| Author | Message | ||
     Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 212.219.233.223 |
I know that plenty of people will say "I told you so" but I have a moral duty to post this message anyway. If you are new writer, do yourself a favour and STAY AWAY from an outfit calling itself Ghostwriter Publications and the person who runs it. I speak from experience. If you do get involved, almost certainly you will sign away rights to work that will never appear: if it does appear it will be only in the form of half a dozen poorly-printed PoD pamphlets (chapbooks) designed to fob you off with the illusion that your work has indeed been published; you will never receive a penny for anything; and even worse, if readers out there do order your work, their money will be taken but in the majority of cases they will receive nothing in return, making you look bad. I'm usually fairly tolerant of the press-small and I consider myself extremely understanding when there are problems, delays, etc. But I no longer believe that this is a case of a small-time entrepreneur beset by problems outside his control; I now suspect that the word 'contrick' might be fruitfully attached to his activities. I blundered into this pit trap through my own blindness. As a consequence I signed away rights to work and in return never received a penny. I promoted this outfit and readers trusted me and spent money on nonexistent products. They were cheated and ripped off; I apologise to them for my lack of insight. But there's no reason why you should repeat my mistake. If you ever come across the name Ghostwriter Publications, avoid, avoid, avoid! | ||
| Johnny_mains (Johnny_mains) Username: Johnny_mains Registered: 04-2010 Posted From: 86.31.118.252 |
Ah, the curse of Neil Jackson strikes again... http://vaultofevil.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=horrorpressnow&action=display&t hread=3634 http://pred-ed.com/pebg.htm and various other places... | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.68 |
Oh dear. Is this since Stephen James Price took over, Rhys? http://mcafeeland.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/thirteen-questions-for-ghostwriter-pu blications-stephen-james-price/ | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.227.164 |
Why do these people insist in thinking in these terms: >>>"The problem as I see it was the company grew too fast. We have over 400 chapbooks and 50 novels that have been approved for release." Company?! Small presses are run by nobodies like me from their back rooms. They're hardly companies. I'm not an editor-in-chief or a CEO. I'm an enthusiastic genre fan who has a hobby. Perhaps others in this game need to get a grip. Btw, if anyone wants to buy any shares in Gray Friar Press, we're now listed on the Footsie 100, blue chip sector. We pay handsome dividends quarterly and have recently had a rights issue to raise funds to expand in the far east (of Whitby, just beyond the chippy). | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Ramsey - Stephen James Price left GWP over a month ago. Another one who "fell out" with Neil Jackson... | ||
| Johnny_mains (Johnny_mains) Username: Johnny_mains Registered: 04-2010 Posted From: 86.31.118.252 |
I think SJP is setting up something on his own now Ramsey. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Incidentally, Stephen James Price is reissuing an ebook of my novella All Your Gods Are Dead, under his Generation Next digital imprint so I'll keep you posted...hope I've made the right decision, with this.  | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.169.221.108 |
I agree with Gary and I'd go further. Certainly with Nemonymous, Inc - I paid for much of it as I would pay golf fees to a club, if golf were my hobby instead of bashing literaturisations from squash wall to squash wall and paying writers royally for their stories over 10 years. And talking about nobodies, as Gary does, Nemo was literally a nobody. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.227.164 |
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| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
recently had a rights issue to raise funds to expand in the far east (of Whitby, just beyond the chippy).  That's a classic, old son... | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 62.30.117.235 |
"Company?! Small presses are run by nobodies like me from their back rooms. They're hardly companies. I'm not an editor-in-chief or a CEO. I'm an enthusiastic genre fan who has a hobby. Perhaps others in this game need to get a grip." Yep! The problem with ebooks is it does make people think, All I need to do is get the file, add html, job's a good 'un. But an ebook is really no less work than a print book. Typesetting a typical novel for print takes about ten minutes. It's the editing and proofreading and correction that takes the time, and that has to be done on an ebook too. | ||
| Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 212.219.233.223 |
The second part of my warning concerns the fact that even though a leopard may not be able to change its spots, it certainly can change its name. And with a name change, it can go back to doing what it did under its first name. If you take my meaning... I don't think it's improbable that in the near future Neil Jackson will use an alias for a new con trick that resembles the old con trick. In fact I suspect that he has already done so. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.227.164 |
What blows my mind is why anyone would try and pull fraudluent stunts like this in the small press. It's like robbing a bottle bank. I mean, if you're going to con folk, at least make it profitable. Jeez. Amateur in their criminal tendencies, too. | ||
| Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 212.219.233.223 |
Maybe he's doing a dry run? | ||
| Jamie Rosen (Jamie) Username: Jamie Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 99.241.48.210 |
"The problem as I see it was the company grew too fast. We have over 400 chapbooks and 50 novels that have been approved for release." Calling it a "company" is a good way to avoid taking the blame. After all, I didn't accept 400 chapbooks and 50 novels when I couldn't handle the workload; the company did. Incidentally, is it just me or do those numbers make it look like they never said 'No' to anyone? | ||
| Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 62.121.31.177 |
Frankly I now doubt everything about Neil Jackson. I doubt that "Neil Jackson" was ever his real name; I doubt that he had a girlfriend called "Sarah"; I doubt that he was a manager in a hotel; I doubt that he had a shop in Weymouth, etc. Did anyone ever actually meet the guy? | ||
| Johnny_mains (Johnny_mains) Username: Johnny_mains Registered: 04-2010 Posted From: 86.31.118.252 |
He spent some time at Guy's house... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Rhys, the small press is jam-packed with untrustworthy twats. I'm amazed you've spent so long in publishing and not realised this. There are, however, some extraordinarily good people involved in the scene too. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
True. There are. Prof - the bottle bank comparison/analogy gets my vote for the funniest and most apt description of the scene completely. (: | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 62.30.117.235 |
Although if Willie Meikle's books really were selling 1000+ a month, there may have been a little money involved in this one. (He's just left them too.) | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.111.137.29 |
"Rhys, the small press is jam-packed with untrustworthy twats. I'm amazed you've spent so long in publishing and not realised this. There are, however, some extraordinarily good people involved in the scene too." Yes to both. I've met some wonderful people but have been greatly disappointed to see deceitful, manipulative, and dishonest people, in the small press, too. And very few people speak up about them. | ||
| R.B. Russell (Tartarusrussell) Username: Tartarusrussell Registered: 02-2010 Posted From: 86.141.55.138 |
I'd like to (respectfully) disagree with Ally and Rhys. In my 20-odd years experience of the small press, 95% of the people I've met have been decent and honest. Of the remaining five percent, all seem to fundamentally lack an understanding of ordinary human relationships and therefore end up acting deceitfully, manipulatively and/or dishonestly. But ours is such a small field that we get to know who they are pretty fast. Whether they are after a short-cut to wealth or respect, they are quickly seen through. They take up an undue amount of our time and interest, but I still think they are in the minority. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
It's a microcosm of real life, innit. There are always going to be tossers, and once you identify them you just steer clear of them and associate with the good poeple. Or beat the tossers up. Personally, I've employed both methods in my time. Welcome to real life. Now get over it and focus on your own stuff.  | ||
| Mark West (Mark_west) Username: Mark_west Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.39.177.173 |
Like Ray, most of the people I've been involved with have been good, honest folk. I had a bit to do with GWP (I didn't realise Willie had left them), in that I had a chapbook published and an ebook collection, but I had to ask for copies of the former and only saw paperwork about the latter when Stephen Price came onboard (and he left recently too). As Rhys said, the warnings were there from the start - I know that SKU, Shaun Jeffreys and Garry Charles were all very vocal about the shortcomings, right from the off. | ||
| Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 212.219.233.223 |
Huh? I've never said most people in the small-press are tossers. What I have said, often, and it has often got me into trouble, is that I don't particularly enjoy mixing with writers in a social scene. I already spend a lot of my spare time thinking about writing, planning writing, actually doing writing, reading writing, pondering writing, etc, so when I go out and socialise I prefer to have a rest from the subject of writing. I therefore tend to socialise with people who aren't writers (they often have a passionate interest in the other arts, or in science or philosophy or whatever) and I also tend to avoid writers' conventions, groups and meetings for the same reason. It's a case of avoiding an overdose. The fact I generally avoid writers in a social context, including you lot, isn't meant to be insulting against you, nor is it meant to be snobbish or even just plain eccentric. I just need to switch off every now and then... | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
>>The fact I generally avoid writers in a social context, including you lot, isn't meant to be insulting against you, nor is it meant to be snobbish or even just plain eccentric. I just need to switch off every now and then...<< That sounds extremely sensible to me. I mean, I tend not to mix socially with academics if I can help it as I work with them all the time anyway! I don't think anyone will have felt "insulted" by your comments, Rhys. Personally, I reckon it's really useful to have these kinds of warnings. I'm not a proper writer myself, and hardly likely to get a contract to publish anything, but as a reader it's good to know who to avoid too. I don't want to order something in advance, pay for it and find it never materialises and I can't get my money back. Regarding what people in the small presses are like, I have to say my experience is that the majority are wonderful - it's just a small minority who either take on more than they can handle and end up getting into bother and upsetting people without actually meaning to, or deliberately try to deceive. Obviously, the latter are the real dregs of the small presses. I reckon you lot are basically a lovely bunch of people!  | ||
| Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 212.219.233.223 |
