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Oh, come on, you didn’t think I’d let this one pass, did you? Knowing how I feel about the egotistical Roger Clemens? Nope, not gonna happen. I have to say something–even if it’s just…gag! But of course, I have much more to say than that.
Roger, what the hell were you thinking? A fifteen-year-old child, for crying out loud! Are you that…icky? That…scuzzy? That…blech? I mean really, were you so incredibly lost in your amazing self-love that you figured anyone was fair game–even a little girl? I can’t even think of a name low enough to call you, but I know what my grandmother would say about someone like you–lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut. You can’t get much lower than that.
I’m not into country music so I don’t have a clue who this Mindy whats-her-name is, but you better hope she’s not from the south. If you’re lucky, she’s one of those faux southerners who came to Nashville to make her fortune spouting country songs in a fake southern twang. ‘Cause I have to tell you, if she is from the south and she has brothers, your life’s not worth a plug nickel right about now. Not that it was before this, but boy howdy, I’m telling you, fooling around with a young southern girl is not a bright idea.
Yeah, I know, I know, you were just good friends. Uh-huh, sure. Not likely, not with someone who thinks he’s God’s gift to the world and all the rest of us are just here to bow down to his greatness. And please, don’t give me that BS about ”innocent until proven guilty.” I’m not buying that either.
Oh well, at least you have no one to blame but yourself because I doubt any of this would’ve come out if you hadn’t been so convinced of your superiority to all us lesser humans. I mean, how stupid was it that you filed that defamation suit knowing that you had this in your past? Surely you didn’t think people wouldn’t find out and if you did, well, you’re even dumber than I thought.
The thing is…I worry about your wife. You remember her, right? Debbie, the woman you’ve been married to for years, the woman you had children with, the woman who stood behind you when your name surfaced in the Mitchell Report and when you testified in front of Congress, the woman who offered herself up to ridicule and shame just to save your sorry butt? Yeah, her, Debbie, the woman who has stayed by your side–so far.
Listen up, Debbie, I know I’ve said in the past that you’re TSTL, but please, I’m begging you, grab some dignity, boot his sorry ass out the door, hire a shark of a lawyer, and take this moron for every penny you can get. It’s the only way you’ll ever be able to hold your head up again.
Got a few emails this past week about a new e-publisher, Shadowfire Press, opening its doors on August 1, 2008. Don’t know anything about it, except to say that judging from what I’ve heard and three “personal squicks” I got from looking at their site, I’ll be staying away from this one until and unless they can prove they know what they’re doing–which shouldn’t be hard for me because I don’t write the kind of books they’re interested in publishing.
What are the “personal squicks”, you ask? Well, let’s start with the fact that the owners are both authors and as we’ve seen in the past with author-owned e-publishers, they aren’t the best bet for a new writer–or an established one, for that matter. They seem to have a tendency to neglect the books by authors who are just “plain authors”, while concentrating on promoting the books of the author/owners. Not saying Shadowfire will be the same way, but I’ve been down that road with one publisher already and I’m not looking to go that way again.
Second squick, their covers. Now this probably is just me, and I’m not an art critic by any stretch of the imagination, but I wasn’t impressed with their covers. Too…I don’t know, amateurish. I guess. The same goes for the masthead on their web site, which they seem to be really proud of in their introductory letter, saying it’s a “done deal.” Umm…you might want to re-think that one, but like I said, that’s just my opinion.
Third, this little snippet on their contest page:
The only way to become a Shadowfire Press author is to win a publishing contract through one of our contests. Please do not send any stories that do not fit our current contest guidelines as we will not be accepting anything that is not suited for the contest.
The thing is…I’ve noticed quite a few e-publishers engaging in this “enter our contest and win a publishing contract” crap. I say crap, because if they’re holding a contest, there should be the possibility of winning…something. Else, why call it a contest? Granted, this e-publisher isn’t open to submissions and that may up the ante a bit, but for me it wouldn’t be enough. Why would I want to write for someone who has, IMO, such an elitist attitude? I mean, come on, you’re a new business, an open call for submissions would only benefit you. There are untold numbers of authors out there who would probably love to submit something to you–but they have to enter a contest to do it? And if they do enter the contest, they get nothing for winning besides what they would get from submitting to any other publisher?
