Dara Joy Announcement

AnneMarble · Feb 1, 2008

Has anyone seen this announcement?
http://officialdarajoy.com/wordpress/?p=11

She has announced that she and Dorchester reached a settlement. This means she will be able to publish novels again. Also, she says that she will be providing release dates in a few months. Could she have gotten an offer from a large publisher in such a quick time? Or maybe she and Dorchester reached a settlement some time ago, but she waited on getting a publisher before making the official announcement? Considering her troubled past (a lengthy legal battle with Dorchester over nondelivery), I wonder which publisher would risk taking her on.

I would love to hear the writers' perspective on this because the whole case is so bizarre. Many point to it as a reason writers should have an agent, or they could get stuck with problematic contracts. Others believe that Dara Joy caused her own problems with Dorchester.

This might also be a cautionary tale about how to treat your fans. While her legal troubles were still ongoing, Dara Joy released two self-published novellas. But she upset a large number of her fans when she had major problems delivering prepurchased copies of those stories (especially the second one). I wonder if she may have upset too many fans. Or will most of her potential readers be unaware of those issues because they did not hang out at her message board?

Susan Gable · Feb 2, 2008

Anne, I don't know anything about the legal stuff, or new publishing contract, but I do know that she did tick off a lot of her fans by failing to delivery or at least deliver in a timely manner, the self-published book.

I found that to be highly disappointing. It was a bold experiment in seeing if someone with an already built fanbase could covert that into self-publishing success, and she blew it by not handling things in a business-like manner.

I had only just discovered some of her stuff, and I have to confess, the couple of books of hers I read, I really enjoyed. I liked that they were different. I had fun with them, they made me chuckle, and I appreciated the irony behind some of her premises.

It's a shame that she didn't get those books into her fans' hands quickly and efficiently -- but then, that's what's always cited as a downside to selfpublishing, right? Lack of distribution channels, etc.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Will the fans return, or did they get burned? Or will enough of her fans have absolutely NO CLUE AT ALL about all of this, and when they see a new book with her name on it in the bookstore, simply squeal in delight and say, "Oh, FINALLY! I had wondered when she was going to have another book."

Because you have to remember that a vast majority of readers really aren't "plugged in" yet to this sort of information. (I point to the JD "incident" and the fact that she still sells by the truckload, and also the recent CE "thing." How many fans still have no idea, and even if they do, just don't care?)

Susan G.

san_remo_ave · Feb 2, 2008

To add to the celebration, I have an special Valentine for my readers. I know so many of you have been waiting really, really patiently for another Matrix story and I do not want you to have to wait any longer . . . so, as of today, I am immediately releasing a brand new Matrix of Destiny story called:

DEATH BY PLOOT PLOOT!

OMG. That has to be the worst title evah....

Robin Bayne · Feb 2, 2008

Just saw this on another board. . . . can't believe that title is real. And from what I read a long time ago, it wasn't just the timely delivery that was the problem, it was the quality of the product also that had readers so upset.

Susan Gable · Feb 2, 2008

Inspiewriter said:
Just saw this on another board. . . . can't believe that title is real. .

I'm with you. I hadn't read the announcement, and when I saw that title posted here, I thought, "WHAT?!"

I won't say it makes me think of, but I will say it's sort of fourth-grade boy bodily function humor that the title evokes in me. <G>

Susan G.

clara bow · Feb 2, 2008

Susan Gable said:
I had only just discovered some of her stuff, and I have to confess, the couple of books of hers I read, I really enjoyed. I liked that they were different. I had fun with them, they made me chuckle, and I appreciated the irony behind some of her premises.

Susan G.

I also just recently discovered her. While I had a lot of problems with the book I read, I also thought she did some things well (e.g., sexual tension and love scenes), and was ahead of her time regarding such things as shape-shifters and other paranormal elements.

I don't know enough about her other issues to comment one way or another, but I'd check out another science fiction romance from her (but I know enough that I'd only do it if the book came from an established publisher). I wouldn't prioritize her books among the many others on my TBR pile, but that would be because of the books and my evaluation of the quality, not because of her personal brou-ha-ha.

