Sweete Sinz Publishing (formerly Dark Storm, Phoenix Fire, Mystic Press, et al.)

[Bicyclefish]

Phoenix Fire Publishing came to my attention via a Tweet by Victoria Strauss, but I could not find a thread about Phoenix Fire or their previous publishing house, Mystic Press.

Phoenix Fire Publishing is Tabetha Jones's new publishing house. The blogs discussing problems and concerns are Phoenix Fire Publishing Owner Publishes Fake Customer Testimonials and Author Warns Mystic Press Reopening Under New Name.

websites:
http://phoenixfirepublishing.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/PhoenixFirePublishing

Wendy Hunyor (aka Morrigan Michele) and Brandy Peay opened Mystic Press January 2012, as stated in this blog entry. Tabetha Jones (aka Zoey Sweete) and her fiance Eric Henley came on board later that month.

Not only is she making our publishing dreams come true but has also offered The Sweetes a part in both of her companies, Mystic Press and Spotlight Marketing and Public Relations, which both of us are Co-Owners, and has turned all of our dreams into reality.

In a friend's blog, Jones asserted the problems with Mystic Press were Hunyor's and Peay's fault.

Two months after taking over I had authors that had previously come to me asking me where their money was at. I had no idea what they were talking about. Through the help of their patience I finally found out the truth. The previous owners had taken hundreds almost thousands of dollars from these authors and never did a lick of work for them. And they were not the only ones that got conned. I was to be paid 1500 dollars for my work and never received a penny.

websites:
http://www.mysticpress.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/mysticpress

 

[Filigree]

Oh, boy. Thanks, Bicyclefish.

 

[aliceshortcake]

This is a horrible example of what can happen when an amateur publisher wants "to make your dream come true". It turns into a nightmare.

 

[Stacia Kane]

Good lord.

Who has "I can make sure you never get published again" on their amateur epublisher bingo card?

 

[JinxVelox]

Just... wow.

And since they charge for their services, they cross that line from "small epublisher" to "vanity press", which is probably putting it nicely.

Either way, it is very unfortunate for anyone who got involved with Mystic Press, and was subsequently screwed over by them.

Ms. Jones did not do herself any favors in her attempts to defend herself. Every comment she made on those blog posts was completely lacking in professionalism. If she gets wind of this thread, then I am sure we will see yet another spectacular BR&BC meltdown.

 

[Sheryl Nantus]

'Tis the season for this sort of publishing insanity.

This is what, the third or fourth this month? Really?

 

[aliceshortcake]

'Tis the season for this sort of publishing insanity.

And we haven't even got started on the eggnog!

 

[Eriador117]

This is a horrible example of what can happen when an amateur publisher wants "to make your dream come true". It turns into a nightmare.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't want a publisher who "makes dreams come true" - my dreams are weird

I want one who sells books to readers

 

[veinglory]

Ms Jones seems to think you can become the official co-owner of a company and yet take no responsibility whatsoever for what that company does (or fails to do).

 

[janrafrank]

Jones is over at my blog making the usual hash of things. Two of the people leaving comments in her defense are using proxy servers to mask their IPs. I know this because I doubt they work for NASA, which is where the IPs trace back to.

 

[aliceshortcake]

Jones is over at my blog making the usual hash of things. Two of the people leaving comments in her defense are using proxy servers to mask their IPs. I know this because I doubt they work for NASA, which is where the IPs trace back to.

Well, if they did it would help to explain why we haven't sent a manned mission to Mars yet...

 

[Stacia Kane]

I found it odd that several of the authors writing on the PhoenixFire blog page have such similar voices, grammatical tics, etc. So I followed a little hunch.

At least one of the "Author Photos" on the PhoenixFire blog "Authors" page is an image either grabbed from an image website, or the author's photo has been stolen and placed on such a website. Check the image search results. That particular girl has several photos of herself up, in different poses and hair colors/styles.

The others seem to be legit, on further checking, but that one...

 

[veinglory]

Yes, my blog got a plethora of comments over this too.

 

[Filigree]

Good God. Is there something in the water?

 

[Maryn]

Stacia, some of those images are the model from some of the Phoenix Fire covers, if I'm not mistaken. Since she's one of their authors, and since they're charging authors for covers, it's feeling pretty incesty to me.

And that's not even the worst thing about 'em.

Maryn, sighing over such folly

 

[Stacia Kane]

I thought it looked like the cover model, too, Maryn. Glad I'm not the only one.

 

[K. Q. Watson]

This might be a little petty but wow their site is ugly. It looks like the phoenix is coming out of a butt, not a book.

 

[eternalised]

I had the same impression, Anarchic Q. I actually started laughing out loud, until I realized that wasn't what it's meant to be.

 

[OhTheHorror]

Oh, that's messy.

 

[K. Q. Watson]

I found that phoenix's long lost mate! (NSFW)

http://www.toledoblade.com/image/2012/05/16/800x_b1_cCM_z/Rize-of-the-Fenix-by-Tenacious-D.jpg

 

[OhTheHorror]

I found that phoenix's long lost mate! (NSFW)

http://www.toledoblade.com/image/2012/05/16/800x_b1_cCM_z/Rize-of-the-Fenix-by-Tenacious-D.jpg

Tenacious D rock!

 

[Richard White]

OK, I think we're getting a little off track here. I don't think long discourses about a logo are going to help authors make a decision on whether a publisher is a good choice for them.

Questions about royalty payments (or lack of), the transferability of contracts from one legal entity to another with or without the author's approval, the question of fees for editing, the question about the professionalism about such editors, the question about who owns or owned what and who did or didn't know what was going on at the first incarnation --- these are good solid questions to ask and follow up with.

Poking fun at their logo is a tad overkill (?) for lack of a better word.

 

[Filigree]

I agree. While the website images do show a certain roughness, they are no worse than the logos and site images from some other established e-publishers. (Examples omitted to protect the guilty.) Poking fun doesn't help new authors make a decision.

The 'happy family' routine is never a good tactic, even if the publisher is exemplary in every other respect. It's a standard recruitment keyword for new businesses that can't offer anything else. I don't know if this is the case with Mystic/Phoenix Fire. Personally, this publisher doesn't meet my criteria for stability. I'm not willing to let someone learn on the job with my mms, and I don't want to be one of the 'kids' hiding upstairs when the principals have a big messy spat leading to divorce.

Everybody starts somewhere, after all, but some businesses start out on much better footing than others.

If this group is around in two or three years, I'll look at them again.

 

[SamanthaLehane]

I find it disconcerting that they don't have their own domain name and established website. There doesn't seem to be a single advantage to this publisher over publishing elsewhere or even self-publishing.

 

[Amanda R.]

The first thing that set off bells for me was that their website is a blogspot. That's not very professional.