Doing My Part

I’m receiving tons of email regarding my leaving Vanilla Heart Publishing (VHP).  People are asking questions and sharing their experiences with VHP and with other publishers as well.  At first, I felt inundated and overwhelmed by the barrage of email; but now, I feel grateful because each one gives insight and I find myself learning through other’s experiences.  I’m thankful for those lessons, so keep writing.  I will do my best to respond in a timely manner, but please forgive me if my responses come slowly.   In addition, when many of you ask the same question I will try to answer it here, in blog format, so that others can benefit from the information as well.

Several of you mentioned that Vanilla Heart (and a couple of other publishers that I won’t name here) never signed your contracts and that when you sought an attorney you were told that they could not go after a breach of contract when a contract never existed.  This is a statement of truth, but there is a loophole.  I will only speak of VHP and not the other publishers mentioned in email because my experience is limited to VHP.  

VHP never signed their contracts so that they could never be in “breach” of their contracts.  This is a manipulative ploy in and of itself.  Kimberlee Williams banked on the fact that new authors wouldn’t know any better…and it worked for her up until this year when about 14 authors grew wiser.  She banked on her cunning ability to manipulate new authors with empty promises, lies and fear tactics; but here, in the details of the law, is where truth is found:

VHP’s contracts are Bi-Lateral Agreements, which means both parties (the author and the publisher) are signing that they are in agreement with the terms of the contract.  In essence, they are both committing to do what the contract indicates they will do.  A Bi-Lateral Agreement is only binding in a court of law IF it is signed by both parties.  So, when an attorney says they cannot go after a breach of contract because a contract never existed, they are referring to the Bi-Lateral contractual agreement.

Hear me on this part, because this is every author’s ticket to freedom:  IF the publisher never signed the Bi-Lateral agreement and never rendered a copy of the signed agreement back to the author, the contract never legally existed.  Thereby, the author’s rights were never given to the publisher.  Thus, any of the author’s work that was published by the publisher and from which the publisher benefited financially falls under Copyright Infringement.

Copyright Infringement is a federal offense; a much bigger charge than a breach of contract. Every attorney (particularly those with literary field expertise) will take an infringement case, especially when you’ve got contracts and email correspondence to substantiate your claim.  In addition, if the publisher financially benefited from money gained via Copyright Infringement, that's called theft and it's another federal offense.

That’s the loophole and it’s just step one.

In the case with VHP, this puts the publisher in the position of either admitting to Copyright Infringement OR (if they want to pretend the contract was valid) admitting to a severe breach in contract involving artifice to defraud, fraudulent activity, misrepresentation and theft.

Either way, it doesn’t bode well for a deceitful publisher.

 

Authors, in today’s world of technology there is no reason why you cannot receive sales reports, royalty statements and payments on time.  In addition, there is no viable excuse for not receiving them.  If you are locked into a contractual agreement with a publisher who is not giving you the information you deserve, take action.  If you sit idly by, you’re hurting yourself and you’re doing an injustice to other authors. 

One woman wrote:  “I know my publisher is cheating me but I’m afraid if I say anything they won’t publish my next book and all of my books will go away.”

I felt that way too.  I was scared.  But…aren’t we all scared right after we finish our first novel and we start to send out queries and submissions?  Aren’t we all frightened that our work won’t be good enough or well received?  But we press on.  We press on…and that’s what you have to do if you’re in a negative relationship with an unethical publisher.  Unethical publishers like Vanilla Heart don’t deserve your talent.  They don’t deserve the right to work with you.

Change can be scary, but it is often necessary for growth.  It’s one thing to be blinded by a lie…it’s another thing to know the truth and make an active choice to live the lie.  

An ex-VHP author wrote in her email:  “At first, I believed the lie.  Then, I hoped it wasn’t true.  Now that my eyes are opened it’s my responsibility to do my part and make sure no one else believes the lie.”

 

Amen!  That's the very reason I blog and try to answer your emails and questions in a timely manner ...because it's my responsibility now to protect new authors from getting caught up in the lie... it's my job to do my part and I'm going to do it. ~

 

 

Before Jumping Into Bed

I received an email over the weekend and in it the writer asked if I thought it was better to self-publish than to sign with a small press publisher.

This is a tough decision and one each writer must make for themselves.

I never wanted to self-publish, not because I thought there was anything “wrong” with it, but simply because I needed a stranger, a publisher, to believe in my work.  I needed that extra-confidence-boost to tell me I was a good enough writer to be published.  So, in 2010, upon completion of my first novel, No Easy Way, I sought out Agents and Publishers.  That’s when Vanilla Heart took interest and offered me a contract.  The fact that a publisher deemed my work good enough to market and promote motivated me to continue to write, which is how I produced eight books in less than three years. 