Irysangel · Feb 3, 2008

I have to wonder at her contract. If she had other stuff ready to go, if her contract specified 'Dara Joy' as the penname and 'SF romance' as the genre were held by Dorchester, she could have easily switched to 'Damia Cheer' and say, paranormal.

So either she has nothing in the bag or she was a victim of a really lousy contract. Watch what you sign...

Robin Bayne · Feb 3, 2008

I finally got my email from her today, I was beginning to feel left out. LOL

smlgr8 · Feb 4, 2008

I didn't know any of what went on with Dorchester but I did see the title and the cover discussed on another loop I belong to. The title is really, really horrible and many comment that beside the guy on the cover being headless, his chest didn't seem to match his legs. I've never read her though I have heard of her. Interesting.

Robin Bayne · Feb 9, 2008

Received this one today:

Just wanted to let you know that there will be a discussion of Dara's new book DEATH BY
PLOOT PLOOT in the chatroom this Saturday at 10pm EST. Here is the link to the
chatroom:

http://www.officialdarajoy.com/chat/

If you haven't come in before, it is a simple sign in procedure. I've also set up a second
chat room just select Tavern in the Cavern where it says "Select Room". Incase of overflow
I will try to set up a new BB that will be posted and linked through the FANSPEAK blog,

If you would like more information on the book please go to:

http://officialdarajoy.com/MarketPlace/marketplace.html

Hope to see you there!

Best,
Cory - Webmaster

AnneMarble · Jan 11, 2009

There's a new announcement from Dara Joy's webmaster! This time, she has a new full-length novel coming out soon:
http://www.officialdarajoy.com/MarketPlace/TOTDmarketplace.html

It's an e-book. However, they're charging $10.50 for it -- I could get a novel at Ellora's Cave for that price and have change left over. Also, they say it will take two weeks to e-mail the books to readers. That makes no sense at all as most e-book publishers have instantaneous orders. Even in the early days of e-books, it took at most a couple of days to get your e-books. On top of that, it's not the Traed book that so many of her fans are looking forward to. (Those who haven't given up that is.)

So she continues to be an example of "What Not To Do" for authors.

The excerpt is here:
http://www.officialdarajoy.com/TheLibrary/taste_of_the_devil.html

echnos · Jan 11, 2009

san_remo_ave said:
OMG. That has to be the worst title evah....

I thought you were joking...wow. I remember Dara Joy's burst onto the romance scene! I didn't stay with the genre, but remember the waves her books caused...heck I might have even read Knight of a Trillion Stars... LOL. Wow didnt' know about her Dorchester woes or that she was in lawsuits with them. Very interesting.

Well, maybe she will make a comeback now, who knows?

Edited to add: she is still doing that herself, right? and yes that is definitely high for an ebook! hmm. ah well!

AnneMarble · Jan 11, 2009

echnos said:
I thought you were joking...wow. I remember Dara Joy's burst onto the romance scene! I didn't stay with the genre, but remember the waves her books caused...heck I might have even read Knight of a Trillion Stars... LOL. Wow didnt' know about her Dorchester woes or that she was in lawsuits with them. Very interesting.

Dara Joy used to have a page on her site with her version of the lawsuit, but I think she took it down when they finally settled. You can read Dorchester's view of the lawsuit in this thread. (Look for a post by Leah.)
http://forums.dorchesterpub.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=647

echnos said:
Well, maybe she will make a comeback now, who knows?

Edited to add: she is still doing that herself, right? and yes that is definitely high for an ebook! hmm. ah well!

At this point, considering what she's put some of her fans through, I doubt she will make a big comeback. After the lawsuit, she self-published a couple of her novellas. The books were quite expensive for what they were. On top of that, she made fans prepay for them, and then they were delayed for many months -- a year or so in one case. Fans had to keep e-mailing the webmaster, threaten legal action, etc. to get books they had paid for. After all that, the books turned out to be pretty bad. (She clearly needs an editor.) Many of her fans gave up on her because of the fiasco.

