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| I love my current publishers! |
Writers, beware of book
mills!
Things are going along
fairly smoothly in life when suddenly a mistake you thought you’d
corrected years ago rears its ugly head. No, I don’t mean my ex
(ugly as he is!) showed up on my doorstep. That I could easily handle
by kicking his butt to the curb. This mistake has to do with one of
lowest of pond-scum-feeding con artists who exist in the publishing
world—the book mill.
For those of you who
aren’t familiar with the term, here’s a quick definition. A book
mill simply churns out book after book after book with little or no
editing or consideration of the material. Any and all topics and
genres and writing abilities are fair game because no one at the book
mill actually reads the manuscripts submitted. All the book
mill wants is for wannabe authors to buy tons of copies of their own
books so the book mill can make a tidy profit with little effort.
They may promise “promotion opportunities for only $99!” but the
author receives little or no sales boost from handing over money to
the book mill, and, of course, it’s a non-refundable fee. In fact,
the book mill routinely bombards its authors with meaningless
communications promising to put their titles in front of famous talk
show hosts and radio stars, along with entering the books into
prestigious book expos—all for a fee, of course. It’s not hard to
see that a running book mill is a great way to scam a lot of money
off of anxious writers who have no knowledge of how the publishing
world works.
I didn’t realize at
the time (well over a decade ago) that I was dealing with a book
mill, but it gradually became obvious. I had sold the
electronic rights to my novel to an ebook-only press, but I had been
asked to sign print books at a book-signing. This is way before the
Kindle debuted, so not many people were interested in having an e-book author
at a book-signing event. Where would I get print copies to sign? An online
acquaintance recommended this book mill, and from his comments I
thought they sounded legitimate. The book mill agreed to the print rights
only to my novel since I informed them I had sold the e-rights
earlier. Win-win, right?
The book mill did a
quick spell check for “editing” and then told me my novel was now
available for purchase. I bought some copies for the signing, but I
was very disappointed when they arrived in the mail. The print books
were extremely expensive for the quality of the product. A stock
image photo slapped onto a rather sorry solid color with the book’s
title printed above in a standard font was the “cover art.” (Even
I could have done that well over a decade ago!) But at least I had a
book in hand to sign at the event. I was hopeful it would eventually
sell well in both print and electronic formats.
Flash forward a few
years: With practically zero print sales (none I couldn’t account
for personally), I requested my book’s print rights back from the book mill and
asked them to pull my title from their web site. Years passed and I never
heard a peep from this company. I heard nothing about them on the
grapevine either. I figured the book mill must have gone out of
business. I felt very relieved to have escaped their clutches.
My novel’s e-rights
eventually expired with its first electronic publisher. I revised and
re-sold the novel to a publisher of both print and ebooks with whom
I’ve had the pleasure of working with for some time now. With fresh
edits and a snazzy new cover, I was happy that my “baby” had
found a good home. Everything seemed to have come together for this
well-reviewed book with its mixed-up publishing past.
Flash forward to a few weeks ago: An email arrives in my inbox from an unknown company saying they’re publishing my novel and that I can pay them money to promote it. What the…? Who are they and why did they pirate my book? I immediately contacted my publisher and then wrote back to this unknown company asking them to take my book down from their site. Immediately the abuse began. I eventually learned that this new company was in fact the same old book mill I had dealt with more than a decade ago operating under a new name. They claimed I had “infringed upon my copyright.”
Say what? Along with
other legal-sounding mumbo-jumbo the email stated they’d “return
my copyright” for a mere $99. Imagine that! Thing is, if I didn’t
pay them right away they claimed they’d take me to court and sue me
for the "infringing on the copyright" to my own work. Wow! (I dug out the old contract.
There’s not a word about having to pay them any fees whatsoever in their contract or that they would file for a copyright on
the work.)
Weirder yet, I had
filed for the copyright for my novel with the US Copyright Office
many years ago. It’s my book and I registered the copyright, so
what nonsense is this? My current publisher said to stop communicating
with this company directly, as they’re obviously trying to frighten
me into paying them money to shut up. She wisely asked for the
book mill’s legal counsel contact information so the two
“publishers” could discuss the matter. The book mill seemed to ignore this
request.
Weeks later, another
email arrives in my inbox stating that I need to buy my copyright back from the book mill since my book hasn’t sold
any copies in over a year. Well, of course it hasn’t sold any
copies! I told the company many years ago to take it down from their
site, and I’d requested my print rights back. Since the “new
company” is actually the “old book mill” surely they have this
information at hand and could see it was all a mistake, right? I was
advised by my publisher to send them a short and simple email to the
book mill reminding them to contact my novel’s current
publisher as requested earlier, just in case the first email had been
missed.
Then all hell broke
loose.
The most unprofessional
and nasty emails followed. There’s simply no other way to describe
the horrid tone of these communications. Personal attacks? Plenty! I
must be an axe murderer in my sleep. What an odd sideline for a
romance author!
The book mill also sent
these insulting emails to my publisher as well, since I
had provided contact information. We can only assume they did this
for maximum fright tactic/belittling effect. Apart from calling my
current publisher every name in the book (how professional!) they
continue to insist I’ll be in a world of financial hurt if I don’t
pay them. I’m beginning to wonder if they haven’t taken lessons
from either Tony Soprano or the Godfather. Needless to say, my current publisher and
the company lawyer will be conversing directly with the book mill
from now on.
You know what? Even if
I win the lottery tomorrow, there’s no way I’ll ever pay these
people. Who gives in to a bully? Why would anyone pay a bully for the
rights to his/her own work? With further research, we’ve discovered
that this book mill has been sued before for employing similar
tactics with their authors.
A Better Business
Bureau web site says the book mill in question publicly stated that
their contracts don’t last more than ten years. My original
contract would have ended a few years back then. This might explain
why I’d never heard from the old book mill with the new name until
recently.
It doesn’t appear
they were bought out or sold. It’s simply the same book mill
operating under a new name. Why on earth should a business change
their name in midstream unless they’ve got something to hide? This
is an ongoing nightmare, so I’ll fill you in on any news as it
comes available.
The moral of the story
is this: Writers beware of book mills! They are not your
friends, especially if they constantly request money for so-called
services. And never ever forget the old adage: “The money flows
from the publisher to the author—not the other way
around.” A legitimate publisher takes you on as an author because
they truly believe in your book (like my novel's current publisher). You
deserve nothing less!
Editor’s note: My
husband and I will be leading a panel called “What makes a good
publisher?” at ConClave 38, October 10-12, in Dearborn, Michigan.
Hope to see you there!
