What is Clocktower Books?

Give a short history of Clocktower Books.

What sort of contract and benefits do you offer?

What formats do you publish?

Is Clocktower Books Accepting Submissions?

Does an author have to pay anything?

Do you have professional editors?

What is Far Sector SFFH?

What is SharpWriter.Com?

Notice

What is Clocktower Books? Clocktower Books is an electronic book publisher and print-on-demand publisher (formerly C&C Publishers, also formerly Clocktower Fiction) based in San Diego, California. Clocktower Books is owned by John T. Cullen, who continues to explore the exciting possibilities of digital publishing. John Cullen in late 2002 launched Infonana.com, an exciting new foray into publishing short nonfiction articles of interest to a popular audience of web-savvy readers. Clocktower Books publishes digital short fiction via the Web magazine Far Sector SFFH and maintains the archive site of its earlier version, Deep Outside SFFH. Most novels are available in print and digital editions. Clocktower Books has no employees. See also Notice. top

A short history of Clocktower Books. Brian Callahan and John Cullen first started talking about publishing their own work in early 1996. They brought their mystery/suspense website on line in April 1996 (Neon Blue Fiction) followed by their sf/f/h website in July 1996 (The Haunted Village). In the Fall of 1997 they brought on line Clocktower Fiction as an umbrella publishing site, with Neon Blue Fiction and The Haunted Village as genre imprints. Together, these sites had reached an audience of thousands of readers in over 100 countries including far-flung places like Mongolia, Red China, Chile, South Africa, in the first year of operation. In April 1998, John and Brian launched their sf/f/h magazine Deep Outside SFFH, which is now Far Sector SFFH and exploring ever newer ways of bringing readers and authors together. In August 1998, John Cullen launched SharpWriter.Com, a writer's resource website, which was named "one of the Web's 101 best sites for writers" by Writer's Digest in May 1999. On New Year's Eve 2000 John and Brian relaunched Clocktower Fiction (now Clocktower Books) as a pay-based ebook publisher of Rocket eBook editions. By late summer/fall 2000 they were moving into the POD and PDF formats. In 2001, Brian withdrew as partner, while remaining friend and consultant. John enthusiastically keeps the house moving along, in 2002 affiliating with Fictionwise (http://www.fictionwise.com/) to fulfill e-book requirements in all leading e-book formats including Adobe and Microsoft. John withdrew from the Nuvomedia/Gemstar contract (signed July 1999, terminated July 2002) with due and timely notice. Since early 2003, John has been presenting nonfiction as well as fiction through Print on Demand (POD) and e-books.top

Our Contract. NOTICE: Closed to submissions at present. Our contract is very standard for ebook publishers. We pay a 50% royalty on receipts (usually about 25% of suggested list or cover price, subject to discounts). We pay quarterly, usually in the second month of the quarter following the previous, when all receipts from distributors have come in. We take only those rights that we need (ebook and/or POD), and we tie those up usually on an annual basis. We do not pay for copyright registration, but we urge every author to secure copyright registration in his/her country. We do generally provide free, quality cover art, although some of our authors provide their own cover art, subject to our approval.top

What formats do you publish? Until fall 2000, we published only Rocket eBook editions. In Sept 2000-April 2001 we moved into POD via Ingram's LightningSource subsidiary. In the latter half of 2002, John T. Cullen terminated the Gemstar contract and moved to Fictionwise as our e-book outlet of choice for both fiction and nonfiction. The print editions continue to be available from all major online retailers and capable of being ordered across the counter in most leading bookstores. In 2005, Fictionwise.com created Ebookwise.com, selling their own branded version of the former Rocket eBook.top

Is Clocktower Books Accepting Submissions? NOTICE: Closed to submissions at present.top

Does an author have to pay for anything? No. Publisher works with author and any outside editor/illustrator as needed. Clocktower Books has never had any paid staff.top

Do you have professional editors? While Clocktower Books has never had any paid staff, our associated editors are experienced, college-educated professionals who work with the author to ensure the highest editorial quality. top

What is Far Sector SFFH? NOTICE: Closed to submissions at present. Far Sector SFFH (formerly Deep Outside SFFH) is the world's oldest web-only professional magazine of speculative fiction, formerly owned jointly by Brian Callahan and John Cullen, and now the sole property of John T. Cullen. We stake our claim to fame carefully, noting that a small handful of other publications were either there before us (but didn't pay professional SFWA rates to their authors), or in at least one instance were there first but went out of business. We were the first web-only magazine listed in the annual Writer's Market (1999 Edition) alongside the big print magazines in the genre. Far Sector SFFH is 100% freelance. top

What is SharpWriter.Com? NOTICE: Closed to submissions at present. SharpWriter.Com (SWC) is a writer's complete resource site, launched by John Cullen in August 1998, and can be reached from the main CTB website or at http://www.sharpwriter.com. SWC grew out of several impulses, most notably the fact that the two publishers used to meet in 1996-7 at a now long-gone coffee bar in Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego to discuss the things they hoped to accomplish on the Web, and one of the ideas was to make the links page a major resource for writers. The resource page grew into a major website on its own accord, presently served by a half dozen or more editors and dozens of book reviewers. In May 1999 Writer's Market named SharpWriter.Com as "one of the Web's 101 best websites for writers." top

Notice. Clocktower Books (formerly an imprint of C&C Publishers, and formerly Clocktower Fiction) is a royalty paying publisher of print and electronic editions. The sole proprietor is John T. Cullen. There are not now, nor have there ever been, employees. The only person authorized to represent Clocktower Books, or to make agreements or sign contracts for Clocktower Books, is John T. Cullen. If you have any questions about the company, please contact John T. Cullen at publishers@cox.net. The information on this page is subject to update without notice. top