“We are not able to personally respond to unsolicited submissions unless we’re interested in publishing them.”
Despite this warning, I sent four polite inquiries to Chronicle Books after waiting four months for them to consider my Stanton Delaplane anthology book proposal. Obviously, they are not interested in my book.
Besides that setback, the Chronicle organization still holds valuable information about the copyright releases I’d need before soliciting another publisher. But without the Chronicle communicating I am at a loss to directly proceed. (I’ve written about this before (internal link))
My book would rely on 30 to 40 newspaper columns that are now 40 to 50 years old. Any future publisher would be vitally interested in what copyright releases would cost before considering my anthology.
I have now written to the Copyright Clearance Center. They’re representatives, apparently, of the Chronicle and a slew of other media companies, charging fees for releases. Perhaps they can give me a rough estimate. I’ll report on what I find.
A very sad thought to end this post. It could be that Delaplane’s works will go unknown to generations because permissions are too expensive. Going through the Clearance Center introduces a middleman, another layer of expense. Only the Chronicle could inexpensively see this project through. And they are not interested — in a man that wrote for them for fifty years.
Update: The CCC has responded. It looks like good news.:
“If you were going to only print books with a not-for-profit publisher or self publish, 30 columns (excerpts up to 400 words) for up to 999 books, the cost is $603.50 for the permission. If it was 40 columns, the price would be $803.50 for the permission for up to 999 books.”
I am indeed considering a non-profit publisher. Another account representative, however, did give me another response, saying I should use their on-line tool. That’s impossible to do, though, because the tool seems limited to processing one article request at a time.
Anyway, I am off to putting another book proposal together, this time a different, more specific angle on Delaplane’s writing career.
