Another Writing Contest (Deep River Books) - Ummmm!?!?

I received an email from publisher Deep River Books announcing its 2011-2012 writer's contest which apparently started on November 1st. In researching a little more about this contest and Deep River Books (allegedly a Christian publisher), I discovered there were some 'good, bad, and ugly' elements to the whole thing.

The Good...

The first place winner(s) of the contest can win a publishing contract with Deep River Books.

The Bad...

Deep River Books (formerly VMI Publishers) is a "partnership" based publisher. In other words, a vanity press publishing house which requires some type of financial investment from the author. They require authors to 'partner' with them by purchasing a certain amount of their own books once published...this could be bad, depending on how many books DRB requires. And they still keep a large percentage of the royalties even after requiring authors to make an investment.

The first place winner(s) of the contest can win a publishing contract with Deep River Books.Well, if an author is announced the first place winner(s) of the contest, is the winner still required to purchase a certain amount of their own books???

The second place winner receives a $1000 certificate TOWARDS publishing with Deep River Books and the third place winner receives a $750 certificate TOWARDS publishing with DRB. Sounds Ok, right? Well, that would depend on how much DRB charges authors to publish (i.e. How many of their own books an author is required to purhcase?). 

 The Ugly...

I have read, through another blog site, that Deep River Books requires authors to purchase a minimum of 1000 copies of their own books, which could cost anywhere between $10,000 and $20,000 dollars. So does the contest exempt the first place winners??? Also, if you are a second or third place winner, obviously you may still have to come out-of-pocket pretty significantly in order to publish your book with DRB. Ummmmm...now that's UGLY!!

Well, I just thought I'd bring it to your attention just in case someone else received the same email. Of course, if you don't mind spending a large investment to have your books published, then by all means...

IMHO, either go the 'Traditional Pub' route, or go with 'Self-Pub,' and leave the rest behind.

God Bless!

T Denise Clary

 

Deep River Books 2011-2012 Writer’s Contest

Deep River Books is awarding TWO complete royalty-based publishing contracts, one awarded to the best non-fiction manuscript entry AND one to the best fiction manuscript entry.

There will also be 2^nd and 3^rd place awards along with several Certificates of Merit.

This is your chance to receive a full-service publishing contract and get your book published and distributed across America. There are no strings attached. If you win, you get published and paid royalties for all sales of your book. And the Grand Prize Winners books will be featured at an upcoming International Christian Retail Trade Show.

The contest begins November 1, 2011 and ends January 15, 2012

To find more details and enter the contest, go to http://www.deepriverbooks.com/contest.html