Amazon-Dorchester: A Done Deal… Or A Deal Done Wrong?

For a complete accounting and timeline of Dorchester Publishing’s malfeasance, as well as links to other sources, click here.

As previously reported, Amazon made a bid to purchase Dorchester’s assets. Today, it was announced that Amazon has indeed acquired the publication contracts of over 1,000 Dorchester titles, including romance, horror, western, and more. What is not being reported yet is which titles were part of the deal. As I and others have previously reported, Dorchester was including books for which they did not own the rights to as part of their intellectual property and assets while seeking a buyer. Could it be possible that either due to a mistake in due-diligence on the part of Amazon or continued malfeasance on Dorchester’s part, some of those titles were included in today’s deal? 

*This is the Kindle listing for Dead Sea. Originally published by Dorchester, the rights for Dead Sea reverted back to me in late 2010 along with the rights to all of my other Dorchester titles.

*Last year, Deadite Press republished Dead Sea in both paperback and Kindle.

*The Kindle listing stated Deadite Press as the publisher until a few months ago, when Amazon and Dorchester first entered into talks, after which the Kindle listing for Dead Sea was changed to show Leisure – a division of Dorchester — as the publisher.

*The same was done for ALL of my former Dorchester titles: Urban Gothic, Castaways, Darkness on the Edge of Town, etc.

*Deadite Press did not make this erroneous change. I did not make this erroneous change. Someone at Amazon made it.

*Deadite Press sent several requests to Amazon to correct the error, but got no response. My requests to do the same were met with similar silence.

Now let me be clear — Deadite are still being paid monthly by Amazon, so at least the checks are going to the right place. But the timing and synchronicity are certainly odd, as is Amazon’s apparent inability to correct this error (in the past, I’ve had nothing but prompt, courteous customer service when dealing with Amazon). So perhaps I can be forgiven for wondering just which titles Dorchester sold to Amazon, and how many of those titles were ones that Dorchester did not legally have the right to sell?

Long-time readers know I’m not one of these anti-Amazon wingnuts. I’ve always been very supportive of the company, and they have always been very supportive of me. It should be noted that representatives from Amazon have indeed been reaching out to authors. I know of several who have been contacted, including some from our particular genre. So Amazon are indeed making an effort to fix things. It should also be noted that Amazon’s PR department reached out to me, as well, when this deal was first announced. But despite all of that… well, you can see it there for yourself on the link. Used to say Deadite Press. Now changed to Dorchester (Leisure). Very strange.

Let’s see what happens next…

Never make your living as a writer, kids. Stay in school. Become a nurse or an HVAC technician or a truck driver.