Chipmunka Publishing

So far I have 5 published works with them and I see them as lost. But I am working on a non-fiction psychiatry book that should generate a lot of interest and will look at other publishers. I am also writing another murder/thriller. I think I need an agent but I write such varied works and am terrified of rejection... it is hard.

ALSO it is in my contract with Chipmunka that I give them first refusal on my next work - the chance to at least match the offer of another publisher. Somehow I don't think that will be a problem though.

KSx

Terie said:

'p' is the designator for 'pence' in relation to the British pound sterling. A pound is divided into 100 pence, as a US dollar is divided into 100 cents. Therefore, '75p' is to £1 the same as '75 cents' is to $1.

Of course, the publisher taking the CC charge out of the author's royalty is ABSOLUTELY BS!

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Ah! I guess my ignorance was showing. *blush* Thanks for letting me know! I should have know that, though. LOL. My mother being from Britain and all. *whispers* Don't tell her I didn't.

ETA: Like Terie said, thanks, Kaysara, for posting your experience.

katysara said:

ALSO it is in my contract with Chipmunka that I give them first refusal on my next work - the chance to at least match the offer of another publisher. Somehow I don't think that will be a problem though.

KSx

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So you have to submit your non-fiction project to them, and let them reject you first? What if they don't reject you? Is there something in your contract that says anything about this?

I only ask because what has been said, and what my friend published through them has said, make me think there is more they're hiding.

If I may ask, if yout first work you weren't happy with, why did you sub 4 more projects to them? Is that the "refusal of next work clause" working in action?

Katysara, I'm horrified by some of the things that you've told us. You're not allowed to even ask how many books you've sold? You've been told you've sold thousands of copies but you've only earned about £100? Gah. These things alone would be enough to put me off ever submitting to Chipmunka, let alone all the other red flags I've seen here.

There is one thing that you might find helpful.

katysara said:

ALSO it is in my contract with Chipmunka that I give them first refusal on my next work - the chance to at least match the offer of another publisher. Somehow I don't think that will be a problem though.

KSx

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Giving a publisher the right of first refusal doesn't usually mean that you have to accept their offer to publish, if they make one. All it means is that they get the opportunity to look at your mss and offer on it if they want to. You should be perfectly at liberty to refuse their offer even if you don't have another offer on the table. Now, I haven't read your contract so I can't be 100% sure on this: but it is well worth you reading your contract and finding out if this is the case.

Also, is there a reversion clause in your contract with Chipmunka? If so, you might be able to get the rights to your books reverted to you. Just a thought.

Old Hack said:

Giving a publisher the right of first refusal doesn't usually mean that you have to accept their offer to publish, if they make one. All it means is that they get the opportunity to look at your mss and offer on it if they want to. You should be perfectly at liberty to refuse their offer even if you don't have another offer on the table. Now, I haven't read your contract so I can't be 100% sure on this: but it is well worth you reading your contract and finding out if this is the case.

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I hope Momento Mori steps in here, because *I Am Not A Lawyer*, but I don't think it's legal to include a line item in a contract that requires someone to sign a future as-yet-unwritten contract. That is, even if the clause is there, I'm not sure it's actually enforceable.

All you should really need to do if offered another contract, Katysara, is to say you want a £5,000 advance and a 15% royalty on cover price. If the publisher says 'no', you should be under no obligation to accept their terms.

But let me reiterate: *I Am Not A Lawyer*. Get qualified legal advice on this.

Clauses of that type certainly exist, typically limited to a certain genre but not always, and I don't know why they would not be enforceable if signed and agreed to.

veinglory said:

Clauses of that type certainly exist, typically limited to a certain genre but not always, and I don't know why they would not be enforceable if signed and agreed to.

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Because the future as-yet-unwritten contract isn't written. For example, what if they put a clause in that future contract that said you had to pay them £10,000 -- £100,000, £1,000,000 -- to publish your book? As far as I understand it, you can't enforce something that says someone must sign some future contract that doesn't exist and whose terms haven't been specified yet.

Again, *I Am Not A Lawyer* and I hope that someone with more real knowledge than I have can help shed some light on this.

yeah me too - unfortunately i can see how you can sign an agreement to sign in the future if asked

Terie said:

Because the future as-yet-unwritten contract isn't written. For example, what if they put a clause in that future contract that said you had to pay them £10,000 -- £100,000, £1,000,000 -- to publish your book? As far as I understand it, you can't enforce something that says someone must sign some future contract that doesn't exist and whose terms haven't been specified yet.

