Etopia Press / Renegade YA

Finally. It took one (not so very) veiled threat to get the letter of reversion as stipulated in my contract.

And you know what? They actually worded the letter so that it looks as if I'm the unprofessional one and the real issue (them basically acting as if they're infringing on copyright) didn't even get mentioned. Luckily for me, I don't care. After this, I'm done with small publishers.

I don't doubt there are good ones out there, but for the amount of help Etopia was during my time with them, I basically paid over half my possible income for nothing, and then got treated like crap for not selling well. And then had them seemingly trying to exploit me (which they deny, of course) and then had them blaming me when I wanted to leave because I didn't play dead. Needless to say, this has dealt a huge blow to my trust, so for now, I'm going it alone until something better presents itself.

I am so sorry you, me and anyone else dealing with this has to deal with it at all. It truly does strike a blow to your trust in publishers when you are lied to, mistreated and ignored. I truly hope I don't have to go the lawyer route, but I have one lined up just in case.

I am not sure when Etopia went south, but it is upsetting that they went from being very supportive toward their authors to being very absent and angry.

Leia Rice said:

I am so sorry you, me and anyone else dealing with this has to deal with it at all. It truly does strike a blow to your trust in publishers when you are lied to, mistreated and ignored. I truly hope I don't have to go the lawyer route, but I have one lined up just in case.

I am not sure when Etopia went south, but it is upsetting that they went from being very supportive toward their authors to being very absent and angry.

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Leia, these things happen with a certain kind of regularity in the industry, so you may take some solace in the fact that you are not alone, dumb, naive or uniformed about the publishing business. Please don't blame yourself. My first two novels I'd written in 2005--2006 landed with a very inept publisher who colored outside the lines and fibbed to cover major problems. They went belly up and took 26 writers with them.

We all got our rights back, but I was never paid a red cent for any accumulated royalties, which I did earn and have. Another author had his six-book series chopped in half and played hell trying to find a house that would take it all from the very beginning. I helped him save it and it worked out just fine. However, I'm sitting on two books with rights reverted and don't stand a chance of re-pub unless I go the e-book re-print route or self-publishing.

We have to take these losses, sadly, and move on with chin up and a new best foot forward. If you sold once, you can sell it again. There's merit there, so knuckle down and research your publishers by using the Bewares thread as an accurate barometer. I do hope, that you will not sustain any frightful costs by putting a lawyer on the case. But that's up to you.

Good luck--God's speed and all that kinda stuff!

tri

Thank you! I hope not either, since I don't have that sort of money to throw around.

Your support is much appreciated, and although it sucks to hear that this goes on all the time, it is comforting to know that I'm not alone in it.

It just really saddens me that trust gets abused like this. But at least we've learned a few things from this.

I, for example, will never sign a contract without a few auto-reversion clauses. (In the event of sale to another publisher, in the event of editor leaving the firm, in the event of delay in project work past a certain point.... etc. etc. etc.)

Just dealt with one publisher, and I'm already sick of being messed around by them.

I've been lurking on this thread for the past few months, but after what happened this week I feel like I need to post. I am not trying to trash Etopia, but I do think other authors have a right to know what happened to me.
Here's my story, sorry if it's a bit long:

