CS4W:Welcome, Rhonda, and thank you for joining us! Please tell us a little bit about yourself and The Wild Rose Press.
The Wild Rose Press is a publisher of romance stories; short stories and full length novels. We publish electronically for everything up to 65,000 words and after that we publish in print and electronic. We’ve been in business since May 2006 and we have a reputation in the business for being a kinder and gentler publisher. We pride ourselves on caring about our authors, our products and keeping open communication flowing from the query stage right through to publication.
CS4W: Are you accepting submissions? If yes, what is the preferred method of submission?
We are always open to submissions. Our preferred method is via email. You can find the exact guidelines on our web site but basically we require a query letter and a synopsis of any length you’d like to send in the email (no attachments) to queryus@thewildrosepress.com. Always indicate which line you are querying and how long the manuscript is.
CS4W: How far into reading a submission do you know whether or not you’ll accept or reject it? Have you ever read a submission that needed work, but were willing to take a second look at it if the author made revisions?
To be very honest, what you’ve always heard from editors is true; if you don’t grab us within the first few pages to a chapter you won’t grab us. We do read a full three chapters which is what we normally request before we make a decision. The reality is if you can’t catch our attention then how can you expect to catch a reader’s? But yes, there have been times when something speaks to us in the story and even though the beginning needs work we might take a chance. I contracted a story last summer that was like this. I had met with the author at a conference and I really liked her. But the beginning 1/3 of her book left me bored; however, after that it picked up steam and really became quite good. I contracted it but I made her rewrite the first 4 or 5 chapters.
CS4W: When you receive a query/submission that piques your interest, what is the process you go through before making a final decision? What is the average time between acceptance and publication?
Generally we request the first three chapters. If that keeps our attention, we request the full manuscript. As for average time, it all depends on the editor and the line you are targeting. Obviously some of our lines are busier than others and it might take a while before we can answer each query, on a slower line, the editors might jump on it right away. As a rule of thumb, our editors are supposed to respond to each query within 30 days; to each partial within 60 and to a full manuscript within 90 but obviously there are a variety of factors involved around these timelines.
CS4W: The Wild Rose Press publishes both e-books and print. Are all manuscripts you purchase printed in both formats?
Our current policy is that anything over 65,000 words goes to print. Our print books release at the same time as our electronic books and we don’t base it on anything other than word count.
CS4W: In your opinion, how is the current economic climate affecting the publishing industry?
Someone said that when the economy is going bad the one area that actually does well are book sales. The reason for this is that reading is still a cheap form of entertainment. With electronic publishing becoming more and more well known and electronic books being even cheaper than print; this holds even more true. For $6.00 from The Wild Rose Press you can purchase a full length novel and have it instantly on your computer to download to an eReader or read it on the computer.
CS4W: What market trends do you feel are on the rise? Which ones are on their way out?
We never pay too much attention to market trends. When everyone was reading and writing vampires, our Black Rose line was very slow so it doesn’t seem as if our readers or writers follow the normal trends. We like to say that everything is in style at The Wild Rose Press. A writer should never write towards what is currently the next best thing; they should write the book they feel is the best they can write. That will shine through in their writing and the reader will appreciate it.
CS4W: What is a typical day like for you as Editor-in-Chief? What would you say is your favorite part of your job?
A typical day. Well no day is typical that’s for sure. But on average my day starts at 5:00 a.m. eastern. Along with my coffee cup which is as necessary to me as oxygen, I start my day by opening the queryus@thewildrosepress.com email box and sorting through what’s come in since the night before. I pass out the queries to the Senior Editors and I send a received email to the author to let her know it’s here and when she can expect a response from the Senior Editor.
My next order of business is to dive into my emails. I glance briefly at all of them, answer any that can be answered in five minutes or less and flag the others in order of urgency. One of my key roles in the garden as we call it is to sort out issues whether it be between an editor and an author or an author and her book or any other issue. Along with my office coordinator, Martha and Lisa Dawn who is the author liaison, we work out all issues in as quick a time frame as possible. Depending on the day of the week I usually have a conference call meeting with Lisa to discuss Marketing or with another Senior Editor to talk about their lines and any concerns. Every single morning, Monday through Friday my partner, RJ and I get on the phone together at 7:30 (she’s located in NC and I’m in NY) and we have a phone meeting for about an hour discussing the company, new ideas, old problems, concerns, frustrations and anything else that has come up. RJ handles everything after it is into produc tion and I handle anything until it goes to production so we compare notes to see where we are with various projects.
