Heliographica Press

CaPaux:
Why did I pick Heliographica? I picked them because I looked into many other self publsihing programs and they all looked the same. Then, I was offered a traditional publishing program with an advance and the whole tranditional deal. However, I found Heliographica online and I loved the fact that I could keep the rights to my book. At first, my rep was great! She called, she followed up within minutes to my emails, and the design guy was wonderful. I liked how they have the press release program, the Amazon Search inside the book, and overall, they offered just a little more than the other guys. As a business person, I saw that the company was new and rolled the dice hoping they would only get much better over time. I was clearly wrong! Writing this makes me even more upset and reading these postings is absolutely terrible.

I was offered TV spots and radio spots all over due to the high demand of the subject of my book, which is why I wanted to self-publish and keep all the rights. But these spots are waiting for an initial copy to read and this company has screwed me. And so what if I even still get on the air? If I sell books by directing them to Amazon, now I see they probably won't even ship them. So many problems, so little service, so little know how of how to run a business, obviously.

By the way, they keep directing people to write to the [email protected] address and they don't respond. If they are sitting around reading about authors bashing their company at this time, why don't they take a second to read and reply to emails from paying authors?!?!?!
Any other questions? I would be happy to answer.

The traditional publisher wanted all of the rights to my book, and they stated that they could remove it from shelves at anytime. I do not want that done. I know I could sell books, after all, I wrote the book on marketing. But again, in this case, it does me no good if they don't even ship them or pay royalties. Have you published? Are you going to?

I don't see a termination clause, and I think with what I have dealt with, if they respond I will tough it out and they will not get my business again. If I see that they continue to act the way they have, I will dispute my credit card charges and PayPal charges, which I know I will win because I have documented everything I have sent to the company and everything they have responded back. If they try to get me for anything after that, I will sue them. but I doubt they would try to even contact me.

Look, they responded to my complaint on this forum and asked for my ISBN to check if I am an actual author. Well I gave them their proof, and where are they now??? I think this company is run by some guy in an apt. out of CA.

As you can probably tell, my frustration with this so-called "publisher" has prompted me to respond in lengthy forms.

Update on Everything

Today is Nov. 1, and I will give credit where it is deserved. Heliographica finally responded. However, the response was absolutely pointless because my book is still not available for sale and I keep getting a run around as to where my authors copies are. I have missed all of my promotional events except for 2, so they have already made me, themselves, and the book not look so great, but especially themselves. I have asked them to overnight the books to me, but they have not acknowledged this even though they are dropping their sales by me not having the books.

The writing and publishing experience is supposed to be exciting, but this was truly the exact opposite. I do not know what's going on or what I was thinking when I paid this company, and for that, I blame myself.

Neil, even if there isn't a termination clause, is it a time-limited contract?

I'll be glad to take a look at the contract and give you non-legal feedback (I'm not a lawyer). Contact me at [email protected] .

- Victoria

Hi Victoria:
Thanks! Here is the link to Heliographica's author agreement.

http://www.heliographica.com/agreement.cfm#previous

CauPaux:

At this point, I am kind of stuck because I have paid them and I have SO many people writing me everyday asking, "when will the book be available?" If I do this elsewhere, I need to begin this process all over. I'll give them another 2 days, because that's about how much time I have left before my last scheduled promotional events. If I do not have my author's copies and I do not see some progress with it being for sale on BN, Amazon, etc., I will take action. I have lost so much valuable promotional time and material, it's just sad.

Now in their program, they have these other features. My main concern after all of this is that I need to watch each move to see if they are doing their job, Amazon search inside the book, Google print, etc. Most importantly, shipping books when they are sold. My heart is pounding because I do not trust they will ship books when they are sold, based on their service so far. I guess I can update you on this when I get past this giant bump in the road.

You know, if they would just shape up their act, maybe they would not have an entire forum on their company. I just hope I will not have to go through the cancellation process given they act quickly.

I would like to know if the original person who wrote in this forum, the author of "The Silver Wheel" received her royalty checks(?)

Neil1 said:

Hi Victoria:
Thanks! Here is the link to Heliographica's author agreement.

http://www.heliographica.com/agreement.cfm#previous

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It looks pretty clear that you can terminate with ten days notice. If you want to go the self-publishing route, you ought to check out lulu.