Makes me think of dangling a carrot in front of a mule. Hey mule author, look at this, here’s a bright orange carrot contract! Looks yummy, huh? Come on, you want it. You know you want it. All you have to do to get it is work your butt off writing a book for us and be sure to follow all our rules and guidelines while you’re at it. If you do that, we might, just might let you have the carrot contract! Then again, we might not, but well, you gotta try, don’t you? Sure you do!
It should come with a warning label attached, doubly so when it comes from an author-owned publisher and even more so when it’s one that’s just starting out:
Author beware, winning the contest isn’t enough. Sure, it’ll get you a contract–which you could get elsewhere, but now you get to put all your blood, sweat and tears into promoting your work. And please, don’t expect us to help, because hey, we don’t do that for anybody but ourselves. So…enter at your own risk!
Sad to say, I used to be okay with this kind of thing, even defended the idea of publishers running a contest with the prize of a publishing contract, because if you win, it’s a publishing credit, something you can include in your query letters to other publishers. But I’ve seen way too many new authors get burned this way. Sure, they got a contract, but more often than not, that’s about all they got. So, if you have a book you want to see published, my advice is don’t sell yourself short, do your research and try for one of the established e-houses. Then, once Shadowfire gets up and going, you can take a look at them again.
I realize this may not be fair to Shadowfire and I’m not saying they’re doomed to go down before they even start, or that they won’t actively promote their authors who are not also owners. What I am saying is I see a few red flags flying already. If Shadowfire does become one of the top-selling e-pubs at some point in time, I’ll be more than happy to offer my apologies and eat my words with a smile on my face. I wish them all the best and believe me, I’d love to see them prove me wrong! After the horrible year e-publishers and their authors have had, it sure would be nice to have a reason to celebrate e-books again.
I got up this morning feeling like someone had slammed my head into the Green Monster at Fenway–repeatedly. Damned MS medicine affected me that way the last time I took it, and it looks like a case of “second verse, same as the first.” I hate headaches and usually don’t suffer from them but this stuff is kicking my ass–or should I say head?–every time I take it. Bah! To say I feel like shit, would be putting it mildly. I really needed a pick-me-up, and thanks to baseball and surprising news on the Cassie Edwards thing, I got it.
Okay, like every morning, the first thing I did was turn on my computer and while I waited for AOL to sluggishly come up–and what’s up with that anyway, AOL?–I watched the highlights of my favorite Boys of Summer, the Red Sox, winning. Immediately after that, Sports Center had the highlights from my least favorite BoS. the Yankees, losing to my second favorite BoS, the Orioles. It doesn’t get much better than that in my little baseball world. Congrats to Big Papi for throwing off the slump he’d been in since the beginning of the season by hitting a grand slam–woo-hoo! Almost, but not quite as good as Manny hitting two homeruns against the Yankees the other night. 495, Manny, only 5 more to go!
So, things were definitely looking brighter and when AOL finally came up, one of the first things I saw was the news that Signet and Cassie Edwards had parted ways.
Double woo-hoo! Not only is that good news for writers and readers of all things romantic–unless you’re a Cassie Edwards fan, of course–it’s good news for the publishing world as a whole. To have a major publisher step up to the plate, swing for the fences, and smash a homerun is…well, like watching Manny hit a moonshot! Sorry, it’s that time of year for me, everything revolves around baseball! Anyway, Signet, and its parent company, Penguin, after a long and tiring at-bat, finally hit it out of the park yesterday, breaking all ties with Ms. Edwards and her plagiaristic ways.
From the AP article, written by Hillel Italie:
“Signet has conducted an extensive review of all its Cassie Edwards novels and due to irreconcilable editorial differences, Ms. Edwards and Signet have mutually agreed to part ways,” the publisher said in a statement Friday.
“Cassie Edwards novels will no longer be published with Signet Books. All rights to Ms. Edwards’ previously published Signet books have reverted to the author.”
My first thought? Will Dorchester and Kensington do the same? We can only hope. Maybe then I can stop haunting bookstores and the book aisles in grocery and department stores, looking for Cassie Edwards books and hiding any that I find.
The Smart Bitches, who uncovered this whole sordid mess, have reported on this, as has Dear Author, and I imagine many other romance and reader blogs out there in cyber-space. Here’s the link to the AP article if you’d like to read the whole thing, and the link for SB/TB and DA. Interesting and satisfying reading!
