Every self-published writer would love to have his book distributed and sold by bookstores. At first glance, DartFrog Books promises to do that, but there is a catch. There is always a catch. You must have your book published by IngramSpark or by DartFrog!
A writer has two options when submitting a book to DartFrog. The first is to pay an up-front fee of $89, and wait for an email that says whether the book will be displayed at a bookstore or not. If it is not, the author loses the payment. If the book is accepted, the author is up for another $386.
The second option is to pay $475 up-front, and get a critical ‘review’ of the book and why it might not be suitable for distribution. This part sounds like the traditional ‘book doctor’ deal/scam.
DartFrog Books will do some email marketing for an accepted author, and place one book with 20 bookstores for three months. For an additional fee, they will display the book at tradeshows.
The DartFrog website has no contract/royalty details, which should ring an immediate alarm bell. They do state that your IngramSpark royalty conditions apply, which doesn’t really help.
DartFrog Books is also a hybrid publisher. This means the author contributes to the cost of publishing, a massive $5500! In other words, this is vanity publishing and writers should steer clear of any such scheme. If they publish a book, they guarantee to distribute it to 20 selected bookstores.
I wold warn authors to beware when considering entering into an agreement witch such a company, but eeryone needs to make up their own mind about this. Happy to hear from writers who are satisfied with this service.
Thanks for the heads up. I visited their website and was shocked by their
prices.
A pleasure!
Hello. Do you know of a free alternative to this service, like Createspace?
Michael,
CreateSpace is shutting down. All its functions are now available on Kindle Direct Publishing. I used CreateSpace, and have transferred all my books to KDP.
Stefan
Every self-publishing book company is asking for money anywhere from
$999 to $15000 depending upon what package you are choosing.
Compared to that, I found DartFrog price not based on services they are
offering. Though, I have not contracted with them yet, but for that price,
if they are ready to display your book to 20 stores, it is worth it. Many
others are not doing it even for 10000 dollars.
Hello – I am the founder of DartFrog and wanted to reply to your post as
there are several inaccuracies. There is no cost to submit a book. Our
evaluation process is free. There is no obligation to participate in our
program if your book is selected. If an author chooses to submit a
manuscript through our hybrid publishing label (DartFrog Plus) and it is
selected for publication, the cost includes placement into all of our
partner bookstores (not just 20), plus direct promotion to 3200+ book
clubs, a 60 second book trailer, a Kirkus review, marketing training,
Amazon optimization, invitation to sign in our booth at BookCon in NYC,
and more. Take a look at the website:
https://dartfrogbooks.com/pages/dartfrog-plus-splash We do require
that all books we place into stores be available through Ingram, as that is
how bookstores order additional copies (not just for DartFrog books, but
is how bookstores order the majority of the books in their store). And
when we place a book into a store, it is placed in our own specially
marked DartFrog section, face front, for 3 months, providing the author
with optimal in-store exposure. Check out the pictures on our website of
current in-store displays: https://dartfrogbooks.com/pages/dartfrog-
displays-in-partner-bookstores
Hi Gordon,
I appreciate your response. It is true that I can submit a book to DartFrog for free, but to get it published and distributed will cost $999. https://dartfrogbooks.com/pages/canoe-tree-press If this is not accurate, your website needs clarification.
Stefan Vucak
There are two different conversations going on here, and I can’t tell
who’s got the wrong impression (Stefan or Mr. McClellan). The page
content here speaks of putting –already self-published books– on
shelves, which according to the website is IN FACT $475 (either up front
or broken up as described).
“IF” you want to publish through the company too, you can submit a
manuscript that you believe is store-ready (no clear definition here), and
it will be professionally edited, proofread, etc. Nothing indicates that
these services are free, so please clarify if I’m wrong. I believe it works
like so:
1) You submit what you feel is a store-ready manuscript.
2) You are selected after a brief review process (to make sure you’re not
trying to publish something not worth the company’s time)
3) You pay the fee ($5,400, not bad as hybrid-publishers go), at which
point the book is professionally edited/proofread/etc and sent back to
you for final approval. There’s also a professional cover commissioned.
4) The book is “published” to the stores and other outlets as noted.
5) You get 100% of unexplained royalties through Dartfrog (If you’re an
Ingram Sparks seller, these royalties apply).
Interesting. No one wants to be
‘scammed’, but what if this DartFrog
company is top notch legit? It’s a risk
some take to give their dream a chance.
