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YouWriteOn.com / New Generation Publishing / Legend Press

Anna Magdalena

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Wise words, Phoenix Fury. And absolutely true. Unfortunately, I've found myself involved in this self-same debate so many times and have come up against the same brick wall. I've been accused of snobbery and elitism, too, when, in fact, all I've done is tried to open people's eyes to the real world and suggest they work harder and longer to get published and not go for the quick--but ultimately disappointing and pointless--fix.

You may be a Phoenix but those who rigidly support outfits like YWO are ostriches.
 

Old Hack

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If anyone's interested, I have a blog post going up tomorrow morning about the YouWriteOn publishing scheme. I don't have much new information, but thought that it was time for a round-up. I was intending to wait until the message board was back up and running over there, but as there's no sign of that happening in the near future, I might as well go ahead now.
 

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The YouWriteOn message board is still not up, and the publishing update has not been changed since 19 January.

First thing this morning, Amazon UK listed a total of 191 YouWriteOn books, but now it's showing 193, whereas Barnes & Noble's count has remained at 273.

As the authors of every one of those 273 books has paid YouWriteOn £39.95 for their ISBN, YouWriteOn has received a total of £10,906.35 from its writers since the scheme began in October 2008. That makes an income of around £2,726 per month for YouWriteOn, in return for downloading three or four books a day, five days a week.
 

anneboleyn

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EEK! Is it? Right I'll have to check as I have been on it today and that could be the reason I've got zero messages! Maybe it's my spam thingy...thanks for alerting me!
 

Graham Sclater

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YWO

Like you. I am in the same boat but I cancelled my agreement when I could not get a "real " reply to my numerous e-mails. I have been assured I will receive the fee I paid but have no idea when.
Tabitha

The YouWriteOn message board is still not up, and the publishing update has not been changed since 19 January.

First thing this morning, Amazon UK listed a total of 191 YouWriteOn books, but now it's showing 193, whereas Barnes & Noble's count has remained at 273.

As the authors of every one of those 273 books has paid YouWriteOn £39.95 for their ISBN, YouWriteOn has received a total of £10,906.35 from its writers since the scheme began in October 2008. That makes an income of around £2,726 per month for YouWriteOn, in return for downloading three or four books a day, five days a week.
 

petec

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Like you. I am in the same boat but I cancelled my agreement when I could not get a "real " reply to my numerous e-mails. I have been assured I will receive the fee I paid but have no idea when.
Tabitha

Welcome Graham ( or is it Tabitha ) Welcome

Who knows what will happen with this mess.

This is a friendly place. Get thee to the newbie thread and receive the welcome you deserve

I hope you gain a lot from this board

Enjoy

Pete
 

anneboleyn

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Graham/Tabitha - did you recieve confirmation your agreement was cancelled? I sort of did and am debating whether to send a written letter (though I think I'll get zilch back, as that takes even more effort than email!)

And welcome also - I joined not so long ago, very friendly and helpful place here!
 

gothicangel

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How about a solicitor's letter?

Maybe contacting the Society of Author's might be a good idea.
 

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I think that a few people have had some luck by contacting Legend direct: at least, I've heard that Tom Chalmers has confirmed a couple of cancellations, but whether this has been done in writing or not is another matter.
 

Anna Magdalena

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It might be an idea for all unsure or disgruntled YWO authors or ex-authors to put their heads together. There must be a few apart from you Graham and anneboleyn who read AW. You could then form a pressure group which always has more clout than an individual. The Society of Authors is a good place to start as long as you are members but I'm sure the media will take an interest as soon as they know how many people are dissatisfied with the YWO service for one reason or another--never mind all the money it must have made and not, it would seem but I cannot be sure of this, used to promote their authors. Where has it gone and what does the Arts Council have to say?
 

qwerty

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You could then form a pressure group which always has more clout than an individual.

Absolutely. In my own experience, as an individual, I carried no weight with my complaint to the Arts Council. But I still insist that the AC carries some responsibility for what is happening now because their seal of approval appears on the page offering the publishing deal.

All I can say is that Charles Beckett is/was the AC officer responsible, and to whom Ted was apparently answerable. At least he managed to get a response from Ted which was passed on to me.
 

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Where has it gone and what does the Arts Council have to say?

I wrote to the Arts Council and they replied as follows:

"Dear

Thank you for your enquiry.

