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Breaking Rules Publishing Company

AHunter3

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For reasons that will probably be compellingly obvious after a moment's thought, it's rather difficult to find out whether or not there's been a mention of Breaking Rules Publishing Company yet.

On a Facebook LBGT-centric group, another author posted to me: "Christopher Clawson-Rule is the ED at Breaking Rules Publishing in Florida. You should definitely check with him. He is my publisher and can be found here on Facebook"

Their primary web presence seems to be here.

I'm trying to ascertain whether they are a publisher or a vanity press sort of thing akin to Austin Macauley or a publisher-wannabe that hasn't actually any publishing experience or what.

I am OK with them being a small niche publisher with limited publicity budget etc, but I'd like a better sense of who I'm dealing with before I opt to query them, although admittedly I can ask them many of the relevant questions myself.

Anyone have any familiarity with?
 
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BenPanced

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Their primary web presence seems to be here.

Please edit the link in your post. It has font and color tags in it that are preventing it from opening by clicking on it.

Next, I didn't get very far on their site. First there's a "donate" button to raise funds for a scholarship fund. Further down, there's a link for a bike ride to raise funds for the venture with no information on what the hell's going on. No details on how to participate and definitely nothing on how these donations are going to be used. Serious red flag on this one. If you're going to be starting a business, you need to have the operating capital raised and ready to go before you open your doors and hang out your shingle. Period. And with a scholarship fund drive, holy crap, that's another ball of worms entirely. They expect to award their first scholarships in five months. Really. That's pinning a lot of faith and hope in their fellow man for so much altruism. Trust me; it's not pretty if such an endeavor falls flat (one guy I follow on YouTube is still apologizing and taking so much shit after a Kickstarter campaign failed about three years ago).

Now. On to the actual publishing end of thangs.

This is directly from their site:

Many publishers don't tell you about their royalty package until the very end of your process. We're letting you know up front that we will publish your book and help you market it. We will pay royalties of 70 - 30 (in our favor) until the first 200 books/Ebooks have been sold. Once you have sold 200 books that situation will flip and the rate will be 70-30 in your favor. Giving you a much higher return on your work. This will also allow us to help pay for the admin and printing costs related to your book.

Excuse my Fronsch but holy shit. RUN. That royalty structure gives me hives and makes my teeth itch. First off, it's utter bullshit that "most publishers don't tell you about their royalty package" (and many don't offer a "package". You get royalties or not). Any publisher that doesn't tell you upfront in their submission guidelines isn't worth doing business with. Second, no other publisher I've ever heard of takes such a huge chunk of royalties based on how many copies you sell. They're skimming money to cover their costs that should have been covered in the first place.

RUN. DO NOT LOOK BACK. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SUBMITTING TO THEM.
 
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BenPanced

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Somebody posted a message on a M/M romance group on Facebook I follow about this company's short story contest yesterday. I responded pretty the same way I did above and the OP sent me a PM asking me if I had any firsthand knowledge about them. I felt rather trapped and my suspicions were confirmed when I finally saw the profile of the person who'd sent the PM: it was Breaking Rules' marketing director. Having seen what happens here during the course of somebody's attempted GOTCHA!, I came right out and told the guy I wasn't playing his game. I've done my due diligence and research during the course of the 20+ years I've been trying to get published and told him so, letting him know what I see is wrong. He then sent a friend request, which I'd deleted and told him in no uncertain terms I was feeling incredibly had and had no desire to get strung along (after seeing people here start out as your buddy and the more your resist their snake oil, the more they turn on you? No, thanks.) He's deleted the original posts and posted new information trying to be "transparent" but it doesn't change how incredibly shitty the royalties are.
 
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C Alberts

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Trying to figure this one out. The first few books on their website didn't even show up on Amazon. On their site, there is a link (ostensibly) to the kindle edition of one of their books, but when you click through it is a paperback only listing, and shows up with CreateSpace as the publisher. I can't even find ISBNs for most of the titles, and the one I could find as a paperback doesn't show up on Ingram so I doubt it is available to actual bookstores. Appears the founder of this 'publishing house' was originally published through PublishAmerica because I found one of his titles listed on Amazon with PA as the publisher.

This is a big old mess, imho. 'The Story' on their site about their founding is all about writers. It says nothing about producing quality books or selling them and getting them to actual readers. I have a feeling they have no idea what they are doing.

