Anyone Know anything about Capstone Fiction?

[Zanzibar]

I can't find them on P&E - they are not listed.

They are POD - but distribute their books through Ingram which is recommended by P&E.

They have offered to publish my book, I'm pretty excited, but don't want to jump in with both feet only to find I've landed in lava! LOL

Their website is here: www.capstonefiction.com

What do you guys think?

[Zanzibar]

Incidentally, even though they are POD, they do not charge anything up front.

But the few books of theirs that I have just checked out on Ingrams 'stock' information hotline have only sold a couple hundred copies, if that.

I sent my manuscript to them on a whim, and didn't really realize at the time that they were POD - someone I trust had recommended them to me.

Anyhow, wondering what you guys think after looking at their site?

[Tommie Lyn]

Zanzibar, have you read the FAQ page and visited their forum? You might have some of your questions answered there.

What I picked up on was that Capstone is a publisher which uses POD technology to fill orders (I'm assuming they probably have a company like Lightning Source do the actual printing, and since Ingram is their distributor, it seems Lightning Source could be their printer), so they don't have large print runs and they can fill orders quickly.

They don't offer advances but they say they pay double the going rate for royalties. They don't charge any fees and they cover all the costs of publication, so they are not a vanity publisher.

They list their authors, so it might be a wise move to contact some of them to see if you can get feedback, find out what their experience with Capstone has been.

[Zanzibar]

Yes, I thought of contacting some of the authors.

I've called the Ingram 'stock' hotline. (Not sure that is the correct name - you call, you type in the ISBN # and they tell you the number of copies that have sold this week, last week, this year, & last year.)

I checked several titles and the highest amount of copies that I saw was 175. But they are also a very new company, so maybe sales will grow.

I want to say no... and I want to say yes... I'm still checking them out though.

They are not exactly like the traditional PODs in that they are proactive about editing etc. The email I got said they would have the associate editors check the manuscript over for grammer/spelling etc. Then they send me a proof and I look it over and send it back with any changes.

They pay 25% royalties on the net. Not sure if this is good or bad for a POD?

What I really want to know is if I will still be allowed to shop my manuscript around to traditional houses. And will a traditional house want to pick me up once they know I've been published by a POD. (Even though I would consider this a 'good' POD publisher.)

I actually didn't realize they were POD until they contacted me today. I queried them on a whim at the recommendation of someone I know. They had told me they had a friend that was getting published through them.

[DraperJC]

You will essentially be self publishing the book. As with all POD publishers, distribution and promotion will be non existent. It will all be up to you. My advice after seeing a few of these types of things is to ask what the cover price will be. Some houses set their cover prices at 24.95 for a trade paperback. For me, I have a tough time paying more than 12.95. I think much more than that will turn off potential buyers.