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Firefly & Wisp Publishing

eternalised

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This is starting to look very bad, especially for the authors involved. If they can expect the same amount of unprofessionalism from Xchyler Publishing they received from Firefly & Wisp, then I'd advise them to take those rights and make a run for it, if possible.

How can you be publisher for one company, and editor for another? This all seems so interlocked I'm having trouble figuring where who fits.
 

Konfettii

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My name is Dawn Jayne. I was an author with Firefly and Wisp until about three months ago. I found this thread after receiving a Google alert that tagged Firefly and Wisp and I have been following it with interest.

I have never spoken publicly about the reasons I left the company. I have never engaged in any sort of online 'attack' against Firefly and Wisp or Danielle Zwissler. I have no desire to inflict harm on any person, especially authors that are still with the company. I consider many of them to be friends, and have a great deal of respect for their talent. I wish every single one them nothing but the very best.

Many people on this thread were starting to ask questions about the company and the owner, Danielle. I think this is a good thing, but I also know that there is a fine line between fact-finding research and a witch-hunt. When the thread was temporarily closed, there were many questions and allegations left hanging, some directed toward parties whose affiliation with Firefly and Wisp was slight or had since been severed entirely. I contacted MacAllister with what I believed to be pertinent information relating to some specific inquiries.

I was planning to stay anonymous, but now I have decided to come forward due to an unsettling situation.

I, along with three other authors who left Firefly and Wisp, received a threatening and inflammatory message. I understand emotions are running high, and though I don't see how the screenshots posted yesterday can be viewed as malicious, it seems they are.

I am the person who sent those files to be posted. If anyone desires retaliation, they can come after me. There is no reason to direct anger and vengeance toward anyone else and I hope that will cease immediately.

I also sent Mac a copy of the message I received today, and if she wants to post it here with the sender's name blacked out, she may do so. I'd do it myself, but I'm a techno-twit.

I did not set out to dismantle Firefly and Wisp. When I signed with the company, there was very little information online. As time went on, I began to notice what I believed was a pattern of duplicitous and damaging behavior. Unfortunately, I uncovered things after I signed a contract. I realized by remaining silent I was tacitly allowing the behavior to continue, and there was a chance other writers both present and future could be harmed.

Though I am saddened by what has occurred in regard to the company and specifically the authors, I still feel I made the right choice.
My hope was this thread would give other writers a chance to make a more informed decision.

Dawn Jayne
 

WildScribe

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Welcome, Dawn. That's one heck of a brave first post. I hope you'll stick around AW, and thanks for coming forward with what you know about Firefly and Wisp.
 

brianm

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Danielle Zwissler I'd guess. Current Editor-in-Chief is Courtney Conant.
I thought it was the other way around? Earlier today Zwissler was shown on FB as being their EiC, but now they're not showing anyone as EiC.

I'm so confused.


~brianm~

ETA: From the Xchyler thread.

Courtney Conant is no longer with us, though I would like to say she has worked as a professional editor for many years, between technical writing/editing for books and catalogs to full-length novels.

So I'm guessing she's referring to Zwissler. So is Zwissler gone now too?
 
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Momento Mori

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Mary Duke:
Xchyler Publishing Submissions team have agreed to read through the Firefly and Wisp manuscripts, when we get proof that their contracts have been terminated.

I don't understand this and it's a shame that Mary's decided not to come back here to explain it.

As Stacia points out, F&W seem to have been saying that manuscripts would be assigned to Xchyler. If you are an author of F&W then please read your contract so see if it's possible for F&W to do that without your consent. As regards contracts being properly terminated, well given that so many people in Xchyler seem to be common to F&W that should be something that's easy for them to get comfortable with. Saying that, what concerns me is the suggestion that F&W will transfer its slush pile to Xchyler. If I had submitted to F&W it would bother me because it means that I'm no longer in control of who has my manuscript.

amergina:
Quote:
Firefly & Wisp would like to welcome Xchyler Publishing as a "sister" company. Xchyler will be producing some great new books soon. Look for our updates on them as well.
Make of that what you will. I also took a cap of the cache.

Unless you can prove a corporate relationship between F&W and Xchyler, then this is more likely to be on of those 'share the same ethos' statements.

Basically, my recommendation is that if you've been burnt by F&W then why try Xchyler? Even if Danielle no longer has anything to do with them, the fact that she once was associated with it makes me questions Xchyler's professional judgment.

MM
 
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E. S. Lark

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Xchyler Publishing Submissions team have agreed to read through the Firefly and Wisp manuscripts, when we get proof that their contracts have been terminated.
The authors should not be targeted because of the publisher. Their not at fault in the matter.
Joseph Rubas was a beta reader at Xchyler Publishing when we started in January, though was very quickly terminated. our staff can be found on our website.
These authors are scattered this morning. As of right now everything they have worked for, is under a bus. Lisa Morgan had a release party last night and has just paid for press releases in her local papers.


Bold is mine. Their should be they're. That's all I'm saying. Still on page 5 of the thread, so if this has been mentioned before, I apologize.
 

aliceshortcake

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This is turning into a literary soap opera (All My Authors? As the POD Turns?) Any minute now I'm going to wake up, find Danielle Lee Zwissler in my shower and realize that this whole thread was just a terrible dream.
 

chopper

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This is turning into a literary soap opera (All My Authors? As the POD Turns?) Any minute now I'm going to wake up, find Danielle Lee Zwissler in my shower and realize that this whole thread was just a terrible dream.

That's going to need some mighty powerful cheese before bedtime, chief.
 

