Noble Romance Publishing

mscelina said:

Anytime that publisher/owner starts looking for scapegoats or making excuses, it's most definitely NOT a good thing.

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I think a lot of us were under the impression Jill was the owner, but we are now being told Jim is.

We've had some more news from Natasha, who I don't know, but I've been told is Jill Noble's daughter. Although we've had nothing from Jim Noble, Natasha states that royalty statement are being finalised and royalties "will be paid" She also says there will be a statement issued today.

More when I have it.

Any new information?

SamhainMoon said:

Any new information?

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No, nothing yet. a lot of vitriol from both sides, but I'm not linking to that. There should be a statement today, but we'll see.

Deja vu... Sigh.

Erastes said:

There should be a statement today, but we'll see.

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Here's hoping.

As a Noble author and one of the authors who has blogged about the experience, I want to say that I didn't blog to discredit Jill or Noble. I simply stated facts. Everyone's words will stand on their own, and if their words discredit them, so be it.

All I want is answers and it's been a week now with absolutely nothing substantive coming from the people who have those answers. All we've gotten is a nebulous statement about our royalties and how it was Jill's fault because the paperwork wasn't completed before her departure. However, Jill had said that the royalties would be paid on Friday, July 22 and Monday, July 25. Seems to be an incongruity there somewhere.

I don't believe we will have problems getting our royalties. Something in me says that we'll be paid. If we aren't, that will lead to legal avenues and is obviously a material breach of the contracts we all hold.

Jill and her daughter have been publicly bashing authors for days now, talking about how unprofessional we all are because we've banded together to talk about what has happened and about our experiences dealing with NRP. The things people have said, in the private author loop, can't compare to the things have been said about the authors on Jill's Facebook page and on C.H. Scarlett's blog. The blame the victim ploy is alive and well.

Jill's daughter set up the "armed camp" mentality when she chastised authors on the "official" author loop for talking about her mother's defection and where that left us when there was no one to answer our questions. Where was our loyalty?

All I want is answers to my legitimate questions, something I've begged for and have never gotten. Is it so out of line or unprofessional to want to know where your business (being an authors is a business) stands with a particular publisher?

I want my rights back and I'm happy to walk off into the sunset.

Thank you for the forum here.

Brita Addams

Update: Just received an email from Faith, stating that it will be the middle of the week before my concerns will be addressed. We've been expecting a big announcement today. Go figure.

Update

A couple of authors have already posted - but just wanted to clarify. We were promised (by Natasha) that Management Structure had been put into place and so there would be a statement forthcoming on Monday.

Now, we've had yet another round of vague emails from Faith Fredin who says

I wanted to reply to let you know we received your email below and you should expect a response by the middle of this week. We apologize greatly for the delay.

Best Regards,

Faith Fredin

So, first it was Friday, then Monday, now (possibly) sometime around Wednesday...

we'll keep you posted.

Okay, you know what? I worked in a mall a few years ago, and we had a rather sizable earthquake. Within an hour, a formal memo was sent around to the various stores giving us a general status of the building, whether or not we'd remain open, numbers to call if we had questions/problems, and an overall "we don't have everything figured out yet, but we're working on it and will update you as soon as we can." The people in charge were busy as hell trying to make sure the building was going to stay standing and there wasn't any major damage, and were still able to print up a memo, pass it around, and give us what information they could. In the wake of a freaking earthquake.

With that in mind, I find it impossible to believe that the remaining owner of this company, or someone who can reasonably speak on his behalf, can't take -- or find -- the time to produce a short, concise statement to let us all know what's going on. Even if some things are up in the air, just say so. Tell us what's up in the air, tell us what isn't, tell us when we're getting paid...give us some reason to believe someone's at the wheel who gives a damn about us. There's no excuse for the radio silence from the powers that be for the last week, especially when there is a huge, huge group of confused, unhappy, and unpaid authors who want answers.

I just hope this whole mess works out for the authors involved with it.

When Loose Id had their recent server meltdown, I had an email explanation within a day or two. They've also kept me in the loop as far as royalty schedules and website updates. Some authors have had problems getting answers from them in the past, but so far I haven't had any trouble. I'll know more when the August royalty statements go out. Plus I have an agent to aim at them if anything goes sideways.

Faith, Jill, and the other staff at Noble don't seem to understand: when they start a cut-down war in public it really only hurts their future chances at getting new authors. Whether Noble survives in any form, I'm on the lookout for certain names. If they show up associated with another publisher, I'm not even bothering to submit anything.

Well, this certainly explains why Jill Noble kept stringing me along with my March submission! Bullet dodged on that (assuming it was even pointed in my vicinity). She mentioned in an email responding to my nudge on my submission that she was busy "taking over the company". I assumed that meant ownership. Guess not.

