Author Paradise

Author Paradise
http://z15.invisionfree.com/Author_Paradise/index.php

Monday, March 31, 2008

OMP Host Gator Update

Hey everyone,
I am on my way to bed but thought I would stop by and leave this note. As you know I sent a letter to Hoste Gator asking if they can do something about the whole OMP thing. The person who responded was rather rude but he did make a valid point. He said that you should send them proof that OMP is using their services to operate illegally and they can work from there.


Here's the email

Hello,Well, how are we to know about a supposedly deadbeat publisher? The publisher may or may not be MIA, they may just be ignoring emails, we have no clue as we don't police our accounts with such scrutiny. If you can provide proof that something illegal has gone on, please do send it this way.However, if I were anyone dealing with this company, I'd simply sue them for backpay + royalties + interest.

Regards,

I removed his name but if you'd like to complain or send proof to them you will have to send it to tickets@hostgator.com or visit their website http://www.hostgator.com/

Well I'm going to bed...
WD

Friday, March 28, 2008

No More Mrs. Nice Crusader

Hello guys,
Well I didn't want it to come to this but I am sick and tired of this damn yo-yoing by OMP. So this morning, I wrote a letter to their hoster asking what they intended to do about OMP. As of now I will keep the Host's name out of this (though some of you may already know it) but I will wait for their reply before.

One day they are gone, the next they are back and the authors who are still on their site is still being sold via the bestseller's list.


Blind Date by Veronica Tower
Having His Baby by Candy Caine
The Truth About Kevin by Felicia...
Truth Be Known by Essence
Close Shave by Veronica Tower
Not Another Dateless Valentine's...
Never Change A Thing by Candy Caine
Valentine Love by Felicia Anthony
What Comes Up by Essence
Strip Poker by Veronica Tower

See what Imean? This is getting out of hand and I for one will not be sitting back and watch thise go on. I mean these authors have entertained me with their works/work and they don't deserve this.

Royally Pissed
WD

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Well What do you know....

Hello everyone,
I went checking into the Ocean's Mist Press website and it is gone, again. This is could be another one of their sick jokes that they've been playing again. The last time the website was down, we thought they were gone, then it turned out they had only taken the site down long enough to rework it to screw others.

I don't know why it's down this time but I'll keep my eyes open. OMP former authors let me hear from you, any of you gotten paid yet? It's almost the end of March. Let me know.

Bored
WD

Monday, March 24, 2008

And another one Bites the Dust...DEP is going going...

Well guys,
It never gives me great pleasure to do this but it has to be done. Dark Eden Press is calling it quits. So far I have heard mixed feelings about Dark Eden Press, but I have to say the best people to get these info from are the authors and from the authors I've spoken to, I was told that DEP has treated them with nothing but respect. Well we actually had permission to post the following email so don't have a cow. I deleted the private email address belonging to Debra.

***VERY VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE***
Posted by: "Debra"
Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:23 am (PDT)
I don't often share much personal stuff about myself or what isgoing on with me, so I never thought I would be coming to any of youwith this but sometimes life comes at you and you have to deal with it,and this is one of those times for me.I could beat around the bush here but that's not me. You deserve thetruth even if it is painful for me to talk about.I have found out recently, very recently, that my cancer has returned. For those of you who do not know, this is my 6th time around with thisin a little over 10 years. It started as cervical cancer 10 years agoand each time has gotten worse and spread to other places. I will bestarting chemotherapy and radiation treatments shortly and as I havebeen through these same treatments twice already, I can honestly say itisn't pretty.


After discussing the issues and options with Susan and Billi, and thenGretchen and Brenda, it was decided for a few reasons that I willdiscuss below, that the only option was to close Dark Eden as of April1st. I have to devote my energies and my time to getting better, and tomy daughter.One reason for closing is the treatment plan itself. I will be in noshape to run a company, much less take care of anything else. Anotherreason is with Brenda having gone back to work fulltime, that wouldleave just Gretchen to do it all and as great as she is, she can'tdo it by herself. Billi works fulltime and does her part of thebusiness in the evenings and on weekends. Susan has health problemsthat she didn't have when we started this company and wouldn'tbe able to do the things that I do. It was hard enough after the housefire to keep things running smoothly and even then they were gettingsome help from me.