Neil, did you receive your galleys (proofs)? This seems to be a key point of the termination clause. Did you approve the proofs and were simply awaiting publication? You might seriously consider taking the 30 day notice and writing off the money if you did. If you haven't yet, then take advantage of the termination clause and get your money back.

If you are stuck after having approved the proofs --- well, in reality, if you're having this many problems with them this early in the game, is the minor inconvenience of waiting a few more months to go through another POD company worth the pain and suffering of having to watch every single move the company makes from now on because you don't trust them?

Update

Well, Heliographica wrote back today and stated my books are still in print!!! So I guess I was totally out thinking they would SHIP the books when they said, Oct. 15. This company needs some serious management help. Now they have said that they do no do overnight shipping, however, I wrote them back telling them to make an exception given their absolute terrible service so far combined with a very upset customer. We'll see what they say, or better yet, what they actually do.

I have contacted other authors via their website and await their response.

The title is not yet available for sale!

What does it mean for a book to be in print, when you can’t buy it? In any case, you can still use Lulu in parallel with Heliographica Press, since you haven’t granted HP exclusivity.

Sorry I was not specific. In print meaning my author's copies. However, at this point I am crushed because my last two promotional events are tomorrow, and I am without my books. By tonight, if they tell me they are not going to overnight the books and have them to me by Friday, I am going to file a complaint with the BBB.

Another author, who shall remain nameless, has sold many books with them as a publisher, and said that the buy button on their site is not working, which has resulted in lost customers forever.

He or she stated to me that I should not blame the entire company for the actions of a few who do not know how to do their job. This author also complained about the customer no-service and lack of communication.

If a few do not know their jobs and those above them have not taken action by now, then they don't know their jobs either. I think the whole company can take the blame and not just a few individuals.

The entire company may be one or two people.

I agree. I think the company may be under just two people, if that. When bookstores decide to write them for orders, they probably won't respond.

They have not acknowledged the books being overnighted to me yet.

I would find it highly unlikely that they COULD fill an order for overnight delivery. They don't have the books sitting in a warehouse to do it! 99% of the subsidy publishers out there use third party jobbers like Lightning Source to actually prepare the perfect bound books. Most small publishers can't afford a POD machine in their basement. The MINIMUM that you'll be looking at for any future order would be five to seven working days (and you'll have to pay a premium price to get it that quick), because Heliographica is in line with all of the other subsidy publishers waiting on the jobber to print the books. You'll probably find that the books are drop shipped directly from the printer. This is why they will show up on Amazon and the like as 2-3 weeks shipping, because if Amazon doesn't receive the book for seven days, processes the book and then re-ships to the end buyer, it's usually two weeks before the customer can possibly see it.

Cathy:
I understand that POD works that way, and with a company as small as Heliographica, they cannot be printed that fast. However, given that I ordered the authors copies on Sept. 30, I would assume they would be printed and shipped by now. They ruined my promotions now and they STILL are not saying anything about them being overnighted. I assume if I pay any company a few hundred bucks to get a product to me within a certain amount of time, that they would make it up by sending it to me through UPS next day or something.

See, they posted two replies and now they don't even have anything to say. They started replying to my emails, all except for the ones about shipping my books.

Hello from a new user. Since I am considering working with Heliographica, I have been watching this thread with interest. A new author in my community recently "published" with Heliographica. His book is on Barnes and Noble, and I am aware that both he, as well as readers who have ordered his book received them in a timely fashion. In his particular situation, it seems that both author and at least the few readers I have spoken with are happy. However, I have to admit that I do not know anything about his royalty payments and whether any are owed, or if they have been received promptly.

Like many authors, I am not a celebrity and I have never published a trade book before. This combination has left me with rejection after rejection from agents. I can get agents interested in my proposal, but given my lack of apparent marketability, no one will bite. This has led me to the POD route. I have not yet sent my proposal to Heliographica, or any other POD publishers yet, but I am considering it. I would love to hear from any of you regarding your ongoing experiences with Heliographica or any other POD/self-publishing companies. I am a physician/triathlete and my book is directed to the reader interested in "total body wellness". Anyone know a POD company, publisher or agent with particular interest in this genre?

doctri said:

His book is on Barnes and Noble

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There's a big difference between being "on" Barnes & Noble and being "in" Barnes & Noble.

Anyone know a POD company, publisher or agent with particular interest in this genre?

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When you find books simlar to yours in bookstores, who published them?

Have you already queried Ten Speed Press?