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Generally it is specified as being under the same terms.

Terie said:

Because the future as-yet-unwritten contract isn't written.

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I am not an attorney and I am not giving legal advice, but I can assure you from having drawn up and handled tens of thousands of real and personal property contracts here in the USA that terms and conditions set forth regarding a first right of refusal in the initial contract are enforceable in a future contract should the first right of refusal be exercised.

Some contracts, as VG has pointed out, indicate the first right of refusal shall be under the same terms and conditions as the initial contract. Other contracts indicate terms and conditions to be determined and agreed upon by both parties at a future date.

It's all in the wording of the clause and it should be carefully scrutinized before signing a contract that contains a first right of refusal. Thus the importance of having qualified legal counsel review any contract before signing it.

~brianm~

brianm said:

I am not an attorney and I am not giving legal advice, but I can assure you from having drawn up and handled tens of thousands of real and personal property contracts here in the USA that terms and conditions set forth regarding a first right of refusal in the initial contract are enforceable in a future contract should the first right of refusal be exercised.

Some contracts, as VG has pointed out, indicate the first right of refusal shall be under the same terms and conditions as the initial contract. Other contracts indicate terms and conditions to be determined and agreed upon by both parties at a future date.

It's all in the wording of the clause and it should be carefully scrutinized before signing a contract that contains a first right of refusal. Thus the importance of having qualified legal counsel review any contract before signing it.

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Oh, yes. First right of refusal clauses, yes. The question is whether the publisher can *force* you to accept their future offer. They can offer you a contract, but I don't believe that they can *require* you in advance to *accept* it. They offer...you can negotiate; if you can't reach agreement, you go your separate ways.

That's exactly what the first right of refusal clauses in my contracts say. They do NOT say that I must accept their offer, only that I can't submit a similar work (YA fantasy) elsewhere before letting them consider and, if they desire, make an offer. If I don't like the contract and if we can't agree to terms, that's it. They go their way and I go mine. I'm not REQUIRED to accept their terms.

Again, what if that next contract says, 'You must pay us £10,000 to publish your book'? I don't *believe* that signing the first contract can obligate you to have to pay that £10,000.

katysara, these terms are horrible. Unbelievably horrible.

It's worth facing rejection to get better terms from a more professional publisher, isn't it?

(See, this is one of the things I was concerned about earlier in the thread--that Chipmunka was taking advantage of people with anxiety and other issues, who might be expected to be less assertive on their own behalf. That's not what I call empowering people who are experiencing mental health challenges.)

I've seen publishing contracts which stipulate that a writer MUST accept a future offer if it's identical to a contract which exists already, assuming that the publisher feels inclined to make such an offer: but I've been told that the only ones which are actually enforceable are the ones which give publishers a right to take a look at a new mss and make an offer, but which don't oblige the writers concerned to accept that offer.

Having said all of that I am not a lawyer and so might well be talking nonsense. But there you go.

katysara said:

They never tell you how many books you have sold - I only found out because I kicked up a fuss after knowing how many copies I sold personally. I was told never to ask again though.

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Um...wow. How do they legally pull that off?

I don't know how they pull it off, I was just told he was making an exception he would never make again and that he didn't do with other chipmunka authors.

The part about praying on the weak in society does bug me. I don't know if it is true or not. Let me tell you a bit about me and you decide. I have bipolar disorder (manic depression) at the severe end of the spectrum. I am usually manic or depressed even on 2 antidepressants and 3 mood stabilisers/antipsychotics. I have had my first euthymic (neither manic or depressed) patch for years for about the last 2 months and I have started noticing things aren't right and I am asking questions. One of my books they published I wrote in 48hrs straight whilst manic (and I have been selling copies of it very well - of course I have no figures from my publisher). It was a book on eating disorders from which I suffered from for 15 years. I also self-harmed. I attempted suicide 443 times (I kid you not). In other words I have been about as mentally ill as it is possible to be, I've been dead twice but revived. So if you are looking for a vulnerable person you probably couldn't have found a more ill one out there. (One that had also been to Oxford University and who could write).

Make up your own minds. (It's OK, I'm not embarrassed by this stuff it is on my website and in my memoir, I do not hang my head in shame for being ill).

katysara said:

I don't know how they pull it off, I was just told he was making an exception he would never make again and that he didn't do with other chipmunka authors.

