I allege that PublishAmerica breeched its contract with me last week, when informing me by letter, after I had already signed with them almost three years ago. Consequently, that PA has caused me egregious harm.
Most of the authors who worked with PA complained about the way PA fraudulently claimed it would market their book, to some degree but didn't. I do not know how many have complained of contract breeches, but there may be some of them, too. Not marketing the author's book after he/she signed on and after it has been released, is one thing; breeching a contract with the author, is a worse thing, in my opinion.
It took me three years to write my memoir. It had not even been blue lined it yet [it was still in draft form, when they had the last version of my draft], and I was awaiting notification to blue line it.
Because it is a memoir and not fiction, my drafts of volume I and volume II—not any 'final' manuscripts—had the names of my acquaintances and employers who had 'done me dirt', which, when PA advised me [after three years of working with PA personnel on my book and had obtained all copyright permissions, forking out upwards of $2K of my own money to copyright holders, to conform and gather all permissions; after forwarding all copyright permissions to PA, in hard form and e-mail format, which took me almost one year after my research] to obtain releases from all the real persons I mentioned in my book, so as to avoid any potential liability for 'libel' or 'illegality'. I was so informed by PA, recently.
In response, I reminded them that my book is a memoir, about TRUTH, not fiction.
Recently, before breeching its contract with me, PA suggested that I take my MS to an attorney, see what he/she has to say about whether it contains any libel or illegality [which it did not not contain... I made sure of that] then get back to them 'with a proposal'.
I checked with a former lawyer for Penguin, who I asked for an estimate of what it would cost me to review about 900 pages [two volumes of my memoir], to 'vet' it and purge it of any potential libel or illegalities. He told me it would cost upwards of $7,000, and then some, plus 30 days of work, if not more, to have my book 'vetted'... To have him ensure my book is not 'libelous' or subject to any lien, etc.
MAIN POINT... My contract with PA had nothing in it, including in Paragraph 27 [which is the paragraph PA was 'holding' me to], stating that I MUST have my book reviewed by an attorney; the contract and that paragraph only states that if I needed an attorney to ensure any vetting for libel issues, I must pay for him/her myself, that PA won't pay for the attorney to vet my book.
Subsequent to receiving correspondence from PA, informing me that I must obtain releases from all persons I mention in my book—for all real names I used in it—, I informed PA that I would 'vet' my book myself—work 'pro se' to avoid high legal costs to have it vetted by any attorney, and I conveyed that I would change all of the names of the characters in my book, to give those characters fake names, and indicated in that correspondence that I would state, up front, in the Forwards of my volumes, that I have given those characters other names to protect the identities of the characters I mention in my book.
The day after PA received that e-mail from me, on of PA's administrators sent a hard letter to me in the mail stating that PA decided not to publish my book, inferring that my book could have or did have 'libelous' content.
To me, PA has breeched its contract with me, with the letter from that administrator.
To me, PA acted in bad faith, particularly when it 'jumped the gun', based rescinding its contract on the assumption that the last version of my MS was my 'final version', when it was merely a final DRAFT, and had not, so far, been blue lined by me [I was awaiting notification from PA to begin my blue line process.]
I also suspect 'political underpinnings' behind PA's intention to rescind its contract with me, since my book is highly political, and condemns the Bush Administration for its policies against disabled persons who seek federal jobs. Subsequent to submitting my book drafts to PA, and discovering that hundreds of authors had complained on the Internet about PA's publishing ethics, I questioned PA about the web blogs. I asked if PA had done anything to counter the public complaints against it, apparent on the Internet.
I received a long e-mail back from PA, defending its publishing ethics and practices.in one the paragraphs of that message, PA indicated that Barbara Bush backed the publishing company... A thing I did not know when I signed my contract with PA, and which may have put me at odds with PA 'politically', if PA aligns itself politically, on the extreme right, with the Bush Administration.
That admission of PA's made me wonder if there isn't some kind of behind-the-scene agenda, between PA and the Bush Administration, intended to frustrate artists, author-advocates seeking to express their Freedom of Speech by publishing truths that the President's administration does not want known.
I found the blogs and criticisms of many authors, about PA, on the internet, and since I had signed my contract with my PA, two years into my process of working with PA.
Other authors complained, most of them, regarding the way PA handled promotion of their book, not about breech of contracts—at least I don't think that was the case... Quite a different matter from what I allege the publisher has done to me.
The main points are these...
The PA administrator who sent the letter to me 'voiding' my contract, 'jumped the gun', and acted in bad faith, assuming that the last versions I sent to PublishAmerica [PA], of my manuscripts of Bandleader's Bride, when sent last, were the 'final versions'... They were not my final versions, and PA did not even give me the chance to blue line my manuscripts before Ms. Lewis sent out her letter to me, except that I thought that the supervising editor at PA, Ms. Higgins, in her e-mail to me—before the letter from PA came that breeched my contract—, indicated that she was giving me that chance... To blue line it, which meant, changing names of my characters to generic names, removing other paragraphs, making a thorough 'check' for anything that should be removed, and subsequently remove, what any outsiders, vendors, readers, my public or others, could possibly construe as 'libelous'.
Before that letter of BAD FAITH from PA came in the mail, I had worked for more than 40 hours to change, and had changed, as well as indicated to PA that I intended to change all names in Bandleader's Bride, except my own, to generic names, and had changed all names of my employers to fake names, and indicate in my Forwards, in both volumes of my manuscript [which I had done, per my word, since hearing from PA about me needing to obtain releases from all persons whose real names I used], that I had substituted names of all persons in all sections of my volumes, and that I would use fake names for those persons, instead.