The thing is…as usual, some jerk’s already posted a couple of comments on the SB post, standing up for Ms. Edwards, telling us we don’t know the whole story and calling us “asses” for celebrating this. The commenter, “SAM”, also informed us that we should keep our mouths shut and be careful what we post, because “you could be opening yourself up to one heck of a slander lawsuit.
<sigh> Where do these people come from? It galls me that there are still readers out there who believe Ms. Edwards did nothing wrong and we should all just shut up about the whole thing.
WTF? In the first place, SAM, it’s as clear as crystal Ms. Edwards plagiarized and SB/TB did the right thing in bringing her plagiarism to light. Read the PDF file on the SB site, if you don’t believe me. Second, if you’re going to toss around the old ”law suit” threat, I suggest you talk to a credible lawyer about just what constitutes “slander.” And third, what gives you the right to tell us to quit gloating and call us ”asses” for celebrating what we consider a win for our side? That’s sort of like saying to Red Sox Nation, the team can celebrate winning the World Series, but you can’t.
Good thing you included not one, but two, “LMAO” in your last post, because, I gotta tell ya’, it’s going to take some serious laughter to get rid of that “ass” you’re making of yourself.
Three strikes, you idiot…in my world, that means you’re out.
Edited to add: On the Dear Author site, Nora Roberts was kind enough to post an address for the publisher if you’d like to write and express your admiration, approval, and/or thanks for doing the right thing. Here it is:
Penguin/Signet
375 Hudson
New York, NY 10014
Drop ‘em a line. I imagine they’ve gotten their share of negative letters from readers and authors while this whole thing has been going on. I’m betting they’d love to hear from us again–on a more positive note, of course!
*****
Thanks to Anon76 for letting me know another reader at DA put up some email addresses to go with the snail mail address supplied by Ms. Roberts. Here they are:
David Shanks, CEO, Penguin-Putnam, Inc.
david.shanks@us.penguingroup.com
Susan Peterson Kennedy, President, Penguin-Putnam, Inc.
susan.kennedy@us.penguingroup.com
Also Jane at DA put up another post this morning which encapsulates all that’s happened with the Cassie Edwards thing to this point. It includes a copy of her letter to Signet and a contest she’s running in honor of Signet’s standing up and doing the right thing. The prizes are five Fictionwise gift certificates for recent NAL/Signet releases to be given away to readers–check it out! All you have to do is leave a comment and tell her your favorite NAL/Signet author. Easy enough, right? And who knows, you may be one of the winners!
I went back on the MS medicine this morning and just like last time, it’s kicking my butt. So, I apologize in advance if this entry is a little garbled, but I wanted to get the word out there on another publisher behaving badly, this one a “self-publishing print on demand publisher.” I got a comment this morning on my blog from an author who is published with Pagefree. I’d never heard of them, so I went and checked them out at Piers Anthony, and sure enough, there’ve been complaints. Same thing at Preditors and Editors and there’s an interesting page on both sites for people who’ve published with this publisher. Apparently, the authors of some of their books aren’t happy and they’re not keeping silent about it.
<sigh one!> Looks like unscrupulous behavior isn’t limited only to the world of e-publishing. You can find her comment on yesterday’s post, “Another kick in the guts from e-publishers.”
In other news, the Deborah Anne MacGillivray thing is still front and center and the more I read about this woman, the more sickening it is. I mean, come on, having a group of people whose only task seems to be getting negative reviews deleted from Amazon is bad enough, but the emails this woman’s putting out are hideous. She is, of course, in denial about the whole thing and is busily deleting the emails and anything else she can find that make her look bad, but thankfully, some bloggers who are more computer literate than I am know how to find that kind of stuff. I’ve heard it said that elephants never forget, but I’m thinking we may need to change that to the Internet never forgets. Anyway, there’s another thread going on at Dear Author which makes for very interesting–and a little frightening!–reading.
<sigh two!>
The thing is…Ms. MacGillivray–or DAM as they’re calling her on these threads and isn’t that just the perfect name for her?–has always been a very active and vocal member of one of the romance author groups I belong to. Since all this started happening, she’s been conspicuously silent…except to send through a couple of messages about what’s going on with Amazon, one of them with a petition for people to sign protesting what Amazon is doing.