And don't even get me started on the quality of the book blurbs and other examples of writing on the website... ouch.
 

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Breaking Rules Publishing just came to my attention due to a bizarre Twitter feud going on between a trio of accounts that are allegedly sockpuppets of one of Breaking Rules Publishing's authors. The author's obvious accounts in his own name were banned, and according to a credible article by Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware (https://accrispin.blogspot.com/2020/03/space-kadet-twisted-tale-of-sad-sad.html) he's had many more accounts banned.

During the course of harassing writers and agents and of course V. Strauss, and openly promoting Mr. Kadet's book on the Breaking Rules Website, a hilarious exchange ensued where a Twitter user pointed out that Breaking Rules Publishing headquarters is in a motel in Pompano Beach, Florida. (Google images for 504 North Ocean Blvd, Pompano Beach, 33062).

At which point Breaking Rules chimed in threatening the Twitter user to "take it down" or they would be "forced to take action". They apparently took offense at being referred to as a vanity press and/or having a picture of their headquarters posted online.

An interesting turn was when a user asked them if they disapproved of their author's behavior, to which there was no reply. Looking at their site ("Proudly Powered By Weebly"). Their shopping cart button is Paypal. 10 of the books for sale in their "bookstore" are from Breaking Rules Publishing are from owner Christopher Clawson Rule, which arguable makes BRP a "vanity press" - at least for him.

I tried to find publishing experience for Clawson Rule that would lend itself to becoming a "publisher" but it appears that all of his prior work was published through "print on demand" aka old-school vanity presses before the Amazon era made it simple for anyone.

Half if not more of the books listed on their site indicate Amazon Service as the publisher ( vs a few with BRP ).

Duotrope will not list them in it's directory of markets because they charge for services. Honestly, there's nothing professional about their site at all, and I won't embarrass any specific authors there, but a quick perusal of their cover art makes it look like professional advice isn't available either. (Cover services are part of BRP's offering).

There also doesn't seem to be any editorial discretion. Based on a video interview with Clawson Rule, it sounds like they publish anyone. Never is there a mention of rejection.

For the percentage they are requesting, in what basically appears to be a pseudo-vanity author co-op where everyone is supposed to promote each other, it's tough to label them a "traditional publisher".

This article kind of hits the nail squarely on the head: https://writingcooperative.com/hybrid-publisher-or-vanity-press-in-disguise-75039644b804

If you want to see some really miserable Twitter feed trolling, check out the #MSWL hashtag and watch for "Mudgett" and company. It's truly fascinating in a sad and pathetic way, if all accounts are true, that some disgruntled author is making more of a name for himself prompting articles about his behavior than his writing could ever do.

As for Breaking Rules Publishing, if it walks like a duck...
 
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Morbid

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Rogue Publisher Alert

This Posting is a Warning About Breaking Rules Publishing

This post is for all ambitious novelists who seek publication in a saturated market with many pitfalls.
This is for you.

I'm a Big-5 published author with many professional credits to my name, including having sold fiction. As of right now, I have a three-book deal with a very big independent and a two-book deal with a small literary press. This is to show that what I’m posting here has the weight of facts behind it and that this post isn’t about a personal matter nor is it in any way about a vendetta.

What I’m writing about is a seriously rogue press whose name is – appropriately enough – Breaking Rules Publishing (BRP).

I was originally approached by BRP by a Sam Munson (a BRP author) who was using the email account of president and CEO Christopher Clausen-Rule (CCR). I was made an offer on a literary novel that I pitched them and had forgotten all about. The follow-up email was indeed a publishing contract. This was obviously not drawn up by an attorney but was harvested from the Internet and, in its content, was entirely unaware of electronic publishing and distribution and sales being made on the publisher’s website and, as has become standard, Amazon.com.

Problems began almost immediately, because they published my novel almost immediately.

My name on the contract was wrong and had to be corrected, which took some back and forth.

CCR requested cover art from me. I had none but communicated that I’d send him a design to work with. Though there were resolution flaws in the design, CCR used this dummy example for the cover without telling me. CCR got my name wrong on the spine; dedication and acknowledgements were left out and the book never went to an editor. I had to frantically edit the book myself on the proof pages. My edits were entirely ignored. There were spacing and paragraph problems. The Amazon listing on the softcover POD version of the book was wrong – the publisher was also listed as “independently published,” meaning the book was self-published. (It wasn’t.) No matter how many times I was reassured and promised, necessary fixes were never made. My book stood as flawed and damaged until it was pulled.