Stacia Kane

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Welcome to AW, Dawn. And IMO you did make the right choice, by providing pertinent information that any author considering submitting to either of these companies should have. It's tremendously important to know if/when a publisher is...shall we say, making unproven claims?...about their business, and making highly unprofessional and inflammatory comments to their authors.
 

saphirablue84

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This is turning into a literary soap opera (All My Authors? As the POD Turns?) Any minute now I'm going to wake up, find Danielle Lee Zwissler in my shower and realize that this whole thread was just a terrible dream.

I was beginning to think the same thing. My heart goes out to all of the authors involved in all of this. And a big thank you to AW for digging to keep all of us informed on things we might miss on our own.
 

Terie

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My name is Dawn Jayne. I was an author with Firefly and Wisp until about three months ago. I found this thread after receiving a Google alert that tagged Firefly and Wisp and I have been following it with interest.

I have never spoken publicly about the reasons I left the company. I have never engaged in any sort of online 'attack' against Firefly and Wisp or Danielle Zwissler. I have no desire to inflict harm on any person, especially authors that are still with the company. I consider many of them to be friends, and have a great deal of respect for their talent. I wish every single one them nothing but the very best.

Many people on this thread were starting to ask questions about the company and the owner, Danielle. I think this is a good thing, but I also know that there is a fine line between fact-finding research and a witch-hunt. When the thread was temporarily closed, there were many questions and allegations left hanging, some directed toward parties whose affiliation with Firefly and Wisp was slight or had since been severed entirely. I contacted MacAllister with what I believed to be pertinent information relating to some specific inquiries.

I was planning to stay anonymous, but now I have decided to come forward due to an unsettling situation.

I, along with three other authors who left Firefly and Wisp, received a threatening and inflammatory message. I understand emotions are running high, and though I don't see how the screenshots posted yesterday can be viewed as malicious, it seems they are.

I am the person who sent those files to be posted. If anyone desires retaliation, they can come after me. There is no reason to direct anger and vengeance toward anyone else and I hope that will cease immediately.

I also sent Mac a copy of the message I received today, and if she wants to post it here with the sender's name blacked out, she may do so. I'd do it myself, but I'm a techno-twit.

I did not set out to dismantle Firefly and Wisp. When I signed with the company, there was very little information online. As time went on, I began to notice what I believed was a pattern of duplicitous and damaging behavior. Unfortunately, I uncovered things after I signed a contract. I realized by remaining silent I was tacitly allowing the behavior to continue, and there was a chance other writers both present and future could be harmed.

Though I am saddened by what has occurred in regard to the company and specifically the authors, I still feel I made the right choice.
My hope was this thread would give other writers a chance to make a more informed decision.

Dawn Jayne

Thanks for posting this, Dawn. And all the best wishes for placing your next book with someone worthy of your words.

Erm, you ARE working on your next book, aren't you? :Hug2:
 

Filigree

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Welcome, Dawn. Thanks for your courage and information. Best wishes for your future writing.

I feel for the authors and editors caught up in this mess.

For my part, I apologize for bringing in an earlier off-topic post that threatened to derail this thread. I should have chosen my words more carefully, and I thank the folks who corrected me and redirected the topics. This is rapidly scaling beyond anything I've seen in BR&BC, which we would have missed if the thread remained locked.

I suspect that any of us who get concrete news back on our FF&W inquiries should first contact Mac to see if it's appropriate and safe to post on AW. I'm proud of and amazed by the industry watch AW has provided over the years. But this smells like it could avalanche into a legal situation very quickly, and I want all of you to be protected. Even when you're in the right to document and expose alleged poor business practices, defending yourself can be a long and costly process.
 
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Cyia

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Hello and welcome, Dawn. I'm not posting anything in regards to the company or its authors, as I've no knowledge of either, but I wanted to say that the behavior you're describing is definitely not something the owner of this board or its moderators tolerate. This part of the board isn't visible only to members; it's public and receives exceptionally high traffic every day. The threads at the top of the forum are likely to get clicked on by hundreds of people who aren't registered here. It's possible that one of those visitors has decided to play the troll.
 

Konfettii

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Thank you all for the kind words and welcome. My hands haven't stopped shaking for hours, it's pitiful!
The person who contacted me was not from this forum, but because the complaint concerned something posted here, I thought this was the best place to answer. :)
And yes, I am still writing, Terie!
 

Soccer Mom

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Thank you, Dawn. Speaking up takes courage, but we rely on people like you to come forward and tell us about publishers, good and bad.

Glad you are still writing. There is life after a publisher implosion. Many others here have survived the fall out, myself included.
 

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Welcome, Dawn. I applaud your courage. And I'm so sorry you are having to go through this. No one should be left shaking because they've told the truth.

You've certainly shown us all that you are a writer. Nobody goes into writing or publishing to get rich -- they do it because they love stories, they love books. And everyone who loves books is standing right there beside you, supporting you. No one in the industry is ever going to think poorly of you for trying to keep authors from landing themselves in a pickle. Quite the opposite.
 

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Xchyler Publishing Submissions team have agreed to read through the Firefly and Wisp manuscripts, when we get proof that their contracts have been terminated.

No, you won't, because doing so would be very improper. The writers didn't submit their manuscripts to Xchyler Publishing. They submitted them to Firefly & Wisp to be considered for publication by that firm.

Unless a manuscript was submitted in fulfillment of an option clause, F&W has only two choices: they can turn it down, or they can make an offer on it and enter into contract negotiations with the author or agent. In no event do they have the right to hand off a manuscript they don't own to a third party.
 

michael_b

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No, you won't, because doing so would be very improper. The writers didn't submit their manuscripts to Xchyler Publishing. They submitted them to Firefly & Wisp to be considered for publication by that firm.

Unless a manuscript was submitted in fulfillment of an option clause, F&W has only two choices: they can turn it down, or they can make an offer on it and enter into contract negotiations with the author or agent. In no event do they have the right to hand off a manuscript they don't own to a third party.

Exactly.