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Oak Tree Press was founded in February 1998 in Claremont, California. In 2002, when I decided to return to my home town in Illinois, the company moved with me.

I’m always on the lookout for good mysteries, ones that engage fast. I definitely want to add to our Timeless Love list. I am also looking at a lot of non fiction, especially the in the "how-to" category. Oak Tree Press is one of a few publishers who will consider memoirs, especially memoirs of folks who are not famous, and this is because I enjoy reading them myself. In addition, plans are in progress to launch a political/current affairs imprint, and I am actively looking for titles to build this list. Then, of course, there is always that "special something" book that you can’t quite describe, but you know it when you see it.

There aren’t a lot of absolute NOs, but there are a few. First, no science fiction or fantasy novels, or stories set far into the future. I have no beef with these novels, I simply don’t like to read them and I can’t imagine trying to publish a book I don’t want to read. So, if your novel has a Star Trek or Star Wars likeness, you’ll be wasting your postage to send an inquiry. Likewise if yours compares to Zena, the Warrior Princess or one of the Harry Potter books. I know there are terrific books in these genres but they just aren’t my cup of latte.

Next, novels substantially longer than our stated word count are not considered, regardless of genre. We look for manuscripts of 70-90,000 words. If the story really charms us, we will bend some on either end of the range. However, 100,000-plus word novels are really difficult for us to make work with our our business model, so it is really rare that we will read lengthy manuscripts.

Books which advance a right-wing political or racist agenda, contain gratuitous sex or violence, especially against women, or depict harm of animals will not be considered.

This is not a hidden agenda. All these points are covered in our guidelines and any appropriate company literature, plus any market listings which allow space for listing specs. I am always amazed at how many submissions come in for novels which are outside our guidelines.

Oak Tree Press does not ask an author to contribute to production costs of books.

Zero. OTP’s contract contains the option for authors to buy as many books as they want, but there is no minimum requirement, and the purchase of books is not a condition for publication.

No

No, and we don’t refer writers to editors or book doctors. If a book needs more editing work than we can realistically do in-house, we simply don’t choose it for our list.

The copyright is always registered in the name of the author.

8a  What about intellectual property rights?  What is Oak Tree's policy?

Various intellectual property rights are negotiated between Oak Tree and the author as part of the "signing the contract" process. The rights OTP will ask for, and the minimum array of rights that OTP will accept and still want the deal, vary from project to project. Keep in mind that there is a reason why it's called the BOOK BUSINESS...it is still a business. Obtaining and maintaining intellectual rights is the raw material of a book business. OTP takes a long view of the book projects it publishes. We intend to, and do, maintain availability of our books for years, and we support our books from previous seasons. This means that we continue to hold the rights. Our contract clearly spells this out, we are very firm about it, and an author who is uncomfortable with these terms is best off to NOT sign the Oak Tree agreement.

But, if an author really wanted his rights back after a while, why wouldn't you just give them back?

See above.  It is a business decision, and based on our current policies and philosophy, it is unlikely that we would give back the rights in the vast majority of cases. Oak Tree publishes a lot of first time writers, and we pay for all the pre-press tasks.  One Hundred Percent of the money on the risk line is ours. In exchange for taking this risk, we want the long term because we believe this enhances our chances of getting a return on investment. Some books take a while to catch on.  Sometimes other options to exploit the rights surface down the road.

Very often, authors ask for their rights when they are disappointed in their book's performance and they convince themselves that it is the publishers fault. Many writers' advocates stress to writers that, if they aren't happy, they should demand their rights back. On the surface, this sounds great. However, "Get your rights back and sell them to another publisher!" is quite an oversimplification of the situation. The thing that typically happens is that the title becomes an orphan, and the author is shocked to find that other publishers aren't tripping over themselves to offer a new deal on what they most likely see as an old book. Yes, from time to time we all read in the news where rights to a published book were given back and then re-sold to another press and the book went on to great fame and fortune.  The reality is that this is NEWS when it happens, because it so rarely happens.

No. Up to this point we have not, and have no plans at this time to offer an advance.

Advances are generally estimates of what the first year's royalty would be.  It is very difficult to estimate what sales for a first time author might be, so we have simply stuck with reality and paid the royalty based on the period's sales.

We will consider queries from literary agencies, but there is no special relationship with any agency, nor is there any "edge" or preferential treatment for agented submissions. If we like the book and it fits our list and requirements, we will offer to publish whether it is agented or not.

