capo_regime

Can you speak to the common industry belief that once an author has self-published in any form, major publishing houses are no longer interested in making deals with them? If this is true, why would an author who has a serious interest in a book deal want to work with you?

You'll note that any questions which possibly raise hard concerns about what this company is doing are being downvoted. What they are doing is taking advantage of hopeful authors by offering services designed to further string along their hopes of making a book deal. What they aren't saying is that even working with a company that encourages self-publishing is reducing the author's chance of getting a book deal.

Also, someone having worked for a "Top 5" publisher says absolutely nothing about their talent for editing. Some of the most incompetent editors I've ever met have worked or still do work at those publishing houses.

I appreciate your response, but I disagree that "quality" is the principal thing traditional publishers are bringing to the table. You and I both know all kinds of garbage is being cranked out because they think they can sell it, and for no other reason. What they are bringing to the table is their industry connections--their ability to get your book on an endcap in B&N.

Anyone can hire an editor or a graphic designer to help them improve the quality of their book. What I object to is your not-so-subtle use of marketing language ("publishing professionals", etc.) that implies you are a stop on the train ride toward making a book deal. You might have put together a good team of editors, but once you start encouraging people to publish their own ebooks and put them out on Amazon, they are never going to make a book deal.