I even gave all of my former employers a generic name, such as 'a systems integration industry'; left off the specific dates I worked for each employer... Only mentioned the year I worked for a 'Virginia university'; only named a 'type' of industry I worked for, instead; I had removed all names of former supervisors as well as names of specific employers, and people I had known who have suffered domestic abuse—gave all of my characters phony names, too... And did all of that on the basis of the e-mail I received from PA, asking me to obtain releases. I also began the process of obtaining releases, as suggested by PA, and began that process, before receiving PA's letter of BAD FAITH.
Meanwhile, nothing I had submitted—before PA's letter of BAD FAITH arrived—in my drafts, was libelous, and had not submitted any final versions that were not drafts—I never got the chance to blue line the MS.in fact, I allege that PA accused me of 'intending libel', before it had proven that that was my intent—when it wasn't my intent.
PublishAmerica did not know if anything in my memoir was libelous/illegal or not.
PublishAmerica, at no time, when I submitted my first and second volumes, ever, to any PA editor, ever informed me that anything in my book could be construed as libel, not for almost three years, until just recently.
Subsequently, I put much effort into my book, doing research for two years to complete it, gaining all copyright permissions necessary, and paying upwards of $2,000, out of my own pocket, for copyright permissions, working on the drafts of both volumes, for almost three years.
PA knew from the beginning, when signing the contract with me, that my book is a memoir, therefore about TRUTH and my own life... Knew that my book was not a novel or based on fiction.
The first line of PA's contract, in Paragraph 27, states very clearly 'contains no matter, that, when published, will be liberlous or otherwise unlawful'. Clearly, that paragraph means WHEN PUBLISHED... My book had not been published yet, and I had not encouraged PA to publish any final versions, as PA stated, in its letter of 'BAD FAITH' [what I had submitted before that letter from PA, were, up to then, only DRAFTS; my manuscript drafts had not been bluelined yet, on my end.
Nothing in my contract with PA indicated that I must go out to have an attorney review my book before publication. IT ONLY SAYS THAT IF I NEED AN ATTORNEY, I MUST PAY FOR HIM/HER MYSELF, that PA will not pay for the services of any publishing attorney; the cost to me [I checked with a publications attorney that worked for Penguin... Got an estimate of what the cost would be to have my book 'vetted'—to check for libel—, and discovered the cost to do that would be well over $7000, which is not realistic for my budget. ]
Upon getting that estimate from a former publishing attorney who worked for Penguin, and subsequent to receiving e-mails from Ms. Higgins, before Ms. Lewis's letter came to me in the mail last week, I had reworked my manuscripts, gave all of my formerly 'real' characters in my book FAKE NAMES; turned even my relatives into complete strangers, when substituting the generic 'my brother', 'my cousin', etc., except where the names of people are within public domain or inside of excerpted papers that I have already conformed as to copyright permissions, and obtained all permissions; as well as deleted any information—including whole paragraphs— that might be contrued as 'inflamatory'; libelous; unprovable or needs releases from persons named.
In other words, I removed the names of people, parties, and specific names of corporations, that pertain to my work history or to any suit I may have filed in the past; for example again, instead of 'GMU', I substituted 'a university in Virginia'.] I had interviewed at least 100 women who had been either domestically abused, incested and/or raped, whose identities I protected, giving them fake names, and in order to complete my research for my book.
I had already tolerated a 'hassle' of sorts when PA [I allege] caused me to worry that my book would not be published when PublishAmerica [I allege] created a 'snafu' in the permissions-getting process between me and Twentieth Century Fox, which I went through much aggravation to fix, when conforming to both PA's requirements and Fox's requirements; Fox passed through my permission, and I subsequently produced the papers that PA needed from me, wrapping up that permission, finally.
I also spent almost six months, if not more, sending to PA, by e-mail and through hard mail, all of the copyright permissions I had achieved, conforming to PA's requirements, which took time, hard work, daily efforts, and sometimes working eight hours each day, on my drafts.
PA passed me through at least five editors, since signing my contract with PA, and 'shunted' me from one, to the next of them, and, although I know that many publishers cannot help 'turnovers' in staff, it seemed that I was passed between three editors in less than three months.
Nowhere in my contract with PublishAmerica did it state that PA would not abide by its contract if a delay in publication occured, to extend the date of release of my book beyond the 300-some days the contract indicated.
I wasn't so much concerned about doing my own marketing, and was prepared to market my own book, if necessary, by renting booth space on malls, at Costco, etcetera.
It seems that PA is as fraudulent as was Publisher's Clearing House, and operated no more than a multi-level marketing scam.
Another thing... PublishAmerica should not discriminate against disabled authors; PA didn't know, when I submitted my first draft, which they accepted [then came their contract, which I signed] that I am a disabled citizen, still in the same shelter where I fled since being crime victimized, and subsist on SSDI], further along, when my manuscript drafts were turned in, the details of my memoir came out, about being disabled. My book is an advocacy book, about systems that disadvantage crime victims, domestic abuse victims, and those who become disabled from those situations.
I worked long and hard on my book... For three years now, and seek to know if any class action suits are pending against PA, which I would join. Please contact me if you can include me in any class action suit you have started against PA, if you have begun one, or if you know of an attorney in my state/area that is handling any class actions for authors in my region.
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