The rest of my day is dictated by my inbox. I’m also in charge of personnel which means I handle any internal issues with people who work here; I interview new people, etc. I also do some of the accounting and that includes inputting daily transactions and at the end of each quarter paying out to the authors and editors, etc. So my day shifts and turns depending on what tasks I have to get done and what projects I’ve become involved with. Generally I try to stop working around dinner time and then I occasionally jump back online later in the evening especially if it is a chat night. I’m an early bird though, it’s rare you’ll see me online late at night.
CS4W: How closely do you work with your authors? What type of promotion does The Wild Rose Press offer?
I like to think I’m very close to my authors or at least they know they can pop me an email any day of the week and I generally answer within hours if not minutes. I’m accessible and available to them at all times for any reason. I attend our Tuesday night chat at 9:00 p.m. eastern and answer any questions they want to throw at me or just chit chat and kick brainstorming ideas around.
As for promotion we do as much as we possibly can to promote the company and our authors. We send their books and short stories to 19 individual review sites for them. We put together co-op ads, we have contests where the authors pool their resources and come up with a prize to draw readers to buy their books. We spotlight one line each month (for example January is Champagne Rose month) and we celebrate the authors and that line of books all month long with chats and loop discussions and sometimes door prizes and games. We are constantly working with our authors on ways for them to promote inexpensively; we host a chat every quarter on marketing. We have a very large author guidebook that shares tips with how to market yourself and your book. I’d say we do quite a bit to promote our authors.
CS4W: What advice would you like to share with our readers if they want to submit to The Wild Rose Press that could increase their odds of getting a request for a full manuscript and hopefully an acceptance letter?
The very best advice I can give is to remember this is a professional business. You need to proofread your work; don’t send something in without making sure it’s the best you can possibly make it. The competition is fierce out there and if two manuscripts come in at the exact same time and the stories catch the editors eye exactly the same; you can guarantee the manuscript that is in good shape, meaning no typos, professionally written, free of glaring mistakes – that manuscript is going to have the edge over one that is sloppy looking. Writers sometimes seem to feel that because a publishing house is small or it’s an electronic publishing house that the same quality control measures aren’t in place. The opposite is true; we have to watch our Quality even more than the big guys because we can’t afford to have sloppy work slip through. We want our authors to be professional. Present yourself as if you take this seriously and we will grant you the same respect. On that same note, this is a true team; without authors we don’t have a publishing house; without a publishing house authors don’t have a book. We need to treat one another the way we want to be treated.
Of course writing a good story is always a good idea too!
.JPG)
Rhonda Penders is co-founder of The Wild Rose Press, a publishing company that publishes in both electronic and print. The company has been open since May 2006 and has quickly grown from a two person organization to close to 80 staff members. Penders has been involved with RWA and their conferences and chapter contests for well over ten years. It was her love of judging contests, and helping writers that led her to open her own publishing house with her long time friend, RJ Morris.
TWRP prides itself on never issuing form rejection letters and on being a kinder and gentler publishing house. Their web site, which is referred to as “the garden” is truly a community garden where everyone feels as if they have a part in its growth. Writers, authors, readers and editors come together in weekly chats, on loops, on blogs, and on email to discuss ideas, thoughts, concerns and plans for growing the company. The editors and the owners are completely accessible to their writers.
Penders enjoys reading romance of any kind but her first love would be stories set around ranches. “Put a cowboy on the cover and you’ve got me,” she confesses. Penders lives in Upstate NY with her husband of 23 years and her three sons, ages 12 – 20. The Wild Rose Press has fourteen individual subgenres of romance and is accepting submissions in all of them. For more information and their current guidelines you can visit their web site at www.thewildrosepress.com
