In late August there was a major flap atRed Rose Publishing when an author posted a request on the readers loop askingthe publisher, Wendi Felter, to please re-send her second quarterstatement. The author's e-mail had beenbouncing and she thought maybe she had missed her statement. A few other authors posted they had not yetreceived their statements either and wondered what the problem was. The authors' and readers' loops at RRP hadvery similar addresses and the mistake the first author made was quiteinnocent.
She wasn't even accusing Ms. Felter of anything. She honestly thoughther statement had bounced. These queries, of course, were met withthe now-infamous vitriolic letter of venom calling the Red Rose authorsungrateful wretches in much stronger and more profane terms. One of our male authors responded asking Ms. Felter who she thought she was addressing us that way and I, for one, thankedhim privately for standing up for us.inearly September Ms. Felter's letter and Rob Shelsky's response showed up onDear Author, along with the story of Kat Holmes's struggle to regain the rightsto her one contracted book and two books that Felter tried to publish withoutvalid contracts (one under the name L.J. Holmes, Kat's mother, who did not signa contract on Kat's behalf).
None of usknows who sent that information to Dear Author, but it doesn't matter. The post set off a firestorm and thecomments were full of authors, editors and cover artists who seemed to appearout of the woodwork, many of whom had left Red Rose and had not been able toget their rights back from Felter. Manyhad waited out their contracts in vain. There were stories of poorly edited books and books published withoutauthors being sent the ARC first. I was all too familiar with thelatter. Felter published my book, RockBound, without sending the ARC to me and I was ashamed of it. When I asked her to make changes, she told mehow difficult it was to re-format the book.
I asked her to tell me how to do it and offered to help format it ifshe'd let me make the necessary changes. She refused and berated me in her usual way. I now believe she sabotaged my sales, or didnot report them to me. My book was neversent out for reviews. I sent it outmyself several months after its release. And the reviewers noticed the same errors I had. Here's a quote from Larkspur of Long and ShortReviews: “I also found a lot of editingmistakes in the text that weren't caught, which is a big issue for me and notthe fault of the author (but the editor and publisher). Sadly, it is the authorwho ultimately suffers for it.”
I could not afford Felter's prohibitivetermination fees and I was waiting out my contract. When I read the comments from other authorswho had waited out their contracts and whose books were still for sale at RedRose, I realized that would be me all too soon. So I weighed in and created the Yahoo group, Red Rose Implosion. So far there are forty-two of us with morejoining as the excuses roll out instead of 2010 fourth quarter statements andchecks. I don't know whether any 1099sare late, since I supposedly only made $7.00 in sales in 2010—which I have notreceived despite the fact that I'm one of the two or three people who havereceived an e-mail release of rights.
Iedited for RRP and was fired after I asked for help with marketing and made theerror of mentioning that Felter released my book without sending me theARC. I've never received any payment forediting since then, either, despite the fact that my contract said I wouldreceive royalties for work completed. Recently, Felter issued an e-mail statement supposedly rescinding thatclause of her editing contracts. Each of the forty-two of us has asimilar story. We want to help authorsget their rights back from Felter. Ifpossible, we'd like to help editors and cover artists get their royalties, although we doubt anyone will ever recoup their monetary losses. We also want to warn people not to submit toher.
She is very good at using the “youshould be grateful to me for publishing you, and if you leave me I'll see to itthat you never get published again” intimidation card. At RRP Implosion, in addition to helpingauthors, editors and cover artists find redress for their complaints, we havealso compiled a list of publishers we personally know to be trustworthy andhonorable. Yes, we recommend vettingpublishers through P & E, Piers Anthony, Writer Beware, etc. But we've been burnt and we're all still abit tender, so we recommend looking a bit deeper before submitting. Most of us are no longer on the RRPloops, so authors are unable to find us. If you decide to run another story about Felter's fraudulent businesspractices, we would appreciate it if you would include our URL. We offer assistance and support to authorswho have been defrauded by Felter and want to pull their books from her.
Kindestregards, RochelleWeberOwner, RRPImplosionAuthor, Rock Bound (link redacted)
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