"There are three difficulties in authorship: to write anything worth publishing -- to find honest men to publish it -- and to get sensible men to read it."
- Charles Caleb Cotton

Tomorrow marks the scheduled release day of my collection from Red Rose Publishing, Adieu Bonjour. The title indicates my saying good-bye to one pen name as I prepare to focus my future work under the name of Anya Howard. With the release of this collection tomorrow also marks the last of my e-books waiting under contract for release. It also marks what I imagine the very last e-book I will ever contract with a straight e-book/POD publishing house. I like Red Rose; the owner keeps me updated on everything I need to know going on in the company. She's also very, very good to respond to any questions I have. And additionally, and very importantly, I've yet to be disappointed with my royalties being paid in a timely, professional manner. I can say the same about publisher, Loose-Id, who I've been with for some time now.

Some might ask if I am happy with LI and RR, why the decision not to sign any more e-book contracts? The reason is two-fold: 1. I am at the point in my career where hopefully I have the luxury (writing as Anya Howard) of concentrating my efforts on books for NY. I may be disappointed, but its a dream I've had for some time.

Reason 2. is much more self-protective: Despite all the years I've been writing for several recognized e-book publishers, only TWO -LI and RR- have earned my professional respect. One in particular left me with a bad taste in my mouth because the owner to this day has not paid me royalties for my book her company had published. This woman went out of business claiming family problems. I'm not made of stone; I can understand family issues. But the contract expired in the fall and I was owed royalties for a very long time. I've yet to be paid and now she seems to have vanished from the face of the earth? Give me a break.

This kind of scenario has unfortunately become the trend in the industry. An embarrassing trend, with no sign of ending any time in the near future. We hear all the time of publishers going under and leaving authors unpaid, and sometimes, even worse, holding their books hostage. It is all a very poor portrait of what, I feel, could be an industry marked by general esteem. I read yesterday a post at a readers blog that talked about the futility of hiring lawyers to reclaim monies from publishers. And I concede, the lawyer I have consulted with let me know upfront that I would have to put more money into pursuing a lawsuit than I could ever hope to reclaim. Likewise, a group litigation is a very drawn-out experience, and in the end, the attorney fees would probably take the greatest portion of any award in judgment for the suing authors. The poster at this blog suggested that the only worthwhile means to change the trend is for stronger regulations to be enforced within the industry. I must agree, this seems the only realistic measures that will possibly insure equity where moral ethics have failed.

Currently I await overdue royalties from publisher, New Concepts Publishing. Many authors have come publicly forward this week with the admission that they, too, are waiting payment due from this company. Their complaints echo my own: overdue royalties, insufficient or non-issued tax forms, and the refusal on the part of the owners and the author liaison to communicate on author questions and complaints on these very matters. With NCP, we authors have time and again been told to address our questions and problems to the author liaison. This person I am really exasperated with as he promised to send me a check out the week of February 19th of this year; a check which was already overdue. Since this promise I've yet to receive the check, and yet to receive a reply from him to my concern that it hasn't arrived. My annoyance with him is not as weighty as my annoyance with the owners. The one I dealt when I signed has failed to respond to my decision made this last week to just terminate the contract.

Some defenders of the company cite authors' responsibility for signing contracts that don't provide them (the author) a means of termination. I can't speak for the others, but I will say that the NCP contract I signed does provide a clause for termination of contract if publisher fails to fix problem situations within 60 days. So, since my emails to both the liaison and the owner have been ignored, I will be sending them my notice for desire of termination via regular snail mail.

I am tired of publishers who treat their authors this way. (Some defenders of these types of publishers have a tendency to say "Well, NY houses don't respond by email." Since having signed with a NY house I can say this just isn't true.) I will also say that for an e-publisher who processes submissions, editing, cover art and sales statements all by email, the presumption really betrays a double-standard on the publisher's end.

I haven't gone public here with my NCP problems to stir up the "hornets nest" any more than it already has been in Blogland. I just want readers to know a little more about the reasons I am fed up with the all too common scenario going on. Also, I'm not so stupid or vain as to think that e-book publishing hasn't helped me get to where I want to be. I credit the experience in this forum of publishing for all the positive things it has brought: that first wonderful sensation of being published; the friends I have made; the readers who have really provided much to the feeling of worth for my craft.

Nevertheless, I do not intend to sign with any more novellas or novels to strictly e-book and/or POD companies. Maybe the occasional short story; and this, only through a company who has proved to me their professionalism. But the experiences with e-pubs has been overall very disappointing, and I simply have no interest, time or energy to devote in promoting an e-title just to turn around and have to beg for royalties, beg for statements, beg for replies, beg for publisher obligations to be met, beg for simple decency. This is not why I became a writer. E-book publishing is an industry that has always held the potential for great things. Look around and we see glimpses of it every day from one or another publisher. But it is a tragic statement on the industry that all too many publishers have let the potential slip away like the proverbial thieves into the night.