Sincere apologies and promises were offered by CCR. Suffice it to say, BRP accepted yet another book I had pitched early on – so I signed the amateurish contract on that one as well.

Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football notwithstanding: nearly all of the problems I had with the first book were duplicated with the second. But, owing to some evidence that fixes/repairs were being done on book one, present on the BR website and even somewhat on Amazon, I took another roll of the dice. (There was also a halfway decent wraparound cover provided – a seeming ray of hope I thought.)

Meanwhile, CCR agreed to send physical books to reviewers and to me. None were ever sent despite reasonable assurances. This happened up until the day we parted ways and was a sore point with many of BRP’s other authors as well.

CCR also threatened to pull my books because there were a good many trolling attacks against me sponsored by stalker I’ve been dealing with for years on Twitter – where I don’t have an account. That person is under a lifetime restraining order and prohibited to contact me. CCR understood this and agreed to continue going forward. This was done again, when one of the authors described by both her and CCR as a “soulmate” sent the same information to CCR. We spoke again, I pointed this out, problem solved.
So one would have thought.

I also found out during my relationship with BRP that their main sales/marketing plan was to have Author Salon Zoom meetings. I attended one, spoke twice and was immediately banned. Why? I asked a question. My tone was hateful. I recorded this incident. No one I showed this recording to agreed with that complaint. I merely sounded businesslike and professional (which I believe was the actual cause.) I told CCR I was fine with foregoing the Salon. He admitted that the Zoom meetings were intended to have friends and family attend to buy their preferred author’s books and, more importantly, books by the other BRP writers as well. There was no other strategy.

CCR said he was building a community – the only problem with that was that few authors attended and virtually no friends or family attended at all. This sales and marketing plan remained (and remains) a consistent dud.

Meanwhile, problems with book two continued. In a calm and friendly meeting I was assured that all my troubles would be handled and books to reviewers, helpers and me would go out that night.
That never happened.

CCR begged for my participation in that night’s Zoom meeting, whose topic was that BRP authors weren’t attending. I said I’d be glad to help.

And so I did. For my trouble, I was muted and banned for asking a single question to the one friend the “soul mate” brought to the nearly empty meeting. The friend spoke for a half an hour about book marketing. He knew factually nothing about it. I asked a single, polite question – muted. (I simply wanted to know where his data came from.) The fact I have about 20 years’ experience in publishing was taken to be valueless and an ad hominem attack on someone I didn’t know. I messaged CCR, apologizing in case my single question was ill-taken, being suspicious of the “soul mate.” No, everything is fine, he messaged me.

The next day both my books were yanked off the website and Amazon, flawed as they were.

I have to point out that of all the authors/helpers of BRP, I was the only one with major publishing credentials and experience. No one else had ever done anything significant in publishing but with BRP.

This outrage was followed by many weird, childish, temper-tantrum emails. CCR’s position is that he would be abiding by the contract if he kept my books available only to me as the sole purchaser and I was invited to buy my books but they wouldn’t be sold to anyone else. This breached and violated even the silly contracts I had signed six ways to Sunday. CCR was happy to be completely candid about his intention to hold my books hostage and make them unavailable. There’s no place in the body of tort law that would allow this and nothing in contracts that would either. He stands by a misreading of the instrument, bragging loudly about his ill intent.

So now, obviously, I’m suing BRP and CCR.

I have no doubt about recovering my losses, despite the fact, CCR is too broke to hire an attorney. How do I know this? BRP’s own filing as of 2Q:20 shows assets of $39 thousand and a single employee.

It turns out that CCR and his husband own and operate a small motel in Pompano Beach, Florida where they eke out a living.

I fear that BRP’s standards are so low they’ll publish almost anyone. I know firmly believe that no one at BRP ever read my books. They were simply processed and churned out with mistakes and no small degree of incompetence, reflecting badly on both of us. (As you may know, the author is usually given the blame for such things.)

All I can say is that my due diligence prior to signing showed BRP as being squeaky clean with no bad reviews, complaints or baggage to speak of – so I gave them a chance. This posting is for the next writer who finds himself or herself (or themselves) too easily accepted by this incompetent, malfeasant, rogue publisher in the hopes that any experience even remotely analogous to mine can be avoided.
Thank you.
 