They pitched in and ran things beautifully after thefire but that was only for a few months, this would be for the next 6months at the very least.The last reason is all of you. All of you deserve an owner who is goingto be here, who is able to get the things done that need to be done. Idon't want my authors trying to figure out why I haven'tanswered emails for a couple of days, or why royalties are late, orwondering when the things that need to be taken care of are going to getdone, when the reality is that I will be too sick to do it.I will spend the next two weeks preparing letters to release your bookrights to you, doing March royalties, and closing the readers group. Iwill then begin shutting down all the DEP email addresses except for myown and forwarding all mail from that to my personal email address.

ByMay 1st, I would hope all payments have cleared the bank, and on thatdate I will also close the author group.On a personal level, I feel horrible that this has to be done to all ofyou. I have come to know almost every one of you personally and I feelas if I have let you all down when you trusted me with your stories, andI am so sorry for that. You trusted in the fact that DEP would bearound for a long while and I am truly sorry that we are not going tobe.If you have any questions or problems, please don't hesitate toemail me as I will be working to get last minute things tied up over thenext several weeks.

Please feel free to post this on your blogs or websites as you see fit. If I have not told all of you lately, it is and has been, a pleasureworking with all of you gifted writers and DEP's fantastic staff.

Debra Durham
President

And so ladies and gentlement, we here at Writers' Dish wishes Debra all the best. I know that with Cancer you can never tell but we can all have hope and faith. Writers' Dish sends you Debra Durham positivity and prayers. Just be strong and fight.

Well, see you all around
WD

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Noemi is like a bad taste...just wont go away!

Hello my beauties,
I am sitting here in a cafe waiting for the time to come for me to go to my micro biology class and decided to check my email. Look what I found! [And I quote]

"Noemi is Essence and has a book with Loose id today, did you know that? She has not gone away and has books coming with Siren press too! She has not gone underground, she is still around and not paying people. She is rediculous!!! These companys know who she is but don't care. I heard this info last year after she closed and cheated the authors. I hope you can get her!!!"

Are you kidding me? Why would you know that this person has decieved people, stolen from people and have her around? There have been so many authors tring to get a hold of her, as well as myself, and it was like she was gone now she's popping up as a different person. I do not understand. Maybe she's trying to make money to pay off the authors but that would be too much of a stand up thing of Noemi to do. I am not all together heartless, mind you. A person who makes a mistake and shows genuine remorse for said mistake, deserves a second chance, but this woman has shown no remorse what so ever. Every email that has gone to her that I have known about has gone unanswered, every try to get payment from her has gone unanswered. She keeps pretending to remove author works from her website and stop their sales but she lies because the books left on her site at the moment can still be bought.

How do you know that a person such as this, who has burnt so many people and has stolen from so many, won't do the same to you? And how can you as a business take their work without thinking of the consequences. Dont get me wrong, I have nothing against Loose Id or Sirens because I've heard nothing but good about these two publishers but come on guys, open your eyes! She has managed to bury herself and soon, she will do the same for you because I don't know of any author who will willingly be in the same place with that woman.

Anyways, I will be doing a little more digging to see what I can find out about all this and as soon as I do, I'll pass it on to you.

Highly Annoyed
WD

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Out of Control

Well guys,
I am back and I have done my checking and OMP is still going on with their BS! Can you believe what hard learners these people are? They cleared out the main page, but if you click on the authors in the bestseller's list, you can still purchase the books. Seriously, these guys are not going to learn and come tax time, the authors there will get dinged because according to law, you are still earning money from this company though you aren't really.

They think that because they take the author list down and cleared off the main page it means that the books cannot still be bought. They can be and if you authors doesnt want to be in trouble come tax time, you ought to do something.

Moving to Dragon Spell erm Lyrical Press. Has anyone noticed that they are using the Ameican Idol logo for their new contest? Can you say copyright infringement lawsuit? And what is up with that boring as hell website? Anyways the website is the least of their troubles because the owner (At least one of them) is going around and bad mouthing other publishers when her house isnt even off the ground yet. And isn't there a law that says books over a certain length MUST have an ISBN number? Does anyone else notice that none of the "coming soon" books has any? You guys may want to look into that. I wish her all the best but authors, keep your eyes open. Or as my friend would say "sleep with one eye open" to watch for the knife and your back because we all know its coming.