Past tense is correct. Johnson Warren Literary Agency existed between 1996 and 1999. With the ambitious goal of pitching books to the movie industry, JWLA filed for and obtained signatory status to the Writer’s Guild of America (west) and started taking meetings…or at least that was the plan. Once Oak Tree Press launched in February of 1998, it was clear that there simply weren’t enough hours in the day to pursue both businesses, and, while I love movies and the whole movie-making process, I knew I had to go with the books. JWLA stopped accepting queries in the spring of 1998 and by the end of 1999, had concluded all its commitments and was closed.

Yes, though I prefer to have them come to QueryOTP@aol.com rather than our general email address.

However, we never open unsolicited attachments and we don’t surf to websites to read sample chapters or whatever. The email query should be essentially the same as a paper one…without the paper, of course.

No.

Yes. Bookstores may order books via Ingram Book Company, Baker & Taylor Books, several other distribution companies and in-house distribution companies such as BN Purchasing or Books-A-Million. Shops may also order direct from Oak Tree Press.

No, not true. However, it is sometimes a hurdle that must be overcome. OTP studied this resistance on the part of the shops to find the sticking points. Then we took steps to ensure as far as possible that our books did not carry these burdens.

Probably the most deadly point is the issue of returns. Many small press and POD publishers do not accept returns. It’s painful to accept returns, and I can see why some publishers refuse to sell on that basis. The books are rarely re-sellable as new, pristine copies and it knocks a hole in the revenue that invariably hurts.

By the way, some authors believe that if they autograph a book, that it cannot be returned. This is not true and I have shelves of less-than-prime books which prove it. Shops will return them regardless.

The next touchy item is the discount…in other words, the wholesale cost the shop pays. There are customary percentages in the publishing industry, and when a small press quotes a substandard percentage, the shops often back off.

Oak Tree Press meets both these objections. We accept returns (though I reserve the right to grumble about it to my pals and my cats) and I keep my retailer’s discounts in line with industry expectations.

Yes. Low production value, such as an amateur-looking cover or bad trim or poorly done binding will work against getting an order. An outrageous suggested retail price, an odd-sized book, and the lack of a clear category will all add to negatives on the part of the book buyer. Obviously, OTP strives to avoid these negatives.

Oak Tree Press’s contract obligates us to publish within 18 months of signing.

Most of our 30+ titles came out 9-10 months after signing the contract, although a few books ran very late. We tried bring out a couple of titles really fast, a month or two after signing, and found that to not work well at all. We have found that a release 6-9 months after contract works best, so that is our target, extraordinary circumstances aside.

Yes, we have done some books in hardcover, although the majority of our titles are trade paperback. We have also produced a few titles in mass market size.

Probably, especially with fiction. If your query spurs interest, I’ll ask for the full manuscript. I don’t care for synopses and rarely have requested the first 2-3 chapters only. After reading 2-300 queries per month for almost ten years, I have come to know what I want to read, and I know what will fit on my lists. When I get the whole manuscript, I want to read it to the end or until it loses my interest. A partial just doesn’t get it. I might flex a bit on this point for non-fiction, for example a how-to book, but it is highly unlikely that I’d offer a contract on an incomplete book.

No. We don’t have the staff to handle this most time intensive task. We will help where we can, but we don’t take this on as a full project.

Further, we don’t refer authors to PR firms or Media Consultants.

We do a number of things for marketing our titles as a group, and individually. First, we maintain our web site and give each author a page. Frequently, we will "domain name" the book title or the author name on his behalf and forward the traffic to his page on our site.

Our titles are listed on Amazon and BN.com. About two years ago, we began listing new titles in the Ingram new release catalog…which is a tad expensive but worth it. We also began using the Google Ad Words click through program at approximately that same time, which is also pricey but worth it.

We do some exhibiting at book fairs, and have displayed at Book Expo a couple of times. We also advertise in programs for writers’ conferences and book expos, sometimes for the general company, or one of the imprints, or a specific title…depending upon the target market. We’re always looking for new options.

Perhaps my most extreme pet peeve is receiving queries on projects which we’ve clearly advertised we don’t want — science fiction, fantasy, epic tomes, bigoted diatribes and so on. Second to that is a practice I call "over taping," or the use of yards and yards of tape, or worse yet, the filament tape so that it takes forever to open the package. Finding story pitches on my voice mail is also annoying.