Other authors don’t need the self-esteem boost that I did.  They feel confident and secure enough to stand alone and thus self-publishing is the perfect path for them.

In the past, self-publishing bore a negative stigma that a writer wasn’t “good enough” to be contracted by a publishing house; but that stigma has begun to fade.  Readers can tell the difference between someone who writes poorly and someone who writes well.  They know that in purchasing a self-published book they run the risk of stumbling upon a lessor quality novel.  However, they also realize that there are self-published authors who write really good books; gems yet to be discovered.  Many readers today are willing to take that risk, especially with the ease and affordability of the Ebook download.  If they download a book for $0.99 and don’t like it, it’s not a big financial loss; but if they get a great one for that price, what a bargain!

If you decide to go with a small press publisher, meaning any publishing house outside of what has now become the Big Five, do your homework before signing anything.  I cannot stress this enough.  Talk to other authors about their experiences with small press publishers.  Interview authors who are currently under contract with the publisher you’re considering.  Ask questions.  Understand that any publisher that is on the up-and-up will be able to give you timely sales and royalty reports and timely payments.  Do not be pressured into signing right away.  A legitimate publisher will not have any reason to pressure an author into an immediate contractual agreement.

Research the Preditors and Editors listing and Writer Beware.  Contact the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General for the state in which the publisher is located.  If there have been complaints about the publisher, they will be made available to you.  Run a background check on the publisher.  Be thorough.

If you do sign a contract, hold that publisher accountable at every turn for every item.  A legitimate small press publisher will not give excuses for late payments, no payments, late reporting, no reporting, etc.  Except NO excuses.  The contract that you sign is a business agreement and it must be upheld by both parties in an ethical manner.  One lie breaches the agreement.  Period.

One advantage to self-publishing is that the author receives sales reports directly from the distributor and a royalty payment that is never late.  There are no lies or hidden agendas if you go the self-publishing route.  This is a huge advantage to the author and one you should seriously consider prior to signing a contract with a small press publisher because there are many ways in which an unethical publisher can take your money.

Not only did my ex-publisher (Vanilla Heart) defraud statements and steal thousands of dollars, but she also blatantly lied about the number of books that were downloaded for free so that she could pocket the money.  I have emails from her to substantiate the falsification of the reports she gave me and the outright lies she told.  For example:  My novel, House of Lies, came with a bit of controversy as three weeks after its release there was a similar murder in the exact area where the story had taken place.  This generated media interest, both negative and positive, and also generated book sales.  Kimberlee Williams of Vanilla Heart told me that someone had gotten a hold of the Smashwords coupon code for House of Lies and 60 copies were downloaded for free.  I couldn’t believe it.  That was royalty money the publisher and I would never see…or so I believed.  After subpoenaing sales records directly from the distributor, the truth was that only 13 copies of House of Lies had been downloaded using a free coupon code. (All 13 of which I identified as contest winners, book club leaders or reviewers because I had given them the free code.)  The other 47 downloads were bought and paid for.  This was money the publisher kept and I never saw.  Unethical.

 

Sadly, it didn’t just happen with House of Lies, but with several of my books from the Just Call Me Angel series and No Easy Way.  Had I never left and had the sales reports sent to me directly from the distributors, I would have had no way of knowing just how deep her deception ran and how much money she had stolen.  Sadder still is the fact that I'm not the only one she defrauded.  

The morale of the story is:  Be careful.  As an author, you’ve poured your blood, sweat, time and tears into your book.  It’s your creation, your baby.  Don’t be hasty to get it out there and settle for something less than what your work deserves.  Look at the quality of work the publisher is putting out.  Are there typos and formatting errors strewn throughout their author's books?  If so, don't sign with them.  That's a red flag.  Are the book covers unprofessional looking?  Are their video trailers novice and unprofessional?  (I don't know the correlation, if any, between video trailers and book sales, but Vanilla Heart's trailers were so awful that I never marketed using theirs and had my own made instead.) 

There are ethical small press publishers.  They’re out there, but companies like Vanilla Heart are sadly giving them a bad name. Companies like Vanilla Heart are tainting the world of small press publishing.   If we turn a blind eye and continue to allow the unethical ones to exist and flourish, we are only hurting the ethical publishers, each other and ourselves.

This is OUR industry and it is OUR responsibility to protect it. 

 

The long and the short of it is this:  If you are in a hurry to get your work out to the masses, then my advice is to self-publish it rather than jumping into bed with a publisher that is literally going to emotionally, mentally and financially screw you. ~

 

 

Spelling It Out

Red or Blue...Which Pill is for You?