Must go back to studying me loverlies, see you around...
writers dish

Friday, February 8, 2008

Lyrical Press er Dragonspell er....

Hello my lovelies,
It seems some people dont ever get sick of petty things. As far as what I can uncover (I mean really, it's all over the internet) the owner of Lyrical Press (AKA Dragon Spell) Rene Rocco aka Lyons used to do covers for Red Rose Publishing. For whatever reason, she is no longer doing that and opened her own company. I've been hearing that she privately wrote to authors of Red Rose asking them to join her new venture. First of all, that's illegal. You should not use information gained through working for a company to help your company. Let's say the authors did not appreciate this since Rene wrote them at their private emails.

Now, it seems that Rene is going around spreading rumors about Red Rose so I did some checking. Here's what I have found. *puts on a rather impressive Sherlock Holmes hat*

Red Rose publishing is an epublisher. It is listed as an LLC so legally they can publish your work. It was started by Wendi Felter . Authors gets monthly statements on time as well as they are paid on time every month. They WELCOME multicultural/interracial work (this can be proven by their scores of IR authors), gay romance etc. They reply to readers personally and it is reported that Wendi is very accessible by email, IM and telephone.

Rene Rocco on the other hand is not so favorable. Lyrical Press has not been opened yet and already two authors have jumped ship. Though one author refuse to comment (and I assumed the other would not comment either *sigh*) this Diva will assume it was contract issues. They've changed their name from Dragon Spell to Lyrical (it is rumored that it is because Dragon Spell is tainted all over the internet) But anyways, if you go here (http://karenknowsbest.com/?p=946#comment-13589) you will find some other unfavourable reports as well as here (http://karenknowsbest.com/?cat=414) and the list goes on.

*sigh* now who would you rather publish your work?

Will keep you updated on that.

As of this blog, I have gotten no response from Ocean's Mist Press and it doesn't seem as though I will be getting one. So authors BEWARE.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

OMP - Outright Defiance

Hello my Lovelies,
I come again with dramas from Ocean's Mist Press. I am sending a note to you from some authors that are not pleased with them at the moment and here is the note:

Hello everyone,
I can't stress enough how wrong this is and so unfair. I checked Ocean's Mist Press' website and they refuse to take my books down. I have asked them time and time again and they still refuse to pay me for the ones that sell off the site. I got a really nice review for one of my stories but it was posted this past January.


Please DO NOT buy any of my books from Ocean's Mist Press!!!

I will not see a penny of the proceeds. They are just taking advantage of me because they know my readers think my books are available through them. Not true!! They have grossly broken our contract and I have my rights back and will not be returning to OMP. So not only are they playing me, the author, by not paying me for what selld from the site, but they are playing you, the reader because you think you're helping me by buying my books!

Let's put an end to all their games and shut them down! DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM OCEAN"S MIST PRESS! They are nothing more than common theives!
I do want to thank you all for buying my work, all who have supported me in the past and now, but please check my website to see where the book is officially located in the future. Thank you and hugs to you all.

See what I mean? I have emailed them through all the emails I could find for them, through their groups and no responce. So here's what I think. I think that they are making money from their authors and they have NO intention of paying the authors for their works. They are player the authors and the READERS like suckers. Readers buy an author's work to support said author. If said author does not get a penny from said work then said Reader is a sucker. They don't give a damn about the readers or the authors and they are still seeking submissions from new authors. OMP is trying to trap their authors into their contracts by not removing them from their site.

That is disgusting what they are doing and by not responding to my emails they are cowards. Yes, that's right I said it. If I'm wrong, then prove it. Give the authors back their works and stop tying the author's hands by keeping their work when they all wished you to go to hell..

I cannot stress this enough. New author, DO YOUR RESEARCH! Research the publisher before you send your work to them! Make sure they have a good reputation. Do not buy from a publisher that hasn't had new releases in MONTHS...a good publisher should have releases at least once or twice a month. Please please please check the author's websites before you purchase their work. You want to make sure that the author you are trying to support is actually getting your support.