WTF? She’s had her cake and scarfed it down at Amazon for quite a while, and now she’s biting the hand that feeds her.
Now, I don’t know Ms. MacGillivray and never read anything by her, but really, WTF is she thinking? Judging by what she’s accused of doing on Amazon, the way she seems to be actively trying to get them to stop their bullying of publishers, plus the fact that she’s been lying to RWA about her status as a publisher, not to mention, her typo-ridden, grammar-challenged emails, I have to say this woman is definitely not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. Possibly the nuttiest acorn on the oak, but DAM–pun intended, see, I told you it was a good name!–can she make herself appear any more foolish?
<sigh three!> And, I’m out!
I’m still catching up on all the things that happened while I was away on vacation and today I ran across a post on Dear Author about **yet another e-publisher, Highland Press. Seems there are red flags flying everywhere about this publisher, but the thing that really caught my attention was the part about author Deborah Anne MacGillivray, who is with HP–and Kensington and Dorchester, also. I’d heard some shady rumblings about this author’s cagy dealings regarding reviews on Amazon over the last couple of weeks…and wondered how much of it was true.
Apparently, every bit of it. And if the rumors about HP aren’t enough to warn authors away, I hope Ms. MacGillivray’s behavior will send aspiring authors–and readers–screaming for the hills.
It’s too long to go into here, but it’s very interesting reading. If you have a couple of hours–seriously, there’s over 300 comments to this post–and want to see a real case of an “Author Behaving Badly”, it can be found on Dear Author.
My favorite comment came from someone named B in response to a letter by Ms. MacGillivray which was posted in another comment (the part in italics is from a letter Ms. MacGillivray wrote to a reader):
Holy poor English, Batman!!!
I am think you skimmed the book, sitting in an auto place, worry about big bad men sniggering, and didn’t bother to see why the characters did things, just took surface reactions.
That’s a writer!? A published writer!?!?! WTF???
I’m not sure what boggles my mind more…what she’s saying or the fact that she can’t write in English to save her life. Why, why, WHY do these people get published? Why???
Thanks, B, the Batman line gave me a good laugh and I’ve often wondered the same thing about why and how some author gets published, especially after reading some of the cooments they make on the various blogs in Romanceland…but that’s another story!
Also on Karen Scott’s blog, there’s news that Kristi Studts, the owner of the infamous Triskelion Publishing is out and about and posing as a cover artist for another e-publisher, Mystic Moon Press, under the name of Magickal Media. This is the woman who cheated numerous authors out of their royalties and finally ended up filing bankruptcy, tying the rights to their works up for a long, long time. Although there’s nothing being reported about MMP, I have to say, the presence of Ms. Studts is enough to make me keep my distance from them–don’t want to take a chance that she’s in deeper than we know. Still, this is something that each individual author has to judge for her/himself. I just hope any aspiring authors out there are reading these blogs and paying attention.
Here’s the link if you’d like to read about it; Karen Knows Best.
At present, I don’t have any plans to submit anything to an e-publisher and after reading all the shit that’s been going on the past couple of weeks, I don’t think I ever will again. I have at least five completed manuscripts and beyond the one I submitted earlier this year to an e-publisher, I think I’ll just hold on to them for a while–or submit them to L&L Dreamspell, the small press I’m with now, or maybe another small press after I do some very thorough research.
The thing is…between the many e-pubs that have gone down and the many who have been reported lately as “iffy at best”, it’s all just too scary for me.
And that sucks big time. When I first got up the courage to submit one of my books to a publisher, I decided e-publishing was for me. I really liked the idea of being able to promote and sell my books from the comfort of my home. No face-to-face meetings, no book signings, no actual interaction with real, live, breathing people–it seemed perfect for me because, well, I’m a loner at heart and don’t like people very much. I just wanted to write my stories and sell them without all that public crap. I enjoyed meeting people in cyber-space and promoting my work on the Internet, but I’m literally terrified at the thought of what’s going to happen when my first print book comes out later this year.
Hmm…wonder if I could hire some outgoing person to pose as me and go out and promote my book?
Or would that be too much like what Kristi Studts is doing?