A Tale of Truth:  How I Came to Choose the Red Pill

Once upon a time I wrote a book.  Several months later my book was nominated for the Molly Award and I signed a publishing contract with Vanilla Heart.  I was on cloud nine.  It felt as if my dreams were finally coming true.  Excitedly, I wrote another book and another and another, until I had completed eight full-length novels and one short story; all in less than three years.  Vanilla Heart published them all.

 One day, I wrote to my publisher and asked, “When will I find out how many books I have sold?”

“As soon as I get all of the reports from the distributors,” she replied.  “And they are always late with reporting.”

 I waited and then a couple of months later I asked again, “Are my books selling?  Am I doing something wrong?  Do I need to promote differently or market to other channels?”  You see, people were telling me that they had read my books and yet I wasn’t seeing sales numbers to validate their words.  I thought people were lying to me just to make me feel good.

 “You’re doing fine, hon,” my publisher said.  “This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

So I went back to work.  It might be a marathon but I was going to sprint my way through it.   What I mean is, I was determined to do all I could to market my work.  I visited book clubs, did book signings, purchased advertising in every brochure and playbill I could afford.  I ran ads on Facebook, mailed out postcards, ran press releases and a monthly newsletter.  I coordinated a blog tour, participated in blog hops, conducted author interviews and submitted my work to various review sites. 

 

Then, I went back to my publisher and asked, “Are my books selling?”

“You’re doing great, hon,” she responded.  “Your sales are right where they should be for a newer author,” she explained.

 “Yes, but, what does that mean?” I questioned.  “Which books are selling best?  What format sells best?”  I begged for information so that I would know how and where to devote my marketing and promotional efforts going forward.

 “Just keep doing what you’re doing,” she said.

 What was I doing right?  What was I doing wrong?  It felt as if I was spinning my wheels, chasing my own tail and ultimately getting nowhere.  My royalty checks, when I actually received one, were demotivating and I began to feel like I was more of a failure than I had ever been before.  I began to tell myself that there was no sense in writing another book because no one wanted to read my work.

As if she could sense I was on the verge of giving up, my publisher would call with some new idea of what she was going to do to promote my work.  She’d shroud me with motivation and hope, but something on the inside began to feel very hollow.  There was little follow-through on all of the promises.  There was no reporting of royalties, no statements or a breakdown of sales; and when a royalty check arrived, it was a miniscule amount and always months late. 

How is it that the harder I have worked to promote my books, the less I am selling?  I began to wonder.  Something wasn’t right. 

Sometimes reality is a bitter sweet pill.  As much as I wanted to believe everything was on the up-and-up, believing that meant that I was a failure as a writer.  Believing that meant that my books weren’t selling and that no one wanted to read my work.  But… if I didn’t believe everything was on the up-and-up, it meant that my publisher was shady and accepting that truth opened a whole other can of worms.  If she’s cheating me out of royalties then I would most certainly terminate my contracts with her, and if I break away from her, what becomes of me?  Will my books disappear forever?  Will someone else want to publish my work?  What if nobody wants me?

I wanted so badly to believe my publisher was being honest, but I couldn’t ignore the sinking feeling in my gut, not to mention the evidence that was piling up. 

 

It’s difficult to explain the feeling of teetering on the edge of truth and ignorance, knowing you must choose one.  You must either be willing to turn a blind eye and live in ignorance or you must be willing to accept the pain that might come with a truth you don’t want to face.  As I mulled over everything, I was reminded of the 1999 movie, The Matrix.  In the movie, Neo is offered a choice between a red pill and a blue pill. The blue pill will allow him to remain in the fabricated reality of the Matrix.  The red pill would lead to his escape from the Matrix and thrust him into the real world.

 

There I sat, asking myself, “Blue pill or red pill?”  Should I dwell in the blissful ignorance of illusion or embrace the painful truth of reality?  If I chose truth, my eyes would forever be opened and there would be no turning back.

This decision churned in my stomach like a soupy, sour mess that made me want to vomit and drove me to tears.  But, as evidence of wrongdoing began to pile higher and higher, what choice did I have? 

With trembling fingers I took the red pill, placed it on my tongue and swallowed.  It felt as if the ground beneath my feet disappeared and I was falling.  Consumed by fear I fought what felt like a suffocating whirlwind, pulling me downward and then, all of a sudden, I was lifted on the wings of truth and I realized I wasn’t falling; I was flying.  I was no longer being tossed by the winds of deceit, I was soaring above it.