Now if she were able to publish something in mass market with a commercial publisher, maybe she could have a real comeback despite all that. Most of the people who bought her books in stores probably never heard of the self-publishing fiasco. (Just as many of Janet Dailey's fans don't know about the plagiarism case or wrongly blame Nora Roberts or whatever.) So they might just say "Oh, Dara Joy's back!" and buy the books. But some of her core fans have given up, and that's never good.

Robin Bayne · Feb 18, 2010

New email announcement received tonight--she's combining Ploot Ploot and Cat Scratch in a $12.50 offer. (in print) and talks about possible ebooks.

Susan Gable · Feb 18, 2010

And is anyone even paying attention anymore?

I'm willing to bet not many are.

:Shrug:

Susan G.

san_remo_ave · Feb 18, 2010

Hmmm. May this be a clue? Or just Dorchester getting rid of excess stock?

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Da...Dara-Joy/e/9780505607188/?itm=2&USRI=dara+joy

ETA: Or these 'new releases' for May 2010 of previously pubbed books at Amazon (publisher is 'unlisted') http://www.amazon.com/dp/0505528533/?tag=absolutewritedm-20

Robin Bayne · Feb 19, 2010

I did go to her site just for grins, and saw she is selling all 13 of her novels in one e-book package.

KathleenD · Feb 19, 2010

Ploot ploot? Really?

Irysangel · Feb 20, 2010

san_remo_ave said:
Hmmm. May this be a clue? Or just Dorchester getting rid of excess stock?

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Da...Dara-Joy/e/9780505607188/?itm=2&USRI=dara+joy

ETA: Or these 'new releases' for May 2010 of previously pubbed books at Amazon (publisher is 'unlisted') http://www.amazon.com/dp/0505528533/?tag=absolutewritedm-20

That's a store display. If you look at Leah Hultenschmidt's website where she profiles the upcoming Dorchester releases, the Dara Joy books are getting a repackage and will be re-released.

A lot of publishers are doing repackages of big hits because it doesn't cost anything extra than the cover art and reprinting the book, and they're guaranteed sales. I think we're going to see a lot more of those over the next year or two...

Satori1977 · Feb 21, 2010

Never read one of her books, and after this thread, I don't really don't want to.

Carlene · Feb 21, 2010

I'm with you, Satori, never heard of her. Doesn't sound like the kind of book I'd enjoy.

Carlene
Mysterious Gift, an erotic paranormal romantic suspense novella now available at: www.cobblestone-press.com

Stlight · Feb 21, 2010

This just makes me think that people with deadline difficulties probably shouldn't self-publish.

jana13k · Feb 22, 2010

People with deadline difficulties probably shouldn't write. Writing is all about deadlines once you sell. Not saying you can't ever miss, but you better have a good reason. It really sets things off with publishers.

I have books published by Dorchester, but the DJ thing was before my time. Oddly though, none of the closed writer's loops talk about it. I guess everyone's afraid to say something.

job · Feb 22, 2010

I do note that Trillion has 155 Amazon reviews -- including 100 5-star reviews.
So somebody thinks she's doing good.

Knowing absolutely NOTHING about this whole mess, I'm wishing the author well. Even the thought of contract disputes makes my blood run cold.

brainstorm77 · Feb 23, 2010

I didn't even know who Dara Joy was...

Dara Joy Announcement

Nefarious Ghost Fan

Dreamer of dreams, teller of tales

Back at it

~writes for Him~

Dreamer of dreams, teller of tales

Li'l Rug Bug

She of Many Names

~writes for Him~

Eternal Lurker

~writes for Him~

Nefarious Ghost Fan

Nefarious Ghost Fan

~writes for Him~

Dreamer of dreams, teller of tales

Back at it

~writes for Him~

New kid, but no need to be gentle.

She of Many Names

Listening to the Voices In My Head

New kid, be gentle!

ideas are floating where they will

Yep. I can.

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

practical experience, FTW