Will update soon

Friday, February 1, 2008

*UPDATE* Well Ecata apparently cant stand the heat...

Well guys,
This update is gonna be quick. Well Ecata probably was tired of the emails. I sent them one too asking some pointed question like what the hell they were thinking and all of a sudden this was put up:

Here is the link:
http://www.ecataromance.com/index.php?page_id=340

Aliyah Burke is 2nd for Best Romance 2007, she lost by 20 votes.
Shara Azod won all of her catagories.

Nice work and congratulations to 2 very talented authors!

To everyone who wrote a letter to Ecata, thank you, you have done a wonderful service to these authors because we KNOW they are amazing writers! Now, Ecata may think that because they changed their websites that everyone is going to forget and we can't find it again? But guess what Ecata : Once you put things on the internet? IT'S OUT THERE! YOU CAN'T TAKE IT BACK! Trust me on that one.

OMP Update:

I have sent an email to OMP:

Hello,
I have questions about OMP.

Why is it your website is up and selling author works, when staff has gone MIA at OMP for months and you have obviously violated the authors' contracts?
When are you going to pay the authors you have and how do they know that they didn't sell anything more than what you're giving them?
Do you know that authors can legally send their work to other publishing houses because from reading your contract it went null and void after you went mising for months?
Why are you still recruiting new authors when you cannot pay the old ones?
Please note that should you not reply to these questions, you will be held accountable on Writer's Dish. This is your chance to shed some light on the story and tell your side.

Author Crusader--

Let's see what happens...





Racism for Interracials Romance

Ok Guys, here's something that pisses me off. Memo to Ecata Romance - Slavery and segregation is over! Why would you take down the Interracials for all white characters? I am tired of being politically correct. So as of right now, PC is out the window.

Aliyah Burke and Shara Azod were nominated for an award with Ecata romance. The next thing they know, they were gone, no more nominations, no more voting nothing. Now, all white authors, white characters and white everything. No culture, no different ethnicity nothing. In other words Ecata romance does not want a black/ethnic author/books to win. What did they think that we wouldn't notice? We are that stupid! We noticed because we were voting for these two authors! Then to add insult to injury, ecata has disabled their contact us link so you cant contact them! There excuse? Some books were from 2008!

I know for a fact that Aliyah Burke's book "An Unlikely Encounter" has been out since 2007! How do I know? I bought a copy the day it was released! Wanna try another excuse? The truth is you people are racist and it seem you don't realised that we are living in the year 2008 and bullshit like that will NOT be tolerated. And because you disabled your contact info, doesn't mean that we wont find a way to get through to you...In today's society, there are tons of Interracial real couples out there and I am sick and tired of people acting like it's not possible.

This is where one of the books were for voting: http://www.ecataromance.com/index.php?page_id=323 it's not there anymore.

I am going to dig into this as deep as possibly and make sure the people are Ecata face up to what they have done.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Teresa update...

Hello my lovelies,

Here's your Teresa fix er update:

As I have promised, I have emailed Barnes and Noble but as of yet, no response. But I have gotten a response from Midnight Showcase. As I am an equal oppurtunity blogger I have given this publisher a chance to respond to the posting from Teresa that she would be published with them. I asked what they would do if or when their other authors start complaining and diving overboard. I will not post the exact email here since I do not think it appropriate but the gist of the email is Teresa will no longer be with Midnight Showcase; in essence, she is NOT to be associated with them. The email explained that they seek to make Midnight Showcase the best publisher they can through babysteps and making their authors and readers happy and feel welcomed.

*Shrugs* Teresa kept harping on Karma well I guess now she is finding out how Karma really works. I said it before Teresa, and I am going to say it again, you screw people and there's no telling what's going to happen to you.

Being as thorough as I can, I went back to check Teresa's blog and...what a surprise? IT'S GONE! It seems that Ms. Wayne has finally taken some advice from Ms. Karen's blog and crawled back under the rock she has crawled out from...but we all know her, sooner or later, she's going to crawl out again just in time to give everyone a kick ass case of heartburn, headaches and constipation....I fear, my friends, that there's no getting rid of this parasite.

