Libros International / Wild Cherry Press

Urging LI authors to put good reviews of each others books on Amazon isn't exactly honorable either, but it happened. In fact, a high percentage of Amazon reviews on Libros books are by fellow Libros authors and Libros staff. Then there's someone called James Parker-Rothchild.

A publisher lying to his authors is not an appropriate practice, but that doesn't stop it happening.

Offering to review authors' books for £25 is not what some of us would approve of, but Amazon allowed Ken to advertise that service.

I understand and sympathize with your sense of injustice, Whistleblower, but sadly, it's not an ideal world we live in.

Names such as Sebastion Coe, Steve Redgrave and Daley Thomson mentioned in a derogatory manner on Libros International's front page would seem to be a tad dangerous, but no doubt Ken Douglas will get away with it.

Whistleblower:
Chambers has been threatened with a libel suit by Cyril Regis and for all I know that may be on going.

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Regis may have been threatened with a libel suit, but it's very easy to threaten a libel suit as, incidentally, Kenny himself well knows, having threatened to sue me and a number of other posters on this thread over a year and a half ago.

However, it's also v. expensive to launch a libel suit in England because there's no entitlement to legal aid and the discovery process can be an intrusion into a claimant's privacy. Unless and until a publisher receives a pre-action letter from a firm of solicitors, they're not going to worry about it.

Speaking of worrying about law suits, Kenny's suit against me doesn't appear to have come to anything even though he made a big deal about how the partners had voted to instruct a top London firm of solicitors and the claim was going to be advertised in the Times and everything. Sometimes, it's those who shout loudest at first about defamation who end up staying silent.

Whistleblower:
My point is that the main page of the LI website states categorically that Ken Scott is the ghost writer. The Amazon reviews, both written by him, state that it was not ghost written. Surely this is fraud, or at the very least gross deception.

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And much as this points to Kenny's pratitude, so far as I'm aware it's not yet a criminal or other offence. This is why I mentioned the EU Directive on misleading advertising. There was a big brouhaha about it a few years ago because it would have prohibited people from posting reviews of their own services/product where the same could be deemed to mislead the consumer, but I don't know what became of it.

MM

qwerty said:

Urging LI authors to put good reviews of each others books on Amazon isn't exactly honorable either, but it happened. In fact, a high percentage of Amazon reviews on Libros books are by fellow Libros authors and Libros staff. Then there's someone called James Parker-Rothchild.

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If you remember this is one of the reasons why I left Libros.

The whole Dwain Chambers debacle is just another reason for steering well clear of this publisher. If the book was any good Kenny wouldn't need to write his own reviews.

Given their record, is anyone surprised by this latest turn of events? These are the sort of tactics that people use when they haven't got the talent to go down the conventional route. I'm not into athletics and have no interest in Dwain Chambers but I do wonder why he didn't find a proper writer if he wanted a ghost writer and a proper publisher. I guess he tried that route and nobody was interested.

To Jill AW addict

Can you help Jill? Libros have requested an MS from me but I really don't know much about them. You appear to have had a bad experience which makes me reluctant to send off the MS. Any chance of filling me in a little?
I'd be very thankful if you could.
All the best, Shim.

Blacklisted?

Blacklisted? Are they or not, and where? I just wanted a bit of background, otherwise forget it.

Shimshon:
Libros have requested an MS from me but I really don't know much about them. You appear to have had a bad experience which makes me reluctant to send off the MS. Any chance of filling me in a little?

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Shimson, in case it takes a while for Jill to get back to you, there is a whole thread on Libros International here, which I would strongly recommend you take a look at before sending your manuscript to them.

Personally, I would suggest that if the behaviour of Ken Douglas on that thread doesn't put you off submitting your manuscript, then the fact that they still don't appear to have any mainstream distribution in place for their authors books definitely should.

MM

re Libros

I recently signed a 3 book deal with a traditional publisher. Under the terms of our agreement, I receive 10 books free of charge. I can purchase as many books as I like half price, which I am entitled to sell on (at full price if I choose.) I understand this to be standard practice with genuine publishers.

In addition, I received a reasonable advance on signing the contract, with a further advance paid to me on publication of each book.

We're not talking about vast sums of money. I'm still in the day job. But this is a relatively small publishing house, and I'm a completely unknown author. Cut Short, published in June, is my very first book. I feel my publisher has treated me very fairly. If I didn't feel this, I wouldn't have signed their contract.

I'm sorry to sound harsh, but I would never pay someone else to publish my work. As it happens I was fortunate to receive an offer from a publisher a couple of months after I started to write - I still haven't found an agent. If I hadn't succeeded in finding a publisher fairly quickly for my first book, I would have spent time:
a) rewriting my book
b) researching my market rather better than I had done and only then
c) trying again
Alternatively, I might have decided it wasn't worth pursuing and found something else to occupy my mind!

You must remember - we write because we love to write; to publishers, our books are their living. They won't take you on if they think you won't sell, however well you write. They have to invest a lot of time and money in turning writing into books.

Shimshon said:

Can you help Jill? Libros have requested an MS from me but I really don't know much about them. You appear to have had a bad experience which makes me reluctant to send off the MS. Any chance of filling me in a little?
I'd be very thankful if you could.
All the best, Shim.

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Have sent you a pm Shimshon but I would suggest you take MM's advice!

Leigh Russell said:

I recently signed a 3 book deal with a traditional publisher. Under the terms of our agreement, I receive 10 books free of charge. I can purchase as many books as I like half price, which I am entitled to sell on (at full price if I choose.) I understand this to be standard practice with genuine publishers.

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You're misinformed. While free copies are standard (number varies by the size of your publisher) legit publishers do not allow you to sell any books you receive from them, free or purchased at half price. Ever.

M.R.J. Le Blanc said:

You're misinformed. While free copies are standard (number varies by the size of your publisher) legit publishers do not allow you to sell any books you receive from them, free or purchased at half price. Ever.

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That's not strictly true.

In the US, many of the largest publishers will send you books at the wholesaler's per-carton price for you to resell at a signing event when there is no way you can get a bookstore partner to be the vendor for the event. Bookstore partners are preferred whenever possible, but if there is absolutely no way to make that happen, the publisher will work with the author and/or the organization sponsoring the event.

Also, many smaller publishers that specialize in non-fiction work out deals with folks who want to resell a book or books at, say, workshops or lectures.

I certainly resell discounted copies from the legit small press and a huge science textbook publisher I am published with. Some allow it, some don't.

Byron Preiss used to send out cases of books to the authors that they were allowed to resell.

Then again, with Byron, that helped suppliment the minimal payment for your novels. *grin* Ah, the Byron Preiss stories rear their ugly head again.

Later Edit: Then again, my Star Trek books that I got from Simon and Schuster were strictly NOT for resale. (Of course, the few I picked up at 40% off cover from Amazon can certainly be resold now that the S&S books are gone. )

I stand corrected then

Shimshon said:

Blacklisted? Are they or not, and where? I just wanted a bit of background, otherwise forget it.

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Do I smell a LI rat here?

Thanks Cao, you're probably right.

Alas is right. My old nemesis rears its head yet once again.

*le sigh*