Our approach to publishing is editorially rigorous, collaborative, and participatory and will appeal to writers who have published enough to be confident of the literary quality of their work and are looking for a way to publish within an artistic community with a clear social vision of Finding the 'We' in 'Them', the 'Us' in 'You' and who share our commitment to paying it forward to other writers as we are supported and encouraged in our own artistic development.
OVERVIEW
IN A NUTSHELL
WHAT YOU HELP CREATE WHEN PUBLISHING WITHIN THE COLLECTIVE
A thoughtful, beautiful book of your own, professionally edited and produced, that shows your work at its best
A distinctive list of other books of the same quality
A supportive artistic community that helps each individual find her or his distinctive voice
A highly skilled and discerning publishing community
A shared social vision - Finding the We in Them, the Us in You - that understands writing as part of a continuous personal and social process of wising up
PROCESS
Considerate review process that is both rigorous and timely No reading fee Exclusive consideration Within one month learn if book is under serious consideration Within three months receive final decision based on -reading by several readers, Collective and Press -phone interview -evaluative criteria -power of the story -quality of the writing -fit of subject with mission of the press -positive impact on author's writing life of collaborative structure
5-year renewable contract with Wising Up Press, English-language rights only
Wising Up Press and Collective oversee preparation of manuscript for publication from editing through distribution and promotion
Publishing members donate back to Collective Pay-it-forward $500 contribution to Collective Publication Fund (Some scholarships available for economic need if all other criteria met) Three years active participation on Collective Editorial Board
Author receives: 20 complimentary copies Additional author purchases at 50% list 50% net royalties all other sales
PRESS/COLLECTIVE Once accepted for publication through the Wising Up Press Writers Collective, a publication timeline will be established by the individual writer and Wising Up Press. The Publishers and Collective members with editorial experience work carefully with authors to make manuscripts as strong as they can be artistically in the first six months of the contract. Wising Up Press and Collective members will provide editorial advice and developmental editing once the book is under contract. Wising Up Press will provide a final copy edit, design and set the book, and submit the proofs as PDF files to the author for an initial proofing before it goes to the printer. Wising Up Press will design the cover in consultation with the author, assuring aesthetic continuity with other Wising Up Press and Writers Collective publications. Wising Up Press will receive and proof the printer's proofs.
AUTHOR Writers are responsible for putting their books into the proper format and submitting them electronically to Wising Up Press, gathering all permissions needed and covering their costs, as well as the costs of any extensive supplementary editorial services and legal advice they may need to bring their books to publication-ready status.
RECIPROCAL RESPONSIBILITIES COSTS
PRESS/COLLECTIVE The Press/Collective assume the cost of publishing the author's book. Costs for publication for any book include the costs of editing (developmental, line, and copy editing and proofreading), book setting, cover design and creation, proofs, forty copies of the book and distribution services offered by our printer, an Ingrams affiliate, which means posting in electronic catalogues world-wide and sale through all the major internet booksellers as well as through the press website.
Of the forty books produced, twenty are the author's to distribute or sell at any price. The press will keep twenty copies to submit to the Library of Congress, Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, to distribute to Collective members, and for display purposes. From that point on, books are printed on demand. All Collective members, as members of the Editorial Advisory Board, receive copies of each Collective book and Wising Up Anthology to use as a Wising Up Lending Library.
AUTHOR Collective Contribution: Paying It Forward Authors donate at the time of signing of the contract a standard non-refundable contribution of $500 to the general Writers Collective Publication Fund to assist in the future publication of individual works by other authors through the Collective. With this uniform contribution, all publishing members of the Writers Collective have an equal, vested interest in the success of the Collective. This contribution ensures that authors publishing through the Collective extend the benefits they are receiving to other authors whose work they help to select. Other Collective writers and the publishers have contributed to this fund, whose purpose is to keep paying it forward. The Publishers and Collective members also contribute from three to four times this amount in editorial and publishing skills and services for each book and the Press reinvests its profits from Collective books back into the Collective.
Editorial Advisory Board: Ensuring Quality, Building Community, and Developing Skills The author agrees to serve on the Writers Collective Editorial Advisory Board for three years, advising on other manuscripts being considered for publication and, when appropriate, engaging in various forms of editing with other Collective authors and in shared promotion and press development projects, such as readings and retreats. As a Collective member, authors are expected to assume a collective stance toward book promotion, to be an effective spokesperson for all Collective and Press publications as well as their own book. Collective Board Expectations
MUTUAL BENEFITS
Royalties
Authors will receive 50% of the net profits on sales of their books from wholesalers or sales from the Universal Table/Wising Up website. Authors can also purchase as many books as they want at a 50% discount off list price, the discount in lieu of royalties on these books. They are free to sell these books at any price they wish. Serendipity Clause
Since authors assign only world-wide English-language rights to Wising Up Press and only for a limited time, a serendipity clause stipulates that if during the period of the contract the author sells highly remunerated rights, such as movie rights, they will donate $1,000.00 from this sale back to the Collective Publishing Fund to be used in their name to help other deserving writers of more limited means publish through the Collective.
