Whitlock Publishing

[Jamiekswriter]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to put in a warning for Whitlock Publishing.
http://www.whitlockpublishing.com/

I had subbed a short story for their "Our Haunted World" anthology, which was due to be published in January 2011. A year later . . . no anthology.

The last time I heard from editor, Allen Grove, (who is an Associate English professor at Alfred University) he said the book was at the printers in August 2011 and should be out soon.

Excuses for the delays were the usual: sickness, lack of help/time, etc. Allen was always very nice and polite, but kept making promises and not delivering on them.

After not hearing back from the November 2011 e-mail I sent him regarding status, I sent him a letter today saying if I don't hear from him in two weeks, that I would seek to market my short story elsewhere.

However, my author's agreement that I signed in October 2010 had this clause in it:

"You are granting First World Rights to Whitlock Publishing to publish your story in Our Haunted World. Once the anthology is in print, all rights revert to you."

But no wording in it what would happen if the anthology *never* gets printed. So I think I'm screwed -- or at least can't sell First World Rights.

I feel so stupid. But I was lax because it was "just" a short story.

Anyway, through google-fu I see he was also involved with Valancourt Books, so caveat emptor them too I guess.

http://www.valancourtbooks.com/links.html

-- Jamie (who really should have known better)

 

[ShawnProctor]

Jaime,

I was one of the writers who signed away a short story to this anthology, too. I emailed him in June 2012 to ask that he talk to the contributors about reverting their rights back to them. He ignored my email and sent out an update that about book's art and another promise that it would be coming out in a few weeks.

Here we are in March 2013. No anthology.

I checked casually whether any of the stories appeared elsewhere. Turns out at least three of the stories have been published, either online or through Amazon. In short: the anthology no longer has stories that were published for the first time, as it promised.

I sent the editor an email to tell him I am following their lead. I encourage you to do the same so either the anthology is published or we can move forward.

 

[Jamiekswriter]

Unfortunately Shawn, I just checked the contract. There is no wiggle room. Even though it was signed on 10/10/10, the verbiage says:

You are granting First World Rights to Whitlock Publishing to publish your story in Our Haunted World. Once the anthology is in print, all rights revert to you.

First World Rights mean I gave him the right to be the first in the entire English-speaking world to publish the piece. If I self pub it or sell it elsewhere I will be in breach of contract and he would be in his rights to sue me for restitution.

Not that I think Allen Grove is going to. I think he's a clueless amateur who got in over his head and doesn't realize he's screwing with our writing careers.

I'm tempted to call him at his office at Alfred University:

http://las.alfred.edu/faculty/profile.cfm?username=grove

and ask him for a release of rights letter because I can't do anything with the story legally until either he publishes it in the stupid anthology or he releases me in writing from the stupid contract I signed.

Update: I sent him an email at his college e-mail address. Hopefully, he'll get back to me this time. He also has a twitter and Facebook account:

http://collegeapps.about.com/bio/Allen-Grove-40797.htm


So if don't still don't hear from him, maybe I can get a response on twitter or facebook.

I'll let you know what happens.

 

[Donna Pudick]

Just so you know, all legit contracts have a "failure to publish" clause in them, with a deadline clearly stated and an intent to revert rights to the author if that deadline isn't met. Good luck to you.

 

[CaoPaux]

If Amazon is to be believed, it was published two days later (March 15th).

 

[Jamiekswriter]

I did get my contributor's copies so it was published. Never again! I'm glad that's over and my rights are back.