Important Announcement In Rights Reversion from Dreamspinner
***IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT***
Dreamspinner Press owes me nearly thirty thousand dollars. They have not paid me, despite being contractually obligated to do so.
Given that, and a myriad of other issues with the publisher, I have decided to request the rights back for every book I have with them. I will republish them all, but it's going to take time.
What you need to do:
--If you have bought books of mine through the Dreamspinner Press website, go ahead and download/back them up to make sure you retain your copies. If you bought elsewhere--Amazon, for example, your copy will be fine.
--This means the preorders for Heartsong and Brothersong will be canceled. You will get refunded, no matter where you bought it from. Or, (and this might be the better, more proactive option), you can cancel the preorder yourself to get your refund instead of waiting. Once the rights for these books have reverted to me, I will reupload them to order. Given that this will take time, I can't promise the release date for Heartsong will still be September 24. Please don't give me shit over this. I will be working as hard as I can to get it out as soon as I can. I don't expect there to be too long of a delay, but one is possible.
--This part sucks: given I'm doing this to protect my livelihood, it means ALL my reviews on Amazon will be gone. I have thousands from readers who took the time and effort to write one, good or bad, and I',m grateful for that. However, these will be gone. If you can, once I upload all the books again, consider leaving a review on Amazon (or any other bookseller for that matter--Goodreads reviews will stay as they are). Again, good reviews, mediocre reviews, bad reviews--legit, anything.
--Audiobooks will stay as they are, given they are under contract (as are foreign translations). Those will not be going away.
I know you'll have questions. I do too! But please give me time to figure this all out, as I have no idea what I'm doing. It sucks, but that's the way it is.
More news when I have it!
thanks,
tj
Dreamspinner Press owes me nearly thirty thousand dollars. They have not paid me, despite being contractually obligated to do so.
Given that, and a myriad of other issues with the publisher, I have decided to request the rights back for every book I have with them. I will republish them all, but it's going to take time.
What you need to do:
--If you have bought books of mine through the Dreamspinner Press website, go ahead and download/back them up to make sure you retain your copies. If you bought elsewhere--Amazon, for example, your copy will be fine.
--This means the preorders for Heartsong and Brothersong will be canceled. You will get refunded, no matter where you bought it from. Or, (and this might be the better, more proactive option), you can cancel the preorder yourself to get your refund instead of waiting. Once the rights for these books have reverted to me, I will reupload them to order. Given that this will take time, I can't promise the release date for Heartsong will still be September 24. Please don't give me shit over this. I will be working as hard as I can to get it out as soon as I can. I don't expect there to be too long of a delay, but one is possible.
--This part sucks: given I'm doing this to protect my livelihood, it means ALL my reviews on Amazon will be gone. I have thousands from readers who took the time and effort to write one, good or bad, and I',m grateful for that. However, these will be gone. If you can, once I upload all the books again, consider leaving a review on Amazon (or any other bookseller for that matter--Goodreads reviews will stay as they are). Again, good reviews, mediocre reviews, bad reviews--legit, anything.
--Audiobooks will stay as they are, given they are under contract (as are foreign translations). Those will not be going away.
I know you'll have questions. I do too! But please give me time to figure this all out, as I have no idea what I'm doing. It sucks, but that's the way it is.
More news when I have it!
thanks,
tj
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I'm so sorry you have to deal with all of this. I know your readers will stand by you but please remember to take care of yourself first. It doesn't matter if Heartsong/Brothersong are released asap, what counts is your mental health. Take all the time you need, your readers will understand.I'll be uploading my reviews on Amazon too as soon as you get your rights back, and I'll continue boosting your work as you are one of my favourite authors.
Take care.
I gave DSP a mouthful for doing this. If they are going under, ppl and authors should know about it. Not the way to do legit business.
What a hassle! I'm so sorry that you have to go through this.Good for you, though. Don't let them take advantage of you just because it will take work to fix things.
Have you filed legal claims since it was in your contract that they compensate and they've failed to do so? Get your money.
Can only assume that if they owe you, the Author, a huge sum of money, then the fact that they have readers pre-order money, won't make one jot of difference to them. Have asked for my money back but won't be holding my breath, and have also told them what I think of them. So sorry for the humungous amount of additional work all this entails for you and other Authors. 😕Edit. I've received my refund from DsP with no comment whatsoever. So sad that another niche publisher is going the way of all the others...I hate that I have to keep buying from Amazon, but readers options are so limited now 🙁. Isn't that what Mr Bezos wants though...to take over the world?? I also hate that authors are going against authors...
I'm so sorry this is happening. I'm no expert on this but author Anna Zabo mentioned on twitter something that if you copy the Amazon ASIN number of your book and use that when you reupload it, the reviews will transfer over. No idea if this is indeed true but definitely something to look into. If not, I'll just leave a new review!
I am a fan who doesn’t understand any of the inner workings of ePub. I did however, loose many titles in the crash of ARe a couple of years ago. Since then I’ve dealt with iBooks mostly tho I do have some titles from Dreamspinner. I refuse to deal with Amazon due to all the stories I hear about the way they manipulate the ebook marketplace. I’ve signed with Kobo as well. It’s sad that this is the new reality of publishing.
Oh Hell NO!!! I do not blame you one bit and if anyone even tries to give you crap about this direct them to your fan club and we'll set them straight! I am SO SO SO sorry you and others are going through this! JFC how could this happen! You are a amazing and brilliant writer! Sometimes shit happens and we've all been expecting this for a little while. I'm so glad you are away from them! Just do what you need to do and I know I'll follow your stories where they go!
Roan Parrish has how to do it on Twitter & how to keep amazon reviews.
I'm so sorry this had to happen to you :( I'm glad I wanted to wait to purchase paperback copies of the Green Creek series, now. Please keep us updated as to where/ when you'll have new copies we can purchase to ACTUALLY support your work!
Take your time sorry this is happening. We will all be here on the other side.
$30,000!!!!! That is serious money. DSP has to know that many of their writers depend on their royalties to pay bills and eat. Late is one thing, but come on. Pay something, at least look like you care about your writers.
Chalky-Charlie wrote: "I'm so sorry this had to happen to you :( I'm glad I wanted to wait to purchase paperback copies of the Green Creek series, now. Please keep us updated as to where/ when you'll have new copies we c..."I totally agree!
Chalky-Charlie wrote: "I'm so sorry this had to happen to you :( I'm glad I wanted to wait to purchase paperback copies of the Green Creek series, now. Please keep us updated as to where/ when you'll have new copies we c..."Yes please keep us updated. A loyal fan.
Regarding reviews though, I believe you can ask Amazon to reinstate your reviews if you can provide them with the evidence to link both editions together.
Nic Walker has mentioned this in a post on her Facebook but I don't know any more than that.