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Lethe Press

Zombie Fraggle

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On the matter of late royalties

I also can't speak to issues of late royalties, etc., other than to point out that with any small press publisher cash flow is naturally an issue, and that on most occasions when payments have been late the author has been informed beforehand. I'm not saying this as an ideal situation, but I am stating this as a business reality, and anyone who has any extensive experience of working with small presses will understand this.

I have no dog in this hunt, but I'm getting really tired of publishers spooning out this particular piece of bullsh*t to authors.

There is NEVER an excuse for authors' royalties to be paid late by any publisher, regardless of whether the publisher is small, medium, or large. The authors' royalties are not income belonging to the publisher at any stage of the process, and thus should never be used for any purpose other than paying the authors.

Author royalties belong exclusively to the authors the nanosecond the money is received by the publisher from the vendors. Bad cash flow at a publisher should impact every other aspect of the business EXCEPT for author royalties, because this money never belongs to the publisher in the first place.
 

VeryBigBeard

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This is exactly my point. Whenever the phrase "cash flow is an issue" comes up, we've gone way beyond small things like who said what about whom, which shouldn't matter at the best of times but especially shouldn't matter when the lights bill hasn't been paid.

My only experience is I interned at a small local publisher with many of these issues. I didn't touch finances or any of the wars of words I know went on out in the great ether. That stuff doesn't matter. I saw what was coming and bailed ASAP. The publisher went bust after a year struggling to accomplish much of anything, because once you can't pay authors it's not long before you can't pay editors, printers, and so on. When the final day comes, you do NOT want to be one of the ones stuck in the deck chairs as the ship goes down.

While I'm sympathetic to the quality of the books, it doesn't matter how great the covers are if the people making them aren't being paid on time. My place had great covers, too. If the focus is on petty disputes instead of making the business sustainable, that says all that needs to be said.
 

Filigree

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This. Please, for the love of all that is holy and good, this. Publishing is a business. The moment publishers have so lost control of that business that they cannot pay their authors, no excuses matter. They have become a risk to their current authors and a worse risk to future authors.
 

oceansoul

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I have no dog in this hunt, but I'm getting really tired of publishers spooning out this particular piece of bullsh*t to authors.

There is NEVER an excuse for authors' royalties to be paid late by any publisher, regardless of whether the publisher is small, medium, or large. The authors' royalties are not income belonging to the publisher at any stage of the process, and thus should never be used for any purpose other than paying the authors.

Author royalties belong exclusively to the authors the nanosecond the money is received by the publisher from the vendors. Bad cash flow at a publisher should impact every other aspect of the business EXCEPT for author royalties, because this money never belongs to the publisher in the first place.

Absolutely this. This is no different than a company refusing or unable to pay their suppliers or their employees. "Wait and be paitent" is not a valid response at any time.
 

mbright

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Guys, this is not doing Lethe any good. All you're doing with this attempt to swamp the thread is making Lethe look like a cult. mbright may be correct about the issues discussed in this thread having been some time in the past. They *were* some time in the past, but you've just brought them bang up to date by making it extremely obvious that the troops are expected to turn out and support the collective. It's one of the classic "run away!" markers for sensible authors considering the likelihood of a press imploding and taking their rights with it. As someone who appreciates the existence of Lethe and would like it to go on existing - please stop doing this.

You know what... actually, you speak the truth. I fully agree with pretty much everything you've said. The catch-22 is that by saying anything else in defense of Lethe I will in fact be worsening the contention. None of us authors were rallied specifically or asked to post (or at least I wasn't) and I think we've all posted out of a personal sense that Lethe deserves for us to speak positively about it, but I'm not sure the discussion is doing anyone's reputation much good. I think they're a great press that's made mistakes, and that's all and that's probably where I should leave the discussion. The only relevant thing I have to add is that, whatever other conclusions you can interpret the warning signs pointing to, I have zero worries about the press going under. As for anything else, I think it's all pretty moot. Authors, feel free to make up your own minds as is everyone's prerogative.
 
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citymouse

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While dealing with a few bookstore owners, I learned a few things about distribution companies I did't know. Baker and Taylor deal mostly with non-fiction/text book products, while Ingram is the go to for fiction and non-scholarly work. That doesn't mean they don't cross lines. However, if your book is fiction and your publisher contracts with an outfit such as B&T, then your likelihood of making it into B&N are limited. This is the flaw in self-pub companies, as most use B&T rather than Ingram. Of course there are exceptions but they are not common.
Mr. Berman was kind enough to make an offer on my novel manuscript in December and there was no talk of hiring a copyeditor or requiring me to have one, nor was anything like that in the contract I signed. Steve Berman is a hands on publisher.

Lethe Press does seem to have distribution - or at least distributors, as far as I can tell. I doubt they have a strong presence in Barnes and Noble, but their books are certainly carried in libraries (perhaps that's not a good indicator of distribution success?) and I know their books are listed by Baker and Taylor. This may not be exactly the same as "having distribution," though, in terms of what they actually get stocked.

Communication up to this point has been fairly fast. It was about 6 weeks between my initial query, a request for the first 3 chapters, a request for the whole MS, and the offer. So far I'd rate my experience to be very good.
​Steve is easy to work with.
 

Jeff C. Stevenson

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Thanks for the nice, long "unemotional" post, Matthew. This whole thread seems to have turned into an episode of The Real Housewives of Lethe and I'm sure you'll soon be shot down in flames, but thanks for adding your perspective to all of this.

I should add that I have no relationship with this publisher, but am always curious how small indie publishers are doing. And I am so grateful for mine and condolences to all the authors who have had a rough time, with this or other publishers.
 
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eqb

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FYI: Writer Beware has posted a warning about Lethe Press:

https://accrispin.blogspot.com/2020/07/small-press-storm-warnings-lethe-press.html

Writer Beware has heard from multiple individuals who cite a variety of problems at Lethe, including contract breaches in the form of unpaid royalties (for both authors and editors) and late royalty payments and statements. Contractors (such as audio narrators) have also gone unpaid. Royalty reports I've seen are seriously lacking; among other things, they fail to state sales numbers for ebooks, showing only gross income.

The post also mentions poor communication, releasing audio book editions without permission from the author (and without telling the author), and taking retaliatory action against authors. Berman's only response to the post talks about how hard it is for small presses to actually pay their authors on time. It's a standard excuse, but really, there is no excuse for not paying authors. Publishing 101 says you keep a separate account for royalties, and you don't use that money for operating expenses.
 
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