**Emily Veinglory kindly pointed out on her EREC blog that Highland Press is not just an e-publisher, in fact less than half their books are e-books. Sorry, my mistake! No excuse except stupidity and laziness–I should have checked out Highland Press before I posted this!
First, there was the unfurling of the World Series Champion banner–yippee and yahoo!–then came the presentation of the rings–was it just me, or did the picture of Big Papi showing off his two rings along with the one of Paps admiring his one, say it all?–and then we had…Buckner. Buckner? Yeah, that’s right, Bill Buckner back at Fenway and I have to say, I’m proud of the way the Boston fans greeted him. And that press conference afterward? Well, emotional is putting it mildly.
The thing is…I never really considered how the whole 1986 um, Buckner bauble and the treatment he received from the fans and press affected his family. And okay, I admit it, not so much him, either. I think it would be safe to say most Red Sox fans didn’t think about him or his feelings, but I’m so glad they didn’t boo him when he returned to Fenway last night. Maybe now, he can put that part of his life behind him, or at least accept that Red Sox Nation is willing to forgive and forget. Okay, maybe not forget, but with two World Series championships in our pockets, we’ve put it behind us. So, I offer my formal apology to Buckner for all the nasty things I ever thought or said about him and I hope he feels better about the whole thing.
After all the ceremony, it was time to play some ball–and play some ball is exactly what my boys did. From Dice-K going 6 2/3 scoreless innings–is it possible he’s going to surpass Josh Beckett this season and become our ace in the hole?–to the outstanding offense and their five runs–of which my man, Manny was responsible for one. Yay, Manny!–it was an opening night to remember, not to mention a big relief for me–and I’m sure most of the rest of Red Sox Nation!
Tonight, we have Jon Lester going against the Tigers’ Bonderman and…who knows what will happen? That’s one of the best things about baseball–or any sport for that matter–you just never know. So, beyond the penchant of most professional athletes to utter those infamous words, ”you know”, every ten seconds when they’re talking or being interviewed–and don’t even get me started on that personal pet peeve–the thing is…we don’t know.
The only thing I do know, is I’ll keep watching and cheering for my favorite teams and players, and I’ll occassionally write about what’s happening with my boys–but not too often, because, well, you know how superstitious I am. Wouldn’t want to jinx the chance for a repeat!
Speaking of repeats, congratulations to Pat Summitt and the Lady Vols–you did us proud again, ladies!
Rocky Top, you’ll always be,
Home sweet home to me;
Good ol’ Rocky Top,
Rocky Top, Tennessee!
Big news this morning about Christine Brashear, who is currently with Samhain Publishing and was previously a part of Ellora’s Cave. Ms. Brashear is filing suit against EC and its shareholders. Not being of a legal mindset, I don’t understand it enough to comment on it but you can read about the whole thing at Smart Bitches and Dear Author.
Both sites explain it much better than I could, and I have to admit, I payed more attention to the comments than I did to the actual blog posts. There are comments from readers, from authors, and some from people who understand far better than I what’s going on, but the thing that stood out for me is the way some of these commenters behave–trashing SB or DA for blogging about this, saying a lawsuit is private and shouldn’t be brought to the public’s attention, etc. Same old, same old, was my first take…until I took a minute to think about it.
This kind of behavior holds true for almost all the news stories that these blogs report on, whether it be about the Cassie Edwards thing, or New Concepts treating their authors badly, or an author acting like an idiot. There’s always someone who pops up and disses the site for the post and in most cases, the disser(s) turn downright mean–even if they didn’t start out that way.
The thing is…I’ve heard some derogatory comments that the reason all this trouble crops up with e-publishers is because the majority of e-publishing companies are owned by women and everybody knows women are driven by their hearts rather than their minds. They’re too emotional and don’t have the balls to make it in the business world. <eye roll>
I take exception to that because I know when Twilight Fantasies went down, it was the male half of the partnership who gave me the most trouble. His name calling, finger pointing, and all-around childish behavior, were the epitome of unprofessional behavior. In the end, it was the woman who stood up and addressed the problems, sending professional rights reversion letters to the authors. And when she did, the man, well, he faded away as if he’d never been there at all.
