Welcome!
This is the information side of our website. The format is meant to mirror the design of the MSR Online Bookstore.
Above you will find headers for the different categories. Some have drop downs that link to specific information about that subject.
For those looking for submission guidelines, everything we publish now has a separate page of streamlined guidelines. If an item is not listed on Submittable, that means we are currently not reading for it. When we get large backlogs, we shut down submissions to catch up so that authors don’t have to wait an unreasonable amount of time to reach print.
There is also a link to The MSR Online Bookstore where all Main Street Rag, Mint Hill Books, and Pure Heart Press titles are available.
Operational Status Report (December 9, 2024)
Submissions:
Current needs are in the magazine submission area, poetry, prose, and images. Our backlog is currently minimal and, in most cases, accepted pieces will be published within 2 issues (9 months) of when they were accepted. This situation is unusual for us and probably won’t last long.
Book manuscript submissions changed midway through 2024 to take a breath from giving Submittable so much of our (your) cash and to increase our subscription numbers. Having accomplished the latter, we have now reverted to doing everything through Submittable. That means a reading fee for manuscript submissions UNLESS the author is a subscriber in good standing (up to date) to our literary magazine. Literary journal subscribers can submit ONE manuscript per year without a reading fee.
There is one category that is malfunctioning. The Novel / Full Length Short Story Collection (Magazine Subscribers) is charging when it should not be. It seems to be an error on the platform and Submittable has been made aware of it but have not provided a remedy. If you are a subscriber, you may submit directly to editormsr@outlook.com.
Contract Changes:
Print runs have become an issue in recent years. The truth is, printing a book just to give an author a publication credit is not fiscally justifiable. We’ve tried different methods to enhance our advance sales because these sales pay for a large chunk of production costs.
To that end, we’ve made some changes to our contract. One is to set a MINIMUM print run of 220 copies for all Main Street Rag publications. Main Street Rag is responsible for roughly 50 copies, but the author is responsible for the remaining 170, assuming we are printing a minimum run.
Does this mean the author must BUY 170 copies? Maybe. It depends on how many Advance Discount copies they sell.
We’ve heard concern from some authors who felt this qualifies as self-publishing. Our position is that the existence of advance sales is what validates a title as not self-published.
That said, if authors sell 100 in advance, then the contract only requires they buy 70 copies which we believe is below the minimum any active author should want of their own title. It’s a red flag when an author doesn’t want copies of their own book and an indication that the title, regardless of how well-written it is, will not get the author support that is necessary for it to be successful.
In the past, we may not learn how helpful an author would be until it’s being prepared for press. As a buffer to ensure we’ll at least cover the cost of production, what was once an optional program, is now a policy written into our contract. If this policy would be a burden to you as an author, then we may not be the best press for you. Consider this before submitting a manuscript for publication consideration.
Relocation Update:
We are only days away from our move to Pennsylvania. That means there will be some down time for communications and production. We generally shut down for the last week of the year anyway, but this year it will have different ramifications.
Main Street Rag will begin operating out of Edinboro, Pennsylvania starting January 1, 2025. Before we do, several items that need to be addressed. First, we need to shut down our North Carolina business. We have to change the name of the parent company and register it in a new state, set up new bank accounts, and a new accounting system since Jill will be taking over accounting duties.
The change in bank in particular will be tricky. We can’t take in funds without an account to deposit them in. Our current business closes December 31, 2024 and our new platform won’t be operational until January 2, 2025.
What does that mean to authors and/or book buyers?
Sales on the Main Street Rag Online Bookstore are processed by PayPal. Those transactions will continue as normal. Changes to the MSR Online Bookstore will be on the back end. However, check sales/orders may be held until January, 2025 to process.
Since we don’t release titles in December, none of those will be affected. New title releases will pick up again in January. The Winter Issue of the magazine will almost certainly ship late since we will need to acquire a new bulk mailing permit and because much of the time that is usually dedicated to magazine set up will be dedicated to breaking down shipping containers and setting up a new home and office.
Main Street Rag has been a DBA since we reorganized in 2010 under the official name Douglass-Rausch Enterprises, LLC. Unfortunately, this name caused problems for some buyers. When they didn’t recognize it on their credit card statements, some filed fraud claims. That happened several times a month and we’d not only lose a sale but sometimes get hit with a service charge.
To help avoid this scenario, our new moniker in Pennsylvania will be Main Street Rag Enterprises, LLC. It is our opinion that this name will help people who don’t read the fine print when ordering to connect the dots. Our new mailing address–effective immediately–is 12180 Skyview Drive, Edinboro, PA 16412. Our phone number remains the same–though we almost never answer the phone. We do not do business over the phone because there is no paper trail.
Book Orders:
BOOKSTORE ORDERS: We do not take phone orders. All orders must be made in writing and email is the most efficient way. We offer three different levels of discount: single-copy order (25%), returnable (40%–minimum 3 copies), and NON-returnable (50%–minimum 10 copies). Store buyers should identify which terms they wish to use upon placing an order. If they have not ordered from us before, we may ask for a PDF of their Certificate of Resale. All orders and queries go through editormsr@outlook.com
ADVANCE SALE ORDERS: These orders earn a discount; however, they do not ship until after the author has received his/her copies. Advance Sales all ship at the same time, but they may not arrive at the same time since the US Postal Service sets its own priorities over which we have no control. We do our best to get these to their destination as efficiently and economically as possible.
If a buyer placed an Advance Discount Order and did not receive it (while others have), be smart: DON’T contact the author. The author is not responsible for shipping your order and is unable to do anything other than pass your complaint on to MSR at which time the author will be informed that MSR–just like Amazon–does not respond to third party claims. Claims and queries must come from the buyer to Main Street Rag directly by email to editormsr@outlook.com. All claims must be made in writing (email). We do not handle them over the phone.
DAILY ORDERS: As for DAILY online orders, they generally ship the next business day, but there are always exceptions during the holidays and especially during this year’s move. Buyers of books already in print will receive a notification when a shipping label for the order has been made. This does not mean the book has already been shipped, just that the packaging process has begun. The notification will include a tracking number which buyers can click on to follow the progress. We don’t usually make labels more than 3 days prior to shipping, but the world does have weekends and we sometimes work them.
Vacation
Technically, relocating is no vacation, but since our computers will not be accessible from December 11, 2024 through (roughly) December 16, 2024, we will have limited access to email. Please bear with us. We will respond at our earliest opportunity–even if it’s just to say, “Can’t talk now.”
Main Street Rag Publishing Company is an American independent press that values and respects individuals’ rights in regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious persuasion, and/or immigration status and while we believe in everyone’s First Amendment Right to freedom of speech, we also believe that we have the right to screen our site and our publications of language and material we find offensive. Specifically, we disavow racism, xenophobia, homophobia, sexism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, classism, ableism, and hate speech or actions that attempt to silence, threaten, and/or degrade others.