shiloh walker
September 2
12:19 pm

Avenging Authors (and I feel really stupid using that moniker btw)

Sorry, but there was a LOT wrong with Jaden’s post. She’s unhappy? Hey, that’s fine. She’s entitled. But there is ALWAYS a way of voicing complaints without looking like a petulant child. Or in this case, a petulant child with a bad mouth.

The kind of language, the tone she used, the way she was casting insults around and her general lack of clarity, none of that belongs in a professional setting.

Now if she doesn’t claim to be a professional, hey, then more power to her.

You want to be a professional and if you want to be treated like one, then you have to act like one.

I’ve been in the epub industry for a while now. I’m not exactly one of the veterans, but I’m definitely not a newbie at it. I can tell you one thing that I’ve learned.

The authors that act like Miz Sinclair has acted are the ones who eventually fade away into obscurity. They are the ones that have trouble getting contracts renewed, or new contracts offered because word gets around and troublemakers are not worth the trouble.

There’s a big hoopla going on about authors who are staying quiet out of fear of being labeled a troublemaker. I’m not going to get involved in that because part of me understands some of the fears.

BUT…the kind of crap that Jaden was shrieking, (and she didn’t shriek it very well, either), it’s that kind of crap that will definitely get an author labeled a troublemaker.

Epubbed authors sometimes get a little more leeway selecting who they’ll work with on projects, anthologies, series, etc. And I’ve turned down projects because some of the authors involved acted in a manner similiar to Jaden’s. I run group websites and frequently I have authors ask to get in on them. The authors that display a marked lack of professionalism like Jaden did are the authors that don’t even make it on the wait list. They are told flat out no~there’s no room.

Professionalism COUNTS. Period. Whether that was said on a loop meant to be private is irrelevant.

There is a way to voice complaints without making it sound like you’re insulting every soul that doesn’t agree with you. There’s a way to voice them without swearing like a sailor~and sorry, obscenities have no place in a business setting. The vast majority of people wouldn’t appreciate walking into a bank and the manager talking like Jaden did.

A writer should be able to find a better way of expressing herself.

I’m not looking to pimp my blog on anybody, but I got a feeling that AA and Jaden could benefit from a couple of posts.

Your online persona

and

Your image

I think Karen at one point even linked to a blog explaining that industry professionals…oh, like agents and editors from the big houses, DO read blogs. If Jaden had known that a potential agent or an editor out of Berkley or Pocket could see that post, would she have posted it?

Bet you money the honest answer would have been NO.

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Anonymous
September 2
3:15 pm

Regarding Shiloh’s recent comments…you are SO RIGHT! And aside from the language and the insults within the post, the lack of correct spelling, punctuation, etc. also left an impression on me. A BAD one! I am a publisher, and don’t think I won’t forget that post or that author’s name…yes, we DO read blogs and we DO surf the internet. Imagine receiving a query letter written in such a fashion…you think that author even has a shot at getting a serious read from us? Not in a million years. So to get on the internet in ANY capacity and not “do your job” as a writer creates a huge BAD impression. A “supposed” author should ALWAYS be on their game, especially where publishers may see your “work”–whether it’s an email or an official query letter, it doesn’t matter. To send an email that looks like it was written by a person who doesn’t know how to spell, let alone how to punctuate (even IF they are miffed about something) and that is THEIR JOB (ie. a writer!!!) tells me that the “supposed” author is nothing but unprofessional and should be avoided at all costs. Having a beef with a company is one thing–and authors SHOULD speak out, since some of these companies seem to think everyone else is stupid and they can get away with not paying royalties, etc. But when an authors has a beef and publically takes a stand, they should make certain their words are actually spelled correctly or they end up looking like an idiot. And let me tell you, because of these types of letters, my list of “authors to avoid at all costs” grows on a daily basis and the authors have no one to blame but themselves.

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Anonymous
September 2
6:56 pm

Clarity. First let me clarify this issue with MGP. Not one author had a clue that Teresa Jacobs was in financial turmoil. There were only two cheifs there Teresa Jacobs and Wendi Felter. Teresa handled the finances of the company and hid much from Wendi. Wendi mainly ran the company and kept it on it’s feet while Teresa borrowed money from Wendi to keep the company afloat. In the begining there was book written by another author at AA that we all just found out that was supposed to be plagarized by an author at MGP. I was accused of somehow being in the middle of that one and I had no idea who HS Kinn was or some of the other authors mentioned there. I believe it was a disgruntled author who left either Silks Vault or MGP who had a jealousey problem with my success and decided to make me look bad. I generally keep to my pwn private life unless I am attacked. and I never would have been in this blog had it not ben for one of my collegues who sent me ths link. I never read blogs nor do I blog myself. We are still trying to figure this one out. Yet it truly baffles all of us that this happened, and the fact that our royalties were literally stolen from us. Right now we are all doing what we can to have Teresa criminally investigated in her home state, and it is working. Everyone including the Trisk and Venus authors are behind us. We are all in the same boat. We have a few of those authors with us so can you honestly imagine imagine going through that over and over again? I was burned by four e-book publishers. I also vowed that I would go back to print and that’s where I will remain. But to come into a blog and trash an authors name and career the way you ladies did just because some ignorant person tried to drag her name into something she was not involved in merely out of jealousey was wrong. Slamming me with insults the way you did was also wrong. Not one of you in here knows me accept one. I gave Teresa a break when she opened because I thought as others did that she was my friend. She took advantage of us all and lied. We were all angry and tempers did flare. Yes Jaden posted an insane letter, but she had a right to do. Both her and I were constanly being interrogated about what was happening to MGP and we had just as much a clue as they did. So I finally decided to jump in after getting no response from Teresa by telephone. So I created a private author loop that we could all vent in and figure out what we would do next. We had to keep it out of Teresa’s eyes because we all knew she was reading them. What really destroyed all of us is when we found out two days ago that the proceeds for our Pirate anthology never made it to St. Judes. I have been crying ever since. I feel for those children believe me. I have my own child in a grave, it is not easy. Now as far as me sneaking into chat rooms pretending I was a reader and bashing publishers is totally uncorrect. I did complain to the publicragarding Sarah Tillers misdealings at Silks Vault to the preditors and editors poll. How that woman is still in business is beyond me. I pulled her up from the gutter in three days and she treated me with dishonesty and disrespect after all I had done for her. I never ventured into chat rooms to do that I went public to save any author who had intentions of submitting to her. I do know though that after I left Silks Vault that’s when the comments began. This from jealous authors I believe or possible Sarah herself. I also never jumped on the ban wagon when several authors and our EIC left MGP back in December through March as some would like to think. I actually told Teresa she was going to fall if this crap continued. She bullied the authors into signing an addendum that would allow her to steal our money. Cudos to the ones who never signed it. It took a small group of authors to find what she had done. Teresa threatened them and dumped their contracts, stating to me she didn’t give a damn and didn’t need the drama…mind you these authors were top sellers. Well, they all left and that’s when the company began to change. Teresa manipulated all of us into thinking she was the poor innocent victim here and began crying on our shoulders. Once again because we were not behind the scenes, we had no choice but to believe her. So life went on at MGP until we all began to wonder why we weren’t selling books. Teresa could never come up with a viable answer and made every attempt to hide the issue by telling us,”Oh I have to go into a seperate page for that, can it wait?” And she would say that to me everytime.