For a little over a month I had a book published with Etopia Press.
I participated in pitchMAS last December and they requested two of my manuscripts. At the time, there was nothing negative on the web about them. I sent the manuscripts and a month later was offered a contract on Collision. I took some time to think it over and do my research, but I couldn’t find anything bad about the company. So I signed a contract in late January.
Within a week of signing their website disappeared. They said it was under construction and I was told it would be back up by mid-February. It didn’t go back up until early June. Then some negative stuff popped up on Absolute Write and I started to sweat, but I was stuck and decided I needed to give them the benefit of the doubt. There was nothing I could do about it anyway.
The editing process went smoothly and I thought everything was ok. I didn't really know what to expect once my book was released as far as promos or support from my publisher, but I figured once the time for my release got closer, I would get more info. In late April I still hadn't been given a date, but it didn't worry me since I expected the book to be released in late summer. Then I got an email from another author informing me her release date was May 2nd and she had just found out. She knew I'd signed about the same time as she had and wanted to give me a heads up. Which was great, especially when I sent an email asking for a date and found out that my book was also being released on May 2nd. Less than 2 weeks away!
I wasn't thrilled to be given so little time, especially when I had just signed a contract for a second book with them. I scrambled to get the cover out then set up a blog tour, but by then the earliest I could get it was late June. My book came out and Etopia did nothing other than put my book in their newsletter an on their blog. They may have tweeted about it as well. I emailed and asked about promotions and was sent a list of bloggers they sent ARCs to. That was it.
I moved forward, thinking I could promote on my own. It was tough, but I was excited about my book. The edits on my second book were moving along and I was getting nervous about once again having no notice of the release. I asked my editor (who was great and works for Etopia freelance), and she said she had asked on several occasions for a release date but hadn’t been told. On top of that, I hadn’t received my advance check. My contract said I would get it within 30 days, and the first check I received from them came super-fast, but it had been almost 2 months and I still hadn’t received it. Since we had moved about that time I was wondering if it went to my old address and got lost, so asked about it. They didn’t know and even though I was told they would look into it, they never got back to me. I started to get very nervous, so I sent a polite but firm email voicing my concerns and asking for answers to my questions. Later that night I got an email back from the editor who had originally offered me a contract. It was nice and gave me what little information she had. She even expressed that she thought I was behaving professionally and told me she had forwarded my email to the executive editor. Two days later I got an email from Annie Melton, the executive editor, informing me that she thought it would be in both our best interests for us to end our professional relationship. They reverted my rights back to me. At first I thought it was only for Broken World, but then I realized it was for Collision as well. They had already removed my book from all retailers and their website.
It was a strange turn of events and I was upset, but the more I thought about it the more relieved I became. My main concern was getting Collision back up on Amazon because I have a blog tour scheduled that I have already paid for. Now, looking back, I am so glad they took this route. It’s obvious by their behavior that they don’t have a desire to promote their authors or help them succeed, and if a few questions upset them that much I don’t want anything to do with them. They clearly want authors who are content to sit back and do nothing, but that isn’t who I am and it never will be so we are not the right fit.

I hate to say this, but there were questions raised about this publisher years ago.

I have a question about this publisher. Would working as an editor for them be detrimental to one's reputation/future employment?

I'd be leery of claiming it on my CV, but I understand bills gotta get paid. I've had some jobs I don’t list, either. The question I'd be asking is 'Will Etopia be around to PAY me?' I can't see the future, but to be safer, I'd have other income sources as well.

I would stay clear. They have their hand picked authors on a separate promo loop. Apparently anyway. It is kind of like who is the most popular in the school and when you ask how come you never got an invite as several of their authors have done recently having got nothing, this is the kind of crap you get. How they are still in biz no-one knows. And by the way Renegade Ya addy on Cleveland Ave is a tax write off addy for Etopia.

The “lucky ones” were people who read the loop and saw the original post in September, and then replied to the invite we sent out. Easy Peasy. Or, those who saw the loop, wanted an invite, but for whatever reason didn’t receive it, and then sent us an email saying they didn’t receive theirs, so we resent. Easy Peasy again. But if people saw the post, wanted an invite, didn’t get one, and didn’t email us to ask for a resend… well, we don’t have ESP. And if people didn’t read the loop to begin with, then of course they miss out. We post. We can’t make people read.

As I mentioned—this was voluntary. We had no intention of chasing people down and forcing it down their throats if they’re not interested. This new loop is a marketing loop. It’s to market new releases. Our editors keep a roster of their authors and the status of those authors, and we get regular submissions from many of you. As expected, many of you joined up the first day or two. Others of you have informed us or your editors that you’re publishing elsewhere, or don’t intend to submit again, or have turned down contract offers. That’s perfectly fine—it’s each author’s choice. But if a particular author is no longer publishing with us and has no new Etopia Press releases to market, then a marketing loop won’t apply to them, anyway, so there’s no reason to feel put out.

Again—as I’ve said several times by now, and will say again—we’re hoping everyone will want to participate and continue publishing with us. If anyone who didn’t receive an invite wants one, send Jasmine an email at Author Services. Easy Peasy.

Let’s consider this thread closed.

Was I hearing it right that they actually paid an advance, at one point?

Even if they did pay advances (which I think I remember too) it wouldn't be worth it, C.

This thread says it all.

Ah, where to start with Etopia's latest? Well, they have an accountancy dept apparently, which is astonishing to learn since royalty statements and indeed royalties, are things they are strangers to, so what they are accounting----God knows. However, not only do they have an accountancy dept, this dept runs the show giving orders to the very top of the Etopia tree. And this year, the accountancy dept decided no more foreign authors--although quite how they define this 'foreign' biz , is most interesting. Who knew for example that Canada and Wales were in the USA? But anyone not living in the USA, Canada, or Wales...well, they're out. Not only are they out but Etopia removed their names, their books, the lot from their website and Amazon, without thinking to tell them about the big bad accountants, or send out rights reversal notices. Need I say anymore about them? Need anyone?