MontagPress
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- Joined
- Oct 18, 2013
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Montag Press is a pretty amazing publishing collective based in Oakland CA. Up until now we've only solicited editorial and design members locally and primarily from the hearing community, however we've decided to open up the membership to deaf and hoh members who would like to participating in helping authors bring their titles to the world and need to work remotely.
Currently Montag Press has three imprints, Montag Press for speculative, subversive, and experimental fiction, Schnabel Press for alternate history fiction, and Bad Egg for YA fiction. Mostly however we've been focusing on our Montag Press submissions and the resulting titles.
What we do is solicit completed manuscripts from English language writers worldwide that fit our genre specifications. Most of those that submit to us are debut writers who are looking to get their first titles out in print.
Then our editors select which titles from our submission piles that they would like to review. Once they find a title that they want, they ask the author if they would like to share future revenues with them, and so for a stake in the title we offer the author a small advance and the editors work with them to take their stories that are likely closer to 6/10 and we turn them into shinning 9/10 stories. This usually takes a couple of months of back and forth between the editors and the authors.
Once the editor and the author are satisfied, the story is checked by other collective members, and then it goes into design and cover illustration.
Designers do the layout and they incorporate the cover illustrations into a full cover. Most designers don't do the cover illustrations, authors work directly with illustrators to do that. During the design process, designers can chose to be paid a small honorarium, or they can take a percent in the title, just like the way the editors do, only a smaller percentage. The designers also create the ebooks in epub and mobi format.
We use google docs and drop box to share files through the process.
Then after we've finished with the title, and we have the completed books, we send them off into the world and cross our fingers that some of them become successful. We try a variety of marketing techniques, guerrilla, viral, etc to get readers to find, love and share our titles.
So far, our success has been limited. We have some amazing titles. Absolutely amazing titles, but we've struggled to connect with readers. However, our ambitions are huge, and we've got an amazing business model that we are working on to reach those goals.
About the details. No member spends any money. All the money (advances, ISBN, distribution fees, etc.) for the titles comes from Montag Press. Members decide which titles to select, they are never forced to read, review or select a title that they don't want to. In fact, it's important that editors love the titles that they select because they'll likely devote a couple months to working on it, and they need to believe that their selections will result in future earnings, because the better the book sells, the more money editors make.
Regardless, we are looking for passionate, and experienced editors and designers to help us help these amazing authors get their stories out. In fact we are almost buried in submissions from interested and talented authors from around the world. We need your help.
If you would be interested in becoming either an editor or an InDesign/Layout designer for Montag Press, visit our website at montagpress.com to see what we've been doing, and send us a CV or resume, a link to your layout design work, an example of your writing or anything else that you think is relevant.
You can write us directly at montag.press <at> gmail.com
One last thing. As a member of Montag Press, you can naturally use us as a professional reference, and on your professional resume to help you advance your writing/editing/designing skills beyond us. In fact several of our members have gone on to amazing jobs because they were able to show potential employers the work that they've done at Montag Press.
So, please consider joining us, we look forward to hearing from you.
Currently Montag Press has three imprints, Montag Press for speculative, subversive, and experimental fiction, Schnabel Press for alternate history fiction, and Bad Egg for YA fiction. Mostly however we've been focusing on our Montag Press submissions and the resulting titles.
What we do is solicit completed manuscripts from English language writers worldwide that fit our genre specifications. Most of those that submit to us are debut writers who are looking to get their first titles out in print.
Then our editors select which titles from our submission piles that they would like to review. Once they find a title that they want, they ask the author if they would like to share future revenues with them, and so for a stake in the title we offer the author a small advance and the editors work with them to take their stories that are likely closer to 6/10 and we turn them into shinning 9/10 stories. This usually takes a couple of months of back and forth between the editors and the authors.
Once the editor and the author are satisfied, the story is checked by other collective members, and then it goes into design and cover illustration.
Designers do the layout and they incorporate the cover illustrations into a full cover. Most designers don't do the cover illustrations, authors work directly with illustrators to do that. During the design process, designers can chose to be paid a small honorarium, or they can take a percent in the title, just like the way the editors do, only a smaller percentage. The designers also create the ebooks in epub and mobi format.
We use google docs and drop box to share files through the process.
Then after we've finished with the title, and we have the completed books, we send them off into the world and cross our fingers that some of them become successful. We try a variety of marketing techniques, guerrilla, viral, etc to get readers to find, love and share our titles.
So far, our success has been limited. We have some amazing titles. Absolutely amazing titles, but we've struggled to connect with readers. However, our ambitions are huge, and we've got an amazing business model that we are working on to reach those goals.
About the details. No member spends any money. All the money (advances, ISBN, distribution fees, etc.) for the titles comes from Montag Press. Members decide which titles to select, they are never forced to read, review or select a title that they don't want to. In fact, it's important that editors love the titles that they select because they'll likely devote a couple months to working on it, and they need to believe that their selections will result in future earnings, because the better the book sells, the more money editors make.
Regardless, we are looking for passionate, and experienced editors and designers to help us help these amazing authors get their stories out. In fact we are almost buried in submissions from interested and talented authors from around the world. We need your help.
If you would be interested in becoming either an editor or an InDesign/Layout designer for Montag Press, visit our website at montagpress.com to see what we've been doing, and send us a CV or resume, a link to your layout design work, an example of your writing or anything else that you think is relevant.
You can write us directly at montag.press <at> gmail.com
One last thing. As a member of Montag Press, you can naturally use us as a professional reference, and on your professional resume to help you advance your writing/editing/designing skills beyond us. In fact several of our members have gone on to amazing jobs because they were able to show potential employers the work that they've done at Montag Press.
So, please consider joining us, we look forward to hearing from you.