first publisher is Tina Burns from Liquid Silver Books.  Here’s a look at my questions and her answers as I poke her with a stick.

Tell readers and authors a bit about Liquid Silver Books’ history.

Atlantic Bridge Publishing was founded in early ‘99 by Raven and Mike as an Internet Marketing company, Linda went the pub route soon after with ABP which pubbed its first book in Jan 2000, while Mike stayed in marketing until LSB got busy.

In 2002, they branched off AB and founded Liquid Silver Books, the erotic romance imprint of AB. LSB pubbed its first book Jan 2003. Until mid 2004, LSB pubbed one book a week when we moved to two a week since–450 books published so far. We’ve enjoyed steady stable progress mainly due to excellent staff who have been with us since they joined, guided by Raven and Mike’s decades of corporate and small business experience.

LSB is all about quality and long-term viability for everyone involved readers, authors and staff. From start-up to the consolidation business phases, LSB has been successful and is now embarking on an expansion phase over the next few years.

In your opinion, what does a perfect cover/query letter contain?

The perfect cover letter for me should be in the body of their submission email, not as an attachment, that way I’ve got a quick reference guide on them and their book.   I like to see a little writing bio on the author, if they’ve pubbed before, in what market, if they’ve won awards, etc.  I keep that information in the back of my head when I’m reading submissions.  It would also include what I like to call a snapshot synopsis, which is a smidge more than a blurb.

What is the ideal manuscript length to page count ratio for a synopsis? (1 page per 10k?)

Okay, here’s a Tina secret. I very rarely utilize the synopsis. *gasp* I know. Now, don’t go thinking you don’t have to send one in, because they do come in handy when I’m on the fence after reading a partial.  I’ve not really run into an instance where I noticed there needed to be a specific ratio, but a page per 10k sounds reasonable, or a page per chapter which ever is longer.

Will a poorly written synopsis keep you from reading or even considering the partial or do you give authors a chance?

Actually I read the submission first because of that reason. I started out reading the synopsis and found more often than not, if I didn’t like the book from the synopsis, once I got into the actual submission it was compelling and well written. So yes, if your synopsis is poorly written, choppy, unfocused, I’m going to assume your writing is too. That’s not always the case, which is why I’ve switched to reading the synopsis last.  As I said above, if after three chapters I’m not sold on your book 100%, that synopsis which tells me about the rest of the story might just get you an email from me requesting to see the full.

What makes a good story for Liquid Silver Books?  (Engaging, arousing, action packed, etc.)

All of the above.  The easiest way to know that you’re book will work for LSB is to ask yourself this:  If I took the sex scenes out of the book, would it still be a great book?  If the answer’s yes, then send it on in!  If the answer’s no, and your plot won’t hold up a feather, then go back to the drawing board.

Name some “wow” manuscripts from the publisher’s catalog that you’ve contracted.  (Works that had you hitting refresh as you waited for the full to come through from the author.)

Oh, now you’re putting me on the spot! *Disclaimer* The following statements in no way constitute favoritism. *Disclaimer* Will that hold up in court?

My one and only “find” is Annie Dean. I came across her blog, clicked to her website and read some of the excerpts she had for books yet to be published and immediately emailed her asking her to send one to me. She did and we published Her Alibi a few months later.  She’s busy now w/ print contracts under her other pen name and with much success, but I’m hoping when she gets time she send me another bone. J

Pretty much anything by Mima I devour, her Within series is very unique, emotional, and HOT. A newer author Roscoe James is an excellent writer. I helped him tweek the emotional aspect of his stories a little to appeal more to our mostly female readership, but I think readers will be pleasantly surprised at the depth you’ll see in Roscoe’s writing. He paints a very good picture in your head.  I really enjoyed the Dragon’s Disciple Series by Barbara Sheridan and Anne Cain, they push the boundaries in a lot of ways, yet the story is told with color, finesse, and mega man heat. The most recent “WOW” is the upcoming Echo of Distant Thunder by Philippa Grey-Gerou and Emmery Sanborne. I finished the submission in one sit down and then emailed them saying, “Please tell me you have a lot more books to this series and can I have them all please?”

What is your acceptance ratio?

See, now you’re getting into math and that’s so-o-o not my forte. Hmm, here’s a guess, this is by no means a scientifically formulated number. Out of the full submissions we request, I’d say 95% we make an offer on. Current LSB authors automatically send full manuscripts, and of those about 98% with those 2% coming back to us after revisions.  The percentage drops when you look at the initial first time partial submission to requested full, probably around 40%.

Head hopping?  How often is too often to move from one character to the other?  Assuming, of course, that proper publisher guidelines are followed when showing the change between POVs.

This is one topic I’m a stickler on, nothing pulls me out of a story more than head hopping and tons of back story, though that’s for another day. Very few people can do Head Hopping seamlessly. Nora Roberts does it perfectly.  I can think of only one book I’ve contracted that the movement between point of view was smooth enough and worked for the book, that I let it go.  I like to see at minimum one scene from per POV.  Here’s where it gets tricky. If you need to show both POVs in a “scene”, start in one and finish in the other. That way you’re not jumping back and forth.

What is the publisher searching for in particular at this time?  (Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Contemp, Historical, etc.)

We’re always open to any genre. Always. There are reader trends but we don’t close and open submissions based on that.  I really like unique stories, something that’s not very prevalent already in the ER industry. Steampunk anyone?

Typical publisher response time?  (At the time of this interview)

Right now we’re kicking, we’ve increased our staff and that’s helped a lot in our response time, so we’re turning full submissions around in 3 to 4 weeks now. Unlike other publishers, our editors don’t do any acquiring. That’s completely handled by the staff, so we’ve got 4 readers right now and will soon have a 5^th.

Is an auto-responder in use at the publisher or are individual acknowledgements of receipt sent for each submission?

Nope, all emails are personally written by me or one of the other staff. With my transition to Publisher, we’ve hired a new Acquisitions Director, Tracey West who starts in August, so she’ll probably be handling most of the responses starting then.  Personalized attention is something we pride ourselves on at LSB and I have a virtual “open office” policy myself.

If a response is not received within the stated response time, how long should the author wait before sending an inquiry?

If an author hasn’t received an initial email from us after a week, they can ping to make sure we’ve received the submission. I always reply with our current turn-around time, so if you haven’t heard a yes or no after that time, then ping us again.

Describe the publisher’s print program (if any).

Liquid Silver Books is an eBook publisher and that will always be our focus. In the past we’ve done print on demand for those authors with long enough books attending conferences, but last year we started printing top sellers through Lightening Source, still print on demand.  We’ve seen too many e-publishers go under from the weight of the financial burden print runs put on a publisher. We want to do our best and fulfill our author’s dreams of a book in print, at the same time, we have an obligation to them to stay in business and continue to provide them their sales revenue.  We’ve taken the role of the Turtle in this race, and as the eBook world expands into more readers that translates to more sales…more books…more authors…more opportunities, one step at a time.

So, that’s it.  I hope I asked questions that aspiring authors and veterans alike would like to know the answers to prior to submitting.  I’m hoping to poke a few other publishers and post their responses as well.

To view the Liquid Silver Books submissions guidelines, pop over HERE.

Celia