I might just look into this. I self
published thru KDP 8 months ago. That
was my debut novel. The follow up book
will be completed by June or July.
Kevin,
A company can be ligit, but that does not automatically translate to being reputable. With DartFrog, they are neither. No reputable publisher asks an author for a submission payment or a publishing payment. As soon as you read such a demand, run! On top of that, a $475 dollar fee to ‘critique’ your book? Run faster!
Happy to answer your questions on any aspect of publishing.
There is no submission payment. The facts you claim are
simply incorrect. There is also no fee to critique your
book. Check out Dartfrog’s rating with the Alliance of
Independent Authors, which has no dog in the fight
(Excellent rating). I have dealt with this company and I
can tell you they are top notch. (P.S. The word is “legit”,
not “ligit.”)
I posted that article in 2018. The information I provided was correct at that time.
The DartFrog website has changed since then. The DO charge a placement fee to place your book in bookstores! Extract from their website:
INITIAL SUBMISSION
The initial submission requires $0 upfront cost. Simply fill out our form and send us your book. If not selected, you owe nothing. If selected, the placement fee is $675, which includes automatic face front placement in DartFrog’s own specially marked section in 25 independent bookstores.
They are also a hybrid publisher, which means an author has to ‘contribute’ a substantial cost to have a book published. Traditional and reputable publishers don’t do this, earning their money from sales.
If you had a good experience with them under these conditions, good luck to you.
I haven’t dealt with Dart Frog but I have worked with a hybrid publisher.
As is often the case, there is a lot of confusion about what a hybrid
publisher does and what are the advantages / disadvantages of
publishing this way. It is best to check the standards for hybrid
publishers on the Independent Book Publishers Association. There are 9
of them that apply, the second of which is they vet submissions, and only
publish those that meet their quality standards and mission. If they
publish everything, they are a vanity press. This vetting process is time
consuming, and it is to be expected that a fee may be required to read
each manuscript. With a traditional publisher, the agent does this, not
the publisher. And as you know, the agent only reads those they request.
How much is 8 – 10 hours of your time worth? That’s how long it takes to
read an average manuscript. Would you read 20 for free? Publishing is a
business, not a charity. Hybrid publishing has opened doors to new
authors and offered all the benefits of traditional publishing including
bookstore distribution for a fee. An author still makes money on the
royalties and at a higher rate than they do with a traditional publisher.
Sharon,
Usually, and agent will do a cursory examination of a manuscript, but the standard practice is that the publisher’s editorial department will proofread and polish a manuscript before publication. There are no associated costs for this process for the author. Agents and publishers make their money from book sales.
Any so-called agent or publisher who charges fees for any reason should be a red flag signal for an author, and the author should not enter into any agreement with them. You state that hybrid publishers put books into bookstores – for a fee. Perhaps for a very limited time, and authors need to be very wary of costs associated with book returns for unsold books. A hybrid publisher makes money by charging up-front fees for everything from the author, and once a book is published, the author is very much on his/her own. Any publisher, regardless what they call themselves, that charges fees is a vanity publisher.
Matthew D. – For months now, I have been doing
my research on what publisher I would like to do
business with because the last book I had published
stopped the royalty checks. I don’t want a company
who refuses to be transparent, and sends me out to
the marketplace to fend for myself. I was knocking
on doors but no one was answering, which made me
feel like I was selling vacuums door to door. As an
author I want to know that the publisher I’m dealing
with has “got my back”, and one that operates with
complete integrity. Be upfront with me. Just give me
a ballpark price and tell me the “bells and whistles”
that come with it, and what I can expect from it. In
other words” show me what ya got” Print my book ,
get my book into stores , sell it as an e-book world-
wide , and discuss with me the royalties. And mostly
I want complete control of my rights. All of them.
Matthew,
The only way to get your book into stores is to get a literary agent or secure a publishing contract with a traditional publisher. That will be a hard slog, but it can be done.
To get your book quickly onto the market, self-publish with Amazon Kindle (print and ebook). You can also self-publish with Smashwords, Draft2Digital, and IngramSpark.
Good luck.
Hi y’all, My name is Matthew and I have been shopping
for months now for a straightforward approach to getting
some information about hybrid publishing. There
appears to be a variety of factors between what you
“think” you’re getting and what you actually end up with.
Also, the help launching a book is nothing more than
ending up on Amazon. I’m get- ting despondent and
confused. I just want to how much is the expenditures,
and how much imput the publisher will provide? In other
words ” show me the money”.