[Publisher] Big Bend Productions / Marfa House

[aliceshortcake]

Bearing in mind the demise of Bruning's previous publishing venture and the bizarre economics underlying BBP/Marfa, it's amusing to see some of the stuff she teaches on Outschool as a "Bestselling Author and Educator":

My Budget
Let's learn how to create and use a budget

Building Your Own Business (includes "we will learn what start up costs are and how to get them in order for the business to start operating"...and "students will learn about hiring staff and why they are so important").

And for $200:

Camp Write Right!
A three month writing adventure from prewriting to publishing with National Novel Writing Month Young Writers Program and Academic Warriors.
[...]
Students will be introduced to self-editing and proofreading.
[...]
Students will learn the two types of publishing - self publishing and traditional. The students will also learn the publishing process. They will have the
opportunity to have their short story published in an anthology and/or as a standalone short by Marfa House, a publishing company based in Marfa, Texas. Students will turn in their final drafts to the teacher with their email address so the publishing house can contact them. The student will work with professional editors, formattor and cover designers outside the classroom after the sessions have ended.
https://outschool.com/teachers/Allison-Bruning

'Create and Publish Your Graphic Novel' also offers publication with Marfa House.

I wonder if Outschool is aware that Bruning is the owner of Marfa House?

[read2live]

If you are referring to the new vice president who replaced the old one I was told that this was done because the old vice president was NOT doing her job. The new vice president had to go back months and do the original work that was left undone. The old vice president did sloppy work if she worked at all. I understand that everything is working much better now under the new vice president.

And the owner of the company used money owed to said vice president on a personal debt to pay her contact termination fee when said personal debt had nothing to do with the business or the contact whatsoever. Seeing as I'm sure you've already discerned my identity based on your slanderous comments. And yes, your comments here are slander as they cannot be irrefutably proven. The comments about BBP and Marfa by everyone else on this thread, however, can.

I have a very happy and fulfilling life. I also don't hide behind the anonymity of the internet. I've left enough breadcrumbs in my comments here. You know precisely who i am and this is why you commented the way that you did. Be honest about who you are. Stop telling half truths, or walk away.

[CaoPaux]

It'd be libel, not slander.

Regardless, unless anyone has anything substantive to add, I'm putting this one to chill for a while.


ETA: Reopening in anticipation of substance.

[witchybelle4u2]

I missed this comment somehow! I can confirm with fair certaintly as well that marketeer is in fact the owner's spouse. I can also tell you that the owner is not operating this business under her legal name and that that throws up a lot of red flags as well. This was something I was not aware of when I entered into an arrangement with the company and only came to light after I was in too deep already. But I am fairly certain that almost no one within the company is aware of this.

read2live this is very interesting and also possibly very helpful. Are you able to/willing to share any other information that writers/illustrators/etc. who have been adversely affected by Allison "Bruning"'s lies and manipulations might find useful?

Also, thank you very much for your honesty. It is greatly appreciated.

[aliceshortcake]

Re. the "legal name" business, this may be relevant. From Bruning's blog:

Happy Get A Different Name Day. Were you born with a name that you don't like to use? I was. I was born Margaret Allison Bruning. My family has been using the name Margaret since they were in Ireland during the 14th century. It's a beautiful name but it doesn't fit me so I go by my middle name.
http://allisonbruning.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/names-genealogical-nightmare-or-blessing.html

More misleading information from Bruning:

I have always had one goal in mind with my books. I want my books to be carried by one of the Big 6 companies. I started my writing career querying agents but got nowhere. I learned it was harder for an unknown author to get an agent and that the best thing I could do was build up my author platform to get their attention. So I turned to the small press. I wanted a publisher to publish my books because I was new to the writing world and didn’t know anything about publishing. My first book, Calico, was picked up by a small press in 2010.

We know that the "small press" was in fact a brand-new self-publishing front.

Mind you, I had begun my writing career in 2008. Sometimes it just works that way. You have a finished book but it’s hard to get a house to notice you because you’re a new author. The publishing house is only there to make money. They want a guarantee that your book is going to sell.

