Aspen Mountain Press: A Cautionary Tale
I've been hearing lots of grumbling privately about Aspen Mountain Press for a while now. When you're plugged into the online romance scene, you start to network and make connections. It' a great way to get to "know" a publisher before sending your work. There are a lot of things I'll say privately about my experiences with certain publishers that I won't say publicly (for various reasons.)
(To any writer out there, please feel free to contact me via my contact form here on the website if you ever have a question about any of my publishers. I am more than happy to answer questions! )
All that said, the private and public grumblings about Aspen Mountain Press have been growing over the last few weeks. Some of the things I've heard from friends tangled up in this mess and read about on some of the bigger writer's forums are just jaw-dropping and awful. I mean, this is what-the-fuckery on a major scale.
The latest blog post comes from Celina Summers, a former editor at the press, who has come forward with very specific grievances and the proof to back it up–and, holy shit, is this stuff crazy! I don't know if any of the authors caught up in this nightmare will ever get paid what's owed to them or receive their rights reversion letters. (The owner is, apparently, pleading a case of mental illness.) From some of her more recent replies to authors, it's not looking good for authors suffering from breached contracts and just all-around piss poor treatment.
As an author who got into e-publishing fairly early in the game (2007,) I will freely admit that I never saw this coming with Aspen Mountain. It's not one of the biggest e-publishers but it was one of the smaller, well-respected houses where an author could do well. (I enjoyed their Aurora regency imprint quite a bit.) If you'd asked me to predict which of the smaller, boutique publishers would be circling the drain in 2011, Aspen Mountain would not have been on the list. And, yet, here they are.
There are some lessons to be learned here. One? Always start at the top of the pile and work your way down. You want to get your books in front of the big epublishers. Ellora's Cave, Samhain, Carina, Loose Id, Liquid Silver, Siren, Changeling, etc. These are the companies that have been successful for some time and have proven they have the business know-how and cash flow to keep the company going. It's not just a one-woman (or man) show.
Lesson Two? When you smell smoke, investigate. If you start hearing bad things, run. Don't wait. Pull out your contracts and send those rights reversion letters IMMEDIATELY. From my four years of watching other authors try to escape the clutches of drowning publishing houses, I've learned that the earlier you send in those reversions, the more likely it is that you will escape with your books.
Look, publishing is a business. I've had to make tough calls with certain publishers, and, no, it wasn't fun. I hated it. I felt weird and awkward and worried I'd hurt someone's feelings but that's life. This is my career and I'm not about to lose my hard work to a publisher who thinks it's okay to treat a business bank account like a personal account, to never send my royalties or statements, or to abuse me on private publisher loops. No, no, and no.
From the bottom of my heart, I hope this works out for the authors at Aspen Mountain. They deserve so much better than being jerked around like this.
You can read more about this hot mess here:
Celina Summers: Breaking My Silence On Aspen Mountain
Esther Mitchell: Dropping the Ball, A Publishing Nightmare Exposed
Celia Kyle: Beware–Aspen Mountain Press
Kimberly Nee: Well, Hello There!
Andy Dunn: You May Have Noticed Something
Writer Beware: Trouble At Aspen Mountain Press