I am still working on Ocean's Mist Press but their website is back up! Oh good lord make it stop! Nothing has changed! They still have the authors up and selling their books WITHOUT permission! It seems Noemi does not understand the emails she's been getting so let me put it in small words. STOP SELLING THE AUTHOR'S BOOKS! YOUR PUBLISHING COMPANY HAS SCREWED THEM JUST LIKE MGP! Are you kidding me? Talk about them hard learners.

I will keep digging.




Monday, January 28, 2008

And here we go again!

Hello there lovelies, It seem Teresa Wayne is trying to justify her actions...I'm sorry but this is downright pathetic. She got caught in a few lies including something that yours truly posted. This woman just wont quit. She keeps crawling out from under her rock, pissing people off and crawling back under her rock when she doesnt get what she wants. Read for yourself: http://karenknowsbest.com/?p=925

I have to warn you, my lovelies, it's a long one because you know when you LIE you have you have to find fifty million more lies to cover that one lie? I am just so sick and tired of e-publishing getting a bad name because of bad apples like that! Even people that I thought were her friends are saying they want nothing to do with her! She lies and lies and lies and lies then going on about she was going to bed because it seem that civilized conversation couldn't be held over a blog! Like hell! I can give specific examples of the crap she put my girls through but I'm not going to go there because my girls want nothing more to do with this woman and her bullshit.

Advice time: If you had work with this woman, check every possible place to see if she is still selling them. Check fictionwise, B & N, Mobi, Amazon (dot com and dot ca). Check it all! Because this woman is claiming she is only selling her works and her friends' work when she is also selling stuff from Ann Cory, Leah Vaughn and Cara North. And these are only people I've seen so far they could be more. And talk to a lawyer to cover your butt because this woman is nothing but trouble. I try to give everyone a second chance, but in that one link above, she has gotten chance after chance after chance and has shut down each one. She cannot be trusted, not as the owner of a publisher or as an author. Because you don't know where here stories litteraly has been. If you are a publisher reading this, I am NOT saying that you should not consider or publisher her work, I am saying WATCH YOUR BACK!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Well, some people just dont learn..

Well beautiful readers,

Have I got a scoop for you. Well today I went about checking my email (sorry I have been swamped for the past two weeks so if you've emailed me I'll email you back as soon as I can). I'm sure you all remember Mardi Gras Publishing and the drama that happened there? Authors that wrote Multicultural/Interracial books weren't being Promoted as such, Authors that had black characters in their stories had no black characters on their covers, people weren't getting paid and the list goes on and on! It seems since I started this little venture, every email I've gotten has been about Ocean's Mist and Mardi Gras. But anyways, Mardi Gras has been under for a few months now but the owner, Teresa Wayne had started a new venture called L.A Media. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying she cannot start a new business but it doesnt take a damn monkey to figure out that you should square off with the old business before you start a new one!

There are many old MGP authors that are still quite mad at that had happened to them, the things that were being said about them and the rights to their stories that they hadnt gotten back! Give back the damn rights even if you're not going to pay them their money! But I'm doing the digression thing again. Anways,

Here's some information that has come across my inbox that I wish to share with you.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780979064982&itm=13And on top of it trying to collect money on the very same book which the proceeds should have gone to St. Jude!!! This woman needs to go to jail.http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/ISBNInquiry.asp?EAN=9781934329184__._,_.___

and

My BIG BAD ghost is under construction and has been contracted with MidnightShowcase! This title is due to release July 8, 2008. A Pirate's Love Releases February 4th and Distributed by L.A. MediaKidnapped by the worst kind of pirate scum, Gabrielle is in trouble.Is there anyone capable of saving her from the clutches of a cutthroat pirate?Or will she be forced to succumb to his sexual ravaging?Captain Marco Vega is hired to rescue a lady of substantial importance.Placing himself in danger to protect the Princess of Spain is one thing.But a simple pirate of the sea falling for Royalty is entirely out of thequestion...isn' t it? Keep your eyes open for more exciting news from Teresa Wayne!
http://teresawayneo%20nline.com/

Now, my lovely readers, this annoys me. How low do you have to sink, to take money from a book that you promised that all proceeds will go to charity? All proceeds honey, means that for as long as the book his being published, EVERYTHING THE BOOK MAKES GOES TO SAID CHARITY!