The part about praying on the weak in society does bug me. I don't know if it is true or not. Let me tell you a bit about me and you decide. I have bipolar disorder (manic depression) at the severe end of the spectrum. I am usually manic or depressed even on 2 antidepressants and 3 mood stabilisers/antipsychotics. I have had my first euthymic (neither manic or depressed) patch for years for about the last 2 months and I have started noticing things aren't right and I am asking questions. One of my books they published I wrote in 48hrs straight whilst manic (and I have been selling copies of it very well - of course I have no figures from my publisher). It was a book on eating disorders from which I suffered from for 15 years. I also self-harmed. I attempted suicide 443 times (I kid you not). In other words I have been about as mentally ill as it is possible to be, I've been dead twice but revived. So if you are looking for a vulnerable person you probably couldn't have found a more ill one out there. (One that had also been to Oxford University and who could write).

Make up your own minds. (It's OK, I'm not embarrassed by this stuff it is on my website and in my memoir, I do not hang my head in shame for being ill).

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first off please excuse the horrible writing i am about to jot down. i just read this and had to comment. to me chipmunka is preying on the weak. i too have bipolar and very severe. ive tried killing my husband a couple times and myself countless times. as i type im sitting in the doctors office while they decide to commit me to the psych ward yet again for self harm. after talking with a chipmunka author and reading into things my opinion couldnt be more solid that chipmunka is using peoples illnesses and vurneralbility to their advantage. they are hooking people in by using the "we care and understand" to get to authors. with all the bullshit they are laying with donating to groups its a good cover for the truth. if they really cared about people with mental illnesses they would never come up with a contract so absurd. they know people are desperate to help people and they promise that. but anyone with a mental illness knows the bills pile high and fast. yet they keep your money. where is the compassion?

my author friend pubbed through them has been having more episodes BECAUSE of chipmunka. her anxiety is worse because they promised her the world and have delivered dog crap.

if i were you i would pay a lawyer to get out of those contracts asap before they take your soul the same way publishamerica does.

katysara,

It sounds to me as if they are preying on vulnerable people, then keeping as much money as they possibly can to line their own pockets. They claim they donate to mental health agencies, but where's the proof? Also, to my way of thinking, the people they should be helping are their authors who are owed the promised royalties. As a publisher and author I can state that it is not right to take the costs of credit card payments out of the author's share of royalties. What a freaking crock of crap. He is in the business to give his authors the business, plain and simple.

Get out of those contracts if you can, and don't send them anymore books. Get some legal advice. There may be lawyers willing to help you pro bono (for free) if you are unable to pay for their help.

Awww ****!

KS

Katysara, the trick to dealing with rejections is to realize they aren't saying that you or your manuscript are bad. Rejection happens when the manuscript doesn't fit the current needs of the agent.

1- the genre isn't one the agent has contacts to sell it to.
2- the agent has recently decided not to represent that genre (that one happened to me last year.)
3- the agent just sold/ or agreed to represent another book on the same topic.
4- the agent has all the clients he/she can handle at this time, but she/he didn't change his/her web site.

It's just business and as hard as it is to accept rejection has nothing to do with you personally.

In time you'll fine the right agent for your work.

But I write non-fiction psychiatry and fictional murder-thrillers! Tell me there is one agent out there that represents those two genres!! I am working on one of each right now!


KSx

michael_b said:

As a publisher and author I can state that it is not right to take the costs of credit card payments out of the author's share of royalties. What a freaking crock of crap. He is in the business to give his authors the business, plain and simple.

Get out of those contracts if you can, and don't send them anymore books. Get some legal advice. There may be lawyers willing to help you pro bono (for free) if you are unable to pay for their help.

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This is particularly true since the credit card costs are an expense of doing business. Business expenses are deducted from income to determine the taxable amount of the company's income. When you get a lawyer, be sure to tell him/her that these fees are being deducted from your royalties.

katysara said:

But I write non-fiction psychiatry and fictional murder-thrillers! Tell me there is one agent out there that represents those two genres!! I am working on one of each right now!


KSx

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You can have two different agents, one that represents non-fiction and another that represents murder-thrillers, at the same time. The first agent for whichever may even help you find the second agent.

Agents are like doctors or lawyers, they specialize and will do what they can for you and send you to another specialist for your other book. This is if they are good agents. Warning - an agent that charges fees is not a good agent.

This is the way it works.