Yes, real publishers want to make money. That's why the books they publish undergo quality control, something that's sadly lacking at Marfa House. If you're a new author with a publishable book there's an excellent chance that you'll be noticed.

I have been using the Indie world to build my career for six years. It is working. I was picked up by a literary manager in May of 2014. The reason I was able to obtain a manager was because I had enough followers and my name is known throughout the historical fiction community. My next step is to acquire an agent for my novels, scripts and screenplays.

I would love to know who this literary manager is.

There have been plenty of big name authors who have used the Indie world to launch their writing careers.

"Plenty"?

I think we are going to see many more publishing houses become author services (aka: vanity press). Publishing houses are having a hard time financially staying afloat in this business. More and more companies are turning into vanity press.

WHAT?! There's a huge difference between a publisher turning into a vanity press and offering author services on the side.

There use to be a time when I would tell people to run away from a vanity press but not anymore. There are good and bad vanity presses out there just as there are good and bad traditional publishing houses.

It's a pity that Bruning didn't provide any examples of good vanity presses or bad "traditional" publishing houses.

My favourite:

We’re living in a time when authors need to do their research on a house but don’t relay on word of mouth through social media outlets or through your friends.
https://bookgoodies.com/interview-with-author-allison-bruning/

Unless the house in question is Marfa House, in which case research=slander (sic).

[Helix]

From a previous enterprise:

My graphic designer, Ian Smith, is my literary manager. He also owns Film Smith Productions and has optioned my full-length feature film. When he learned of what I was trying to create he was excited and had asked if I needed a graphic artist. A few days after he came to work for us he introduced me to his cousin, Stevan Ray Richards, Jr. and asked if I needed another editor. I told him I did and hired Stevan. A month ago I realized I was not suited for formatting and asked Stevan to stop into the formatter position because he has the skills for that job.

[aliceshortcake]

Well spotted!

I have to marvel at the skills of a graphic designer who moonlights as a literary manager and a film producer, yet is invisible to Google apart from that single mention.

[read2live]

read2live this is very interesting and also possibly very helpful. Are you able to/willing to share any other information that writers/illustrators/etc. who have been adversely affected by Allison "Bruning"'s lies and manipulations might find useful?

Also, thank you very much for your honesty. It is greatly appreciated.

First, I apologize for the delay in my response. My summer has been a bit hectic with June being the last month of my term for school and things with my kids and such.

I am not sure if you have discerned who I am or not at this point. If you have, in an earlier post, I had said that there were things I regretted having had to do on behalf of this company and that I was sorry to those that were affected by that, and in part, that was directed at you. I do know who you are, or at least I am fairly certain anyway.

Because of the position I was in with the company, I know a lot more than I care to about a lot of the inner workings of things. I know that as of this writing, almost all of their original staff from the time that you were there has either quit or been fired, with the exception of the one editor that you did not see eye to eye with. They are currently operating on a skeleton crew at best, with the majority of their staff being unpaid interns. To me, this is a recipe for disaster. In recent months, a majority of their staff has left. While I do know why they have quit, it is not my story to share and hopefully at some point they will feel comfortable coming in here and sharing their own story.

I know that when anyone disagreed with the owner, frequently bullying tactics were used, but the owner never got her own hands dirty. She would have someone else do the dirty work, except for actually terminating someone. She had to do that part herself. If she didn't actually terminate someone, she would try to make it so that they would want to quit, so that she could say that they broke their contract and try to hit them up for the money for having done so. Even if the company terminated the contract, they still hit up the authors for the fee for "breaking the contract". There were so many holes in the contracts that it may as well have been a piece of swiss cheese, and I know for a fact that this had been pointed out to them on more than one occasion, at least once by myself, when an incident relating to the holes in said contract kept them from being able to sign a potential author.

There is so much that just...never sat right or was off. A lot is hard to explain or put into words. There were a lot of things that at the time set off warning bells but I tried to ignore and in the end I got burned just like everyone else.