I wonder if Barnes and Noble know that they are in essence publishing an illegal book? Or Midnight Showcase? Anways I will keep you all updated to the going ons in the world of MGP.

Oh and an OMP update.

Apparently OMP has emailed authors telling them that they will all be paid by March and then it will business as usual. I'm sorry I have to throw in some words of advice here.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. If you authors fall for this bullshit again, I swear you some gullible people.


Writer Dish

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Ocean's Mist Press is at it again...

Tssk tssk! Hello dear author(s) you can call me Mac. Well I have been listenening to some of my friends gripe about this publisher Ocean's Mist Press and I've decided to check into a few things, ask some questions. It turns out, these authors have NOT been paid royalties in months and no one has contacted the authors telling them anything about what is going on. Emails have NOT been returned from Noemi or whoever is running this sham. As far as I know the following his from the contract...

Royalties will be accumulated and paid no later than forty-five (45) days following the end of each month (31 days) after release of the title. Royalties shall be paid by check, drawn on the company's bank of business, OR through an online payment source. Individual arrangements, mutually agreed upon by the Publisher and the Author, shall be made for payment of royalties to Author if he/she resides outside the USA. Any withheld royalties shall be paid immediately upon contract termination. Publisher will provide a written report of sales with payment and provide any further reasonable information relevant to sales of the work upon author's request.

Publisher will keep accounts of all receipts and expenditures regarding the Work, and these accounts will be available for Author's inspection. Author may, on reasonable notice, through his/her designated representative, examine Publisher's records that relate to the Work. Such examination shall be at Author's expense, unless errors in excess of 5% of royalties or other sums due the Author by the Publisher shall be found in Author's favor. In that case, Publisher shall defray all reasonable costs of the examination and pay Author any sums due, up to the amount owed Author by Publisher, within thirty (30) days.This contract is entered into in good faith, and signatures from all parties named herein indicate acceptance and agreement to the terms described herein.

Now tell me, dear reader, what is going on? Can you guess? It is VERY obvious that Ocean's Mist Press and her owners have violated all contracts with the refusal to pay author royalties and has been incommunicado for months. I have even tried getting a hold of said publisher and as of today, this very moment, my email has gone unanswered. This is what I think...I think that publisher, Ocean's Mist Press is staying open, holding on the rights of their current authors and profiting from the sales from said authors' work without paying the portions stated in the contracts. Then, asking for new submissions so that new authors who have no idea what is going on will submit to them and get pulled into this tangled web that they are weaving for themselves. This is NOT right and is a travesty because somehow or another they should be held accountable.

Authors, read your contracts and see what it says about rights reversals. Then send said publisher and email, clearly establishing that because of this blatent violation of the contract that Ocean's Mist Press (OMP) has signed, your rights are now yours. CC yourself a copy of this email for future proof. Gather up all your royalty statement, be it cheque or paypal and keep them close to you because I have a feeling that very soon the shit will hit the fan with these people. The do not seem to understand that writers are people too. Some of these writers make their living from what little or lot they make from their work and Ocean's Mist Press refusal or whatever it is, to pay is theivery, no matter how they put it.

Another thing is, get a lawyer and examine their records. They said in your contract that you can...then do it! They may be thinking that you wouldn't so prove them wrong....that's the only way you will ever get your money or anything like that back.

To Noemi and Ocean's Mist Press: I know you are probably reading this and to you I have this to say: You should be ashamed of yourselves. People trusted you with their work, you signed a contract with them and then you screw them and take their money and the rights to their work when you have CLEARLY broken the contract by not paying them and don't give me the bullshit that they haven't sold anything. That is what MGP - Mardi Gras tried to pull on their authors. And if you are so in the clear, why the hell is your website still up and selling? You are trying to hook new authors who doesn't know any different and let me tell you, while I cannot legally tell them not to submit to you, I will do everything in my power to make sure that new authors learn about what you have done and are still doing to your authors. And in time, you will all reap what you sow.

Always watching you,
Writer Dish