Morbid

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I thought - being a former Breaking Rules Publishing author - that I might post here something I posted in another forum about Breaking Rules. I think this detailed post tells you all you'll need to know. It walks like a duck, to put it mildly:

This Posting is a Warning About Breaking Rules Publishing

This post is for all ambitious novelists who seek publication in a saturated market with many pitfalls.

This is for you.

I'm a Big-5 published author with many professional credits to my name, including having sold fiction. As of right now, I have a three-book deal with a very big independent and a two-book deal with a small literary press. This is to show that what I’m posting here has the weight of facts behind it and that this post isn’t about a personal matter nor is it in any way about a vendetta.

What I’m writing about is a seriously rogue press whose name is – appropriately enough – Breaking Rules Publishing (BRP).

I was originally approached by BRP by a Sam Munson (a BRP author) who was using the email account of president and CEO Christopher Clausen-Rule (CCR). I was made an offer on a literary novel that I pitched them and had forgotten all about. The follow-up email was indeed a publishing contract. This was obviously not drawn up by an attorney but was harvested from the Internet and, in its content, was entirely unaware of electronic publishing and distribution and sales being made on the publisher’s website and, as has become standard, Amazon.com.

Problems began almost immediately, because they published my novel almost immediately.

My name on the contract was wrong and had to be corrected, which took some back and forth.

CCR requested cover art from me. I had none but communicated that I’d send him a design to work with. Though there were resolution flaws in the design, CCR used this dummy example for the cover without telling me. CCR got my name wrong on the spine; dedication and acknowledgements were left out and the book never went to an editor. I had to frantically edit the book myself on the proof pages. My edits were entirely ignored. There were spacing and paragraph problems. The Amazon listing on the softcover POD version of the book was wrong – the publisher was also listed as “independently published,” meaning the book was self-published. (It wasn’t.) No matter how many times I was reassured and promised, necessary fixes were never made. My book stood as flawed and damaged until it was pulled.

Sincere apologies and promises were offered by CCR. Suffice it to say, BRP accepted yet another book I had pitched early on – so I signed the amateurish contract on that one as well.

Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football notwithstanding: nearly all of the problems I had with the first book were duplicated with the second. But, owing to some evidence that fixes/repairs were being done on book one, present on the BR website and even somewhat on Amazon, I took another roll of the dice. (There was also a halfway decent wraparound cover provided – a seeming ray of hope I thought.)

Meanwhile, CCR agreed to send physical books to reviewers and to me. None were ever sent despite reasonable assurances. This happened up until the day we parted ways and was a sore point with many of BRP’s other authors as well.

CCR also threatened to pull my books because there were a good many trolling attacks against me sponsored by stalker I’ve been dealing with for years on Twitter – where I don’t have an account. That person is under a lifetime restraining order and prohibited to contact me. CCR understood this and agreed to continue going forward. This was done again, when one of the authors described by both her and CCR as a “soulmate” sent the same information to CCR. We spoke again, I pointed this out, problem solved.

So one would have thought.

I also found out during my relationship with BRP that their main sales/marketing plan was to have Author Salon Zoom meetings. I attended one, spoke twice and was immediately banned. Why? I asked a question. My tone was hateful. I recorded this incident. No one I showed this recording to agreed with that complaint. I merely sounded businesslike and professional (which I believe was the actual cause.) I told CCR I was fine with foregoing the Salon. He admitted that the Zoom meetings were intended to have friends and family attend to buy their preferred author’s books and, more importantly, books by the other BRP writers as well. There was no other strategy.

CCR said he was building a community – the only problem with that was that few authors attended and virtually no friends or family attended at all. This sales and marketing plan remained (and remains) a consistent dud.

Meanwhile, problems with book two continued. In a calm and friendly meeting I was assured that all my troubles would be handled and books to reviewers, helpers and me would go out that night.
That never happened.

CCR begged for my participation in that night’s Zoom meeting, whose topic was that BRP authors weren’t attending. I said I’d be glad to help.

And so I did. For my trouble, I was muted and banned for asking a single question to the one friend the “soul mate” brought to the nearly empty meeting. The friend spoke for a half an hour about book marketing. He knew factually nothing about it. I asked a single, polite question – muted. (I simply wanted to know where his data came from.) The fact I have about 20 years’ experience in publishing was taken to be valueless and an ad hominem attack on someone I didn’t know. I messaged CCR, apologizing in case my single question was ill-taken, being suspicious of the “soul mate.” No, everything is fine, he messaged me.

