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Writer Beware: "Two Thumbs Down" Publisher List

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Sarandipity

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Hi Writer Friends

Just thought i'd add to this list of bad publishers. My first novel 'CIRCE' now in second edition but not a penny in royalties. First it was Electric Umbrella/Mylero.com who published the book and I had to ask the kind Angela Hoy of Writers Weekly to step in for me so I could get the book down. One of the authors there had told me my book was on their bestseller list. Then on to Mojocastle Press and Stephanie Kelsey who published the book first as an ebook in 2008, then as paperback in 2009 and till date I have not had a penny from them. Kelsey had lots of personal problems - health and unhealthy baby so I did not complain but I have recently and she and her husband Ryan are ignoring my messages on FB. She told me to contact Ryan about royalties but he never replied. I've told Stephanie to end contract, but no answer. I will self publish the book but it's still on their website and on Amazon and Kobo and god knows where else. Preditors and Editors seem to be out of business right now, so where should I report them? Write to Angela Hoy again? Thanks for any suggestions.

Best
Anita
 

mrsmig

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Hi Writer Friends

Just thought i'd add to this list of bad publishers. My first novel 'CIRCE' now in second edition but not a penny in royalties. First it was Electric Umbrella/Mylero.com who published the book and I had to ask the kind Angela Hoy of Writers Weekly to step in for me so I could get the book down. One of the authors there had told me my book was on their bestseller list. Then on to Mojocastle Press and Stephanie Kelsey who published the book first as an ebook in 2008, then as paperback in 2009 and till date I have not had a penny from them. Kelsey had lots of personal problems - health and unhealthy baby so I did not complain but I have recently and she and her husband Ryan are ignoring my messages on FB. She told me to contact Ryan about royalties but he never replied. I've told Stephanie to end contract, but no answer. I will self publish the book but it's still on their website and on Amazon and Kobo and god knows where else. Preditors and Editors seem to be out of business right now, so where should I report them? Write to Angela Hoy again? Thanks for any suggestions.

Best
Anita

Hi Anita, and welcome to AW.

There's already a thread on Mojocastle Press here. I couldn't find anything about Electric Umbrella/Mylero, either in this forum or in a Google search, so if you have a link to their website that would be helpful.

I suggest you add your comments about Mojocastle Press to the current thread, and start a new, separate thread about Electric Umbrella/Mylero - if, indeed, that company still exists (if it's gone belly-up, a thread is probably pointless).

To my knowledge, there's no single watchdog entity to police scammy or inept publishers. You can report your experience to Victoria Strauss' Writer Beware website, but if you're looking for help recovering royalties and/or rights, a lawyer or consumer advocate group may be your best bet.
 

Sarandipity

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Thank you mrsmig for your advice. I have just posted on the Mojo thread. And will message Victoria as you suggest. I'm thinking of going ahead and self publishing the novel anyway, instead of waiting for them to take the book down. Is that possible?
 

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Thank you mrsmig for your advice. I have just posted on the Mojo thread. And will message Victoria as you suggest. I'm thinking of going ahead and self publishing the novel anyway, instead of waiting for them to take the book down. Is that possible?

That's not a good idea. Good books don't go stale. Hold off.

Write another book while you wait.
 

Sarandipity

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Thank you all for the advice. I suppose they do take time to get the book off their website - as they have indicated in an email to the group earlier.
 

Sarandipity

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In fact I have finally heard from Ryan Kelsey. He has sent me a release document I must sign and return and also says he will send in my royalty. minus 30% because I don't have a 'foreign tax number'. That's such a downer. How is someone living outside the USA to get one? Anyway, it's a relief.
 

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If you haven't read the publisher's response to your post in the Mojocastle thread, you might want to. Sounds as if they sent you the necessary tax forms some time ago. Here's the link: AW Mojocastle thread.
 

Ludens

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Thanks for a list. I deem it reasonable for any writer/novelist rto run a check against it. it might be also worthy to take a look at http://www.authormedia.com/3-signs-of-a-publishing-scam/ or https://www.nature.com/news/investigating-journals-the-dark-side-of-publishing-1.12666m

The second link doesn't work. It should be: https://www.nature.com/news/investigating-journals-the-dark-side-of-publishing-1.12666

Also, it's about scientific publishing, which is rather different from trade publishing. Still, it's interesting to see that Jeffrey Beall's list of predatory scientific publishers received very similar criticism as Writer Beware did back in the day.
 
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