Noble Update

I got the canned reply from Faith that she sent to many others, stating that we'd hear something by mid-week. I wrote to say that wasn't good enough, etc. I told her about Jill and Natasha's online behavior, and she requested the screenshots and emails I have for substantiation. The ones where Jill calls Noble authors trash, unprofessional, stalkers, harassers, etc.

I sent them and Faith emailed to say they have been sent on to management. She also apologized for Jill and Natasha's behavior.

They are scrambling but authors still haven't heard anything about what will happen. One week and counting.

ANaughtyMouse said:

In one of Jill's responses to a blog post:



So she's complaining now that some of the Noble authors "harassing" her weren't talented writers to begin with. It's such a shame Jill wasn't in charge of issuing contracts.

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Wow. That is just - incredibly out of line. Completely unprofessional. Yikes.

Press Release from Noble Publishing

To all Noble Romance Authors:

My name is Jean Gombart and I am the new CEO of Noble Romance Publishing, LLC.

Attached is a press release that gives you some further information but I wanted to send out this email to all the current NRP authors.

Contrary to anything you may have heard, Noble Romance is a financially solid company with zero outside debt and we are committed to not only continuing the work of the last 5 years but also to taking the company to the next level.

To that end, I am certainly available to receive any suggestions that you as authors would like to send.

What I have seen so far tells me that my first two orders of business priority are as follows:

1. I want to assure that the process of calculating and paying royalties is prioritized so that you can always count on receiving a timely and accurate royalty statement when due along with appropriate payment.

2. I want to significantly increase the sales of all existing NRP published books.

Certainly we also want to give the appropriate attention to books in process, support of author promotions, and other issues important to you, but my belief is that executing on these first two priorities will best serve NRP and it's strong group of exceptional authors.

I look forward to working with each of you and invite you to email me at [email protected].

Best Regards,

And here's the press release itself

Noble Romance Publishing
Po Box 467423
Atlanta, GA 31146-7424


Press Release

Noble Romance Publishing Appointment of New CEO

Atlanta, GA, July 30, 2012: Noble Romance Publishing today announced the appointment of Jean Marc Philippe Gombart as CEO

Jean holds a Masters Degree in International Business from the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris, France and comes to Noble Romance with 20 plus years of executive experience.

Born in France and having managed businesses on 5 continents, Jean is fluent in 4 languages including English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Jean will be leading the further expansion and improvement of Noble Romance's existing eBooks and print books publishing business.


About Noble Romance Publishing:

Established in 2007 Noble Romance Publishing, LLC is a royalty-paying, full-service e-publisher of superior quality, cutting-edge romance and erotica. Noble also publishes young adult novels in all sub-genres through Noble Young Adult. We challenge our authors to take risks, to push the envelope while still maintaining their story's integrity, the combination of which is guaranteed to satisfy even the most discerning reader.

For more information, please contact [email protected]

For Release 5 p.m. EST, July 30, 2012

That's all very impressive (and I mean that sincerely), but...I don't see any publishing experience?

I was thinking the same thing, Stacia. I see the man has serious business credentials, but nothing about publishing experience.

Noble keeps talking about how their authors are a priority. If they mena that, they will stop talking about it and actually do something like pay royalties. Have they reinstated the author's loop yet?

Stacia Kane said:

That's all very impressive (and I mean that sincerely), but...I don't see any publishing experience?

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My thoughts exactly. When that message/release came through last night I emailed back and said much the same.

Impressive credentials, but what practical experience do you have in publishing in general and e-published romance in particular. No response as of yet.

Further Email from Jean Gombart

To All Noble Romance Authors:

Thank you for your patience, we have great news! We had promised to have payments and reports to you by the end of the week but due to some extra-ordinary effort today the third party sales data has been entered and payments and reports will be distributed tomorrow, ahead of schedule.

We greatly appreciate your patience and will make every effort to ensure that all future payments are made no later than the 20th of each month.

Holy crow, did I ever dodge a bullet. I sumitted a novel several months ago and it took forever to get a response. Then a contract offer came with a statement that Jil only sent out contracts once a month. Two or three months later, still no sign of a contract. Lack of response to queries, or business related questions, is always a red flag. After waiting for what I considered longer than was acceptable, I pulled the manuscript. Wow. Just, wow.

Royalties are being paid now

Several authors have reported that paypal amounts are being paid. No statements as yet, but it's an improvement.

Crap, I subbed to them right before this all went down. Wonder if I'll ever hear back?

Probably, at some point, I can't say that jumping in would be a good idea though--just my opinion

Jill Noble's had my full since early June, I think, so I'm assuming it's been sucked into the Land of Lost Toys and Manuscripts, and that's fine with me.

Did Jill normally do the slush pile readings for Noble?