The next day both my books were yanked off the website and Amazon, flawed as they were.

I have to point out that of all the authors/helpers of BRP, I was the only one with major publishing credentials and experience. No one else had ever done anything significant in publishing but with BRP.

This outrage was followed by many weird, childish, temper-tantrum emails. CCR’s position is that he would be abiding by the contract if he kept my books available only to me as the sole purchaser and I was invited to buy my books but they wouldn’t be sold to anyone else. This breached and violated even the silly contracts I had signed six ways to Sunday. CCR was happy to be completely candid about his intention to hold my books hostage and make them unavailable. There’s no place in the body of tort law that would allow this and nothing in contracts that would either. He stands by a misreading of the instrument, bragging loudly about his ill intent.

So now, obviously, I’m suing BRP and CCR.

I have no doubt about recovering my losses, despite the fact, CCR is too broke to hire an attorney. How do I know this? BRP’s own filing as of 2Q:20 shows assets of $39 thousand and a single employee.

It turns out that CCR and his husband own and operate a small motel in Pompano Beach, Florida where they eke out a living.

I fear that BRP’s standards are so low they’ll publish almost anyone. I now know and firmly believe that no one at BRP ever read my books. They were simply processed and churned out with mistakes and no small degree of incompetence, reflecting badly on both of us. (As you may know, the author is usually given the blame for such things.)

All I can say is that my due diligence prior to signing showed BRP as being squeaky clean with no bad reviews, complaints or baggage to speak of – so I gave them a chance. This posting is for the next writer who finds himself or herself (or themselves) too easily accepted by this incompetent, malfeasant, rogue publisher in the hopes that any experience even remotely analogous to mine can be avoided.

Thank you.
 
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Morbid

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I must say that Victoria Strauss is pretty much lying about the author you're referencing who doesn't exist on Twitter. Her blog page about it shows no evidence about "sock puppet accounts" being actual and is a pointless ad hominem attack because she has a personal axe to grind.

The premise of her blog was that these accounts are a danger to authors - the crux of writer beware. It's rank stupidity. The most clueless writer of all time knows that if anyone tweets to you something you dislike, you can report it and - more importantly - block the offending account(s). That being the case, why the blog page?

Interesting story:

Well, this was spurred by a very low-rung literary agency that should rightly be listed in "Writer Beware" and isn't - as the target of her Strauss' blog was suing them for IP confidentiality violation and defamation. With your post, the groundless doxing continues - though you're mostly right about Breaking Rules. Anyway, to get to the point, when slandering on Twitter (which is a thing with her), Strauss often cites a little bird told her. Well, it seems a bigger bird chirped that the author published a novel about the BDSM world which included science-fiction festival after-parties dedicated to public BDSM. The doyenne of author protection's little "scene" was badly impacted - so she believes and holds a grudge about it. Her page was about settling a personal score. It had nothing to do with protecting author rights or benefiting writers. It had everything to do with payback and is, on its face, outright libel.

If you think that Strauss is harmless here and has never done such things before - I entreat you to go to the Write Agenda and take in the material there about her acts of defamation, libel, fraud and other such things that the dowager of writer safety would rather you remain ignorant about. She's done things much more serious and appalling than simply having been an unsubstantiated dick on Twitter. There's a lot of bad history here:

https://thewriteagenda.wordpress.com/victoria-strauss/

Also, there happens to be a book (out of print I believe) detailing her (and her deceased partner in crime Ann Crispin's) bad acts and lawsuits. It amounts to much more than a few annoying tweets. It should pretty much identify Victoria Strauss as an untrustworthy source on anything. If "Writer Beware" is to retain any credibility at all, she should be removed from the running of it. See for yourself:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1514240955/?tag=absowrit-20
 

Morbid

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Correction...

Well, let's correct you: "The author's "obvious accounts" are still on Twitter - and NONE of them belong to Gary S. Kadet, who exists in social media only on Facebook where Strauss has had zero exchanges with him

I must say that Victoria Strauss is pretty much lying about the author you're referencing. Her blog page about it shows no evidence about "sock puppet accounts" being actual and is a pointless ad hominem attack because she has a personal axe to grind.