We knew we were selling books. We had fan mail to prove it. Teresa claimed her computer crashed, we knew it was a lie. Teresa was never one to stay away from MGP for not even an hour. She was alawys there. She abandoned ship August 4th. She didn’t surface again until a few days ago when she realized we all shut her down and went public. We did not want to end up like the poor authors of Venus, Oceans Mist and Triskelion. So we put a stop to it. As far as you reading that I would never publish with an e-book publisher again is true. I did speak against them in RWA and will do it again. Many authors in print were greatful for the informantion I conveyed. I am all for the publishers in NYC and wish they would come in and shut all the e-pubs down that are shady. I spoke highly of only a handful, and that doesn’t say much for the industry. I have been both inside and outside of this business. I help where I can because I never want to see any author, novice or not suffer in the hands of a publisher who has no clue what they are doing. We are all in this together so if I can save ten authors from making a mistake I have accomplished what I am here for. So I kindly ask from you ladies, to please ask me first who I am and what my position is in the e-book industry before you come at me with full horns…you may actually find I am a very nice person. I will answer questions and I will help out when needed. I gave quite a few authors a break in this field and helped them get published, so that must say a lot about my credibility as a human being. I am the former Senior editor of 3 publishers and a magazine. I don’t think my shit stinks, but all I know is that I worked damn hard to get to where I am today and I owe no one nothing. We all make mistakes, but when you are placed in a position such as this you will do what you can to defend your situation. None of us ever wanted this to happen, and we should hope to get guidence and condolences instead of mean-spirtied people hacking at our person. That’s all I have to say to you so I hope you finally understand the situation we are in and decide to treat us kindness and in the way we would have treated you had you been in this situation.

AP Miller

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Barbara Sheridan
September 2
8:43 pm

AP MIller said:
we should hope to get guidence and condolences

Um, no.

I don’t know about anyone else but I knew that taking a chance with MGP for my little YA book was just that–taking a chance. Ordinarily I would avoid a newer company and have never been a big fan of quarterly payments but at the time what I saw as a couple decent perks (cover art gig for my uber-talented child #2 and print version very soon after e-release) seemed a livable trade off.

*insert practical side shrieking I told ya so here*

Due to a questionable statement for my daughter’s other YA cover work in addition to general sales figures for my book I asked to be released from my contract on 7/24.

I’m not happy that my little YA might be tied up in court. Am I angry? Yes I’m angry at myself for “knowing better” but taking the leap anyway.

I’m closer to fifty than I want to be. There have been a few stupid things I’ve done that “seemed like a good idea at the time”. You fxxk up, you learn from it, you move on and don’t make that mistake again.

No guidance or condolences needed in this corner.

I’ve clung to my tiny niche in the publishing world since 1998 I can cling a little longer.

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Anonymous
September 3
3:53 am

I have dealt with Patti/AP in the past. I was shocked by Patti’s so-called professionalism and the stories bandied about at conferences about lack of etiquette. Professional? Heehee! Patti made a funnnnny 😉

It is so special to see her personality translates in such positive ways online. I must now run out and buy alllllllllllll AP Miller’s books. Someone will get a check this month.

Snarknonymous

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Anonymous
September 3
4:54 pm

I strongly advise everyone to take Patti/AP Miller’s words with a whoppin’ rock of salt. She is the source of most of the vicious rumors going around about MGP.

The only things we can prove is that it’s closed now. With authors like Patti do you completely blame Teresa for bailing? she is overly vicious and high unprofessional and I am a little glad that MGP closed before my name was associated with hers.

As for “net”, my contract defines “net” as 40% of the cost of the book minus paypal fees. That’s it, no cost of business fees, no “website listing” fees. that’s not exactly the classic definition of net as it’s being bantered around.

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Anonymous
September 4
12:36 am

As for “net”, my contract defines “net” as 40% of the cost of the book minus paypal fees. That’s it, no cost of business fees, no “website listing” fees. that’s not exactly the classic definition of net as it’s being bantered around.

I’ve been staring at this trying to figure out what it means. I think you mean bruited about, not bantered.

A Wholly new Anonymouse

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