I always make a point of trying to support small time entrepreneurs. I am self-employed, so is my girlfriend, and out turnovers are tiny. So I try to be as understanding as possible when small publishers have problems. In fact the small time entrepreneur is my favourred model for working society. I'm a believer in cottage industries, small scale business, self employment, etc. It's my political ideal. I have had 18 books published in the past fifteen years, mostly with small or smallish independent publishers. I haven't been paid for nine of those, exactly half of the total, either because (a) there was an understanding from the beginning that there would be no payment, or (b) the outfit ran into financial difficulties for some reason or other. Of the nine books I haven't been paid for, I only ever made a fuss about one, because the publisher did have plenty of money: he was deceitful and dishonourable in his dealings with his writers. I don't complain. It's as simple as that. I'm like a big tolerant teddy bear. So at no point did I complain about Neil Jackson not paying me. Even though I was sent a GWP royalty statement for an ebook that displayed patently false figures (I had far more emails from readers who had downloaded the book than the official number of downloads according to GWP) I said nothing. However, I had to draw the line when I found out that readers were being ripped off. All the same, I still didn't act fast enough. I waited until the fourtheenth email from a reader complaining that goods ordered and paid for had never been received before pulling away from GWP. I feel bad about that. I promoted GWP and therefore am guilty of encouraging those readers to waste their money. This is something I must atone for, and I will. | ||
| R.B. Russell (Tartarusrussell) Username: Tartarusrussell Registered: 02-2010 Posted From: 86.141.55.138 |
Hi Rhys - my apologies - in replying to Ally's post I saw your name in the quote referencing the "jam-packed" comment from Gary... | ||
| Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 212.219.233.223 |
No need to apologise, Ray! I'm the man who can't even spell the word "fourteenth". | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.111.137.29 |
And I skimmed "jam-packed" and got to "untrustworthy" too quickly, Ray...so not exactly "jam-packed" but there are more than I expected. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Okay, so "jam-packed" was hyperbolic. But there are a fair few number of cunts in the small press. Just as there are in other walks of life. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.237.21 |
I'm sure small press publishers could tell a tale or two about the scribblers they get to deal with as well. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.209.220.6 |
Rhys, I pre-ordered several books through Ex-Occidente, one of which I have now given up on (Reggie Oliver's Virtue In Danger) since I've received no reply to my emails from Dan. I know there is a blatant difference here, but it's still rather damaging to people's impression of the small press. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.68 |
'Okay, so "jam-packed" was hyperbolic.' Better "marmalade-stuffed"? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
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| Stephenjamesprice (Stephenjamesprice) Username: Stephenjamesprice Registered: 12-2010 Posted From: 99.191.163.175 |
I've been directed here so I'll try to address all of the issues pertaining to me in this single posting. 1.) Rhys, The royalty statement I sent to you for digital media was dead-on accurate and came from all sales through Amazon and Smashwords from Feb, 2010 through July, 2010. 2.) Per Mr. Theaker's post, anyone who thinks that these isn't much work in putting out an eBook has either just thrown one together or has never tried it. I've done both print and electronic releases (man, many of each), and there is about the same amount of work that goes into each. 3.) I have started my own small press (no, I'm not the CEO or GOD-AMONG_MERE_MORTALS, but I do most of the work.) I'm doing my own covers, too. www.generationnextpublications.com Stop in and say "Hi" and buy something. 4.) I've been asked countless times why I left Ghostwriter. In a nutshell, I was promised complete control over the digital side, but the founder decided he wanted to get more involved after I spent two months changing things. We had different directions and thought processes for GWP, so I thought it best to leave. Several authors I had been working with asked me to handle their work, so I started my own thing. Any questions, comments or concerns? My door is always open. stephen@generationnextpublications.com | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
"2.) Per Mr. Theaker's post, anyone who thinks that these isn't much work in putting out an eBook has either just thrown one together or has never tried it. I've done both print and electronic releases (man, many of each), and there is about the same amount of work that goes into each." You're dead right there. It's easily as much work, if not more, than putting together a physical book. Especially if you consider how many different formats you have to convert the bloody things to, then they're always changing the file specifications, | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Good on you, Stephen, for coming on here to respond to this post. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.209.217 |
Aye. To be fair to Mr Theaker, though, that was the point he was making- 'an ebook is really no less work than a print book.' | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Apparently there's actually more work involved in producing an ebook - or so one of my publishers tells me. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Typesetting a typical novel for print takes about ten minutes. I do find that statement funny, though...try telling Chris Teague that and he'll probably twist your head off.  | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 62.30.117.235 |
Exactly, Simon. The problem being that some publishers of ebooks are doing the technical bits (which don't really take all that long once you have the process down pat), but leaving out the time-consuming part of the job - the reading, the editing, the correction. I don't think anyone had proofread the one GWP book I bought, for example. Not sure why it's funny, Gary! Novels are just big text blocks: typesetting them, you only have to tag the chapter heads, first paragraphs and ellipses. It's like anything, someone who's experienced and has the right tools will make a quick job of something. Putting up a curtain rail took me a whole day and it still fell down, my uncle put it back up in an hour. |