[aliceshortcake]

In addition to unpaid interns Big Bend is currently looking for an editor, formatter, graphic designer and illustrator. The editor "must be a university student" and be able to "identify literary devices while reading" (as opposed to doing so while sky-diving or baking). Applicants for all four positions must not be currently working for other editing, formatting, graphic design or illustration services. Evidently BB is still struggling with the concept of freelancing.

https://www.bigbendpro.com/internship

All applicants "must have a love for the written world", a typo that has already been pointed out on this thread.

Oh, and a little gem from the intern application form:

Please provide two more references who can tell us more about your work ethics.

Transmedia services include:

Writing Coach - $20 per hour - Learn how to write a novel, graphic novel, screenplay, television script or game. Session are via Skype.

Book to Screen - Let us convert your novel into a screenplay.
Full length feature film: $900 plus 5% royalties.
TV series: $775 plus 5% royalties.
Short film: $250 plus 5% royalties.

Screen to Book
Full length feature film: $550 plus 5% royalties.
TV series: $375 plus 5% royalties.
Short film: $250 plus 5% royalties.

Who's teaching these courses - Allison Bruning herself? If I wanted to learn how to write novels or screenplays I'd expect my teacher to have SOLD novels or screenplays. Bruning has done neither.

It gets worse:

Graphic Novel/Webcomic/TV Bible
(the document that tells the artist everything they need to know to draw the graphic novel, includes plot) - $950
https://www.bigbendpro.com/transmedia

$950

$950

I just hope potential customers will have enough sense to ask themselves "If these people are so knowledgeable, why are they putting out sub-standard books with hideous covers and selling footed pajamas?"

[Helix]

Blimey. Reading that page has made my eyes water.

Edits manuscripts for grammatical, spelling, punctuation, plot and character.

Must have a love for the written world and a desire to help authors make their book the best they can be.

Creates illustrations for children's book, graphic novels and logos.

My emphasis.

[VeryBigBeard]

That's not what transmedia is, in so far as transmedia is an agreed upon anything at all.

It's not adaptation of a book for film or vice-versa. That can be a part of a transmedia project but it's not really what's meant by the term. Rather, transmedia is a story designed to be told across multiple media, so a book might have a web comic component exploring some other part of the canon. A film might have a game tie-in. It is NOT the same story told more or less the same way in every different medium.

Most transmedia is either very small and experimental--a lot of it is VR-based, right now; a lot of it used to be online video-based--or very, very large on the scale of what the Marvel Cinematic Universe is doing. These people are not Kevin Feige.

What they say a "bible" is, is not what a bible is. It is not the character brief or art direction notes. It may include art direction notes but it's not meant to be written expressly for that purpose, necessarily. It is internal documentation, often self-reference for the writer or a writing team to keep track of large-scale continuity between properties or between instalments. It contains everything, basically--not just art--and that everything needs to be concisely and clearly conveyed. $950 for a bible is incredibly cheap, or it would be if this company knew what a bible was and how to make one.

[Futterbly]

At first, it was a 'decent' fee...

Then the 50-50

Then the royalty...

[Futterbly]

Someone I know
A reflection really
Was suppose to do all the art work almost freely

When she said 'No I can't'
She was told the difference between a hobby and a profession
She wasn't paid for the old work not even the assured 'commission'

She had her books stalled for almost a year
She stopped working & gave a deadline
The book was pushed again and she was called 'rude' and was suppose to pay a very heavy fine!

But coz of her connection to the higher places she was safe
A lot of courage it took and a little prayer
She got out, couldn't escape the slandering and yet said 'Dead God, please help her!'

[RWrites]

The covers are okay, but the comic sans is throwing me off. It's not the best website and the absolute loyalty does ring alarm bells. If this was your full job and you relied on making covers for multiple people to make income, I think having loyalty would be a no for me. They also say that fictions must be 100 pages or under to be print published. Something seems fishy about them, perhaps because of the website or their rules!

[aliceshortcake]

They also say that fictions must be 100 pages or under to be print published.