The Arts Council funds a distinct part of YouWriteOn's activities, specifically the peer-critique section where writers can upload and receive feedback on their work. The offer of self publication by YouWriteOn is not endorsed by us and we have asked them to make this clear on their website.

We understand that there has been a delay to the self-publishing programme, however we have been assured that YouWriteOn.com and Legend Press are working hard to address this problem. We therefore have no reason to believe that they will not fulfil their obligations.

Although we are unable to directly manage organisations who receive funding from us, we will ask YouWriteOn to contact authors with an update on their books and let them know exactly what is going on.

I hope this information is helpful.

Best regards
*****



You could try posting HERE
And I posted there, Petec, early in January!
 
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qwerty

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Parchment, by whom was that reply signed?
 

qwerty

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Okay, I'm angry.

Quote from letter received by parchment:

"The Arts Council funds a distinct part of YouWriteOn's activities, specifically the peer-critique section where writers can upload and receive feedback on their work."

And this has cost the British public how much so far?

Quote from letter received by parchment:

"The offer of self publication by YouWriteOn is not endorsed by us and we have asked them to make this clear on their website."

Has it yet been made clear on YWO's website, or does that page STILL carry the AC seal of approval at the top?

And parchment receives a reply from the AC enquiries operation manager, who may not be the person responsible for awarding public money to the literature division.
 

Parchment

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For a moment I thought you were angry with me, Qwerty!:)

Yes, I'm angry too. My book is now promised for some time this week. Patience is a virtue.
 

Anna Magdalena

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Good luck. Do tell us what happens, Parchment and what you think of the book once it's in your hands. Are you doing anything to promote sales etc?

And I do recommend that anyone, if they haven't done so already, who has been published by YWO and is not very happy or is awaiting publication or a refund and getting worried, that they visit the excellent How Publishing Really Works http://howpublishingreallyworks.blogspot.com and post a comment or email.
 
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Parchment

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Do tell us what happens, Parchment and what you think of the book once it's in your hands. Are you doing anything to promote sales etc?

I've seen a friend's book and it looked okay.

I shall order one copy and read it with red pen in hand!
If it's reasonable I shall order a few copies for family and useful friends.
If it's excellent: I shall visit the local bookshop and ask if they would like to buy a few copies.
However, I haven't dared to think about sales and publicity because of all the hiccups and extended publishing dates.

I went against all the free advice given when YWO's venture was announced and have always hoped that Ted and Tom would honour their promise. I don't like being taken for a fool!

I'll keep you posted. I'm feeling weary, it's been a long saga.
I'm wearing my 'positive' hat. :)
 

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Quote from letter received by parchment:

"The Arts Council funds a distinct part of YouWriteOn's activities, specifically the peer-critique section where writers can upload and receive feedback on their work."

And this has cost the British public how much so far?

I'm preparing another blog post on exactly this issue, Qwerty, following several email requests from interested parties: it should appear on Thursday morning. I'll provide all appropriate links in that post, but for now, here's a summary.

While the funding that YWO has received from the Arts Council doesn't represent all of YWO's income, it's a substantial part of it: and I was amazed when I added it all together. Here's a breakdown:

June 2005: £29,896
February 2007: £24,000
2007/2009: £10,000
February 2008: £10,000
October 2008: £11,000

Total: £84,896

If you add the £11,000 or so that YWO has also received as payments for ISBNs from this latest venture, it works out to a turnover of roughly £27,400 every year, which is a very decent wage. I certainly wouldn't say no to it.

It probably won't do much good complaining about this to the Arts Council alone: it would be more effective to also complain to the Government department to which the Arts Council reports (I've posted contact details for that department earlier in this thread); and to make your message strike home, make it clear that you've copied your complaint to all of the national press, TV and radio stations, and to consumer protection organisations. The longer your list the better.

My problem with YWO is not that it's running a vanity press--although I think that's bad enough: it's that it's doing so while in receipt of funding from the Arts Council; and it's misleading its members into believing that it's offering them a real chance of success.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to find out if Ted Smith has any background in publishing but the only reference I've found to his past career was in this PDF from the Arts Council, which states:

In terms of user experience, the site is clunky, full of broken links and difficult to navigate, with forums that mysteriously open at particular hours only. Nonetheless, YouWriteOn.com has 6,000 members, and receives millions of page views a month. There is clearly a hunger for these services. (Edward used to work in a Citizens Advice Bureau and sees his work as being about information and empowerment.)

My bold. I found it ironic that he used to work for the CAB, bearing in mind all the complaints that he must be getting now.
 
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