I rang AuthorHouse – see previous post – and now I have received an email from them. Marcus Montegrande (for it is he) ignores my issues however. His reply bears no relation at all to the discussion I had with Chanel (see previous post). It behaves as if I have asked to be published by them (far from it). Obviously I can't disseminate the email but this paraphrase is the gist:
OK, Marcus, over to you:
Dear
Frances,
Welcome to AuthorHouse, the world's most experienced and trusted leader in the self-publishing industry.
Welcome to AuthorHouse, the world's most experienced and trusted leader in the self-publishing industry.
Hello, Marcus. As you are a senior Publishing Consultant
and also a Supervisor, I hope that you can sort out this disturbing muddle.
You requested information on publishing ...
No I didn't.
Based on the information you provided, we were selected as a good
match for what you are interested in.
Er... probably so - I'm sure you are a very good publisher -
BUT - I rang your number from the website and spoke to Chanel
and she was concerned at the problem I raised
and said someone would get back to me and clarify the situation.
BUT - I rang your number from the website and spoke to Chanel
and she was concerned at the problem I raised
and said someone would get back to me and clarify the situation.
AuthorHouse is one of the world's largest self-publishing companies.... AuthorHouse who has pioneered self-publishing for the past 15 years, have
earned...
Hang on, your subject is singular and your verb is plural in that last bit, Marcus...
...the trust and confidence...
Marcus! Stop! What about my question
and the issue I raised about Vesta Publishing?
and the issue I raised about Vesta Publishing?
...of over 90,000 authors, giving birth to over
140,000 book titles... authors are first time
authors and others have already ...have an undying passion for ...deprived the chance...politicians and experts of their field who want to share...rejected because ...is "not good for our business".
AuthorHouse is a self-publishing company. We will turn...
Yawn. I saw this on the website...
...your manuscript into...investment on your part...retain full
ownership and copyright of your work. You will make the key decision from... the book to look like.
AuthorHouse uses print-on-demand technology...
Yawn...
... books will be
delivered fresh to...eliminates the need for substantial
... inventory, distribution and warehousing.
Here's what's in it for you:
Zzzzzzz What? Sorry - drifted off there.
This is nothing to do with what I talked on the phone about, Marcus.
Chanel said someone would get in touch to sort my problem out;
the problem that one of your imprints - Vesta Publishing
(well Amazon says so) claims to be my publisher.
You are not actually sorting it out, Marcus.
This is nothing to do with what I talked on the phone about, Marcus.
Chanel said someone would get in touch to sort my problem out;
the problem that one of your imprints - Vesta Publishing
(well Amazon says so) claims to be my publisher.
You are not actually sorting it out, Marcus.
- .....personal attention with your own professional team of designers and consultants.
Yikes! Bullet points!
- ...you control and experience you want for publishing.
- ...retain the rights to your work so you are not tied down to any strings...
Good point Marcus! Being tied down to any strings is always a thing I have feared.
- Your book will be in print forever because of Print-On-Demand technology.
Forever? How ghastly!
Marcus - they have trained the common sense out of you
and you have let them do it for the money.
Wake up and resign and go to work for your local independent bookshop...
...Please let me know when a good time/
date would be to review this information ... with you. Alternately...
Sorry to interrupt Marcus. You mean 'alternatively' there...
...you can reach me through ....
Yes...
...email.
I absolutely will do one of those things - no - both of them, Marcus.
Because why haven't you answered the question I asked?
How come your subsidiary, Vesta Publishing, says on Amazon
that it publishes my titles in paperback? It doesn't.
I am published in paperback by Wordclay ONLY.
And Wordclay has gone out of business.
And I have an email from them
saying that I now have NO PUBLISHER in paperback
and will have to start again from scratch.
Because why haven't you answered the question I asked?
How come your subsidiary, Vesta Publishing, says on Amazon
that it publishes my titles in paperback? It doesn't.
I am published in paperback by Wordclay ONLY.
And Wordclay has gone out of business.
And I have an email from them
saying that I now have NO PUBLISHER in paperback
and will have to start again from scratch.
I look forward to speaking with you!
Me too!
Sincerely,
Marcus
So What am I going to do? Why won't they answer?
They can't just carry on saying they are my publisher can they? They are NOT!!
Wordclay is. Was. They have gone out of business.
This is part of Penguin.
That's the thing that is so hard to accept.
Penguin.
Which published all my favourite books when I was little. And when I was at university.
Actually - all my life until now.
So Penguin, in a way, are trying to put one over on me and they won't talk to me about it so far. Sigh.
They can't just carry on saying they are my publisher can they? They are NOT!!
Wordclay is. Was. They have gone out of business.
This is part of Penguin.
That's the thing that is so hard to accept.
Penguin.
Which published all my favourite books when I was little. And when I was at university.
Actually - all my life until now.
So Penguin, in a way, are trying to put one over on me and they won't talk to me about it so far. Sigh.
He says he looks forward to sapeaking to you so suggest you work out the time lapses and email him your phone number with a time and date to phone youto discus your question which you can restate in the email.
ReplyDeleteIt looks to me as if they have made alternative arrangements for those whose work was published by WordClay(?) but have ommitted to actually communicate that to anyone in any obvious way. There is probably an obscure part of an obscure offshoot of their website that has one short sentence, put there on 04/12/12, informaing all authors and since it is there absolves them from actually communicating directly with any of the authors they are now publishing. If you don't get any real respopnse from a human being I suggest you speak to a solicitor.
My heart sinks at the mere mention of litigation. It isn't possible anyway because although I like lawyers, I can't afford them. Your notion of the obscure paragraph absolving Vesta from any individual acts of communication is a good one though - thank you. I will have another look on the Vesta website.
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