Unless you're Allision Bruning, Marfa's owner, in which case this rule doesn't apply. Her books are by far the longest published by Marfa, which isn't saying much as quite a few of them are little more than pamphlet-length.

[read2live]

Unless you're Allision Bruning, Marfa's owner, in which case this rule doesn't apply. Her books are by far the longest published by Marfa, which isn't saying much as quite a few of them are little more than pamphlet-length.

They did insist that if a book was not over 100 pages, it could not be published in print, though on doing my own research on leaving the company, CreateSpace makes no such assertion. I do understand that it would be silly to release a 20-ish page short story in print, but there were authors who had books that were very close to the 100 page mark that were told they had to pad their story to get it over 100 to be able to release in print. These authors would end up adding in unneccessary fluff just to make it long enough. And it would pass through editing. But then many of these books would be undoubtedly delayed and never see the light of day. More and more, as time went on, one becomes aware that Marfa House was just another vanity press, or a self publishing front masquerading as the real thing, truly just an attempt at an author trying to gain legitimacy in the industry, as the majority of what actually made it out there were Ms. Bruning's and her husband's books, and those of Mr. Mukherjee, who paid to have his books published.

[aliceshortcake]

More and more, as time went on, one becomes aware that Marfa House was just another vanity press, or a self publishing front masquerading as the real thing, truly just an attempt at an author trying to gain legitimacy in the industry, as the majority of what actually made it out there were Ms. Bruning's and her husband's books, and those of Mr. Mukherjee, who paid to have his books published.

There we have Marfa House in a nutshell. No doubt Bruning picked up a few tips from Page Turners Publishing Company, Toney Dunaway's self-publishing front, which reprinted her novel Calico.

Oh, and Marfa House certainly loves Skype. A submission to MH involves two Skype interviews, the first with Bruning, Director of Editing Melissa Meeks and Delfin Espinosa:

We want to make certain the author's social media and submission request is coming from a real person. We do allow authors to have pen names but we do not accept authors who submit their manuscripts under more than one identity.
https://www.bigbendpro.com/submissions

If successful the applicant has a second Skype interview with Bruning. For pete's sake, this is a comically inept amateur publisher, not the CIA!

I also find it rather disturbing that Bruning, a believer in the long-discredited crackpot theory that John Wilkes Booth wasn't killed at Garrett's Barn, is using her pamphlet on the subject as part of one of her Outschool courses:

https://outschool.com/classes/prove-...booth-a1Yg16Aa

The MH site includes a mini-essay by a 13-year-old who describes Bruning as an "historian":

https://www.bigbendpro.com/blogger//...50463781835658

Shameful.

[read2live]

There we have Marfa House in a nutshell. No doubt Bruning picked up a few tips from Page Turners Publishing Company, Toney Dunaway's self-publishing front, which reprinted her novel Calico.

Oh, and Marfa House certainly loves Skype. A submission to MH involves two Skype interviews, the first with Bruning, Director of Editing Melissa Meeks and Delfin Espinosa:



If successful the applicant has a second Skype interview with Bruning. For pete's sake, this is a comically inept amateur publisher, not the CIA!

I also find it rather disturbing that Bruning, a believer in the long-discredited crackpot theory that John Wilkes Booth wasn't killed at Garrett's Barn, is using her pamphlet on the subject as part of one of her Outschool courses:

https://outschool.com/classes/prove-...booth-a1Yg16Aa

The MH site includes a mini-essay by a 13-year-old who describes Bruning as an "historian":

https://www.bigbendpro.com/blogger//...50463781835658

Shameful.

Heh, I just went to look at the link you posted and I get "We're sorry, this content cannot be displayed. Please try again later."

As to the Skype interviews, yes they were very fond of their Skype. Every bit of business was conducted that way, at all hours of the day or night with little regard for the fact that the international contingent was in a different time zone altogether and that the time would be unreasonable for them. This happened all the time.