The premise of her blog was that these accounts are a danger to authors - the crux of "Writer Beware." It's rank stupidity. The most clueless writer of all time knows that if anyone tweets to you something you dislike, you can report it and - more importantly - block the offending account(s). That being the case, why the blog page?

Interesting story:

Well, this was spurred by a very low-rung literary agency - Talcott Notch - that should rightly be listed in "Writer Beware" and isn't - as the target of Strauss' blog was suing them for IP confidentiality violation and defamation. With your post, the groundless doxing continues - though you're mostly right about Breaking Rules. Anyway, to get to the point, when slandering on Twitter (which is a thing with her), Strauss often cites a little bird told her. Well, it seems a bigger bird chirped that the author published a novel about the BDSM world which included science-fiction festival after-parties dedicated to public BDSM. The doyenne of author protection's little "scene" was badly impacted - so she believes - and so, holds a grudge about it. Her page was about settling a personal score. It had nothing to do with protecting author rights or benefiting writers. It had everything to do with payback and is, on its face, outright libel.

If you think that Strauss is harmless here and has never done such things before - I entreat you to go to the Write Agenda and take in the material there about her acts of defamation, libel, fraud and other such things that the dowager of writer safety would rather you remain ignorant about. She's done things much more serious and appalling than simply having been an unsubstantiated dick on Twitter. There's a lot of bad history here:

https://thewriteagenda.wordpress.com/victoria-strauss/

Also, there happens to be a book (out of print I believe) detailing her (and her deceased partner in crime Ann Crispin's) bad acts and lawsuits. It amounts to much more than a few annoying tweets. It should pretty much identify Victoria Strauss as an untrustworthy source on anything. If "Writer Beware" is to retain any credibility at all, she should be removed from the running of it. See for yourself:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1514240955/?tag=absowrit-20








-----------------------------------------------------------------
Breaking Rules Publishing just came to my attention due to a bizarre Twitter feud going on between a trio of accounts that are allegedly sockpuppets of one of Breaking Rules Publishing's authors. The author's obvious accounts in his own name were banned, and according to a credible article by Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware (https://accrispin.blogspot.com/2020/03/space-kadet-twisted-tale-of-sad-sad.html) he's had many more accounts banned.

During the course of harassing writers and agents and of course V. Strauss, and openly promoting Mr. Kadet's book on the Breaking Rules Website, a hilarious exchange ensued where a Twitter user pointed out that Breaking Rules Publishing headquarters is in a motel in Pompano Beach, Florida. (Google images for 504 North Ocean Blvd, Pompano Beach, 33062).

At which point Breaking Rules chimed in threatening the Twitter user to "take it down" or they would be "forced to take action". They apparently took offense at being referred to as a vanity press and/or having a picture of their headquarters posted online.

An interesting turn was when a user asked them if they disapproved of their author's behavior, to which there was no reply. Looking at their site ("Proudly Powered By Weebly"). Their shopping cart button is Paypal. 10 of the books for sale in their "bookstore" are from Breaking Rules Publishing are from owner Christopher Clawson Rule, which arguable makes BRP a "vanity press" - at least for him.

I tried to find publishing experience for Clawson Rule that would lend itself to becoming a "publisher" but it appears that all of his prior work was published through "print on demand" aka old-school vanity presses before the Amazon era made it simple for anyone.

Half if not more of the books listed on their site indicate Amazon Service as the publisher ( vs a few with BRP ).

Duotrope will not list them in it's directory of markets because they charge for services. Honestly, there's nothing professional about their site at all, and I won't embarrass any specific authors there, but a quick perusal of their cover art makes it look like professional advice isn't available either. (Cover services are part of BRP's offering).

There also doesn't seem to be any editorial discretion. Based on a video interview with Clawson Rule, it sounds like they publish anyone. Never is there a mention of rejection.

For the percentage they are requesting, in what basically appears to be a pseudo-vanity author co-op where everyone is supposed to promote each other, it's tough to label them a "traditional publisher".

This article kind of hits the nail squarely on the head: https://writingcooperative.com/hybrid-publisher-or-vanity-press-in-disguise-75039644b804

If you want to see some really miserable Twitter feed trolling, check out the #MSWL hashtag and watch for "Mudgett" and company. It's truly fascinating in a sad and pathetic way, if all accounts are true, that some disgruntled author is making more of a name for himself prompting articles about his behavior than his writing could ever do.

As for Breaking Rules Publishing, if it walks like a duck...
 
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