With the lies now gone, I had a clear view of my options and a clearer picture of who I am as a writer and as a novelist.  I was selling books, a lot of books, more books than my publisher ever let on.  I wasn’t a failure.   I’m not a failure, but had I continued to believe what Vanilla Heart was telling me, I would never have known.   The truth, as scary as it was to face, has set me free from a bondage that had done more damage to my self-confidence and self-image than I ever imagined it could.  My publisher didn’t just rob me of royalties, she was robbing me of my self-worth.   The blue pill of ignorant bliss was slowly poisoning me, but the red pill of harsh reality brought me back to life.

I’ve received numerous emails from other authors sharing their experiences with unethical publishers.  I’m sorry that any of us have had to endure this injustice.  It breaks my heart, but better to have your heart broken and come out wiser than to have your spirit broken and end up weaker.

Authors… if you’re in a situation right now where you are teetering on the edge of truth and ignorance… if you have that stinging, gut-wrenching sensation that something isn’t right…and you’re wondering, like I did, what will become of you and your work if you stand up for what you deserve and stand against unethical practices…  

 

Don’t let fear immobilize you.  The big picture is overwhelming, but like my husband always says, “You can’t eat an elephant all at once…you have to do it one bite at a time.” 

 

When you’re facing a bunch of red flags, let your first bite be the red pill and the rest will fall into place.

 

 

Red or Blue…which pill is for you?

 

 

 

Slamming Doors and Opening Windows

I've received a bunch of emails regarding what happened between me and Vanilla Heart Publishing.  I'm going to try to answer most of your questions in this blog.  If I don't answer thoroughly enough, let me know and I will email you privately. 

I'm not going to lie, the past few weeks have been difficult, but you know what they say, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."  I don't know if I'm stronger yet, but I'm certainly on the road to becoming smarter.

Change is always hard and uncertainty is scary...put the two together and you have a variable pressure cooker of emotion.  I have bounced daily between anger and sadness.  I'm angry at myself for being naïve and stupid.  I'm angry at Vanilla Heart for being deceptive, breaching our contract and cheating me out of royalties that were rightfully mine.  But the anger isn't the part that overwhelms me.  It's the sadness. 



I feel sad because I thought I knew someone and I thought she knew me.  I believed in her, trusted her, prayed for her, prayed for her family, defended her and always tried to be supportive and encouraging.  There were many times when I felt that support was reciprocated.  There were many times when I felt like we were "friends."  I feel sad because I miss that feeling; though I realize now it was all a façade.

We've all heard the expression, "It's not personal, it's business."  But, what is more personal than your business...especially when that business entails relationships with other people (?)  Just because you're dealing in the business world doesn't mean you stop having personal feelings for those around you.  In my world there aren't business ethics and personal ethics, there are just plain ethics and they apply to everything in life.  Don't cheat.  Don't lie.  Don't steal.  Be kind.  Love God.  Love others.  Forgive.

Sure, the context of our relationship was business but when every excuse she gave was personal, how was one not to feel some sort of connection?

Hearts break in different ways.  Betrayal leaves me broken and injustice makes me angry.  Vanilla Heart has caused me to stare down the barrel of both and to try to reconcile these feelings against a foundation of truth that was one-sided all along.  That reconciliation seems impossible, especially to a person like me who tries desperately to understand why people behave the way they do.

To this day, Vanilla Heart has shown no remorse for wrongdoing and that is one of the most jagged little pills to swallow.  I'm someone who apologizes for everything and tries to fix anything I've done wrong...even if it wasn't intentional; so I just can't get my head around people who maliciously set out to steal from, deceive and hurt others.  This part of the whole thing probably taunts me the most.

I think I've answered all of the questions about my relationship with Vanilla Heart.  As for the questions about Small Press Publishers in general...let me first say this:  All small press publishers are not unethical.  In fact, there are some wonderful publishing companies out there, some great agents and incredible people in the literary world.  Please don't let my negative experience with Vanilla Heart taint your view of the industry.  It hasn't tainted mine.  Scam artists dwell in every industry.  What we have to do is learn to spot them and avoid them.   My hope is that other authors will learn from my experience and be saved the hassle and heartache that I, and the other ex-Vanilla Heart authors have gone through.

The bottom line is that life isn't fair, but when you have to close a door or a door slams shut in your face,  look around and find the window of opportunity.  There will always be one, but it's not going to open itself.  Muster up the courage to walk over to it and open it; and then climb through, dust yourself off and be determined, as I am, to tackle whatever challenges lie on the horizon. 

Had I stayed with Vanilla Heart I wouldn't have been offered an opportunity to learn the publishing side of things with Global Publishing Group.  Had I remained naïve and comfortable, I wouldn't have ever known how many sales and how much money my books were generating.  Had I not gotten my heart broken with the lies, I would never have been given the chance to appreciate those who were telling me the truth. 

To answer the final question:  "What am I going to do now?"  I'm going to get back to doing what I love... writing more books. ~