[aliceshortcake]

How odd. Try this and follow the first link:

https://www.bigbendpro.com/blogger

[read2live]

How odd. Try this and follow the first link:

https://www.bigbendpro.com/blogger

Yep, that bit works. And that seems more like creative writing than historical accuracy. I am absolutely floored. I can attest, however, that there is a great deal of the conspiracy theorist in both Ms. Bruning and her husband.

[Futterbly]

I have two questions.

1. If you design or illustrate something but never got paid. Your book kept delayed for other reasons and get your contracts cancelled. You're told that the amount is considered as payment for replacement, can you use those designs minus the typography?
2. If you didn't charge them to design your OWN book covers while you were working with them, do they belong to the company or the artist?

[Old Hack]

You need to check your contract, Futterbly. We can't advise you on that because we've not seen it (and please don't post it here, we can't provide legal advice. Sorry.)

[Futterbly]

You need to check your contract, Futterbly. We can't advise you on that because we've not seen it (and please don't post it here, we can't provide legal advice. Sorry.)

I understand. I will be careful... I know I won't get answer for the first one. I'd just let it go. But for the second one I just need to clear a doubt. If you don't charge the company for your work is it still yours?

And there was no employee contract with any terms and conditions. It was just author contracts.

[Old Hack]

1. If you design or illustrate something but never got paid. Your book kept delayed for other reasons and get your contracts cancelled. You're told that the amount is considered as payment for replacement, can you use those designs minus the typography?
2. If you didn't charge them to design your OWN book covers while you were working with them, do they belong to the company or the artist?

I don't understand the part I've put into bold.

Some general points to consider. Note this is not legal advice, I am not a lawyer, and you mustn't base any decisions on my comments here. Get a lawyer.

If they got someone else to do the typography then no, you almost certainly can't use it.

Unless the artwork used was original, and you painted or photographed it, you can't use it.

If you did produce a 100% original painting or photograph to use as part of the book jacket then you might be able to use it but you'll need proper legal advice to be sure.

If the design is based on a stock image then you can't use it, because you won't have a license to use that stock image. Those licenses are usually not transferable.

I understand. I will be careful... I know I won't get answer for the first one. I'd just let it go. But for the second one I just need to clear a doubt. If you don't charge the company for your work is it still yours?

I can't tell you. I don't know what you agreed to, or what was delivered, or how things were left. All these are pertinent.

And there was no employee contract with any terms and conditions. It was just author contracts.

Author contracts are binding. Verbal contracts can be binding. The emails you exchanged discussing the situation might well add to the agreement if there was no formal contract.

You need to take legal advice from a qualified professional.

[Futterbly]

I don't understand the part I've put into bold.

Some general points to consider. Note this is not legal advice, I am not a lawyer, and you mustn't base any decisions on my comments here. Get a lawyer.

If they got someone else to do the typography then no, you almost certainly can't use it.

Unless the artwork used was original, and you painted or photographed it, you can't use it.

If you did produce a 100% original painting or photograph to use as part of the book jacket then you might be able to use it but you'll need proper legal advice to be sure.

If the design is based on a stock image then you can't use it, because you won't have a license to use that stock image. Those licenses are usually not transferable.



I can't tell you. I don't know what you agreed to, or what was delivered, or how things were left. All these are pertinent.



Author contracts are binding. Verbal contracts can be binding. The emails you exchanged discussing the situation might well add to the agreement if there was no formal contract.

You need to take legal advice from a qualified professional.

Thank you so much, Old Hack!

I got the answers I was looking for. If it is my artwork is 100% original and done by me, it's mine but to be sure I must still get a legal opinion before using it.

The parts in bold - I created the design/illustrations especially children's book art work (only used a couple of images from public domain)and someone else did the typography for a year. Later, for all the unpaid work I was told that the amount that I am suppose to get will be considered as 'termination fee for the breaking these contracts' So I was told I shouldn't use my designs. My payment became the termination fee but I was able to get my books back.

I only wanted to use the covers I designed for my books... I decided to leave the rest 85% of work I did for others authors anyway.


As long as authors are willing to wait for years while the owner's books and paid author's are being published I think they can still go to MH but I wouldn't recommend anyone to work there.