After all that, I’ve decided that I’d much rather deal with a female in a situation like this. And while the overwhelming femaleness of e-publishing may not be a good thing at times, I think it’s definitely going to be a plus in the long run. Women are still in the infant stage when it comes to being business owners and they have a double challenge when it come to e-publishing because it too is still a baby. But nurturing is one of the things we’re really good at. We’re not afraid to clean up a mess or tackle a seemingly hopeless cause or to dole out the proper discipline when it’s needed.
And I think that’s exactly what sites like SB, DA, Karen Knows Best, EREC, and yes, I’ll throw Piers Anthony in there too–even though he is a <gasp> man–are doing, they’re policing the e-publishing industry with a loving heart and a gentle, guiding hand backed up with a sharp slap to the butt when it’s needed.
I hope every author out there who writes for an e-publisher remembers to thank them for it one day.
Wow, a lot of things happened while I was away on vacation! I’ll try to keep this short, but fair warning, it may run a tad long. Hmm, maybe I should break it down in categories…
First up, baseball. Not feeling too happy with my boys right now, but hey, we’re only six games into the season and they have plenty of time to pull out of this hole they’ve dug themselves into–last place in the AL East. Ugh, I hate saying that, but those are the facts and everybody knows Boston has one of the toughest schedules in the majors during April, so I’m not angsting over it–too much! I am glad they made it back from Japan safely and truthfully, I didn’t expect them to do well following that long trip.
I’m taking comfort in the thought that after 18 days, four cities, and three countries, they had to be exhausted and the losses in the past week probably have them feeling as frustrated as the fans. Tomorrow is opening day at Fenway and after today’s off day, I’m hoping they’ll be rested enough that they’ll be able to pull off a win against the Tigers. Playing at home is always better and as Scarlet O’Hara said, tomorrow’s another day. Let’s hope so!
Second, Amazon. Grrr! They’re flexing their considerable muscle and trying to force publishers to switch to their POD company, BookSurge, a move that has the potential to seriously hurt small press publishers and their authors. I’m a newbie at this whole print thing–my first print book won’t be out until August–and don’t really understand all of it, but from what I’ve read the whole thing sucks. I know my publisher is working to alleviate any worry for its authors and coming up with appropriate plans to keep our books out there, but I really don’t like Amazon right now. Suffice it to say, they’ll get no more of my business until they stop acting like the playground bully and stop employing these kinds of scare tactics.
And speaking of my publisher, they just sent through the link to a humorous assessment by Jock Stewart on his Morning Satirical News blog about what’s been going on with Amazon: Nile Books Tells Publishers ‘We’re the Only Game in Town.’ Take a few minutes to read it, you’ll appreciate the humor, even if you’re not an author with a book to sell on Amazon.
They–L&L Dreamspell–also just sent their authors some good news about Barnes and Noble where our books are concerned. It’s too complicated to go into here–and yeah, being a newbie, I don’t understand it all–so I’ll just say it’s further proof that this publisher really knows how to take care of their authors! Thanks L&L!
Third, the world of e-publishing. I understand the owner of New Concepts is still sending out bitchy emails about what’s going on with them. I’m not saying they’re going down, but if I were one of their authors, I’d be busy circling the wagons against attacks from this woman and her shady unprofessional business dealings. And please, please, if you’re an aspiring author, listen to everything that’s being said and avoid this publisher at all costs.
Dark Eden Press is now officially closed and I’ve heard the authors all received their rights back from the owner. I’ve also heard some rumblings which lead me to believe this closing wasn’t really a matter of personal illness and that the owner has done a few things which give some people the impression that she’s not handling the closing as professionally as she’d like everyone to believe. Don’t know what the truth is here and I’m reluctant to bring this up, but it has me wondering–especially after seeing a copy of an email to her authors from one of the owner’s pals (?) that said they had so many submissions to one of their lines that they decided to ”give” them to another e-publisher. WTF? Can they do that? And if they can, did they bother to check with the authors of those submissions first? Because I’ve heard some rumblings about the publisher they chose to “give” them to and I don’t think if I was one of those authors, I’d be very happy about this. Sure, it’s a chance to be published, but given the word I’ve heard on this particular publisher, I think I’d run as fast as I could in the other direction before signing with them–and I have to wonder how many new authors will know to check them out thoroughly before they sign?
Okay, that’s enough for now. This thing is way too long so I’ll have to save the news about my vacation for a different post. See ya’ later!
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