I’m in a bit of a quandary regarding Snowbooks, especially in light of Emma’s recent vigorous defense of her company over here on AW. I know they’ve enjoyed a very good reputation over the years, so it grieves me to say that over the past year, I’ve developed some serious reservations about them.
In December of 2009 I sold the UK rights to
The Writer’s Essential Tackle Box to Snowbooks, where it was released in May 2010. I did so based on the wonderful things I'd heard about their company. I’d been told they had great distribution in the UK and had a distribution agreement with Consortium to cover the US and Canadian markets (which was not a factor for my book since I was only selling the UK rights).
On January 6 of this year, I wrote Emma to inquire about royalty statements, since it had been eight months since its release and I’d had no contact whatsoever. She wrote back to say that statements were being finalized. (This proved to be puzzling because I talked to an author who was paid his royalty check in December, 2010)
A full month passed with no royalty statement. I wrote to Emma again on Feb. 8, asking again about my royalty statement and royalty check. She replied that statements had been sent out. I never received mine, so she looked in the system and discovered my statement wasn't in the system. Ok, no problem. Crap happens. She subsequently sent my royalty statement as an email attachment and, at that time, asked if a check would be ok. I replied this was fine.
Another month passed, and I hadn’t heard or received anything. So on March 8, I emailed Emma once again, inquiring about my royalty check. Nothing.
I wrote again on March 20, my fourth request, and urged her to contact me with information regarding my royalty check. I have yet to hear from her.
Officially alarmed and adequately peeved, I began to ask around because in my experience when a publisher stops corresponding with their authors, it’s a possible sign of financial trouble. So in asking around, I discovered that I am not alone with no correspondence and no royalty check. Some did finally get paid, but not without their agents’ intervening quite strenuously. Others, like me, are still waiting.
Sometime in 2010, Snowbooks severed their ties with Consortium, and this left a huge hole in distribution for US and Canadian authors. I talked with a couple authors whose books had never been distributed to their own countries.
This makes promotion in the author’s country nearly impossible, not to mention heartbreaking. Will those books be shelved in UK bookstores, or are these foreign authors orphaned before they ever get out of production? This is the kind of stuff that adversely affects non UK authors, yet no one is talking about it.
There are other concerns that hint strongly to financial difficulties, but I don’t have permission from the authors to divulge those details. Suffice it to say that it’s consistent with a problem with insufficient operating capital.
My reason for posting this isn’t to publicize a personal grievance because I’ve decided there is little choice but to move on with respect to the UK release of my book. Rather, I want to alert readers to the fact that, for the past year, there has been a problem at Snowbooks.
If I chose to keep quiet, then who else might experience the same fate as I and other Snowbook authors? My intent is to pass along what I know so authors have the ability to make informed decisions based on hearing all sides of the problem.
It is my sincerest hope that whatever is plaguing Snowbooks is worked out very soon. Until then, I remain extremely disappointed.
